Eid Mubarak !

To all muslims, Eid Mubarak.
I was reading the newspaper when I came upon a distressing article. Around 3 dozens of camel have been brought from Rajasthan to Chennai and awaiting their execution, or shd I rather say, sacrifice? No, am not against meat lovers, I'm not claiming I havent had them (though I dont eat anymore), nor I believe it to be a sin.
However, the very thought of getting the animals all the way to satisfy the taste buds in the name of religion and rituals, that really pains me. Now, having camel meat as part of the celebrations in middle east is different. The flora and fauna of a geography surely evolves the habits and rituals of a culture and a religion. And to indulge like this because there is enough of money power and in the name of religion, I think it is atrocious. Isnt it enough that we have wiped off many hundred species of nature from our country? Do we add these to the list? I'm not even sure if people would really like camel meat over the beef or just to follow the original traditions as it is followed by the place of origin of the religion? Does that make them more religious? And sad but true, even among my friends I have come across people whose heart is elsewhere from the country that has always been theirs. Even in as simple things as Cricket which almost if of any significance at all, when its India vs any toher country, its India and when its India Vs Pakistan, its pakistan. It disheartens my heart to see such opinions. I know the last couple of statements are touchy subject to many people, and I aint typecasting anyone here. But nevertheless its sad....and to come back to my original subject. Blue Cross - a society that is close to my heart for the service they render and as a regular contributor feel proud that they stand up and fight against this slaughtering of camels. However, there is a injunction according to Section 28 (If I remember right) that the constitution provides. According to this, slaughtering of animals on religious occasions is allowed. I guess, it wont be far off before we have all the animals tagged endangered species, except ofcourse for humans !

Note:
The way the camels are killed, I hear is in a gruesome manner and it takes close to around 2 hours for the camels to die.

Surprise - A reasonable house owner in Bangalore.

I had to pay my first month rent to the owner. I had been really satisfied with the house, its location, its maintenance. I had been trying to catch hold of him for the last few days but couldnt. I was determined to be a reasonable man and pay of my rent within the 5th of every month. Afterall, everyone has their own needs and expectation and a money that comes in late can really skew your lifestyle and your commitments considerably. Who else can know it better than one who has not received his complete payslip(oh goddamnit not even 25 % of my promised payslip) for more than two months now, thanks to our payroll team's misplaced records and great functioning. Even a government office would have responded out of pity for the number of emails sent on this. No matter what levels of escalations are made, yet, words dont seem to transform into action. *sigh* Today is the last day of a "1 week time" from the Human Resources to sort out my issue and well, I dont have any hopes of it. You say I'm a pessimist, I think I understand inefficiency. All this story apart, I know its painful if you dont receive the due amount in the right time.

And boy oh boy, wasnt I pleasantly surprised when the owner took the money only for 25 days I stayed in the house for the last month. And he didnt lay any charges for the water nor electricity for the first month. I have never seen this happen in Bangalore in the numerous houses that I have shifted. Once I had rented a co-worker's place and he charged me even for the light bulb in the house. And everytime I vacate the place, I lose atleast a couple of thousands in various charges the house owners levy( and inspite of keeping the house clean and nice) and my rental agreement always says a 10% increase YoY in the rent. And this new house ( yep, its nicely built new house) owner has a clause of 5 % YoY and also acted a reasonable man when he charged only for 25 days. It isnt a big deal to pay the extra 5 days but a reasonable house onwer is hard to find in Bangalore.Forget reasonable house owners, reasonable men are hard to find here !

Managers - Damagers

They are the species with the shortest possible attention span. And if you could gather their attention for more than 10 minutes with not one of them speaking a word, I bet you are a genius but I will wonder why you are amongst them in that case?

Put a bunch of them together,simplest equation will look the most complex thing ever found on this earth. However, an enormous exchange of words will ensue (called brainstorming), sometimes not found in the vocabulary of 80% of the population (no prize for guessing the remaining 20%) beating about every strategy and counterstrategies that can ever be employed, and finally a solution will be arrived at. How? Formulate a sentence with a word from every mouth so that everyone has their say. In the end if you decipher and decode that convulted sentence,
you will precisely find that very first statement of yours.

This is the same species that demand smart work while they get into a meeting and sit there with not even a wee bit interest in what is spoken about, happily sending personal emails from their laptops and nibbling around your ear with incessant talks. Its a pity to witness a dozen members of the species waste two hours of their time,
- almost two full business days while the rest of the community are asked to slog their way. We, techies, are wretched souls.

Twisted Fate

Theres only one way to live - face it !

However, there are times when you dont want something, dont want to be reminded, dont want to see yourself or others, dont want to take the path down the memory lane, not because you are afraid it, but because it is wise to leave things as it is, without any questions, any complaints. Those are times when you dont want to see yourself in the mirror, for the reflection might show a tattered soul, reminding of things lost and defeats accepted with as much grace as possible. Fate has its own twisted logic. It is exactly when you want to be away, to feel at peace for a while, everything opens right in front of you.It springs up when you least expect it and on your face.And when you do face it,the pain it brings, the suddent surge of sadness that originates in those walls of your heart, gushing into your arteries making you gasp for your breath, that one moment when everything seizes, makes you wish you were dead instead. And when there is no more pain, no more sadness that your heart can ooze out into the veins, when your head is clear, you take it with a smile, you wish the best and get back to this moment, knowing that sooner or later, your heart will be conditioned for this too as it always has. Afterall, its life - face it.

Animosity

Animosity

I think most of us would have heard about the outsourcing cries made in the west and the animosity displayed. However, in my career of IT experience spanning around 8 years now, I have never directly encountered any form of remarks or animosity being displayed @ work, though I have seen such remarks when I walk on the roads.
I believed even if people felt hostile, they limit their behaviours within professional ethics and thats the kind of people I have interacted with. For the first time, I found someone reacting otherwise and for what? a chair?

I had promised a client designer(Sri Lankan immigrant) last evening that I will look into her issue first thing in the morning. As soon as I came in, she called me in. I sat in her chair to fix the issue while she sat on the desk. After a while, she got a chair and a few minutes later, I gave some suggestions and got up to leave. I turned around and had this another client designer Chinese immigrant) standing right upto my face and exclaiming "Ah, so you took my chair". The lady tried to explain that she had borrowed it for herself for a little while, which went unheaded and the guy said in a hostile pitch, his face showing such a hatred, "Why not take my job too?". Well, I do not get into verbal wars @ work place, so, I looked back at him eye-to-eye and left the place.

Later when I think about it, it is interesting, two immigrants from neighbouring countries of mine, who have come here in search of the same thing that everyone aspire for, a better life with more luxury. And incidentally, this guy rents out apartment to contractors like me for two reasons. No one pays that money he quotes for that house. We do not demand like the rest of the tenants do. We need a place for a couple of months and we are ready to compromise, which he clearly takes advantage of. Why would you carry such a spite and show displeasure at something as simple as borrowing a chair? No questions whether I consider it to be immature, but all this hype about grabbing jobs etc etc in a period of globalization and smaller distances? It beats me. How would it be if there is a restriction that Coke cannot sell anywhere outside America or Americans cannot have Japanese cars? Will the companies be as global as they are or will the people be satisfied with inferior products? On one hand, people go and buy products from China because they are cheap and on the other, fight about sending the work there?

The truth is - "There is nothing of any importance in life-except how well u do your work.Nothing.Only that. Whatever else u r will come from that."

P.S
@ SB,
well, am back after a long time. Thanks for still reading me. I would like to touch base with you when I return, that is if you are interested.

Movie Monday !

On a lazy Monday afternoon,I decided to watch this movie "Paruthi Veeran". Somehow this movie had been eluding me for quite some time now. So when I saw the movie at my friend's place, I picked it up. One of the reason I picked it up was for the fact that the Hero - Karthik studied in the same college and I had interacted long time back between a common group of friends. Times change and people change, so I thought let me see how he has faired as an actor. Ofcourse, he did a commendable job for a first movie. On the whole it was a well made movie but somehow a certain sense of characterisation was missing in the lead male role. Ofcourse, it kept the character very much alive and realistic but it was smudged with a certain sense of commercialism that did not quite judge well. I even wondered why would someone want to select such a role for a first movie. Another aspect of the movie that bothered me was the camera work and the colors used. I'm not sure if its because of the small screen version, but the "sun dried" color of the frames through out the movie kept the story realistic and yet was sometimes too over powering. All in all, a good attempt but left me with a heavy heart because of its story line and the climax.

So to loosen up a little bit, I played the movie that almost all of the tamilnadu like unanimously - Kaakha Kaakha. Incidentally, the hero of this movie - Surya is the brother of Karthik. Sketched to perfection, I believe it was the powerful characterisations of the lead roles that took this movie to be in my all time favourite list.

Zoom !!!

This is what I wld call a "F_ _kin Zoom" !!!

http://www.docbert.org/MP/

A casual remark !

I have everything that I would ever need - NOTHING !

Romancing the Moon

Been a long time since I toyed around with my camera...
I was reading a book on my bed when I saw this really nice moon (didnt someone say it was Buddha Poornima yesterday? ) staring at me through the window. Decided to take a snap of it....Boy, I do love my zoom, dont I?

hmm...

I have found the paradox, if you love so much until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
---- Mother Teresa on Love.

Interesting...so what do u think?

Its very funny how things unfold in your life. They say history repeats itself. But I guess in my case it is more than once. 2003 saw me as lost soul trying to get a grip on life. The cycle repeated in 2005 and well, its again repeating in 2007, except that this time, I tend to believe I can make it through.

And very funnily, all the three times, things happen at around the same time of the year in a certain way. Come back after a brief stay away with loads of hope but being left with nothing more than an emptiness. Then it starts all over again. Serendipity - I always associated it with good things. But in my case, cant really say why it chooses to end with a lost feeling.

The only saving grace about all the events.....I dont have reason to feel guilty.....I dont find a stranger in my mirror staring back at me....I never gave up on anyone even though people have given up on me or situations forced them to!

Life goes on ...

Its time !

Been a long while since I wanted to do my second dive....
Had been waiting for the folks who are in double mind for quite a long time to make up their mind. Finally when I decided to do it irrespective of their desires, they are ready to join me..and am on my way for second jump from 15000 ft in an hours time !

No videos this time though !!!

But its been an enjoyable weekend with loads of music and fun @ ottawa on behalf of Canada Day celebrations !!!

Life

Why do we all

Leave the one who loves
and
love the one who leaves

?

Defeat!

While victory depicts skill and knowledge, defeat defines your character.

Odd luck

The world has shrunk by leaps and bounds....U r always connected to anyone you want at anytime from any place...You have numerous gadgets to make it happen. Yet, it is only when you want to reach your family at a very important time, to speak about important things, that these devices stop coming to your aid...human error possibly? :-) !!

Flying High !

Finally, I got the time to post this. Even though I'm posting this after a week, I'm still reveling in the thrill and the feeling of falling from 15000 ft high. Infact two days back I experienced the entire feeling in my dream and for some strange reason, yesterday, I dreamt of exploring the space without an astronault outfit. Hehehe.

I will probably write in detail later...its already too late in the night...but
* Its a bliss to be a bird
* Its a feeling that cannot be describedone. It has to be experienced and I already bought my second jump that I will do the coming weekend.
* You feel like floating in the air. There aint any great physical turbulence. The first few seconds are the key...and immdiately after that u start enjoying the ride.
* I did feel scared as the videos would show until I actually experienced it when u will see me enjoying it.
* When the chute opens up, the journey is heavenly.
* When I joind hands with my photogrpaher and flew just like in the movies and discovery channel, I knew that I have stretched the limits of my mind and body to an extent I never believed I could.
* The earth is lot different from above. Reminded me how insignificant we are in the concept of the whole.

Now, if anyone asked me if I have ever done crazy on my Bday, I know what to say !

Sky Diving Preparation



The Jump - No music



The Fall - Music Version

Flying High

Having visited most of the general tourist places in the Eastern Coast of Canada, I was quite wondering what would I do this time around. I decided to get the real feel of people, life and culture and live like a local. I also thought I would be able to get back to my sketches, hiking etc etc. Alas, work had kept me busy for a couple of weekend after the sun really warmed up( I need an AC now). Now that th weekends are to myself, we decided to do something that we hadnt done before. And we came across THIS. . I have seen the broadway plays in the movies and have been fascinated by the well dressed men and women (well, women especially in their beautiful gowns) and this was in my to-do list all the time. So, We decided to give it a try. Then, came the question of the dresscode. A black trouser, wrinkle free formal shirt, a black barduroy jacket and a black formal shoe - is all I wore. Ah, I know, - not a great dresscode but given the fact that we would be roaming around the streets of Toronto, it does not make a great sense to go in Tuxedo ;-) and I personally believe that would be funny....anyways, we were in for a treat as we got great seats and to my left was a beautiful looking lady in a classic black gown...(gosh I had to keep my eyes consciously AWAY from those legs ;-) ! and the fact that we were so close to smell each other's perfume was of any help! I bet she was wearing poison !

The real treat was the show. I have never seen a better presentation, the settings, the moving backrounds - well everything was perfect to the core. Thats exactly the reason theatre is my favourite medium. You get one bleadi chance to perform and you cant make any mistakes and perform they did, perfectly. The music was just magnificient - the theme has become one of my favourites. Though I cldnt get much of the lyrics - Gosh that was so damn tough to decipher :-) - overall it was one experience I wanted to have in my life and well, it was worth all of the 100 and odd $ we paid for it. I'm looking for one more show two weeks from now - a musical play and I dont expect to be disappointed.

On the other hand, the evenings have become busy again with the gym at the harbour club such a treat for workouts. The range of equipments is something that I never have experienced in any of the gyms I have worked out so far - so it just keeps me happy and amidst all those workout freaks, you are just in the mood for greater workouts....

Well, one more thing that is gonna come in line should be the FreeFall from 12000 ft above the earth. Check THIS . Now got to muster the courage and take a plunge.....and this time I hope so - Whats life for if not to live and experience.

Alienated

Sometimes, you think back and wonder how time has passed, how people have changed and you realise that things close to your heart have just become memories of the past. Even though you wish for things to not happen, it happens otherwise leaving you with some wonderful memories. For sometime, you are the center piece of someone's life and then suddenly u fade off....fade off just like yet another stranger of a distant past....and then you keep wondering what happened and suddenly u ask yourself if you even crossed their mind once when u have been remembering them all along...Life for sure is crazy...

It feels like an alien to log into this blog today....A place where my emotions and opinions were penned down and suddenly I feel I had forgotten to feel what it is like to write. Things change...life change....and u keep going. Giving up is never an option, is it? Thanks for all those who have come to this page even when I have ignored it.

Niagara in the lights

End

Finally the day is getting over....
It isnt easy when you carry pain in your heart, longing in your soul, a nervous racus in your brain and a handful of messups @ work....the day just seems to drag forever. Its very difficult to draw the line when career and life mix up!

Easier said than done

Now that many people I know are in the age of getting married and especially girls, I have come across atleast a couple of girls who are so confused and lament that they want to get married to someone they know, a friend, than someone their parent choose. Perfectly reasonable. However, it should always be the guy who should make the move. Why cant it be that a girl just goes ahead and asks out the guy. Yes, there are guys who dont think it is cheap and there are guys who like outspoken girls. The guy should decide, the guy should understand them perfectly which I guess isnt a fool's task and should be ready to give up everything if need arises and sometimes the girl herself, if their parents choose not to naccept. (well, mine really dont care and thats different ;-) ) No one wants to hurt their parents. Playing safe is fine but to what extent can a guy have a clarity in mind when you do not even know if the girl really wants to get married to the guy because she loves the guy (in which she should have expressed it strongly) or just wants to get married thinking " a known devil is better than unknown angel". It doesnt seem anything more than an arranged marriage by the parents themselves when you do not know who the other person is actually. I understand it takes a lot in Indian society for a girl to get married to than for a guy. However guys have their own confusions too and they give up quite a few choices too. Most men often are not as strong as they appear to be. Hurt and pain are the same for everyone. It is very difficult to cross the line and then step back to the same. Needs a lot of maturity for sure.

I know not what to say,
I know not how to react,
I know which path to take,
I know not what life will offer
I know nothing is worth a tear in your eyes, not even me !

Stressed

It surprises everytime how your body demands attention from you. First symptons of stressed out body is the burning eyes, boils on the tongues. Guess I first have to settle scores with my body before I can even think about handling other important things.

On the other hand, I wonder who formed the word "Stressed" - the reverse spells "desserts" !

Is it all worth at the end?

Loneliness is terrbile....but what is even more terrible is to be surrounded by people but not able to relate to anyone....

that little time ....

Sometimes, all you need is time to think through , to explain your feelings the right way, without any misunderstanding, to make others understand what you see, without hurting them, and help them know the real you, not the you others perceive you to be.....
And time is the only thing am running short of ....and it isnt easy to make all of the above happen with a fast flowing sandclock stuck up in your A$$ !
On more than one instance, I have realised Beer doesnt help you think....It may sober you up...but it doesnt help you think clearly.....

PEI

Prince Edward Islands or PEI as it is shortly called is one of the most scenic places on Earth or so I have read. I read abt it during my first visit in 2003. But staying around 1600 kms away from it, and not with much of drivers/ interested people around, I cldnt do it then. Then in 2005, I did not want to live it alone (blinded?, probably) and this time around, I really dont care. I would like to just do it. There is a long weekend coming in April and my gut feeling is that I wouldnt find much people to accompany me on this trip. I somehow dont get it when people do not want to travel to such exotic places. Majority of the collegues that I see is interested in man-made shopping malls and concrete jungles (well, I like to travel city too) and taking pictures of themselves there and nothing more. REminds me of this guy who trekked all the way to get a glimpse of "out-of-the-world" sunrise only to see the entire sunset thru his camera lens. Well, whats the point :-) !! Anyways, I think I shd probably plan it out and see if I can make it this time around...If I choose to drive, well, am sure its gonna be one hell of a tiring drive ! 18 hours is not a easy ride for heavens sake even for a driving maniac like me !

P.S:
Do read about the Island from the above link.

Happily Alone!

Its not everyday, that you walk down in a snow storm and reach home all white and covered with flakes of snow only to make yourself a nice set of masala pappad, a hot cup of chai, and sit down with the recent book about the paintings of Leonardo (the mysterious man of a past gone era) and the man himself - all to a perfect solitude.
There are moments in life, you enjoy the solitude. An occasional thought of sharing with special ones of your heart passes through - then the silence teaches you the reality of life enuff to enjoy it with all your heart.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, I heard the constant rattling of the rain drops outside the window. And the fact that I stay in a room whose inhabitants earlier were kids, the whole of the roof is illuminated with the flourescent stars that glow in the night.
It was like lying outside on the lawn looking at the sky on a summer evening and also sitting on the window sill and listening the clattering of the rain - both at the same time.Last evening was a perfect one and the fact that am not used to the snowly life, it never dawned on me that I would wake up to a slushy irritating road after all the rain in the night. It was damned to walk on the roads this morning. But to make up for a slushy roads, I saw something wonderful that I had not seen so far. Coming down from my first floor bedroom, I saw the withered trees and their branches covered with a layer of ice all throughout. It was almost like a painting that was hung on the wall in front of me.

The last pic above is a nice macro shot that I tried with my Canon!

Whitey White !

This is my third visit to Canada. I still remember the day when I first got my chance to visit this country and people scared the hell out of me with 40 cms snow and chill and cold and what not. But I was always hoping for it because I love chilly places. well, understandable after living 25 years in the scorching sun of chennai ! The day I came, to my utter dismay,it was 38 degree Centigrade..and I lived through one more season of summer with no sight of snow that is always associated to Canada.

When I saw the news about a predicted 10 cms of snow last night, I was actually overjoyed much to the gnarls of my roommates :-) !! and I was slightly depressed when the weather was so good until this afternoon when I actually walked in just a jeans and sweater to the bank. And now when I want to go to the mall to send a snail mail back home, what do I see, layers and layers of whiteness covering everywhere. Its like everything is covered by a white blanket. Theres hardly any visibility and its already around 3-4 cms of snow. Hola, am I going to enjoy my walk back home or what !

Well, the snail mail have to still wait ! No cab is gonna come and pick me up in this snow !

I returned back early last night to my hotel room. By 7:00, I had soaked myself in a hot tub of water with lemon grass oil sprinkled in and was deep in a slumber by half past seven. I seriously wonder in what right frame of mind was I in, when even in the midst of a deep sleep (or was it a shallow?), I had called up Boston Pizza and ordered for a pizza and Garden green salad with a pop. The guy had apparently knocked on my door 30 mins later which fell into the deaf ears of your highness. He had to actually ring my intercom a coupla of times before he could deliver the pizza. Now that the sleep was disturbed, I sluggishly finished the pizza and called up my friends and family back home, then decided to buy in a movie. And trust me, I bought in a movie at the Hotel that absolutely did not justify the $12.99 I paid for it - Casino Royale. This classifies to be one of the most dumbest James Bond movie I have ever watched. This was the only James Bond movie I hadnt watched and that completed the equation, but I guess I would wanted it to be an exception. It just isnt a Bond movie at all.

Well its been snowing around today and as is my wont, I took a stroll outside in the snow !

Freedom !!!

You take a flight, land in a new place, new country, go over to the counter, rent a cab, take a map, drive down to your destination. Well, easier said than done ! But trust me, theres nothing like it when you are eligible and licensed to do all of it. That surely is freedom ! And when you are coming back to the same place again, well, its as good as coming home !! :-)

Have reported back to work in BellVille, to a warm welcome by everyone around - the place hasnt changed much except for the fact that its snowy all around, with spine chilling and in my case, teeth chilling cold. I took a stroll to a few places that I had promised myself to be back, albeit not alone, but unfortunately all alone ! Cldnt help but wonder things could have been different, should have been different.

Time to hunt for a place to stay and if I'm lucky, I must be getting a Bachelor's acco soon with no worries of pesting roommates ;-) ! Wonder when did I start such an aversion to roommates?

Gone with the Wind !

You know any close relationship has waned, the feelings have hit the bottom, that its time for you to treasure the memories and move ahead(with a faint hope of rediscovering the same at a later point of time, if destiny wills) - when people stop addressing you by name, the familiar nicks no longer are used, mails/letters start with a Hey, Hi, things that were interestingly shared are sent as FYI on a group alias and sometimes after reminders. Well, lifes like that - a string of memories !

On a different note, sometimes people humble me with their love. Like my granny who at her age of 88, made the food i liked even if it was 11:00 in the night or 4:30 in the morning to drive to bangalore - the reason, I might miss my favourite food for quite some time to come and she - not sure of how long she can hold onto her dear life. Well, grandma, thanks for all that you are. I'm what I'm mostly because of you and I absolutely adore you for your strength and character!

On the way ...

Very often, I have ppl tell me that I must be crazy to drive so often to Chennai. Well, I AM crazy about driving, but more than that, I sometimes get very nice moments during the travel that I can treasure, like these!

Started a little late on Friday evening and the almost full moon just took my breath away. It was my guiding moon bathing me with moonlight all through the way. I stopped over at a nice point and watched the moon rise up and above until it was brilliant white. Boy, dont I love my Canon with a 12X Optical zoom. Wonder what add-on lenses can do to this piece !

I usually start very early in the morning from chennai on Mondays, and not so surprisingly, reach office much earlier than if I stay in Bangalore ;-). And these days, the vast fields covered with white layers of morning mist and a rising sun behind, blinding your eyes through the rear view, is an awesome company to drive. Well along with a coffee, its just about perfect.
We need Baristas and CCDs on NH 7. Couldnt resist stopping over, enjoying it and completing my packed breakfast @ sunrise. Pleasant start to the week !

P.S:
I shd be putting these pics on moi travel blog @ http://bim-bam.blogspot.com. I guess I have become lazy having two blogs ;-) ! However, hope to have lotsa updates coming in the travel blog in a months time when I wld be travelling a lot lot more !

Ha !

A whirlwind of a weekend and before I can even write about it, another half of a week is already gone *sigh*....Now that there arent many weekends here at my disposal, and loads of things to be taken care of, all I could ask for is time. Wish a day had 48 hours instead *a vey big sigh* !

I wasnt very keen when my friends wanted to plan for something as I had lotsa pending things, especially a coupla bills to be taken care of, however, when they barged into my house early morning(read it as 5:30 Am) on Friday and packing my things, I couldnt say a No (my problem always). Neither did I imagine, I would have to drive the vehicle for the next 45 hours with just a break for the night @ a friend's coffee estate only to wake upto a beautiful sunrise.

I found myself taking people around as I had already been to the tourist places in Coorg. Every place, I visited, I was reminded of the first trip of mine to this place. Wish those times had stayed and as they say, Every good thing has to come to an end and so it came. Be it the Hilltown hotel / Nisargadhama / Thala cauvery / Buddhist monastery, I found myself reminiscing the past memories more than enjoying the present. Except that this time around , I was driving a new Hyundai getz through the curvy hill roads. We were driving through remote villages to reach the coffee estate in the late night when we switched off the head lights only to feel a bursting peak of adrenalin thru us.

A drive for few more seconds would have resulted in an accident or if there wasnt one, we wld have died of fear. All scary thoughts ran thru all our heads and I suddenly decided to stop the vehicle in the dark on the mountain towards the estate. We switched off even the cell phones to bask in the moon lit estate wilderness.

After 45 hours of travelling, I found myself in home only for a day of pub hopping and treating ourselves to an awesome spread of food.

BTW, visited The Legends last tuesday to catch up with some live music from a band called Altered Spaces for which a cousin of my friend plays guitar for. Hope to upload the video here. Check out in a couple of days.

I wonder, is it because my days here are numbered for a long time to come, that I'm not able to keep up with my schedule. My lifestyle suddenly seems like something straight out of a novel with pubs, food, music and travel one overlapping the other. Well, whateva, I surely am enjoying it !

Adorning beauties !

What do I sport these days especially when I drive?


What adorns my desk these days?

Internet as a battleground ?

It might be too early in my mind to form an opinion and I havent thought to myself yet, analysing what my stand is with regards to such developments, but the following articles did realyl make me sit back and want to spend time thinking how it would be in the future. Will internet be a battle ground?

Crazy Wikileaks

Do u use Google Earth?

And you thought I'm mad @ customer support for no reasons?

The Three of Us

Sometimes you read a book and identify the emotional journey of the characters with yourself. At times during such a read, you stop and think over "Gosh, its so like my thoughts, the emotions that I went through" and you realise theres so much in common with the fiction and real life. Oh well, it is bound to be as fiction, as I believe is just an extension of the real life. I picked up,"The three of us" by Abha Daweswar for the language based on my earlier read of her - "That Summer in Paris". But except that this time, I was in for a different treat. I was left wondering if it was indeed a lady who wrote this book (no offense meant) for the treatment of very intricate emotions of a man trying to identify his own sexuality. It was like the author had magically stepped into the thought process of a man. The novel just breezes through the lifestyle of a young Manhattan investment banker, laden with some hilarious moments and dialogues and sometimes, profound words. I'm looking forward to read "Babyji" which again is an emotional journey of a girl that had won her a literature award.

Whine and Dine !

A wannabe-restaurateur myself - towards which I have already made my clear cut plans, and as a person who likes to wine and dine at all places and all foods (vegetarian) possible in the globe, well, all i can say about this article is, Been-There-Faced-That !