Poem: King

There was a King, who lost that war,
In which he gave his everything, he gave all.
He was great; he never took rest,
In every situation, he put his best.
The war was long,
His position was never too strong.
But, still he was there- fighting all the time,
Thinking that "in the last, glory will me mine".

Everybody warned him,
Advised him to get out of this.
Was that insecurity?
Or was that reality?
He was hopeful; he wanted to give his best,
It was his optimism or his over confidence?
Even he wasn't sure of what will happen,
But he wanted to make things happen than just happen.

He knew that if he falls he would be in great pain,
But he was hopeful that everything would dry up after the rain.
He was confident; he was resilient, so he took risk,
He thought that he would be out of the darkest deepest abyss.
Things changed, so does he,
Why not? He gave his everything.
He became so dependent; he wanted to win,
As if there is nothing else left to live.

Now the greatest king of all,
Has lost, he is on his fall.
He always knew that he might not get glory,
But now it's a different story.
He never thought that this would happen to the Mighty,
"Great King will look for the pity".
He didn't know that he would be in so much of pain,
Seems like there is only rain, rain and rain.

Ohh! I can't believe what I see,
Fallen king is standing on his knees.
He was broken, his every dream was shattered,
Now again he wants to dream, fight and win another battle.
He will be back; he will rise,
He will roar like a lion; he will shine.
Cheers! to him. Is he a human or a spring?
Let me welcome back the mighty King.

Somehow the King heard my every word,
and high in the air he raised his sword.
He forgot about his pain,
And he started fighting again.
Again he gave his everything,
Everything- for the glory and for winning.
He was happy because he knew he will be making history,
He was just one step closer to the victory.

Just when he was about to wear the crown,
an uneasiness inside him, he found.
He started seeing things differently,
now he does not want anything,
no name in the history,
no glory, no victory.
Neither hungry not contented,
he is going home back empty-handed.

-JAsdeep Mandia

Experience: on the way to Jhansi

I was looking outside from the window in the train. Then it passed from a bridge- a normal bridge, but long enough to make me realize that train is passing from it and just deep enough to give me a feeling that if trains falls down I will die for sure. What will happen if train derails or the bridge breaks? And then I imagined myself dying because of collision of trains moving in opposite direction, each with a speed of 90Km/hour. I felt small, I felt weak. There is always a chance- a probability that I meet an accident or miss it. And this chance is not in my hands. Then there are some more powerful forces- all the natural calamities. A scene of few hundred people dying because of Tsunami flashed in front of my eyes. I wasn't there. But this doesn't make me happy, I felt smaller, weaker.
And then, I realized I am too small and doesn't matter what all I do, I just can't control these things. All I can do is to accept it. It is a fact.And unlike emotions, facts are absolute- they are neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong. In a way, they are beautiful. And now, I am feeling quite peaceful.

Experience: A Smile

I was sitting on the back seat of the bike and my friend Pramod was driving. On this semi rushed road an open auto carriage was going just in front of us. There were bundles of magazines in it and a boy about 15 years in age was sitting in the center with an authority as that of a security personnel standing outside a bank. But, he was more free, more excited. He was enjoying the crowd while listening to the music from his mobile phone. I gave him a smile just to start a communication without any words. He returned a bigger smile. Automatically, I gave a smile, so big that I ever gave to any stranger. He gave an even bigger smile to me as if there is some competition between us, competition of who can give a bigger smile, competition of who is happier to see the other. I didn't try to be better, didn't try to show how big a smile I can give. May be because I didn't want to fake it, or may be because I surrendered in front of his big broad smile, or may be because I didn't know how to react? He continued his smile, so did I. I was curious to know the name of the magazine and was trying different angles to read it. Suddenly, he opened up one bundle. He gave a big broad smile and again busied himself opening the bundle. He took out a magazine out of it. That was the moment I started laughing. My guess was right. He was opening it for me. He looked at me. We laughed. And then, he offered me that magazine. We were just smiling and laughing. Pramod took the bike just next to that auto and I accepted his gift as if it is for me only, as if its my birthday and I deserve this gift, as if I am taking a token of friendship and good will in this world, as if I am collecting the proof to justify a conclusion that "smile is the most beautiful thing in this universe".
-Jas Mandia

article: My Favorite Number

Sometimes people used to ask me "what's your favorite one digit number?". And sometimes it was during quizzes or questionares on the internet and forwarded mails that I have to answer this. And I never had my favorite or my lucky number. And randomly I used to say any number, just any number until I got a feeling that I should not be treating my favorite or lucky numbers like this. They deserve more. Well, I guess its difficult to know about lucky number. I decided to find out my favorite number. At an instance only a list of number came in front of my eyes and within few seconds I accepted and rejected few of them.
2,4 and 5 very simply rejected. They look so normal. 1,3 and 7 very selected. They look like favorite numbers or they carry a charisma and an elegance which favorite numbers supposed to carry. And now I am wondering why 6,8,9 and 0 striked my mind?
I started getting a feeling as if something is not complete, something is missing. My favorite number is a major issue for me and I thought of giving each number a full chance to be my favorite number. I wanted to analyze each number. So, here I go-

'1' number has great charisma and elegance. More than that it is 'one'. Yes. Only one. It could be my favorite number. And it is number one, the first one. It seemed to me as if I am racing for something, as if I have a desire to do things better than anyone else that too in the shortest possible time, as if I have a desire to do my best and come out first, as if this life is a race and everybody is running on the same track for the first position. Naa. This is not me. For me, everybody has its own track to run or walk or crawl or just sit there forever or may be lie down without any fear and tension.

'2' number looks so number 2. Again it reminds me of race with not so good results. And then the thought why would anyone choose this number to be favorite number? Suddenly, '2' number reminded me of couple, it reminded me of union. It is the company; company of two which is always the best because when two people communicate, its their heart which communicates; when two people communicate, it's a spiritual communion, and when two people are together, they are the best. Then I felt the best moments I spent with my loved one- my friends, my family members which touched my heart. The best conversations or sometimes no conversations I ever had with them one-to-one enriched me with the feeling that how nice life has been to me. More than my feelings there is more in number '2' which I feel is one of the most beautiful and wonderful phenomenon in this universe, it's not only the life of the two but also the possibility of creating a new life from them.

'3' number has a charm. Its looks OK. Reminded me of DCH. Well, it's the smallest number of points with which you can draw a closed figure and which is called a triangle. Anyone who loves geometry, loves triangles the most.

'4' number still looks a normal number to me. Well, it's an even number; more even than any other number if you can see numbers in 2D. Its so simple, so plane and that where its beauty lies. Probably we are too old to see the simplicity and beauty of its looks. A 4 year old child can feel and may be explain it better.

'5' number look normal but now I am feeling that it has all the capability of being my favorite number and I don't know why? May be because it does not look that normal, may be because it is unique in its own way, may be because there is something unnatural and powerful image with it. I have started liking it a lot.

'6' number, definitely no. Bilkul bhi nahin. All thanks to hindi slangs. Very strongly I feel that hindi language has not treated this number well. It has taken away all the glory from number '6' which it could have. It looks like a kingdom which could and should have been glorified but wasn't because historians were not a mood to do so. Somehow , they thought that they should be funny sometimes. And now, whole world looks at that kingdom with the sight they gave. What a pity?

'7' number is no doubt the most elegant, most charismatic and most powerful number. Why? Lets find out. Almost every culture, every civilization has treated this number like a king, and so do we. May be because it is so prominent in the world we see and may be more than that it has been recognized by everybody to be prominent. Let it be 7 colors of a rainbow or 7 surs of music, 7 stars in constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Through out the ages we are talking about it. And then this number got what it deserved or may be more than that – "7 wonders of the world". Knowingly or unknowingly, we accepted this number as the best. And best thing we did to it was to accept it as 'the default favorite number'. Number '7' is like Sharukh Khan in Bollywood, Jesus in Bible, Krishna in Bhagwad Gita, Vishnu in Vishnu Puraan, Brahma in Brahma Puraan and Shiva in Shiva Puraan. "Gloryfied"

'8' number quite a unique number. more even than number '4', if you can see numbers is 3D.

'9' number gives a beautiful ending to these numbers and that's how great in its own way. It completes. It could have been Rubik's (great philosopher and mathematician who invented Rubik's cube) favorite number. He might have loved it more than any one else. And how can we forget people who created Sudoko? It could have been their favorite and most respected number.

'0' number should be given utmost respect for saving mankind from inventing a million numbers for representing a million. Without '0' this world would have been a different world, very complex and very tiring. There is more, beacause of zero only boolean came into existance and then boolean algebra and then computers. Suddenly, I was imagining myself writing on the slate instead of MS Word. I am speechless.

After reading above article again and again, I decided..

And the award goes to……………..
9 is on position 3.
0 is on position 2
2 is on position 1.
So, from now onwards, 2 is my favorite number.
Its funny to see that all of the numbers from 0 to 9 were fighting for being number 1. And so for one instance, thought of number '1' being my favorite number came in my mind.
But, I would like to go for the feeling and which says number '2'.
Surely, it is a beautiful number