The Bird of Winter

The Bird of Winter

A young robin in the city

looking for a place to set a house

He collected twigs and sticks and stones

And found the warmest branch that could exist

And out came a brand new house

But the winds of winter weren’t far behind

for the autumn was followed by the snow

and in the night came the rains

Not all creatures can live through a storm

But the strongest are not those with might and power

It stayed in a ditch till the snow had melted

And watched the branch of its very home devastated

No living soul would have the strength again

But this was no ordinary bird

It flew from meadows to rivers and mountains to the sea

It had a dream of what it’s nest could be

With sticks and stones and pebbles and leaves

It built a nest again

The most marvelous one could be

But a nest was not something he wanted anymore

For now the robins wings had a taste of flight

Winds and rain, sun and snow

His tiny wings now seeked the horizon

For now, he was a Bird of Winter

Probably the most random thing I have written in under two minutes, with thought added to it.

Querencia

Life is a lot like a Bull Fight. You are happy in a cage that has been built around you. You may or may not be aware about the cage, but once you are, you cannot get it out of your mind. There is always someone sitting on top trying to use you. In a bull fight it’s the rider. In life, it’s everybody.

The difference comes once you get a chance to get out of your cage. Unlike the bull, most choose not to. Here is where one must take inspiration from the bull. The Bulls runs out, and realises who is on top. That’s when he decides to break free of his bonds and topple the rider. If only, we humans were just as smart. Evolution has killed the wild instinct we had.

Once the bull topples the rider is again when the story diverges. This is the part where most humans outsmart the bull. Querencia is the place in the ring where a bull feels safe. It is the place where he looks to reach, a place where he cannot be harmed. Every human has a Querencia too. It could be his home, the arms of his loved one , his family , a place in the mountains, a bike ride or anything. Most humans once they break free, take a leap of faith. But there are still quite a few who get stuck in their Querencia.

Life is unpredictable and one knows not what happens next. Every human has a choice to stick to his safe spot or rather stay in the cage. But those who do manage to get out, know what it feels like to wander under the free skies, to sail through uncharted waters, to fly over the mighty mountains.

Ofcourse I am being poetic, but to discover new oceans, you have to lose site of the shore.

"A world without Borders"

Exactly three months ago, i was in Aachen in Germany. Aachen is a small town on the western border, famous as the coronation place of the German Kings.It borders with Belgium and Netherlands.

Now being an Indian, I know only a few kind of borders. One are like Nepal, where it's relatively easy to get across. The second is Pakistan and China, where you'll be "welcomed" by two hostile armies.

What I imagined while visiting the border at Vals (Netherlands) was a toned down version of the Indo-Pak border at Wagah (Atari in India), with soldiers standing on each side. Maybe an evening ceremony wherein soldiers from both the sides would bow down to each other, among trumpet sounds, and thousands of people watching as the gates were closed at sundown, with an understanding that there shall be no war tonight. At least that's what happens at Wagah.

I imagined there would be a gate where people were asked for their Passports.Maybe make a register entry of some kind. A Bar code scanner that scans your passport number. But I was in for a surprise.

The above is a picture of me, standing with my right foot in Germany and my left in Netherlands. At the right is 'Raffay' , a friend of mine clicking me. While this photo was clicked by Hashyt. I just couldn't get myself to cropping him.

Did I mention that Raffay was from Pakistan ? So were Shahrukh and Osama who accompanied us there. From a so-called Enemy nation, that our parents warn us about. Who's citizens we are warned to stay away from in a foreign land.

In fact in both my international outings, Tokyo and Cologne, my closest friends apart from Indians have been the Pakistanis. It may be the language, the common culture, the cricket connection, the same music taste or maybe something else. What I realized was that we are essentially the same.

Sadly, there is a possibility that I may never meet  Osama, Raffay, Shahrukh, Rafi or a woman from Pakistan I call my sister, Maria ever again. The reason being the stupid visa restrictions imposed by our ever so friendly Governments.

I did't write this as a piece of India-Pakistan friendship. The reason I mention this story is that relationships like India-Pakistan are the reason why we have visa restrictions in the first place !

 I am a firm believer in a world without borders. The Schengen area is a start. 26 countries, where one needs no travel documents to travel around. One may think it couldn't get any better. I think it could.

Uk-Canada-Australia-New Zealand recently suggested a free movement pact. Citizens of Norway, US, UK, Sweden and Japan can practically travel the world visa free.

Open borders in the Schengen were responsible for a major increase in trade, revenues and tourism. India-Nepal and India-Bhutan borders have been open for over 60 years. India is thus the largest trading partner of both these nations. Would it not be good for any economy to open it's borders to others. I admit threats such as terrorism, smuggling, human trafficking, criminal escapes may take place, but hasn't the EU managed that so well for so many years.

Of course it will be difficult, but had it been easy, would it have been fun ?

India and China have an annual trade of 50 billion USD, the highest for India. Still it's pretty damn tough to obtain a Chinese visa for Indians (tourist) and vice versa. India and Russia have been war time allies for over 50 years. These two countries practically have no other dependable allies. Yet, it's very difficult to obtain a Russian Visa for Indians. It's pretty easy for Russians though.

I tried not to bias myself due to the Visa issues I feel I may face as an Indian. However, I like to travel and this blog is basically the result of the whims and fancies of a traveler's heart, who's passport doesn't command a lot of power !

Enough venting my frustration regarding the same. Since it's not in my control, the best I can do is to travel as much as I can, and hope that my visas are never an issue !

A world without borders : It's just a dream. But some dreams do come true.

L to R : Raffay, Me, Osama, Shahrukh, Harshyt in Vals, Netherlands. Except me. I'm in Aachen, Germany.

The guy in cubicle 108

The guy in cubicle 108
believed not in destiny, nor in fate
Till one day he walked towards the office and saw in the rain and the mist and the haze
Something he had never seen before, her beautiful face
Even through the mist he could see
As she ran for shelter under the flowering jasmine tree
She had clear blue eyes
And he was mesmerized

“I am new here, can you help me “ she asked
This wasn't an opportunity he could have passed
This isn't just a coincidence but destiny unrolling, he thought
Fear that something may go wrong again he fought & fought & fought

Days and days passed by
Strangers turned friends and to make way old friendships had to die
It is time to take the next step he made his mind
He plucked the best flowers on the same tree he could find

“Will you be mine,
 Today, tomorrow and till the end of time “
With tears in his eyes and a smile on his face he said
But his joy turned to ashes as her eyes turned wet and red
And she said “I love another, but this is not the end,
For you were, are and always will be my best friend”

Hours and days turned to months and years
As he lived through all his fears
He remained a loyal friend,
And would be so, until the end
It was his tears he could not tame
And he always found God, fate and destiny to blame

It was her face he never could forget
He could never have her, his one and only regret
The jasmine tree continued to wither and shed
And he never could find peace, not even in his feather-bed.

One day all of a sudden, he decided not to cry
Meanwhile the winds changed, and the jasmine tree had to die
The guy in cubicle 108
Once again believed not in destiny, nor in fate

-Alankrit Kharbanda

The Fallen

The Fallen

I wrote The Fallen in my college's Library. It is attempted as an inspiration to anyone who feels that their golden days are behind them. There is always a second chance. Always.

The night gets darker

The forces get stronger

No matter whether big or small

Everything that rises has to fall

Whenever I see some despair

I tell myself, Life isn’t fair

There always has to be a way out

No one says, its easy to get around

The trumpet has been struck

The battle has begun

All the forces come together

To spin a web that cant be outrun

But as the light takes over the night

It is not he who has might

But he who shall struggle and fight

The one whose path be right

For there is no glory without no pain

Time after time we know

That the Fallen shall Rise again..

-Alankrit Kharbanda

The end of Nokia ?

If there’s anywhere in the world that a company enjoys love of its Customers like Apple in the US, one would argue that it is…or rather was Nokia in India. As a Nokia fan I feel devastated, knowing that the brand I loved since I was a child, the phone gifted to me multiple times for academic achievements shall no longer retain its branding. Just like me , many Indians, who enjoyed a nokia as their first handset today feel sad, for their first love in gadgets shall no longer produce phones.

The beginning of the end:

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop admitted that the company’s lack of foresightedness regarding the major transitions in the smartphone industry is to be blamed for its loss of market share. In late 2000’s, when all major mobile manufacturers were going the android way, Nokia chose to continue on its Symbian OS, the one that ensured its market cap to increase to 110 bn $. However with the change in market paradigm, Nokia shares started falling, so did its market cap to a meagre $14.2bn. Nokia experimented with the Meegos OS, an awesome but buggy OS, although many-a-pundits claim that had Nokia continued work on the OS, it could have beaten Android hands down.

The revival:

With Elop as CEO, Nokia decided to create a new Niche in the market, to create a third world in partnership with Microsoft, the Windows Phone, for which MS is to pay one bn $ to Nokia annually for the next five years. Though Lumia’s were critical blockbusters, they weren’t able to attract both customers and Application developers, so much so that Microsoft is allegedly paying developers for the same. Although I must confess, that I have a Lumia and I love it, both the hardware and the OS, but the lack of applications is sometimes frustrating.

Lumia has outsold the BlackBerry range of phones, consolidating it as the third ecosystem. Meanwhile Samsung dethroned it as the market leader, though reduction in losses on a quarter-on-quarter basis and a 32% increase in Lumia sales in the previous quarter offer hopes of a full scale revival.

What the buyout means:

It is the last hope of survival for Nokia, which finds itself among dwindling cash resources. However fans have mourned the end of the Nokia brand, and I, as a die-hard fan hope that from the ashes, something bigger and better shall rise. Microsoft may come up with a phone that matches the iphone in terms of hardware-software integration.

What it means for Microsoft:

The Redmond giant has real deep pockets and has always shown that if it can’t innovate, it can buy out anyone who does, be it Skype or Yammer or even Nokia. With the worlds best hardware manufacturer (No arguments about that !) under its control, we may see an awesome integrated phone in the next couple of years. Also Nokia patents (worth billions) now come under Microsoft, and so does the best Mapping alternative to Google Maps. Perhaps, a very easy and cost effective bargain for Microsoft.

We might have to wait for a final verdict on the future of a platform, which despite gaining critical appreciation is yet to prove itself in the market.

-Alankrit Kharbanda