Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Photo by Jim Strasma on Unsplash There is a moon in the pitch-black night sky and a bright star close to it. Both dangled in the dark ocean of space far far away from the pull of our world. It’s the Ramzan moon. Stare closely and observe deeply for a minute, you’ll notice the thin crescent which is the moon and completing its outline is a tunnel. Look at it and keep gazing and it resembles like the crescent is a light coming out of a dark tunnel. It feels like the stars are but shimmering fireflies, motionless flies blowing lights in a dark cave full of witchcraft. Outside this cave lies the magical light. Of which right now only a curve is visible. The moon appears to be an opening onto something. What is it? I don’t know yet but I aim to find out soon. Is it important to find out? I don’t think so. But I want to know what does it lead to. So every day after sunset I sit down here and gaze at the twilight sky. I watch the fireflies that are not moving. But twinkling. Many...

That’s just a random picture of crowded Delhi. Photo by Fancycrave on  Unsplash         Bus rides are joyful experiences. To travel peacefully on a window seat staring quietly at the passerby's, looking at people on bikes and cars hurrying themselves to reach someplace quicker, buildings by buildings of varying sizes passing like a film via the window glass. And then if you are lucky you meet a nice fellow passenger, you both talk and somehow in its own small and strange ways, you become part of someone’s life who was stranger a while ago. Aha. That is if you are lucky. But I was with no luck in my pockets. I did not get a fellow passenger to talk to. I did not even get a seat to sit forget the window one. I was standing in a crowded bus near the back door of this public transport vehicle with my travel bag. Not big but not too small either. The bus had moved few stops from where I had boarded and had just stopped at another stop. Of the many people who...

Okay. I promise I will make this quick and short. A few days back, while getting on to my train, I hugged someone rather in a strange situation. I got the hug which I needed but I couldn’t really hug back how I wanted it to be keeping in mind the slowly starting train and also a dozen eyes ever pricking on our embrace. Also, there was this whisper in my ear, “When will you reach?” 6 in the morning, I quickly replied. And got back on the train. There was so much that happened on the train which I least expected but will save it for another day. This is just about one part of a long tedious trip. Mid-way through the journey, somewhere past the midnight I opened my cell phone to check if I had the network. Luckily there was. I quickly browsed my way back to the train info page to check where my train exactly was. Hey! the night is dark and full of terrors… I had no idea where I had reached! And to my surprise, my train was moving fast...

One not so fine day when I was in the hospital taking care of someone dear to my heart, I happened to meet two cats. Actually, there were four of them if my math is right and those bitches didn’t trick me. Okay. Wait. Before I start, let me pause and ask you something important. What is your opinion about cats? I mean, do you view them as just another creature with four legs that man happened to domesticate (?) or are you one of them who believes otherwise. Let me make a full disclosure here. I am one of those many people residing on this planet who know the unknown that cats are some mysterious beings here for some mysterious purpose (read ulterior motive !). Humans for ages have been tricked into believing they are taking care of or are using cats as domestic pets. You think I’m kidding, don’t you? Well, I’m fucking serious. Okay. If you don’t believe me, answer this one question. Why do we have those bitches at our home? Dogs guard our houses, those poor creatures have...

It not only takes your right to question the second occurrence but also opens a cycle that is hard to break.   First things are always the first. How lame a sentence, isn’t it? But seriously; Good, bad or ugly, firsts set the precedent and it’s always important to make note of them. When an error, a mistake, a crime, an event where norm or law is broken for the first time, it is important to stop and question it then and there. However small or insignificant it may seem at first, it needs to be called out for what it is. A mistake. You don’t ignore it because it doesn’t matter and not affect your flow of work. It might not affect you now but believe me it will come to haunt you tomorrow and then you will have nothing to do about it except to regret. That’s exactly what I did last week when I went home.  I had marriage of a family member to attend to at one side of Goa, a small Indian state famous for its pristine beaches, old churches and Portuguese era ar...

Our society and brain has a thing where it makes you think you are in love when you are not. It forces you into finding that person, to fall in love, propose because that’s what ‘all’ do at this age. You may be comfortable and enjoy someone’s company but partner? That’s whole different stuff. Love doesn’t need to occur to you just because it occurred to your friend. Here’s one such story. Read to know as they narrate their tale. SHE It all began in the college. Wait, not college but in school itself. Yes, it’s that old. I don’t remember who started it first. Given the fact that I was kind of recluse and shy back in those days (and still I’m. Don’t I?), we can safely say it was him. He was from a rich family, so was I. He was flamboyant, I was no less. I don’t know about perfect match but we were quite of a character back in the days. Our other classmates used to envy our households — born with a silver spoon if you may. It was certain for both of us to...

The bus conductors across India have problem of their own, from chewing pan to indecent language to not-so-warm behavior. But this one was not so cut-out for that definition. Most of my traveling across the stretch of India which I have stayed and moved has been by bus, mostly public and sometimes private. Rarely on train and more scarcely by flight. Most of Indians will relate to this except for those staying in Mumbai for them bus can be replaced with local train! And this is where I have met people from different hues of life, old, young and those not-at-all charming end-of-the-world-loud babies. It’s great experience where you throw yourself to unexpectedness. But there’s one person you have interacted regularly while traveling by bus, ticket collector or bus conductor. Recently, few women have started to apply for the job of conductor and take up the challenging work which otherwise is a man’s world to move from one side of the (most of the times) crowded bus to other si...

“Internet to me is all about Cats and Porn.” — Anonymous World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee took to Reddit recently for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) to celebrate a quarter century of the world wide web (www). In responding to the question, “What was one of the things you never thought the internet would be used for, but has actually become one of the main reasons people use the internet?” he replied, “Kittens”. So there it goes. You believe it or not. Cats are everywhere. There also is an island in Japan popularly called ‘cat island’ where cat population is huge compared to their human counterparts. Cats outnumber humans six to one on the island. There was one little kitten at my home too. But no more. The other day I saw her at late night folding herself beside a Deepavali Diya (oil lamps lit during the festival of Diwali/Deepavali) in a typical cat fashion. Here’s what happened. I tell you this story for I hold a guilt somewhere in a corner of my hear...

  A man just died on the LOC — Line Of Control. A man-made line since 1947 on this globe that came into existence long long before those who ‘drew’ it came into existence themselves. This line was drawn to mark and differentiate two countries namely, India and Pakistan who till that day lived in co-existence as colonies under another nation called England who had built an empire where ‘sun never set’. These two nations called it quit and actually, this was the first BRexit from history! But alas, like many other inventions from subcontinent, this too went unnoticed. He didn’t simply die like god would will it otherwise but was shot. A whizzing bullet straight to his head, sideways. Someone aimed it center but missed his mark yet the man died. What a poor creature. This planet of ours which is revolving around a star named ‘Sun’ in a galaxy called ‘Milky Way’ and universe which is infinite with umpteen galaxies, and still more umpteen stars and planets is inhabited by many...