MJ

Yesterday was like just another day. I reached office and then opened the PC. Clicked on IE and the MSN page came up. There I read - Michael Jackson dies at 50. I just could not believe it. I tried to find out more. Put 'Michael Jackson' on Google and hit the 'search' button. On wikipedia it said - Michael Jackson (29th Aug 1958 to 25 Jul 2009) 'was' an American recording artist, entertainer and businessman. I was shocked. Called up home and told Prajakta, she also didn't believe it. Then I called up dad, he knew it and also told me that one of our family friends also expired.
It was Bad, the 'King of Pop' was no more...A legend was gone...An era had come to end. I just could not take it that such a lively person would be lying cold & without breath at some hospital in the US. This was impossible. India was waking up & was scheduled to meet its usual schedule. Not many knew in the morning that MJ was no more..it took time for all of us...to believe, to digest & to accept(?). Not many days before I read that he was working on a comeback...concerts in London & other places. I was thrilled..would have loved to see the King performing yet again, people screaming, dancing, crying, enjoying and..fainting. Such was the aura, such was the craziness.
How can we forget you Michael? We grew up listening to you, tried to sing like you, tried to imitate your dance moves..you were just great.
Abhishek logged on Gchat and he read my staus line - "MJ - we will never forget u..." he too was shocked. He said "he was just 50". I told him "yeah, but he lived 1576800000 seconds entertaining people". That became his (AN's)tagline, much to my jealous mind.
For guys of my age (and may be of more and less) he was an institution. His posters adored many a walls in the hostel..his pictures postered proudly on Tshirts and his concert attended much to the ire of parents. This brings back memories when he came to India. Aapla Raj thackeray played a pivotal role in making the concert happen...this was something phenomenol..for his indian fans. I remember Raj saying in one of his interviews something like "It is not that anyone could not have made this concert happen, but anybody who wanted to do it would have surely required our help". (No politics please! but very true!!).
The military outfits, the reflecting aviator glasses, the curls of hairs on the face, the smile, the white socks on black folded pants, the moonwalk, the gravity defying dance acts, the signature hiccuff filled voice, the social messages in his songs of late, the videos of his numbers, the craze, the fan following.. just unimaginable.
Long live the King ... or in Indian emotions as Kaushik rightly said "MJ amar rahe"

Being poetic

The rendition of 'Madhushala' (a few quartlets of it) by Amitabh in many of his interviews were always a treat to the ears. Thanks to Google, I can have a copy of it (and all the literature) I can ever think of. 'Madhushala' is a collection of 135 such quartlets which I have discovered only today & all of them end with the word'Madhushala'.
I have been through some of them & believe that our day to day incidences can be best described through any of these.(Well! remembering all of them should be a big thing to do & impress(?) people).
One of the 4 lines go like this -
मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवला,
'किस पथ से जाऊँ?' असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला,
अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ -
'राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला।'। ६।
which means that choose a path u desire & follow it, then you are destined to reach the place of your dreams.
The latest sher in one of the movies goes like this which is similar to the above
इतनी शिद्दत से मैंने तुम्हे पाने की कोशिश की है
की हर एक जर्रे ने मुझे तुमसे मिलाने की साजिश की है।

There is nothing new happening in life at the moment. The last news was that I quit Indal/Hindalco for good. This was difficult for a lot of people to believe. But then, I thought to leave the old shoe comfort. Quite an old pair of shoes it was! Around 8 years at the same place & doing the same things...i.e, being in the same department for all the while. Was really pissed off.

Have joined a new company. Travelling takes time & is a bit hectic. But feels good. Its indeed nice to see new faces, meet new people & keep going. Pankaj had come down to Mumbai. He was the one I have spent a lot of (most) academic time together. From 1st standard to 10th in New Bombay High School & then till 12th at Fr. Agnel Jr. College & till we got confirmed seats in Engineering we attended Swami Vivekananda, Chembur for a couple of months doing Diploma.