Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Ek Saal...


मैं कभी बतलाता नहीं
पर अँधेरे से डरता हूँ मैं माँ 
यूँ तो मैं,दिखलाता नहीं
तेरी परवाह करता हूँ मैं माँ
तुझे सब है पता, हैं ना माँ
तुझे सब है पता, मेरी माँ

भीड़ में यूँ ना छोड़ो मुझे 
घर लौट के भी आ ना पाऊँ माँ
भेज ना इतना दूर मुझको तू
याद भी तुझको आ ना पाऊँ माँ
क्या इतना बुरा हूँ मैं माँ 
क्या इतना बुरा मेरी माँ 

मैं कभी बतलाता नहीं
पर अँधेरे से डरता हूँ मैं माँ 
यूँ तो मैं,दिखलाता नहीं
तेरी परवाह करता हूँ मैं माँ
तुझे सब था पता, हैं ना माँ 
तुझे सब था पता, मेरी माँ  
 
... तुझको गए हुए
 

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tumhari Yaad Aayegi

जीवन के सफ़र में राही, मिलते हैं बिछड़ जाने को
और दे जाते हैं यादें तन्हाई में तडपाने को

This is almost a month too late. But this has been in the offing for each day that has went by since 21st November, 2010. If in IIT I would have hummed the above tune, am sure Tank would have immediately quipped that these lines are from the film Munimji, Music by SD Burman and Lyrics by Sahir. We might have then spent some time on discussing how good a lyricist Sahir was. But sadly, none of this is going to happen...

I have been wanting to write a note on Ashwini ever since that fateful day when he passed away. I started typing a note on 21 November itself but it is still in my drafts folder. Somehow, I could not bring myself to write that email. We go back a long way. He was my junior at IITB. Ragged him in the first year. He was a great hindi music enthusiast and there might have been many competitions where we competed against/with each other.

After IITB, we were together at Dell. I was moving from Citibank and he had just finished his post grad from IIM Indore. We did not meet often at work as we were in different units. But we met regularly outside work and most of that can be attributed to running.

He was a regular runner and many from the RFL group at bangalore know him. He used to typically do sub-30K kind of distances. As for the half marathon kind of distance, he would have done that multiple times (~40-50 times). We had made a running trip to mysore, where he ran up and down the Chamundi hills twice.

He was a great photographer and his oft repeated complaint about trail running was that he could never make up his mind if he should be running or be behind the lens! You can browse though his photo-stream here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/overcooked

He had recently moved to Delhi and was putting up in Noida with his brother. I met him on 19th Nov at a friend's (Aviral) wedding. He was looking fitter than what he was in Bangalore. I joked that he is losing weight faster than the remainder of his hair. He quipped, 'Tere bhi chale jaayenge'

We were to run the Airtel Delhi Half together. We had decided that we will start from Noida together to the run venue. However, he had some work and decided to take his car as well. He reached the starting point before us and My wife, brother in law and I joined him in the line leading to the hold-up area. I had had a bad run at the Bangalore Ultra and was yearning to get a decent time in the ADHM so I sped off at the starting point. Tank jokingly complained about that to Priyanka (my wife).

We crossed and shouted out to each other on the road leading to Rajpath where he was running with another runner from Bangalore. Priyanka met him later on the course and he was going strong. That was the last that we saw of him.

After the race, I looked for him for approx 3 hours as his car keys were with Priyanka. I checked at the medical center where I was told that no one by the name of 'Ashwini Tank' reported there. I just hoped that he had gone for whatever work he had after the run and everything was all right with him.

I had a flight to catch so we moved back to Noida. In the interim, we figured out the phone number of his ex-flat mate who gave us his address in Noida. We left the keys of his car there. We also got the number of his cousin who got through to his sister. She informed him that Ashwini had had a fall during the run and was hospitalized. I thought I will talk to him and figure out how he is doing. I finally got his brother's number from his cousin and called him up.

His brother, Achint, had received a call from the Delhi police around 1:30-2:00 PM informing him about Ashwini's demise. Ashwini was picked up by the Delhi Police Control Room Jeep and not by the medical response machinery put together by the organizers. They took him to the AIIMS trauma center where he was pronounced DOA. There was no emergency contact on his bib and hence they had to go back to the organizers to figure out his next of kin. No one else had any idea about what had happened to him till then. I was extremely shattered to hear that and was not running for a few days after this incident. He had a cardiac arrest just past the 18th Km into the run. He was too good a runner to have gone this way on a half marathon. I believe if he would have had received timely medical aid, things could have been different. One can only speculate on such things.

He was a very passionate person who was always full of life. He was a photographer, runner, friend, cook, reader, talker, philosopher amongst others. He will sorely be missed by friends and family. I wish his family all the strength they need.

RIP, dear friend!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Happy Birthday Mom




Happy Birthday Mom. Thanks for Everything.
Love

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Activity Update

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Activity Update: "Most of the initial part of starting this foundation had us running around for getting the paperwork done, Pushing them through various stag..."

Update on the recent patient aid and wheel-chair donation

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Maha parivartan!!

A friend of mine has decided to contest MLC elections from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He is my classmate from IITB and then went to a different IIM. It was very heartening to see him do this. He believes he has a good chance of being elected to the Vidhan Parishan, the upper house, in UP. I wish him all the best.


More about MLC, Vidhan Parishad and the process on the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidhan_Parishad
http://legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in/States/UttarPradesh/upcouncil-w.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh_Vidhan_Parishad

Friday, November 12, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: T-Shirt Launched

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: T-Shirt Launched: "Hi Everyone, We have been away for the last month. There are a lot of updates that I hope to make in the following posts. There has been a ..."

We have launched a 'Beat Cancer' T-shirt. The foundation gets 150 INR for every T-shirt. Do share your feedback on the T-shirt and the design.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Unveiling the Logo

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Unveiling the Logo: "After working relentlessly for a few days, we have been able to get the logo right. There was a little back and forth on this but finally ... The logo contains three key elements ..."

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Run report - KTM 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Run report - KTM 2010: "All the runners with SMCF finished the Kaveri Trail Marathon. We had four runners who had signed up on the short notice.

We have had a lot of non-runners who are willing to support the fund raising exercise in a big way. Would really like to thank all of you who have reached out. I would be sending out the details to each one of you. Please give me some time to put together a small introductory brochure for the same. I believe this would be important as most of you have volunteered to help through the corporate route. Will try and quickly turn this around. ..."

Friday, September 17, 2010

Personal Committments

I would be running the Kaveri Trail Marathon (http://www.kaveritrailmarathon.com/) this weekend. Am running this race for the Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation  (refer the last few posts). This is my second  marathon this year. The last one I ran was the Auroville Marathon in Feeb, 2010. It was a very personal run. I was running it for Mom. It was a very difficult run both physically and mentally (I guess, I was ill prepared on both fronts).

Since then I have already run 850Km for SMCF and I am making a committment of running atleast 1000Km more by Feb, 2011. 

Priyanka is making a committment of running another 500K in the same time period. Shantanu and Ankita are running their next four big runs for SMCF. If you want to support this initiative in any way, please drop in an email at smcfindia [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com or to me or just leave a comment here. I will get in touch with you.

SMCF: Execution plan and Help required

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Execution plan and Help required: "When we started the aid activities, there was an over-riding concern about ensuring the efficacy of any monetary aid we end up extending. T..."

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: What We Want to Do

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: What We Want to Do: "There have been a few questions on what we want to do and how can one get involved. I will answer the questions in two parts. This post address the first part..."

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Getting the Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation off the ...

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Getting the Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation off the ...: "...The next set of doctors were those who had come in touch with Mom. She had literally charmed them through the treatment and they were more than willing to pitch in. The fact that she had the grace to smile just before going into her final trip to the ICU was inspiring enough to all of them...."

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Starting the blog flow

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation: Starting the blog flow: "Hi Everyone, If I look back a couple of years, I had never thought I would writing a blog on this. Last year has been particularly difficult for me..."

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation

On December 15, 2009, I lost my mother to Cancer. In her we lost a wife, mother, friend, philosopher and guide to this cruel disease.

We did not know how to react to the loss. There was a lot of anger, outrage and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. We were completely drained by the experience and yet emotionally charged. As a family, we felt a responsibility to do something concrete against the disease.

Over the last few months, I have talked to a few people about the fact that we are planning to start a cancer foundation in my Mother's memory. Over the last few months a lot of activity is happening on that front. The foundation is called Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation. It is a registered trust now and is 80G certified now.




We are in the process of setting up the website. I have started blogging about the initiative at http://smcfindia.blogspot.com/ and the twitter Id is @smcfindia. I will also post the blogs from that blog onto my current blog for a few days. Looking forward to support from all of you.


Thanks
Prateek

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Invictus

Not the movie but the brilliant poem from Henley!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Monday, January 04, 2010

Reproducing Auden

Reproducing WH Auden's work with small changes

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message She Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

She was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good