INTELLIGENCE....ARE U SURE?????????

Mother earth has survived for tens of millions of years.............life has been around for ages and our planet has witnessed everything from magnetic pole changes to meteor strikes....from ice ages to the great floods of the bible(REMEMBER NOAH`S ARK).........it had its own web and cycle of living and non living things which although diverse in nature are very interdependent and rely on each other for existence.......earth has managed to retain this for ages.......and would have maintained this for another million years.....but that wasnt to happen as intelligent life cropped up some thousands of years ago...........

by intelligent life i mean humans and the reason why i am writing it is because i dont understand why do we call ourselves the intelligent life............

earth was doin very well before we came along........it would have survived for millions of years had we not come along......

we have already screwed the ozone layer.......helped finish 60% of the animal species.......polluted our oceans.......diseased africa...........mined vietnam......got into an arms race......messed with the balance of nature.......n sooner or later when the third world war happens then god save mother earth from the intelligent life,,,,,,

WHY ARE WE CALLED INTELLIGENCE LIFE AGAIN????????????

HEAR THE ECHO............

Hello everyone.......i m living in bombay, india for the last 6 years and quite honestly i have only met a few good men.......very few if u may.....i am not talking about my friends as i am lucky to be blessed by the best buddies in the whole world.......

i am talking about the people of bombay who are becoming less tolerant by the day and frustration has already begun to take its toll.......poverty is breaking bombay`s back and the crowd only worsens........no one has time for anyone but that changes when u have a brawl on the road or someone needs urgent help, u will see a sea of people watching (watching) as if they have all the time in the world but no one comes forward to help except maybe that lonely soul........very difficult to come across people who have a passion to make a difference, ofcourse there are a handful of them but then u dont meet them everyday and thats what makes this post so special as it talks about a dear friend of mine who at a very young age decided to make a difference.........

we all know about a phenomenon called "ORKUT"....it has a very special little community called "ANECHO" moderated by yours truly`s good buddy NIHAR MANWATKAR...........he has created a platform for young and budding artists from all fields to log on and be exposed to the glitter of their dreams...........

i am writing this because i feel strongly for what he is doing.......and when u read this i am sure u will make a mental note of "ANECHO" and will surely visit the community........

in Nihar`s own words "Think of ANECHO as a platform for artists all over the country to showcase their talent. May they be musicians, dancers, painters, movie makers. We provide them with the exposure they deserve. "......

he has already managed more than what others could in a metter of days and is already on the verge of releasing a music compilation from various artists of tomorrow..........

well heres wishing him all the very best for his future endeavours and god bless.............

A LOVE STORY....WELL KIND OF

It was a wet morning and my favorite day of the week, Friday. This was the day when I first saw Isabella about 4 years ago. Her piercing smile is still etched in my mind and there have been no Fridays ever since that she hasn’t come by and flashed her smile at me. Her lips seem to be dancing to some kind of a tune, and today once again I knew I was going to witness that mesmerizing dance. Everyday I come across a sea of people from different places, races, creeds and religions and there are some faces I forget and there are some I remember and hers was a face to remember with golden brown curls, ocean blue eyes and a perky nose, I can go on endlessly describing her.

I was lost in her thoughts and didn’t even realize when Carl came in and said “breakfast time” as he put my breakfast in order. Ah fresh fruits` I thought as I moved towards my breakfast showing my gratitude to Carl who smiled and left, closing the door behind him. After a sumptuous meal I was just wandering about when I saw the fat kid, Ryan come by with his mother. He would come by every once in a month or so and god I hated him. He never had any respect for anything and today would be no different I thought. My doubts were confirmed when he yelled and made a nasty face at me. I could swear by my life that at that instant all I wanted to do was strangle the little brat. Ryan’s mother was a total contrast to her son, a total sweetheart. She would always be a gentle soul trying to teach Ryan how to behave but all in vain. Ryan made a face just before leaving and his mother smiled and waved goodbye. I responded with the same. It was not long before I was lost in Isabella’s thoughts again.

Every Friday morning I used to get this feeling that what if Isabella didn’t turn up today, but she came, for every Friday in the last four years she made sure she came. I knew deep down in my heart that she would come but my mind never agreed with me and that’s what made the wait all the more frustrating and long. I still remember how on the third Friday last November when I was waiting for her and she didn’t turn up till dusk, she didn’t wait for long as her brother came up and said “Isabella we have to head home, its late”. That was when I became aware of her name. Since then there was so much I wanted to do, so much I wanted to say but to me she was like this totally different specie. Someone who exists for only a while and the rest of the time she is just like a dream, someone from a far away land where I can never go but only picture in the ocean of my thoughts.

I snapped out of my dream world when I heard a bunch of Japanese people arrive. They always managed to lighten me up as they were some of the nicest people anyone could come across. There was this little Japanese kid with them who seemed kind of amused as he waved and smiled. His little Asian eyes twinkling with joy. Before I could return the gesture the little boy took off like a missile. It wasn’t long before the rest of the Japanese left.

It was almost mid day now and there was still no sign of Isabella and I was growing impatient by the minute. The feeling that Isabella wont show today again took over as I grew restless and pelted a stone towards the sky. It didn’t take a lot of altitude before it landed on Nicky’s shoulders who by the way was Carl’s girl and worked with him. She turned and came towards me and said “someone’s in a bad mood, is there anything I can get you”. She was one of the few people who understood me and I was so happy for Carl as I thought they compliment each other really well. She was standing there looking at me as if wondering where my mind wandered. It wasn’t long before she had to leave as I heard Carl call her. Just as she left, the nightmare came to haunt me again and by that I mean Ryan. He is still here I thought as he walked towards me. I knew I had to stop myself from losing my temper and that he was only here for a short while and his mother will fetch him soon. He made a face, a really disgusting one. “Hey Ryan that face you are making looks better than your normal face. How about making it permanent.” Said Isabella as she walked towards us. I just stood there motionless as I saw her. Ryan turned, made another of his special faces at Isabella and fled. “He lives on my block, he is one nasty rascal” she said and waved at me. I waved back at her and she smiled, she knew instantly how happy I was to see her, like always. Usually she didn’t speak to me much but whenever she did I felt on top of the world. She would only come by and stay for a while. She was right in front of me but still the distance seemed never ending, at the back of my mind I knew that she would be gone again in a little while, back to the place where she lived. I always tried to paint the picture of that place in my mind, the place I knew as a far away land, of which I wanted to be a part of. Never did I look towards the sky without asking the almighty to let me be with her, but all to no avail.

She hanged around longer than usual that day and I just prayed that the moment should never end. But just then her brother came up and pulled her by her hand and said “Isabella lets go, mom’s waiting”. She gazed at me as our eyes locked and I felt that something was just not right. It was as if she wanted me to know something but wasn’t sure if she should really say it or not. She took a step towards me and waved and for the first time gave a smile which seemed more forced than natural. “Goodbye Johnson” was all she could say before her brother pulled her away. They walked off as I stood there looking at them. She turned once just before she was out of sight. I still couldn’t figure out as to what had happened and confused I helped myself to a drink of water; happy all the same as I had just met her. After dinner I tried to force myself to sleep but Isabella’s thoughts flooded my mind. This was more like a routine. I am not really sure as to how long it took me to sleep that night.

Next morning I got up a little later than usual thinking that I have only 6 days to go before I see Isabella again. Saturday morning always brought a smile to Carl’s face as he knew he could spend the entire Saturday evening and Sunday with Nicky. He fixed me a grand breakfast and said “see you on Monday John”. I lazed around for a while before I got up and walked around for sometime. Friday was the only day I lived for and unlike Monday, Saturday was the worst day of the week for me. There were quite a lot of people around as it was the weekend but nothing seemed interesting. Everyone was having a nice time as I saw kids running around and couples holding hands and aged people strolling around enjoying the sunny day that it was. They didn’t seem to have a worry in the world and all they cared about was to have a great time as most of them were way past their working age. The day seemed to drag but finally it was over and so were the next 5 until it was Thursday evening again, and I got ready to sleep knowing what day it was tomorrow.

I rubbed my eyes as I opened them to a beautiful Friday morning preparing myself for my rendezvous with the person who I saw every time I closed my eyes and wanted to be with every time I opened them.

Morning turned into afternoon and afternoon turned into evening and there was no sign of Isabella. I looked at my 5’o clock shadow and glanced at the sun which was on its way down the horizon. I prayed to him to wait a little longer but then my prayers never come true. Soon it was dark as night took its toll. There were not many people around and the number only decreased and still no hint of Isabella. Where was she? Why didn’t she come? Is she alright? Thousands of different thoughts struck me at the same time, but there was little I could do. I had never felt so helpless and low in my entire life. There was no way of knowing why she didn’t come by for the first time in 4 long years. I was sad and there was no one to share it with and I wished the best for Isabella as I tried to put myself to sleep.

It has been three weeks now since she had come by and Carl was really worried as he could notice the change in my attitude over the past few days. Joy was something I could not relate to anymore and Isabella was the only thing I could think of day in and day out. Today was Friday again and I had but little hope of seeing Isabella. Right from morning I sat like a statue scanning the crowd for Isabella. I searched and searched in the sea of people but it was as if it was not meant to be. My heart just didn’t know when to give up and eyes didn’t know when to stop searching. Just then I spotted Ryan coming towards me. This was the last thing I wanted as I was already down and out. But there was no stopping Ryan. It was as if he knew I hated him and that gave him some immense joy as he stood there making one of his many weird faces. “Who is going to save you today?” he said. “Even Isabella has left the city as her family has moved away to Sydney”. Those words speared my eardrums as I stood there trying to absorb what Ryan had just said. Isabella was gone I thought as my knees grew weak. I realized why she had a forced smile on her face when I saw her last.

I didn’t notice the face Ryan made as I turned away from him and sat down lost in my thoughts. I was furious at God because he knew there was no way I could be with her but now I couldn’t even see her. For me she was always this girl from a place I didn’t know anything about, a place I called the far away land, where I just didn’t belong, I just didn’t fit and I just couldn’t go to. Dreaming was the closest I could get to that place. What made me feel worse was that now she was further away. I was heart broken.

Suddenly I heard a large thud as Ryan knocked down the signboard in front of my enclosure just as Carl chased him away and fixed the signboard which read…… “Please do not feed, tease or irritate the monkey. Canberra City Zoo Management.”

WRITTEN BY HARJINDER SINGH RAI

IF I COULD......I WOULD

i am sure everyone wonders about time travel and changing the past for a better or customized future...........what would u do if u could go back in time and change any one thing...........this is the question i have pondered over for years now and there was only one thing i could help decide on.......i decided to go back into the stone age and change the custom of men hunting and women taking care of the young..........ever wondered what would happen if u reverse it....men doing the baby sitting whilst women hunt.........well if that could have happened the world today would have been a different place...........

imagine if we would have evolved that way .... if that was the foundation laid for our society today,,,,,,,what changes woud we see.......

men would have been the fairer,,,,weaker,,,,and the exploited sex today..........imagine having words such as househusband.....manny(nanny)......dressing up would be a man`s thing and the best part is we wouldnt have to work so hard on scoring with a chick.......it would be the chicks headache now.......

and well maybe the ozone layer was still safe.....................more than half the extinct animal species would still be around.........cleanliness was more popular..................baby seals would be baby seals................

on the other hand

we would take hours to dress up and color our hair every now and then......BALDNESS would be a chicks problem........we wouldnt be so crazy about sex as we would be the gender in demand and we could easily mary a millionare chick just because of our good looks......so what if she is 88....Anna Nicole Smith didnt care..........................i know most of u dont agree to this but imagine what would it be like if this would have actually happened. what if these people from stone age would have been indians (lazy to the bones) and they just woudnt hunt,,,,,,,,and the women decided to do their job.............well all i can say is that we had a 50% chance but its been ages since we missed it and now our only hope is breaking the fabric of time and rip it into pieces and save a very tired and stupid specie

THE TRAIN HOME

come diwali and the whole of india lights up with people returning to their hometowns and trains and planes overbooked..........the train i decided to take was overbooked and as luck shall have it i missed a reservation by a mere 10 people...............i decided to board anyways and found myself standing outside the A.C. coach with an old couple aged anywhere between 50 - 60 and two others........ there was no way we would get a seat and the only option we had was to sit next to the door or the loo...........i decided on the door and made myself comfortable on the ground as i saw more and more people board the train.....no one was fined or questioned as it was the holiday season and commuters had outnumbered the railway officials and so fearing the worst the officials backed off......(thats india for u).........i had 18 hours ahead of me and i didnt know how will i survive when i realised i had a "J" in my pocket which i assumed shall help me redeem myself.......i made my way to the loo but the ten second journey took me an amazing ten minutes as there was a sea of people all readyto take on hours of pain just to get home this diwali,,,,,,,,i finished my joint and floated back to my three square inches of place next to the door which i shared with 4 others........the aged couple had problems of their own as i heard from a co passenger that the old lady was suffering from cancer and had just been operated upon........i felt sorry for the couple but the most i could do was talk to the officials and get her a seat atleast to sit on let alone sleep.......... but alas indian govt officials are not the right people to go with a request and the most i managed from them was a so called mattress which they gave me and asked me to lay it on the ground and seat the old lady............ i was disgusted but took the mattress as i hadnt even expected that..................i had beads of sweat trickle down my muscular(lol) back and chest.........the irony of the situation was that we were standing right outside the air conditioned coach and being baked.........i looked at my watch and realised that i had another 12 hours to go........i hadnt seated my arse for the longest time now..........i bought lunch and the only place available to eat was near the loo(if u are wondering about the smell which indian loos emit then just think about a pile of dead bodies heated to about 50 degrees and filled with raw cheese).......i decided to eat till i can, and thats exactly what i did....i ate till i could and then i ate some more...........and then i made a run for my little place near the door as i having trouble holding my lunch in my stomach due to the odour from the loo.................. so much for diwali i thought just as i realised i had another "j" in my shirt pocket........i finished it in no time and the train halted at a station and the gods smiled at me........more than half of the people in the coach had gotten off and i at last had a place to sit in an automatically cooled coach for which i had paid dearly for........... i was so happy that i could cry as i had stood next to the loo and the door for the last 13 hours and sweated like a dog, ate near the loo(indian loo), shared the gangway with 30 people........ and now i was sitting in a cool and comfortable cushion thanking god for his kindness when i heard a co passenger say........HEY BROTHER ISNT THIS WHERE YOU GET DOWN?????????