Kite runner. A poet's tale (Part 1)

(All poems used in this story are original works except for the first poem)

I think about the reason why
The sun and moon are in the sky
And how the tears drip from my eye
And how a kite can fly so high.

I think about the reason for
The seeds inside an apple core
And how the waves get to the shore
And how a lion roars its roar.

Little miss Sannie wrote this and she rushed to her father. Her father Mr. Ajay Bhalerao  was a government employee. He read this and said - "Sandhya"

"Call me Sannie papa, I like Sannie"

"Sannie, stop wasting time in this junk. Study, get good grades. Get a government job like me. I want you to be successful and happy married someday".

Sannie did not budge. She was ten then. From that day, she wrote what she felt like and always hid her work from her father.

Then one day she when she was 15, she wrote,

All I need is a bit of love
A bit of touch and a bit of feel

A bit of shiver and little chill
A bit of humour and a bit of smile
A bit of adventure that lasts a mile

Some beauty and some pain
And All the love I can gain


In this time I say some things I don't want to say
And I am unable to say some things I really do want to say

And I wonder, is this love.

All I need is a bit of love
And I don't need anything else.


Then as years went by, she met great poets in books.

She read

Miles to go before I sleep

My love is like a red red rose

Say encore or never more



Then at the age of 20. She felt that love feeling again. This time she knew the boy well but was unable to tell him.

He stays around my breath
And he feels good
I want to have him
But he has been nice to me
And I respect that
Not many people have been nice to me.
And that's where I have this dilemma
I love him, but I know he does not love me.

I am sure.
And hence I crush my love for him
And let him be my friend
Cause I care for him

But I still feel sad
When the time is right to be glad
I sincerely do miss to touch him, hug him.
Does this mean, I am bad?

I do want him to be happy
...while I miss him
And I know being close to him
how far away I am really from him

I know every time I am near him
that he is far away
I know every time I see him smile
That its not for me.

And I let all these things happen.

Two years since that and at 22 life can be really busy. Sannie had no time for boys now, hell she did not even have time to even write poems now. She was cramming and studying hard for the government job entrance exams. It was what her father always wanted and she was not going to let down the Bhalerao tradition of acquiring comfortable government jobs.

She cleared the test. She had the government job in her hand. Her father's  dream had come true!

But inside she felt uneasy

Being inspired by Walt Whitman she wrote-

Song of Sannie

I the untamed
I the fearless

I the beginning and the end of the world

I am the road, I am the answer

I am answerable only to myself

And like uncle Walt - I too sound my barbaric yalp
Upon the roofs of the world

I will do what I want to do

Even if right now I don't have a clue!


Its been 3 years since - At 25 Sannie is coming out with her first book. But more on that later. Right now what we know is she is doing well and she is happy.

(All poems used in this story are original works except for the first poem)

By Ninad Tatke.

Beat yourself. To improve in a short time

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. This has been the age old saying. But what really matters is the fact that you are consistent in what you are doing and you are always improving.

So what are the things one should follow to improve in a short time.

1. Measure your performance. Keep its record. Critically analyze where it can be better.
2. Rate yourself.
3. Next time you are at the same task, try beating your own time/quality at it.
4. Repeat this every time

Also one needs to identify the time zones one is most productive in. Morning time, afternoon time evening time or night time and plan accordingly so that you get to do most of the work when you are in the best possible frame of mind to do so. 

If you are beating yourself (performance wise) consistently you are doing something right. If you are not may be its time for a reboot.

By Ninad Tatke

Contagious Ideas . - A idea is changing your life.

We live in exponential times. Which simply means that we live in times where change is more and more rapid. In these times an idea can be promoted through conversation more than ever before.

How is this possible.

Ok if I tell you tomorrow that I went to a popular restaurant (Bade Miyan) . It was supposed to be good. That's what I had heard about it. But it turned out to be disappointing.

Now if you think that I am an sensible guy whose opinion should be considered, you may never try that restaurant willingly. But thats good old word of mouth. It was always there.

What is new in it. Well word of mouth was always there in history, but never before was it a word of written which could be stored and traced easily. I mean web has changed the ball game.

Its the conversations now which matter more than how they happen. I have personally never been to Comedy store in Mumbai but I am engaged and eventually when I do have both the time and resources, I am quite sure I would be checking it out.

But is it just the material or commercial things which are getting spread. I do not think so. Look at causes. The Idea campaign (that cell phone will bring literacy closer to rural India) may be creative Advertising at the moment but sometime soon it is bound to be reality.

Even the fast for corruption was more popular as the word spread rapidly.

But this change, this technology, all these smart phones and great gadgets have come with a price. The price we are paying now for development is changing environment.

Earth has always evolved. So this change seems part of it. But remember that we are the ruling animal right now on this planet and hence if we are causing environmental changes, we should help out in conserving the earth as well. There are many ways to do that. One of the ways is write for environment by writing what you believe in. This would spread the idea. There are these group of volunteers who are full time working professionals but they care for the environment. They are actually working right now. They call themselves Ek Titli. You can check these out

 http://www.ektitli.org/about-ek-titli/  
http://www.ektitli.org/category/conversations/

http://www.ektitli.org/category/interviews/

http://www.ektitli.org/category/green-facts/

 

 Of course the only real way an idea would work is action. But till you find the opportunity and courage to do so you can always pass it on.

By Ninad Tatke.

Concerned :A meeting with Guptaji. A short Story

I went to meet Mr. Gupta.
 It was a sales call. I had acquired this appointment after a long persistent follow up. As I searched his office, the sun soared higher making the day really unpleasant.

Still I was sure that the meeting would be not only pleasant but also fruitful. I asked for the street near the Crawford market and everybody gave me a different answer about its location. Eventually I found the office.

As I entered in a low lit office of my client, my only concern was how to convince him, yet I could not ignore the dirt and filth around me. A raggedly dressed man pointed out to a office on first floor. The steps of the staircase were high in height but narrow and I did get a mark of chuna on my shirt as I climbed. So I shifted my bag on to my left shoulder to hide the mark.
The office was well kept. I sat on the chair and we talked.

They are a trucking company and we (my company) was going to customize a product just for them.

So he started on the trucking business in India. How the roads are killing. How the cops are corrupt. How the margins are going down.

Half and hour slipped and yet we were nowhere close to the actually talk I wanted to do. Eventually the story began...


A truck driver from his company had hit and run last night. His (drivers) driving had resulted in death of 2 people and the cops had arrested him this morning after a chase. The family of the truck driver was in the office in the next room and wanted him back untouched.

Guptaji  stopped the chat with me after every few minutes and went in to have a work with them and make a bunch of phone calls - to a bunch of people. (Cops, MLAs, Other Business men). It was getting very clear to me that this meeting is a dead-end for me. I was not going to get anything and thus I changed tracks.

I now wanted to genuinely understand Guptaji as a person. So I asked him, about the incident. What was his take about the incident.

"Oh I think the driver needs a bit of leeway. These drivers have a hard life. Long months away from home. Long hours of driving. Bad roads. Cops who want money. And many others things. Naturally these drivers are drunk when they drive at night. And they usually still do the job well and in fact they actually make up time. "

I asked -" So you think the driver did nothing wrong"

Guptaji - "Oh The driver was wrong alright. Its wrong to be drunk and drive. But the roads are meant to be better. Cops are supposed to help people and not harass them. So what happened was a symptom of the disease and not the actual disease. "

"So you will help this guy get out scotch free"

Guptaji - "Oh absolutely, you cant punish the symptom for a disease can you. He was drunk because he was frustrated. I cant solve his problems but I can surely help him out"

I got out of the office later that afternoon with shaken thoughts. Is this leeway - a help him out ... (because of a bad system) or is it a start of another bad system!

By Ninad Tatke.

Meethu - A short Story

She was chubby, and they called her healthy. But Meethu did not care. She was a fun loving girl, off to explore the big world and she hoped that she would have a lot of fun doing that.

Meethu entered the college and on the first day she met Jamit - an aspiring film maker boy of 17 years. Jamit introduced her to all his friends but soon Meethu found that no one talked with her. She was different. She was too rude for them. She talked too much and too in the face.

She found that no one cared and she was all alone. She ate alone in the canteen. She walked alone from college to the parking lot and she worked alone for assignments and class work.

She soon stopped talking with other people. She also lost interest in classes. She stopped coming to college. No one noticed. Not the professors, not her colleagues or not even Jamit.

No idea where she went. But she left town.

A few years passed. Jamit became an independent film director and producer.

He made a movie called Dreams and hopes.
It was about a girl and how the world crushes her spirit. The movie did quite well in the independent cinema category and it won in Asian film festival. As he went to receive the award. He saw that a small girl of 8 years who stopped him and even though he had not seen her before the girl looked familiar.

 She looked at him and she gave him a wicked eye.

He was stunned. He still went to pick the award and thanked a whole bunch of people.

Suddenly a voice asked , "How about Meethu... what about thank you Meethu"

It was the same small girl who had stopped him a moment before.

"Meethu... as in from college - the chubby Meethu ?"

"Yeah my mom Meethu"

"what did she do"

"she was the idea behind your movie"

"no no dreams and hopes is an original idea"

"No, it isnt, you were in college with my Mom, see I have a photograph"

"So what if I was in college with her. She was an acquaintance and that was it"



----------------------------------

Meethu left going to college. She needed help and she knew it. She talked to herself. She locked herself up in a room and wrote long letters. She went out every evening to post those letters. No one knew to whom she wrote them. No one even cared.

After 3 weeks of this silent and reserved behaviour, Meethu took flight one day -(she left the city without a plan, with out a place in mind). The year was 1982. She reached Delhi. Delhi was cold. She shivered. She was running out of money and thus the options.

But she was now more confident of herself having travelled so far alone and she thought she would fight this out too. She got a temporary job in the Asian games in the reception.
It helped her gain confidence. And soon after the games she got another job at a hotel.

She worked hard in the day and started going to night college. Eventually she was a graduate . She was now back to her chirpy best again.

Then one day she met one man. She liked him. He seemed to like her as well and they made love. Next day she woke up and he was gone. She felt bad. She felt used. But she was not going to let this affect her. She kept her hopes and did her best work at the hotel. She was promoted to manager. Thats when she noticed that she was about to become a mom. She took it as a challenge and was thus an unwed mother. It was hard being a unwed mother as society in the 1980's was very rigid.

Then as raising her daughter was not easy, she sent her to a boarding school.

-----------------

The boarding school went to the Asian Film Festival in its trip at Goa.

Thats when the daughter and Jamit met.

Even though the movie Dreams and hopes showed the dreams of the girl getting crushed. The little girl knew now that dreams can not crushed if you have belief. They just get altered - in to a form you never thought before.

The 17 year old Meethu would have never thought of being a successful independent single mom as her dream yet she was as happy as she could be now.

Jamit would never really get the complete story nor his friend back and yet he was happy with his life and work.

And the little girl was now a fun loving girl, off to explore the big world and she was proud of her mom.

Pune Watch - Friends Unlimited

Time is almost as fickle as mind. Lately it seems more so. I intend to capture some of the experiences I had in the last two years and some beyond that. This is part 4. Part 1 was about FC Road and JM road. Part II was about Old Pune. Part III was about emerging Pune.

So what do I love about Pune. Strangely I do love this city even when I am alone. But I love my friends and I had some amazing moments with them.


These lines are from one poem I wrote on friendship
"Like soft sheets of paper glued together
We became hard as a cardboard
This cardboard of friendship
so soft, so brittle and yet so hard

We were individuals and yet we were one
Helping each other (papers) in life's battle Scars.
Sharing moments with lighter hearts."

So for me Pune was a city which felt good because of people. I met strangers too during my journey in Pune and the kind of responses I got from them were admirable. Its a matter of choice on how you look at things and all things said and done the experiences were good.

From hopping buses at a whim, to watching back to back movies, to suddenly changing directions to go and do new things and to search for a friend in a crowd with no mobile (similar to finding a needle in a hay stack) and buying certain (crazy)  things which made people think that we had lost our minds.
What we did lose though was our inhibitions and our doubts.

I don't know anything else but as I sign off on the topic of Pune - I would say I liked the last two years. Liked them with the friends I made for better or for worse .

By Ninad Tatke

You have the ability to change your stars.

World can seem like a very depressing place. People love to be greedy and selfish. It seems thus that your fortunes are at whims and fancies of other people.

They can be. But they should not be. You have to go on doing your job to the best of your ability, you have to recognize and grab opportunities as and when you see them and you have to always remember that you have the ability to change your stars if you work hard towards a goal and have faith in yourself.