To my sweetheart, with love.

Dearest Mercedes – Benz,

It’s been years that I have hidden my feelings for you deep in my heart. But seeing you turn 125 years old today (29^th Jan,2011), I couldn’t control my patience to tell you what I feel for you…..Baby, I’m truly, madly and deeply in love with you.

I don’t know how, but over the years that I have seen you, I have always been mesmerized by your class, your beauty, the attitude and the way you carry yourself. It has been close to 16 years that I fell for you and I have chased you ever since with the intention to flirt….but you continue to elude me. While my dad would be at work in his office at Nariman point those days, I would be roaming the streets of marine drive looking for you. The very sight of you being happy in safe hands gave me immense amount of happiness.

I swear on you darling, all these years, I have had crushes on BMWs, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Harleys and other beauties but nothing could come close to my love and commitment for you, and it will remain for years to come. Never has it happened that you have zoomed past and I have not turned back to take a second look envying the lucky person owning you.

You have given the world the first front tire breaks, the seat belt, the traction control, the ABS, the first diesel car and countless other technologies which I can’t recollect as I write this love letter of mine…but I always agree to what your father said, “ There is a Mercedes in every car”. You have been a source of inspiration to everybody else….living by example…a pioneer in safety, comfort, class, luxury, beauty and sex appeal….It’s been 125 years to your birth but you look as elegant and pretty as before. I have always looked forward to your new designs and makeovers to blow me over. Though you have always looked gorgeous being a C class, E class, S class, M class, SLK, AMG, etc….but for me, you looked like my dream girl being an SLR Mclaren. I had you as ‘her’ on my desktop wallpaper for close to 3 years and would be lost in her sheer beauty every time.

Baby, I feel that I have a connection with you, may be from my past life. I know that I don’t have the money or the resources to make you mine now…..after all, loving you will be a costly affair... But sweetheart, I promise that I will do everything to make you mine one day….and keep you happy in every way I can...pamper you like my queen….We just need to be patient and hopeful to unite one day.

Sweetheart, consider this as my official ‘proposal’ for lifelong commitment because the day that I’m supposed to be on my knees, holding a ‘briefcase full of cash’ to ask you out looks a little distant to me as of now.

I will be waiting for your arrival in my life….and I hope you make the right choice too by becoming mine one day. Love you forever, always……yours and only yours…..Mohit

End of Ignition Band-Age

The following might have been the last original song performed by Band Ignition... but the dream remain unfulfilled... I miss the days of the IGNITION BAND-AGE... :-(

Looking down the memory lanes
The days of fun and fights on games
The time, that is gone
Will not be back again...

We loved to entertain, today and in past
Our hearts danced too, when you had a blast
Time simply passed, like sand in hand
Last goodbye from the Ignition Band...

Those days of joys and nights of fun
We're gonna miss you everyone
Time has come, for our new start
Hope you keep us deep in your heart.....

27/01/11

Mosquito borne diseases - Street play.

The Following is a street play written to be performed for the illiterate poor people of Vaitarna where I was posted for my rural posting…..it turned out to be the first Marathi play I participated in and was quite significant because “Mala Marathi yet nahi” – I don’t know Marathi.
 

A day in Vaitarna Government School

Teacher – Mohit - Present Mam

Salman - Present Mam

Katrina - "Mam she is absent",says someone.

Deepika - Present Mam

Kareena - Present Mam

Ranbeer - "Mam he is absent",says someone.

John - "Mam he is absent",says someone.

After all attendance is taken….

Teacher – Does anyone of you know why Katrina, John and Ranbir are absent since last 2-3 days ?

Mohit – Mam, John has gone to his masi Bipasha’s house…..Ranbir and Katrina are down with high fever.

Teacher – What ? Did they go to some doctor ?

Mohit – No Mam, their mummy says ‘sardi hai’ (its cold), they will be fine in sometime.

Teacher – Cold for 3 days.... Children,today we will study not from the books but I will teach you all something for your good….You can tell it to your parents, neighbors…but I want full participation from you all….Ok ?

All students together – Yes mam.

Teacher – Good….Mohit, now you tell me, why do we get fever ?

Mohit – Teacher, if we take bath in cold water, if it is cold weather outside and we are not wearing full clothes, or we don’t dry our head after taking bath…..we get fever.

Teacher – Yes, you are partly right…..anybody else ?

Salman – (Raising hands and jumping to show off ) Mam, I had heard that most mosquitoes cause fever.

Teacher – Yes, very good Salman, this is what I wanted to hear.Children, since we stay in a village with lots of greenery around, there are many mosquitoes that live close to our household…..Today we are going to discuss about them and how we fall ill because of them..Are you all interested to know ?

All students together showing interest – Yes Mam.

Teacher – Deepika, Do you know how do we get malaria ?

Deepika – Mam, through mosquitoes.

Teacher – Very good…..now you tell me what other illnesses can mosquitoes cause ?

Students don’t know..

Teacher – No one ? Alright….listen carefully.At night, when you don’t put mosquito repellents and you go to sleep, mosquitoes will slowly come through your window…It knows where it can find sweet sweet blood…..so it will come, bite you and suck your blood to have a stomach full grand meal.

All Students – Ohhhhhh….

Teacher – Now if Mohit’s blood is sweeter than Deepika’s, what will the mosquito do ?....It will inject Deepika’s blood in Mohit and drink Mohit’s blood…..Now if Deepika is suffering from malaria or any other disease, wont Mohit also get it ??

All students – hmmmmm and laughing on Mohit and Deepika.

Kareena – Mam, which all diseases can be transferred through a mosquito bite ?

Teacher – not 1 but many…..malaria, filaria, dengue, chikankunya…….many more.

Mohit – Mam, how will be know if we have the fever caused by cold or fever from mosquito ?

Teacher – Very good question…..In fever caused due to cold, actually the symptoms are mild grade fever, headache, weakness…..but in fever caused by mosquitoes, we have major symptoms like very high fever, chills, severe body ache, vomiting, extreme weakness, joint pain, rashes, don’t feel like eating anything….Is it all not a reason to worry ?

All students – hmmmmmmm…

Teacher – So children, tell me what should you do when you have such symptoms ? Do you wait or……

All students together – We should go to a doctor……

Teacher – Very good everyone.

Salman – Teacher, where do mosquitoes hide ? I don’t see them in day time….Also where they lay eggs, on flowers like butterflies ?

Teacher – No child….Mosquitoes lay eggs in stagnant water….any water collection….in your plant pot, useless tyre, box, ponds….Now do you all understand why we get most fevers during monsoon ?

All students – Yes Mam…

Deepika – Teacher, where do they go during day time ?

Teacher – They usually hide in store rooms, behind hung clothes, in bushes…anywhere they can hide and play Hide n’ seek.

All students laughing.

Deepika – Mam, water is very important in day to day life..how can we prevent breeding ?

Teacher – Very simple….you should not allow stagnant water to accumulate near your homes….Make sure you have neat environment and cleanliness at your home and outside…In big ponds, people put some kerosene oil which forms a layer on the surface of water and eggs don’t get proper air for their growth…..and you all know ? there is a fish called Gambusia which eats mosquitoes children….

All students – Oh….

Teacher – So children, what did you all learn today ?

Mohit – About how we should not take fever lightly….do to a doctor immediately and take proper medicines….

Teacher – So will you all go home and tell your parents and neighbors about what you all learnt today ?

All students – Yes Mam…

The bell rings, all students get up to show respect to their teacher……

Teacher – Next time, we will again talk on something educational like today…..and all of you will also tell me what you told at home….Thank you class.

Fruits of Education - Street Play

The following is the Second of the Educational Street Plays written for the people of Vaitarna....

Narrator - One night in a farmer's home....

Sumati (Wife) - What happened ? Why are you so sad ?

Ramprasad (Farmer) - Nothing, everything is fine...

Sumati - Look, I'm your wife..when we got married, we promised that we will go through happy and sad phase in life together....equally share the burden of life...You have to tell me.

Ramprasad - You are aware that the unseasonal rains this year have ruined our crop...so many of the farmers in the village have committed suicide….we too don't have enough money now...no savings...there is no problem from Suraj's (Son) side...he will become a farmer too...help me pay off our debt...As for Neelam (Daughter), we will get her married early...you keep her involved in household chores...she will be a good wife to her husband....what worries me is how are we going to survive now ?

Sumati - We would have not been in such position is we would have been educated a bit, at least we could have worked in some small government office in the village or may be we could have managed our daily finances better....

Ramprasad - Education doesn't matter....Am I educated ? No....Yet I am able to feed you all and take care you three....Look at Vishal, he went to the city for education, got into bad habits...wasted the money and now he spends the whole day drinking…Now you tell who is better off ?.....don;t worry, things will be fine….

Narrator – One day, his son Suraj falls ill. He is having high fever with chills and altered consciousness…Ramprasad takes Suraj to the local government small hospital.

Doctor – Malaria has set into the brain (cerebral malaria)….He has to be taken to a higher centre in the city for further treatment..we have done what we could best within our limited resources.

Narrator – Forgetting his worries, Ramprasad and Suraj head to the city…The poor farmer felt amazed looking at the city….the dressing of the people…girls and boys given freedom to wear what they want….At the hospital,

Ramprasad – Doctor sahib, I have come from a distant village…this is our referral letter…

Doctor ( a beautiful young female) – Your son has to be admitted immediately.

Narrator – while Suraj is admitted in the hospital, Ramprasad takes good care of him….medicines…love…

Ramprasad – Suraj, son you wait here….I will go and get some Nariyalpani (tender coconut) for you..afterall it is ‘Amrit’ for our family….it is what gives us all that we have…money,food…life.

“1 nariyalpani do”(Give me 1), to the shopkeeper….take this 5 rupees.

Shopkeeper – (Angrily) Which village are you from….It costs Rs.20 in this city.

Ramprasad – What ? I grow them on my land….we sell each for Rs.2 and you are asking me 10 times the price !!

Shopkeeper – In the city ,everything is expensive….buy it if you want to otherwise go away !

Suraj – (Looking at his father’s sad face) What happened ? Baba, why you look so sad ?

Ramprasad – Son, would you believe this..I bought this Nariyalpani for you for Rs.20…we sell each for Rs.2 and this shopkeeper gets 10 times the price…the middleman takes the major chunk of it..we slog day in and day out…live in such poor conditions….with no money, no food for days…..and these middlemen and shopkeepers make huge profit at our cost…I wished now that I had understood the value of education before, at least you could have come to the city and looks for higher avenues…

Suraj – Baba, don’t worry…its never too late for a new beginning…Once I’m well, we will go back to our village…I will learn the basic math and accounting and let us see where we can start.

Ramprasad – That’s a great idea….Son, you will be support for the old age…But let me share something with you….looking at the educated, decent female doctors here, I too feel that I would do injustice to your sister if I  don’t let her study…..she needs to come out of the village,see the city…I don’t want her to suffer like we did…being uneducated when the world took advantage of us …

Narrator – 3 days later, they return back to the village…

Sumati – By God’s grace, our son is fine now….my child….Hey, why you look in anxiety ?

Ramprasad – (Tells her everything about the city)….Now I have decided that our children should be educated too….I will ask a math teacher to come and teach Suraj….and I will arrange to send Neelam to the city for education…I want her to be a doctor…I will spend all my savings on their education, meanwhile I will find out the actual role of the middleman .

Narrator – Slowly, Ramprasad found out all the information about how the middlemen would buy so cheap from the villagers and sell at high price to take away all the profit…meanwhile his son was studying hard to get his accounting right….daughter had managed to get admission in a medical college in the city.

Suraj– Baba, I suggest we buy a tempo on loan and from now on, I will go personally and sell off our coconuts….why don’t we completely get away with the role of the middlemen…my accounts say that will be more profitable and money saver for us…

Ramprasad – Good idea son, I’m grateful that you are by my side…I’m proud of you my child.

Narrator – Ramprasad, Neelam and Suraj, all worked very hard in their respective fields…..soon the farmer started making huge profits and became a rich man….bought himself more land, labourers and trucks…selling most of the village’s coconuts himself and giving a major chunk of the profits to others as well…The farmer suicides had stopped too….Im 5 years, neelam had grown up to be a doctor and returned to the village to open a hospital in her parents name.
One night, 5 years later…

Sumati – Do you realize, approximately 5 years back….we were in such messy conditions financially, no food, no money….Look, God has been so kind to us to give us so much happiness…

Ramprasad – Do you remember what I had said about education that night ? I was all wrong….It is not God who has done wonders for us but Education….All this happiness and pride would not have been there had we not taken the correct decision to educate the children at the right time….(with tears dropping from his eyes) One day before I die, I want to use this money to open up a school in the village so that other villagers too understand its importance….