Tikki Tikkiri Tik

53. It's too Far !!!

2012-01-08T18:02:00.001+05:30

600 light years away. That is some distance. Isn’t it ?

According to some latest news, that is the distance at which another planet similar to earth has been discovered. It revolves around a star similar to our sun. The star, a G5 star, has a mass and a radius only slightly smaller than that of our Sun, a G2 star. The planet orbits the G5 star with an orbital period of 290 days, compared to 365 days for the Earth, at a distance about 15 percent closer to its star than the Earth from the Sun. This results in the planet’s balmy temperature. It orbits in the middle of the star’s habitable zone, where liquid water is expected to be able to exist on the surface of the planet.

Liquid water is necessary for life as we know it, and this new planet might well be not only habitable, perhaps even inhabited.

Well, all that was good to know. If ever we did horrible things to our mother earth and it became not fit for living anymore, we might plan to migrate to another live able planet. But this blog is not about the possibilities on the other planet, nor indeed is it about when to go there. The question is how?

Since this journey to the next earth might be extremely long (Read 1000 years), it might be worth-while to discuss and imagine a few road-blocks that we might face in order to reach the distant planet. We will discuss these issues in two categories – Obvious and Not so Obvious.

Obvious

• Vehicle : What kind of vehicle or space craft can take us to such a far distance? It would need to be extra special since it might need to journey for a few centuries at the least. There is not enough scientific acumen or knowledge with me to discuss this issue further, so we will move on.

• Fuel : What fuel could be self sustaining so that it can carry to space ship with humans across 600 to100 years ? Yet again, lets not spend time on the issues which need research.

• Food : Assuming science miracles have provided us some vehicle and fuel, it might still need to dig deep to come up with some form of “generative food” which can be generated on a daily basis in space from the heavenly bodies.

Not so Obvious

• Who will go? Do you think only humans will be travelling on the space ship? It would make more sense for the space ship to carry atleast one male and one female species of most creatures on earth, like the Noah’s Arc suggests. How else can we expect for life on the new planet to continue? Unless that planet already has a host of delightful species.

• How many humans? Contrary to some mythological stories and common sense, it may not work to send just one pair of male and female humans on the space ship. Consider this. If we want to sustain human beings for the next 1000 years, do you think just one couple is enough? Scientifically, for human race to sustain one thousand years, they need to reproduce healthy humans to ensure human beings on the space ship continue their life. All this without factoring in contingencies such as accidents and gays.

• What are we doing? Now comes the most important and perhaps at the most underestimated problem. Do you believe in what was said 1000 years ago? Do you follow every word of it ? In all likeliness, one thousand years later, the whole journey of this space ship as a search for another living planet might disappear. Five hundred years later, people on the space ship will have no idea about what an earth is or what it means. Everything will be lost in time. So the person in the space ship 500 years later is free to assume, imagine and interpret whatever he wishes about their journey and destination.

Time transcends everything. Thousands of years ago whoever wrote our most sacred religious books had good intentions and strong ideals in mind apart from a clear picture on what is the way to lead a life. Cut to the present day and everything is just a “myth-o-logy” today. Look around to see how many people really believe what was said thousand years ago.

The question that needs answering for reaching a planet 600 light years away is, “ How do we write, store and preserve something, that can be passed on to people in 3012, so that they can safely reach the other planet?”. Otherwise people would just land their space ship on a planet like Jupiter and say “Mission Accomplished” !!.

52. The Quality of Life Survey

2012-01-01T13:44:00.001+05:30

On a whim, I decided to interview some of the living species on the earth and came up with some startling data. Presented below is the top 5 and bottom 5 in the list of species in terms of their quality of life.

Top 5 in quality of life

1. The Hippo: With a gigantic body for a mammal on earth and amphibious nature, the Hippopotamus enjoys one of the better lives on earth. Besides enjoying their time on water and land, the sociable Hippos are a very happy bunch. The survey ranks them as the topmost in the quality of life just edging the Crow by a few points.
Famous depictions in human world: Gloria from Madagascar.

2. The Crow: With the freedom to fly to any part of the world to an open range of appetite, the crow is a close second to the Hippo in its happy lifestyle. When quizzed, most crows accepted to a comfortable and hassle free life compared to other winged creatures on earth. The only issue plaguing the otherwise care-free birds is their not so great appearance which ranks poorly.

3. The Cat: Not ranked highly amongst other creatures thanks to their sneaky nature, the cat is otherwise a very satisfied and happy being. Skillful and adept at various skills like jumping, scratching, sneaking, rolling and staring, the cat leads an enviable life on earth.
Famous depictions in human world: Puss in Boots.

4. The Fly: Omnipresent and joyful, the fly characterized by its multiple eyes and devil may care attitude lives a very happy and aggressive life on this earth. Hardly a few millimeters in size but with strong wings, the fly does pretty much whatever it wants and goes wherever it wants. Life is fun. The only complaints in fly’s life was their relatively short lifespan.

5. The Crocodile: Ah to be a crocodile. They are only of the laziest creatures on earth. Basking in the sun all day and relaxing in waters when they can, all they need to do in order to eat is wait. Wait for the right time and pounce on their pray. They don’t have to go search for food, food comes to them. It can’t get better.

Worst 5 in quality of life

1. The Turtle: Life can’t get more unfair. With one of the longest life-spans on earth, a little too long to be comfortable, coupled with a surprisingly slow physical capability, the turtle is one of the saddest beings on earth. An average interview with the turtle lasts for over three months. That’s why this post took so long to write!!

2. The Ant: Spend a few minutes with the ant to realize how lucky your present life is. They spend on an average three-fourth of their day working for the queen ant and the remaining time complaining and arguing with each other. With a very strict regime and loads of work everyday, the quality of life for the ants is easily one of the poorest ones on earth.

3. Blue Whale: When god provides, he does so sometimes in bulk. And bulk is an infinitesimally small word in front of the blue whale. Imagine the proportion of food required to feed it every day. Top this with the fact that it is a vegetarian and think of the misery. It is hard enough to look for food under the water let alone looking for vegetarian food. The Blue Whale easily finds itself on the sad list.

4. Banyan Tree: The banyan tree is one the most helpful and happy trees on earth. But if you are wondering how it found itself on the poor quality of life list is because of its unbelievable life span. It’s just too long. The banyan tree on an average spends 10 generations of life compared to other species on earth- meaning everything else is born and dead ten times, before the banyan tree dies once. Pretty long I say !!

5. The Human Being: Unfortunately the human being finds himself on the poor quality of life list. Surprising given the fact that he/she is the most intelligent, dexterous, capable and thoughtful creature on earth. Equipped with the mysterious sixth sense and inexplicable agility, the human being was primed to be the most advanced and happiest creatures on earth. Alas, it was not meant to be. Despite the perfect length of lifespan and numerous abilities, he is plagued by the problem of engaging his mind.

Perhaps the only species on earth which bothers about the purpose of life and ends up giving different interpretations to it such as money, fame, power, religion and desires, the human being has a tedious and sad journey through life unraveling the reason for his presence on earth.

Something all the other living species on earth are oblivious of.

51. Pharmoola

2011-12-10T12:48:00.001+05:30

A Humsar Nagar Folktale

Tarun’s interest in Formula 1 goes back a long time. Ever since he laid eyes on his maternal uncle’s BMW, he was hooked to cars and eventually racing. Unfortunately fantasies like car-racing did not gel well with the folks of a small town called Humsar Nagar in the interiors of a remote state in India. Children of Humsar Nagar played Gilli-Dhanda and Lagori but did not often discuss the nuances of a formula 1 race.

Keeping his interests close to heart and raptly following any updates in the local newspaper for racing updates, Tarun ensured that the fire to witness a formula 1 race live did not die inside him. As destiny would wish, Tarun ended by growing to be an entrepreneur. Armed with good speaking skills and a MBA degree Tarun had a persuasive persona and a determined demeanor.

Years of witness and enjoying Formula 1 races around the world made him a racing fanatic. He would never miss a race. While he enjoyed the races to his heart fill, he would secretly nurse the hope of enjoying and witness the race in the warmth of his hometown Humsar Nagar.

His meteoric rise in business saw him rub shoulders with some of the biggest entrepreneurs in his generation and he often shared a good rapport with them. Everything changed one fine day, when Tarun read his morning newspaper about the Buddh formula 1 circuit built on the outskirts of New Delhi. As Formula 1 generated extraordinary interest in the minds of young and elite crowd in the big cities in India, Tarun could not help but wish it would turn out a huge success.

And success it did turn out, as millions of people in India thronged the Buddh circuit to witness Formula 1 giants from all over the world compete in their very own backyard. School kids to teenagers and some young people, everybody was talking about Formula 1 racing and how they wanted to see this all their life.

As Tarun sat in his VIP enclosure watching Sebastin Vettel running away with his prize, the brainwave stuck him. He decided to open a formula1 race track in Humsar Nagar. He knew that pulling the right strings with the right people, could make his dream a reality. Spending some time with some liquor companies for sponsorship and ticking people in the right spots, Tarun convinced that a competitive race track with enormous interest in racing could be achieved in his beloved hometown Humsar Nagar.

Two years later in 2013, everything was ready for the inaugural launch of the formula 1 race track in Humsar Nagar. Fewer racing giants turned up, but the race was on. While Tarun had successfully visualized and conceived the racing phenomena in his hometown, he had missed out a couple of key points. The Minister for Sports in the state always had a keen penchant to inaugurate any sporting events in his territory. Obliged by political constraints and processes, Tarun was forced to not only invite but also entertain the ruling party to witness a sporting spectacle in his hometown.

What ensued henceforth is not what you would expect, nor indeed what Tarun expected.

An hour in to the race, there was a dozing sound in the VIP enclosure. Not surprisingly, it was the minister who had dozed off. Keen to avoid this embarrassing view and discouragement to the sport, Tarun jolted the minister out of his slumber lest the cameras should focus on this event. The rudely awoken minister mumbled something in his sleep before realizing where he was. Not soon, lot of media personnel thronged the enclosure wanting to know what the minister felt about this spectacle.

The minister frankly stated his opinion. “Bhats the Youuuse?”. Not exactly on the same page, nor indeed on the same book, the media asked the minister to elaborate on this unique remark. The minister quipped, “ Costly cars go round round, make noise, but bwhats the youuse? No India superstar, no interesting controversy, we cant even watch continuously for one minute. Car comes vroom, car goes vroom. Some foreigner winning and spraying alcohol. Bhats the yoose?”. The media people as well as other party members in the booth listened with rapt attention as the minister unfolded his acute views. “You tell me, just going round and round, what is to be gained? Atleast if you rotate around temple, some punya (blessings) can be achieved. Otherwise, it is just time waste.”

Tarun watched open-mouthed as the minister continued, “ In our poor country, rich people already finished earning money and now wasting time on some else driving car. We have lot to achieve, why see these guys running around with competition. People of our state see this and drive fast on roads and kill other people. Why all this?”

All the points were taken and dutifully reported in the local newspapers in the state. The racing event was termed as a lukewarm success and Tarun had received a jolt to his dreams. Soon after a month, the minister had ordered that a Durga Devi temple should be built in the center of the track so that people can go around it and collect blessings.

With the help of state government tax money and some religious activists, a beautiful temple was built in the center of the track. The racing cars which were once used for racing, now donated by the racing teams formed the refurbished vehicle for devotees to go around the temple and earn blessings.

Within two years of the race at Humsar Nagar, Shanti Devi formula one race track had got converted to a pilgrim location where devotees from all over the country thronged to go visit the serene temple and go around the temple 50-100 times in the remodeled cars to earn blessings. The popular chart outside the temple premises read. “ Pharmoola Rates Rs 100 for 20 rounds, Rs 200 for 50 rounds and Rs 500 for 100 rounds around the temple. Come earn Mata’s blessings.”

While this was exactly what Humsar Nagar wanted, it wasn’t exactly what Tarun had wanted. A dejected and sad Tarun sat with his mom as she pestered him to take her to the temple. “I hate what happened here, I will never come back here again”, said Tarun as he loathed the day the minister came for the race. Tarun’s mom explained, “ Beta, this is our country, here people live their life based on belief rather than free will. I know you have travelled a lot of countries around the world and seen many different things. But beta, you will realize that this is what our people want. Tell me, if your race track succeeded, how many people would come to see? 300-500? But see now, whether you did it by chance or purposefully, there are 5000 people coming there everyday to worship. All this will add more goodness to your life beta. You can always go anywhere in the world to see the race. But here, you will always get to see smiling faces returning from the temple. So don’t regret and be happy for what has happened.”

Although Tarun was not exactly on the same page as his mother, he could see the gleam in her eye. It wasn’t anything he had seen before. She was proud of him. As he escorted his mother to the Shanti Devi temple and entered its gate, an old lady called to him. “Beta, mera pharmoola kar do.”(Please take me around the temple). As he took the crumpled bunch of 10 rupee note from her hand, he realized, this trip around the race track was not a race for her, but hope for her whole family.

Smiling to himself, he bought her the 100 rounds around the temple, for the 50Rs that she had given.

50. Dabbler Town

2011-09-26T16:26:00.000+05:30

An imaginative representation.

In a world skewed by people with umpteen degrees and technical expertise, there are also a huge number of people skilled and talented in other art forms such as wood carving, singing, painting and plumbing. Not surprisingly the world is also skewed in terms of people with lot of money and those who hardly make their ends meet.

Hi, my name is Johannes Duphous and over the last sixty years, I have worked hard and toiled ceaselessly to build, what is now an empire of rubber industries. My current job is to overlook, sanction and approve new projects and attend monthly meetings. This means that I have a lot of time at hand to indulge in whatever else I deem interesting.

With a huge financial base at my disposal and withering age, I realized I needed to do something that would not only bring me satisfaction but also provide this world with something new and innovative. While I did spend quite some time thinking what that might be, I realized what needed to be done. Build a new world based on equality and skill.

Welcome to Dabbler Town. Established in 2004, this is a town created on the outskirts of Hertfordshire, about 70 miles from the nearest Railway station. With a population of about 18,000 people, this town has a long way to go in terms of establishing itself as a city, but it has taken giant leaps in to the future of humanity.

I conceived this concept a few years back when I had my present home renovated. Two skilled carpenters were redecorating and creating new furnishings for our house. Within a matter of few weeks, they had created what is now one of the best home decors across Easter Isles of British Island. While they spent hours sweating it out cutting, carving and re-shaping the wood in to a beautiful coffee table, my technical consultant with a degree from Oxford was typing a couple of emails and making an odd phone call as he clinched a million dollar deal with another company. The disparity of effort hit me. Using his brains, technical acumen and oratory skills my consultant had just made fifteen times more money than my carpenter in one-thirtieth(1/30) of time. Why was this even possible?

It was then that I came up with the idea of Dabbler Town. Using up my share of the company’s stocks, I created a town which I later named Dabbler. The rules of this town were as simple as they were unique. Every living person above the age of 21 is called a professional. Every individual’s life between the ages of 21 to 35 is to follow a set pattern. Above 35 however, it is more predictable and relaxed. Here is how the town is planned:

• Whenever a young man or woman turns 21, he will be set in to what is called the dabbler phase of his life. This means that every year the individual will spend each year in different jobs.

Every year,

! two months will be spent in any choice of college studying for any degree of choice,

! two months will be spent in a choice of physical work such as construction labor, sportsman, newspaper delivery, bus driver or industrial worker.

! two months will be spent as a skilled worker such as wood-work, painting, carving, acting and cooking.

! two months will be spent in the financial sector with jobs as chartered accountants, banks and insurance related work.

! two months will be spent in technical expertise like software companies, research labs, hardware jobs and innovation driven objectives.

! one month will be spent working for the Government and helping with administrative work and getting trained in the army.

! and last and definitely not the least, one month will be given off as vacation period to every professional.

• Now comes the biggest twist of the whole set-up. Each and every job gets paid – the same. Yes, no matter what work the professional does, he will be paid the same, thereby eliminating the preference for any job due to financial constraints. The only increase in pay will be with experience.

• The second phase of the professional’s life will be beyond 35 years of age where he free to choose any job he prefers to continue based on the time he spent. This ofcourse would be subject to availability and requirement. On non-availability of one’s favorite job, he might have to choose the second best in its absence and wait until the job of favor becomes available.

This concept of dabbling in various jobs and thereby learning new skills and temperance towards other people and jobs is at the very heart of the idea. Every day when a person wakes up, he looks forward to newer challenges and a novel lifestyle. Nothing ever remains the same.

Everybody will be given a chance to understand the nuances of jobs like the newspaper delivery, to the demands of being an actor. From the subtle additions that make recipes in to delightful dishes to the alertness of a traffic policeman. People will be given umpteen chances to not only appreciate art but also to experience and think like an artist. Learning discipline from the military to deducing logically from technical engineers, being precise as a scientist to learning approximations like an accountant. One’s life will have all flavors of being a professional not just one.

As with every new idea or concept, this particular idea has also had its share of criticisms. From being labeled as a Jack of all trades, master of none to hampering a person’s skill. All criticisms I must say have been fair and offer significant problems. But like I say, life is meant to be experienced in all its forms. To be able to explore, understand, empathize and perceive everything around us would make us, truly alive.

Hopefully more Dabbler Towns can be seen around the world in times to come. Maybe you can discover an artist in you, or maybe a sculptor. You would never know….until you tried.

Image Courtesy: http://kristiriley.com/relationship-advice/live-your-life/

49. Swiss Paris Delight

2011-09-18T01:10:00.000+05:30

Ude……khula aasmaan mein khabon ke parindey….

When dreams merge with reality, you might be in Switzerland. After seeing umpteen movies with heroes and heroines dancing around in lush green outfields and hearing numerous times about the fashion capital of the world and the one of the romantic cities- Paris, we decided to pay a visit to these places.

Our Swiss Paris Trip

After three months of looking forward to the trip, we embarked on the journey on the 7th September midnight. Our flight was at 4.30 am and we spent our time in the airport eating at Pizza Hut in eager anticipation of what lay ahead.

Our first impressions of the name “Qatar Airways” were not the best. But all that changed when we spent close to 10 hours in two flights from Bangalore to Doha and then from Doha to Zurich. Doha is the capital of Qatar, a small country in the Middle East. As we landed and took off, we got a glimpse of the vast dry expanse which was the desert. The temperature at Doha was 30 degrees centigrade at 6.00AM.

Day 1

The desert sands and the dry nature of Doha were not pleasing to the eyes, but within 4 hours, we saw the exact opposite as we landed in to Zurich. Lush green grass, mountains and lakes greeted us as we saw the aerial view of the country often called as “heaven on earth”. Collecting our baggages in a hurry, we sped out of the airport to see who was waiting to guide us through the tour.

At the time of meeting, we knew little about the person from MakeMyTrip - Mr Manish, but all that would change. We got in to our home for next five days- the Volvo bus, better known as the Orlandi Coach. A lot of people got in to the coach with us, but we didn’t know them. As our coach sped towards our first destination of the tour- Lucerne, we observed with rapt attention every little detail that was Switzerland. Uniform roads, green fields, model houses, winding lit tunnels and organized cars. We had had little to eat until then, but that didn’t deter us from enjoying what was happening.

The first town that we went to in Switzerland, Lucerne was a treat to the eyes. A small town with lots of shops, a lake and picturesque background. We got acquainted with another couple – Srikant and Swati, who were to become our companion for the trip. Together we ventured out and took pictures after pictures of us with the artistic town. There was a wooden bridge across a lake with flowers lined on its outside. There was the Lucerne lake with mountains in the background. There were happy and calm people strolling, laughing and walking along the banks. To be at this place was something else.

After cautiously buying a few chocolates, ice creams and some souvenirs we headed back to our hotel for the night- Hotel Terrace in Engelberg. The bus trip again was indescribable. The mountains, grass, wooden houses, train tracks, water streams and all that we find in wallpapers were in front of our eyes.

Hotel Terrace was a unique experience. Perched on top of a mountain, we need two elevators to get up to its lobby. All the windows the in the hotel overlooked the valley. A good Indian dinner later, we were back to bed dozing off.

Day 2

The second day began with the view of the Alps, from our hotel French window. Rushing through the continental breakfast we headed in our coach towards Interlaken. The drive to Interlaken was breath-taking. While, I was travelling, I decided, I could not do justice to the scenery in words, so I will not write more about it. Even pictures couldn’t do justice. It was so beautiful.

Interlaken was yet another small town. It gave us just enough time to walk through the Swiss Town and collect more souvenirs. It was a small break before heading to the Trummelbache falls- a unique spectacle.

Trummelbache falls were a series of ten waterfalls falling inside a cave draining water from three mountains – the Eiger, the Jungfrau and the Monch. The melting of the snow caps provided this cascade of waterfalls its abundant supply of water. Watching a waterfall inside a cave was as eerie as it was beautiful.

The next thing on our agenda was a train trip to the top of Europe. All of us got in two a small moving cog train which took us from a small station called Lauterbrunnen to a place called Kleine Scheidegg. The trip on this first train was bliss. With vegetable biryani in our hands, an open train window and a pleasant uphill drive on the Alps was the best one could expect. We gulped the food in no time and waited eagerly for our next train at Kleine Scheidegg.

Along the way we started getting acquainted with the other people in our group. Two telegu couples, one Bengali couple, one delhi couple and a few families. The train from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in the world was once again – unique. I have run out of words to describe all the new things I saw and experienced. It went through a 45 minute tunnel uphill, with two stations in between. Two stations inside the tunnel with huge windows overlooking snow glaciers awaited us.

Snow, white cold wet and serene. It brings out a joy in the viewers eyes the first time they see it and Jungfraujoch had plenty of it. At more than 11,300 feet, we spent time in a weather observatory viewing nearby snow covered mountains sitting atop clouds. Then we went out and just had fun. Playing in snow is fun and there is no two ways about it. Hitting snowballs, posing for pics, singing songs, we just had a great time. After some more time spent in an ice cave, it was time to head back.

Needless to say, the journey back through the tunnel, the second train and the long bus journey from Lauterbrunnen to Engelberg was less enthusiastic the way up. But we did make friends with more people. Yet again we had the best dinner of the tour yet, an Indian buffet at the hotel, thanks to MakeMyTrip.

Day 3

The third day was a mixed affair. The first of the day was a trip to yet another mountain peak- Mt Titlis. This time the way up was through three cable cars. The first cable car was a small one, enough to fit six people. As it gained its height, we held our breaths. The scenery was becoming beautiful by the second. The second cable car was a big-bus sort of a cable car which held close to 40 people. The third one took the cake. It was again a biggish cable car holding upto 25 people, but it not only went up, it also rotated. The worlds first rotating cable car giving 360 views of all places nearby.

Atop Mt Titlis we did four things.

1. We took a picture in studio dressed as Swiss villagers.

2. We had Movenpick icecreams

3. We visited and Ice cave

4. We went on a ride called Ice flyer.

The funny thing about the ice flyer ride was that it was an open cable car ride giving us view of the glaciers. After nervously enjoying the ride, we got out to remember we forgot our camera in the cable car. It was an open car so there was 99% probability that the camera would crash to the depths of the glaciers. But the 1% prevailed and it completed its journey intact. We were lucky.

The way down through the same cable cars was less scary as we got used to the height by now. After another Indian buffet lunch, we sat in our coach and headed on a four hour drive to Geneva.

Geneva and United Nations waited for us as ambled across its entrance. Not only did we click the umpteen pictures posing in front of the United Nations, we also did a dance in front of it much to the amusement of all the people around us.

Next we went to the lake Geneve which has one of the tallest fountains in the world. A humungous fountain gushing 500 litres of water per second. After admiring the fountain, we walked around in the lanes of Geneva enjoying a beautiful Swiss evening. Not surprisingly, we had an Indian buffet dinner in Geneva as well and crossed the border in to France at night.

Day 4

Hello France. After having some French breakfast, we stared in our coach for a long bus journey. The eight hour bus journey from Geneva to Paris was made interesting by the rest of the folks in our group. A sardar family with a girl kid who only said one word – no. Another family of four with two cute girls. Yet another family of three with a smart boy and finally and big group of 5 people which included three sardarjis. Everyone made the journey interesting by singing songs or telling more about themselves. Along the journey the scenery changed from the lush greens of Swiss to more dull green outfields of France. The outdoors did look as wallpapers any more. On a low note, the lunch in one of the French towns was pathetic to say the least as it was cold salad and dubious looking pizzas. That’s life for vegetarians.

We did as much things in one and half days in Paris as we did for the past two and half days in Switzerland. We had reached Paris. Big city traffic blocked our way and delayed us by an hour as we entered the city and went to straight to the most popular structure in the world – the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower has two forms. We saw the first at 6 pm in the evening on our fourth day. It is every bit amazing as it is made out to be. Made of wrought steel and standing at an imposing height, it is a delight to watch. We had our first contacts with it when we went up the structure in elevators. The view from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower left us gasping. The whole city of Paris was seen as was the river Seine (pun intended).

After a lot of pictures, we quickly descended and went around the tower taking pictures from strategic points trying to imbibe this memory of Eiffel tower in our minds forever. Hopefully its etched. We were to see this steel beauty in its other form later today. As we left the Eiffel tower and headed for our dinner, we did what most people do when they visit the tower, buy its replica souvenir.

The dinner yet again was a wonderful Indian buffet much to our delight. We ate fast and embarked on yet another spectacular trip. The illumination tour of Paris where all famous monuments are lit as beautifully as our Rashtrapati Bhavan on Beating the Retreat. We saw with rapt attention the Arc De Troimphe, Champs De Elleyses, the Louvre Museum in the wonderful lighting.

Now comes one of the highlights of the tour – The Eiffel Tower at night. Its just surreal. Yet again, I am at a loss for words to describe the best monument of the world in all its grandeur. The fully lit Eiffel Tower – see it to believe it. To enchance the experience, we saw a glitter show at 11pm.

Completely satisfied, we hit the beds.

Day 5

The fifth and for all purposes our last day of the trip started with a trip to Disneyland Paris. Having been to Disneyland before, I knew what to expect. But to see it with my wife was something else. We had the most fun in all days going on all the rides along with Srikant and Swati.

Be it the colorfulness of “it’s a small world ride”, or the wonderful sets of “Pirates of the Caribean”, everything was pure art. Just when we thought Disney was all colorful beauty we came across one of the scariest indoor roller coasters in the dark- the Space Mission. We almost lost our heads crying out. Our visit also included a ride though the Haunter Manor and a beautiful flight called Peter Pan. I almost forgot to mention the quick Biryani we had for our lunch. By the time we left, we were all ready for the river Seine cruise.

The River Seine cruise is a must-do in Paris. It takes you on the river Seine on the banks of Paris and the Eiffel Tower and runs under 44 bridges that run across it. Each bridge is unique in a different way, the most famous being the Alexandria bridge which connects the church of Invalids to the rest of city.

At this time of the river Seine cruise and my blog post, I was tired and I am tired. The descriptions are coming out lesser and weaker. It was time to head back.

After another view of Paris in daylight, we went for dinner again at an Indian restaurant in Paris – Bhojan. A sumptuous dinner later, we were back to bed.

Day 6

It was time bid good-byes to all our fellow travelers and and to our wonderful guide Mr Manish. Besides being extremely knowledgeable and witty throughout the tour, he was also a very nice person. We were lucky to have got him as our companion on this trip.

As we started back in Qatar Airways from Charles De Gaulle airport, we knew we had a wonderful trip. We spent our time in the plane watching an assortment of movies from Something Borrowed to Chalo Dilli to Chikku Bukku to Kung Fu Panda 2.

Bangalore as always was waiting for us. Our Swiss Paris Delight concluded as a trip, but continued to remain as a memory forever.

48. South America

2011-07-29T15:22:00.002+05:30

This is not a geography lesson. It is just a collection of thoughts and research, organized out of curiosity.

The fact that there are seven continents in the world is known to all. But for some reason, Europe and North America seem to garner the top honors by the sheer number of advanced countries and technological advancements. Asia tends to be in the news because of the huge landmass and population. Africa always finds itself on the bottom of the totem pole because of the relatively poor standards of living.

But amidst the top rankers and low lying continents is a continent which is diverse, colorful, vibrant and mystical – South America.

How much does an average person know about South America. ? It is actually exactly in the middle of landmass sizes. Below Asia, Africa and North America, but ahead of Europe, Antarctica and Australia. It is made of twelve unique, vibrant and colorful countries, the biggest of them all being Brazil.

Ask anybody about Brazil or Argentina and they will tell you the names of some soccer greats. But is that what the whole place is about? Surely there’s ought to be more.

Without having actually ever visited or spent time in any of the South American countries, I wanted to take the liberty to list out some unique and interesting facts about the continent.

Machu Pichhu

Remember the “Kilimanjaro” song in the movie Endhiran/Robot. It really was a mystical place. That was Machu Pichhu. Few people know that it is one of the seven wonders of the modern world – From the Lisbon Seven Wonders of the World convention. It is breathtakingly tantalizing place with some structures back from the days of the Incas. This is a place in a country called- Peru. Also on this earth. This wallpaper has been copied from the Wikipedia page. It is a breathtaking picture.

Angel Falls

Have you seen the Pixar animation movie – Up? It is a beautiful rendition of a man in search seeking to fulfill the promise made to his wife after her demise. The dream for that couple was to visit “Paradise falls”. The old man, overcoming all odds tries to visit the paradise falls and keep his home there. Along the way he meets with a dog, a boy and a bird. The rest of the movie is about their adventure. Not many people know that the paradise falls being mentioned in the movie is really a falls called “Angel Falls” at Canaima National Park, Venezuela. A place worth visiting in one lifetime – I hope.

Easter Island Heads

Surely we have seen these images below. These are called easter island heads. Located at an island off the coast of Chile, these are monolithic human figures which were placed here between the years 1200 and 1500. They are called “Moai”. There is very little knowledge on why and how these figures were placed. In fact they used to be called one of the unsolved mysteries of the modern world. There are many theories suggesting the root cause of these heads to appear. But none can truly justify their unique shape. Might be a nice picture to stand amidst them- perhaps.

Rio

What do we know about Rio? That it is the capital of Brazil. That a colorful bird called Rio sang and danced in a recent animation film. Or the magnificent Christ Redeemer statue that was nominated as one of the wonders of the world. You only need to take one look at the picture below to be bedazzled. It is definitely a place worth visiting. Not to mention the amazing history of football, the Mardi Gras and the beaches. The place does not need a second invitation. Welcome to Brazil.

Salar De Uyuni

The worlds largest salt flat located in a country known as Bolivia. What is a salt flat though ? I am not sure but from what I read, it is a prehistoric lake covered with lots of salt which is remarkably flat. Coming to the most important fact. When this place is covered with water – it becomes the largest mirror on earth. I included this place as a must visit out of the sheer magnitude of white land and the thought of seeing the whole sky on the ground. Truly one of nature’s wonders.

The Amazon

No we are not talking about the website which brings out amazing deals on items to purchase. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.The Amazon rainforest was short-listed in 2008 as a candidate to one of the New7Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation. The amount of flora and fauna present in this rainforest is unimaginable. Sadly a lot of them are dwindling thanks to our contributions to world’s pollution. The Amazon ofcourse is also the name of the second longest river in the world behind the Nile. The river is famously known for its carnivorous man-eating fishes – the piranha.

Apart from the interesting places, South America is also the home to the worlds longest mountain range – the Andes. Not to mention some of the lesser known’s but definitely by no means lesser coutries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Guyana, Colombia and Suriname. Ofcourse people familiar with FIFA and the football will find these names common. South Americans are god gifted football players and no one needs to back that.

The journey through South America is a beautiful one. Hopefully you can embark on it sometime soon.

Until then, dream on…

Image Courtesy:
Machu Pichu : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:80_-_Machu_Picchu_-_Juin_2009_-_edit.2.jpg

Angel falls : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_falls

Up : http://previous.moviehabit.com/reviews/up_e809.shtml

Easter island heads: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AhuTongariki.JPG

Christ Redeemer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_on_Corcovado_mountain.JPG

Salar De Uyuni : http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/tunupagallery.htm

Lowry at Amazon : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ara_macao_-_two_at_Lowry_Park_Zoo.jpg

47. The Delhi Times

2011-07-19T18:10:00.001+05:30

Last Weekend I visited Delhi. It was the last time I could go there and still say “it’s my home”. My parents decided to wrap up their 30 year-odd stay at Delhi and move to Bangalore thus ending our long association with the capital of India. As I spent time visiting places where I grew up, the school that I attended and a few shopping places we frequented over the years, I noticed how life and things in Delhi had changed over a couple of decades. The following is a small chronicle of things that changed and things that didn’t over the years…

Things that Changed :

1. City of wealth

The days of middle-class Delhi life are all but over. There aren’t many 4-membere families travelling on scooter. There aren’t many scooters for that matter. Everybody has a car, almost. When you go to cinema theatres, you can feel the stench of money in the hands of teenagers who hold five-hundred rupee notes as if they were wrappers of some chocolate. The bhel puris and golgappas have been replaced by nachos and kaati rolls all over. The city is rich, filthy rich and its easy to find out. The poor don’t survive for long.

2. Roadways

The outer ring road and the inner ring road minus signals are a treat for drivers. The flyovers literally fly you over all major intersections in the city. To top it off, you have underpasses and U.S- styled intersection which traffic flying around in all directions. An aerial view of the city should be a treat for the eyes. Not so much for the nose or ears as pollution levels have increased mani-folds.

3. My friend

From being a chubby-stocky partner in my classroom who seldom spoke girls to being a father of a eight month old baby, Saurabh has changed leaps and bounds. It was endearing to see my friend as a responsible father of a wonderful baby. Times change and so do people – for the good sometimes.

4. Celebrations

Back in the days when internet and computers were not common, people celebrated every function with lots of effort, happiness and devotion. Be it the elaborate decorative sets on Janmashtami, or the colorful gatherings of Holi, the bright and gaiety diwali or the bonding raksha bandhan, festivals were always a time when families and friends got together and spent meaningful and wonderful times with each other. Alas the times have changed, now the festival celebrations have been taken over by midnight parties, online emails, gift bouquets and tv serials. The once colorful Delhi now wears a bleaker look.

The new Delhi Terminal 3 welcomes people...*

Things that didn’t

1. Shopping

If you want to go to a world of shopping bliss, all you need to do is to enter a Sarojini Nagar or a Lajpat Nagar and you will be transported to a place where 250-300 rupees can get you whatever you want. It is not limited to clothes, even tasty food is available aplenty. The age old aloo-chat shop in Sarojini Nagar which was devastated in a bomb blast a few years back still continues its business albeit with a new owner, wooing those who enjoy the chaat.

2. Friend shop

Over all the initial 11 years of my life, we used to visit an Arora General Store for any provisions that we needed. The shopkeeper Mr. Arora became a very close friend of ours and my parents always referred to him as “friend uncle” whenever they mentioned him to me. Every time I visited his shop, he used to give me his aam-paapad and sweet saunf for free. I used to look forward to visiting his shop everytime. Now, 16 years later, amongst big malls and market chains, Mr Arora with white hair and drooping shoulders still still maintained his store with the same calmness. We visited the shop yet again, not to buy anything but to meet him. Yet again we were treated with the same aam-paapad and fanta this time round. Mr Arora and his hospitality were still the same.

3. Ram Temple

When you use the word temple, or god, the first images that come to my mind are the gods present in Ram Mandir at Lodhi Road at Delhi. The two-storey temple with all south Indian gods such as Srivivasar, Ranganathar, Ramanujam, Lakshmi along with the popular Ganeshji, Hanuman and Ram-Laxman give every visitor a feeling of calm and peace. Across the years the temple remained the same. The priests came and went, the devotees changed from south Indians to north Indians, but the gods remained the same, quiet, watchful and gallant.

4. The Weather

Summers are unbearably hot, monsoons are extremely humid and winters are freezing cold. The weather pattern in Delhi has remained the same over all the years. The different set of clothing needed for every season is still needed. Global warming or not, Delhi is always a place for extreme temperatures.

Things come and go, years pass by, but in our hearts Delhi will always hold a special place which cannot be replaced. The land of Sehwag, the city of golgappas, the powerless summer nights, the gatherings of holi, the late night weddings of friends, the musical tinge of hindi, the tourist's paradise, the bahai temple, the qutab minar, the jantar mantar, the lal qila, the jama masjid and the style of being a Delhihite. We will miss it all. But then, the Bangalore charm awaits us- the all-welcoming garden city.

Its time to move on … from Delhi times to Bangalore times, or shall we say, Bengalooru Times.

Image Courtesy : http://www.thehindu.com/

46. The Lawyers Intuition - concluding part

2011-07-05T16:59:00.001+05:30

This post is a story. The first part can be found here : 45. The Lawyer's Intuition

Continued ....

The drive back home was a long one. My mind was racing over some missing pieces of the puzzle. How did the police arrive so soon after the crime. They had mentioned that they were tipped off by a well-wisher. So it meant someone knew, this was going to happen. Also the missing security person was critical. Why was he hiding ? What was his role in this whole deal ?

My mind had been immersed in this case for the past couple of weeks. I had hardly spent any time with my family and my wife was growing irritable by the day. It was 8 p.m already and I was just driving in to my house. I noticed that all the lights in my house were switched off. This was weird considering we all woke up until 11pm on most days. I quickly looked around to see the neighborhood to see if there was a power failure, but that wasn’t the case as lights shone on nearly every other house.

Mystified and a little worried I came to the front door and rang the bell. There was no answer. Where was my wife? And why didn’t she inform me if she had gone out ? I tried calling her, but there was no answer. I grew more worried by the minute. My mind started racing again. Was there a killer who unhappy with the case judgment and wanted some revenge on me. But I tried my best to save Smith. Was this something to do with the missing security guard? I then realized that I had a spare key in my bag. With growing concern, I opened the house door and walked inside. I groped in the dark for the light switch.

I turned it on, only to be greeted with a loud “Happy Birthday To You” banner, cake and confetti as my wife came running towards me to wish me. I was overwhelmed with relief on seeing her that I had the first piece of birthday cake before realizing…..it wasn’t my birthday at all. This was the month of June and my birthday wasn’t until November. My relief and happiness started turning into an ugly irritation as I held my tone, “ Why the hell are you mocking me with a birthday cake when it isn’t my birthday until 5 more months?”. My wife just smiled back and said “Well, since you cannot remember mine and wish me, I thought I might as well mock you and have a birthday celebration anyway”.

My face flushed in embarrassment. I had always forgotten to wish my wife on my birthday and I had done it yet again. Every year, she would call and remind me and we would head out for dinner. This year, she wished me, mocking me and making me realize my lack of attention to detail. I wished her a very happy birthday and spent some time with her before heading back to my study room.

I sat a few minutes in silence looking at a picture of my wedding and thought back about the evening. “Well, since you cannot remember mine and wish me, I thought I might as well mock you and have a birthday celebration anyway”. Ingenious, yet effective I thought.

That is when it stuck me. All the pieces of the case were falling in place. What a weird yet effective solution this was. I knew the solution to Pavon murder case. All that had to be done was, to find the security guard.

Finding the security guard took some time. He had gone in to hiding until the case was resolved. Now that Smith was sent to the prison, the security guard came out of the hiding two weeks after the judge sentenced Smith. Under the pretence of a businessman in need of a new security guard, I met up with him and asked him to come by my house. I had my hidden camera ready. The lure of a big monthly pay brought him to my house. In midst of the conversation, I asked him “ Where did you work before?” in reply to which, he said, this was his first time as security. I was prepared for this.

I called in a couple of policemen and threatened to arrest him on charge of the murder of Chapple Pavon. That did the trick. The security guard blurted out the truth.

One week later, on accounts of new evidence which proved Smith was not guilty, the case was re-opened. Succinctly I summarized what had really happened in the case.

“The fact that Pavon and Smith were partners in business has been clearly established. Unfortunately Smith under a fit of greed decided to swindle Pavon of all his share and invested money leaving Pavon in a huge loss with plenty of debt. Pavon most definitely had the motive to kill Smith, but alas, it is not Smith who got killed but Pavon himself. So the question arises, as to who killed Pavon?

For long we were forced to believe that Smith was the real killer as he was the one with the knife. We were in a scenario where we could not trust Smith as he was the accused. Pavon could not give us information as he was dead. The only other person who was in the vicinity of the crime was the security guard, who mysteriously vanished after the incident.

The truth is, that given our circumstance, we were forced to think this way. In fact this was the intended way for us to think. So what really happened was…..

Pavon wanted to extract revenge on Smith. But that would not help him clear his debts and financial problems. He sought the easy way out to commit suicide. But he had a clever idea. He decided that he would commit suicide and also extract his revenge on Smith. So, Pavon called Smith and asked him to come to his house. Just before Smith could come home, Pavon called the security guard and paid him to vanish and stay away for two-three weeks and not show up anywhere in the city. He paid the guard well and also asked him to run away the moment he heard a shriek from Pavon. The security agreed to this strange request because of the fact he got a lot of money.

As soon as Pavon heard Smith entering the house, he stabbed himself on the ribs, ensuring that he would die eventually and let out a yell. Smith hears the noise and goes to see Pavon. The security guard, unaware of any murder or suicide, starts running, giving Smith the impression that someone else is the killer. As soon as Smith enters the room, Pavon pretends to ask for help. In the moment of crisis, Smith responds by trying to pull the knife out thereby planting his finger prints all over the place. What Smith also didn’t know was the fact that Pavon had already placed a phone call to the police for his own murder.

Pavon dies as he wanted to, gets Smith in jail and kills two birds with one shot.”

With the new evidences and testimony of the security guard, the court acquitted Smith of all charges and sent him home.

I felt relieved at having won another case – the case of framing someone for your suicide.

45. The Lawyer's Intuition

2011-07-01T22:22:00.002+05:30

As the judge read out those damning words, my heart sank. In all these years that I had been practicing law, I had not felt this way. “After reviewing all the given evidences, the court has decided that Mr Smith is found guilty for the murder in the second degree of Mr. Pavon and hereby sentences Mr Smith to a lifetime of imprisonment.” Smith looked crestfallen. As he was being escorted by police to the prison, his eyes met with mine for a brief moment. I have not been able to forget that look till now.

My name is Walter Though and I have been an attorney at law for the past eight years. My job has been to defend and sometimes prove guilty men and women who have committed crimes. For most of my tenure, I have tried my best to win all my cases with at most honesty. I have to admit that on a couple of occasions, I have failed in cases where guilty people were let out without prosecution. But on the whole, I have been satisfied with my job profile. But this case baffled me. It left me with a hole in my head.

It was two weeks ago, that I had been asked to act as an attorney to Roger Smith who had been accused on counts of murder. I spent eight hours talking to Smith getting each and every accurate detail of what had happened on that fateful afternoon when Chapple Pavon was killed.

The summary of the case was that Pavon was killed on the afternoon of 5th of June by a deep stab wound on his ribs. He died of excessive loss of blood and the murder weapon, the knife was also available, in the hands of Smith on the site of the crime. That Smith was the only person at the crime scene with the murder weapon on hand and no other finger prints on the knife other than his and Pavon’s left little doubt in the jury’s mind that Smith was the cold-blooded murderer. Smith, though never confessed to the crime and pleaded not-guilty throughout. The following is his testament:

“Pavon and me knew each other through an meeting held on global investors meet two years ago. Both of us spoke to each other and shared some idea for new businesses. We pooled in all our life’s savings and Pavon even borrowed a hefty sum of money on account of starting the new business. With time, our business stabilized and we were on the verge of making our first huge profit. I admit with shame, that in a fit of greed, I swindled Pavon of the entire share he had on the business by having him sign on the no objection clause to shifting the entire property rights to me. This left Pavon extremely distressed and angry with him. We had not spoken for a month since this happened. I did feel guilty after a couple of weeks and thought of calling him and making up for this misdeed, but I resisted, after all, the money was huge. Surprisingly last Tuesday, I received a call from Pavon. He sounded weak but he said he wanted to talk to me. Partially out of guilt and partially out of curiosity I decided to visit him at the time he called me – Tuesday afternoon.

Caught Red Handed

The first thing I noticed when I reached his apartment was that the usually present security was missing. I surmised that he must have headed to his usual bouts of tea breaks and headed upstairs only to find the door to Pavon’s house open. I stepped inside and called out…Pavon ….are you there? I was met with silence for a while, before a blood-curling shriek made me shiver. I ran towards the bedroom farthest away. As I was about the open the door to the bedroom, I heard some noise outside the house. I opened the bedroom door to find Pavon lying on the floor with a knife on his right rib. He was bleeding profusely and in extreme pain. He shouted out to me…”help me”. Immediately I knelt down and tried to remove the knife from him. I succeeded shortly but by then, Pavon was slowly losing his consciousness and his life. In a matter of a minute, Pavon had died. It took a couple of moments for me to realize what was happening. Before I could get up on my feet, I could hear lots of foot-steps outside. The police surrounded me in no time and I was taken to custody. This is what really happened and I did not kill Pavon, neither intended to harm him!”

This narration of events by Smith left me speechless. He sounded very truthful, yet the story was so weak. If someone else had really killed Pavon, who was it and what was their motive? The murder weapon and post-mortem also did not reveal any significant clues. Pavon was indeed stabbed and Smith’s finger prints were all over it, obvious considering that he had it in his hands when he was caught – “red-handed”.

One important yet vague fact about the case was that the security guard for the building was missing since that day. Could he have killed Pavon? If so, what was the motive ? There was no apparent relation between the guard and Pavon. Was the guard trying to steal something? Did Smith arrive just before the guard could steal what he wanted? But then, why did he kill Pavon, that too with a knife? On enquiring nearby most of the other people in the building confirmed that the guard was a simple but greedy young man, always looking for opportunities to get some quick money. But everyone knew him, his face, his name. Surely he couldn’t hide for long. He would be found soon.

There was the question for Smith’s motive. There was no obvious motive for Smith to kill Pavon. Though, the fact that their relationship was extremely bitter due to the money swindling was well known. Could Smith have killed Pavon in a fit of anger as the court had deemed it, or was he really innocent.

Whatever the truth was, Smith had to go to the prison. The evidence against him was too overwhelming.

I have handled a lot of cases in my career, I may not be adept at winning all cases, but I surely knew when a person was innocent and all my instincts told me that Smith was not guilty.

I had to dig deep to understand what could have happened. Or, was I merely being …..whimsical?

Surely, I was missing something, some perspective….maybe…..

To be Continued - Part 2/2

image courtesy : http://rollercoasterdieting.blogspot.com/2011/04/caught-red-handed.html

44. Thank God for Conveyor Belts

2011-06-09T16:19:00.001+05:30

I recently happened to visit Tirupati to have a Darshan of Lord Balaji sitting atop the seven hills. Having purchased a short-cut VIP Darshan ticket, I embarked on the quest to see and pray to the lord. Thanks to the VIP ticket, I managed to get the Darshan within two hours. But not before I was jostled, pushed, pulled, squeezed and carried forward in the extremely busy “sea of people” called the queue for the Darshan. That is when it stuck me.

We know for a fact that religious places in India are always going to be crowded. The swarm of devotees visiting places such as Tirupati, Shirdi, Sabari Mala or Vaishno Devi are not going to dwindle. They will increase multi-folds every year if not two-folds. Why don’t we come up with a solution which will help the devotees to meet, pray and visit these places with lesser tension and more peace. It was only when I was inside the main shrine of lord tirupati when I felt it. The number of people had exceeded so much, with each person trying desperately to get a glimpse of the God, that people out of sheer magnitude pushed everyone ahead. There was no need to move. I was being carried. It was almost as if I was on a ……conveyor belt.

That is the jackpot idea. Why don’t we set up a conveyor belt like the “travellator” in airports which helps people walk from one place to another without using their legs. Why not have a huge conveyor belt which starts from two kilometers away and moves forward at a constant speed. The devotees with paid or free Darshan can get in to the conveyor belt at different locations and just…stand. Its as simple as that.

Imagine how simple it will be to have a good Darshan at comfortable speed, without pushing, running and getting crushed in a crowd. The conveyor belt will ensure that everyone gets a comfortable visit for the same amount of time. Each and everybody will get to have 20 seconds of uninhibited Darshan besides avoiding all the tension before reaching the shrine.

Get a ticket, enter the travellator, sit or stand on it and wait for one hour or two hours until you reach the shrine. Pray to your hearts fill and go out happily. On the way collect your ladoos or prasadams and head back happily. Think about it.

Of course there are issues like no rubber or electronic equipment in the temple are allowed etc, but they are be worked out with, using some other materials to cover for the same.

*********************************************************************

Corollary to the travellator idea…..

I got this idea when I was walking around at the Red Fort in Delhi. It was a poor visit. No information was written about any of the structures, the building itself was almost in a dilapidated state. It looked as if it won’t last another ten years. The tourists were just ambling around walking goal-lessly, talking pictures next to almost anything that was standing oblivious about the great history this structure possessed. That is when I asked myself, what am I doing here? I wanted to see Red Fort to know about its past, relive the experience from ages ago. But what was I getting, just a walk in the park with a strange monument. It was a deplorable situation.

This is the same situation at a Taj Mahal, or any other heritage site existing in India as of today. My mind immediately jumped to the Jurassic Park ride in Universal Studios. Why cannot the Government of India spend some of our tax money to build a ride. A small wagon which goes on a track. Take ten people in every ride along with a guide. The wagon will go at a constant speed and visit every location of the fort or monument. Along the way, the guide will explain the history of the monument and keep the people entertained. Not only will the people enjoy the guided tour sitting, they will also be able to appreciate the grandeur and culture the monument possessed. How difficult was this?

Imagine this. A 45 minute guided tour of the Red Fort or the Qutab Minar, with people acting out small sections of history along the way. Pausing at critical points for pictures as group and continuing forward will make the tourism a success.

It is a win-win situation. People will get the money’s worth when the go on the ride. The Government will have its kitty filled with the tourists money who will throng to the places of interest with a new found interest and energy and last but not the least, create employment opportunities for conveyor belt companies, technicians, tour guides and food stalls around India.

Think about it.

Image courtesy:
Travellator - New Delhi Terminal 3 airport.

Jurassic Park - Universal Studios Hollywood

43. The Imaginary Holiday

2011-06-01T15:00:00.001+05:30

Being a typical Piscean, I am used to seeing dreams with eyes wide open. As they told in Rab ne Bana Di Jodi…..Khule aakhon se sapne dekhna…. Here is one such dream from my imagination factory.

A beautiful long weekend arrives in the month of June. The perfect time to go on a vacation. Ten people embark on a trip of the lifetime to Ooty. The ten people comprise of some close friends, some close cousins and us.

The trip starts on a Friday evening after work, when everybody rushes to get their luggage ready. The journey to Ooty is overnight, in a huge van like the Tata Winger. The initial part of the journey has everybody in high spirits as people spend the time playing antakshari. It also gives me an opportunity to crone some of my favorite songs- solo and duet- with my wife. Before it can decided as to who won the challenge, we reach the dinner place. A sumptuous dinner awaits at Sarvanna Bhavan as we fill our tummies to the fullest. With our appetite satiated, the remainder of the night journey is more placid with a good English movie- Kung Fu Panda 2 giving us company on the way. The end of the movie also brings in sleep for all of us as we sink in to a gentle slumber, only to be woken up by the bright sunlight filtering through the trees of Nilagiri Hills. Ooty is near.

We spend about an hour enjoying the beauty of the uphill climb as our van meanders through the hills. The Mariott cottage has been waiting for us ever since we booked it three weeks ago. A warm welcome from the members at Mariott makes us feel comfortable. Breakfast at 9, says the Master Chef as we head to our master cottage. The master cottage is nothing like we have seen before. A duplex cottage with 5 bedrooms and a majestic hall awaits us. Getting ready in record time, we assemble in the dining hall by 9.30 am. The delightful chef has conjured up a mixture of parathas and dosas for breakfast. Gulping a couple of each makes us full as we head out to play cricket.

The women folk in our group, conveniently, leave us to play our game of cricket as they head off shopping. The engrossing game of cricket along with the local helpers and gardeners keeps our rapt attention. The fact that we can skip shopping, adds to our cup of joy. The tiring game of cricket game ends when we hear “Lunch is ready” distantly. Lunch is Italian today. The delightful pastas and rice fills our stomachs and hearts.

A mid after noon siesta is a fitting finale to the wonderful lunch. Sleeping anywhere – on couches, on ground, in the grass outside, we manage to enjoy our time in the afternoon. Our most enthusiastic friend wakes us up reminding that we have a show of Harry Potter to catch in theatres at 5. We wake up, have some tea and head for the theatre, walking. The movie is worth its weight in gold as the it turns out to be a appropriate finale to the Harry Potter series.

We walk back home to dinner. It is south Indian meals today as the more kozhambu (kadi) and vatha kozhambu aromas fill the dining room. Dinner is followed by a couple of games of carom and fooseball.

At 9.30 pm, I drag everybody in to the living room and announce that we will be playing games until we sleep. We begin with my favorite game Mafia, a psychological guess who game amongst the ten of us. Three games of mafia is followed by dumb charades. Cone ice creams are served to us at 11 pm as we start transitioning from games to chatting. We take turns to tell interesting stories from our past and then turn to “good thing- bad thing” introspective game, where each person has to think what they think is the best and worst thing about everybody else.

Most of us sleep mid-way through the games and me along with a couple of other people end up sleeping last.

Breakfast on Sunday is at 10 am as everybody wakes up lazily and has a azhuku muttai ( without having bath) breakfast. Today it is all about roaming around. At 11.30 a van arrives which will take us to scenic points around Ooty. From Dodda Bedda to botanical gardens to boating in lake to waterfalls. There is a packed agenda. The presence of all cousins and friends makes it a memorable affair. Taking group pictures at all scenic spots, we enjoy everything. Lunch happens sometime in between at some south Indian restaurant.

We reach back the cottage by 6pm. After refreshing ourselves, the next task is “a mini movie”, directed by me. I call few people in small groups and direct a small movie. Each person gets to know what their role is in the movie but does not know the whole story. This activity takes up our next two hours as we head in to the dinner. At Dinner, I proudly play back the mini movie that everyone acted in. It is a humorous yet thrilling movie opening up various interpretations and discussions.

As the night sets in, we curl up in our beds early as we need to start early the next day. The next day morning, we bid farewell to our cottage as we head back in our van. We stop at a temple and get blessings and have our lunch outside. The return journey is understandably less noisy as many people try to get over the fact that their daily routine beckons on the next day.

By the time we reach home at 3.30 pm, we are happy, exhausted yet hopeful as we dream about our next get-together. Probably we will head some place abroad next time ?

42. Kings Needed !!!

2011-05-27T12:00:00.001+05:30

If you have a lot of money and have a “grand surname”, please come forward and register your self as a “King”. There is a very big dearth of Kings in the world as of today. Any volunteers or nominated kings are welcome.

Yes, you read that right. We are in need of Kings. There are no more Akbars, Humayuns, Alexandar the Greats, King Edwards, Georges or Pharoahs. This sudden demand for a king arises from the fact that there are no more amazing buildings and structures in the modern world.

Speaking more clearly, there have been great structures and buildings from the past which are exisiting today which inspire awe. The Mughals and Ranas had beautiful fortresses, the South Indian kings like Chola and Cheran had beautiful temples. Across the globe, the Egyptian kings laid out the Pyramids, the ancient Greek built the colossus of Rhodes. Thanks to these magnanimous leaders, we have today the ancient and modern wonders of the world.

To spend some thought on why these structures are called wonders, we need a little more insight. Imagine a structure of the magnitude of the Great Wall of China or even a Pyramid. These humungous structures have been erected by men and women who did not have the latest advancements in technologies such as the crane or the hydraulic lifts. These men of yesteryears built everything from stone and with hand. Now besides the construction, what went behind these structures is a lot of money, engineering skills and effort. The fact that some of these wonderful forts, temples or walls are existing as of today even after thousands of years of tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, volcanic explosions and cyclones is in itself a wonder.

How well was it built that it is still existing today ? Two- three thousand years later……

Now look around, what buildings do we have today. We have people building the tallest buildings around the world in Malaysia, China or USA. We have people installing statues of politicians, leaders and poets around the world. Do we have anything of the magnitude of a Jaisalmer Fort or Konark’s sun temple ? It is true that we are building state of the art structures these days which are green buildings, extremely tall and stylish. But are they capable of lasting a few centuries of catastrophic weather ?

Will they last earthquakes the size Japan saw a few months ago? Or Tsunamis the size of 40 storey buildings?

Besides, really tall and stylish structures – what do they represent? Do they represent a culture? Do they represent a faith ? Or a clan of people? The reality is, the modern day buildings are really a “selfish” commercial representation of the money giants. They are good to look at when they are built, but there is no cause to them, nor are they worth remembering one thousand years later. ( if at all any of them survive)

That is precisely why, this request for a king who has a lot of money to spend to make a huge statue, fort, temple or even a wall, which represents the year 2000 AD.

A structure, which a scientist or a satellite image can see one thousand years later and unveil to the people in 3000 AD. Something which people in 3000 AD can remember us by and say....” They knew so much back then.. !!!”. Something which will tell the future world about our faith, culture, ideas and way of life.

Else we are in the danger of being remembered as selfish “plastic age” who lived only for themselves.

Pic Courtesy:
http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/04/walking-great-wall.html

41. Madurai

2011-05-17T14:34:00.002+05:30

A close friend’s engagement took me to “the temple town” of Madurai last weekend. I happened to soak in the atmosphere, gaining some knowledge along the way as I made acute observations. The following is a small travelogue of the same.

The first thing you will notice when you set foot in Madurai is its bright and hot sun. Madurai has high temperatures for most part of the year but unlike Chennai, the humidity is tolerable. This means that at 40 degrees centigrade, you will feel hot, but not sweat as much.

As I was approaching Madurai in my bus, one fellow passenger informed me of Madurai long history. It is a town which existed around 500 B.C. It is a very old town indeed. As my bus passed through the length of the city, I realized how big it was. Probably as big as a modern day Bangalore. The main bus stand “the Maatudavani Bus stand” is huge.

Once I checked in to the hotel, I asked the attendant “ Is there a geyser?”. He replied “What?’. I insisted, “a water heater for bathing…”, he said, “huh?”.

An ex-roomate of mine in college once told me, “Madurai is the biggest town in the world”. I sort of understood what he meant now. Madurai is indeed a bit city, but it can be called a town in some ways owing to its lack of metropolitan outlook. The streets and the roads are wide, but are surrounded by lots of shops, mostly clothes and jewelry. If you can brave the heat, it may not be a bad idea to take a walk along the streets of Madurai. For you will be greeted by some of the best gold jewelry. Smartly enough, I did not take my wife around those places.

I stopped a gentleman along the way and asked him. “Where can I buy sweaters?”. He said, “What?”.

The city did seem to celebrate its recent electoral change. The power shifting to the hands of a new woman had a happy influence on a city which was called the political fortress of somebody else. One cannot miss to visit and worship “Meenakshi Amman” in the Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple of Madurai. This temple is what epics talk about. It is humungous. The four main gopuras which mark the entrances- North, East, West and South inspire awe in anybody who stands and looks at them. The temple is so popular and inspiring, that a humble effort to mini-replicate it has been constructed in Houston. I do not think I can do justice in words to describe the architecture, color, expanse and detail of the work inside the temple. Instead, I will just say that a100 Rs ticket will get you a relatively short time in queue and ample time to worship godess Meenakshi at the temple.

As I came out of the temple, I asked a passerby, “Where can I see Abhishek Bachchan’s Dum Maro Dum”, he said, “Enna?”

The whole city is a criss-cross of roads. None of the roads seem like a big main road, nor do they look like small streets. A plethora of autos are happy to take you around anywhere around, albeit without any meter. So it is better to well versed with the distances. A few famous cloth shops such as Pothys and Raymonds attracted our attention as we spent our time wading through them.

Madurai Dawn*

There are also ample idli-dosa shops lined along the streets apart from the jewelry shops. One stop at these places and you can be assured to stay there for some time. The quality of dosa, chutney, sambar and idlis are uncomparable. They taste like heaven. Even in the smallest of shops. You begin to understand that these people know their business. One cannot feel a pang of pain when you think about the dosas being handed out in other big cities like Bangalore or Delhi. They are a faint replica of the real deal. Among the days when Pizzas, Nachos, Burritoes, Momos are stealing in to the Indian food Industry, the cheaply priced tasty dosas of Madurai are a real treat. If you get a chance, hop in to the "Murugan Idli shop". You wont regret it.

Just then another visitor from Bangalore approached me and asked, “Where can I find McDonalds?” I said, “Huh?”

There are a few more interesting sight seeing places in Madurai, which we could not venture in to owing to our lack of time, but we knew, we are going to come back to see those.

Evening brought my friend’s engagement and along with it a whole crowd of enthusiastic, happy and kind people. Gold is very important, this is the lesson my wife learnt when someone asked her, “ Arent you ready for the engagement yet?” (Little did they know that she had already spent over an hour getting ready.) Getting ready for an occasion meant, getting decked up. Everybody was talking to someone and most of the people had their throats parched because of high decibal level. Despite my schooling in Delhi, where tie was a day-to-day commodity, I had failed to master the art of tying the tie.

So when my friend confidently asked me, Can you tie this tie for me?, I said, “ I am sorry, I don’t know, let me ask someone else around…”. I went around asking people, Can you tie the tie? And was met with a variety of responses like “ So?, “What”, “on the waist?”, on the head? Etc until one gentleman did the honors of tying it.

By the end of the day, it was time for us to return and we still did not have the “Jigarthanda” yet. It was too late. We will have to come back for it. But we did manage to purchase the extremely famous "Madurai Malli" (jasmine). Its aroma and appearance was like nothing we had seen in other cities. On a day filled with verve and heat, I realized a few things about the temple city. It is lively and energetic town where people have an aggressive tone with an extremely helpful demeanor. It felt like an oxymoron but it was true. The biggest of guys with the most threatening moustaches would help you find an auto, or tell you directions if you were lost, like you were their brother.

As I was dropped to my bus-stand, the person responsible for dropping me told “ People who have lived in Madurai cant live elsewhere, but those living elsewhere can easily live in Madurai”.

Madurai Dawn* : Image courtesy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dawn_Madurai.jpg

40. Are You Fooled Enough ?

2011-05-11T20:29:00.000+05:30

Are you feeling smart lately?

I guess then, its time we fooled you a bit. Who said only April fool’s day is reserved for fooling people. We can come up with innovative ways to fool you on any given day if required. The best part is that we can choose any medium to fool you.

Its not that tough really.

Guess the celebrity

All you need to do is to switch on your Television at late nights or afternoons and watch our show: “Guess the celebrities”. We will show you half faces of two extremely famous personalities and all you really need to do is to pick you phone and call our extremely busy hotline numbers. If we are lucky you will keep trying for at least half an hour trying to reach us and spend about 350 bucks without successfully reaching through to us. Since our hotlines are super hot we have charged a minimal rate of 12 rupees per minute so that you can patiently wait for your turn to talk to us.

What we haven’t told you is that there is really no active line. All you are doing is calling in and being directly assigned to the “wait for your turn answering machine”. While you are hoping against hope that your line gets connected, we have in the meanwhile assembled the finest actors to anchor our show and convince you that the phone lines are actually free and your call could really be connected any minute.

Add to this our special mimicry artistes who keep “calling in” with all types of weird wrong answers, lack of signals, almost right answers and you are hooked. You really think this is for real and you might end up winning 50,000 rupees tonight.

Well, that is exactly what we want.

In case you wanted to be fooled more, we have more schemes, more subtle

Sms to win.

What does Sachin Tendulkar do ?

• A: He is an astronaut

• B: He is a politician

• C: He is a cricketer

• D: He is a cook

Sms the right answer immediately to get a chance to win a train ticket to Patna in Gorakhpur Express. For e.g, if you think the right answer is C: cricketer, sms C to 57733.

Sms before next hour to win the lucky prize. We are expecting each and everyone of you to SMS no matter what service providers you are using. This will ensure that we earn crores of money while you just spend your 1 or 2 rupees on sms.

Watch the latest super hit movie

Alright, agreed that you are not lured in to these money baits, what about some entertainment? What about coming to the latest super hit movie which is running to packed houses in all cinema houses near you. Its touted as the third highest grosser in May in the last three years. If you are not convinced we will make sure we put it across in newspapers, tv channels, hoardings or where-ever you would prefer. All you need to do is to buy the movie tickets and see the movie(or not). While you are busy watching the movie, we will ensure none of us ever come even near the movie halls let alone watching the movie, because we are not the fools.

What about Food?

Okay, you are not the movie types, but you surely do eat, right? What if we gave you a lays packet the size of your arm and filled it with exactly 8 chips the size of your kid’s little finger.

Or Beauty Products?

Surely you will like to use the latest soap, made with hakunamatata extracts from the African jungles which will make your skin fair in less than the time you bathe.

Or Automobiles?

What about the latest bike with ZVFY ( Zee Vee Fooled You) technology which lets you skid through water and potholes. Our advertisements for the latest cars always have beautiful locales with empty roads to give you an example of how the real life driving experience will be when you move through the streets and potholes of Bengaluru or Chennai.

Last but surely not the least:

The one and only amazing teleshopping. What if we can promise you will lose weight faster than a AIDS patient? What if we say the magic pendant will make you rich in 2 days? (Wish we had it). Wont you be lured in to buying the most cutting edge technology we show on TV, delivered right at your doorstep within 6 months of the time you pay for it.

I do wish you get fooled every day. I really do.

On the other hand, maybe we will become smarter some day and make these people shut these nonsense.

39. Be Someone Else !!!

2010-07-31T11:55:00.006+05:30

The banner above seems interesting but vague. “Be someone else”.

Just take a few minutes out of your time and imagine with me. All you need to do, is to open your mind to this idea and see what possibilities can arise.

“Be Someone Else............change your life”

You are given the power, to experience one day in life (24 hours) inside any other living person’s body. In simple words, you can choose to be any person man or woman living on this earth. The rules are very simple and are as below:

1. You have to spend 24 hours and cannot return before that.

2. You will be recognized as the person you transform to. Your original identity would not be identified.

3. The person you choose to become must be alive.

4. You cannot choose to go in the past or future.

5. At the end of 24 hours, you will return to your normal self and continue life.

6. When you transform in to the other person, you will acquire his/her skills or talent and body structure. But your mind will be running inside him/her.

7. The next day, you will be yourself again and the person whom you became will resume his normal life the next day. Though he/she might not remember doing a lot of things the previous day ;)

Now, the rules are okay, the concept is okay too, but there are millions of possibilities. You can choose to be absolutely anybody. The banner also says...”change your life”. How is that possible? While answering that let us look a few possibilities that can open up.

You could choose to a very famous movie star like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Rajinikanth, or Shah Rukh Khan. You could see how it feels to be a huge celebrity with incessant attention. You might also get a feel of how difficult their work is everyday. But beware, if you really enjoy being them, you might not be happy coming back to your original self.
You could choose to be a famous sports-person like Dhoni, Sania Mirza, Tendulkar or Saina Nehwal. It might show how tough it is to stand a whole day in the hot sun while playing and then answer questions from frenzy media. It might change your perspective on things such as privacy in life or burden of success.
Alternatively you could choose to be a politician. You could choose to make a decision to improve your locality. Or, you might choose to change something about the country in a day....a la.....Nayak ( Mudhalvan)
There is also a different option. You could choose to be the road-side beggar on the street. It might help you understand how difficult life can be. It might change your perspective on your present life and change your mindset forever. After-all, life is all about perspectives.
How about doing something on the lighter vein. You could choose to be your boss, or teacher and make a mockery out of yourself by dancing in meetings or talking funnily. At the end of the day it is that person who is going to be made fun of, not you.
You might also turn yourself in to a millionaire, donate the money to some charity, or write a cheque to your original self. But remember, the next day the millionaire might come and haunt you.
The last suggestion, you might become your father, mother, wife, brother, sister or close friend and see how their life is for the day. It might change how you think about them.

So, what are you waiting for? Take a minute, close your eyes and imagine. Who would you want to be? And how it might change your life.......

If you like what you thought, leave your comment.

38. Where Did They Go ?

2010-07-14T22:20:00.003+05:30

It watched in silence, expecting they might return any minute. It waited and looked around......where did they go?

He was very excited today. He was about to have a grand-child. It had been a night long wait in the hospital, but the grand-father had refused to go home. He was very happy, excited and worried about the to-be-born baby. Shortly, he received the good news. The baby was chubby and cute. Grand father was extremely happy.

The newly constructed house was ready. It was awaiting occupants. Shortly, it got what it was waiting for; A family – Working father, a mother and two young kids. The house was now completely occupied. It was extremely happy.

The grand-child was a joy for the grand-father. Everyday she played with him and surprised him in different ways. Whenever the mom or dad scolded, she would run to the grand-father and sit on his lap. Sitting on the grand-father’s lap, she would talk to him incessantly in gibberish and play on his big stomach. She would empty the contents of his purse one by one and decorate them on his big belly.

The family took its time in decorating the home. Everyday they would add new posters, pictures and decorative items on its walls. The house became a home. Within a short period of time the home grew attached with its occupants. It served as a comforting place when the father returned home after a tense day at office. It was a good company to the mother who stayed alone at home during the afternoons. Importantly, it was the best place on earth for the kids who loved running around, playing and sometimes studying in the house.

The grand-father took great care of his grand-child. He would take her for walks in the evening and help her with her home-work. He would ensure she slept well at night and ate her food every day. He knew that he would protect her no matter what. He spent sleepless nights when the girl fell sick and would spend a few hours everyday in dedicated prayer that the kid should be happy.

The house stayed together with the family in all their times. There were times when the family was sad and upset with things in their life. And there were times they were buoyed and happy with successes and holidays. The house missed the family when they went out for vacations. It would wait patiently for their arrival and greet them brightly. It ensured the family slept sound every night. There were days when it would get angry with the electricity board for cutting the power and disrupting the family. At times, it would also spend time with the gods present in literally every room of the house.

As the kid grew up, the grand father changed the way he would care for his grand daughter. He would tell her stories, teach her about what to do and what not to do at school. He would ensure all her exams went well and she was happy throughout. He even took her picture every year and put it in his own secret album. He knew his grand-daughter was the most precious person on earth for him. And she was growing up.

The house did not have regrets. It never compared itself with other homes. The father always ensured the house was painted regularly and secretly took care of the house. The mother spent majority of her time in cleaning and keeping the house spic and span. The kids ensured the house was lively with toys, movies, stories and computers.

As years rolled by, the girl grew up, and it was time for her to go to college. The grand-father knew that she had to go out of the house. He knew, meeting the grand-daughter would be far less and not intimate as before. It was a tough and sad time. The grand-daughter stood on the porch of the house, turned around and said bye, one last time. The grand-father was an old man. He was emotional, but did not shed a tear as he knew it would affect the girl. In a minute, she was gone. The grand-father sat alone in the house, hoping that she would come back. But he knew, it would not happen.....where did she go?

As years rolled by, the house and family became inseparable. They had spent a long time together. But there was time when the father had to retire. The family had to renounce their house and move on. The house knew this time was coming. As the mother painstakingly withdrew every wall hanging and emptied the shelves, the house could not help but feel sad as the family started to depart. Shortly, the house was emptied of all furniture and belongings. The children had grown up and moved out of the house. As the father and mother stood in the empty house, they looked at the house. The house looked at them. They knew, it was time to part ways. After a long pause, the father and mother turned around and left. There was complete silence. It watched in silence, expecting they might return any minute. It waited and looked around......where did they go ?

As the grand-father sat in the rocking chair staring at the ceiling his phone rang. It was his third son. He had double-good news. He just had a baby boy and also got promoted. He requested his father to immediately come over to a new address where they were just about to move in. As the grand-father, third son, his wife with the new born baby boy stood in the porch of the new house, the house looked at them. It had found.......a new family.

-----------------------------
Image Courtesy:
Grandfather walk : http://www.thenorthvillage.com/duplexes/location.php
The happy house: http://www.wallcoo.net/
Please read comments in case the post is not clear. Thanks.

37. The Weekend

2010-07-09T20:31:00.001+05:30

Week-days are a bore. I guess there would be very few people who would disagree with this statement. What about weekends? Weekends can vary from bore to super exciting depending on what happens. This post is a memoir to one such super-exciting weekend during the 2-5th July, 2010.

I and my wife Subha were awaiting this weekend for quite some time. It had been long since we had a group of youngsters gather together. Friday evening, quite predictably had been spent in cleaning the house. My brother Gautam was the first to arrive, quite late in the night at midnight. Watching the boring quarter-finals between Uruguay and Ghana, we hit the bed. Very early next morning, Mohan, my close friend from college arrived at 4.30 am. Another shuttle in the car to pick him up meant, I was tired from lack of sleep. I wondered what lay ahead as I went to bed again, this time woken up by our final visitor – Arun. Arun is Subha’s cousin who was currently interning at Bangalore. By 6.30 am the whole house was abuzz with Mohan, Gautam and Arun.

Getting the bunch of them all ready was quite a task. None had an idea what the weekend ahead had in store for them. After a lot of confusion with lack of soap, towels and cameras, we got ready to start with our stomachs filled- courtesy of Subha’s semia upma. Our cabbie was on time and all 5 of jostled and stuck ourselves inside to start our trip to the “wonderla”.

Wonder-la is located 35 kms from Bangalore. In short, it was pretty far. The journey time of 1 and half hours was spent with singing performaces from Subha ( you know what she sang) and Mohan. Apart from that, there was the “Guess the translated song” game, which involves exactly what it states!!
(E.g: You came near me, smiled like this, to me you showed what all dreams, now my heart dosent sleep doesnt wake, dont know haiyoo something something happens...”)

After much fun and frolic along the way we reached our destination at 11.30 am. Wonder la was waiting for us. After Subha and Mohan embarrassingly got rejected for posing as a student, we entered the theme park with happy faces. What happened over next seven hours was pure fun. The place treated us with interesting rides such as funny dungeon ride, the round and round wheel wagon and silly termite ride. Besides, it enthralled us with exciting rides such as the mixer, water splash and insanity. Long queues and lots of walking were mitigated by our incessant jokes, talks and discussions on weirdest topics. Ofcourse there were some rather boring rides as well such as the cinemagic and rope car.

The varying land rides, meant our appetite was at an all time high. After fried rice, Pav Bhaji and sandwiches, we switched gears and jumped in to water rides. The sliding water rides, pendulum, and all the zoooom and fall in to water rides were absolutely exciting to say the least. Going in pairs and some times three people together, the water rides were one thrill not to be missed. We had the icing on the cake when we joined the “rain disco”. The amazing attractions ofcourse were dances by Subha and Gautam (whom i have never ever seen dancing before). The disco lights coupled with pouring rain meant it was an experience not to be forgotten. From there we headed to the wave pool where giant waves hit us like .............well, a wave. This gave a chance for Arun and Mohan to demonstrate their swimming skills.

After changing in to dry clothes, we were all but exhausted when we exited the park. The ride back home amidst heavy traffic was slow, but made exciting thanks to the “guess the object” game played by Arun, Gautam, Subha and Mohan. Arun’s had thought of an intangible, non-electronic, not a necessity item which Gautam tried hard to guess. In the end it turned out to be solar cells( one of the most boring things to think about). As the hungry five reached home, it was time for dinner. Rajasthani food from “Rasoi” fed our appetites as we had a great dinner nearby. Once the dinner was up, it was time to hit the bed as another exciting day awaited us.

Sunday is usually a slow, late waking day in my dictionary. But not this Sunday. All of us were up in a jiffy as we HAD to watch toy story 3 in theatre. The reason we woke up early was because, the tickets are cheaper for the morning show. In the end it turned out a great idea, as we had a rollicking day ahead. Reaching Lido, in Bangalore by 9.45, we ensured we caught the 10am show without interruptions. Toy Story 3 ofcourse is one of the better movies to be released this year. The adorable Cowboy and Buzz Light year kept our rapt attention as we watched the funny yet sentimental movie together. Some of us cried, some of us did not, but our hearts were filled.

Following the movie, we had a grand lunch. Courtesy of my father in law, we were able to have a buffet at the Taj Residency. The five star hotel lunch brought out interesting sides in all of us. From all kinds of chaats to different varieties of subji, from pepper rasam to champagne, the Taj buffet had it all. The number of deserts were difficult to count and the total amount of edible items on display was mindboggling. After a hearty meal and photo session at the Taj, all of us headed out...................happy.

On the way back home, we had yet another stop over, this time at the Ulsoor lake, where we boarded the motor boat, for a trip around Ulsoor lake. The boat ride was less of a ride and more of a photo-shoot session. It turned out, that was the first for the day. Once we reached home, it was siesta time for some and the rest of us loafed around watching photos on computer. Evening beckoned and we were ready once again. This time with yet another interesting photo shoot on the mottai maadi (terrace). This was followed by a walk to “Corner House” , the nearby ice-cream shop. After “cheering” Gautam and Arun’s internships, we gulped down the ice cream in no time.

The last part of the weekend was a demonstration of team-work. Arun and myself bought some vegetables as Mohan and Gautam helped Subha on cooking the dinner. A beautiful rasam with vendekai and vadam, meant our appetites were satiated.

Very soon, it was time to bid farewells as Mohan, Gautam and Arun left us in succession. The 3rd July weekend was yet another weekend for most people, but for the five of us, it was exciting, special and fulfilling.

Hoping there are many more fun-filled weekends to come.............

36. Just 20 Minutes !!

2010-07-05T15:48:00.002+05:30

I just have 20 minutes. I have to make the most of it.

As a regular 8 to 6 working employee, I spend the majority of my time in a day at work. The rest of the day goes in talking to people on phone, cooking or eating, managing clothes and watching movies on laptop.

It is only during the time when I want to eat, that I prefer to watch TV. So, as I fill my plate with hot food and sit down to watch the television, I expect myself to be entertained and take the mind of all the other day to day activities.

So, I switch on the TV, grab the remote and expect to get...........entertained. Here is what happens next...........

At first, I am greeted by enthusiastic dancers dancing away to glory in a random dance show. The appalling costumes and jerky dance movements make me shift the channel immediately, only to be greeted by smaller versions of the dancers – the “chotte” dancers. As an appreciator of dance, I try hard to appreciate the efforts of the kids, but they seem to dance forever. Tired, I change the channel to see some out of whack singers, singing loudly. No, I shift the channel again, now I see the “out of work, retired, flop actors” of yesteryears, giving expert opinions on how exactly one should sing or dance. I wish if the judges would actually be able to see themselves performing all those years ago.

Moving on I am greeted by a cricket match. What is this? Oh, it’s a replay of India’s win in 1998. Next, aah, another match, now, it’s a retelecast of India beating Bangadesh convincingly last year. Isn’t there any live match? Apparently there is, India playing Sri Lanka (for the hundredth time) this year - Dhoni, Raina, Sangakarra and Maharoof.

Enough of cricket, I switch the channel again, now to see a SOAP. This is the 278th episode of this serial informs the channel. As I see the rich daughter in laws of the mega household wake up with full make up and cooking parathas wearing 3 kgs of jewellery, I change the channel in disgust, only to see another soap, this time with a tense atmosphere. “Tell the truth” demands the husband as the worried wife looks on. “Yes, I lied”, she blurts........................10 times. Yes, the fact that she lied, reverberates throughout the room as all the relatives in the vicinity express their shock in their own ways. The scene is captured from 10 angles with multi-dimensional cameras. Thadoosssh thadoooossh thadooosh, thadoosh, thadoosh, thadoosh............ The angry husband slaps his wife, the thadoosh slapping sounds fill the air. Just when you thought it was done, the serial ends, with a “to be continued”. Quite predictably, the next week shows, the slap again, and the reactions of all relatives yet again.

Enough, I want to see some movie. Oh wow, here is an interesting movie. “Oh, its Singh is King, yet again!!” What a surprise !! What about some other movie? Hmmm, yeah this might be an interesting one with Shah Rukh Khan. Just as I place my remote down, the advertisements begin. Dhoni is selling hair cream, Kareena is selling body cream, new cars are zooming by and again Dhoni is selling shoes now. Priyanka is selling phones and oh wow, Dhoni is now selling agarbatti ( ooduvathi). Just as I am about to change the channel, Dhoni is now selling a soap, suit, watch, fan, shaving cream and literally whatever I want to use in life.

“Come on”, I wince as I jerk the channel to show another channel. I see a regional soap, next, I see telugu reality dance show, next, I see malayalam singing show, next, I see gujrati soap, next, I see Dhoni selling the same shaving cream in tamil, next, I see George Clooney and Matt Damon. At last, I found something. I whew a sigh of relief and increase the volume. To my disgust, I see Matt Damon saying, “lekin hum abhi kyun nahin jaate?” .........what? Hindi? really?

As, I sift through further, I see english movie channels with advertisements. Further more, I see tom and jerry. Well this cant be bad I think, but notice that tom is talking on the cell phone and Jerry is using the laptop making me realize this is a modern version of the cartoon show with poor jokes and modern jingoism. This channel is followed by more reality shows of people in jungle, people in villages, people in a room and sometimes even people in a kitchen.

I glance at my watch, I have only 2 minutes left. Quick, I jump channels furiously to see “breaking news” on every news channels. Stolen dogs, rampaging monkeys, Dhoni scratching his nose, Katrina likes Biryani and believe it or not, a particular famous politician cant digest his food.

As, I give up, the channels changes to Animal Planet. I see a frog escaping from a vicious snake and jumping to safety. The helpless snake looks on as the happy frog heaves a sigh of relief..........so do I, as I switch off the TV with a sigh.

The look on the frog’s face was priceless. My 20 minutes are over, my plate is empty. I might come again tomorrow to see all this again, and maybe a deer might outrun a tiger.

* Picture Courtesy http://www.jeffdurham.net/

35. Bengaluru - Part 2

2010-06-23T22:20:00.001+05:30

This is the second & last part of this story, continued from 34. Bengaluru - a story.

Shashi had not forgotten his first day at Bangalore, when the first bus he had travelled in had turned in to a nightmare. He had not forgotten the anxiety and tension he faced when police interrogated him regarding the accident.

The Newspaper article read:
BMTC bus kills two at day dawn
June 22, 2007: A BMTC bus travelling from Palace Grounds to Sivaji Nagar killed two persons in the early morning hours of Tuesday. The incident took place at 5 am when the speeding bus hit two people crossing the main road did not notice the speeding bus. The driver fled the spot and has been missing since. The deceased have been identified as Galu and Thappu, two local goons who had some minor criminal records in the past. Further investigation revealed that both the deceased were heavily intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Shaking his head in disgust, Shashi crumpled the newspaper and threw it on the road as he mounted his bike. “ I should not think of anything negative now”, thought Shashi as he resumed his journey to Palace Grounds. He tried to focus all his thoughts on what he was going to sing when he met the “rockstars”. He had spent his last 30 days practicing the same three songs – one english, one hindi and one tamil in case the rockstars wanted to see variety in his repertoire.

As Shashi was busy thinking how his performance may be appreciated today, he saw something cross his road. Shashi jerked to reality as he applied brakes on his bike. But it was too late, he had hit a dog crossing the road. “Damn” shouted Shashi as he left his bike and went to see how the dog was. The light brown colored dog was barely able to stand up as it was jolted from the sudden hit and had a bruised leg and neck. Shashi hesitated, unsure about what to do. He knew, it was after all a street dog, but he could not help but feel bad for the struggling dog as it made repetitive attempts to get up.

Shashi noticed other street dogs crowding around the fallen dog, trying sniff and offer their sympathy. Shashi shook his head in shame and was turning around to go to his bike, when he saw a huge truck dash past him banging away his bike. The bike flew sideways dashing against the side wall and falling down in a huge crash. What was moments ago, a standing bike was now a heap of twisted metal along the side walk. Shashi swore in agony as he watched the speeding truck turn left at the junction and vanish. By-passers and curious people started gathering watching the broken bike and started pouring in random comments, advices and opinions on what should be done with the truck drivers.

Shashi’s head was spinning. He was stuck to his place as he felt dazed by the sudden turn of unfortunate events. “What did I do to deserve this?”, thought Shashi as his eyes fell on his watch. It was already 9am. He had only an hour before he reached his destination and audition. Shashi took a deep breath, shutting all noises around him, he thought, “its now or never”. In a moment, he left the accident spot and walked away towards the signal junction. He had to reach Palace Grounds. He had to audition. All the losses, all the money could be re-paid, if he could make it big with his music.

With under an hour left to reach his destination, Shashi frantically asked each and every auto driver if they would take him to Palace Grounds. With no remorse or reaction, auto drivers after auto drivers turned down Shashi’s pleading requests for a ride. Shashi knew that the autos in Bengaluru would be ready to take a rider only if the destination was lucrative or suited them. Alas, Shashi knew, there was one other way to make the auto drivers heed to his request. He blurted out, “i will pay double”, as an auto driver started moving away. Thrilled at the prospect of double fare, the auto driver accepted to transport Shashi to Palace Grounds.

Shashi glanced at his watch hopefully thinking, that if all went well, he could be palace grounds at 10 am. Even though Shashi was hopeful, he knew inside that it was a sinking hope. For every road from Residency Road to Majestic to Palace Grounds was either one-way or narrowed for construction of the METRO. The volume of traffic in bengaluru had doubled, tripled, quadrupled and risen to ten times of what it was in the last five years. The incessant one-way roads, coupled with large traffic and traffic police operated signals meant that Shashi spent most of his time in traffic jams.

As a desolate looking Shashi got out of the auto and paid the driver for his ride, he could not help but feel a pang of despair as he checked his watch. “10.29am”. He knew he was a good half hour late. Hoping against hope, he went inside the palace grounds near the majestic Bangalore Palace. He was met with a deserted ground with a few security and personnel. “I am here for the audition with rockstars”, he said under-confidently. “The rock-stars have left a few minutes ago and will have their next round of auditions in New Delhi after a month. For more details refer their website....”, the words were not registering in his mind anymore. Shashi’s world had come to a stand still. All his hopes, expectations and aspirations to create a career for himself seemed to come crashing in front of his eyes.

Debt with Srinivas, broken bike, Srinivas’s enormous debts for his renovated shop, adding to this Shashi’s future looked bleak. He could hardly afford his ride back home now, let alone a trip to Delhi next month.

He did not know where to go but his feet were taking him towards the boundary walls. “ I wish I could vanish forever”, thought Shashi as he ambled slowly across the huge palace grounds. He opened his wallet, and saw a 5 rupee coin greet him. He knew it was not enough to take him home even on a bus. As he approached a groundnut-dweller, he immediately bought the groundnut in a conical paper cover. Now Shashi was flat broke.

Popping the dry, spicy groundnuts in his mouth, Shashi wandered aimlessly towards the boundary wall nearest to the Palace. The sky was over cast and rain threatened to pour. It looked as though the rain was mimicking Shashi’s crying mind. As he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes holding his emotions, he felt something around him.

As he opened his eyes, he saw another blackish looking stray dog sit next to him. Expectantly gazing at him wondering if he would offer whatever it was that he was eating.

Shashi could not help but think of all the misery caused today. It was all due to the dog he had hit. As he prepared his mind to hate the breed of dogs, he could not help but feel sorry for the dog in front of him. It had lied down next to him. He thought for a brief moment, how the dog must have faced rejection by humans every time it expected food, and yet it did not give up. It searched for the kindness of heart and pity in every human being it came across.

Tired, dull and fed-up, Shashi threw down all the ground-nuts he had, to the waiting dog. The ground nut scattered and spread on the ground. The hungry and anxious dog ran around quickly eating all it could. Just then a couple of more dogs, who had witnessed this came running to share the loot. Feeling an increased sense of irritation, Shashi began to think, if he should call his friend Srinivas and tell him everything.

Just then, the two new dogs started digging the ground nearby looking for the groundnut which had gone through a snake-like hole. The furious digging by the dog threw the dust and moist mud on Shashi’s pants. He knew, he had had enough for the day. Wincing his eyebrows, he started to walk away, when he saw the dogs barking. As he turned around, he saw something black at the place where the dogs were digging. With some curiosity, he neared as he saw the handle of a big backpack. Shashi immediately shooed the dogs away and took the bag out. The bag smelled of mud and looked damp. As he opened the bag, he could not believe his eyes.

Shashi knew that only dogs saw him take the bag out......

As Shashi left the palace grounds a richer man, he turned back one last time, to look at the Bangalore Palace. It was the only witness to what happened today.............and indeed three years back........

*******************************************************

Shashi successfully auditioned to join the rockstars in Delhi the following month. Srinivas’s dosa shop was aptly rechristened “Dosa Palace”, which now has branches in Santa Clara. The street dogs continue to live happily ever after.

And Bengaluru.....it continued to rain, entertain and gain.

34. Bengaluru - A story

2010-06-19T20:33:00.001+05:30

This story is a work of fiction and has no resemblence to any person.

A spate of robberies in June of 2007 rocked the upscale residential neighborhood of Sadashiv Nagar. This had caught the attention of media and all of Bengaluru. The rich and the famous were targeted and their houses robbed over a weekend when people were not at home. The total loss was estimated at two crores. The police and security in all of Bangalore had been beefed up. The timely actions taken had ensured that further robberies did not take place. But the big question was where the thieves were? And where did they take all the loot?

Galu and Thappu were very happy with themselves. They had marked out the perfect month of June to rob the houses. Beautiful weather and pleasing outdoors atmosphere along with holidays for children meant that most of the people decided to venture outdoors on vacations. One particular Saturday and Sunday in the second week of June was perfect when close to five separate families had gone out. Galu and Thappu had chosen the right time at the stroke of 1 am on Saturday night and broken in to four of these houses. Collecting only cash from the houses, the robbers had made out in the dark without much commotion.

They knew that the police would be looking out very closely for the robbers and definitely the hue and raucous caused would be very high for at least one week. Galu suggested that they hide the loot someplace until things had cooled off and then, they could come and collect it. It was still very dark at 4 am when they were walking with their loot in a big bag when Thappu said, that had to hide it soon, before day-break. So the couple decided to go to the palace grounds and hide it somewhere.

Bangalore Palace, a palace located in the city of Bangalore, India, was built to look like a smaller replica of the Windsor Castle in England. The construction of the palace was started in 1862 and completed in 1944. The sprawling grounds surrounding the palace known as the palace grounds are used for holding public events including music concerts. Some of the well known international music bands and “rock” stars have performed here.

By the time Thappu and Galu finished hiding their loot, they were sure, absolutely no human had seen them robbing or hiding their loot that night. They had to celebrate it....

***********************************************************************************************************

Three Years later : May 2010

Shashi had got up early today. He was getting ready for his demonstration interview. It had been his dream now for the past three years. Ever since he touched the guitar, he knew, this is what he was born to do. He wanted to start a rock band and follow his passion. Today was a big day. The “rockstars” band had called him to audition in Palace Grounds. His appointment was at 10 am in the morning. It was just 6.30 am now. As he shaved and got ready for his big day, his thoughts wandered over the time he had spent in reaching this day.

He had fought with his parents to pursue this ambition. Hailing from the small coastal town of Karvar, he found it tough to enhance his skills. He knew only by going to a bigger city could he get a chance to showcase his skills. Shashi’s parents were strictly against this and wanted him to work in an automobile industry as he had a degree in mechanical engineering.

Seeking blessings from his elder brother, Shashi had fled from his house three years ago in June 2007 to come to Bengaluru. His first day in the city was a very tormenting one. After reaching the bus terminus at 5 am, he had caught a local bus to go to Sivaji Nagar. The speeding bus in the early hours of the morning had mowed down two people callously. The bus driver had fled leaving the few passenger of this bus scared, worried and desperate. Even more so, for Shashi who was brand new to this city.

A few interrogations later he made his way to his friend’s house in Shivaji Nagar. Srinivas, his friend from childhood days in Karvar had moved to the city during his schooling days with his father who was a businessman. After his father passed away, Srinivas was managing the small Chikmaglur Dosa shop in Indira Nagar. He was managing his meagre income and running the shop. On request from his old friend Shashi, he had accepted to share his house with him, while Shashi searched for troupes to play his guitar with.

It was the biggest help that anybody had ever done to him, and Shashi knew in his heart, he could never repay the kindness his friend Srinivas had poured on him. After struggling for three years playing with small bands and circus troupes, he was able to barely sustain himself. It was when he went to one of Srinivas’s friends bachelor party that they had requested him to play the guitar. Shashi played his usual “Neele Neela ambar par” ( “Ilaya nila..”) and it had impressed Srinivas’s friend Raghu.

Raghu had some higher contacts with some people at the music academy who practiced with “rockstars”. Joining the music academy had taken a fortune. Shashi had to spend all his money and borrow from Srinivas to pay the annual membership fee. Now he was broke but happy.

Once Shashi had met Raghu’s friends at the music academy, there was no looking back. Shashi had grown from strength to strength and today he had a chance to audition for the “rockstars”.

As Shashi wore his tees and jeans and picked up his guitar, he bowed in prayer to his favorite god and started out of the house at sharp 7.45am. He had requested Srinivas to lend his bike for the day as he headed out. He started his bike and went through Kasturba road. The traffic was still not very dense at this time of the day .He knew that shortly, it would triple in its intensity.

As he was standing at the MG road junction signal, he could not help but think of the good and bad times, this city had given him. Bengaluru was an enigma when he first entered. Soon it accepted him as if he were its own. The beautiful weather and rich blend of people from all over India had made it a delight for Shashi. There was old culture and new age style blended in a perfect mixture.

Shopping malls and multiplexes abundunt, Bengaluru's stylish lifestyle had trigger Shashi's imagination. This of course brought along some bad news. The varied cuisines that came up in Indira Nagar like Italian Tangerine, to Pizza Hut, to Raaga and Shanti Sagar. From Mexican to Chinese the restaurant ranges in Indira Nagar and indeed in Bengaluru were amazing. This meant his dearest friend Srinivas’s Dosa shop was going out of business. Already Srinivas had a huge loan from bank for sustaining the new look of his shop.

As Shashi entered the residency road, he knew he had to eat something before his big audition, so he stopped at a nearby street dweller shop and ordered idli. The idli vendor gave him his two idlis wrapped in an old newspaper. As Shashi finished his breakfast, he could not help but notice the news on the paper he was eating on.

Dated 3 years ago, it was a news he had not forgotten............

To Be Continued........................

33. Taboo Hai !!

2010-06-12T20:35:00.001+05:30

This post is to be taken in a lighter vein. It has no references or innuendo’s targeted towards any particular person. It is just a jocular view in to the future of weddings.

India has a secular, conservative and social society. Here weddings are the most important part of a person’s life and it is treated that way. Interestingly, arranged marriages have been the most popular and accepted form of weddings in India. Any doubts can be expelled if you spend watching Hum Aapke Hain Koun for three and half hours.

Apart from the usual rich-poor, educated-uneducated class system which exists almost all over the world there is an extra dimension in Indian arranged marriages – the inter-caste divide. Through the 1980’s people struggled to gain acceptance for love marriages across castes. Towards the end of the decade, Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla sacrificed their lives in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak to gain recognition for love marriages across castes.

Over the next decade, rules have been relaxed but still the inter-caste weddings were hugely a frowned upon phenomenon within India. Shah Rukh Khan fought for the pyar and by mid 1990’s love marriages were accepted in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. By the year 2000 love marriages became fashionable as people became more liberal. Due to the exposure to media, the views and thoughts the current generation has changed. They are more accepting and happy with the inter-caste weddings and almost consider it a non-issue. They might not think twice before getting their children married more liberally to anybody they choose.

By the end of this decade – 2010, the norms have changed even further. Definitely we have gone one-step further and might contemplate accepting .......gay marriages. It is definitely a frowned-upon-accept on present date, but that might all change in a span of next decade or two. Should not be a surprise if the next generation is very accepting of this phenomenon considering the exposure to movies like Dostana and Brokeback Mountain.

Jumping ahead, by the year 2060, the weddings might take a novel turn. Due to lack of compatible human partners, there might just be a new type of wedding. Humans marrying androids. Yes, it might just be impossible to find other humans who are compatible and acceptable for weddings. This might just be the biggest boon ever to women who often find it tough to get a nodding and accepting husband. Robots or androids of course may not refute to arguments or say no to whatever they are instructed.

NOTE: This post has nothing to do with Endiran- the robot. (Rajnikanth’s next movie)

A good question at this point, might be, how further generations will sustain if humans married androids. I guess the answer to that isn’t too far from us as of today – Test tube babies!! Yeah, its quite possible that women get a choice of genes they want in their off-spring. A blend of Shah Rukh Khan, a little Dhoni, a little Bill Gates might just get the perfect mixture to have a baby who is romantic, successful and rich.

.There are holes the size of volcanic craters in this fancied look at the future. But then, this is just one of the many possibilities that can take shape in our future years.

If you consider asking me whether I expect to see my great-grandson’s wedding card with Magnum XIV (an android who looks like Katrina Kaif), I would say......don’t ask me...hopefully I won't be alive then!!!

32. Anachronistic and Weird

2010-06-10T22:50:00.001+05:30

We all dream, don’t we?

All it takes is a few moments before we go in to slumber and there they are - The dreams.

Dreams are not age-dependent, are they? I guess everybody dreams. Kids, adults, old people.....everybody. What is more interesting, is, the content of our dreams. If you notice, dreams are not necessarily logical, nor sensible.

You could dream about being in a school, with homework not completed, and your office colleagues as classmates. Or, equally bizarre, you can dream of your nursery school teacher talking with your manager at work. Sometimes, people who have long passed away also come to life in dreams....maybe an old grandparent or some distant relative who exists no more.

So, the point is, dreams do not follow logic, nor are they practical. You can jump ten feet high, fly over the city, bounce while you walk or even writhe like a snake in your dream. Of course you can even possess super powers such as conversations with animals, super vision, extreme strength....anything. The possibilities are endless. Dreams are just another world with infinite opportunities, both good and bad.

Now how many of us are ready to even imagine something of that sort in our real life? Are we ready to imagine us flying over our school or meeting childhood friends in our office? Are we ready to imagine cars, dogs talking to us or lifting the FIFA world cup in our hands ?

Not surprisingly, most of us would never imagine anything of that sort. Why is that? Because it is not practical, it can never happen. Neither is it fruitful to imagine anything like that, it is just a waste of time.

A few years ago, a small child was playing with toy cars and aero planes. Vroom went the car and zoooom went the plane. Toy heroes were fighting against toy villains. It was possible to live in a house of chocolates and meet famous actors and musicians in a split second. The imaginative world of a child was limitless and it was inside you. You were the child once upon a time. With time, slowly the imaginative world faded away and we became practical, logical and result oriented. It is how the world moves along.

But even today, no matter how big, famous, elder, smart or scientific thinking person existed on earth, during the time he or she slept, the sub-conscious mind would come in to picture. In his sleep, he would be transported to a fantasy world where all logic ceased to exist. The past met with the present, the impossible began to happen. It was all anachronistic and weird.

Sometimes, all we need to do is to open our minds to imagination, and day-dream. With the positive energy and happiness a creative imagination brings, our opportunities become endless and our horizons, limitless. So what are you waiting for......start dreaming !!!

"We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stopped playing." –Benjamin Franklin.

31. The Intruder

2010-06-05T13:56:00.001+05:30

The sky was overcast. It used to be like this most days of the year. Aizawl the capital of Mizoram is located on the foothills of the Himalayas. It was 5pm in the evening. The dark clouds and the onset of winter meant that it got dark very early.

Duvid was feeling very sleepy. He was excited about all the money he had with him. His house was very small with only one bedroom. He slept most of the time on the sofa which his friend had given him. Working at the mills factory was tiring but did not yield enough money for him to go on a trip with his friends to New Delhi. Duvid had not travelled much. He had spent all his 19 years of life in Aizawl. But now he had money- It would help him go on a trip with his friends. He would love to see the Taj Mahal. As he yawned and looked at the time, he had still a couple of hours before he had to meet his friends and give them his share of money.

He sat, on this sofa thinking “What clothes would I wear in Delhi? Can I take my picture with the Taj Mahal ? What would I eat? Undoubtedly, this is going to be the best thing ever that will happen to me”. Just then the power went off. This was very common in this part of the country. It will come back in an hour thought Duvid. But it was extremely dark now. He could hardly see a thing. “I should not have keep the curtains closed”, thought Duvid as he got up to get a candle. Just then he heard a noise that chilled his spine................. a sneeze.

A sneeze is usually not a very scary sound for most people, but for Duvid it was. He was the only one in his house. He had no neighbors. His friends never came to his house as he had never invited them out of shame. Who then lurked in this house? The sound had come from behind him, but he did not dare to turn around immediately. Instead, he ducked and hid beside his sofa.

He started praying that it should be a dog or a cat which should have strayed in to his house when he was not looking. But his hopes were dashed when he heard..........distinct footsteps. There was someone in the house.

Duvid wanted to run towards the door, but knew it would be a dangerous move as the door was in the direction from where he heard the foot steps. “Oh god, please let the electricity come back!”, thought Duvid as he tried to crawl ever so slowly towards the nearby table. He slid under the table and held his breath. It had started raining outside. The noise of the rain hitting against the window panes, made it impossible for Duvid to decipher any sounds of the lurker.

As he looked towards the window, there was a lightning. The lightning filled Duvid’s inner most core with fear for it had revealed against it, a silhouette. The silhouette, of a man with a beard, and strange clothes like he had a big shawl. But it was not the man which caused paralytic fear in Duvid, it was what he saw in the intruders hand that shook him. The gleam of the carving knife was unmistakable.

In the pitch of darkness, Duvid’s mind raced. Who wanted to kill him? Who knew that he had money in his house? He did not know man with beard around. The rain had increased in its intensity now. He knew, it would not be long before his chaser caught him. Duvid sneaked out from under the table and writhed on the floor towards his only bedroom. If he could crawl to under the bedroom window, he could jump out, he thought. He crawled as slow as he could, making sure he did not make any noise. The hair on the back of his neck stood as he saw someone a couple of inches from him. He almost let out a yell, but managed to control it in time as he realized that it was his own reflection in the room mirror.

The window was still a few steps away, when suddenly, the electricity came back. The return of power only relieved him for a minuscule of a second as he stared at horror in the mirror. What he saw in the mirror, gave him goose bumps all over. Behind him, there was a man standing, with a shawl, rugged beard and the knife in hand. The pursuer whom Duvid was trying to avoid was right behind him. Duvid turned around to look at the man who was standing a few feet away.

What Duvid saw in the next few moments left him shocked, terrified and frozen. The man standing opposite him was .............. very very similar to Duvid himself. It looked like Duvid had grown 20 years. All his features were the same. It looked like a bad, sad, nasty version of himself. After what felt like a minute, Duvid mustered courage and asked the man... “Who are you?”......

The reply was faint, but the words were very simple.....” I am........ you....”

The sound of the Mata Kali temple bell was always loud and clear. As it rang for the fifth time, Duvid woke up with a start. It was a dream. Thank god it was a dream. Duvid smiled broadly and looked around his house. It was perfectly calm with nobody around.

Duvid stood up and looked at the wallet in front of him which had twenty five thousand rupees cash. The owner of the wallet must be furious and frustrated, thought Duvid. Stealing, had been easier than Duvid anticipated. It had given him the money he had not been able to save working at the factory.

As he took the wallet in hand and opened it, he suddenly recalled the face of the person in his dream. Duvid looked at the wallet for a long long time. He also thought about the person in the dream.

As Duvid got up, he knew what he had to do. He walked out of his house to the nearby Mata Kali temple and dropped the wallet along with the money in the donation box. Taj Mahal and Delhi could wait......

The good and bad resides in everybody. They conflict with each other many times each day in everybody. The bad always tries to kill the good and win its way.

They (good and bad) come face to face every single time there is a conflict within us. If we could actually see how our good and bad versions looked, we would always choose the good, as Duvidha (Duvid) did in the story.

P.S : Duvida in hindi means “a state of two minds”or dilemma.

30. They Hide When You Start

2010-05-31T11:21:00.003+05:30

It is evident that we go out often. No matter where we are and what we do; we need to go out - out of the house. It may be to the market, to work, to visit relatives/friends, or for a walk. The reasons are innumerable. Sometimes, we do not even need a reason to go out.

Unfortunately, most of the times when we are going out, we are in a hurry. It is an inevitable fact. We take time in dressing up, or probably we woke up late, or maybe we just lost track of time. Whatever maybe the reason, the result is, we are in a hurry as we are about to leave our house.

This fallacy of ours is well-utilized by a certain group of entities, who do not like going out. Yes, its true, not everything in this world is ready to go out of house. There are some entities who like staying indoors; in the calm, peaceful and stationary positions.

The entities being talked about are a bunch of different things, not related to each other, but necessary for the person going out of the house. Let us take a look at some of these things.

• The Keys: Yeah, keys. They hate going outdoors. House keys, Car keys, Bike keys; all of them. They know that it is literally impossible for the humans to go out of the house without them. It makes life very difficult for these keys to avoid going outdoors, but they tend to give a tough fight to the humans. They have a knack to hide under sofa cushions, behind book shelves, under the table, or sometimes even under the bed.

• The Wallet: Another permanent and absolutely essential thing to the humans, the wallet is something that is often reluctant to go out. It knows that it is literally impossible for it to avoid going out. Yet it tries hard, despite its bulky and easy-give away look, to hide. Their favorite hide-outs are usually under clothes, newspapers or unbelievably under our butt.

• The Cellphone: Not as lucky as their counter-parts like the keys or wallets, they do not have opportunities to hide as they are easily found out. Humans give a ring and no matter how difficult a position they hide themselves in, they are found-out. But these cell-phones do not give up so easily. They wait for the right moment. The moment humans have made the much-wanted error of putting them on silent. The cell phone never misses the opportunity to hide then. They are literally invisible after that. Humans in their frustration of not being able to ring-find them, search frantically. If the cell phone is lucky, it can even stay back if the human is in a hurry.

• The Socks: The life of socks is unique. They are enviably placed in a position where they can easily stay back by hiding under the bed or between shirts. They have lot of strategies such as splitting up and hiding separately and doubling the search time for humans. The socks tend to stay back most of the days as the humans have many alternative pairs. The humans do not spend enough time searching for the socks as they just pick whatever comes to hand. Hence, the socks do enjoy a longer vacation compared to other things described above, but have a bad-bad day when they are taken out.

• The Electronic Accessories Association (EAA): There are a group of electronic items that created an association EAA during the March of 2003. The members include the iPods, the cell phone chargers, wrist watch, USB drives and the latest addition- GPS. The mission statement for the EAA clearly states that they have to hide whenever possible. They excluded the cell phone early on when they realized that it can be easily found out by its ring. The EAA members know that even though they are not absolutely necessary for the humans, they are often expensive. This meant that the humans would not leave any stone unturned in their search. Yet these EAA members fight on to hide another day.

It leaves us with the question. Why indeed are these entities so keen on hiding or reluctant in going out? It might be because of the way they are treated when taken out. Often inside bags, pockets, on ears, or even legs, they probably feel suffocated. There is also the fear that they might get lost outside where they might be crushed or deformed or thrown in water. Apart from these, there is the major fear of wear and tear. They know that once they are used to their limit, they might be discarded; after which they would not be able to relax and sit at home. Yes, it is natural for these commodities to hide and resist going outdoors.

Adding to their woes are humans who are turning more responsible and careful in they way they organize these commodities. By hanging key hooks, cell phone tables, drawers to hold wallets or EAA members. In the recent past humans are even trying to put small receiver chips in these commodities which might beep when they are not found. All these are certainly making life miserable for these shy indoor things.

But unlike humans, they posses a unique quality which helps them go through these tough times- patience. They know that sooner or later humans will make their mistake; they will misplace them in their moment of laziness or preoccupied minds. And then, they will hide. They will hide until the humans spend at least a week looking for them.

Advice to Humans: Make sure you keep enough time before you start so that you can search for all the necessary things you need when you go out. Rest assured, it would not be easy to find them.

29. Everybody Prays ...

2010-05-28T11:19:00.001+05:30

This post is just based on an observation.

Everyday I go to office through a certain way. On the way, there is a narrow street where only small vehicles and cars can go through. It is a short-cut to my office and not a lot of vehicles pass through this way.

So, in that narrow street, there is a small temple. Well it is not a temple where you can go in, its just small enough to house the deity, goddess “Amman” ( also called Durga in some places). For a few days, I did not even notice the temple on my way to office.

One day when I was particularly worried about something at work, I happened to see the small shrine temple of Amman. I looked at the goddess and bowed my head in a small prayer. I was not sure if it was because of this gesture or due to some other reason, but my day at work went really well. Since then I made it a point to offer a small prayer every time I passed her shrine.

Since the time I decided to see the goddess’s shrine, I began to notice a lot of other interesting things. One day in the following week, I noticed a very poor looking man praying in front of the goddess. He looked like daily wage worker who worked in the nearby office as a serving guy in cafeteria. What stuck me the most was the fact that he took his time to stand by on the way to his work for prayer and was praying with closed eyes. Maybe it was a request, maybe a prayer, but the reverence in demeanor was etched in my mind.

The very next day, as I was passing through the same place, I noticed a well-to do man standing to pray. He had parked his car very nearby and had stepped out to pray. I guess, it is easy to expect a well-to-do person to pray. He may have relatively lesser complaints in life compared to the poor guy. Although that may not be true, what was different to me was the fact, that the man had made sure he had removed his footwear, as he stood bare-foot on the road in prayer.

The very next day, third consecutive day after I saw the poor and rich man praying, I saw another devotee who surprised me. It was seeing her that made me write this post. I knew, I wanted to share it. Sitting on her four-wheeler scooter with crutches on the side, a young lady had stopped near the shrine to offer her prayers. Probably she was on her way to office. But seeing that a physically challenged young woman was praying on this small temple on the street on her way to work was touching.

We often come across many heart warming or touching instances in our day to day life. But seeing these special moments reminds us of our present situation and how we have taken it for granted. In the fast paced and demanding lifestyle, I wondered if I spent enough time thanking god for my present life.

Did you ?

28. Futu-r-isque

2010-05-22T21:09:00.002+05:30

This post was written during May 2010 at Bangalore, India

As if today, an average Bangalorean spends about an hour commuting to his/her workplace. The reason for this apparently shocking fact is simple: Way too much population, poor infrastructure and open disregard of traffic rules.

Do you expect any respite in the future? In a matter of few years, the city will be so thickly populated with plethora of cars that it is quite a possibility, that the average commute time to reach office for a person may jump to 2 and half hours. Remember, this is just the average. There would be people reaching in 1 hour and some taking more than 4 fours. And all this is just one way!!!

I wonder how many people would prefer travelling over four hours everyday to get to work and still maintain a healthy lifestyle. Not many, I would say. Definitely the top multinational companies and clever entrepreneurs would think ahead of this. Surely they would not expect the same quality of work from their employees with so much of travel time everyday.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cut to the year 2019. An ingenious method is currently prevalent in the corporate world. The average travel time to work is only 30 minutes. The quality of work has improved multi-folds and the employees and companies are both in harmonious synchronization.

How did this happen?

A young guy just graduating from college gets a new job in the software industry. He is very excited about it. As he looks at his recruitment letter he is filled with glee. His father, also a senior software industry manager (of a different company) reads through the employment letter of his son. It looked so different from his own employment letter from years ago.

Besides the usual joining bonus, relocation cost and standard salary components, there is a new addition, “Set up cost”. The set-up cost had been a new concept initiated by the multinational companies. There were no “offices” any more. Everyone was supposed to work from home to improve efficiency, quality of work and save loads of wasted time on travel.

To achieve this “work from home”, each employee was given an initial set up cost which allowed him to buy a new multi-channel broadband network, 42 inch LCD screen, and the wood-work required to build a office like cubical room structure. There were strict rules that each “cubicle” at home should not be shared with any other person in family or otherwise. Employees were of-course provided with their laptop for work. The laptop had all the standard encryption for security of work. Whenever during the day there were meetings, employees could see all the other people in the meeting through split screen on the large screen they had installed. The multi-channel broad band network ensured that the video conferencing was uninterrupted and with high quality.

The only face to face meetings the employees required were rare and not more than once a week. The travel cost for the meetings were paid for, and lunch at the peer’s house was also paid by the company. As there was an overhead for the company to pay for the travel and food of the “face to face” meeting employees, such meetings were strictly monitored and discouraged.

As his son excitedly started to discuss about the new room he was setting up as his office, the father could not help but sigh. He knew that although his son would save a ton of time in travel, and also spend more time with him, it would only further hamper the personal development of his son who hardly had a friend.

Times do change, companies do bring innovative ideas to solve the pressing issues, but at the end of the day, the bullets are just being dodged not stopped. Sooner or later, one might hit.....

Any solutions, anyone ?

27. My Lagaan . . .

2010-05-19T22:12:00.003+05:30

In a different world, with different situations and requirements, I was granted a wish. To create a strong cricket team that would stay together, play together and challenge tough opponent teams around the world. No this is not a poor man’s version of Dil Bole Hadippa. This is just my cricket team.

This was a strange wish, and I was only 9 years old. I did not understand what to do with the wish. I used to think about it often but did not know what to do with it. Not everyday do people go out seeking cricket teams. Aamir Khan was faced with a similar predicament in the Oscar nominated movie “Lagaan” and that is how this post gets its name.

I have played some average cricket throughout my life (until now). I have enjoyed whatever I played. Much like my perspective towards life, I played my cricket cautiously, taking the odd risk but rotating the strike often thereby avoiding stagnancy. I knew immediately, that I had to be the opening batsman facing the first ball of the match. Besides, being the captain, I captured the no.1 slot in the lineup.

I do not remember much about my school life. But all that changed around 5th standard when a tall, broad shoulder guy sat next to me, and a stout, bright looking boy sat in front of me in class. They continued to do so for 7 more years. Shobhit Mathur, a fun-loving but studious boy and Saurabh Kaushik, a “yo” guy with plenty of computer-whiz knowledge became two of my closest friends throughout my school life in DPS. Luckily for me, they still remain that way albeit with a busier life. And just like that I had got a tall fast bowler, who could bat, in Shobhit to come in at number 7; and in Saurabh I found a hard hitting, risk taking opening batsman to come in at number 2.

Now, throughout my school days, I used to always return home by 2pm, sleep well and then go out to play cricket with my friends in the colony. I was one of the youngest people in the team playing cricket and hardly got a chance to bat or bowl. But life doesn’t stay the same forever and soon I grew up and became a senior member of the backyard cricketing fraternity. This opened the doors for my younger brother Gautam to come in and join the team. With a good technique and impatient hard hitting quality, he became an ideal choice to come in at no. 5 to try and up the run rate. Much like his dynamic and intelligent personality, he was able to create innovate shots on cricket field as well. Add to that his part time medium pace and slot for no.5 was filled.

By the time I became 17 and joined college in Chennai, I had only four players ready for my big match. College life began and breezed past like a whiff of fresh air. Well, it was fresh but not easy by any means. New life, new city and lots of tamil, meant that I would struggle get past the four years of engineering. It was at this time that I came across two more people who changed my life in their own special way. They taught me patience, reverence and humbleness. Mohanraj, became my room-mate during second year of college and a life long friend ever after. He was the first off-spinner chosen for my team. With lots of patience and good flight, he became the player to fill the no. 9 slot.
As you know, an Indian cricket team usually has two spinners, and I found another spinner, this time a leg spinner in my college friend Venkatraman. His simplicity and honesty was just the qualities a leg spinner required. Without doubt he became the perfect choice for position no 8.

With positions 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9 taken, I still had a bug task ahead of me to select the middle order batsmen and the pacers. It was when I went to pursue my masters did I find the ideal person to take up the no. 4 spot in the team. Dependable, cautious and methodical, Aravind my room-mate for two years in Cincinnati, had all the qualities a perfect anchor position like no.4 demanded. This was very necessary after the quick start that the top order would provide.

With the completion of masters, Intel and Folsom beckoned me. Little did I know that my one and half year stay in Folsom would bring to me three strong players who would provide the most important framework for the team. When I met the big and strong Amit Puntambekar who helped me along initial stay in Folsom and had umpteen intellectual and stimulating discussions with me, I knew that I not only found a friend but a stable and dominating wicketkeeper for the team taking up the position 6.

A search for a good room-mate in Folsom brought me together with Vikram. His charming personality and friendly demeanor instantly struck a chord with me as we spent the next couple of years having lots of fun and trips. This devil-may-care attitude along with looking at life with a lighter vein made Vikram the owner of the coveted no.3 position. The attacking strokes and carefree attitude was just what the one-down position asked for.

The elusive search for a pace bowler ended when I found a caring and extremely athletic friend called Chaitanya. His clever thinking coupled with loads of stamina meant that he could be summoned to bowl long spells of medium pace. So here was the player at the no.10 position. Chaitanya could also use the long handle to put some balls in to the stands if required.

After spending four and a half years in the US, I knew it was time to return home to India. Coming to Bangalore and joining Intel meant that my search for a new room-mate started yet again. This time I met the last piece of the puzzle, the no. 11 player who was the fastest bowler yet in the team. Shriharsha, a soft spoken and responsible guy from Udupi drove his bike faster than the wind and spoke softer than most. His fastest balls and slower deliveries were the ideal mixture for the opening bowler of the team.

And that, was how I managed to create a cricket team through 26 years of my life. A team fit to challenge any other team in test and one-day arena (Not too sure about 20-20) . Unlike the real game, this metaphor, which is my cricket team would have players who would never retire, never under-perform and always make me smile.

Soon after, I met my permanent room-mate and life partner Subha who ultimately became my coach...for life.

26. Udupi...

2009-03-31T23:31:00.011+05:30

Did the title make you feel hungry? Yes, I believe, until I visited the coastal town of Udupi, I too, associated the word “Udupi” with restaurants.

Its has now been a couple of months since I have settled in to Bangalore and acquainted myself with my new room-mate, (and now a good friend) – Sriharsha. When I met him, I had little idea that two months down the line, I would be sitting with him on an overnight bus heading towards Udupi from Bangalore.

Travel and seeing new places has always been something I relished, and the thought of visiting a new place on the Western Coast of India thrilled me no bounds. Hence, it was without any hesitation, that I told Harsha, I would be going with him to his hometown on the next long weekend.

March 27 arrived and so did Ugadi, the New Year for Kannadigas, and I got my small bag of clothes ready and was off with Harsha towards Udupi. The journey is typically 10-12 hours long or so, I heard and indeed it was so. Albeit a brief stretch of time where the road was bumpy, the journey was pretty smooth, and I, being my usual self, snored away to a good night’s sleep.The small university-town of Manipal greeted me in the morning with narrow streets, a calm atmosphere and green coconut trees. I had arrived to the western coast of India. Soon after I disembarked from the bus, I was greeted by a smiling uncle (Harsha’s father) and his nephew- Akshaya.

Over the next couple of days, I was treated to a lifestyle I had never experienced about before. Calm ,peaceful and relaxing, it was a city which instantly made one feel at home. I soon realized that, not only was Udupi famous for Krishna Temple, it was also one of the most unique towns in the south India, boasting of its own cuisine, language and culture.

A taste of the sambar there, and I knew, it was something special. Harsha’s mother was quite an expert at making the local cuisine and I had the delight to have a certain “jackfruit sambar” made by her. If you happen to Google “udupi cuisine”, you would find that it certainly has its own blend of ingredients, some sweet, some salty, some fruity, and some spicy. The aloo bonda that I had for dinner was really awesome.

There I go off, talking about food, now coming back to the city front, I had the pleasure of visiting an island called “ St. Mary’s Island” off the coast of Udupi. The gentle boat ride on the green-colored Arabian Sea was pleasing to say the least. The island by itself was a little dry owing the summer season but still offered some breathtaking views of sea and the unique rock structures formed there.

Over Saturday and Sunday, I was blessed with visits to not one, not two, but a record breaking (for me) ten temples in all. Amongst the temples were the famous Udupi Krishna temple, Anneguda Vinayaka temple, Murudeeshwara Shivan temple and not to miss out, the renowned Moogambikai temple in Kollur. The NH-17, which runs through Udupi, was the road which took us two hours north (approx 100 Kms) on the Konkan Coast. Offering glimpses of the sea intermittently, the road passed through dense growth of coconut trees and the lush green ambience of Coastal India.

The temples by themselves, had something different about them. The dedicated priests offering sincere prayers, the patient devotees who revered their beloved god, and the pious and holy atmosphere add up to a serene and peaceful experience. Not only are the temples different because of the different “prasadam” and “archanai (seva) they offer, they are also apart from other temples in India, because of nature of the devotees who visit them. The unflinching dedication and faith of the deities makes one feel charmed(blissful) about the whole scenario.

A special note must be made of the humongous “Gopuram” standing outside the huge Shiva structure along the coast side in Murudeeshwara. The size and magnitude of the god-structure and Gopura inspire awe as you stand and gaze at them. As if that is not enough, there is the Luke warm Arabian Sea beach to entertain you, as you soak in the beautiful ambience. An icing on the cake, is the beach restaurant that offers mouth watering Pav Bhaji, which you can enjoy along with an ice cream as you can overlook the beach with its numerous people playing. Twist your head and you can look up and the watchful lord Shiva as he smiles down serenely.

As I come to the end of the post, I have to write about something that I felt was magical. It was the care, affection and warmth that I felt from Harsha’s parents. Meeting me for the first time, they showed no qualms or reservations and treated me like their own son.
Be it aunt’s numerous delicacies and constant care for my appetite, or uncle’s valuable advice and his narration of Udupi’s local history, it was thoroughly fulfilling experience.
At the end of the jouney as I returned home back to the hustle and bustle of Bangalore life, I closed my eyes and smiled as I soaked in the wonderful memories I took back with me of the special and unique city of Udupi.

P.S: I also wanted to make a mention about the Manipal univ.It was truly spectacular. Looking at the university buildings and facilities, I felt like studying all over again. I also wanted to thank the Elephant which stood outside the Udupi Krishna temple, which blessed me despite its busy life :) And last but certainly not the least, I want to thank Harsha who was instrumental in helping me experiencing a pinch of his lifestyle. It was something special.

25. Statue !!!

2009-03-10T21:27:00.009+05:30

Besides the stationary and typically non-living structures, that one sees erected at different parts of a city, the “statue” also has a different albeit similar connotation.
During my childhood, kids used to play a game called statue. I believe, a lot of people might have come across this game, where-in one person shouts : “statue”, and the people around him ( one or more) freeze in their current state of position, face reaction and expression. The denner, or the person who shouts “statue”, is then required to make the other person(s) to unfreeze, by either making them laugh or uncomfortable. Within an elapsed time, if he succeeds, he wins, else loses on account of not being able to break the statue.

This game caught-on with different versions around, where people suddenly stun others by shouting “statue” at the most unexpected times and the people near them have to oblige by becoming a statue.

Now, coming to the context in which I wanted to talk about this topic, I wanted to say that it has nothing to do with the real world. It is in fact something to do with the imaginary world.

Do you read books? To be more specific, fiction ? or even fantasy, or indeed any other book which has “a story”. The reason why this question is being popped is of deep significance. Do you know why?

Let me try to elaborate. Imagine you are reading a fiction novel, a James Hadley Chase novel where the protagonist (let his name be Scott), is running away from a couple of cops in New York. He gets on top of one of the apartments and starts running. The cops are closing behind him but are still about 20 feet away. Scott, in his breathlessness looks behind and also knows that the end of the building and parapet are approaching him. He knows, the distance between this and the next building is only 15 feet. He knows that, if he times his jump well, he can make it through the window of the next building. With one eye behind on the approaching cops, and one eye on the window of the neighboring building, he prepares to time his jump.

He fails to notice some water pipes near the parapet of the building and trips over while trying to jump, plummeting him downwards instead of forward. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he swings his hands and feet in mid-air and catches hold on what feels like a rod. The impact of holding the rod makes him rotate in mid-air as he struggles to keep his hold on the rod. The rod he is holding is the minutes arm of a huge clock on the face of the building. He looks above, and notices the cops watching him from above and a quick glance below, shows that he is twenty floors above the ground. A free fall will crush his bones to death. In desperation he looks all around knowing that he has only about 10 seconds to make a decision, else the cops might shoot at him…..

The Chapter ends. End of 21st chapter. Its 11.45 pm in the night. You really want to know if Scott makes it safely, or gets killed, but realize that its too late and you have to sleep now, else you might be late to school or college tomorrow. So, what do you? Keep a leaflet on the 22nd chapter, and put the book aside and sleep.

Do you know, what you just did? You just left Scott hanging from the a huge clock in mid-air.

Not only is Scott hanging from the clock arm, the cops are left stranded at the top of the building watching Scott hang. This is the concept of "imaginary statue". Yes, when you read a novel and stop it mid-way (to read it later), you tend to leave the characters in the story, abruptly(and quite unfairly) doing what ever it is they were doing, until you pick up the novel again sometime later. Whether the characters are sitting, sleeping, eating, hanging or even indeed in rest rooms, they have little option to do anything else until you read the story further and let them carry on with their lives. They are, at your mercy.
Now I say this with some level of confidence, because, the story you read, is in played-out in your minds. It is imaginary, you visualize it. So when you take a hiatus, the story stops too. Until the next time you pick up the book, all characters maintain the same position in your minds. Isnt that true? Yes they are statues until the next time!!!!
Although one can counter argue stating that one cannot always read a complete novel at a stretch, we can still help the imaginary characters have a better life : by stopping to read at a point when the characters are in better situations (preferably eating, reading, thinking). Another idea can be to give shorter intervals between our reading time, thereby giving lesser idle and painful time for the characters :)
So, next time when you are reading a novel and are going to close it (to read later), remember how you are leaving the protagonists and characters in the story. Your discretion will go a long way in making life better for the imaginary characters in your mind.
Corollary:
The same situation can perhaps be applied to a movie also. When you stop a dvd movie in between only to see it later, you can say the characters get stuck. But I am not such a big fan of this idea, as it is not in our minds(imaginary) like char. in a novel.
Another sub-corollary. What happens when you leave a novel and dont read it ever again. The characters wait for a long time before dying ( or becoming extinct). Because, its all in your mind........

24. Something About Solo-Journeys.

2009-03-07T18:22:00.003+05:30

There is something about solo-journeys. Travelling alone makes us feel different. Irrespective of whether we travel by bus, train or plane, the unique feeling is always there.

Let me try to elaborate. Often times, we would have come across situations when we had to travel alone from one place to another. In my case, it was very common. During my undergraduate days, I travelled a lot alone in trains from college to home. In the recent past, I spent a lot of time travelling by planes and buses. And during all these times, apart from the tiredness and the little sense of euphoria, that I felt while reaching the destination, there was not much to take home from the journeys.

But there is a peculiar feeling while travelling alone. The feeling of -“loneliness in a crowd”. You know that you are surrounded by people, mostly strangers, whom you are meeting for the first time, yet, you are alone. You hear people all around you talking to each other, or, on cell phones, yet no-one is speaking to you. This brings a feeling of being lonely, but at the same time not alone. Perhaps, that is the fundamental difference between the two words. You are alone when you are the only person in a place, but you are lonely if you no-one you know is around you. Of course, this is just speculation; I know, thoughts on this vary quite a lot.

But coming back to the journey. There are a few things we know for sure while travelling: viz., we are certainly going to reach the place we desire to reach, all the people around us are just passengers who share a very small amount of our lives and lastly, that its temporary.

Let us try to analyze a brief journey by plane (or train if you prefer) and trace how it feels like. You start off with a fresh mind knowing that you are going to someplace different from where you are now. Then, you are amidst a huge crowd of people who are also travelling some place.

Now, your companions (the ones who will sit closest to you) are usually busy with their own thoughts and activities. Sometimes, you try to be-friend them and vice versa. In the short span, (which you know is temporary), you get to meet a new person and get a brief idea about them. This can work two ways. Some people can lie about themselves (since you can never check or find out the truth), or some people can be themselves with you, and not pretend ( which they might have to do in their real lives) since you are only a temporary presence in their lives. This can work both ways. You can too lie or be outright yourself with the new strangers you have temporarily be-friend.

If you are lucky, you might have found someone who might last with you for a longer time in life. ( its rare).

Now for the remainder of the journey, you read a book, or gaze at a scenery or clouds
(depending on your mode of transport). Perhaps, eat something or, listen to music, and think a lot. This time that you get with yourself is extremely precious. Often times you can think more clearly and understand more about yourself during these times. Partly because, you know you don’t have anything else to do (rather you cannot do much). You might find that being in an environment with bustling people and babies and families, your thoughts would often be favorable.
But, nowadays with advancements in technology, we are starting to get robbed of the valuable personal time that we used to get, with people constantly working on laptops.

Alas, the journey ends (sometimes soon, sometimes not so soon) and we reach our destination. We bid farewell to our companions for the trip if they indeed deserved our good-byes...and then head off homeward or forward along with many other people who are relieved at reaching the place of interest.

Next time, when you have an opportunity to travel without people you know, grab the opportunity and savor the quality time that you get with yourself, to think, observe, understand and absorb all the surroundings, people and situations that you come across...............................something which you don’t get to do in your day-to-day life.

Footnote: You might notice (or not) that I started off talking “you go on a journey” and ended it with “we reached”. Wanted to explain this apparent discrepancy in grammar.
I realized, that I intended it to be your journey, ( the readers), but ended up sharing the journey with you ( the author). Contradicting the topic of this post. ( you did not have a solo journey). Ok, until next time....Adios!!

23. Auto !!!

2009-02-19T17:35:00.002+05:30

The following post is based on the author’s recent high frequency involvement with auto-rickshaws and their drivers in the past month. If you are an auto-driver, discretion is advised.
If you have lived in India for a considerable period of time, it is impossible for you not to have travelled in an auto-rickshaw alias “auto”. Incidentally, the name of the three-wheeled vehicle is derived from the more primitive means of transport the “cycle rickshaw”, where in, the driver bicycles two, three or even four heavy weight riders with stain and effort. More recently with advancement in technology, it is now automatic, viz. “the auto”.

Lets get to the point. One, most certainly, would have come across different kinds of auto drivers, and the first thing that comes to mind is : “haggling”. Yes, the demand for an excessive fare for a ride and the see-saw battle that ensues between the rider and driver for an optimal price.

Consider this incident. A prospective rider goes to the auto driver and asks to be dropped to a point X. The auto driver being his usual self demands Rs100 (the real fare would be Rs55). The rider without thinking says “okay” and gets in to the auto, much to the amazement of the driver. The auto driver starts the engine and barely drives a couple of kilometers before ramming in to the side pavement, causing no significant damage to humans, but considerable damage to the rickshaw. On probing further, one understands that the shock of the riders immediate approval of the quoted amount, and the disappointment of not quoting Rs150, and thereby earning more was the reason for his lack of concentration.

Now you wouldn't want that happening to you. So Haggle, or in other words, "fight to Bargain". Its the daily dose of fun and entertainment in the auto drivers life. Now having said all this, there are a variety of people both riding and driving the autos.

Lets talk about a few who drive them.

You must have certainly come across the ones, who think you deserve that extra bit of information and knowledge of the surroundings since you have paid them handsomely, thereby chattering away all through the journey.
And what about the one who often asks...”what’s the time?” as though he certainly has some million dollar deals waiting for him.
Then there are those who remain quiet, tacit in fact in return for your questions making you feel less important.
Of course, there are those who fret and feel bad all through the journey making you realize the mistake you made by striking a less than appropriate deal (fare) with them for the journey.
And well lastly, those drivers who often keep looking over their shoulders keeping an eye on you (more out of fear of you running away, than care) and often spitting outside ( once per 100 metres).

There are indeed a lot of colourful personalities. One just needs to notice and understand their type!

Well, why should we leave our dear riders behind. There are unique people here too.

Some who keep on bargaining until the auto driver realizes his mistake and goes to the temple for redemption after dropping him. (for being "unfair").
Some who often imagine they are better than Google Maps and suggest directions all the way through.
And finally those, who (quite fairly) regulate the speed of the rickshaw through constant vigilance.

Imagine the plight of an auto driver, he knows that more often than not, there are many others,to compete, right behind him and if he loses this rider, he may not get another one for some time to come. This is when our dear rider gains the upper hand and bargains as though there is no tomorrow.

Alas, there are many such battles going on in almost all the cities in India, between the auto driver and the rider. It is not pretty look at or listen, but its a battle in its own right leaving a sense of triumph for the one who got the better out of the deal.

As an after note, there must be a couple of lines written about the vehicles themselves. Green and Yellow, or Black and Yellow depending upon the city they are in, Autos have a peculiar shape owing to their three wheels. Depending on your luck you can ride a shine, (with posters) one or a rickety and dull one (with torn seats and duct tape).

So, next time you ride an auto, hold on, and enjoy the experience. It is unlike any other not because it feels good, but because it is unique.

22. A Trip to Disneyland

2008-11-28T07:46:00.001+05:30

Disneyland, a place which has been in the hearts of many people since childhood. During the times when cable tv did not exist and remotes were a unknown concept for televisions. Kids used to be glued to the only channel available on tv. Animation, which always fantasizes kids did not have many characters. Walt Disney, the founder and a person who triggered the imagination of thousands of kids all over the world with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other now famous Disney characters.

My friends and me recently went to the Disneyland at Anaheim, the first and oldest Disney theme park for our thanksgiving holidays. The atmosphere at Disney was just something else- Thousands of colorfully dressed kids running all around with their patient and anxious parents following them all around. There were lots of rides and shows all over the park targeting mainly at kids. Even as an adult walking through the park and riding all the rides with enthusiasm, I found that the place does have its charm.

Colorful, vibrant, imaginative and elaborate, the rides transported me to a different world. For some time, I was transformed in to a kid. Observing all the kids around, I could see the eagerness, innocence and happiness as they pulled and tugged their parents and ran all over the place with glee. Certainly any person inside of Disneyland would not feel sad. It is one of the most cheerful places on earth. If not awed by the extraordinary imaginative sets, one certainly could be impressed by the state of the art technology on display. And, last but not the least like I mentioned before, the kids and their innocence certainly brings an unknown sense of bliss to a random passerby.

***********************

Cut the scene to Mumbai, India where terrorists attacked various parts of the city and killed around 150 people and injured many many innocent civilians. The whole city and country watched and waited in terror as the terrorists held many hostages and continued to torment and torture everybody. Eventually coming out with their demands, the terrorists wanted to help free their fellow terrorists from some (not to be mentioned) terrorist organization. This was not a unique incident or happening. Terrorism, war against terrorism and the feeling of hatred, anger and helplessness associated with terror has been something slowly and gradually each and every one of us is getting accustomed to.

As if a common person does not face enough problems in their own day-today lives, they have to now face problems that deal with group of people who have their own strong beliefs alias fanatics and desperadoes. Terrorists, ironically are also human beings who have gone wrong in their execution of their lives.

Disney and Terrorism…………pause and think for a moment. They probably lie on opposite ends of a spectrum. Don’t they? Kids who are probably the closest to god in terms of their innocence and goodness and on the other hand terrorists who are probably are the furthest from god in terms of brutality, violence and maliciousness. At this point of my post, I admit I am confused as to what I was trying to say. But let me try and say this in a crude way if possible.

Every terrorist was a kid once upon a time, and even he or she would have surely liked to have spent time at Disneyland. So?

What then ensued, that has lead to a person………..benevolent and innocent to turn in to a beast. You can say society, people, circumstances or situation.

But, I wonder if the same terrorist is given a chance to spend time at Disneyland with his kid. What would he do? Would he not enjoy it like any of us?

21. The Shuffle....

2008-09-14T05:52:00.001+05:30

Two hands came forward and picked up the planet earth in its hand, as if it were a small cricket ball. and carefully shook it up-down, left-right for a couple minutes and kept it back at its place.......

I didn't know if I should wake up or not, the alarm had not sounded, so I could sleep more, but I was feeling restless. Bored and irritated, I decided to check the time...Oh, there was no cell phone beside me. "What? Where is it?.....and what ? where the hell am I ?"

Golly shit and wow, the bed I was sleeping in was huge, with "gaddas" (cylindrical shaped pillows), and beautiful Rajhastan handcrafted quilt. I did not quite get it. My room did not look familiar. There was a painting of village women drawing water from wells and a portrait of myself with my family. But it looked weird. Not because me, my father and brother had moustaches, but because we were wearing strange clothes... right from medieval age in India.
There were no windows in the room and there seemed to be no concept of curtains as I could see beads hanging along the door side.

It made absolutely no sense. I was ....well at least it seemed like I was in a grand room of a 5-star hotel with unique "medieval India" theme. The last I remembered I was just working for some company which I worked for day in and day out and played tennis and went to sleep at my home in Folsom.

I got out of the bed, only to realize I was wearing robes like some old king. Come on!!!, this was getting more and more strange. I walked to open the door and as soon as I opened there were five men waiting for me in yet again strange palatial robes with trays of food and milk. "good morning and a wonderful day to you, your young highness" said the oldest of them, who closely resembled my friend Amit. It slowly dawned on me, that I was not the usual person anymore, it seemed like I was some king or prince of some kingdom.

At this point, any usual person would have freaked out and gone mad, not understanding how 2008 AD can suddenly be changed to 1600 AD or god knows what age.

But not our hero. He ( I mean me ) knew that this was quite an opportunity, so he said, "thank you" and went on devour the so called "shahi dawat".

I think, at this point , let me briefly tell you what happened. For some unfathomable reason, Dilip the regular 2008 AD guy for some reason became a king from 1600 AD. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but who cares, it was fun. Each and every person who greeted me shook their head in reverence and mentioned " namaskar o' Dalip the great". It was fun and exciting.

I had absolutely no idea what my work was. All I had to do was to keep saying. "please leave me alone" or "what do my panel of ministers say" whenever I had some doubt. This was a royal life. I could have all the wonderful food I wanted at the slightest hint of hunger. My clothes were definitely not comfortable, after all who is used to wearing designer heavy robes and skirts all day long.

As I was walking along the corridors of the magnificent fort, that seemingly I had ordered to be built, I began singing " kehne ko jashn-e-bahara hai". My singing talents were praised quite equal to that of Tansen. Well what can I say.....awesome. But all the courtesans and passer-bys were amazed when I suddenly sung "singh is king, singh is king". The confused look on every body's face was priceless.
Later in the evening I entered the palace main room where all ministers and important people sat to listen me talk, I could not help feel a sense of absolutely bliss as I saw all my friends past and present were the ministers. If you are reading this post, smile, you were once an important person in the Dalip dynasty. My father and mother and brother sat patient beside my throne waiting for my speech of the day. I went and sat on the throne and spoke about some drivel. I cannot even repeat it nor is it worth repeating I should add. No one interrupted, no one showed signs of irritations as they all erupted in to applause after I finished. I guess life was just amazing.....

But there is always something to screw good things up. As I was proceeding to my room , my closest minister said it was time for my "sports-time". Assuming that obviously I was going to win in whatever I did I went into the game arena. It was dumb as it was empty and the whole crowd had gathered to watch me. Just then the minister Vikram ji shouted... " our king will now destroy and prevail over the evil lion"........Crap, what was that? I froze as a lion emerged from behind a closed door. Damn, damn, damn....what is going on? "I don't want to be King anymore. Stop this. Hello..........". I ran round and round the arena as the lion chased me.

"Come on, you got to be kidding me....what is this..... "

Just then, a huge swirl of wind blew all over and everything blurred.

The two hands yet again shook the earth carefully, a cute baby laugh guffawing in the background.

"That's enough baby Krishna, stop playing with the earth", came the voice of a lady, probably his mother as Krishna carefully placed back the earth in its place and went about playing with some other planet.

PS : GODS need to have fun too, and all the dreams that we see, the wacky strange ones are the ones which are happening in the parallel world when GOD shuffles the earth for fun.......

:) :) :)

20. Slo-Mo

2008-09-05T06:02:00.001+05:30

After a long hiatus of 6 months, I write this post , will be more regular hence...

Okay, as you start reading this, please pause. Wait, take some time. Read it slowly.

Welcome to Slow-Motion, the world where everything slows down. All of us are always busy, running around, reading fast, eating fast. So Why not take it easy for a change. Read this post slowly. How often have we seen in movies, songs in slow-motion. A popular song “pehla-nasha” was very successful not only because of the scintillating music but because of the slowly picturised song.

Lets try and embark on a slow-motion journey and see how it differs from the usual time.

Chicago Mid-West Airport, 9.30 am. Waiting for the flight to San Francisco at 10.15 am, I had 45 minutes to kill. I took out the I-pod and turned on a tamil song “ Vellai Pookal” from the movie “Kannathil Muthamittal”. It is a slow melody sung by AR Rahman. The song is very mellifluous. As I closed my eyes momentarily enjoying the pleasant song, with its instruments playing softly as ever and opened my eyes, I saw an entirely different world.

Everyone and everything in the airport was in slow motion. The busy pilot and an airhostess walked back slowly towards home after a tiring journey. But even as they went about their job, they shared a joke and laughed. An old couple waiting for their flight, talked to each other and a small smile broke across the old man’s lips. A mother and daughter argued with each other over some issue. A young boy ran behind his friend as they tried to run around the airport seats. A small girl shared a secret with her mother. A patient father played with his son. Everytime he went near the toy that his son wanted to pick, he pushed it further. As the amused son ran behind it along with his father, smiling and laughing. A smile broke across my face as I realized that I was enjoying this moment. There was no inherent reason for my happiness, it was just slow, soft bliss.

How often we yearn for more time. How we wish good moments are slow and bad moments are fast and its always the reverse. But amidst these good and bad moments there are infinite simple not so significant moments. What about those. Try to take some time, where people all around you are busy, and isolate your mind to a slower world and see through those slower glass. Everything around you will look peaceful and happy.

The happiness that you will experience when you understand the underlying beauty of the slowed down moment will be similar to watching intently at a 3D image on a piece of paper with concentration and the image suddenly appearing to you…..

19. Why?

2008-03-21T13:06:00.001+05:30

A four year old looks at his mother and asks, "Why does the sun have to go back everyday ma, Why cant it just stay?". The mother looks at her child and answers, "son, it too has to go to sleep just like us. It will come back tomorrow morning when you wake up". The boy satisfied with the answer goes back doing his routine duties, playing, watching TV and more playing.

Twenty one years later, the same boy is now a man. Busy with a different routine: work, more work, play,cook and sleep. So what else is different? He knows the answers to a lot of questions he did not know when he was four years old. He knows what electricity means, why we eat nutritious food and whats the design for the next graphics chip churned out by Intel. Those among the many things which were even beyond the dreams of the four year old are now possible, perceptible and understandable.

Here is where the reason for this seemingly absurd comparison will be addressed. This twenty five year old has a conundrum. He has a question which he does not know the answer to. With due respect to his mother, it seems there are questions which are beyond answer by her. That is not new one may think. After all if he were to ask his mother how many flop stages to put between read and write cycles of his cache unit in design of graphic chip, his mom, obviously would say....ummm.....three? which we can safely assume is a auspicious answer to this otherwise mundane question. The person, is now searching for answers to more deeper philosophical puzzles which may not be answerable by anyone let alone his mother.

A beautiful picture to distract you in case you don't want to read this post :)

Jumping to the issue that is bothering him, we see that he seeks an answer to " What is our purpose for being born?". Hackneyed, one may think immediately. But perhaps this questions strikes many people at one time or the other in life. Taking humans as an example, it is noticed that they have a systematic pattern of life. Childhood, school, college, work, marriage, kids, grand kids and eventually the end of life. Gazillions of people have been doing this over time immemorial. So what is different about my life, or your life or the protagonist's life. Some people leave indelible marks on the phase of the earth like Einstein, Faraday and many other scientists who are finding reasons for many then unknown phenomenons. But they are far and few. Earth for that matter is a minuscule atom in the vast-endless-infinite universe. Indeed there many earths. But we are digressing. The point being, if everything is so decisive, it is a cycle which has a regular pattern, why does everybody take so much enthusiasm and interest in living it with so many desires. Money, power, desires, fury, anxiety, envy, sadness, braveness, sacrifice,love and all the other (saving time and space) parameters, we inculcate in lives. Why?

Live life by the day, why?
become successful(??) in life, why?
Be good, do good , why?

Why, what is our purpose? Okay, given that the end of life (which again is unclear) is an inevitability for everybody, is far far away for all of us, what is it that we are supposed to do when it comes. Is this a case of :

a) what you have when you achieved the destination?
b) how you reached your destination?
c) what you have x how you reached your destination?

When we reach judgement day in biblical terms, should we be, rich/ satisfied/ healthy/ did good deeds to overcome sins? What is it that we seek? When we wake up everyday, we want good food, good experiences and good day. But when it is the last day. What do we take beyond?
Some say memories, some say soul. But at the moment, the author feels, he is clueless.

Very basic questions, one can say, but does one know the answers, or in fact, does one at all seek answers? Sometimes, we are advised not to, so that the thrill,motivation and essence of life is not lost. The same essence which we do not know about. As this post ends, perhaps as a insignificant speck of dust in this boundless universe, the expectation is, the author will definitely find out the answer, as will all others-- at a time, when one is not allowed to share their answers with anybody. But, indeed, I am glad I documented this.

Post Thoughts: Despite the fact that the post is extremely philosophical and heavy in its contents, it is an omnipresent question.

18.Serene Lake Tahoe

2007-11-18T05:55:00.003+05:30

That did not take as long as he expected. There was pin drop silence. The body of a short guy lay prostate in front of him. Now he had lot of work to do and quick. Hide the body inside the closet, make sure there were no visible traces he that he was leaving behind. It took him under four minutes to do all of that. He was making sure the room had no evidence, the curtain was open. But this was the twentieth floor of the tallest building, and it was broad daylight. No one could have possibly noticed anything from outside. No one had noticed him coming up the hotel, after all this was a busy place.

As he made a final search for any clues that he might have left behind, a sense of satisfaction grew inside him. It was essential to kill the man he had just killed and now he was sure he was safe and no one would ever know. But.................wait...................he could hear footsteps outside. His heart skipped a few beats. Perhaps it was not for this room. He had left a "do no disturb" sign outside the door. There was a knock on the door. Who could this be? He could not afford to be found here. He waited, hoping that the person or maybe people outside would go away.

Then, he heard the door click, some one had a key, how could they ever guess he was here? The door opened ........and he knew he was done......

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The alarm rang, it was Sunday. "Why the hell did I keep an alarm on a Sunday? Oh yes, I had to go to Lake Tahoe". I looked at my watch, 9am. Picking up the phone, I called Akka, she said she will be ready by 10.30. It was a warm day, a perfect day to visit the much talked about Lake Tahoe. I got ready on time and we started as per scheduled, with me driving my new car.

The Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by geologic block (normal) faulting about 2 to 3 million years ago. A geologic block fault is a fracture in the Earth's crust causing blocks of land to move up or down. Uplifted blocks created the Carson Range on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. Down-dropped blocks created the Lake. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States and the tenth deepest in the world. Lake Tahoe is about 22 mi (35 km) long and l2 mi (19 km) wide and has 72 mi (116 km) of shoreline. Lake Tahoe is the highest lake of its size in the United States.

That was enough of geographical information. I have an inclination for geography hence the dose for you. When we reached Lake Tahoe about two hours after we started from home, it was a little after 12.30. The tourist spot offered many attractions, skiing (in winters), boating, water jet skiing, a cable car ride, nice beaches and wonderful scenic points all around the lake. Before anything else, I wanted a closer look at the lake. I drove around the lake a few miles and we found a good beach. Akka always liked beaches. She went and played around for half an hour while I spent the time observing the Tahoe water at close quarters. It was crystal clear. The water clarity was almost unbelievable. I then lay down on the sad and had a small doze.
" What the hell are you doing lying around coming to Lake Tahoe?" , yelled Akka "Good Point", I said as I cursed my laziness. "Why don't we go up the cable car and get a good view of lake Dilip? At least it will wake you up lazy bone !!" suggested Akka. "Of course, lets go right away" I said. Indeed "the heavenly gondola" was one of the major attractions here at the Lake Tahoe. Each ticket cost 28$, a lot of money. I hope its worth, I thought to myself.

The Heavenly Gondola is a cable car ride which takes visitors to the top of a Sierra Mountain (Hill) and offers a spectacular view of the Tahoe from above. The cable car ride lasts 12 minutes on the way up. It sways, bounces and glides over the beautiful mountain. As we rose above the ground and gained altitude, there was a sense of calm. The solitude and gentle movement of the car lured me in to a dream world of mine. A big sound of the word " Idiot" brought me back to the current place. I could see Akka looking at me with piercing eyes. She hated my spurts into dream world. The cable car stop came. Both of us got down and stood on a metal mesh floor. We could see beneath our feet. This place was located on top of a mountain more than 7000 feet above sea level.

A cute looking bear statue attracted our attention. We took a picture near it. Sunday is always a wonderful place to visit the Tahoe. A good number of people come and visit it. Saturday is always crowded and weekdays are too sparsely crowded. Sunday was just right. A few paces on the metal mesh floor and we came to a big balcony like place overlooking the Lake Tahoe. It was a breath taking view. The whole lake Tahoe with its 72 mile perimeter was visible. Before I could comment on the view to Akka, she was already busy clicking pictures of the Tahoe. To describe the view in brief, the lake was surrounded with lots of mountains, a few snow capped and other barren. The blue lake and the blue sky gave the whole scenery a bluish overtone. Small yatches and boats were visible like ants in the lake. A small settlement or city was visible down below which we recognized as the place where we had parked our car. "Heavenly Village" was a picturesque town on the foothills of this mountain atop which we stood.

Gobi Manchurian and Cauliflower Dosa, our previous nights left over dinner gave us good appetite and also attracted the attention of a few passerbys as they were envious of the cozy lunch that we had got for ourselves. Lunch done, now it was photo session time. This was what I liked the most. After all I could put it up on orkut. Akka was genuinely interested in The lake and she was busy clicking away pictures of the landscape. I just wanted my pictures with the lake. A few good mugshots with me broadly smiling gave me the satisfaction that I was looking for.

The binoculars or viewfinders of whatever you call them which helps seeing far away contrary to expectation was not finding many seekers. Perhaps people thought there was nothing good to see down in a lake. Surprisingly it was free too. Before I could take a look, Akka was already busy looking though it focusing on the small yatches and jet boats in water. I waited patiently for my turn. She asked me to look at a yatch. Akka had focused it pretty well. I hardly saw for a few seconds when she snatched it back and started seeing through it. I meanwhile took a few pictures of squirrels (with lines on their backs!!!) playing around in the soft sparse snow which was lying around at a few places.

I was impatient now. I wanted to go back. I wanted to go to Jet Skiing and also down the pleasant peaceful Gondola car. Akka was not moving. She stood transfixed on the viewfinder. I went to her and said. " Lets Go!!". She turned to look at me and quickly motioned me to see through the view finder. I saw. It was focused on a room of some sorts. A man was dragging some luggage on the floor. " Cant you do better than peep in to hotel rooms?" I asked Akka, though I may have done the same thing. "He killed the other guy" stammered Akka. Her face was pale white now. As she said that I looked in to the viewfinder again and this time I noticed, that the person was not dragging some luggage, it was a person. I turned to Akka and said, " now what do we do?" She was as dumbfounded as me. A thought stuck me. I looked in to the viewfinder and zoomed out the view. A big name "Westin" was clearly printed on top of the building. " Its Westin, Lets call them" I said. Akka immediately called a hot line and asked for the phone number of Westin Hotel at Heavenly Village, Lake Tahoe. The operator had barely finished telling the number as I started calling the number.

"Hi, this is an emergency. Please rush to the topmost floor of your building facing South Side, we just saw a murder being committed in a room. The number you can reach back us is ..... and our SSN is .....". That did the trick. The operator though initially cynical was at ease when I gave him my SSN. " We will immediately call the police and send out security upstairs sir!!!" said the operator. Me and Akka looked at each other........we wished we knew what happened next....

***********************
Our trip to the Lake Tahoe was an eventful one. What happens next is already known to you.
The lake Tahoe certainly is one of the most amazing and beautiful places one can visit. I hope I can return to it one day and enjoy it as much as I did this time.......well almost......

This post was partly memoir and partly fiction. A genre of writing which I am trying out nowadays mixing imagination with reality. Please do not consider its contents as true.

17. The Random Jail

2007-11-11T08:05:00.002+05:30

This post may seem inspired from the movie "SAW", which seems right, but was not thought along the same lines. The story is with true characters but fictitious.

He slowly opened his eyes to a dimly lit room. It took some time for him to accustom to the lighting of the place he was in. It was surprisingly well furnished. A good couch, a television, refrigerator, kitchen with shelves open - he could see food inside. It seemed like a good place. But now as he grew accustomed to the light, he began to notice other people in the room. There were four of them. Everybody looked about the same age group between 25 to 35. All of them were men. Everybody appeared to be flustered, either reading magazines or watching TV. He didn't recognize this place, he had never been here before. The people around him seemed new. He had never met them. One of them seemed familiar but it could be just his imagination. It was a while before he spoke. " Where am I? and who are all of you. Last I remember I went to bed at home and now when I wake up I am here."

"Welcome to the club" said one of them. " We are exactly in the same situation as you". All of us went to bed last night and now we are here. Just to add some facts, this room is sealed and locked from the outside. The temperature inside is perfect, neither too hot nor too cold. We have food in the kitchen to last us for a couple of weeks. There seems to be no indication or reason of why we are here". "Shit, is this like SAW 2, I don't want to die", he said as soon as he heard the other person mention the information. "Well", said another stocky looking person, " there is no indication or tape or anything at all in this room. In fact everything in this room seems good to live comfortably except for the fact that there is no reason for us being here."

He got up and went around the room for a while and confirmed the fact that the room was indeed a good place to live in. They even had five beds. But why were they here. And, then he wondered who his companions were? A middle aged person got up and said, "okay, lets introduce ourselves, from what I notice, I don't think anybody here knows the other." This seemed like a good idea. They introduced each other. There was brief silence after everybody introduced each other. Amit broke the silence. " All our names peculiarly start with A: Anand, Amit, Aravind, Akhil and Ashwin. What does this mean?". No one in particular had an answer to this question. Two of them were living in the US at Folsom and Houston. Three more were from New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. There was a long silence when no one spoke. Everybody was thinking the same thing. Why were such totally unrelated group of people coming from totally different places sitting in a room with each other.

Time passed. Aravind was interested in watching TV a lot. Amit was busy talking to Anand. Akhil was sleeping and Ashwin was doing nothing. Akhil was starting to get restless. He contemplated the idea of breaking the door, there were no windows. Amit and Anand had grown a good rapport with each other. They took it upon them to arrange dinner. Ashwin was the one who was tacit. He spoke less.

There was a clock with date on the wall. It was their only reference to outside world. A good movie " The Shawshank Redemption" kept every body's attention for some time as they watched the movie. There was a growing feeling of camaraderie amongst them. All of them were well placed in good companies. Anand was the vice president of a company in Bangalore.. Amit was working with Intel in Folsom. Ashwin was working in New Delhi for Proctor and Gamble. Aravind was working in Houston for an automobile company and Akhil was in Santa Clara. Being well to do people from different stages in life they began to talk more and discuss good issues and topics from around the world.

It was their third day now that they had been at the same place. Frustration was increasing amongst some of them. Clearly they were getting tired of not knowing why there were locked here. But the only respite was there was no imminent danger visible and the television kept them updated with around the world. Surprisingly it had close to 97 channels. There was no lack of recreation in the room as well. TT tables and snooker table as well.

To strike a conversation with Amit, Anand mentioned, "my nephew works in Folsom too. His name is Dilip". Amit's eyes lit up. " Whats his full name?". " Dilip Seshadri, he joined a few months back." Amit immediately mentioned, " ya I know him, he is a good friend of mineback there." The word "Seshadri" seemed to have an effect on the other three people as well. " Did he go to University of Cincinnati?" asked Aravind who had studied there before he joined work at Houston. "Yes, he did said Anand". "well, well" said Ashwin. " Was he ever in Delhi?" he asked. "Of course, he grew up in Delhi" said Anand. "Pragati Vihar, Andrews Ganj? ". "yes", said Anand his eyes gleaming more now as he realized more people in the room seemed to know him. Akhil, the only one not part of this conversation said. "I guess I have a friend by that name too, but he studied in Hindustan in Chennai, I don't know if I am talking about the same person." " Indeed, he did his undergrad there" mentioned Anand who seemed to know more about Dilip than anybody else in the room.

" This is weird" declared Amit. "Each and every one in this room knows Dilip Seshadri. Could this mean, he imprisoned us?". As soon as he uttered this word, there was a loud noise from somewhere above. There was speaker on the wall above. They had not noticed this before. A cold clear voice said. " Your task in this room was to find the link amongst you 5 people. You have done that. You are free to go, the doors are unlocked."

All of them looked at each other. A few thanked Dilip and a few cursed him as they ambled out of the room, exchanging pleasantries as they left the room. As they went out, Amit wondered " I wondered which set of people are going in next? "

A smile broke across on Dilip's face. His imagination of the above situation had given him plenty of entertainment and enjoyment. He scrolled down his phone book in his cell phone and wondered, which set of people did he want to send in to the mystery room next.

A few clarifications. Five people were sent because, that is all the cell phone displays at one time. The randomness of people is not uncommon. Any five people( continuous in the phone list) are usually unknown to each other. You can try it out too!!!!!!!!! Also there is a contradiction in the fact that though the post is titles "random" it is infact.....ordered (alphabetically) ;).

For an in-depth interesting analysis of the above situation, please visit this.

16. Ath-ma-katha

2007-10-07T05:14:00.001+05:30

Ath-ma-katha literally translated means self-story. When I was in sixth standard, I was asked to write an essay in hindi titled "sikkay ki athmakatha" meaning self-story of a coin. Self-story in other words is just an autobiography. The essay traversed the life of a coin (1 rupee coin) as seen by it, right from its creation, and then the way it got passed on from one person to another, until the point where it lay now.
Usually essays had to fill atleast 2 pages, so we had to make it change owners many times :). Well obviously, isnt it? After all, what do you expect the essay to be: the coin was created, put in a bank and it lay there ever since. Great essay.This would fetch you 10 on 10 for intelligence but in reality1-2 marks out of 10 in hindi exam.

So we learn that the seemingly abstract title of this post means autobiography. So what am I driving at? This term actually struck my mind immediately as I was thinking of my coffee mug.

What?

Let me explain. Here I was, one day, drinking mango juice from my coffee mug ( it was, actually is, a pizza hut cup). And since I had nothing in particuar bothering my mind, I started thinking how come this cup is in my hands now? Thats when I thought back and realized, the cup was given to me (for free!!!!) when I had a lot of pizzas at pizza hut with my friends in 2003 ( it was a treat!!). Since then, it lay at home in New Delhi, where I thought my brother may use it. It turned out he was not fascinated by freebies and drunk from his own cup. It was a forgotten cup after which my mom sent it with me when I left US to do masters saying that I would need microwaveable cups. During the course of my masters, I changed homes thrice and guess what, the cup followed( it was brought along to those places too). Then when I got a job, I moved to San Diego for some time and finally came to Folsom, where after 4 months of job, when I was tired after a long week and stared at nothing in specific and glanced at my cup, then......well, you know what happened since.

The long and uninteresting story about the free pizza hut coffee mug teaches us a lesson.

Really? What? That you are better off watching TV and not wondering about unnecessary articles and delve their origins!! Also, please stop bugging us with your stupid blog ideas.

Apologies, that was my alter ego/crtitique, for my blog from another part of me.

So, continuing, I was saying, that it teaches us that everything around us really does have a story. We may or may not be interested in it. I know we are all busy, there are so many things to do. But if we can take a small break and think about nothing in particular and look around us and observe the inanimate things/articles/objects/ belongings(whatever we choose to call it) around us, we will realize that they bring along with them a stream or chain of memories hidden deep within us. Each object has a history or a story to tell. Some may be just new, some really old. There are insignificant ones, but there are also some which were lost with time in our memories, but now suddenly, on thinking about them, we seem to recollect more than it seemed possible. The chain of thoughts could be triggered by any thing, maybe the shirt you are wearing, or the wrist watch, maybe the shoe, or cap, perhaps the plate on which you eat or the pen that you use. I am sure you would be able to remember some dialogue( like your friend saying, this is a horrible pen) or situation( like you hating the selection of this shirt which your aunt got you) which will make you smile or even laugh. Hopefully it shouldn't make you sad.

The purpose of my writing this post is to remind us that memories are one of the most important and beautiful gifts that has been given to us. We dont use it that often. The importance of living in the present has been emphasized a lot in general, but the significance of letting our memories flow and refreshing our minds of the subtle and vivid thoughts,situations and nuances are seldom mentioned. Taking a break from our regular life to indulge in nostalgia of smaller and lesser important situations from our life will surely bring a smile to our faces.

We make sure we remember the grand and important moments of our life, but if we rack our brains, it will tell us the stories of the lesser instances which will not fail to rejuvenate our brain.

As a post script I would like to mention the reason why I chose athmakatha as the title of this post. My post merely wanted to convey that we should try and retrace a few instances of life which are forgotten, but the idea for this post originated when I tried to retrace the life of my coffee mug. Though lifeless, the autobiography of an object or thing can be told, if we look from its point of view, by remembering its past.

15. The Discussion

2007-09-26T14:02:00.001+05:30

This post comes straight from my heart. It is a discussion, which I had with different people, with myself and and I wanted to put it into words so that it can be read. Its about brain drain.....!!!

India and The United States of America. Two different countries located on opposite sides of the globe, thousands of miles apart, with difference in culture, habits and thought process. Two countries, one person(me,you or anybody). This is perhaps one of the most common situations many people face. Peope who have a connection with India because of birth, upbringing or citizenship, and who have spent a considerable amount of time in the US. It is here, that the topic of brain drain originates.

The above paragraph was a totally unnecessary definition of brain drain. I admit it now. (I am writing this post in installments). People like me who have come to US to study or work for a while are inevitably faced with this question, should we stay in the US or return to India for good.

Consider this, thousands of people come to US every year. A very huge percentage of them every year take the decision to stay back in the US for good and only visit India once in two years. Why does this happen? What is so mystifyingly magnetic about this place that attracts so many people to come and stick to it, without thinking about going back to their motherland? I have here in this post, tried to have a small discussion. I call this a discussion because it has both sides of the coin. You can call it the observations of a clear mind or the rantings of a confused mind....

Abundunt money, a high quality life, new activities not possible in India, quality of work, dignity of labor, a suave, stylish lifestyle, are, to name few "attractions "(mentioned by Vikram) which greet people when they set foot on this land of opportunities. Why then, would anyone want to

return to India? It is a question worth asking. I asked this to myself. It was a tough one to answer. What is it that I miss here, that I can find only at home, in India, which compels me to return. What do you think? Is there something for you? The answer to my question to myself lies in my first blog " The most important thing in life" . Food, used to be a strong motivation for many people back in earlier times, but now you cannot complain of food as a reason for pulling people back to India because whatever you find in any roadside chat corner or dhaba or Saravanna Bhawan, you find it here in the US. So, coming back to the point, the answer to the question for me is, my family. My father, mother, brother and not to mention all my relatives who form the backbone and foundation for my yesteryears, without whom my memories would be zilch.

A simple counter argument would be, parents can come to US, they can stay here too. Yes, very true. That indeed is a possible option. Parents can spend half an year with us in US and rest half in India. But the not so evident and more important fact is, they may not like being here.

Ok, given they do, they cannot do it often, or stay here happily as time progress, in short as they age. It is okay for all of us to worry about our live, our carrier, our future, wife, children and so on. But the essence of life will be lost on us. We will in time if not now, think and realize that our true treasures lie not in money or fame or fun, but in people who love us. Family does form our essence of life. Imagine we have a bad dream and wake up in the middle of the night. We look for people who can comfort us, people we miss. But alas sitting thousands and thousands of miles away from them, does not help us.

Quality of life is determined by the happiness of mind summed over our entire life. Happiness in the present and near future does not imply lifelong happiness. It is with this math, that my decision tilts towards the fact that I decide to return to India for good. Why did I come here in the first place, that is a point worth questioning? The answer is, to experience, the culture, the natural wonders, the lifestyle of one of the most advanced nations of the world. To see things from a different perspective, to grow, and learn that life is not only the way we have seen until now.

It is easy to say my post is biased. Well, what else can you expect, with the decision I made. I have found all kinds of happiness here in United states, from seeing wonderful places to experiencing thrill and fun as I can never imagine in India. It is a beautiful dream to live in the US, but a vacuous one nevertheless, for it has color, life, verve but no soul. Ahaa, I forgot, a new school of thought has developed over the recent years. Stay here until you get a green card and return to India. Hmm, interesting, intelligent too, I do want to be a critic, but, like I have done throughout my entire blog, I want to present my point of view. It is a good idea but not for me, because, I want to enjoy time with my family as I did when I was young. To play cricket with my dad, to eat thrice a day from my mom demanding more than what she makes, to go watch a movie with my brother when he comes from college. These moments I want, regular and often. Not as once in a lifetime happenings. Five to ten years down the line, it will be a little late to expect this a lot. So, for me, the time is now.

This is the last paragraph of this post, and I want to focus on another aspect. Compromises. What of the many compromises that I will have to make to settle in India. Beaurcarcy, Red Tapism, Sycophancy, Corruption, Indiscipline. Am I ready to compromise?

Yes, everything comes with a price. As Shah Rukh Khan puts it aptly in Baazigar " Kuch Paane ke Liye Kuch Khona Padtha Hai". As I end my post here, I want to add a footnote, one of my dear friends, (name witheld), with whom I have had innumerable discussions, disagrees on all points I have discussed in this post. Though initially surprised, I realized that indeed, for him, staying in US is a better option. Why so, because, his parents enjoy US and want to stay here more than they want to be in India. Well ,he has a point!!!

It was then I came to the conclusion of my discussion.

Conclusion:

Every individual has a delicate balance of factors in the equation of the brain-drain situation. Giving weightages (priorities) to different values will change the decision whether to stay in the US or stay in India. It is person dependent. As simple as that.
Here is a representation.

Decision = (US is great!! factor)*A + (money situation factor) * B + (Career situation factor)*C + ( Future Interest factor) * D+ (India disliking factor)*E+(any other factors) *F - ( parents situation factor) *Z -(I love India!! factor) * Y - ( other factors)*X.

If decision greater 1, stay in US,
if decision less than 1, go to India
if decision==1, go stay in Africa :)

Well as you can see, a typical engineers brain at work. At the end of it you can say: that was a lucid and eye opening discussion or,

well, we are back to square one, where we began :)

Take Care,

Dilip

14. Dangling Pointers.....

2007-07-18T03:47:00.001+05:30

A lot of us have used C++ or even C. Some of us may be too familiar with pointers in C++. They point to a memory location. The memory location stores some value. Pointers are an extremely important part of programming. They help us in performing many operations efficiently. But it is important to always point the pointer to a memory location. removing a memory location will leave the pointer dangling with no memory location to point to. This means that the pointer exists but doesn't point to anything. Using constructors in classes without using destructors also creates a similar effect.

OK, enough. What was all that? Why did I just write that? Coz that was related to some thought that struck me. Dangling pointers in our head. Inside my head. There have been people in my life who existed, whom I spent time with, but now, they are nothing more than just memories. Somewhere, somehow, I have lost all my connections with them. Result being, they exist only in my memory like a ghost, with no idea about who, how and where they are now. They occupy space in the memory but don't point to any real people. Its not one, or two such people, but many.

I do not know how many people will agree with me that this happens to them. I know this happens to some people. The vacant space that remains, just....................remains. Amidst the fast moving life, we pause for a second, quiet, hearing no sound, seeing nothing and think, imagine and remember the moments we spent with them. Silence, that's what greets us. But we then are jolted back to current life when someone calls us, or the phone rings or we something move. That was just a short lesson on dangling pointers.

Funny how so many theoretical phenomenon, terms and technical jargon's that we use are somehow related to our lives. We just dont realize......

13. This too shall pass

2007-05-21T07:31:00.001+05:30

Its been a long hiatus, but a good one nevertheless. I had so many things that I wanted to blog about, but I restrained. I waited, until I finished my thesis and got a job. And here I am finally writing my latest entry in to my blog.

I have always liked blogging, it really is a useful excercise. My post today focuses on another basic fact of life which we do not acknowledge. I promise to come up with a new and exciting blog next time around. But for now, this is it.

All of us are faced with situations with our backs against the wall. The deepest, toughest positions, much tougher than what we have faced before. And, we have felt, that this is it, it cant get any lower than this, but much to our amazement, something worse does happen :) So happens next? Really, what happens next?

The answer to that question is thankfully optimistic. Things get better. A friend of mine once said to me "we underestimate ourselves, in reality all of us have the power and strength to overcome the biggest of obstacles, even if we feel we cannot, if we just hang on, we will overcome it". I didnt know that this was one of the biggest truths that I had discovered. Indeed we are all omnipotent. We have the energy,power and strength to do or overcome whatever we want. A pessimist would say, a successful person will always say so, yes the pessimist is right, we do not completely understand the statement until we go over the hill.

Time is the single most powerful element in all our lives, but it is slow or fast depending on how we feel. But everything comes to an end. My mom kept saying this: "its never always night, days and night alternate", it used to a trite and useless statement to me for a long time, until the day really dawned, the most beautiful day.

I really do not want to write a boring and long blog giving sermons on life, but i certainly wanted to pass this message to all those who are struggling, in a situation without hope and dull, that this too shall pass. It will. Just hang on!!!!!!

12. A Glimpse of 'the' Jigsaw...

2006-07-26T01:29:00.001+05:30

I saw it for a brief moment. A very short time. Perhaps lesser than the blinking time of the eye....and then, it was gone....whoosh!!! It vanished. I wonder when I shall see it again. I keep recollecting what I saw and try to reconstruct it, but somehow, it hardly looks like what I saw........

You may be wondering what I saw? What I saw was very personal. But you may see one too, relevant to you....The Jigsaw. The million pieces which make it...."Life". Perhaps, if you have read my earlier posts, you may realise my posts tend to have a dose of philosophy. Pondering over and over again many times, I realised, life is a jigsaw. I know there are many analogies which have been put forth for life, but this is different, because I saw it that way.

This is not the normal jigsaw puzzle that we have played with since childhood. The real picture is not known to us in this. The number of pieces are...like I mentioned earlier,......a million. All the people, near and close, enemies, traitors, events, accidents, deja vus, success and failure all are parts of the puzzle. We never seem to know why things happen and what do they mean.

But, the reason I write this post is not to explain about the Jigsaw puzzle, its about the glimpse I had of the real picture. All of us pretty much blindly follow our daily chores and not tend to think too deeply in to whats happening. But it happens to us, a moment of clarity amidst confusion and mayhem, when we suddenly understand why everything happened, why certain people came in to our lives, and went out of it. "Everything happens for a reason", the cliche....is true...but not everyone realises why. Now coming back to the glimpse. I saw it only for a brief moment, but it goes away, no matter how hard i think and recollect I am not able to think what I saw. The moment of clarity is gone. But it leaves a soothing feeling behind, which makes you happy....it made me happy too.....a bliss!!!

Meditation is very underestimated. Very few people practice it. But mental peace and calmness is an essential ingredient of life. In a busy, fast paced, result oriented life of today, spending time to pray, meditate and think calmly seem like a waste of time. But, finally, I am sure, all the other busy and important things arent as important as this. Somewhere down the line when all of us search frantically for our "picture" of the jigsaw, we shall know, the answer lies, hidden, in the back of the mind....and it wont come out until it is silent outside.......

11. Chaos !!!!!

2006-07-08T02:11:00.001+05:30

This post comes from inside my brain. It has no morals or lessons attached to it.

The brain is an amazing source. It can think, memorise and do such wonderful and nasty things that its power is not percieveable. But it gets confused now and then. My brain is, in simple words..."confused".

The number of emotions, thoughts and feelings in mind are so many and so different, that I cannot write, say or express them in blog or in person. Usually I do not blog my mental picture, but here I am doing it. Perhaps because I really want to capture this frame of my mind for future, so that I can look at it and smile later. Every now and then, we all get confused and perplexed, but for me, this is perhaps the peak. I have never felt so many things at the same time before.

Positive : Yes, I can do it. The future looks good, so many things to look forward to. Cross this barrier and you are through.

Negative : Every thing in this world is against me. All the worst things have happened to me. I have screwed up my life. God, why did you do this to me?

Sentimental : I should have never said that. I really dont think I want this moment to go away. I cannot ever dream of a life without that. My watch stopped working, I dont know how I am going to live without it. It is the only watch which I used for all the exams in my life.

Nostalgic : I wish those college days could come back. I wish the tension-free school life can return. I wish I can go back to the days, when my mom used to bring food in plate to me three times a day.

Angry : I would break his head if I get a chance. Damn!! this is so bad. Well to be frank, anger produces actions more than words......

Lazy : I dont want to get up ever. I wish I could sleep for 2 more hours. I dont want to go to work, or school or even cook.

Energetic : Come on, get up and dance all of you. Whats wrong.....!!!!

Calm : shhhh....dont talk.....let me enjoy the silence. Gosh, why does that fan have to make so much sound!!!

Relegious : Bhaja Govindam!!!, Vakara Thunda, Hanuman chalisa......

Hungry : I want to eat cheese fries, mutter paneer, mysore pakku, lemon rice, aalo paratha....

Well, perhaps the number of emotions I feel are, believe me, many many more. Its nothing different or strange. But what is unnerving to me, is that, I am feeling them all in the same day nowadays. It is too much to take. I wont blame it on the age. Perhaps the factors- pressure, atmosphere, uncertainity of future, lack of support and fear of lonliness have brought about so many things in my mind.

When I began my thesis, some time back, I wrote a post, it was on the lighter side and funny (http://sdilip.blogspot.com/2006/02/3a-phenomenon-called-thesis.html), but situations arent always funny are they? They are like this now. I wonder how many people felt, feel or will feel this way....maybe everyone...maybe no one.......

10. A Complaint to God....

2006-06-16T05:19:00.001+05:30

Dear God,

I guess you may not be expecting this letter. But nevertheless, I had to write this to you. I dont know if others have asked you this, but, what I write is what i feel strongly and decided to put it in words and let you know that you have not been fair.

I am not pretty, I have scales on my body. People hate the sight of me. I dont have legs, I dont have hands. I commute to all places on my stomach, wriggling,slithering. Its a tough life. All other forms of life have legs or atleast better features than me. Why me? Why did you single out me to suffer the humiliation and pain. I am by no means likeable. People jump, shriek when they see me. I am rarely a pet. I have to swallow my food. I dont like my life. Its not nice. There are many similarities amongst all other forms of life. Did you hate me a lot, why did you give me this form? Snake, what a name..ha...it is used as a negative influence in all forms. Even J.K Rowling made a symbol of Lord Voldermort, the symbol of evil. I cannot hear....Sight is perhaps the only good sense I have.

Well, I am proud that I am poisioness, but what is the use? Its only used to scare people away. I relly detest this living.I want you to tell me WHY was I supposed to be like this? I wish I was able to walk, run and move majestically instead of being sneaky. And to top it all, I look simply horrible. Wierd colors, scary looking designs, I just look straight out of a horror movie...

I wish, I was never created........and I will never be happy with you for doing this to me....

Yours Sincerely,
Snake aka Serpent

Sometimes, strange things happen. Yes, like this letter. Though the letter was not the type a real snake would type. The complaints nevertheless were heartfelt by this poor snake. The letter did reach god. There was some confusion amongst gods, as to whether a reply was due to the snake or not. Lord Shankar (Shivan) decided he would take upon him the task to reply to the snake. Following which, he wrote the letter and delivered outside the snake's pit. The snake was happy to find the reply. Here it is.......

Dearest Nagaraj,

I was happy to recieve the letter from you but sad to know that you were not happy. Perhaps you have not viewed things in the right perspective. You saw yourself very narrow mindedly. You are one of the most majestic creatures. The fact that you do not have feet and hands like other creatures is your uniquness. You are the only possible creature which can coil and be cozy. The designs on your body are perhaps the latest in fashion. The wonderful colors which make up your body are envied by a lot of creatures.

When you lift your head up and look piercingly at anybody, people rever you. The movement that you possess, lateral undulation is the most complicated, difficult and stylish moves possible, and you do it effortlessly. Humans are vainful. They do not realize that you are harmless until they instigate you. Depiction of evil is just a mistake. "Evil" is a trait which you posses if your thoughts or actions lead to suffering,misery, pain or sadness to yourself or others. "Human" is perhaps the most evil creature because, he is responsible for his actions. He has more power to think. To perform a deed which is wrong despite knowing it is wrong is "evil", and no one is more evil in this respect than human. You are harmless. It is foolishness on his part to depict evil through you in fiction, when it is him who is the most evil.

And let me tell you a very important thing. You, are extremely dear to me. You do not realize your importance. I did not give you hands or legs so that you can always be beside me, coiled around my own neck. What better place could I have given to you? Had you got hands or legs, you would not have been able to coil yourself around my neck. You are my symbol, not evil's. Be proud and keep smiling.

Take care,
with you always,
Shiva.

Perhaps, all of us have some meaning and reason for our existence and forms. It is left to us to understand why we are born in the specific form, place, or surroundings. Life is a puzzle, mystery left by god for us to solve and find the true meaning of our existence.

9. Terror !!!

2006-05-28T00:46:00.001+05:30

The following story is fictitious and resembles no person living or dead.

HEADLINES, JUNE 23rd, The Times of India: Blasts rock Homes of Ministers in Delhi, Bihar, Tamil nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat. Several Ministers feared dead.

In a unforeseen turn of events, 8 blasts rocked the houses of the chief ministers of Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat and the chief ministers have been feared dead. The education minister, home minister and external affairs ministers have also been feared dead in the separate incidents of bomb explosion which occurred within a gap of 1 hour in all the places.
Similar bombs exploded in the near the houses of ministers in Tamil Nadu and Delhi, but the ministers were away from home thereby escaping the fatal explosion. The involvement of some foreign terrorist agency is suspected and the police and along with CBI are working to find the group involved in these blast. The series of blasts started when…..

CBI Headquarters , Delhi, 23rd June : The chief commissioner of police, the commander of armed forces along with the head of the CBI held a meeting to dicuss the blasts. Chief commissioner Rathod couldn’t hide his frustration, “ 8 bloody blasts within 1 day and no clue of who the hell is responsible for this? We are all going to be sacked for this!!!”. “ Lets just pin it on al-Qaeda or some other terrorist organization, make a few arrests on random and say we have got a lead!!!” suggested the secretary of CBI. “who ever caused the blasts was very clever, but I don’t see any reason why he should do it!!” said the head of CBI.

The atmosphere was glum, everybody tense. The police and the investigation squad were searching the location of the blasts in all places frantically in the hope of some evidence. A nation-wide emergency was declared by the president. A nationwide Bandh was also declared. Schools and other public institutions were closed for a week. Work had to be done fast to find out who was responsible.

Undisclosed location, June 24th, 7:00am: the phone rang at last. He picked up the phone, “yes, I saw the news, I am happy with all the results; the rest of the 20 million bucks will be wired to you. Keep up the good work and stay in hiding. Remember, 5 more blasts remain. After which your 50 million will be wired. Best of luck” the phone hung up.

Undisclosed location, June 25th, 6:30 pm: “Sir! We have found some crucial evidence as to who might have caused the blasts. Come, have a look” yelled the senior official of CBI. The head of CBI, Mr Das, was in no mood for more phony clues, he just grumbled something in his mouth.
But indeed valuable progress had been made. One of the bombs had been recovered; it was a platinum bomb, the latest technology, costed millions, simple, quiet, small and capable of exploding 50 acres of land. The terrorist agency was powerful and rich. Also found along with the bomb was a critical clue....

Chambal Ghats, Uttar Pradesh, June 26th, 3:46am : The sniffer dogs sniffed madly, barking , running faster. Lieutenant Commando Ranvir knew, they were very near to the location. Suddenly he paused, he stopped all his commandos and dogs and made a phone call. He had seen the lights in a small tent far away. “ All units, we need back up here, this might be dangerous!!”.

Undisclosed Prison, Madhya Pradesh, June 30th: “ Its no use, sir”, panted the commando. We have tortured them for past 3 days and they wont say a word. Sweat poured down the chief’s forehead. We have to do something. The pressure is increasing from above. We have checked all their belonging, didnt you find any leads yet?

CBI head quarters, New Delhi, July 2nd, 2:39 am: “Our boys have done it sir!!” yelped Khan with joy, “ the number we found from their custody was a bank account number. Our guys are working on it sir, we have narrowed it down to 5 banks. We shall soon know which account it was from and who depositing money in it.” The head of CBI gave a faint smile. He knew the turmoil will be over soon. The terrorist organization will be identified. But still the danger had not subsided. They had to apprehend the group. But the protocol and methodology will be difficult.
The phone rang, the head picked up the phone within 2 rings, “ Das here, whats the update? “. There was a brief message from the other end and Head of CBI Das replaced the receiver and smiled. “Bank of America” he said.

Twin cities, Minessota, USA, July 2nd 8 pm : The FBI barged in to his house. He had just got out of his swimming pool. A silent arrest was made. He made no attempts to run. He had a wry smile on his face.

HEADLINES, The Wall Street journal, and The Times of India: In an unexpected and shocking development, the CEO of one of the top multi national companies “Merivon”, Mr Desai has been arrested for acts of terrorism on various places in India. He has been kept in custody and will be deported to India where he will be tried for. The government of India has expressed relief and appreciation for the assistance provided by the federal government in apprehending the criminal.

Excerpt, interview with Mr Desai, CEO, Merivon and accused for blasts in India.

Interviewer : “ Sir, you have been a successful entrepreneur and visionary for the last 2 decades in the USA as well as in India, what prompted you to commit such a heinous act of terrorism in your own motherland? You owe us an explanation before you are executed next week”

Mr Desai’s answer :
“I was brought up in India. I cannot begin to explain the problems i faced in my childhood because of the various stupid government policies. I respect out country a lot but the only thing I hate about it is Corruption. To some extent I was inspired by the movie “Indian”. To remove corruption from the roots, we have to make a radical change. Movies like Rang de Basanti, Anniyan have also had similar ideas. I was sick of all the corruption in India. Though I am was in a comfortable post in Merivon, but I too was the victim of bad crimes in India including my family who suffered at the hands of corrupt officials.
I love my work and I have lots of money in shares. I knew where to invest. “In killing.” I wanted to kill corruption. From the higher level to the lowest. And I know I have made a beginning. More blasts will follow, but you can do nothing about it. As long as there is corruption, blasts will continue. I knew I could use my money power for eradicating the phenomenon called corruption. Have you heard the saying, “ evil kills itself”, I used that, I used the corruption in India to gain access in to the homes of the ministers.
India has to rise and shine and it will. Jai Hind!!”
Interviewer : Though your thoughts of removing corruption were wise, but the method you employed was nonetheless wrong. As much as you hate corruption, there are many sincere officers in India, who work for their country, because of whom you are here today Mr Desai. They have worked day and night last 2 weeks to find you and capture you, Don’t underestimate the power of this country Mr. Desai”.

Mr Desai : “ I am glad I was caught, I appreciate those officers for their sincerity!”

8. Creators

2006-05-20T07:43:00.001+05:30

These species are very very rare. They exist around us, but we rarely appreciate and recognize them. Yes, I am talking about creators. Who are creators and what am I talking about? Well, I came about writing this post because I am often in awe of various people like Dan Brown, JK Rowling etc.

Creativity, is orginality in thought or action which provokes, kindles and nurtures thoughts in the minds of a large population. In the early days, Great scientists discovered and proposed theories which are to shape todays world. Albert Einstein, Sir Issac Newton and the plethora of scientists who make our life today as it is, were also simple humans like us, but with a diffrent frame of mind, different perpective. They were able to create, discover and propose ideas which were initially shunned but gradually accepeted and appreciated by almost the whole world. That is the reason why they live on...even today as legends. I am not talking only about science, even people like Stalin, Da Vinci, Arthur Conan Doyle, the list of names is enormous and I am only mentioning a few randomly to try to show the different fields there exist for creativity.

These great pioneers have left an indelible mark on the world, on us, forvever, thorough their ideas and creativity. Yes, yes we all know about these things. But again I ask,(on behalf of you), what am I talking about? Well, what got me in to thinking in all this is the movie Da Vinci Code. I am not here to comment about the movie, you can judge it youselves.

I was surprised at the craze and enthusiasm the movie had created. In reality it was because of the novel. I was left wondering how can one person (Dan Brown) can create movement,excitement, initaite discussions and arguements about what he percieved. He is a "creator".

Any person capable of influencing the masses and people to such an extent according to me is a creator, may it be for the worse or better. J.K Rowling's creation of the fantasy world of Harry Potter achieved such fan following, that you can only wonder, how the old lady conjured the whole scenario in her mind. She is a "creator". Yes, I know these are literary people. But what I mean is, there do exist, people, even today capable of moving, and capturing the imagination of the world.
Amazing discoveries are not tangible nowadays. No one seems to be coming up with D=Pc cube( imaginary) or equations which influence the world. But there do exist scientists even today who are devising unimaginable theories and concepts in their mind. It is not as tangible as the yesteryears.

One of my previous posts talked about AR Rahman, who has achieved such great laurels in music. He is a "creator". "Creators" exist even in the present world much like the ones in the past. Their inventions, thoughts and ideas may not affect the way we live. But they do affect us in some way or the other. The creators are people who have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to their passion, and ideas. But the irony is, they exist all around us. In fact the talented and creative people in India are so many, but unfortunately, they dont have the financial backing or atmosphere to infleunce the people around them.
"Creators" are everywhere. Maybe even in you. But alas, it is not recognised. Uniqueness is a gift god created and left to explore by man. Those who did are legends and those who dont are mortals like me who write blogs.

P.S : The two bold statements in the post are contradictory, yet true.

The chain story....

2006-05-11T00:03:00.001+05:30

continued from here ....

His home wasn't far away, just a few more minutes and he would be home. It had been a tiring day, but he was still full of energy. He knew when he reaches home, all his tiredness would be gone. The sun was setting down in to the horizon.

The old man waited for a minute to admire the setting sun. It too looked tired and wanting to go away. But just like him, it spread a wonderful light around, the bluish skies. He paused, smiled. His wrinkles were visible now, more so because he was smiling. Twenty years, he had waited for this day. All the planning, efforts and dedication was going to be rewarded today. He only wished his beloved wife was still with him. He suddenly felt lonely without her company beside him. She had been a great source of support and inspiration. But alas she would not be beside him to witness their day of truimph. But she was always there in his heart.

The path was still not clean, dirty mud, and sharp stones lay around here and there. A rattlesnake slithered past in front of him. Anybody else would have jumped back a few steps and shrieked but not him. He had bigger things in mind than a small snake. Afterall, they were a part of nature too.
He could almost see his house now. The chimney stood tall amongst the green trees all around. He checked his pockets. Yes, the purse was intact. He checked his watch. 6:57pm. It had taken him 3 mintues lesser than it usually took to reach. The small idol of lord Ganesha propped against the old banyan tree seemed to smile at him. He bowed, said a silent prayer and thanks to the elephant god and opened the big iron gates to his house- "the vasanth grah". He had reached his house.

To be continued here...

7. I am Powerful, or am I?

2006-04-23T00:27:00.001+05:30

The post is as vague as the title. The discussion in it is very subtle and confusing, but I hope it makes some sense in some way for different people.

As a brief introduction behind the post, I would like to say a few things as to why I started writing this. As a kid and as I grew up, a strange thought, a strange feeling gripped me. It used to be there only for a few seconds and then it vanished. Sounds strange like a fantasy. But well, It is perhaps not that weird. I am not sure how many people can relate with this. But first after this murky introduction, let me try to put in words, a thought......

Everyday, I wake up do my daily chores, smile, laugh, enjoy, feel sad ( well not everyday), and go through millions of emotions and feelings. My life, my destiny, my luck are all mine. This means, what I am experiencing is only limited to me. But amongst these emotions and feelings which are mine, there is a split second moment when I feel, "I" am just a soul trapped in this body. Had "I", which is still an entity been in place of anybody else, how would "I" be? Will i react and respond the same way. The person, entity, or existence of a beiing is in reality of the "soul". Thus, the me being which I am, I feel, I can be some one else too. In other words, is me, the thoughts, feelings and emotions a combined entity called soul, trapped inside the body which is percieved to the world as "Dilip".

Can I control the world, if it I wasnt inside the body, but an entity existing outside the realm of the mortals called "humans". Put in a crude form, can I be "GOD"? The power to enter any person and control their behavior. Perhaps over the centuries, rulers and people in powerful positions have seeked to obtain the unreachable.."ulitmate power" and failed. Time and again man has been reminded that, there is nothing in the hands of mortals like us. Man has fanticized the thought again and again thereby creating superheros like Superman and Batman. But well, all that is imagination. But coming back to the question which comes back to me time and again. " Can I be someone else if not me ?" afterall, i am just a person, like many other like........a drop water in an ocean. What defines, sustains and terminates my existence. In day to day life, we are so busy, that we dont think of such wierd/diffrent things, but well, the thought comes to me now and then.

On a completely diffrent note, but still sustaining the conversation, I would like to share something that i realised. The power of the self as an individual, is underestimated a lot. We can achieve literally anything we want. It is all in our mind, our subconscious mind. Winninng from a hopeless situation, surviving from a tough ordeal, recovering from a deadly disease, and achieveing other such miracles are all the truimph of the mind, and soul of an individual. I came to realize that under any situation, it is upto us to decide, how we want out lives to go.
"There is a choice to make in our lives......the easy way and the right way..." . The soul or the entity which I have been talking about, well, It is very powerful, if you want it to be.

I realise that the thoughts and idea that I wanted to put through werent very clear, in fact, it is contradicting and hazy. But I thought, I will publish it just as well, to take it off my mind. And finally, I would like to end by saying that I like all of us, am a strong believer in god,......the superpower who devises, controls and directs all of us.....for our own good. Thank you god.......

6. a diffrent perspective...

2006-03-14T22:25:00.002+05:30

The following post is purely fictional, and does not bear any resemblance to any person living or dead.

He was liked by everybody. A smart,handsome guy with a lot of ego perhaps. Jack Sundaram was the hero. He lived with his uncle, as his parents did not care about him.Having a group of 10 close friends was not easy. Politics cropped up amongst them, now and then, but were sorted out amicably.

Our trip to Canoe valley, Spring Meadows was a planned one.Jack's uncle's hilltop cottage was a scenic place. We never imagined we could go to such a wonderful place for a holiday. Sameer, Ricky, Vinod, Shaam, Rohan, Subbu, PK , Hans and me went over to his cottage. Playing cards,watching movies, playing cricket on the balcony of the cottage was fun. Every time a ball was hit hard, it used to fall in to the waters below. Jack was aware of this and had kept dozen of ball stored for us to play.

Food was perhaps the only thing that was not spectacular. Canned stuff which we microwaved, or cooked for ourselves. Ricky was an awesome painter, he always used to walk down the valley and painted beautiful pictures of the waterfalls, valley and the cottage. Shaam and Jack never got along well. There wasnt a day when they didnt fight. Vinod was my roomate, he always snored all night.Hans and PK always drank more than needed. In all, it was satisfying trip until the 9th day. The balcony wood was not considered safe any more, Constant rain had made it weak. So we all decided against playing cricket there any more. But it didnt stop us from enjoying the wonderful scenery from the balcony, carefully, making sure that we didnt lean on the ledge. It was Thursday night. All of us watched "omen", a horror movie appropriate for the spooky night which surrounded us. Making fun and scaring each other we all went to our rooms, wondering who will be killed tonight. Little did we know, that the next day morning, would be a day, we would never forget. Jack Sundaram had died. He had gone to the balcony as he did every night to talk to Dolly his girlfriend on phone.

He had leaned a bit too much on the parapet and it crumbled under his weight. Stocky and muscular, he tried to hang on the ledge even after it broke, but he feel deep in to the gorge. His body was recovered, but it was not a sight to be seen. Police did its share of investigation. I was shocked to the core. Couldn't speak a word the whole day. I just keep muttering,"this is not true". Sameer was a big comfort, he knew I was the weakest in the group, and was beside me the whole day. Vinod kept mum throughout the day, moody and silent. Shaam did not seem very upset, but he never liked Jack much.

All of us left for home the next day. But it was a week later when news spread that Jack death was not an accident but a murder. Some one had pushed him from the ledge. Fear shot in to all of us. We knew it was one of us. I was scared to the core.

It was a cold ,dark place. I was sitting in the corner of the room. Beautiful horses slept peacefully in their stable. It was cold but I was sweating, the sweat mixed with my tears and made me feel horrible. I should not have done that. But what could I do. He had ruined my life,wasted 1 yr of my life, how much humiliation I had suffered because of him. Slapping and thrashing a junior was not a big thing, but he complained to the principal and got me suspended. I had to waste an year sitting at home. Apologise in front of the whole college. I was made to stand on stage and humiliated. People smirked and laughed at me. I knew I couldnt do anything. Then I knew, I had to get back at him. I acted as though I was repenting, befriended the guy who spoilt my life. 1 yr of being with him without him knowing that I nursed a grudge against him was not easy.

I "scarred" my skin in anger so many times, but I was patient. I decided this trip had to be it. I knew Jack spoke on Phone long after evreyone went to sleep. I had to take the chance. I woke up and went to him. I wanted him to know how much he hurt me. I told him he had ruined my 1 yr and then I pushed. He was heavier than i expected and clever too. He hung to the ledge, but before he could call out , I stamped on the ledge and let it fall. I thought I had the job well covered. But when I went back to bed, I knew Vinod was awake. He was not snoring.
I knew he suspected me. Now things had changed, how did I expect the police to not find out, I didnt know. Vinod was the only one who could point me out. Noone else knew of my past with Jack. The horses were still sleeping peacefully and so was Vinod in his house. Unaware that I was in his father's horse stable. I had to kill him before tomorrow morning, The knife in my hand gleamed in the moonshine. I called Vinod and asked him to come out to talk to me as I was scared. He said he would come taking the pretext that he wanted fresh air. He was going to come, and I was waiting......

I am in jail now. Vinod was clever enough to call the police with him. I was not sure if he knew i killed Jack, but in fact he has known all along and did not want to spoil my life. But he realised I was upto no good.

Jack wasted my 1 yr, but Vinod wasted my life. Wait till I get out and kill him!!

MORAL : SOME PEOPLE NEVER UNDERSTAND.........

5.Phir bhi dil hai hindustani...

2006-03-08T11:26:00.001+05:30

The comments and ideas in the following post are meant for fun and not to be taken seriously. But comments are welcome. The inclination towards south India is a weakness of the author, considering his background. Discretion advised.

In the past two decades, India has shown tremendous advancements in the field of fashion, sports, entertainement, cinema, medicine and so on. To enlist and expand on its achievements is too big a task. Sachin,Big B, Arundati, Rohit Bal, AR Rahman, Sania Mirza, the list of Indian greats is awesome. But if u are imagining this post is about the achievements and glory India has brought about, I am sorry to dissapoint you. You may stop reading this and continue to do what you were doing before reading this. Because this post is a tribute to appreciate the unsung, subtle, unexplained heros of India who are compete with the very best in the world.

Beginning with music, I would like to emphasize the importance and significance of music greats like anu malik and then isai thendal(honey music breeze) deva have added to the world. Their foot tapping and head shaking music have enthralled one and all. "Ganna" an amazing genre of music was added to the world of music by none other than honey music breeze. As we listen and appreciate in awe to the original scores composed by these greats we can only hope bryan adams and britney spears can learn a thing or two from them.

And what about movies, "matrix" an sci-fi super hit was inspired by the stunts of none other than south indian superstar "Vijaykanth" who flew, sliced,smiled, and conquered the hearts of countless people. The flying sequences, and mid air fights till this day remain a tribute to our very own captian aka vijay kanth.

Style has no comparison, Ramaraj, who flaunted colorful attire which dazzled peoples eyes with brightness, Senthil whose trade mark underpants were a sensation, Raj kiran and Napolean whose underwear revealing dhotis still haunt the superstars of the west. Tom Cruise needs to recheck his wardrobe to capture the imagination of masses while our very own champions are there.

Superheros and comics are not far behind. Superman and spiderman were recently seeing meeting up Shaktiman to get tips on battling villains of the world. Bill Gates himself was inspired to make faster computers from chacha chaudary the remarkable character whose brain works faster than a computer.

Baseball,football and cricket are not Indian games. They originated from diffrent countires. Indian dominance in olympics is yet to be seen because of refusal by other countries to participate in games originated by us. Hand cricket, kabaddi, kho-kho, gilli danda are yet to get official acceptance by the olympics committee. It wont be far before we amass Gold medals in these events only to put US and China to shame.

Jokes apart, it wont be far when you will find the craze of the world shifting. The number of tourists visiting India have increased manifolds. Hindu gods are gaining more recognition. It wont be long when you will wlk up to Wendys and say "a sambar vada combo" and " a chilled rasam", Cameron Diaz will go to oscars wearing a salwar kameez, Pierce Brosnan will say "Palmolive ka jawab nahin", car models will be called "Honda Takkar", Friends serial will be called "dosti" and University of Cincinnati will change its mascot to "ganeshji". Would you like to live in a place like that? How I wish I could ;)

P.S : People who dont believe me check out this link to get some idea of what I am talking about. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2881728288815246973

4.a question of talent..

2006-02-24T08:37:00.002+05:30

The reason why I wanted to write this blog was because I wanted to think and ponder and think again as to how people manage to create music? Frankly, I am big fan of tamil music. A.R Rehman, Harris Jeyaraj, are the contemporary greats according to me. Ofcourse I have enjoyed music from yerster years immensly too.

So while I sit listening to the songs, singing along with them in bathroom, kitchen, classroom, lab, road, I imagine how it would be if I were to compose a song. So what do I do? Start humming an "original" tune, and what comes out. A parody of all the songs I know. You wouldnt want to hear it, you would rather prefer to be a deaf person. Really, I cannot drive home how difficult it is to even able to generate a line of music, forget a stanza. I cannot even start to tell you how much effect music and songs have in my life. Songs have an amazing capability to revive memories, make you sleep, brighten your mood, give inspiration.

A small story will emphasize the fact furthur. On a trip to the Mammoth caves in Kentucky, a cave guide told me an anecdote about a man, an enthusiastic photographer, who was left behind in cave tour and spent a whole night in complete darkness. The person, luckily survived as he was found the next day, almost on the verge of insanity. And when asked,what was the most horrible thing about being left alone in the cave, the young man was quick to reply "silence". He had spent the whole night singing all songs he had ever known.

Given a chance to be alone, songs would be my best companion. Musing over all this, I wondered how do the music directors create music, the right blend of instruments, notes, pitch,bass,treble, and the most important of all "raagam"(excuse me in case u feel this is the same as notes). People who have learned music(classical) may have a diffrent view and may find creating music a bit tangible, but as a common music listener, I can only ponder in awe as to how these artists can compose such melodies tunes.And I also wonder if the music directors enjoy the music they create as much as we listeners? Coz if they dont, I wouldnt like to be a composer in my next birth.

The lack of talent to create music has also been a cause of worry to me and my family as we(my mom dad brother and me) dont have a family song, which we can sing in case we get lost in a mela("fair"). Do you have one..;)

3.a phenomenon called thesis

2006-02-18T07:10:00.001+05:30

It comes once in a graduate student's life. sometimes it evades people who are studying in universities other than cincinnati. but once it comes..it takes a long time to let go of people....
the thesis fever has caught me too of late...

there is something wonderful about thesis which makes me watch the most crappiest of movies, play stupid games on computer, sleep longer, try beard styles,go shopping, eat more, sleep again, even clean my room and shelf. When ever my mom enquires the status of my thesis, I find my self saying.." u know ma what happened yesterday"..and telling a story to steer away from the question. When I meet my advisor I talk about the weather,sports, stock index, life and walk out sneering that I didnt talk about thesis.(please dont forward this to my advisor!!).It sure is a phenomenon. It is at this stage that i am experiencing it I have no clue how others must have felt, but i guess they would have felt the same too.

there are two kind of people who combat this. Take it as a way of life and do a Phd.....whew...i cant believe these super heros really can do this for 2 or 3 years. 6 months is about a recommended time for a masters student complete it. I guess everybody manages to do it somehow but keep wondering how it will finish until 5 and three-quarters of the six months. And in my second year i observe how the thesis craze has caught up with people. There is the much feared question which makes me dumb as soon as it is asked....." how much have u completed your thesis?" I ask the person "whats that on ur jacket?". I hate questioning about thesis to other but have invariably asked whomever i met, coz it is revenge time. After all everybody should feel uncomfortable some time or the other...hehe

I know many many people wont share these thoughts with me bcos....there are people who say.." i like research....it gives a sense of satisfaction"...my god....like research..."after we have come here to study"....yaaaaa.....i dont know....my mind is confused. But this is a confusing time...when you start doing the thesis ..this is how it feels...i say to myself...please say it does....

Those of you who feel hardwork,concentration and dedication is the key to a successful thesis, ignore this post..oops i wrote this too late...but hey....is there a way....i mean...a shortcut to finish it fast ;-) ?

2.The constant worry....

2006-02-10T00:28:00.002+05:30

This is the second post in the series of posts which will talk about life in general. And believe me this is not the last. But for the time being yes this should wrap up the sentimental stuff. But then what i write here is something to think about....the constant worry...
Some how at each stage of our life ever since we knew to analyse things and situations, we always seem to have something to worry about. This may not be the same with everybody but the fact is there is something, some point and some worry which constantly remains, deep in our minds, bothering us. Some of us choose to think about it all the time resulting in a worried,tensed behaviour extracting comments from people like "he is a tensed soul", "arre use chod...woh tho hameeshasse hi aisa hai". While some of us choose to avoid it by not htinking about it. But there exist another kind who smile at it and say" ya..its part of life".

How do we choose which one we want to be. To those who are wondering what worries am I talking about, look around you. Academics, household,parents,friends,finance,health and may be some other aspect in life. Though not necessarily life threatening the cause of worry could be enought to bother you and maybe make you feel low. I thought about myself and asked , why is it that there has to be something that has to bother us all the time, why not have a happy life with no troubles like the world Pandora lived in before she opened her box of troubles?

I guess it is not in my hands to answers such life queries but here is a small attempt. We all have seen various definitions for "life" like it is a sine wave..we always have ups and downs. Yup to a great extent it is true. Happiness can never be valued without knowing what sadness or misery is. God has his own way of showing us and taking us on a roller coaster ride. even when he showers us with happiness he does leave a small bother in our minds about some arbitrary thing, like a small mole planted on baby's face so that he dosent get "the eye"(kannu padarthu) of the world. Manouevering through tough times, truimphing through difficulites and breaking high barriers is what life is all about.
Another very common misconception with a lot of people is, why do i always have to face troubles, why cant my life be like some "mr ideal". Well the truth is "mr ideal" too has his own share of worries and troubles. He choosese to either smile his way thourgh them or hide them. Nobody is born with a ever happy mind or a life which dosent give them troubles. A rich man may have his health worries, a poor man may have his financial worries, a healthy intelligent and financially stable person may have his romantic failures, the list never ends.
So what do we do, should we just keep worrying, let our hairs turn grey, and be sad all the time? That now would be the most foolish thing to do. Anguish, jealousy, hatred,sadness,misery,wrath and all the negative things will always keep coming across in our lives wheather we want it or not. But how we handle them is a quality of our own. Let trouble bother you and it will bother you no ends. Combat it with an attitude, think of all the good things that have happened to you, of all the good friends,relatives and wonderful parents that you have and then look at the problem, you will find yourself smiling at your problem with a "pooo" or shall we say "cha".

So next time when you find yourself low, worrying about something, remember how capable,smart,cool and successful you are and how you have come across all the previous barriers in your life and think with a level head..."so what". Keep smiling and keep everybody smiling around you. troubles come and go, dont make them your companion.

P.S : no more blogs about life and heavy stuff for a while....until something "worrys" me...:-)

1.the most important thing in life....

2006-01-22T01:31:00.001+05:30

I know when you read the title of this post, you may feel it is a cliche. But well it took me a long time but I found the most important thing in my life only now. In fact wanting to write what i feel is what has made me start writing a blog.
Let me tell you a bit about how i came about writing this post. Well I have just returned to Cincinnati from my home in India and well in short I am homesick. I wasnt homesick the first time around when i came to Cincinnati beacuse i was enthusiatic and excited to come to US. But now the "US" hangover is finished, I am no more in awe of the country or anything about it, result being I couldnt force myself to come back here. I presume everybody who visits home in between feels this way, but I felt it more than ever now. Well i guess it isnt tough to guess what the most important thing of my life is....yes it is my parents. My very own mom and dad. Ofcourse i want to add my brother in the list as well.
"Thavamai thavam irundu" a newly released tmail movie was somethign i wont lie...changed my perception. It made me realise how many sacrifices parents make for their children only to be left alone in their old age. I guess i am guilty of leaving them too. I began wondering if it was worth to spend all my life away from them in order to earn money or live a high tech life...i realised it was not worth. Maybe in times to come I will eventually go back to India and settle with my parents in my very own Delhi or maybe Chennai. But what will happen is for time to decide.
Sometimes we get so busy and involved in our own lives with classes,jobs,cooking and ll the day to day life that we never stop to think , what are we doing all this for? I decided to consciously dedicate more time to my family who love me more than anything for what i am. and i owe my beginning to my blog life to them. adios!!!