To be or not to be!!!

Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'...

2009-05-17T22:11:00.009+05:30

Of late my posts have been laments about one thing or the other.. oh wait, i have to check if its actually "of late" or whether it has always been one!. anyways here i am going to lament/whine again, after all if i cannot whine in my own blog then where?? although i am only an occasional whining/lamenting/cribbing sort of person in my daily life , i think i am making excellent progress in that department.

So things have not been great . I have not had any fun that counts as FUN in sometime , forgot the last time i got out from my place other than for work. My social life is null. I have no idea where all my friends have disappeared. that is other than the few i lost to holy matrimony , the other few i lost to the united stated of Amrika , the rest so called available are not so available these days . They are all busy with work, bf/gf , stuffs i do not know what. other day i felt like talking to someone and all i could think of was setting my FB status as " feels like talking..a pair of ears missing " but then decided not to go with it sighting unwanted attention. Also I have started ignoring fone calls :|

Weekends are a nice concept , and if you do not have to work on weekends its a blessing .So this weekend ( my work free weekend ) on Saturday i refused to leave my bed other than for the necessities and Sunday made plans with my friend which later she ditched me to go see her BF. since she only managed to see him only once in a week , i didn't throw any of my tantrums. Hence what i was left with was zero plans and also no backup plans. My roomie was going for a Hindi play somewhere and asked me to tag along but i refused for no apparent reason. To make things messier , i called home to a disturbed mom who has the knack of passing on disturbia.its infectious.. so altogether by Sunday afternoon i was in awfully bad sulky mood..

And then by late afternoon it rained, cooling not just the rising mercury in Bglr. I watched the rain through my window for sometime with Sufi music in the background . But being not the kind of person who enjoys rain sitting indoors , I was getting reckless..I have to be in it. so i quickly changed into some rain friendly clothes and slippers which later proved to be not so rain friendly , borrowed my roomies umbrella and ventured out into the rain. By that time the sky was dark with angry clouds and some occasional lighting and thunder.. all the shopfronts were packed with people waiting for the rain to mellow down .The roads were already mucky and the water had bought in all sort of filths to the pavements.And I just walked. The view was spectacular ..Trees swaying in response to the wind and music of the rain accentuated by thunder and lighting , sloppy couples getting cozy in busstops and autos , highly healed ladies looking serious and grave . i walked almost 2 Kms .. and by that time the rain has reduced to a drizzle and the sun was partially out. It all felt like momentary bliss to me , like natures way of telling to a live in the moment and savour it , or no matter how heavy the rain is , how dark the clouds are , the sun comes out eventually :) . Rain is therapeutic ! So since this was a perfect hot chocolate moment , I had to had to have one right there , but restrained from getting into a coffee place all drenched and muddy.Hmmm..

Maybe I should call home and ask my mom to get some rain herself , but yeah, she will not buy it.. For now, I am back to being happy and glad that i walked the walk. :)

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me!!

2009-05-02T02:22:00.003+05:30

the days of my life are turning into unimportant accidents...
the hours of my days into charaterless chaos....
all the minutes of my hours are turning into morale massacres..
the long seconds are disappearing with a tick tick sound...

The ICH

2009-04-24T00:40:00.011+05:30

Ok..I got a day off from work today after slogging continuously for 3 weeks at a stretch, Today was election day in Banglore. So me and my roommate decided to exercise our right to treat ourselves to some fun and good food .We headed to the Indian Coffee House in MGRoad . Spending 200 Rs on auto for masala dosa and coffee from ICH should get you the idea of the ICH fanatics we are . I always take credit for introducing her to the glorious ICH.ICH in MG road is a dingy smoky room in the middle of an array of other shops.we occasionally go there , when we need a change from the usual fancy restaurants . we reached there to see the place locked .Upon some enquiries found out that the place is closed down forever!!! My roomie ( disappointment has already clouded up her face ) wondered aloud " Why the hell did they do that??" . Well , now i found out from certain forums that they got a notice form the high court to close down the place and yeah , the usual hue and cry to save the place . I hope it stands the test of time.

ICH is an institution in itself , a modest place run by modest people serving modest food to modest and not so modest people, for modest prices! The waiters in ICH dressed in ill fitting once whitish uniforms with an elaborate tall hairpiece or sometimes with the Maharaja kind , spotting red belts gives you the first impression of the menu in store. The menu ranges from dosa items to cutlets to bread toast .ICH is a place where decor takes a backseat , its a place where people does not turn nasty if the orders are placed a second late and where nobody cares about the cheap wooden tables , wobbly chairs and stained tablecloths. The waiters do no look down on you if you just order a coffee and hang around for hours , and they would not judge you by the tip you leave.

As Tom Hanks says in You Got Mail “the whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self.” This is exactly what ICH is not . You only get coffee there , no frills nothing fancy.Only Coffee , NO confusion! . Its a place reputed to have cultured intellectuals , where people met up to discuss politics, thoughts and where idealisms brewed . As they say a lot did happen over a cup of coffee but not in ac rooms and on heavily cushioned couches.

Back home. theres two ICHs. One in the town and one close to home . We always frequented the one in town though . Its a dilapidated building , a house converted . A very faded green paint adores the walls . One foto of Indira Gandhi and under that a mammoth wooden table welcomes you . From the time i visited the place , theres two plastic containers on the table in front of the cashier who sits on a tall chair . One container has milk sweets and other has Cadburys. If ICHs has a frequent visitor award like airlines have for frequent flier , theres a fair chance that me and my brother would grab it . On usual days our order includes a masala dosa , a veg cutlet and coffee , which i think by now the waiters there know. On lavish days we would order another mutton omelet or a fruit salad . Fruits in the salad has more of bananas which have turned black by being in the cold storage and the cream is full of ice. The real fun is when all of us go there after a temple visit or just an outing . Mindless chatter and Masaladosa!

Its a place trapped in time where all the cigarettes people smoked all these years have clogged up the ceiling and sometimes that time happens it has to make way for the newbies, and we are left only with void if we happen to travel back in time.

Summertime!

2009-04-01T23:37:00.003+05:30

Summer is here .. and as the guy in the radio said so are cute girls in short skirts. Although i do not share his excitement on the topic, I have my own reasons to be happy about . Summer is not fun like it was 5 or 6 yrs ago , but I still feel elated when it is summertime , probably since I associate good times with it. All I get to see now which makes me realize its summer is the rising temperature in Bangalore,tensed kids studying at the backseat of their dad's bike on the way to the exam or with their eyes lost in books at the bus stop. On the other day ,I even saw a girl flipping through a hefty book in a mall while her parents were busy shopping ..

Back home though it was a completely different story ..Summer is when it rained mangoes at home , it still does . We would have mango juice, mango jam, mango pickle, mango curry with rice , sweet mango, sour mango , cut mangoes with vanilla ice cream....What Not! .As the day comes to a close we all kids smelled like mangoes .Then there was the much awaited summer holidays when all we ever did was play for hours in the blazing sun , climb trees , jump fences , cycle race in the colony and play carroms or watch horror movies in the night . It was during one summer I had my first crush :D .He was my neighbor's cousin who was visiting and who came to play cricket with us. The crush stayed for exactly one summer until he knocked the front tooth out of our wicketkeeper ( :P ).Again one of the major attractions of summer was the festival in April . This was the time when all the kids made some serious pocket money , all later well spent on badminton balls or ice mithai.

Hmm...I think I am one of those people who is still stuck in the past and craving to be blessed with the same simplicity of childhood.. *Sigh*!

Now when I relive all this to my little cousin sister with some sort of a ridiculous grandmom getup , she raises an eyebrow , lectures me about the zillion bacteria in the mud ,the UV rays from the sun or the pleasure of watching POGO . But I tell you she aint having no fun!!

Down with Oscar fever

2009-03-11T00:01:00.004+05:30

I am done with watching most of the Oscar line up for good movies this year..
my half a penny worth of thoughts on the movies goes this way :::

The reader - good movie , great acting. Kate Winslet proved again she knows her craft inside out .I liked the kid too who played the Kid, Micheal .

Benjamin Button - worth "a" watch is a safe bet. I guess the movies intention was to make you feel sorry for the male protagonist , but ended up making u feel bad about Blanchett's character.

Slumdog M - did not deserve the Oscar . all the kids were terrific, very slummy( just coined it) with their demeanor, especially younger Jamaal although Dev Patel did not look the slightest of a slum boy.

Milk - adored Sean Penn. should have won the Oscar hands down.

Celebrating Women's day??Who are they kidding?

2009-03-10T10:05:00.009+05:30

World celebrated women's day a couple of days back.As usual nothing grandeur about the celebration. Although it made me wonder how many women might have got raped on the day, how many might have got beaten up by their husband , how many girl children were killed or how many women delivered their baby on the cold cement floors of the hospital unattended by hospital staffs since their pocket was empty . Or did they get a relaxation for that one day just because the world celebrated their existence , were they spared of the atrocities they face everyday, did it bring a smile on their faces or were they run down and stripped off in the name of culture for celebrating the day. But I know all of my wishful thinking is futile if i can draw a conclusion from the simple fact that my mailbox was not flooded with women's day wishes barring some from my women friends, none from my male friends unlike other more glamorous days like the valentines day. The world sure has not waken up to celebrating women's day .

I only have to look in and around my family to know that women of today live in different worlds.There are women who enjoy the highest benefits of the society ,status obtained through education and work,respect obtained by being an earning member of the family or lucky enough to be around good people, there are also women treated like shit even though they solely support the family.Two such person I know is my mom and Kamala ,our maid of fifteen years .My mom showed the courage of standing against and breaking off from an abusive marriage.She was strong enough to find a job ,raise me and regain her self respect needless to say life was still hard on her.She to me is the brave face of women.And then there is the dark,lean beautiful kamala. She has an horrendous story to tell , story of a women being vexed by both her husband and her twenty something boy.She gives me a sad smile every time I ask her how are things at home and I do not have anything cathartic to offer her although I wish one day I do.There are thousands of other Kamalas around us, probably the one sitting in the other cube at work or the one who sat beside us in bus today .We will never hear of their stories for most of them do not wash their dirty linen in public or simply because we do not care.

For all these millions of women who seek liberation and happiness , even a heartful laugh is a distant dream for We are not man enough to promise the Kamalas of the world a shimmering light at the end of the tunnel.

lov u, grandmom :(

2009-03-03T09:36:00.005+05:30

A terrible terrible week passed by. An unexpected unwanted visitor at home took my grandmother away from all of us... the pivot that kept everyone together has fallen apart.One of the major influences of my life, the most righteous person I would ever have known has disappeared behind the curtain leaving the stage. I always thot of her as Omnipotent thereby making it difficult for me to comprehend the fact that a terrible thing like death cud touch her . She was never scared of death , but leaving her dear ones behind always petrified her. I have never seen her cribbing about anything or anyone and even in extreme difficluties she always placed her discomfort last. She looked forward to all the festivals and holidays since thats when her grandkids visit, and when we do her face lites up like the sky on a starry nite. Shes gone is known to me as a fact but at the back of my mind I still think if I go to her room she mite still be there , still laughing teasing my brother about his girlfriend...but suddenly in the middle of other things it strikes me that shes gone forever . I wouldnot be able to see her toothless smile anymore , cannot hug or kiss her , cannot listen to her stories from the past and a million other things ...thats when I feel the pain of a thousand needles piercing ..

Life wudnt be the same anymore for any of us...

Political Atyachar...

2009-02-05T10:47:00.006+05:30

Its funny how a bunch of uneducated morons from the stone age with a set of terrorist ideologies can ruin the joy and celebration of a day of love turning it into absolute mayhem. Its funny how a God knows what Sena can decide how others should conduct their life. Its funny how they can chase , manhandle and beat up women and young people in the name of religion and culture.Its funny how the culprits can walk out of prison within days after the crime and make strategies to vandalize the city again. Its funny how they can turn a blind eye to human trafficking,rapes, abuses assaults etc etc and rage a war against tight jeans and spaghetti tops.Its funny how they can come up with plans to marry off couples holding hands on a particular day.Its funny how the largest democratic nation in the world needs to think twice before expressing their love and affection to their dear ones.It sure is a funny world.

The simple life

2009-01-27T10:11:00.006+05:30

My place back home is a sleepy little town.Theres nothing metro or fab about it.Everything and by everything I mean the restaurants, temples, all gov offices, skools , railway/bus stations,movie theaters even the beach is a max 20 min walk from my home.No malls or shopping complexes mushrooming in the city , no trace of international brands or foodchains, where the local community know eachother by name, and when u make a visit home they sure know how to make you feel special.The people also adds that extra personal touch by unwinding their knowledge base filling you up with stories about u and ur family.It ofcourse is a welcome change from where you come from ..where you are just a face in the crowd.

At home when on a vacation , you are taken seriously too. My timetable is quite royal also. I wake up with coffee served at bed , a stroll in the backyard amongst tall mango trees with my doggie, come back n then breakfast like a king.Watch some TV, lunch , a nap after that or make movie or outing plans with cousins . A perfect example of how simple the life here occurred to me when our doggie ran away with his lease yesterday evening. After an anxious one and half hour later and a two people search party, we found him half a kilometer away .The person who tied him to a tree in his garden expected sum one will turn up for the dog.I even jumped the wall to my neighbors house as part of the dog search :D and today I answered more than a dozen enquiries about my dog while on my evening walk..

You may travel to the end of the world, but theres not many places where you feel at home...and right now i am home :)

2009-01-21T15:57:00.004+05:30

Have been listening to a few Rahman oldies and i think his music was nicer then than now... and theres nuthing like some rahman to bleed an already broken heart!

I m loving it!

2009-01-18T12:48:00.003+05:30

king size dark black coffees with an extra spoon of sugar ,a gud buk, late nite movies , a soft mattress , beautiful weather n ofcourse fone switched off..wut a way to spend a lazy weekend!!

Humpi

2009-01-09T15:17:00.016+05:30

Looks like I have been bitten by the travel bug. Always have I planned trips but now I am making all those plans to effect too. On the wake of the new year me with my two friends vacationed in Humpi.

Humpi was the capital of Vijayanagara empire and later was destroyed by the Muslim sultans.Now Humpi houses the ruins of the empire . Humpi is now a world heritage site thereby drawing aplenty local and foreign crowd.For us it was like a walk through history textbooks, like stepping out of a time machine . Humpi is kilometers and kilometers of realization of India's glorious past, a proof of the golden era.Its monument after monuments of historic importance , a structural showcase of the once great economic and cultural richness of our country. Precisely I would say u have to see it to believe it.

Our trip was for two days and enough to cover all the major tourist spots. We stayed at a guest house , which was at the center of Humpi bazaar, the main street of Humpi.. all other places are easily accessible from here.On our first day in the morning we visited the Virupaksha temple . This is still an active temple and not ruined in any major way. We got a glimpse of the deity and
also got a personal blessing by the temple elephant. Later we visited the monolithic bull temple, and then took a coracle ( after much bargaining we settled for 220 rs for 4 people ) to Vittala Temple. In and around Vittala temple you can find many ruins ,various monuments and sculptures including the famous monolithic stone chariot and Kings balance.By early evening , we returned to Humpi bazaar with a grumbling stomach. We were guided to MangoTree , a restaurant in the middle of vast expanse of greenery, under huge mango trees as the name implies and some mouth watering food were served to us while we sat on a mat on the cemented floor facing the Tungabadra river. The place was abrisk with foreign and western tourist even at that time of the day.After devouring the loverly food , we enjoyed a heavenly sunset sitting on the banks of the Tungabadra ..watching people crossing the river and flocks of birds flying one after the other returning to their nest.In the night under a crescent moon we climbed a mountain which houses more than a dozen mandapas and structures.Standing there we got a top view of Humpi in the night. Later after dinner at a restaurant where a petite waiter (who spoke impeccable French) treated us to King size black coffee ,ginger tea and fired momos, We retreated to our guest house.

On second day , we rented a bike from the bazaar ,as this is the best way to see Humpi .We can also hire bicycles for hourly rates . We visited the underground Siva temple , Saraswati temple , Sasivaleku Ganesha , queens bath , the royal enclosure , Ugra Narasimha and also the Krisha temple, the spectacular pushkarni and also the Kadalekalu Ganesha . By evening we crossed the Tungabadra to the other side of Humpi , loitering around for some time, we ended up in Goan corner, a resturant reached by walking through paddy fields .On one side are huge rocks standing tall and hiding a million tales. This place is a must visit for all Humpi travelers for the hospitality of both the host and their adorable dogs and also for the food. The taste of steak with mushroom sauce from here will linger in my mouth for a long time.

Returning back to the bazaar, we did some lazy shopping and there were quite a lot of interesting things to choose from. The locals of Humpi , be it the shopkeepers or the auto drivers ,are just like their counterparts from any other tourist place of the world, working their charm for some easy extra money. But as my friend commented they have not lost their sense of humor yet and one such auto driver we befriended on our stay there dropped us to the Humpi railway station for our travel back .

They say Humpi is poetry on stone and I refuse to disagree..its a sad but a spectacular one. and a must visit. some pixs from humpi below ..

It ain't no funny business!

2009-01-02T15:43:00.005+05:30

I really hope the new year is a gud year for people in love. Recently I have been seeing a lot of my romantically linked friends in despair. Most of the stories have uncanny resemblances to various bollywood melodramas although i am not sure about the climaxes. Some of the dialogs that flew in between the couples or their parents are potential movie liners while some reminds us of how movies influences common man's thought process ..like you have to cross my dead body to marry him/her..etc etc..Phew!!!.

The best of the lot is a laugh riot for the spectator . This is of a Christian couple , both belonging to even the same subcaste , everything was going uber cool and smooth with them. Their parents met , relatives exchanged pleasantries , smiled their biggest orbit smile , although you and I know what happened behind the scenes.Dates were fixed for Eng and marriage , halls for the wedding also booked , elaborate plans for shopping were laid out and everybody were in such high spirits. That is when the uncle of the girl a.k.a. the villain of the story made his majestic entrance. He and the girls dad made a visit to the guys house so that the uncle can meet the groom as he have to leave for abroad and cannot make it to the wedding.The uncle while reaching the grooms house , saw that the parents of the groom were fair skinned although the groom is slightly on the darker side and also the dad is fully blind .The smartypants he is the uncle figured out ( don't ask how he came to that conclusion) that if they let the couple marry , their future kids will be blind and ugly !! He also declared that he will end all relation with the girls family if they allow this marriage to happen. Fearing for his future grand kids health and goodluks, bride's dad decided to go the uncle way! The end result of all this hoopla is that the wedding is called off and also the two families have declared war with each other . Now the once-lucky-couple is waiting for both families to drop their weapons and come to senses as they are still dumbstruck with this incredible turn of events.

I for one hope that the couple shed their disciplined , god fearing ..blah blah daughter/son image and do something wild and funny... break out all traditions n end up having a revolutionary wedding. If they do, I sure will be there to witness their union , to raise a toast to the couple!

bye bye '08

2008-12-31T14:21:00.004+05:30

End of another year and its introspection time for everyone..Personally i never believed in doing so .You do things right and then you screw up a lot ...dats wut u r ought to do right..
2008 was an year of good byes to me, a whole lot of people leaving and dat makes me always sad..Altogether it was a crappy year. if u ask me wut I wish for in the new year,I say I would like people to not believe in their stars but in their own spirit to make life bright ! Have a not-so-crappy year ahead n may PEACE be with ya all :)

All the world seems at ease tonight
And all that I ask when these precious moments pass
Is why can't every day be so bright

I wish every day could be like NewYear's eve!!

Juno

2008-12-22T17:36:00.007+05:30

Past weekend was a lousy one..despite the beautiful Bangalore weather and the festive moods, I have turned into a couch potato..but Hey! I m not complaining..seeing movies after movies , exploring the emo music scene ( getting somber eventually) , some heavy duty downloading and devouring plum Xmas cakes..What a nice way to wind up a rather grim year :) :)

JUNO..that's the movie I loved the most out of the few I saw last weekend..Well, finally I saw Lawrence of Arabia too...but this blog is for JUNO and the songs of the movie..

Its a comedy drama , won the Academy award for the best original screenplay in 2007 . Its like no American comedy ever made, atleast not the ones I saw hitherto.. considering the plethora of crap I force mself to see ( :P), hence giving it a fresh youthful feel probably because of the teen protagonist and the plot .. The thread of the movie is about a teenager, Juno,name as in the Greek goddess , who has to confront an unplanned pregnancy thereby forced to deal with things beyond her maturity level as the character itself claims in one of the scenes. Shes every bit the global teenager..cool, intelligent , witty with an interest in punk rock and horror movies.She gets pregnant by her friend Paulie Bleeker and decides to go ahead with delivering the baby and putting the baby for adoption after contemplating abortion.What follows is a chain of events where she is to handle the pressure of pregnancy , the complications of adoption , her feelings for Bleeker etc.In the final part of the movie, she admits to Bleeker that she is in love with him and before the final credit rolls they are shown jamming in front of Bleeker's house followed by a kiss..

The dialogues of the movie are hilariously funny , without being funny on your face , but more like Oh! I was caught unaware on camera when I said this kinda style. As an Indian audience I was also surprised by the ease by which they managed such a sensitive topic which would have raised quite a few eyebrows in here, there where no yelling/screaming/judgment of any sort in the whole movie even in the scene where the girl explains the situation to her parents.This might have been a conscious take by the makers where they did not want it to be a preaching kinda movie but about how a cool intelligent girl handles the situation.Any Indian director would have thrown in quite a few scenes of melodrama making people cringe in their seats.But yeah..the oh so cultural differences .... Who am I to complain!!

The music of Juno is a cherry on top of a delightful cheese cake, cheese cake being the movie ofcourse..( Dun know what it is with me giving unwanted emphasis on the cake here...maybe bcus of the whole Xmas season :D ). The album features several songs performed by Kimya Dawson and her bands Antsy Pants and The Moldy Peaches . Out of all the cute songs my favorite is All I want is U by Barry Louis Polisar . This is the official track of the movie and it is played during the opening credits of the movie while an animated Juno walk thru the streets ..

You can get the lyrics of All I want is U here... and the song can be downloaded frm here ...

I recommend the movie to all drama lovers ;) ...Happy Xmas !

A Trip to the Mountains

2008-11-24T17:18:00.032+05:30

Last weekend was spend in pure bliss. A much delayed trip with few folks from office finally materialized !The fact that we made it to the trip was an achievement in itself since i hold the record of planning the max number of trips and never ever making it to even one. So finally to everyones delight we set to kemmanagundi, the land of red soil and vast stretches of greenery.

It was a two day trip. we reached kemmanagundi by Saturday afternoon. After a quick lunch we kept our baggages in the modest gov cottage and were all set for the afternoon activity .Task was to cover a treachery terrain to reach what they call the Z point, the plan was to reach there intime to catch the sun setting.Albeit the guide's assurance , the terrain was not at all a walk in the park. Springs , waterfalls , exotic flowers and a narrow path ..with high mountains on one side and deep forested valley on the other side gave us company all along. By the time we reached on top the sun was gone and we could only make out eachothers face in the twilight . Relying on torch light and the guide we started downhill .It made even the most enthus a tad nervous .Zillions of stars and a perfect full moon led us back to the cottage for some steaming coffee and pakodas. Later they drove us to the forest where the campfire was set and a tent to sleep in .Games and fun around the fire followed and when the darkness grew and the moon played hide and seek we had our dinner and retreated to the tent . News that four beers were set loose in the forest by the authorities dint stand in our ( two share a tent ) way of having a sound sleep .

Second day of the trip !! woke up by 5 in the morning and we were driven back to the gov cottage. post a quick shower and a good breakfast , we were briefed about the days activity . Unlike previous day it was downhill climb of about 12 kms through coffee plantations to reach Hebbe falls.We had to take a jeep halfway and rest of the climb by foot. By the time the roller coaster jeep ride thru red soiled path ended we were all painted red from top to bottom and all ecstatic to start the climb down . The trees , sounds of birds everything were so breath taking it was as if time stood still there. Crossing three streams on the way , we finally reached the water fall. After spending some time there playing in the ice cold water , we started back and by the time we took the jeep back, it started drizzling slightly exposing us to teeth chattering cold breezes and the damp clothes were not helping either.

By afternoon we had our lunch and bid adieu to kemmanagundi, the place i spend two wonderful most adventurous time of my life. Will stay in m memory for a long long time :)

Orange sky by Alexi Murdoch

2008-11-14T14:29:00.011+05:30

This is about one of my favorite songs..

I heard thins song quite accidentally.....a delightful accident i wud say... lost the count of times i heard this song once i got hold of it... never heard of the singer before, never heard any of his songs, but what a heavenly song it is,atleast to me.

Orange sky, sung and written by Alexi Murdoch and song is from his first album Time Without Consequence released in June 2006.its a soft song in the rock/folk-rock genre , played with acoustic guitar coupled with Murdoch's gentle soothing voice.This song was featured in o.c , prison break etc..one of his other song "home " is also featured in prison break series .what drew me is the profound sadness in the song .. every time i hear it all i can picture is a scenic countryside with sloppy green hills ,a grandfather tree with an abandoned swing under an orange sky..

just thot i will share it with ya people..

heres how the lyrics of the song goes :

Well I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
Yes I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother standing by
With my brother standing by
I said Brother, you know you know
It’s a long road we’ve been walking on
Brother you know it is you know it is
Such a long road we’ve been walking on

And I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my sister standing by
With my sister standing by
I said Sister, here is what I know now
Here is what I know now
Goes like this..
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, in your love, in your love

But sister you know I’m so weary
And you know sister
My hearts been broken
Sometimes, sometimes
My mind is too strong to carry on
Too strong to carry on

When I am alone
When I’ve thrown off the weight of this crazy stone
When I’ve lost all care for the things I own
That’s when I miss you, that’s when I miss you, that’s when I miss you
You who are my home
You who are my home
And here is what I know now
Here is what I know now
Goes like this..
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, in your love, in your love

Well I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
Yes I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother and my sister standing by
With my brother and my sister standing by
With my brother and my sister standing by

U can download it free from beemp3.com .Try out his other songs too
Listen to it and lemme know if u liked it :)

Americans , Indians and Math

2008-11-11T16:11:00.003+05:30

Came across a post in the NYtimes .... It was about how weak Americans are in math ..basic or advanced, compared to their Indian counterparts . The article points out the flaws in American school system and how skools reserve advanced maths for the brighter students letting the average to cope with the world with basic skills.surveys shows Asians students are 3 years ahead of American students of the same age in math .

Out of the responses to the post, some blame cultural differences to be the problem , some blame the education system , lack of parental supervision etetera. According to some the problem lies in the attitude where mathematical proficiency is not respected and valued and how a person proficient in math is considered nerdy or how the importance is given to sports and athletics and not academics. One even commenting kids in skool are discouraged from taking up interest in math beyond their syllabus and how they are still taught basic arithmetic in higher grades.One of the interesting take on the issue was that Indian females are 50% illterate and hence the american kids cannot be compared to some upper caste Indians who had the liberty of educating themselves and also India is a failed state on basic necessities due to volience.The answer to this comment was ofcourse from an Indian asking to check the number of Indians accepted in american universities and how many of them are upper castes!!!

Anyway voices are being raised , thoughts are being put together by intellectuals , reseachers and commom man to fight the math stigma ..to save american kids from failing in the real world and one of them is a website "Indian math online" to help students learn the mathematics techniques the Indian way!!!

2008-10-20T18:07:00.001+05:30

when will it ever end????Open ur eyes people!!!!!!!!

I Miss.....

2008-10-16T17:45:00.003+05:30

I miss the three ,the carom board ,the fights...

I miss the shouts and the pandemonium...

I miss the power cuts , the big fat orange candle and the fireflies..

I miss the bruises and cuts the summer leaves behind..

I miss the silent melancholy evenings and the drooping dahlias.

I miss the hot coffees , French toasts and the chitchats..

I miss the matinée at the local theater...

I miss the lazy sunday afternoons..

I miss the special masala chappatis..

I miss the black Hero Impact and the wind in my hair..

I miss the girlie-giggles ..

I miss sharing the blanket with u..

I miss fighting to be on the right side of the bed..

I miss the silliness of things..

I miss the comfort and the nonchalance...

I miss growing up with the A's and Mr.R..

I miss my childhood....

In my work shoes..

2008-10-15T12:56:00.010+05:30

Calvin : Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help ( Calvin can read my mind :D)

You can pretty much fix anything that goes wrong in a team except people .makes me wish if ever i got robots to work with instead of humans....apparently u get to work with real people and heres the bunch that keeps me on the toes all day ...

The curious type ... a hundred questions comes out from his mouth on any given second ...this includes the most obvious of things , stuffs already explained to him ..feels like freeing him from all the burden bestowed up on him and telling him ..Dude!! don't bother..I will do it myself .basically he is the curious plus spoonfeed me type..

another of them is the I can do anything to please you type... he single handedly appreciates m TL's stupid jokes in Hindi , and you might be wondering what is so weird about that..well..His proficiency in the language is quite minimalistic .. weirdo!!.. He is dexterous in combining politics with work too.

There is the third kind , says yes to anything that comes their way , picks up everything explained to them in the first go , never ever does a negative syllable escapes from them , nevertheless at the end of the day they will be right there where they started off in the morning . Their problem : lack of courage to speak up.

The fourth kind is the one who does his job as if he is doing a favor . constant expression on his face is why is this b***h making me do all these, why cant she do it herself?? Kiddo.. u r not running m errands!!!

But ask me which among all these is the pain in the neck guy...he is the smartypants . He acts/talks/walks like he is the smartest person that has walked into the planet after Einstein or he is the treasure the recruitment team dug out..his intimidating animated speeches ,i do not care a tiny rats a** attitude are so petrifying it makes me(us) want to kick his bladder out..AHH!! dream on guys...tera number bhi aayega!!!

Last but not the least is the captain of the deck .Mr.TL .there exist two set of rules in m team. One for him other for the rest .He is so loud, he gives any loudspeaker a run for their money and if you do not abide by his rules, free lectures are guaranteed . and you mite be interested to know his rules.. long leaves even when all hell is breaking loose , phone switched off when on leave n weekends when we are screwing ourselves, comes to office at half past 10 and leaves when the clock strikes 6 ..and rules for us are free lectures for leave request , phone in anytime of the day even while on sick leaves , free lectures for leaving early or coming late , free lectures for pretty much anything ..makes you wonder whether he is fulfilling his unrealized dream to excel in the preaching sector..despite all this he is a decent TL. I give him credit for that :D

Whoever said everyday is a battle sure meant it...

Everyday Heroes!!

2008-10-07T15:53:00.003+05:30

A conversation that happened between me and an auto driver ..goes like this...

Scene 1 : I stop an auto

driver : where to?
me : Forum ( my place to forum doesnot cost more than 18 rs on any meter )
driver : ok ..get in

Scene 2 : I hop in to the auto

driver :How much will u pay me?
me: meter charge
driver : thats fine. how much is minimum meter charge though?
me: 14 rs
driver nodes his head in disagreement
me : then how much is it?
driver : 35 rs..
me: what? ( surprised look on m face )
driver : u need to pay only meter charge , but minimum charge is 35 rs.. ( he sits with a sad expression on his face )

Scene 3 : I mount down his chariot ...gets another auto ...

One smart auto driver ( or dumb) huh....he needs only minimum meter charge and that being 35 is ofcourse not his fault right B-)

Prison Break

2008-08-29T16:46:00.004+05:30

Lately i have been catching up on the prison break series.Its currently running in StarWorld in India but do not know which season it is playing right now.Anyways I could get my hands on the DVD.. season 1 -3,thanks to one of m friend. Now that i am so hooked to it, i do not have time for anything else.my routine has become like this : I get home from office and within half an hour i am infront of m laptop , somehow very reluctantly manages to get to bed by midnight and weekends completely dedicated to the same .My ears and eyes are taking a toll on dis routine though, but thats how much so i am hooked to it..and no resting till i finish all seasons..hehehe.

So talking about Prison break, for those who do not know the storyline ..it is about two brothers and how the younger brother Micheal (played by WentWorth Miller)gets in to prison so that he can save his elder brother Linc ( played by Dominic Purcell ) from the death sentence he is facing. Wat i liked about the series is its not at all dragging, the meticulous details that has gone in to Miller's character is amazing,how it manages to keep you on the edge of the seats on every episode ,the characters seems almost real not fully though but.. yeah.. pretty appreciable work except this timing of how everyone has a good enough reason to break out at the same time..everything looks fine.Linc being the brute and Micheal being the brains theres scope for both action and some brainy stuff. And they managed to squeeze in a romantic track too .. The fun season starts after their escape from prison although how they get lucky eachtime is pretty indigestible..but since i do not want to get them caught..dats fine with me :D

Two people I enjoy most on the series is Micheal and Agent Mahone . Both are very shrewd , prudent , intense people. I have become a die hard fan of WentWorth, the guy has such powerful eyes, and its rarely that a smile crosses his face and I go wild when that happens.:P .Willaim Fichtner , the guy who plays Mahone is a better version of Clint Eastwood , hes probably in his 40's .Both are a pleasure to watch on screen and i just ogle at these two.. :P

All the whole, prison break shouldnt be missed if u have the stomach for a powerpacked(violent)series..

Ciao ..
\m/

I.Refuse.To.Grow.Up

2008-08-29T15:17:00.005+05:30

I refuse to grow up...

I have reached a certain age of m life...a certain age where jantha around (read family, friends, neighbors ...all those who know me in some way )expect an whole together different set of things from me, where I am expected to act like a grown up (wut ever that is )they prefer to see me settled (read get married n raise kids )...add to the mayhem basically...you will be provided with reasons too..they say this is the time.. but wut eludes me is how do they know this is the time or right time or more specifically whether it is the right time for me??That it is neither one year later nor was it one year before..but NOW… How come they know what is right for me, what works for me or just because I reached a certain age I should be doing certain things, despite the fact that whether I want to do those … I find it difficult to comprehend jantha’ point.

Giving it a thot…almost all from my age group are married…some have kids, one of them even has twins...but I never got tempted/inspired/lets give it a try thot..nope.nothing .never. I remember reading somewhere man is born free but everywhere in chains, and most of the chains are self imposed,, courtesy of marriage, the only difference is whether you end up liking the chain or not..But a chain nevertheless.. and kids..ofcourse kids are on the cards,,but am I ready..well, the answer is NO..And all they say is its time …

So what should I be doing now, do not lend my ear to the experienced jantha and do it when I feel the time is right? Or...… Sigh…Anyways as far as jantha refuses to fathom my point, I do not have much of a choice rite... Emotional blackmailing is what I detest and I know for sure one day I will succumb to the same whether I like it or not... jeez….who’s in charge of my life????

Anyways letting u jantha know once gain…I refuse to grow up!!!

R.I.P frend...

2008-08-29T10:46:00.002+05:30

One of my ex team member met with an accident some days back.Following day we got the dreadful news that he passed away.what followed was a ghastly chain of events which set me thinking..About the boy, lemme call him vj..since thats what he called himself, was a tall lean fellow with a good temperament. we were good Friends, being a late joinee to the team, he treated everyone with respect, and worked hard to prove his metal . we shared adjacent cabins in office, pulled each others leg in every opportunityt. Sitting 10 meters away ,e-fighting as we always used messenger facility to the max on a free day at ofc . I only hav fond memories of him just like everyone else.

Occasionally i think about him, still have not digested the fact that hes not sharing world space with me anymore. On the day i got the terrible news i kept checking the messenger , praying the news be wrong hoping i get the pop up saying vj has singed in...but whole day whole week his profile said away den some days later it said offline. for the messenger thats wut he is now..hes just offline..

In office though there was no official mails about the mishap , nothing from corporate service/human resources whatsoever.Mabbe its because stuff like this doesnot add any value to the company , doesnot delight the stake holders in any way,so why waste corporate bandwidth rite. The only thing the company did as far as i know is they deleted vj's profile in no time. it was like he never existed. made him a ghost in one day..for the company he worked thats wut he is now... a profile that is flagged deleted or something in the database..

One of our teammate showed the courtesy of sending an unofficial mail to everyone who have known him.What followed was a chain mail about how well a person he was and how good he was at his work..i felt sick reading all that ..did not reply to the mail.. dint not let any of those contaminate my thoughts of him, to me he will be just vj.and i do not pretty much care how well he knew java or anything for that matter...among all the mails send around mourning over his death, there were two which stood out. One from his current team lead ..sharing to his team mates how good he was at his work, and best part:the mail was send to vj too...i sincerely hope vj cannot check mails where ever he is now.Another one was from the person who selected vj to the team, it was about his take on how vj dint get thru the interview but still how he believed in vj's talent.I felt something turn upside down in my stomach after reading that.

I am not sure whether i should be saying this,,but i pretty much have an idea of how will things be tomorrow if i die today ..

VJ..where ever u r...May ur Soul Rest In Peace!!

Happy BDay To Me :P

2008-08-06T12:57:00.002+05:30

dats m Bday cake :) was a surprise from m roommates at sharp 12 on m birthday ..sweet na :D

The Unfathomable Cycle of Life

2008-08-05T16:04:00.000+05:30

I turned a year older the other day; the day went well. Even amidst all the warm wishes and laughter something disturbing kept coming up, something inside was roaring high for my attention. Following day on my way to office, my mind took the liberty of questioning itself, more like a feedback form they pass around after a boring presentation .It raised half a dozen not so pleasant questions which on any other day I would have readily avoided but this time it was different it was the brand new day of my brand new year. Was I happy to be alive, what would be the one thing I would be doing if it were m last day? Does my work excite me enough to make me look forward to hitting office the next day?? Pretty heavy stuff on an innocent morning to confront huh??Well there was no escaping this time..

I should be the hip and happening software professional drawing fat salary end of month working in air-conditioned rooms all day, partying hard n hanging out with fellow “cool’’ software professionals on weekends to fit the picture of a modern day working woman. Real picture: I was feeling pretty miserable myself. I was not doing the things I want to do anymore, the "ever exploring new horizons me" have long gone lost somewhere in the woods, not seeing the places I wanted to see, around people I do not care a darn about, I go to the flashy spaceship lookalike office, doing the work any average person can do, having all my meals from the office cafeteria with the same people, cracking the same silly disgusting jokes .How I was starting to loathe all this and felt exasperated inside!!! In short there’s no life in my life anymore. I tried to find out my buddies take on this. And boy!! was I surprised, the stories are pretty much the same.. days are spend writing shitty code, drinking filthy coffee reading forwards that have circulated around the world in record time, and nights dedicated to making the mobile network company rich!!

Having got a big picture of the miserable life around , I still was not sure whether to feel sympathy towards myself for the clone I became or rather feel happy for all that I have...I mean at least I am not lagging behind anything rite. I have enough money to spend on a book or a DVD, have friends to call when I need a good laugh.. who shows empathy towards me.. to constantly assure me that everything’s going to be alrite, folks who worries about me when a silly bomb goes boom. I am lucky for sure but maybe the lession I have to learn is you cannot have all the things in the world. As they always say to appreciate what u have keep an outsiders perspective handy...there are people who take a lifetime dream vacation to the Maldives or to the Bahamas and never come back home because tsunami or a hurricane with a silly name hit them , there are people who give the performance of a life time and before the reviews are out , before basking in the glory, they will be in an altogether different world where these things have no meaning...there are worst things that can happen and you are spared for at least this day, this minute. I still can afford to contemplate whether to catch up Mama Mia at the nearby multiplex, or a weekend getaway with friends to a serene place . So at the end of the day you still have to fight your demons but that should not stop us from enjoying a steaming cup of tea on a roadside shack, rain pouring outside. For now on, I am juss gonna enjoy myself!!!

I AM HERE!!!

2008-08-05T13:57:00.000+05:30

phew!!!...hope i wunt forget m blog url dis time B-)