Why Abhishek hates Mathematics?

When I was 8, my mother gave me 75 paise. It was a small fortune then. The money was strictly meant to buy a pencil and an eraser. I fancied the idea of going to the stationery shop near my school. The moment also celebrated my mother's firm belief in me. After all, I'd be carrying money with me- For the first time! Those 2 shiny little coins in my pocket made me feel proud!

My fantasy was shattered when I saw the shop being closed on that day. I waited till my school short interval time hoping that it would open later. During this wait, a sweetmeat cart, which was parked nearby the shop caught my attention. I saw the berries, guavas, the peppermint candy, the mint candy and all other eligible items of a push cart. My mouth watered at the sight of the berries being wrapped up in a small piece of newspaper, with salt sprinkled over it, shaken wisely and packed, and given to those 'lucky pupils'.

Like any other kid, I too was tempted to buy those goodies. However, I wasn't sure about the price of a pencil and an eraser. I wondered if I will have enough money left to buy those goodies. Standing before the sweetmeat cart, I kept my palms in my little knicker pockets and stared at the guavas- of all shapes and sizes and the glass bottles where the peppermint candies were kept. Then, I took out my coins. The 50 paise coin had Indira Gandhi, the 25 paise coin had a rhinoceros, embossed on it. My heart was beating fast. Questions erupted in my mind. What will I tell mother? Can I confess that I was very hungry and hence ate berries, guava and peppermint candies? (Despite the fact that I was carrying my lunch box too) What if I still manage to buy a pencil and also those candies? Will she ask me to explain the calculation? Will she thrash me for this horrifying act of mine?

I ran back to my classroom, opened the last page of my notebook and did some subtraction. With a pencil stub, I wrote 75-30= 45; 75-25= 50 and so on. I assumed the cost of pencil and eraser together to be 50 paise and I would still still be left with 25 paise. I went on doing this calculation, till I analyzed that whatever I spend towards goodies, I can still buy a pencil and eraser. I came back to the sweetmeat cart and gave the 'rhinoceros coin' to the seller. He chopped a juicy guava , dipped the knife in salt and smeared it all over inside the fruit and gave it to me. I wolfed it down.

During lunch time, I went to check the stationery shop and yet again found it closed. This time, my lips smacked at the sight of those salted berries. I again ran back to my classroom, opened the last page of my notebook and judiciously calculated till I was forced to drop the idea of purchasing an eraser. I thought I'd still be left with 35 paise, good enough to buy a pencil. I ran excitedly towards the seller and gave him the 'Indira Gandhi coin'. He gave me a juicy little packet containing salted berries, but to my horror he also gave me an old rusty 20 paise coin. He told me that the price of berries was 30 paise! I didn't knew what to do? I felt as if I had lost a gold coin, a souvenir. It looked as if I lost a huge amount of money. The Indira Gandhi coin was gone, and in return I got an ugly 20 paise coin that threatened to wash my dirty linen in public.

Eating those berries, I tried to cook some believable reasons, that I thought can put my mother at ease. I thought I'd tell amma that I was damn hungry and my lunch box wasn't sufficient. Or I'd say I wanted to taste those goodies, but never realized the cost etc. Nevertheless, I also had to remember the calculations, and explain how I had spent 75-55 paise= 20 paise Till evening, my cerebellum and cerebrum was involved in calculations- Namely, Addition and Subtraction. Mathematics during Social studies class, Mathematics during P.T etc. And all those calculations narrowed down to 20 paise.

By the time the school was over for the day, I trotted back towards the sweetmeat cart. I thought I'd go and ask him the price of each peppermint candy. I learned that it costed 5 paise each. I suddenly realized my assertiveness(Read: Dumb or nincompoop) and explicitly asked him to give me 2 peppermint candies. Of course, in return, I also got an old Aluminum made 10 paise coin with no beauty. I was too tired to recollect the total Hisaab of the day. However, I blissfully devoured those peppermint candies at regular intervals on my way back home!

What happened once I reached home? How did I confront my mother? How did she react to my debut spending? What explanation did I gave her for pencil and eraser? Was I able to justify the exact calculation?

I'd leave the readers to ponder. Perhaps, the title of this article suggests- any body's guess!

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La copa de la Vida

"Basava..One special!

The 13 something round faced boy quickly responds to my call and appears before me with a glass. I coddle with the spirit in that glass, only to realize that its time to unwind myself. This spirit also manages to flabbergast the crowd flocked near the stall. It feels great to see everyone judiciously enjoy their drink under the sky with the sun on their shoulders. The taste is divine and comparing it with the office coffee making machine would be an insult.

Tea- Call it elating, exhilarating or intoxicating, is my favorite beverage. And this article is a tribute to the widow who runs a small Tea shack on a corner at Road number 12 in the plush Banjara Hills area- Hyderabad. Located about 200 meters away from my workplace building, this place can give you a food for thought. And hey, If you are a kind of stickler for hygiene, ingredients and the like, I strongly recommend you discard reading this article. All right so you don't..Ok read on.

I have always been amazed at the reorder stock level maintained by this woman who manages to serve the Tea to all the customers in a jiffy! The set up, like most ordinary roadside tea stall consists of a wooden bench and one oily stove. Of course they have a shade too ( sponsored by Tata Indicom!!). And not surprisingly you must stand and drink. Of course there is a cement platform laid by State Bank nearby. For people who have no patience to stand and sip, their bums will say a big thanks to this cement platform which can easily accommodate 10 people sitting in a row.

The woman is assisted by her only son named Basava( who also claims to be a Chiranjeevi Fan) and two little daughters( don't know the names) who are often spotted in school uniforms( thankfully). And Let me tell you guys, their eyes are a true depiction of hard work. Perhaps people accustomed to Cafe Cofee day or Barista culture may not notice that. For an unconventional thinker like me, this place stimulates my thoughts and gives me scope to derive a movie material out of that!

Because the regular crowd of this joint makes it very interesting. The crowd is my vivid recollection of Naya Nukkad serial that appeared on Doordarshan years ago! One among them is a mysterious 50 year old Junior Artist who stands 7 feet tall. You could see his jeans pocket stuffed with an English newspaper and a handkerchief tied around his neck. His pal is a tiny and puny traffic constable, whose tone can take many of us for a surprise. Yes, his tone is bellowing! This 5 foot cop doesn't cop-out yelling at auto rickshaw drivers and other heavy vehicles who unauthorizedly park their vehicles. They tremble in fear and make necessary adjustments to set things right.

The reason for our amusement is because his physical attribute and his tone just doesn't seem to match at all. This earned him a nickname from my fellows who fondly call him Bacchan saab!

We have a security guard of a never working SBI ATM nearby, who doesn't waste time performing his duties. He wakes up post his ever lasting siesta, only for his 4 pm tea. The sight of white, blue and collarless people give you the impression of an animated conversation. And a deeper insight would give you their attitude too. People who hold a cigarette in one hand and a glass in another will generally have the ID card worn around their neck. There is also an official, smartly dressed in branded clothes, walks towards the stall with a thermos flask in hand making me curious about his work profile! A group of 3 female tea drinkers can be found always sitting in their favorite corner. A waiter of the nearby Pizza Hut manages his tea and also finds time to call and chat with his girl friend.

The place will perhaps miss a regular magnanimous visitor in me. I have admired the dedicated enterprising team of this family of 4, and needless to say my creativity and urge to work hard has grown by leaps and bounds during my stint.

I now understand why the Tea tastes so good here!

© All rights reserved with Abhishek Naini. No form of this may be reproduced without prior permission from the author.

Life as Lollipop- Part 2

'I love to cry in the rain so that no one can see my tears' - Charlie Chaplin

With a heavy and dismal heart, I pen down the final part. Lot of people have expressed their feelings about part1. Mixed reactions of readers- Too realistic; Boring, Philosophical. Yet some of them told me that they were desperately waiting for second part. I respect the feedback from these individuals who come from all walks of life.

However, thats what precisely is my conviction. Being adamant, I write whatever I feel like, say, talk or think whatever I feel I should. Call it being courageous or going against conviction. In life, courage and conviction are two different entities and give a very unusual way of interpretation. Very uncommon sight, just like a fully clothed Pamela Anderson!

Like I have said, we all are born in this world for a purpose, when the purpose is achieved, we leave heavenly abode. period. I often think of people who are no longer a part of this world and ask myself, what are these guys doing wherever they are? watching us from heaven? Its idiotic to think on these lines, but exciting too!


This may give you a sign of relief or an expression of dismay about the fact that I am not going to write anything more about this Life. The hard candy of the lollipop is the life and gets over post sucking and licking. Only the stick which had the candy mounted on it remains. Thats our life!


Take a look at your life now and then. Your childhood: The day when you peed in your nappies( if you remember that). The day when you knew nothing about money, sex and power. Times when you watched Doordarshan and waited for Chitrahaar or one movie a week( Sunday or Saturday)

Your present: Bombarded with technology, too many channels to choose from. Too busy to laugh-smile over little things of life! Thinking about the next that that you will do after reading this article or worried about a stupid meeting at office. The list goes on. Of course some of you may be thinking "why the fuck did we grew up?"

Before I rest my essay I leave some questions for the reader to ponder. Pause for a moment, think about YOURSELF.Your name and your breath,Your mind and then read on:

Who are you?
What makes you to live?
Why are you scared about death( most of us)?
Ever realized how you will be 10 years from now? ( No, this is not a HR question)

Think! It helps!

Have a great Life ahead!

© All rights reserved with Abhishek Naini. No form of this may be reproduced without prior permission from the author.

Life as a lollipop- Part 1

Tom Hanks puts it beautifully in Forrest Gump- Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get! The intensity of this dialogue is suave yet it guarantees thoughts and questions ahead.

Each day of my life begins on a endless thought provoking questionaire. I try hard to ask and answer myself " Let me get this straight- What's the purpose of life? Why is human born when death is inevitable? What is marriage? religion? Caste and creed? The list is endless and transforms me into a very different Abhishek. I copped out at the thought of writing because I felt it'd be crazy and I'd actually be rubbishing the writeup, but again became reluctant.

Sometime back over a cup of coffee discussion with my friend I learnt that- God designs and designates every individual's role. Call it programming in todays language. Some leave this world sooner the task is completed. Some indulge in mass destruction( 9/11) Some try to adopt discarded children( Mother Teresa) I could possibly go on giving examples to eternity..and Oh Yes! Even now, at this moment, my role is to write this blog and leave the readers to ponder over my assumptions and reality bites ( if it deserves to be true)

I'd put it in a different way. Picture this-I actally had happened to stop at a traffic signal at a crossroads and I saw the world around me- A beggar at the traffic signal Vs Palatial mansion with rich interiors; A daughter of a rich tycoon in a Mercedes Benz Vs Ambulance with its active visual warning and uncertain life inside; A man with his wife and a kid on a bike Vs cart seller hoping to find good business; A film poster with characters tampered, for the purpose of deception Vs a pedestrian. I persuade my mind to think about such people whenever I come across them.

The beggar has a history which no one knows. The mansion is built by masons who dream to build a home for themselves. Post the mainsions completion, the owner wouldn't even remember the name of the masons. The rich daughter in Mercedez is considered as an arrogant and conceited by most of the passerbys. Reason- Perceptions make their way from legacies. There is someone struggling in that ambulance. If I speak logically, everyone who is in the way of that ambulance will be accountable for the life and death of that person. The man with his wife and a kid may be riding a bike that he took as a part of dowry. He must be thinking of buying a car or rather cursing himself on getting married. The characters in that poster perhaps are on cloud 9 knowing that their poster stands tall at a famous crossroad of the city. The pedestrian, clueless about his future walks away maybe he has looked at me and made perceptions or something that you could never figure out whats running in his mind. Reason everyone in this world has a history. Though it may not date back to dinosaurs age (mildly put!)

What is common to all of them? Life and death. they are born the same way and will die the same way. I sometimes try and compile the number of emotions attached to each individual. Does this world realize what is life? We are born, attend school, finish education, make money, try to get rich, marry, complain, compliment, comment, laugh, become old and die a death that is miserable, accidental or natural.

These days, many complain of boredom. I have come across so many people. If I understand them correctly, they are surviving not living! Its because we do not adapt to situations that surround us.

End of Part 1

© All rights reserved with Abhishek Naini. No form of this may be reproduced without prior permission from the author.