Recondite Writer

अकेला मन और  अकेली  रात  अकेले  से  हम  करते  है  अकेले  अकेले  तुम  से  ही  बात  और  इस  अकेलेपन  में  मन  में  उठती  है  एक  चोट   मन  में  है बहुत सारे  जज्बात  अकेले  से  इस  घरोंदे  में  अकेलेपन  में  भी  कुच्छ  कहने  को  नहीं  है  आज  पा  लिया  है  हर  चीज़  या  खो  दिया  हर  पल  खुद  से  लड़ा  या  लड़ा  तुमसे  आज  कहना  चाहता  हु  हर  वाकया  पर  गले  में  नहीं  है  संस्कार  काश   ये  वाणी  पहले  गूंगी  हो  जाती  या  मेरी  वाणी  हरती  नहीं  तुमको  या  समझ  में  आता  की  कहने  से  बड़ी  होती  है  सुननी  बात  आज  सब  है  पर  हूँ  अकेला  में और  अकेली  अँधेरी  रात 

क्या लिखूं मैं ? फिर  से  ठण्ड  में  ठिठुरते  हुए  उस  घर  से  बेघर  बुद्धे  की  व्यथा  या  फिर  सजनी  की साजन के लिए  निरर्थक  इंतज़ार  में  निरर्थक  सजने  की  कथा    फिर  से  बचपन   में  छुप छुप  के  कॉमिक्स  पढने  में  मज़े  की  सजा  या  फिर  उन इन्किलाबी नारों  में  खोखले  से  वादों  की  प्रथा  फिर  से  विचारो  से  लड़ते  हुए  उस  नौजवान   की  विडम्बना  या  फिर  उस   चींटी   से  फिर  से  गिर  कर  चल  कर  मंजिल  तक  पहुचने  की  साधना    क्या कुछ ऐसा लिखूं जिससे सब खुश या आँखे खुश्क  कर जाए या फिर कुच्छ संवाद किसीको प्रेरित कर जाए आज बस सोचा है कुच्छ ना लिखूंगा सोचे हुए शब्दों की विवेचना करूँगा

The song is a huge hit now. Everyone from each part of India hearing this song (everyone including the pantry car attendant to the local subji vendor and top notch service class has the songs in the playlist). The accent has picked up and it wont be and exaggeration if “main anna hun” is being defeated by Kolaveri Di to be expression of year. (2g and D.K. Bose coming joint third) The song written by Dhanush (national award winner )in just 20 mins,  is closing in wid the highest hits ever by any Indian video in you tube. Purists like Javed Akhtar don’t like this song. They did not like Bhaag D.K. Bose either but who cares as this song is brilliant amlgamation of the entire India. Down South where people understand hindi songs of Kumar Shanu is a huge hit and this has been my observation staying in south for four years and no albums apart from the songs of DDLJ has caught the attention of people. For us in northern part of India, the first popular South type music was heard in Ek Duje

Incredible things happen on the field of cricket. Yesterday something on same line happened. An unbelievable innings of 219. Enough has been written on how this was to be achieved only by him. Enough has also been written about what if he would have stayed there for the entire 50 overs. Though this thought does not amuse me for one bloke called Watson who made 186* in only 26 overs. (poor him for he had already ovehauled the target by then) What really attarcts me is the shot Sehwag played when he was on 197. A sqaure cut slice just few inches away from the fielder. A miscued shot and he was out. This fearlessness is what counts. This was a fearlessness which made him go after Brett Lee at Melbourne where he attempted his third consecutive 6 and was out at deep at 195 . He made run so fast that Australia could recover from the assault,  set match and win. Sometimes this pays and sometimes this does not. But what if Sehwag starts thinking. I would never want him to. If he starts th

यह कटा कटा सा विछिप्त  चेहरा कुच्चा सा और साथ में जमाने की तेज भट्टी में पका हुआ ट्रेन की खिड़की सा हो गया है  चेहरा जिसके भीतर से आँखें दृश्यों को छूते हुए विलिप्त हो जाती है कभी लह्लाता हुआ और कभी लहुलुहान कभी बारिश से ध्वस्त तो कभी उस बारिश के बिना रुखा सा किसान की फसलो की तरह हो गया है चेहरा गर भरना है रंग तो ले आओ रंग उस अधबने हुए ईमारत की धुल साथ में ले आओ  सुखी हुई मछली का ढेर उसके शरीर के रंग के लिए तम्बाकू से काले हुए होंट और पीले दांतों के लिए ले आओ कुच्छ राख और भर दो इसमें कुछ याद उन श्रमिको के जिनका नाम तुम अभी अभी भूल चुके हो (या जिनका नाम तुमने जाना भी नहीं )

चलो एक ख्वाब लिखते हैं रास्तों से चल कर टेढ़े मेढ़े इधर उधर अपने ठिकाने से दूर  एक नया आशियाँ बुनते हैं चलो एक ख्वाब लिखते हैं इस शोरगुल, धूल से परे आँखों की लालिमा को हटाकर पहाड़ों से होकर  समंदर की लहरों में चलते हैं चलो एक ख्वाब लिखते हैं सरहुल से विवध और हर एक दिन से अलग अलसाते चाँद में,  और तुम्हारी हंसी की रौशनी में कुछ और नया 'शगल' करते हैं चलो एक ख्वाब लिखते हैं न मात्र की फिक्र और न हो अंतरे का ध्यान बस सुर हो तेरा और मेरा चाहे लगे न लगे कोई तान रमा दे हमें ऐसी ग़ज़ल लिखते है चलो एक ख्वाब लिखते हैं

Away from home, away from home, away from home, ...... a hundred miles.....This song (one which we used to hum in childhood) gets some strange feeling. We could associate with it. For walking had been so attached with us during our childhood. Walk to the school, walk to the playground, walk a good distance to get groceries and walk around the lake. Taking a solitary walk around the college area... The song used to get connected with us... As years passed by, walking did not leave. Though provided with delightful facilities walk never eluded. Walk and ponder. Ponder and walk. Walk long distances .Sometimes a silent walk. Sometimes a walk with a bunch of friends. Sometimes fast paced steps. Sometimes lazy, dragging steps. Walking remained.  Sometimes I wonder how a lazy walk from school to home, made me learn so many things. Though had a bicycle (preferred walking) . Would take a lift till halfway where my friend and I would part ways and before parting ways a ten minute of conversati

Though past few days has been rocked by terror, tremor, treachery and trauma , couple of good news makes one feel happy. The first one is the urgent rush of the blood donors to various hospitals in Delhi after the terror strike. Almost all hospitals and blood banks received several calls from callers inquiring the need of blood. (Though almost all the blood banks in Delhi had sufficient units ) It is a social revival of its kind where people have shed their inhibitions of donating blood. Government and social bodies should be congratulated to carry a drive which has informed and educated the people. The second news comes from Bihar where property of a tainted IAS officer has been turned into a Primary School. And several others are in pipeline. This is a massive step as we are all aware of the pathetic state of our schools . And most importantly the building being made from the plundered money of people is being given back to people. Well mostly these mansions made from people'

Recently there was an article in Hindu http://orwell.ru/library/articles/hanging/english/e_hanging This article has  come up on the wake of giving mercy to the killers of Rajiv Gandhi. There has been huge row about forgiving those involved in it. It has been twenty years since Mr Gandhi died and more than 70 years since Mr Orwell wrote the article. Letting these people off the crime they did, seems to be logical amongst various set of society who thinks letting go the criminals is a way forward for an emerging society. Death sentence looks medieval or cruel.  But was the crime (murder) committed a civilized step ? A society that sentences killers to nothing worse than prison -- no matter how depraved the killing or how innocent the victim -- is a society that doesn't *really* think murder is so terrible.  When a killer is hanged till death, society is condemning his crime with a seriousness and intensity that no other punishment achieves. I still remember as a child the broken l

पानी के आधे भरे और खाली बोतल , यदा - कदा ग्लूकोस बिस्कुट के पैकेट , खाने का ये कागज़ सा लगने वाला सिंथेटिक प्लेट (पहले पत्तल आते थे ), केले के छिलके , खाने की टूटी सी रसोई , बदबू फैलाती हुई सड़ी गली सब्जियां , अजीब सी टोपी (जो सूत की नहीं है ) और बहुत सी जगह में कागज़ के छोटे छोटे तिरंगे . यही बची है आज मेरे साथ. लगभग एक माह के बाद वो त्योव्हार आएगा जिससे मेरा नाम सार्थक होता है. रामलीला. तब तक बीच बीच में कई त्यौहार आते जाते रहेंगे  कल ही अन्ना त्यौहार खत्म हुआ है !!

There are people who eat to live and then there are people who live to eat. I would fall in the category more weighted towards the latter. Food and I feel good. Food and life looks beautiful. By mere smell which is caught by our air cooler, I can tell you what is cooking. I even start dreaming of food. Gluttony is my trait. They would say I follow what I am. A Maithil. My partner's family had got a crash course before the marriage on the expectations of food habits of Maithils. I have heard and seen people eating and competing to eat .One of my cousin had a bet of eating maximum rasgullas without taking the ras out of it. And jolly he, he ended up eating 70 rasgullas. Not that he was full but the restaurant had no more stock left. There are infamous tail of Maithils and their food habits. And quotations. Even a bland khichdi has its proverbs... "Khichdi ke chaar yaar, dahi, papad, ghee achaar. Then another one says "Aadi ghee aur anta dahi, ohi bhojan ke bhojan kahi&quo

Suppose you are Veeru tied in a rope and a sharp shooter has aimed at your head ready to break it like a watermelon. Gabbar says chose one man to play for you. "Jab tak wo out nahi hoga, tab tak tumhari saanse chalti rahegi." Without a blinker of thought you would appoint Rahul Dravid. He would save your life. As he has been doing for India for fifteen continuous years. For no reasons he is called the Great Wall Of India. Dravid hates this figure of speech for him. A wall is lifeless all it does is blocks things. It separates intruders to trespass. Dravid does more than that. He stands, he blocks he reacts and scores. 12200 plus run and still counting. With his kind of average he goes , he is ought to make 50 plus run every innings. Wall, a lifeless being cant do it. For its not about blocking only, it is also about making runs and that too with conviction. Dravid, they say lacks aggression. For me, he is the biggest aggressor. Aggression is not about reacting. Its more a

So India is going to have their own slut walk. Aka Besharmi morcha, this is a new "firnagi" wave we are catching up. The history of slut walk is not too old. A Canadian Police officer's remarks started it all. And there has already been over 60 "walks" across the world. And Delhi girls are ready, few girls already selecting their skimpiest clothes as being interviewed in daily news channel. The fight is against sexual violence. That brings me to one question what took Indian women so much time to have an "andolan" now. The remark being made by canadian polcieman is every third Indian's view. Why did they need to follow some wave but not initiate it at first hand. Good that they are having a movement now. But unlike being followers can't we also raise voice against female infanticide. Violence (not only physical but social and most importantly economical ) is faced by majority of Indian women. Do we need any other country to start the march fo

1988. Aamir Khan croons papa kehte hai bada naam karega. 2011, his nephew Imran sings Daddy mujhse bola tu galti hai meri …. Is this a kind of generation gap ? 100 percent cut off for SRCC (the college does not even feature in top 200 college of world) ...means no room for error. Do they actually produce machines now?  Learning new metaphor from Dhoni. Adulteration of techonology and human errors cost us that wicket(referring to Ian Bell given not out when reviewed). What about Sachin being given not out by the same technology in world cup semi final. Ramdev Baba's estimate of the  money to be lost if corruption is not wiped out Rs10,000 lakh crores. Who does these estimates? Ramjee ke pass sabke liye hai masala?? 98 kg of Gold found at Sai Baba's home. But that saint used to take gold from his mouth in miracles. So why so much of fuss ???

Watching one of the interviews after Baba reached Haridwar was amusing. In his words, he stayed around a wall in Ramlila Maidan for two hours. He then disguised himself in a ladies dress to escape (perhaps forgot about his beards) but police caught him. He claims the policemen pulled up his stole to strangulate him. “Arre bhai jaan maar doge meri kya ?” , he asked. He is a real marketing guy. He did not even forget the name of his favorite channel Aaj Tak claiming they were recording everything. Aaj Tak keeps repeating that line of Baba for its tag of “fearless” journalism. He further said,( maut se mujhe dar nahi lagta. Par mein aise nahi marna chahta tha). If the idea was to kill him, why did policemen not kill any of the people around? Baba says he never faced such a violence in his life. Taking Metro from Rajeev Chowk is more violent than that. Jokes apart, has baba really thought of people who are abandoned from home in demolition drive? Or the kind of fast 30 percent of Indian

“Of the 1,400 research papers produced in India annually, 1,000 are produced by the IITs. And this has happened only in the past 5 to 6 years.” This is what Mr Sibal says defending the IITians. India has around 200 plus research institutes and do they  annually produce only 1400 papers ?  IIT, he says was never meant to be a research institute and basic agenda of the institute is to produce world class engineers. It is no wonder what we churn out, fewer scientists, patents and research papers. In my school alone I know of only one boy out of so many IITians and engineers doing some valuable research. What exactly is the reason we have so few researchers.   For any child, the most important aspect (he is told) is securing a high earning job as soon as he graduates. Engineering has been tried and tested funda of being a winner in this rat race. Perhaps because of our vision being set in socialists times when any one wid engineering degree was given a job. And they were paid good, h

Its 12 th of May and mercury has already touched 44 degrees in Delhi . It will be one year in sometimes we shifted to Delhi and amongst all good things Delhi gives you the worst of summers. How often we read the mood being very colorful in summers courtesy our western writers. For them , summer means having the option to watch the sun, bask under its glory and feel nice about it. Colorful clothes, atmosphere and light mood. Watching pics of few of the western countries during winter no doubt they have every reason to feel good. But ask any Indian and the weather he hates is summer. Come March and we feel the heat, May seems the longest and most tiresome. You don’t want to indulge in any activities. At the same time you don’t feel like lying down as well. Transition to a.c and being back to normal room temperature with either fan or cooler is dangerous. One wish to thrive on fruits or lots of water and anything, I repeat anything hot is so strictly avoided.   Few incidents which h

George Orwell is one of the most effective writers I have read. His work Animal Farm is perhaps the best political allegory . Recently I had a chance of getting a copy of his novel 1984 from nai sadak at sunday market. Got this superb piece of literature in Rs 20 only. Shame I had not read this novel long before. Going through first few pages itself was intriguing. And the book made me wonder so many things. A book written in 1948 so correctly visualizes the present world. If I am not wrong , Orwell was the inventor of the word   Big Brother. So what makes me write a blog here. Perhaps I am trying to write about some novel hugely discussed, commented, praised and criticised. What I write here might have been discussed so many times. Yet I make an attempt. Orwell says what controls the past control the future Who controls the present controls the future. The thought has struck me since I have read it. Is history not being written by victors What if Hitler had avoided his three mista

While walking to the office suddenly heard someone speaking in local hazaribagh ka language. Felt real good. Thought of making a list of normal conversation that takes place in local language there, a mix of santhali, hindi, bhojpuri and bangla best known as hazarbaghiyan language. Forgive me for the translations as some words cant be translated. Scene One Time : Morning 8 to Evening 3 The sabjiwali : Sabji Lebhi Kaaaaaaaa ( Do You want take vegetables) The household: Kaa ho S: Raamtorai (Ladies Finger) Hau, Bilauti Ho (Tomatoes), Piyaaz ho , Aaaruu ho (potatoes), muraayee hau (raddish), Dhaniya Patta Hau, Mirchaay ho...... T h : Abhi naay lebo (wont take now) S : To kahe le chirwaa deli (why made me scream ) (makes sense) Scene Two : Coffee Shop at bus stand Time : Preferably Evening Hero 1: Dekh beta u humar maal hau, ukra dekhbi to banduk toob debo muhwaa mein (thats my girl yu see her and a gun will take care of you) Hero 2: Tu dher Ud Reli be( flying very high). Idhar

What is common between Lalit Bhanot, A Raja, R.K Chandolia, Sidharth Behura, Shahid Balwa and G. Doshi? Well we have been reading a lot about these men since the last one year and all are related to scams we had and they warmed their purses through spectrum sale and Commonwealth. Today they are warming the benches at Tihar. To accompany them there would be high profile murderers Manu Sharma , Santosh Singh and R.K Sharma. I don’t intend to add salutation Mr. infornt of their name. Was wondering what would they be talking to each other if at all they do. A Manu Sharma can be dangerous. If not given the dal they get in jail he might shoot. If you are visiting the Tihar campus be anyone but not journalist and lawyer. There are people like R.K Sharma and Santosh Singh. A Lalit Bhanot would be loving the standards of toilets in Tihar as that’s what he expects the hygiene standards of Indians to be. You can also learn lots of auction tricks from a Raja and a Chandolia. It is really refre

Was thinking of updating my profile and wanted to add list of my favorite movies. I must admit I am an ardent movie buff. Listing would have been easier but to tag a few movies as the best and adding etc would have been unfair to the movies. So I would go with a selected few movies which has left a deep impact on me. The list is random. 1. Antaheen: Had gone to Calcutta and picked up the vcd of Antaheen as heard rave reviews about the director of movie plus it had Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose. The movie is a delight in itself and the music was simply majestic. The film, later on won National Award as best film and for its music. A must see to fall in love with Calcutta. 2.Parakh: This is a Bimal Roy film which I would consider most humorous and satirical of all. Sadhna, san her trademark hair cut looks and acts beautifully but its Motilal who stands out as the postmaster's help .  3. The Usual Suspect : Most amazing pulp noir I have seen. Has best script and t

She was slim , she was black, she made most amazing noise, she always accompanied me on my rides, rather I could not go without her. She loved running around the beach, she loved mounatins, she loved roads , she loved kuccha sadak, she just wanted to be on a move. I never took care of her but she never complained. She loved it when i would take her to Vishakha Valley road with no lights on on no moon's day. She would wait for me till my shift was over at around 3 at night and would come home happily with me. Though she was averse to rain as she would sneeze and not move but she loved just being with me. It was one rainy morning when she and I decided to hit roads. We did not plan where would we go. We just hit road. It must be around 4 o clock when we started.We were going towards national highway. The clouds could be felt but were not seen as sun was yet to rise. All across the road we could see newspaperwala collecting papers or Vishaka Dairy vans. Dogs chased us but she was

Have we noticed that the brands like Aquafina or Kinleys that we consume is not mineral water but packaged drinking water. There is a difference as we  all must be aware of. A packaged drinking water is a regular water which is treated to get into standard norm of drinking and a mineral water is untreated water from the river water or  clean spring water perhaps carry more of dissolved salts and minerals. There must be more than 200 hundreds brands of “mineral water” being “ produced” and marketed in Delhi . Of those perhaps Just Born Spring Drops and Natural Spring would be the brand actually selling mineral water. Me hailing from Hazaribagh had very little idea of buying water for myself in future. Thankfully my place is considered as place “jahan ka paani bahut accha hain “ and forms one of the various reasons Bengalis settled there. Strangely when a well was being dug at our home water emerged after digging only four feet. Our well only about 16 feet deep has never been dry . Thi

Various websites and media channels are running signature campaigns for supporting Mr Hazare . Was thinking how many of these websites will sell our email address and data. When we send an sms how the fund is being utilized?   When I asked couple of my friends if they knew what was the History of Anna Hazare and what has he contributed towards, people have blank faces. Is it easy to run into wave of emotions and support these campaigns? No doubt Mr Hazare’s demand for a comprehensive bill for corruption is justified. The draft says Lokpals and other officials would be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authority and not by politicians. Does this indicate corruption is only done by politicians? Every time breaking a queue is a corruption. Every time letting go any situation is corruption. People don’t tend to question. We don’t want to argue for it leads to messing around. Letting even corruption happening itself is corruption. So who all will a  Lokpal and Lokayukta fra

My office gives me cab service. Pick and drop. The roaster keeps on changing and I have never got same office colleagues with me. Strangely none of us talk. I have tried very often to break into conversation but sometimes I repeat my stuff two times and then I realize they have put on their ear phones and I have to often repeat my words only to be disinterested again.   Mobile kranti, facebook and twitters have brought people so silent. (Only If they are not talking to their love interests.) When I used to go to HCL fun was amazing. We would sing songs would know all the cab mates and radio fm was awesome. The radio still plays but no one fights for controlling the channels. For everyone has their own. Getting a mobile with mp3 was expensive affairs those days and good old radio in car speaker was so hit. But here I am to write about the best of the traveling experience yu get and the kind of people you meet when raveling on the greatest carrier of  India. The Indian Railways, W

M = MSD, M = Mirpur (Beat Bangladesh) M = M Chinnaswamy (Beat West Indies) M = M A Cidambaram (Beat Ireland) M =Motera (Beat Australia) M =Mohali (Beat Pakistan) M =Mumbai ???? But  M = Mallinga M = Muralitharan M = Mendis M = Mahela M = Matthews  Mystery should unravel on April 02, 2011

Of all the sins associated with me, I am sure when I would meet Chitragupta jee after death , he would question me about the number of Chipkalis  I have killed. In my late twenties,  if not I would have killed more than 200 hundreds of them and perhaps would have contributed a lot to make this puny servile cloddish bug to be in the endangered list of species. The last murder happened half an hour before. I have become quite adept in killing these dangerous (I don’t know for what creature). I have become so smart that  they don’t even get time to pop apart their tail. Smash and they are done. The maximum number of them has been killed wit my leather chappal. I might sound sadistic but I don’t derive any sadistic pleasure to kill any of them. I don’t even kill them for my fear. I kill them to give sense of relief and security to ladies around me. Before it was my didi and now it is my better scared half. I have often asked them, what makes them scared of this harmless, otherwise helpf

I remember a brief little discussion with one of my friends who happened to be a very good opener and before succumbing to Engineering was a league match player for Hazaribagh. I used to like watching his game. We had a great discussion about the ICL being introduced and how it was a novel concept wherein little known cricketers were to get there due. We had taken the example of Venu Gopal Rao and Ambati Raydu. Little we knew that India will have IPL and Pandeys, Pathans Tiwaris   Jadjejas and Ashwins will emerge. Players would earn crores even eithout getting selected to Indian Cricket Team. And by the time Chennai Super Kings won the third IPL we thought 50-50 over was to die. Test cricket had and will have its followers. Most of urban Indians were switching loyalty to English Premier League and soccer followed by WWE was becoming the number one sports to be viewed. But again we were missing our fact. India is where bharat lies and bharat lies in mufassils. Cometh the crisis for

एक  बार  फिर  किसी  चौकठ पे  दस्तक  हुई  है  वहां  कई  लोग  जोर  से  दरवाजे  को  पीट  रहे  हैं  चाहते हैं  वो  घर  के  अन्दर  आना  ताकि  उस  घर  में  कोई  न  रह  सके  दरवाज़ा  न  खुला  तो  किरासन  भी  है  उनके  पास  रेडियो  बता  रहा   है  कहीं  कोई  ट्रेन  जली  है 

कल  ही  तक  जो  पैरों  के  नीचे  थी  जीवन  को   तलाशती  धूल जाग   गयी  है  वो  आज  पाकर  हवा  का  स्पर्श  उठ  गयी  है  धरती  से  आसमान  तक  फैला  लिया  है  उसने   अपना  संसार  बंद  हो  गयी  हैं  घूरती  आँखें  उसका  सामना  करने  के  डर से 

वो निकल पड़ा था भोर से  धुल धूसरित मजदूर  दिन  भर  बोया  खेत  वो  हुआ  थक  कर  चूर  जल  रही  है  तपती  धरती  बारिश  वाली  आग  मेघा प्रियतम   के  बिना  निराधार  सब   राग  चितित   निर्बल  नदी  जैसे  रेट  की  सेज  आँचल  में  जल  नहीं  इस  पीड़ा  से  लबरेज  काश  बरखा  आ   जाये  ये  थी  मजदूर  की  तान  शायद  इस  बार  फिर  बच  जाये  प्राण 

On 26th Feb 2011, it will be 27 months that the Mumbai attacks happened. The lone survivor terrorist Kasab is still alive. Last heard he is to appeal in supreme court and would be again provided lawyer to defend his case. But what is there to defend? We spend around 8.5 lakhs a day for keeping Kasab healthy and alive. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cost-of-keeping-Kasab-alive-Rs-31-crore-and-counting/articleshow/5269730.cms ). I am sure government , while providing all the "special care" to Kasab would have kept in mind the various human rights organisation who would have cried foul if those special provisions were not provided to Mr Kasab. For an average Delhite with that kind of money  means 85 thousand people can actually eat chola kulcha every day for 27 months and more. Death wont mean much for  Kasab as he knew he would have died the same day on 26/11. These guys are prepared to die. There is a need for tougher laws to those indulgent in terrorism proved so

The beginning of 2011 will be remembered for the uprising of youth in the liberation of Egypt . A rule of more than three decades ended in a revolt of 18 days. This I see as the biggest victory in decades. Bringing more delights than the liberation of Iraq or for that matter Afghanistan . What really worked was the power of youth triggered mostly by social networking sites. Last year during the regime an active blogger was beaten to death by police   in Egypt . They tried all the means to suppress the freedom of speech which was not to be. What's been particularly interesting is that the Egyptian activists weren't simply looking for people to "like" their protest pages or to give people a place to vent their frustrations. They used social networking sites to engage people -- to motivate them into action, not just online but in the real world. Perhaps that is how even Obama won the election. His tools definitely were FB , Twitter et all.   His staffers knew it is