rediff.com
Hi Guest
Log in | Sign up
Skip to content

A conversation!

“So you collect things?”

“Yes” I said

“What kind of things?” She asked.

“Oh, things like that and these!” I said

“What are that and these?”

“Oh, you know, things, they change with time!”

“What are things that change with time?”

“No, no, I meant the things I collect, they change”  I said

“I still don’t see what you mean.”

“Well I used to collect Shoes when I was a kid. Then I started
collecting Paper and Bones of animals.

Nowadays I collect shells.”

“I understand now. Couldn’t you be more specific before?”

“I thought I was being specific.” I said

“No you weren’t.” She said.

“Oh Ok. I will be more specific from now on.”

“Do you sell your collection?”

“Well if someone wants to buy, I am quite open to it.”

“Who would want to buy your collection of shells? It seems
pretty stupid.”

“No, it’s not. It’s quite interesting you know.”

“No, it’s not. You are just saying that because you haven’t
got anything else to do.”

“Yes you are right.” I sighed.

“You are stupid.”

“No I am not.”

“Yes you are. Mommy says you are stupid.”

“No I am not.”

“Then show me your collections”

“It’s not with me now”

“Then where is it”

“I can’t remember where I put it”

“You are lying. You don’t have it.”

“I do! I do! I do!”

“Molly are you talking with your dog again. You little baby.”
Mother suddenly comes and says in her shrill voice.

She picks up Molly. Molly giggles and says, Ma Ma!

“Oh, Molly when you grow up you will learn more words. But
you are so smart for a one year old” Mother kisses Molly.

I keep looking. Mother looks at me and says, “Now Spotty, off
you go. And for Christ’s sake, don’t wag your tail so wildly. You will ruin the
clean floor with all your fur.”

Posted in Uncategorized.

No comments

By Arindam – May 10, 2012


An Incident!


I was waiting for my wife at the railway station. The rain had ceased to pour just some time before. And a cold pleasant breeze was flowing. I was standing there for a couple of minutes before some one from behind touched me. 


“Excuse me Bhai!!” 


I turned around, almost expecting some one I knew. But as I turned around I saw an old man. His cheeks were almost inside his jaw, giving the illusion that his cheek bones were literally coming out. His face had a haggard look to it. And he hadn’t shaved for quite some time. I looked at him directly in to his eyes. It was dry. The man’s clothes were dirty.  


“Excuse me Bhai!” He said again, “I am sorry to disturb you. I am a worker, you know, I do painting and build the interior of the house. I normally sit at this station hoping for work. You see, for the past 3 days, I have had no work. I have no money. I haven’t eaten for 3 days now. Can you please give me some thing to eat? Maybe a bread or roti will do.”


I looked at him properly again. And some how, mechanically I said no. I do not have money. I lied. He looked at me and said incredously, “You don’t have even 2 rupees with you?”


I shook my head and started walking away from him. I didn’t look back. Shortly after that I met up with my wife and then we started walking towards some general stores. My mind was in turmoil. I was not sure that If I did the right thing. The old man had asked me for food and not money. And I had denied it. Beggars normally ask for money, and they never tell made up stories. Maybe this is some new style, where they can play on the emotional side of the person and get some thing out of them. I tried to pacify my mind. But some how I kept thinking and re – thinking about it. 


Shortly afterwards we reached the store. I stood outside while my wife went in the buy some item for the house. Again this time, a person touched me from behind. I turned back and saw it was the same old man. He was saying the same thing again to me. It seemed he did not recognize me. But I recognized him immediately. This time around, I immediately went in the stores and bought bread and gave it to him.


He was eager to have it. As soon he had it in his hands, he started walking ahead without thanking me. Not that I was expecting anything from him. But I keenly watched from behind as to what he would do with it. He went ahead a few steps and tore the plastic of the bread and took 3 slices and put them in his mouth. I was taken aback. He was hungry. And he didn’t wait for anything. He had put the dry bread directly in his mouth. I guess when you are hungry, it doesn’t matter what the food is. And after chewing for sometime he started walking away from me.  


This incident put a smile on my face. I guess I made a serious error in judging him the first time around. But I am glad that I got a second chance to correct my mistake and bring peace to my mind.

Posted in Blogs, Writing.

4 comments

By Arindam – May 9, 2010


Hunger

Ronnie woke up. She was startled. Some noise from downstairs woke her up. She quickly grabbed her coat and turned to the other side of her bed. She was surprised. Her husband was not there. ‘Where in the world is he now?’ She thought. The noise was louder this time. It was from the kitchen. Surely some one was in the kitchen. She quietly got up and opened her bedroom door. She slowly moved downstairs, carefully so as not to slip and make any creaking noises of the old wood which was used for the stairs. Blame it on Rakesh, her husband, she thought for being so cheap and to use such old wood.
‘Maybe this was Rakesh in the kitchen’, she thought. ‘But he is not the kind to sneak of in the middle of the night to kitchen’ ‘And where is Rakesh then?’ She was getting irritated by the second. Maybe this was Rakesh in the kitchen.

She quietly tiptoed into the kitchen, where she saw a dark hooded figure stooping in the refrigerator. She flicked on the lights. The Figure quickly rose and turned to her.
“Ashok????? What in god’s name are you doing in my kitchen in the middle of the night???” She shrieked. She was both surprised and scared to see her neighbor.

The man had a half eaten mango in his hand and his mouth was full. There was mango juice dripping from his mouth and his clothes were half covered in mango pulp. He struggled to eat it quickly and in his effort to do so, he made a big gulp to the half eaten mango inside his mouth. It was a big ordeal just to get the mango in to his stomach. And he breathed a sigh of relief just as soon as he did that.

“What are you doing in my Kitchen??” Ronnie shrieked again.

“Shhh….Don’t shout. Rakesh will wake up. I was Hungry Ronnie. So I came here for a little snack!” Ashok answered. His throat still aching from the last effort of gulping a half eaten mango.

Ronnie breathed in and out. ‘Baba Ramdev, Baba Ramdev.’ She thought. She always did that just to calm herself down. Some people have the strangest technique to calm themselves!!

“If you are hungry why don’t you ransack YOUR refrigerator in YOUR house ASHOK!” Ronnie spoke in a cold and threatening voice.

Ashok could almost hear the grinding of the teeth. “My Refrigerator did not have mangoes, Ronnie. So I thought of coming here. It’s not as if this is the first time I did this!!” Ashok gave the most innocent look he could manage.

“What????” The window pane besides Ronnie almost broke. The glasses cracked. She was fuming now. “You have done this before!!”

So this explained a lot of things that were missing from Ronnie’s kitchen from time to time. All this time it was her respected neighbor, Ashok. And where the hell was Rakesh. Why isn’t he coming.

Just then the doorbell rang. Ronnie and Ashok almost jumped. Ronnie looked at the watch. It was 1.30 am. Some one was at the door. ‘Maybe I am dreaming’ Ronnie thought. ‘What is happening tonight?’

She signaled Ashok to stay exactly where he was. Ashok could not have agreed more with Ronnie. His feet were glued to the floor beneath him. Badly shaking though. He was having trouble just to stand still.

Ronnie went to the door. She looked through the keyhole. She saw her neighbor, Ilavati, Ashok’s Wife. Maybe Ila knew that Ashok was in her kitchen. But something else caught her attention. She was holding some one from the collar. She couldn’t see who. She opened the door and she was shocked to see it was her husband, Rakesh. He was holding the pizza in his hand. Half eaten, I might add. And a little messy.

“Your husband was fishing my refrigerator in the middle of the night, in my house.” Ilavati said in a venomous voice.
Rakesh gave a guilty look.
Ronnie was reeling in shock.
“Sorry Darling, I was hungry and they had Pizza today. So I couldn’t control my hunger.” Rakesh gave Ronnie a justification, which was, well, not needed!

Posted in Uncategorized.

8 comments

By Arindam – May 5, 2010


Interesting people!!

“So any one knows the Newton’s 1st law?” My sixth standard madam asked us. We were all unassuming little kids then. So of course Newton himself was an unknown proposition to us.


“Who is Newton Teacher?” asked one of the unassuming little boys who was sitting 2 rows behind me. His face showed an eagerness to know.


The madam looked as if the little boy had committed a sacrilege. Maybe a punishment of human sacrifice would suffice such a sacrilege! Her face contorted, she had some trouble speaking up, “He was a great great great scientist!”


Apparently we were all ignorant about science.  So the next question was asked by me, unable to curb my bubbling enthusiasm, I went straight up and asked, “What’s a Scientist?”


All my fellow students made an approving noise which suggested that this was indeed a good question. I was no doubt very happy about my intellectual question. I don’t suppose any sixth grader was supposed to be of such great intellectual capacity. I was, it seems highly intellectual then! I have no idea where the intellect disappeared as I grew up!


 


The madam seemed to swear at something. She looked red in her face. She was undoubtedly controlling a lot of emotions in her. I personally thought that she should let go of all emotions and be free of it. Getting red in face doesn’t make her look good. She was like a water melon’s inside. Perhaps, a shade lighter. But only to a slight extent.


After a couple of excruciating second, she finally said, “A scientist is one who studies science and makes new inventions and laws.”


There was a complete silence in the class. I looked around. It was impossible to know whether they completely understood what our madam meant. I was a little unsure of whether such a thing even existed or not! But I was in sixth grade. What did I know about the world!! Apparently the whole class was in deep thought!! No one uttered a single word for sometime. Our madam was pleased, it seemed as she was smiling. As if to say that she knew more than us. Her imperious manner was quite suggestive that she considered herself as the self proclaimed queen and us her, well, not so loyal subjects.


The twinkle in her eye made it quite self explanatory about her victor over us.


My mind immediately went to this Newton guy. He must have been real important for our teacher to tell us about it. Perhaps we could meet him and I could personally ask a few intellectual questions. You must not forget that I was quite intellectual then! Though our madam didn’t quite accept it. Her regular use of the words such as ‘Stupid,Idiot,Featherhead..etc etc..’ to me, clearly marked her feelings.


 


Well, since that day we all learnt during our learning curve that Newton was an all important person in the arena of science and scientific inventions. I still go around that school some times. And to this day I see our madam still teaching the sixth graders who Newton was! And how important he was! I do look back and cannot help in giving a smile to our class at that time and how innocent we were!


 

Posted in Uncategorized.

3 comments

By Arindam – March 1, 2010


Hospital

A Relative of mine was admitted to a Hospital. I heard he had tore a ligament in his leg while he was playing football. He was not a professional athlete but a tense game between friends can bring about undesirable results. Some of the results are not reflected on the scorecard, rather they are reflected on the body of the player.


 


After I heard this, I decided to give him a visit. A hospital visit is never pleasant. But sometimes you have no choice. He was admitted on the fourth floor. I entered this General ward. There were several patients. 7 of them to be exact. 5 of them to my left side. And 2 of them on the right side. After I opened the door to the general ward, immediately to my left side, I saw a boy, maybe of the same age as of mine. He was dry to the bone. He feet were thin as his arms. His whole body was like a skeleton covered with some skin. His face was hollow. His eyes had come out, bulging out of his skull. He was in short in a dire strait of condition. His body was a loud evidence of his suffering. He was lying down in a position of a baby in a womb. He needed protection. The instant I saw him, I felt a surge of emotion bursting out. All kind of tubes entering his body from his nose and mouth did not make a good sight either.


 


I felt a certain kind of sadness I had not felt in a long time. It was a sight never to be erased from a memory. A lady was standing in front of him. I was sure this was the poor boy’s mother. Her eyes were moist. She was staring at the boy. The boy was not conscious. I felt the sadness in her. Maybe it was her only son. I did not know what had happened to the poor boy, and why he deserved such a fate.


 


I went and talked to my relative and while leaving, I glanced at the sight again. I saw the lady again. The more I saw of her, the more I was confirmed that It was the poor boy’s mother. She looked at me. Her eyes were having a hollow look. Her eyes were shimmering in the light with the moistness of a new born tear. However the face showed a silent resoluteness of not letting the tear grow. She continued to look at me. I wondered what she might be thinking. Maybe she looked at her own son in me.


 


While I was in the lift descending down, I asked the liftsman about the patient in the general ward 1st left on the fourth floor. Upon enquiring he said that was a case of a bike accident. He had an accident four months back. Had a cranial injury. Then he got some fever and infection in his brain due to the accident. And that has left him in such a pitiful condition. I prayed a silent prayer to god. I prayed that nobody should get an illness like this.


 


When I walked out of the hospital, I walked out a more compassionate person. I had realized how balanced a life is on a knife’s edge. I knew life was resilient, but I realized it was the suffering that a life endures that makes it as resilient as it should be.


 

Posted in Humour.

1 comment

By Arindam – January 4, 2010


Reality Shows

Reality Shows

 

I sat in front of the T.V looking for some good Entertainment. I watched it for a couple of minutes and after rapidly changing a lot of Channels I made a startling discovery. Almost all the channels are loaded with all kind of "Reality TV Shows". Move over the typical "Saas Bahu Serials". The new formula for quickly raising the TRP's are the Reality TV Shows.

What I also realized is this that these shows are loaded with a whole lot of crap. Useless things! I mean what do we gain by seeing Rakhi Sawant in Television screen making her own Swayam Var??????

Or a bunch of Idiosyncratic People in a closed Jungle Environment or a House!

And oh yes to keep up the interests, they are loaded with mini games in the shows. Like they keep calling it "The Tasks!!!"

Whoever wins have a safe ticket to stay there for a week. After that either they are left on the mercy of the Aam Junta votes or internal vote out system!

Now I have been seeing these shows being aired on T.V for a long time. I am no big Fan of these things. I hardly learn anything from them and they do not even challenge the grey cells of the brain. But it seems these shows are a hit. As they keep popping up one after the another. One show ends, another show begins. People seem to tune into them regularly. My wife seems to enjoy the show especially where there is Rakhi Sawant in it. Simply because she thinks that she is funny.

I think these shows are a hit because people connect to the people on the show. They feel that they are like them. And there is not major difference.

I guess I should have seen that these shows would be a hit when long back, I saw 'The Truman Show'

The ultimate reality show where the whole life of the guy name Truman is shown on the small screen, where every other people surrounding him are actors. And he is enclosed in a huge dome, a dome the size of a small town. 24 hours of his life is being aired on the Television. There is an entire channel dedicated to him.

There is something extremely satisfying to watch these kind of shows. I have not quite pin pointed it. But there is.

Ofcourse we have also a group of people who are sick of watching the Reality TV Shows. And in time this group will only grow. People will someday grow tired of these shows. And by that time an entirely new concept of TV Shows will reign over them. But I guess there is still time to that.

Till then, people like me who have no interest in watching them will have to continue to suffer. And change the channel either to Cartoons or Discovery! Where something of real entertainment is shown.

Posted in Blogs.

5 comments

By Arindam – October 12, 2009


Watch Man!!!

"So I went to Shopper's Stop today." I declared to my wife.

She was busily working on the table with a lot of clothes making a small dump mountain. Trying to fold them into a neat and an orderly way.

"Yeah.." She  said as her voice trailed away,

"I was searching for a watch." I said.

"Uh huh!" She managed to say. Still working on the clothes and not lifting her eyes of it.

"I saw this digital watch. It just took my breath away!" I said, ignoring her indifferent stance towards the topic.

"Uh huh .Don't say that you fell in love with it!!" She said sarcastically.

"Actually I think I did. It was amazing."

"What was amazing about it??"

"It was one of the coolest looking watch I have ever seen. It has a barometer which tells the pressure of the atmosphere. It has a Altmeter which tell the altitude I am on. It has a Compass. It has this moon tide forecasting thing. Actually I think it tells me when it is high tide or low tide with respect to the moon rise and moon set. Isn't it amazing?" I managed to say.

"Uh Huh That's good!" She said.

I could not believe it. She was still indifferent to it. I had seen the coolest watch ever and this was her reaction. This was not fair. When she sees her dream dress or any accessory, if I had given her this reaction, it would have made a volcanic eruption so big that it could have been seen from the moon.

"Does it actually tell the time??" She asked me sarcastically again.

I looked at her in disbelief. "No!" I muttered. "It is after all a watch basically! It does not tell the time!"

This awkward and a very weird statement (I still don't know how or why I said this!) made her look up.

'Aha!! I got your attention at last!' I thought.

"What?"

"I mean it does say the time. Come on, it's a watch after all. It has the other things as well." I said.

"And what good are those other things? Why do you want a Altometer or a Barometer?" She replied.

"Altmeter." I corrected her. "Well for a sportsman these things are required, specially for those who are in mountaineering!"

She kept glaring at me.

"All right they don't have any use for me! But I was just wondering." I tried to avoid her glare.

"If you don't need those things, you don't need to buy it. Last month you bought an expensive 'TOUCH' mobile. You were going Ga-Ga over it. Now a watch! You can't keep buying everything you see"

Her reply came stinging back to me.

I had estimated this kind of feedback from her. I sighed.

"But it was a great watch." I said meekly. The last few words were hardly audible.

"No need to buy it. Maybe some other time. Next Year perhaps. No need to look happy. That's about 3 months from now." She said decidedly.

A flash of happiness had just crossed my face. But that was just for a moment. I can't let her see my excitement. Three months!! Allright I can wait for that long.

"Anyway, What's the cost?" She said again getting back to the dresses. She was keeping them in a orderly fashion.

Damn! I was afraid of this question!

"Eleven Thousand!" I muttered. Strangely, I found myself again talking in below audible range of the human ear.

But she heard it. It seems women have extra hearing power, even below audible range of the normal human ear. When it is not required for them to hear more, they hear the most!

 

Her eyes widened and the oval ness of the eyes had now become distinctly round. I was looking at the ground. A crack. I was searching for a crack, so that I could get in and hide from this uncomfortable stare. Anything anything at all. I was searching in vain.

"Think about the watch after Three years dear! That will be good for your health and your wallet too." She replied in the most understanding voice.

I sighed again. I nodded my head reluctantly in agreement. The dream watch will remain a dream, at least for now.

 

Posted in Humour.

4 comments

By Arindam – September 30, 2009


God

"Do you believe in God?" 

The question startled me. I was reading the morning news paper which was very fresh. The paper still had the, what I like to call as, 'The Crunch Factor'. I had just woken up and was enjoying my hot Coffee and reading. Sunday mornings are always the best.

The birds chirping in harmony with nature. The winter breeze and the cool and foggy morning. Mother Nature at her best.  

My head was buried in the newspaper reading about the success of Chandrayan, making me a proud Indian. I looked up when he asked this question. I managed to make a sound from my mouth. "Ugghh??" 

"I asked, do you believe in god?" My friend who lived with me in our apartment asked me this. He was his usual self, today morning, till he asked this question. He is not the kind of person who thinks much. He just kind of lives the day as it comes. Future plans don't seem to interest him. He is much more of a 'Live in the present' person. Also, I must mention that he is a complete atheist. He has no faith in god. He believes that there is no destiny. What we do is what we get, that's is attitude in a nutshell. 

I gave back a thinking look to him. "Well, he surely must." I said. "Otherwise who would think of making beautiful women for us!" A chuckle escaped my mouth. 

He gave a light smile. " I believe that God is a Man's creation. If man didn't exist, there would have been no one to start this concept." 

"I disagree. I think Man has the brains to identify that there is a superior being other than us. God was always there. You just need to see where he is. It is a question of belief as well." I replied. 

"If god were there then why hasn't he or she or it has shown us the real form. I mean no one has seen god. Why is that? If god exist he must show a proof, right?" He argued back. 

"Wrong. God exists and it has already shown through by creating this wonderful planet. It has shown creativity by creating this universe. Lets just say that it is a higher being whose existence is marked by the beginning of the universe. And all the stars and galaxies that are existing shows that it is there. I mean something must have triggered life in this universe. Something greater than the universe itself. What I am trying to say is that, Creator of this universe is God." I replied back. I was hoping that this would maybe subdue the conversation about god. It is a very personal matter of opinion. 

He didn't answer back right away. It seemed to me as that he had started to think about something. I started to wonder what made him ask this question. I was looking at him. His body language was different today.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

He looked up. He looked a wee bit startled. Maybe I interrupted his thought train. He blinked at me a couple of times. And then he said, " I had a weird dream last night."

"What??"  I asked and sat up straight. Some thing was bothering him. I wanted to know what.

"I think I saw God in my dream. It's quite weird, but I am sure of it." He said. He had this air of uneasiness around him.

I got curious. " Really?? How did you know that it was God??" I asked.

"You said it is a question of belief. I think I believe that it was god." He replied.

"But you don't believe in god .?? A belief as strong as yours changed with in one night and all it took was a dream??" I asked him. I knew I was needling him far more than I should have. But I was curious to know what happened. This guy was a strong atheist. All his life, he was like this. And one night changed it all. This was quite incredulous. I was definitely interested.

He kept quite. He was still thinking about something. He finally replied, " I saw some one die in dream. Some one very close to me. I felt very sick. I was crying. And I had this uncontrollable feeling that every thing was going wrong."

I kept looking at him. "Then ???"

"I was feeling that I had lost everything in life. And there was no hope. Then suddenly from somewhere, some one touched me. Some one put his hand behind my back. And it felt great. Suddenly I felt good. I needed support and the touch healed me. I started to grow more confident. I suddenly knew that everything was going to be allright.

When I woke up, I realized that it had to some one much superior to human. Some one who took all my pains away, and gave me the power to look at difficulties and come up victorious." 

I kept looking at him. I knew what had happened. I had the answer. But looking at his face, his confidence, and his new faith in god, I decided to keep quiet.

" I am glad that you felt that it was god. It is nice to hear it from you." I said, smiling.

The matter ended there. 

What had happened last night was, my friend in his sleep was obviously having a bad dream. And he was making all sort of weird noises in the middle of the night. I had woken up due all this noise. Just to calm him down, I went up to him and touched him on his back and slowly gave him a reassuring hold on his back. He became quiet the next instant and began sleeping peacefully again!! 

Posted in Writing.

7 comments

By Arindam – November 11, 2008


Chess

I am a chess enthusiast. I have been following chess for some time. The recent matches between Anand and Kramnik generated quite a surprising amount of interest even in the non-chess following communities. I was obviously interested. Followed their matches like a religious fanatic. Of course I tried to play like them but that is still not possible for me. If I ever play like them I would be a Grand Master!!

Chess is an interesting game. Played in a small area of 64 Squares. Where the battle is between the White Army and the Black Army. But this is as crudely as it can be put. The psychological war that precedes the competition is huge. And as the game is purely mental, it is important to note that the individual has to be sound in his decisions and game play.

I was greatly interested in this game when I was a young boy. I never went to a Chess Academy or a class. I learnt it on my own. With some help from my friends and a few books that explain chess and the chess games. By the time I reached 12th Standard, I was the chess team captain (Junior) for my college. Had already bagged 2 medals. A silver and a Gold. But I was far from being a good chess player. I still made mistakes on the chess board. And I considered myself a mediocre player. I had started to play in a lot of competitions. Once a game was going on between two players. A small crowd had gathered around their chess table and every one was intently looking at the board. They were trying to guess the next move by white or black (I actually forgot whose move it was). Believe it or not this is a favourite pass time of a chess player. If you are not playing then guess the player's next move.

Anyway, While the crowd looked on the chess table, I watched a small kid was playing against a boy of my age. I heard from some one that both the players are really good. Evidently age does not matter on a chess table. So I was watching the game silently. I stayed there for sometime. No one moved there pieces. Both were looking intently on the chess board. Cogitating about the position and making numerous calculations.

After a little while I was getting bored so I moved to the next table. A pair of players were sting across. But at this table there was no crowd. I looked on the pair. Two young boys. Thinking!

As I made through the hall, I quickly realized that chess is a boring game to look at. I mean the only thing you can do is just look at the chess board and try to guess the next move of the player actually playing the game. The excitement generated in the game is purely for the player and not so much for the crowd, unlike tennis or cricket.

There was no action. Just mental strategy. And you got to admit, a Sania Mirza or a Roger Federer playing tennis is far more exciting than a Grand Master sitting, thinking and moving his piece after a long time. What I mean to say is that there is no physical action. From a distance it looks like two players just sitting on a table. That's It!!!! Not so exciting, right???

Once I remember I was playing against a kid. And we sat there thinking for a long time. The position was a complicated one. A man was hovering around us. He too was an enthusiastic watcher of the game, I assumed. Maybe he was trying to guess our moves. Now we hadn't moved for some time. So he had started fidgeting. This was irritating. When people play chess seriously, they don't like anything in between them to get disturbed. And some one fidgeting nearby is a distraction to them. I still don't know how people play with a crowd watching over. 

I looked at him. He looked back at me and prompted me to play. I gave him a light smile and said, " Actually we are trying to figure out whose move it is to play. We have been thinking for so long that we actually forgot whose move it was!!!"

My opponent looked up and laughed. He had got the joke. The man was unsure on how to re act on this. So he just gave a light smile and left.

Evidently he knew that his presence was getting on my nerves.

A typical thought process that goes inside a chess player's mind while playing the game. 

'Hmm..he played a pawn to e4. So that opens up his white bishop. So the next move might be probably his white bishop attacking my horse on f6. Ok. He also has a Knight on c3. But that does not threat any thing for the time being. But he has the potential to attack. I need to look out for that horse. How can I counter attack? Maybe a pawn to h6 it will prevent the white bishop attacking my knight. But that doesn't counter attack anything. It's a prevention move. My pawn at c file has an open ground, so maybe c5 is interesting, taking control over the centre and attacking his d file pawn. If I win a piece here I will go a pawn up. But his queen and his c3 horse are defending that square. I need to pile up more pressure on that. I have an option of castling too. Damn!!! So many moves I have, but which one do I play???'

You probably must have figured it out by now that it's absolute mess while playing chess. Which moves to play and which not to play. Let me just tell you, It's 80% calculation and 20% intuition. And even in that 20% intuition, there is a 90% chance that your intuition will go wrong!!

There you go, that's my take on chess!!

Play at your own risk!

Posted in Blogs.

4 comments

By Arindam – November 5, 2008


A Distant Past

The eyes looked at the distant landscape. It swiped the entire landscape in a one quick glance. For as far the eyes could see there was plain land. With the yellow grass covering the red earth like a blanket. He could see the trees filled with green that stood up in the landscape in various places. He saw the blue blanket which spread over his head. It seemed to be starting where the yellow land ended in the distant. He had traveled a lot but as of yet he had not reached the place where the yellow met the blue. The land had such lovely colours. Such a beautiful mixture of colours. On the other hand he wondered why the blue blanket over his head never showed so many colours. It only changed in black showing many little light spots. And rest of the time it remained blue. Sometimes when water fell from the sky, he saw colours coming down from the sky. Maybe the sky gave colours to the land. Today the water didn't fall from sky. The big ball of fire burnt with all its heat. He tried to look at it but his eyes hurt. He had seen fire which gave out heat during the dry days. But this burning ball of fire was much stronger and much hotter. He had seen it traveling on the blue blanket above. But nothing happened to the blue blanket. It was a strange thing. Why didn't it burn? He had seen things such as trees and animals burn in the fire. But the blue blanket never burned. Slowly the ball of fire traveled and disappeared in the hills. Things started to cool down. The blue blanket changed its colour. The little bright spots appeared. Another ball appeared. It was not hot. It was cool. The light it gave out was a cool one. The entire landscape changed. How amazing! It was such a beautiful thing, he wondered. Who was doing this, he asked himself. Whoever is doing this must be a powerful being. The most powerful and the vicious being he had encountered was a four legged demon with two sharp teeth that came out of his mouth. It could run very fast. He could never outrun it. So climbing the green trees was his only option. The things happening around him made him wonder of things. He had seen that he was weaker than most of the other creatures that roam on this landscape with him. He had not got any sharp claws or teeth. But he could make a substitute from a stone. It was just as hard and strong. Maybe even stronger, he thought. Sitting on a rock beside his little cave, he saw his little family. They were sleeping. He looked up. And he wondered so many things. This amazing place and he was a part of it.

 

 He had started thinking. Thinking about his surroundings. How could he manipulate it to his own comfort? He was trying to understand his place in this nature. Evolution was taking place. Information was being recorded in his genes. Slowly he was developing his intellectual senses. Things would change now. He would go on to change this vast fields of land in to a landscape which he desired. He would go on to discover the vastness of the sea to the coldness of the mountains. In about 50000 years, Earth as he knew it would have changed. But that was a distant future for him. So he lied down on the cold ground. And his eyes closed, he dreamt. He hoped that somebody was watching him and taking care of him. Maybe the same being that controlled the big ball of fire, he thought innocently. He said a little thank you to the imaginary being for taking care of him and his little family, in his mind. The first prayer to god had taken place. And with a relaxed mind he went on to sleep.

Posted in Blogs.

8 comments

By Arindam – September 30, 2008