It happenned long long ago...

It has been seven days, he has reached this City of Dreams on the flying carpet given by a Genie he found four years and four months before. As soon as he reached this City, the carpet blew away skimming the minarets of the City. He remembered that night very well as well as the rest of the nights he spent in the city. They were all as cold as only Dreams can be with fog filling up every nook and corner. He walked around the Market of Colors and felt as though passing through cold ether. Everything was very cold in this city even hot water that came out of the hotsprings.

Master in City Of Temples assigned him a job of fetching him the Lost Chain which once belonged to his clan and set forth on Genie's magic carpet to the City of Dreams which was covered with perpetual fog and where you felt like walking through a film of water. It was in this city that he was also sure of finding his Love, which he left in a distant dream turning it to Forsaken Love. Where do you find something you lost in a dream, other than in City of Dreams? It is here that all the Dreams, fulfilled and lost are found together.

With the purpose of finding the Lost Chain and his Forsaken Love, he entered the City of Dreams seven days before and has been searching since then. In the first day itself, he tracked the New Clan which was working on polishing the Lost Chain, it has found in the Maze of Luck. He worked along with this New Clan, who were facing a great difficulty in maintaining the shine of the Lost Chain. They left it shining bright every evening and only to find it as dull as chain of rusted metal the next morning. He gained the confidence of New Clan as it was only his portion of the polished chain that remained bright for three consecutive days and nights before the rust from the rest of the chain claimed it.

He worked through the day and in the nights roamed around the City of Dreams, searching for his Forsaken Love. First night, he searched through the Alley of Kings, Queens & Beggars, where all three of them drank together the Mead of Twelve Winks. During his second night, no door opened up for him in the Street of Riches, in which if one walked far enough will find himself back at the street's entrance instead of it's end. The Lanes of Airs in the third night offered nothing but a labyrinth of lanes each of them promising Something but revealed Nothing. Through these Lanes, one needs to fly and not walk. He got lost in that maze flying for the whole night and always finding an already visited Lane pormising some new Airs. It was only when the Morning Star rose he could find the Minaret of Hope lofting over the City's colorful fog, to which he flew to come out of the maze.

So, passed the three days in the City of Dreams for him. On the Fourth Day morning as he came down the Minaret of Hope, he found the Shining Stone which promised eternal shine to any object that is polished with it. Polish iron with this Shining Stone and it will never rust. This was a much fabled stone, and the Pillar of Wishes which stood near this Minaret was polished with this Stone some hundreds of years before when Dreams were just beginning to take refuge in this City. It was then that this Pillar of Wishes was put up and it still shines as new as ever. He took this stone to New Clan and started polishing the Lost Chain through out two days and two nights. At the end of Fifth Day, he completed polishing the entire length of Lost Chain and left it at the Fire of Greed, which was the only fire in the entire city that did not freeze in the coldness.

New Clan checked the chain on the Sixth Day morning to find the Lost Chain shining bright and dazzling. It also picked up some heat from the Fire of Greed and had a heavenly glow. So the New Clan made him a citizen of City of Dreams calling him New Dreamer. The Book of Dreams says one wish of every New Dreamer will be granted. So, he was also offerred this Right to Wish. He couldn't decide what to claim - The Lost chain to be taken back to his Master in City of Temples or Forsaken Love for himself. He sat thinking about this in the Garden of Heavens where the flowers never withered and colorful butterflies rained fresh pollen into the heavy cold air.

A White Butterfly landed on his shoulder and stared at him for a moment before joining it's mate on a RoseBush. It brought him back the memories of City of Temples, when a simiar White Butterfly flew around when he first met his Love, now Forsaken. He walked through this Garden thinking of what to chose as his Wish, when he met the Peer with No Beard. The local legend says that nothing is lost in City of Dreams and if someone is searching for something or is unable to choose, they are always guided by this Peer with No Beard. Peer with No Beard heard his story and offered him an advice that would guide us to the end of this story.

Walk through lanes of history

Yes, yesterday's visit to Chandni Chowk was a walk through the lanes of history. I could feel the narrow lanes filled with romance, mystery, luxury, wealth and poverty - a package which only history can offer. Getting out of Chandni Chowk metro station needed Herculean effort as people were relentless to offer any space to move out. While coming out I just happenned to push some fellow Indian, who was standing right in the middle of the people-stream. After an exchange of angry glares, both of us parted on our ways. Once outside Chandni Chowk metro, there was a temple complex and with a lane behind it leading towards Chandni Chowk road. It was so narrow that there were two close lines of people moving through it. One going in and other going out. We passed through a Dahi Bhalle shop which claimed to be making the original Bhalles and that there are no branches to it. But so did another two shops that I saw. Authenticity at its best, as each of those shops are being run generations after generations since the last three-four hundred years. Yes, Chandni Chowk market was planned and built during the reign of Shahjahan. May be he wanted his queeens and daughters to do all the shopping they woudl like to in a single super mall. After a few minuts walk in the direction of Red Fort, I saw a gurudwara in the vicinity of which it is said that Guru Tej singh and his followers were killed by Mughals. A 'U' turn there, I moved through the shops that were selling almost everything under the sun. Occassional sweet shops and 'chat' shops dotted the street. I walked into a narrow street opposite to 'Ghantewala' and that was one of the umpteen narrow lanes I would walk. There were seperate lanes for different wares ; one for opticals, one for footware, one for sarees, lehengas and one for Parantas also. Yes, parantas in all possible combos that you can think of. Aloo, gobi, matar, paneer, almonds, bananas, dried fruits - filled paranthas. Right now there are three shops that still carry out the business of paranthas here. Each lane had different sub-lanes, named after some local person who was once famous there. No wonder these names were also as old as Delhi. As I passed through this part of Chandni Chowk called Ballimaran, the lines of Ghalib came to my mind. 'The street was srapped in fading darkness. Tatterred curtains flew listlessly on some doors. Pigeons flew over head and kids were fighting over marbles. A goat bleated timidly, tied to a threshold.' This was where he lived. One who changed the face of Urdu poetry. Now these streets have changed a lot. Honking vehicles trying to pass through lanes barely wide enough for rickshaw to pass, with people bumping over each other, endless shopping hoards filled the lanes. The scenes have changed a lot since then. Asked a few localites the way to Ghalib's haveli but could not get any pointers. Since the night was fast coming on, I decided to put it away for the timebeing. Small temples, mosques jotted all around these lanes. After an hour's walk through the maze of lanes, I reached the main road passing right before Town Hall. A left turn there takes one to Chawri Bazar and a right turn towards Chandni Chowk metro. Taking into consideration that it was almost 7:00 PM and that I need to reach Noida and that I am completelt unfamiliar to the topology, I decided it was time to move back to Metro station. This time I decided to take the road in front of Gurudwar I mentioned earlier which shoudl also lead to the station. On the way, I noticed a small 'chat' shop, which specialize in fruit chat. And yes, I stopped there for a quick bite before moving into the station. Then it was a metro to Rajiv Chowk and there to Noida City Center. Called it a day with a veggie meal from McDonalds from Shopprix mall.

Avatar - Not A Review!

Just came back after watching Avatar 3D! History of America and nature of humanrace zipped up in a 2hr 40 min visual treat. James Cameron take a bow for the perfect balance between story line and vfx! One complimented the other. It is an urgent and important work that came up right at the time it is needed. Truly our human race is such that it plagues the surroundings. It is our greed that resulted in carbon emissions, ozone depletion, melting at poles, increase in sea levels and the list goes on and on. We have never and will never learn from our mistakes. We will never stop exploiting resources. And in such a time, the Nature will take a course by itself to bring in the equilibrium back just as the creatures of Pandora took the initiative. You call it tsunami or ice age or earthquakes or a Saviour. Avatar! Hoping to find atleast one movie from India in the next 20 years to come near to the storyline of this movie I rest my case here!