She is coming back!

From the eyes of aspiration and thirst of desperation, she is coming back. Mumbai rains are coming back. When the mornings will burst with singing downpour, the kids will take another off from school. Pools of water alongside the road will become their friends. Little girls in tunics will gather on the green with butterfly clips on their head to play ringa ringa roses. The sun will shy and faces will glow. In locals and BESTs, laughter will roar every time burst of drops is set to pour. When the sky will make a thunderous sound, she will find shelter in your arms. From Bandra to Worli, the sea will sing on the beats of clouds. The offices will cheer, looking through the pane. Meetings cancelled and early to home, a sheer joy to have the evening tea with love. New energies and new ideas will take the charge.

***

From the fear of blockage and stress of potholes, she is coming back. Mumbai rains are coming back. When the mornings will burst from scary downpour, plastic bags will swim on Andheri station. Men and women rushing to their offices will twist & turn and barge and bump into each other to save themselves from the dirt. Kurla will go wild with filth on the rise, day will be dim; “Whose kid is it? Whose kid is it?” khaalaa jaan will scream. The locals will dance, late about an hour. Still in the train, people will reign, this time a little too closer. Broadway will be on the Lower Parel bridge when the rain is sharp. SV will be cramped, Linking will go shrink, Milan might be safe if there is no mole in the drain. Dadar will drown with Mahim-Matunga in its crown.

***

In barsaaton ne humein bahut bhigoya hai,
Kya karen, aapki kuch aadat si ho gayi hai.

Save these Innocent Smiles...

My heart goes out for Pakistan. With non-stop bomb blasts, open firing and blatant attacks; I fear that this beautiful country will crumble soon. Today again many innocent people got slaughtered under the nose of Pakistan government. The pictures of devastation were nerve wrecking. It set fear in me. I am worried about the kids of Pakistan. Kids with beautiful names like Ali, Junaid, Zoya, Salim, Safina, Rashid and a million more. Kids dressed in little pathani kurta pajamas with small caps on their head. Kids with cute faces, naughty eyes. Kids who go to school and come back home running in throwing there bags away and rushing back to play gali cricket. Kids who are just like our kids…may be just like us when we were kids. I am really worried what will happen to these kids when Taliban will reign over the state of Pakistan. The mere mention of Taliban gives me goose bumps. If you have read Khaled Hosseini’s “A thousand splendid suns” or “The kite runner”, you will understand what I am hinting at. And, if you haven’t read then think of a situation when you are held in the center of a stadium and killed brutally by stones thrown at you!! That’s Taliban! And this heinous group is mercilessly killing these kids…will keep on killing these kids. The worst part is there is nobody to save them. The schools will be closed; the women will be humiliated by rapes, molestations and murders all around. Educated and settled professionals; probably parents of these kids will be butchered in front of them. Many of these kids will become future Talibanis and Pakistan will go 50 years back in past. I am worried about those little girls who today go to school, play in the ground and enjoy evenings with there mothers in grocery markets. All this will become history. Due to impotency of Pakistan’s government these innocent, aspirational, ‘just like us’ people will be ruined. If I am not wrong, The Lahore Institute of Management Sciences is one of the best in South Asia. What will happen to these students who are looking forward to the global corporate world? I don’t think they are any different from the management students of India, Singapore, Canada, US, UK, Australia or France.

The cricket team of Pakistan can play at a neutral venue but where will this youth study?