Afsaane

Is khamoshi mein bhi ek shor hai,
sehraaon ki aandhiyon ka rukh teri ore hai,
tujhko pukaarti vo bhor hai .....

kaanton ne jo tere raaste sil diye hai,
tujhse vaabasta ho .. afsaane likh diye hai

[Written by: Nipun Jaiswal]

Dars-e-Dubai

Flashback -- This is an old blog that i wrote when i arrived in Dubai on 16th April 2011 to start my MBA.
Most importantly, i wrote it for a special friend, whose blogs i absolutely love !

Arrived here in Dubai today ........... when i looked down from the plane .... i saw vast stretches of sand and limitless desert ... something i hadnt seen before. As the plane descended on this seaside kingdom in the arab empire, the memories started flashing in my mind ( i became dreamy bean for a while :P ) ..... i thought of the white snow covered scandinavia , where you only get to see the sun once in a blue moon, the beautiful & colorful central Europe, whose scenic beauty is unsurpassed, the damp , dim and mystical scotland and UK, the cold, wet and very very green Ireland , and here i am ... in the sands of time .... the Persian Empire !!

I arrived late in the evening and the sun had just set. (I am writing this now on what can be called as my first "arabian night" !! :))

So, as soon as i got out of the airport, i took a deep breath to smell the air, I felt a strong wind blowing, showing signs of an impending downpour, as if the land was thirsty for water, but was very pleasant nevertheless. On my way to the Hostel , i noticed that its quite a unique city , in the sense that its a blend of uber modern and tradition arabic architecture, on one hand i could see the burj khalifa(tallest building in the world) and on the other hand i saw traditional homes and buildings which looked as if they were carved in sand by most sublime artists of the historic era. And the best part , Petrol is dirt cheap here (the driver was quite excited to share this with me, he had a glint in the eyes). And what more , there is no tax levied on your income.

So the first impression was good. And the things have started rolling now and met a few nice ppl after arriving.

vi vivus Veitnam vici

I recently went on a trip to Vietnam.
Had a memorable experience there which i am sharing.

In Ho chi Min city( formerly Saigon) Vietnam , there are what are known as the cu chi tunnels ! (they are not as cute as they sound !!)

These were used by the Vietnamese guerrillas during the Vietnamese war to drive out the Americans.
Now, This is the last place in the world u wud wanna go if u have claustrophobia !!! believe me when i say that !!

My first look at the tunnels ... the boards outside warn u that u enter at ur own risk ... and that it prohibits ppl with heart problems, claustrophobia, etc etc from entering. The tunnels are deep under the earth and u have to go down the stairs. Some of my friends backed out as it looked daunting. But i decided to take the plunge thinking that it wud be adventure and fun. And once u enter ... there is no going back.

As i entered i soon realized that there was not even enough space for u to crawl on ur knees ... and the tunnels are dark from inside ... u feel as if u are literally a rat going down a hole.. i kept crawling in an awkward way as i couldnt crawl on my knees so kind of squatted and crawled on my feet. Soon i realized that there was no one in front of me or even at my back .. i was all alone with my heart beat increasing every second. i kept going thinking that the tunnel wouldnt be that long ... but i was perhaps half way through when i really started panicking.

Fear gripped me completely and i started thinking of all the negatives that what if i am not able to make through, there was no network on the mobile, i could not even call for help, there was no one in the front or back , it was completely dark ...i feared whether i was taking the right path or not .. what if i got lost ... and most of all ... i was in a hole ... i could not even stand up ... even flex my legs or arms ... u cant turn around and go back ... cuz there is not enough space to do that ... and if u try doing it then perhaps u wud get entangled and stuck and that would really be a nightmare !! .... i started sweating like a pig and was exhausted !
....... all i wanted was to see some light .... Meanwhile, the feeling of "what if i get lost or stuck here" had almost taken over me ...... u can imagine the fear gripping me and sweat running down my spine ... but i kept going ...

finally i shouted out as to "where is the way out " ... "where is the way out" ... and i heard a voice from a little far saying "its here" ... now that was a real lifeline for me ... suddenly there was a spring in my step and i rushed towards the voice .... and after a few minutes .... Voila !!! ... i could see a ray of light coming down !!! :) :) :) ......... cant tell u how happy i was !!