The moment I entered Muskaan it felt like I was inside a time machine, and I was being propelled back in time to my childhood. All the toys and joyrides in the park got me excited and I remembered when I was a kid and used to visit the Children’s park in my hometown with my parents. These joyrides were all exactly the same but they were made of junk. Old vehicle rubber tyres have become seats for a see saw, a huge unused concrete sewer pipe became the base of a slide and a tunnel, while bamboos and steel cables became swinging bridges.

Without the presence of any kind of media they made the Quit India movement go viral way back in 1942. Within days the whole nation was aware of the movement. There was a huge army of volunteers who would paint the messages on the walls in the dark of the night, even in the most distant villages of the country. The concept of posting messages on walls could have started from there, the same message being posted on different walls in different languages, to create a wave which would jolt the whole nation awake.

“There must be some f&%#ing chemical, chemical in your brain, that makes us different from animals…” are the lyrics of the opening track of the movie 127 Hours. The movie celebrates human life in the best possible manner. The soundtrack composed by Free Blood sets the mood racing, and within an instant the director conveys the message that with will power we can survive anything in our lives. 127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle, is based on the true life story of American mountaineer and public speaker Aron Ralston.

Have you ever noticed a fly caught in a spider’s web. The harder it tries to free itself from the sticky mesh, the deeper it gets entangled in the web. Most of us face similar situations at some point or the other of our lives. If you haven’t then either you are too young, or you have surrendered to the situation without even realizing you have. One time that most of us go through such an experience is when we have completed our studies, and are a couple of years into our job, and we have just had our first promotion.

Have you ever had a dream which bothered you for a long time? Or have you ever had a dream which you have remembered forever? Or while you were asleep have you ever had a dream due to which you did a certain thing in your real life?

This is the very theme of Christopher Nolan’s movie, Inception.

The whole world is in a tight grip of soccer fever these days, or shall we say Vuvuzela fever this time. Even in India, in spite of the fact that the Indian team has never played a game in the football world cup finals, people are singing “just like a wavin’ flag” with great enthusiasm. South Africa, the host nation, is like a huge country on carnival. People, in their colourful attire, are supporting their favorite teams with the zeal of a kid who has just learnt cycling. So what is it about sports like football, or for that matter cricket in some parts of the world, that makes people go round?

Waiting for the bus at the bus stop, the other day, I met my next door neighbor. She was also waiting for the bus along with her four kids. Wait, her four kids! I thought she had only one kid. And all the kids curiously looked the same age and were of the same height. So, as I wished her good evening, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked her, “Which school do your kids go to?”
“They are not my kids. Only she is my daughter,” she said pointing to the small girl wearing a short skirt and a sleeveless top.

Kallu Koylewala limped into the living room of his house. “Imarti Rani,” he called out to his wife in a shrill voice wiping the sweat from his bald head. Imarti came into the living room from the kitchen smelling of turmeric and garlic. She looked at her husband’s dark face, his dhoti and kurta, which were white when she had given them to him in the morning and were now almost blackened with coal dust.