Why do guys get angry when the subject of marriage is overtalked....

it's been a long, long time. I have forgotten totally of places where i need to blog. I have started blogging here as well - TG Blog
There is another account at LiveJournal, that seems to be going down, into the ocean, if you know what i mean. Now to the title.

I have often seen in my friend circle that whenever the subject of marriage is overtalked by elderly people, they get furious (Let me add myself to that list of people-who-get-furious-on-marriage-talks). The topic of interest [for the elderly] comes into ..errr...interest when the guy's age is over 21 years. The subject catches heat when it gets closer to 25. What's more? If age does not come into picture...His [the subject who is subjected to ....] educational qualification [MBA's preferably], bank balance or if he's settled in the US for very long are the major factors for the marriage talk to resurface with greater ferocity.

Boys will be boys and boys love freedom [i'm not saying marriage takes away freedom. i'll say that some other time!] It's the ways guys have grown up. Don't mistake me when i talk about freedom. The thing i mean is;

• Boys grow in a friend circle which loves cricket, wrestling, F1 and rant about each event after it's telecast on TV! You can not talk to someone who watched saas bahu episodes.
  
• Boys have grown up trusting their close pals and that's the reason why you see them pleasantly scream at each other when they meet after several years.
• Boys do multitasking [even girls do that but the subject here is us - boyzzz] which also includes flirting and saying a hot girl - Hot girl!
• Boys do not like one dimensional path. That's the reason why we never ask for directions even if we are lost!
• and boys, not all of them, love BEER!
  

See, when the topic of marriage pops up, we are afraid of losing all these. What else do we lose?

• Stop drinking beer. You know how much money can be saved?
• Can't throw clothes on the floor.
• Can not watch cricket match without being interrupted by ekta kapoor's soaps.
• Drive straight home. Your friends drive straight home. There is no need to catch up for a drink.
• Cannot call a Hot girl - hot girl! no more. There is only one Hot girl and she is in your life.

we do lose a lot.

Wait! as i think of more, i am really feeling sad of losing my bachelor's degree!

But as they say you lost some, you get some.

Why being an editor is not an easy job!

I am the newsletter editor of a leading adventure club in hyderabad. the job of an editor is not really an easy one. Why? simply because of the sheer amount of editing to do. Wow shishir, i couldn't have expected a better answer!

Alright, hear the best one. My experience and understanding ever since i suggested the idea and took the responsibility of implementing it.

The first newsletter i designed was so so. It was so, so so, that the response i expected during the release of the newsletter, in a local pub, was nothing more than a dud. This was my entry in to the 'making' of the newsletter for the club. The first newsletter that i designed was on microsoft document and used an online tool to convert it into a PDF.

For the second newsletter, the organizer suggested me to use Publisher 2007. I did not know how to use it and i wasn't very keen on using it, having acquainted myself with the tedious work on document. Fine, shun the tediousness and try using a sample and modify it to suit to your needs.

The basic idea of a newsletter for me is this -
1. Keep the number of pages as less as possible. Unless you have too many stories to cover. This too is bad as too many stories ruin the movie.

2. Give a great deal of attention to the way the content is to be placed. This includes images, story, any gyaan that needs to be given, reminders, sectional division in pages.

3. Give credits to people who have contributed in writing. After all, it's their writing why not appreciate them for the effort. What's your problem? There might be lot of sentences cut out during the process of editing but make sure the contributor's name is shown and the link to the original post is given at the end.

4. Make it readable. your writing should reflect the fun quotient that people always expect from you.

5. Uniformity through out the newsletter - give a page to every article. The design of second article layout should be similar to first article layout. The synchronousness should reflect.


With these thoughts, i picked up a template, modified it to suit the need. Since i was new to publisher, i took a lot of time arranging - rearranging the layouts. It happened N number of times. I was glued to it. i would start with first page, make sure the boxes, story, images are in place and onyl then move onto next page and continue doing the same. I never realized the amount of time i'm killing! That's precisely the reason why it took me so long to prepare the second issue. When the work was completed and released boy oh boy wasn't it a hit. The second one was very much appreciated and that helped me move onto the next step of introducing small features like hyperlinks. Ever since, the second addition, the appreciation have been pouring in.


Wait i haven't told you the worst part. After this painful work, the pricking work is 'editing' the material people have submitted. I understand usage of few ellipses but using it after every sentence makes you delete the file. The exaggerated, exuberant and glamorous sentences that people prefer to use makes me sleep! Keep it simple yaar. I understand few are excited with their first writing. It's good. Nothing against it. The only reason why it annoys me is that I HAVE TO FIT IT WITHIN A PAGE AND I HAVE TO READ ALL THAT AGAIN AND AGAIN, DELETING THE LINES WITHOUT REMOVING THE ESSENCE OF THE MESSAGE. See, how angry i get?


Nonetheless, for all the moments of anger and frustration in it, it still appears to me to be a wonderful job with lots of creative ideas to build in. Since, i am in-charge i have the freedom to make the way i want it but with a responsibility - the newsletter should serve a purpose, which is, Summarizing the activities in the most comprehensive way that makes the reader go till the very end of the newsletter!

Rajmachi Trek.

It's late, i know, but never had time to write a blog on my first ever monsoon trek. Been either busy or lazy or blank! Now, i guess it's come back.

The place i walked all along in the rain in the company of few people was rajmachi in maharashtra.
Rajmachi is a village which is around 2 hrs by train from pune. It's a place lot of trekkers visit during the monsoon season. Let me use 'I' instead of 'we' wherever applicable. Why? i'm a narcissist and because it's MY blog.

I started from hyderabad sometime in the evening. I missed the actual boarding point and had to catch an auto to go to another point and that cost me 50 bucks. So much for my punctuality! I almost missed the second boarding point. The place the second boarding point was in, was a new place to me and i had to be in conversation on phone with the travel agency guy to help me find the place. I just made it! or so i was told, because the bus left after 10 mins! Few more people from the group jumped into the bus. All in all, i think there were 16 people on board. The bus was heading to pune.

It was 4 in the morning when 'I' reached pune. People got down and walked towards railway station. Arrghh! i had an incomplete sleep in the bus, then standing on a deserted road and then had to walk. The best part among the three affairs was the deserted road. For some reason, i don't know why, i just love a deserted/empty/temporarily uninhabited road in the night. In this case, it was early morning. The walk! yes it took around 20 mins. i don't even remember! Reached the station and 'I' was waiting for the train to rajmachi. The worst part, waiting for another hour!!!!!!! By jupiter, there should be rain and guess what......there was rain! 'I' had a cup of tea and was talking to others. During the conversation with the group, i was told there will be no phone recharge point at rajmachi and hence I should get my phone recharged. Few of us got along and went looking for a point and we found one. There were 3 people who were charging their phones and many slot were available. So, we put our phones for recharge. 5 minutes after i plugged in my phone, there were more people rushing in and the slots were filled. Then the 'typical' indian - adjust karo bhaiee - thing cropped up.
One person, had a multiple pin holder and he freed one slot to plug the multi pin and put chargers into it. There was another guy, who took out a spike buster! When will this adjust karo thing go off man. Remember, this early morning. I wonder what the scenario would have been if it was any of the other parts of the day.
The train time was approaching. 'I' start walking towards the platform. By the time i had got there. the train was already there. Got in, caught one of the seats that was meant for us. Spoke to few and then retired to my usual self. The train started to move. There were around 6 of us in this section and the rest went on to the other side. 'I' was given tepala and chocolates to survive on for 2 days of trekking. I have always had trouble catching up a conversation with people, exception would be when i meet like minded people. I really mean when i say- Like minded people. It's not just a phrase i prefer using in the same tone as other do. It's been a rare occasion for me, ending up meeting people with whom i would love to catch up a conversation where the word pretension doesn't exists, as far as action is concerned. I watched these people cracking jokes, through out the journey, which were so childish and the only word i could attach to them was - Douche. I understand they have this -light lelo bhai - kinda attitude but i personally find it so 'stay away from them' sort. It's happening so often that i find solitude better than being amidst them. Anyway, i do have the attitude of - adjust karlo bhai - with people. I think this comes from my IT background.
The train was on the move. It was going through khandala and lonavala. I stood at the doorway to get a glimpse of the rain and the surrounding picturesque view and i thoroughly loved it. There was one point, the first tunnel the train passed. The part i loved was when the train exited the tunnel. Imagine this. The train enters the tunnel - it's dark and when it gets out, you see white clouds - its totally white - all around. Does it give you a feeling of heaven? I have never experienced this thing before and have never seen anything like it so far. Whiteness around. At one time i felt like jumping straight through it, not knowing what's below or where i would land.

The train made a stop at our destination - Rajkat. The plan was to catch a tuk-tuk to some place and start out trek from there. The place where the tuk-tuk or what in hyderabad are called 'shared-autos', dropped us at a point where tar road or 'pakka' road ends. The ground was wet and there was greenery all around. People decided to have their breakfast. Ended up finding a small house-cum-restaurant where poha and tea was ordered. Everyone introduced themselves and got into a conversation. I as usual, recoiled to myself, preferred to walk around and see the dog which was tied up. I ended up getting few shots of the dog. People had their breakfast, got out and started the trek.

The trek began with walking through farmlands and plain surfaces. Farmers were working saying 'haiya-haiya' to the animals. We found a guide, in the form of two kids - brothers - who decided to lead us to rajmachi village. Few kilometers of walk, the plain lands gave way to elevated and turny routes. There was rain. Getting wet in the rain is altogether a different affair. I always get a felling that the world has stopped and is going in snail's pace and its NOT a rat race out there. You are what you are! There were tress all around and lush green surroundings. The first 'I' made was at the waterfall. Water was gushing. The group decided to climb to the top - walking against the gushing water. I was IN. I started my ascend. The water was hitting all the time - cold water. It takes hardly a minute to get used to the temperature. I climbed, slipped, floated, hurt myself, put my head against the water. THIS was adventure. Few of us reached the top and were standing under the gushing water. we were watching others climb to the top. There was one moment where i slipped and slided down. This was pretty extreme fall. It was like falling from level 4 to level. Luckily, it was not VERY grave. I was told that it was grave. Someone, held my hand and stopped me from falling further. Wow! that was one fall, i would say. 'I' spent some time playing in the water. The rocks were slippery so had to be careful while descending, having experienced a fall! Lot of leeches, small ones, stick to the clothes and skin. Had some time for that as well, to remove them and clean up myself. 'I' resumed my walk. The rain was harder now.
The monsoon trek has its romanticism and i'm a rain-loving guy. The hills were getting steeper and there were kilometers to go before we reach the village. 'I' made frequent stops on the way to look back at the view the sahyadris had to offer. The rain was hitting my face and it was getting colder as i was getting drenched in the rain. Was it time for tea? We found a shop at the top of the hill which was selling tea, corn, fried groundnuts et al. The tea rejuvenated my trekking pace. After a 2 km walk from the place where i had tea, 'I reached RAJMACHI village!!! yippee.

The village was like.....a village. Few people, fewer houses, peace. Most of the people i saw were trekkers. 'I' dropped my back at the place where we were supposed to stay and headed to the fort. There are two forst in rajmachi - Shriardhan and Manaranjan. 'I' went to one of the forts.

The walk to the fort is amazing and even more amazing is the fact that you are over the clouds all the time. I stood at one of the places at the fort and watched the rain drop hit perpendicularly. It was like in the movies as you see the bullets hit. After a brief stint, i headed to the top of the fort. I couldn't see anything, it was totally covered with clouds. When i reached the top, i looked down and guess what? I couldn't see anything, it was totally white and this nothingness was the one of the beautiful things i have ever seen. I sat on the edge and tried to feel it all. Looking up - nothing, looking down there is nothing. Say the same for left and right. It was simple brilliant. At times, the clouds made way and i was able to see something but soon filled the space.

When 'I' was getting down with 2 others, we noticed a 'stone tank' filled with water. We decided to sit down and spend sometime. We had a long talk and started splashing water with our feet like school kids and all of us thoroughly enjoyed the moment. We talked all the way back down.

The night had set in. People spent their time singing while i went into my shell, sleeping. It was dinner time. Roti, a curry, rice and dal was served. It was so good that i couldn't stop asking for more, besides the hunger calls were severe.
'I' retired to bed immediately post dinner. Had to get up early next day. 'I' had to walk from rajmachi to lonavala all the way. It's 40 kms of walk!!!

It was morning, the next day. I got up , brushed my teeth like everyone else. For breakfast, poha and tea was served. Had it quickly and it was time for us to leave. The walk began at 7. On the way, stopped to see waterfalls and took few pictures. It was a good walk, had to be. It was around 1 when we reached lonavala. Had a cup of tea on arrival and went for lunch. After the lunch, went to the railway station. The train for hyderabad was at 3:30.

I reached hyderbad the following morning. No sleep and had to rush to the office.

Trek to Bhuvangiri and Yadagirigutta.

Wee hours of saturday, 27th of June 2009, the members of hyderabad adventure club 'journeyed' to Bhuvangiri Hills, situated at around 50 kms from hyderabad. First stop was this. Next stop, invariably, in mind was yadagirigutta. All in all 15 people made it to the peak of both the hills. The rest were never there :-). The energy and the synergy made this a memorable one. Read on the text describing the events of the day that made people embrace good company of......people.

People were picked up from different points of scheduled route of the excursion. Travel time to Bhuvangiri? 45 minutes. What did we do on the way? Talk and talk and talk. We reached somewhere close to 0715hrs. It was time we had our breakfast before moving on for the trek. Breakfast time had a little surprise. Introductions. People, introduced themselves to others. Good to have people from different fields of profession. The breakfast was one interesting affair. The sound decibels raised by this group would have raised the eyebrows of the hotel guys who served. Hmmm. a noisy morning to start with.

We reached the foot of the hill and the group began its ascend. As we moved up, the wind hit our face. A cool breeze in the early morning with the clouds 'clouding' the sun made the environment perfect for an adventure, a tireless adventure. The weather helped us till we made it to the top. The sun rays made ways through clouds. Thats an image, i believe, one would love to see from the hill top. The clouds shadowed the surface. The adventure was quite adventurous, one of 'em trying to imitate spiderman. Hmm. he couldn't use his web! Not a great height.
We spent quite some time at the top. It was time to get on and move to the next stop for 'the climb'. Yadagirigutta.

Yadagirigutta, at first sight, seems quite easy owing to its i-can-climb-that-hill look. What adds to the climbing task is the presence of lot of rocks and unlike Bhuvangiri they are not meant to be an easy walk, relatively. The hills offer some difficult path for the out-of-the-path-trying people. People chose different routes to make it to the topmost point of the hill. With frequent stops made, water gulped and foods munched on the way. The sun was coming out. The one thing that trekkers usually do not like when they are trekking is the sunshine. What's more annoying? The afternoon time but that's inevitable. We had the wind in the morning and the sun now for the rest of the day. A good trek that took a good amount of time. One observation was that people were quite happy with the difficulty the hills offered. Why do i say this? When people got down and looked back at the hills, they were elated. What made me happy was the frozen water in the bottle.

It was time for lunch. We had our stop near the temple area, at one of the restaurants. After the food was done, few wished to visit the temple and went ahead and few who didn't went ahead as well.

We still had time to make it to a place where people could sit down and talk, something like a park and it was decided, i don't know who did but eventually there was an agreement on visiting the deer park, shameerpet. I knew it only when we reached there. The deers were shy [thats what i always think of animals who run away] albeit they offered few glimpses to our waiting fellow photographers. We were taken into the park, which i was told, was not usually allowed to people after a particular time but thanks to Mr. Ranjan Sood who arranged a visit inside for the benefit of the group. After having a round in the park, we gathered at a point and sat down for a talk- on the experience of the days' outing of the group in the hills. People shared their candid thoughts and shared humor.

The final stop for any day long excursion has to be a tea shop or any decent restaurant that offers decent tea. Sorry! for coffee lovers its coffer shop. A quick 10 minute stop and it was time to head back to hyderabad.

All in all, a good trek with fantastic people who shared a common thought for the day - 'Have fun. You have worked for 5 straight days. Tomorrow i.e Sunday, you can give loud cries when your muscles ache'.

Araku Hills.

A travel to a place surrounded with hills and picturesque views, my weekend was made by this trip albeit i wished, secretly, if i could continue my stay for few more days. For those of you who missed the experience, here's a breakup of the entire journey.

The morning was pleasant when we reached vizag but soon the pleasantness was to be taken over by sun god's powerful heat rays. I could feel the temperature climbing when we started off from vizag in the mini bus. Sad for me as everyone had taken the left side of the bus escaping the beams while i had to settle on a seat on the right. The griping was on for sometime but later on it switched to jovial mode when i with other people, started sticking our heads out of the window to have the rushing air hit us. The road, as far i remember, had no potholes and with few vehicles on the road, we were free to stick out as long as we could [though on the responsibility of self]. The only thing i missed during this enterprise of mine was a good song in my player which could sync with the mood and the experience for that time. The initial part of the journey had fields on either sides with small hills in the background. A momentary thought would project the fact that you are far away from the cramped, gaging and high decibel city side. The first stop was borra caves.

Borra caves: primarily contains stalactites and stalagmites, varying from small to large. There are legendary stories associates with this places. The caves, through out, imparts an arty thought with yellow lights illuminated at spots to produce a beautiful image of natural limestone carvings. The cave has small worship spots of lord shiva, who is associated with the legendary stories of the borra caves. The cave gave a low temp. conditioned air for people who wanted to escape the heat. Fews yards of walk and you hear bats crying from some dark corner giving a sense of adventure (if you remember brady barr's episode in a bat cave). Additional point to end the paragraph, lot of pictures [with you in it] to take and arty people would get the best out of it.


Next stop: After the view of the caves, it was time to head to our destination. The journey now was full of stops! Not the check posts but the forceful stops by the tribal inhabiting the region. There were plenty of such stops where we had to give them some money. At certain stops, we saw people getting into fight for not letting them pass through. Arguments flying from both sides. It was alright at first but was nerve wrecking when it went on frequently. I was told, this kind of stops happen only twice a year. Lesson: Validate if such events happen before the tour is chosen.


Reached our place: We reached our destination sometime in the evening. An isolated place with few people which was just right. The place had a hill behind and it was decided that we refresh and trek the hill. So, there it was. A night trek. Four teams were formed and the team reaching the top first received chocolate bars from the organizer. In fact, every team got a bar in the end. How nice is that! The hill was quite steep covered with small bushes. It was fun trekking in the twilight hour. Yes, few scary thoughts of creatures lurking around. Thankfully, none showed up! We reached the 'summit' and waited for all to be there for the awards ceremony. Awards handed out, pictures taken, merry talk and the cool night under the moonlight was something to embrace. After a while spending atop, it was time to descend. We reached our stay place and were awaiting dinner time. We spent sometime relaxing and headed out for dinner. The dinner prepared there was excellent but was marred by delay from the vendor.

Next Day: It was the day to trek a steeper hill. We started out in the morning, again a pleasant one, to the hill. The entire group was split into teams and were free to choose their path for trek. The initial segment was filled with dry plants which left few light scars on teammates arms. Then, followed the muddy and slippery slope and few found it tough to walk over, opting to crawl instead. As we headed front, we got better looks of the hill. Mostly, covered with dry plants. Having said that, there were trees around as well to take shelter and if someone wanted to be mowgli. After a good climb to the top [coupled with exhaustion and panting] and spending sometime there, it was time to get down. The climb down was exciting as we chose to go through the dense trees. The ground here was covered with dry leaves. In spite of a neat path that lay ahead, people opted for random path selection by which they could find their way down. The climb down ended and we headed out to cool ourselves in the small stream of water that was flowing at the foot of the hill.

It was time now to pack up and head to vizag.


We had our packed lunch in the bus, on the drive, after which most of them had a good sleep. When we got up there was vizag. We visited the rama krishna beach. We stepped in for 30 minutes or so as time was running out. After the sand-coated-feet visit, it was time to catch the train back to hyderabad.


All in all, a fantastic journey that i'll remember for a long time to come.

It's easy to make a name for yourself, specially in politics.

Very much isn't it? The people standing up to the mike can leave an impression with the people who they address. For some reason unknown to me, people who make hate speeches are spoken with vigor. Its a short cut to fame. You want people to talk about you, their attention diverted to you. what does it matter if its for good or bad? Our country is in love with politicians, business people, movie stars and cricketers. All are seen like gods or are considered demigods.

Ignoring is something that no one can do. Everyone wants to cash-in on the opportunity left behind
by the person who caused it. The matter is debated, yet no conclusion is reached and the process repeats albeit in different forms.

It's not the first time that someone has ignited sentiments of a section of a society mere by his words. Sentiments run high in people. A sense of isolation in its own turf is built in people rather than propagating the idea of humanity. There is an irony to this. The thought of insecurity is built by people who promise to bring legislations or laws to improve security and life.

In spite of all the hulla-gulla on the hate speech, there are people who support the person who incited it in the first place. Of course, it was meant to please them. He did and now he needs to be supported.

Its strange and amusing to see that we tell the world we are a secular nation but interestingly the gaps in many factors continue to be pushed in the background and no heed is given to it and as a result we see increase in the amount of violence and spilling hatred.


PS: A morning article in the TOI supplement says being bitchy and playing politics in reality TV shows is loved by youngsters. Thank you TOI for bringing the fact to public light, like you always do!
Why do i read this paper, precisely for these reasons.

The auto ride!

Yes. The thought if expedition finally materialized after receiving the confirmation mail which was after i dropped the previous post. My waryness and apprehension was quite evident i suppose. Nevertheless, i finally made it. Beefcake.

I left hyderabad on the evening of february 26th. The train was to leave at 1900hrs from Kacheguda station. I expected the travel from my place to the station to last for 30 minutes, of course keeping motorbike, car and the bus population in mind but my calculation, like always, had been wrong. I always try to make the right calculation when it comes to time [of course do keep some clearance which is not included in my calculation which saves me. always.] but fail miserably. The auto ride was quite turbulent. People in hyderabad show of their driving skills in the conjusted areas. Their maneuvering skills, their ability to 'sneak' thro' fellow riders of the evening. As expected, the driver of the auto in which i was seated hit the rear end of another auto with his tyre. The other auto seemed to be riding in peace as 'my' auto was following for sometime before the rational thought arose in the drivers mind to overtake him when there was hardly 'good' space around and vehicles were joining the mainstream of traffic from different 'gallis', adding to my fury. I plugged in my player which gave me charlie parker to listen. The was relating the music with the picture outside. Meanwhile, the auto guy was taking sharp turns and applying instant brakes displacing me from the seat. The saxophone play was running fast and i could imagine myself [imagine?] being one of those comic guys in the black & white screen era [more like charlie chaplin. You know how his acts were supplemented by running music in the background. running music?]. Made it to the station before 5 minutes and learnt that the train will leave after half hour [which was common for it.]. Bangalore was the destination.

My Trip.

not the stumble, not the experience with pot [that was back in college], not the broken sentences which i have a problem with. Its the journey, a trek to Gopalaswamy hill and Edakkal Caves. yeah yeah. Wait. i havn't received the confirmation mail yet, why am i talking about it?

Now, the most hated word under these circumstances and the word, correction, 'THE' word of an optimist has been thought by the blogger [he thinks he has to be realistic] before typing in the content. Say, i get the confirmation, which should happen tomorrow, I will have to leave hyderabad on friday morning and get directly to the spot mentioned for pick-up in banglore. Why wouldn't i stay at a place for sometime before heading out? Apparently, its so happened that the friend with whom i used to stay, whenever i go down to b'lore, is turning up in hyderabad to attend a wedding ceremony. urghh. at this time? and another of my friends, is in chennai, for a long time and another won't be there even for help! that's why i need to go straight down to the spot. Is that all shishir. 3 friends in b'lore? Think yes, i know people there but wouldn't wish to stay.

The plan would be to catch a train which would reach b'lore atleast 2 hrs before the actual time of trek team pick-up. i would get enough time to talk to people i know and roam b'lore a little, here and there and then move. The trip is to last for two days. On my return to b'lore i need to catch a train to hyd. Work makes me do this and I say work SUCKS and it FUCKS too.

Hope the 'if' clause is removed from the code. I'll post the fotos as well if i'm sure of getting my new batteries for my digital camera (always forget to get it).

Pink Chaddi Campaign

I googled for this word: pink chaddi [No. I'm no pervert. Mark that]. I heard of the pink chaddi campaign on television and also had read it in one of the blogs. The 'pink chaddi' campaign, as it is popularly now known, is a campaign by group of women [there are men in that group too] to respond to the violence unleashed by the self-proclaimed moral police of indian culture, the shri ram sene, in a non-violent [guess, munnabhai must be one kinda-of-a source of inspiration]. How would they do that? by sending pink chaddis[of whatever size] to Mr. pramod muthalik. The consortium of pubgoing, loose and forward women [they should get a good abbreviation for this] have raised a strong voice against the violence that took place in the city of mangalore on 24th of january this year where women, having a good afternoon drink, were beaten up by men of shre ram sene, all in the slogan of protecting indian culture.
The campaign had caught the news limelight and the membership has been growing ever since. Way to go ladies. This is what they call girl power or in indian culture, nari shakti.

kudos.
Check their site: http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com

Books. From then till now.

One of my online friends had posted a blog on her relationship with books and people who helped her maintain that relationship. I posted a comment in her space which prompted me to take this step of writing. From school till now.
I was never fond of books [not that i am very fond now, i guess its improving]. In fact I hated reading books when i was a kid, exceptions being tinkle and chacha chuadury. My dad used to work for a govertment enterprise and we were staying in the govt. alloted quarters from my birth day till first 2 years of engineering. There was a library, a small one, in the corner of the sports complex of the quarters. There was a man who used to get frustrated with kids very often, rambling words under his breadth, cursing the kids [including myself] or maybe himself, for having landed in that low-paying job with naughty and annoying kids around. Playing in the sports complex and in the near by ground was the only activity that used to cloud my mind when i got back from school. After playing, the time usually would be 1830 hrs, i used to visit thte library to get a book from the quota of two books from my dads account. It initially started with getting kadambari books [kannada] for my mother which slowly moved to getting tinkle, asterix, tintin till class 6, i guess. After this phase, was my interest for reading enid blyton books [i always thought that enid blyton was a man] which included those famous books Famous Five and Secret Seven. After reading thro the book sof available enid blyton, i started reading The Hardy Boys [Franklin. W. Dixon]. The interest in hardy boys arose because a friend of mine used to read it and he used to ask me i could get some books from the quarters lib. Once he was done with his reading, i used to pick the book. My addiction for television cartoons had taken over the miniscule interest that i had in reading. I guess, you would have now known how it started, from hating books to creating the interest in reading some. The cartoons that used to occupy my time were Spiderman, Teenage mutant ninja turtles, Silver Surfer, Talespin, Ducktales, Tom and Jerry to name a few. These were my favorites and i guess will be my favorite alltime cartoon series.

My regret would be not reading books during my +1 and +2 stream. I got into a college were there were full of padakoos and i turned into one of them having read only science and mathematics books [though i fared poorly]. The interest whatever i built up started diminishing and i dont remember reading a single book during this mundane period.

My undergrad days, was a revival period, atleast partially, for the interest in books. Sydney sheldon books were the ones i read during first few years and continued my reading on asterix [i have to admit i havn't read all of 'em. I also had the web print of the entire collection but the CD is corrupted now. how sad is that?]. Parallelly, there was an increased interest in Harry Potter and was eagerly waiting for the next release, like a kid. Few of john grisham's books and dan brown's [all of 'em] books were in the list of books i read.

In my professional life, i guess i am looking for something different now. Not the thrillers, not the sheldon types or the grisham types. Fortunately, i had a room-mate who had a good interest in reading and the books he owns are also the ones which are selected for the top 100 novels of alltime. Now, i read whenever i find time and when the interest for reading is insatiable. There are books lined up close to 100 of 'em. I wish i could finish reading those in the shortest time possible.

Tax payers' money up for toss.

The other day, when i was waiting to board my bus, i saw an advertisement board right across the busy road straight in front of me which said "Pay your property tax before and help us built a city of your dreams". Well said but i had a problem with what was written next. I cannot recall it word by word but it said something like, "Pay your taxes on time and get a chance of winning upto Rs 10,00,000". What? are you serious? People pay their taxes and you sum it, make of pie of Rs 10,00,000 and award it to someone who pays their taxes on time. Tax payers money awarded to someone? The entire offer resembles more to a chit fund than a tax process. I mean, poeple pay tax [who ever is paying] for usage of a property not for you to give away to someone. You may call this an act of encouraging people to pay their taxes on time albeit not to be.
Why dont you spend the same money on building the city of peoples' dream, as your tagline hollered!

MUSIC moves MIND.

I was walking from the final office bus stop to my house at night. Like always, i was plugged to my music. A lone man walking at night. At some distance i see a house decorated with lights. The light bulbs, of different colors, were placed in parallel lines. With a particular song which was running [argghhh.... i can't remember the song], i just, for an instant, travelled back in time with visual glimpses from the past clouding my mind till i crossed that house.

The glimpses were of the decorated christmas trees that i used to see near my aunt's house when I was a kid. This particular place i.e my aunt's place, has lot of christian families. I used to wait for the day of christmas whenever i realised the month was december. For one, there was food, confectionaries and they were in plenty and another, there was this sense that built up inside that i belonged to that place, the eternal peace i used to find whenever i visited that place, the familiar and friendly faces to greet everytime i was there. There is a hospital near by which used to put up christmas trees with dangling christmas cards and covered with lights, clay dolls placed in small dens or placed over a small area, depicting stories. I was taken to the place by my dad or uncle. At times the entire family used to visit the place.

As I think of it now and that night when i walked past the decorated house, the whole place gives me a sense of security, pleasure, comfort. The security is not in a way that I would be attacked or smacked but it's like the way that there's someone to make you feel connected, important, liked even though you feel you dont need it. The place gives it all to you. That's what's so beautiful. I don't have to say it to anybody or express anything the way I feel for that place. It's hard to describe. I think that is what 'belonging' is all about. Whenever there is a glimpse of the wonderful past you had, if given a chance, you want to get back there, and as fast as you could.

The musical cry of the cell phones.

I am and always have been hit by this question whenever a phone with ringtones of that of a song rings from phones of my colleagues, "Why do you have to add those songs as ringtones? " I have never understood the fascination for having songs as ringtones and never could understand why when there is a new song i've heard on TV has to become the ringtone the next week [probably if the guy is a nutcase he would have it the next day itself]. I mean what are these guys out to prove? Below are the few possible reasons going on in the perpertrators' mind that i could muster.
a) "I want to show others that i'm in touch with modernity" [This guy needs to wake up]
b) "That song is my favourite! Oh I love it so much" [what a song! really....... i swear on errr.......]
c) "People who haven't heard this song. Let them hear it." [This is one of the best forms of serving humanity]
d) "I don't know. I just got it from my friend because it was cool" [ugghhhh! Now someone definitely has to tell me what 'cool' means here.]

I damn all these guys who trouble me when i'm with peace in office. The tone that is very often heard these days is one from SRK's new movie "Rab ne bana de jodi". When a ringtone of that song goes off on a table somewhere in the office and which has the audacity to reach my ears, im reminded of the promo video which is currently aired on national channels and makes me say "No! not that atleast". From what appears from the video, it looks like our superstar hero wants to experience coolness in a more idiotic way. I guess movie start in the age of 40 tend to have fun being an idiot. Not to forget to mention, tom cruises' bizzarre way of professing his love for katie holmes in one of oprah winfrey's show which made news for which he also confessed recently stating that he should have handled it in better way ["Love makes you blind! guess it does."]. So getting back to our super hero SRK, he seems to be trying awful lot of things with his new styles and bikes and trying to attain that hunk look. The same tried in his earlier home production movie "Om shanti Om" which, funnily, made good amount of cash [Marketing does a lot. i know i know. i hate marketing. I HATE IT]. I wonder how people end up watching such kind of movies [Well! i did watch it on TV]. I had a laugh when i watched it guess i should appreciate him for something and not for others because his movies makes me laugh and ridicule at the same time!

It's been a week for Mumbai.

It's been a week since the terrorists unleashed their terror on civilians of mumbai, killing 179 people and injuring many more who are recovering from serious wounds. The "spirit of mumbai" is less spoken off and the demand to see actions and justice is seen more. The "chalta rahega", "baad me dekengey" attitude has striken.

I have been watching the news channels for updates ever since the tragedy struck the "maximum city". There are more controversies picked up everyday than the dire need of the hour - solutions.....practical solutions for preventing another terrorist attack. Swift actions taken now by the govt. of india, in response to the anger of people and more so with the future election dangling. Pressurized politicians resigning in the wake of the event for their inefficiency in handling events and they never are short of peoples' expectations when it comes to 'public' work. Politicians not sensing what to speak at this hour of crisis with remarks ranging from 'lipsticks' by a senior leader of the opposition party to insulting statements from chief minister of a state who was refused to let into a martyr's house, to a casual remark on the terrorist incidence by the deputy CM of the tragedy struck state. These are the kind of people who have been elected to rule and have their final say on laws to make public life better.

Acceptance seems to be the hardest word.

Acceptance, in daily life, IS the hardest ordeal in human life. The mind devices the objectives everyday and a successful accomplishment of the 'to-do' list brings immense satisfaction and even greater, brings in the hope that your long term goals will be met someday in the future if the completion of the tasks are to the expected level of performance. But why does it become so hard to digest the fact that you are no way closer in everyday affair itself. Accept the reality that you are not in any good position in clinching the title leading to the ultimate, the image of which lies somewhere in the subconscious mind. You tend to question, whack your thinking part of brain with questions like - Why did i do this? Do i like doing this? What made me to this? Where am i heading and the question that tops everything. Will I ever be happy by doing this and that?

The journey begins with the idea of happiness, don't-know-how-but-gotta-have-it-somehow. Misery is not what is acceptable, at least not initially. You can be optimistic, will be optimistic because you've heard people around you say it all the time and have fed yourself with it and nothing else but it. Optimism, an idea thats based entirely on hope and hope is not based on any analysis or calculation. Interestingly, it is based on the thought that bad times can not rule for long. There should be a brighter side somewhere and that somewhere is close. There should be a godly power that would rescue you from everything wrong that is happening and the power of the universe shall lead to the door that one is seeking. The entire journey is spent and when you do not find what you wanted, at least in your mind, in the speculated timeframe, you try to show the world that a lot has been learnt from the journey. The experience will help next time if confronted with a similar situation but what when you never face a situation that would even resemble a percent of the earlier situation?

When the imaginary point of solace that you have been looking for seems distance away, so away, that you realize there's not enough energy or motivation to carry you ahead, you let it go and see things differently. You never gave a thought on the journey itself, blinded by one thought that was lingering in mind through out. "I think that's what i wanted and I think I will be happy and satisfied when i reach there". The journey is forgotten, you have got what you 'thought' would make you happy but what makes you feel you still have nothing. What did i do all that for? Everything that i've done so far, does it hold any good? The feeling of loneliness, helplessness sinks in and you find there's no one to get you out of there but yourself. Restructuring your goals, forgetting everything and this time not with the thought of reaching where you want to but with no thoughts at all more like a rambler.

So you now know why taking a walk back home is more meaningful and enjoyable than taking a walk away from home.

Where the hell was this song?

One such song was 'I shall be released' by bob dylan. 'Any day now....any day now...I shall be released'. I have been skipping this song for a while. I never liked the first strums of the guitar and was skipping it. That's stupid.eh? That's idiotic. I never allowed the song to progress a little further and for some reason i did that today. I opened my eyes and said...what the fuck? where the hell was this song all this while. The feeling was immense, like i found something i had lost.

The song was so much liked that I played it over and over again. The morning sunlight hitting my handsome face!!! Eyes closed, I stare at the sun. The golden yellow was pictured. The color faded to brown and then black as the bus moved away from the sun. The mind was alive. The usual mind of mine involved in crap thoughts that, perhaps, has no signinficance in any domain of life.

I wake up and the see the office gate. Fuck office and fuck everything else inside. arrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Few Favorites from captured!

Hard days’ work on return home

When you are staying away from home, you think about it at times. When you get back, there’s work waiting for you – specially, if it’s a festive day.

I do have the liberty of waking at my time but this is gravely marred by the ‘to-do’ list for the day, reminded by mum the previous night before retiring to the cozy bed that ensures a prefect sleep.

The ‘to-do’ list for the next day:

1. The red chillies need a hair cut: Not exactly. The stem, I suppose, is the word I’m looking for. The stem needs to be cut off using the scissors. You sit in the chair in the hall staring at the chillies on the table, picking up one-by-one and cut the stem off and drop them into the container. The population of the chillie species, in particular the red type, is so good that you don't want to delve into counting. Completion of the work assigned is the call and a good and clean work ensures accolades from the commanding officer of the kitchen.

2. Shop for groceries and vegetables: “Take the scooter and get the list of items written in the list and listen be careful when you are riding!” List..List...List. One list for vegetables, one list for groceries and another list in the mind - of the things i wanted to do that day but inevitably has to be delayed (which includes watching movies gulping down alco from the bottle). When you get to the destination, you have to wait in a queue to get all the 'listed' items and you hear yourself say "What the f**k?. This is taking so much time." and get back home after 2 hours of standing, like a street lamp pole.

3. Talk to relatives. Go. Visit them: This was in the ‘to-do list. "Aunt and uncle will be disappointed if you don’t talk to them. These kids of modern days. They don’t know how to maintain family relations. God take care of these fools". Yup.Yup. god shall direct me to the path of the wise and i shall enlighten my brain with all the wisdom from the journey and 'grow up'. Its more an obligation shoved than the need or the desire to speak. The tormenting question of 'How would you maintain relations with people?" - related people in particular and the inevitable conclusion drawn from the present behavior of mine - my refusal to speak to relatives and the griping that goes after the talk, makes my brain go berserk.

Work awaits you everywhere. So does the fun that follows it.

Oh no...Fred-e AGAIN!

Fred–e has taken the bus, Scheduled Departure Time – 12 : 30. He keeps shifting between reading his book and listening his music (the charge level indicator shows one-stick which is to say its gonna last for approx an hour...naheeein. What is Fred-e to do when its dead!!!! Fred-e kya hoga? The hour hand is 'in-between' 3 and 4 while the minute hand points to 6. 15: 30 is the time it said). Fred-e decides to sleep after pouring out water from his eyes. The journey is on.

Fred-e wakes up and checks for the place first and then the time. He looks out and says to himself, “I'm crossing western ghats”. He looked for the time. It was 18:40. I'm traveling through the twilight hour.

The hills far-off look worn out. The gray clouds descend from the sky and blanket the mountains – partially. The rain drops keep hitting the glass window, not in a continuous fashion though. The dark lord casts his shadow over the place pushing the light away but not before passing a message “Light Light! Come another day”. The time moves on. Fred-e looks at the place and sees a house, lit by bulb. The bulb might be of 40W. He wonders if there are people living in there and if there are any??? How on earth do they live with a single lit bulb (If the reader is saying that it might be a fodder or cattle house, Fred -e would say, I SAW IT CORRECTLY. IT WASN'T THAT). The bus moves on and Fred-e catches a glimpse of another 'human' house but this time there was no bulb. There was no light source. That definitely must be a ghost house! The place which the bus passed through had few shops around and few houses. Life must be very hard here.

Fred-e wonders as to why everytime he has to go thro' this route always? What Fred-e didn't realise is that this is the ONLY route that could connect by road to his place. Fred-e was blank...like always.

A Walk on the Beach sand

The day was Wednesday, 03^rd of September, the day Indians across the land celebrated lord ganesha’s birthday, I decided to take a walk in the beach.

The time between 6 and 7 in the eve is what I prefer. My dad dropped me off the highway – he had a program to attend somewhere close. One has to walk the tar road covered with iron ore on either side, on foot or – if lucky enough for the day – by an auto rickshaw. Lucks' never on my side. So, my walk begins.

The road is dusty. Heavy vehicles rest on sides of the choking road. Few vehicles pass through the road, raising the settled particles in the air and atmospheric pressure difference causes the particles to exhibit ‘tyndall effect’ and find a passage into the lungs. It was fine with the auto rickshaws going by (lesser ore members in the air) but it got to my nerve when it was a heavy vehicle that went past. I cursed the guy sitting behind the steering wheel. Five minutes after the cursing, I was there. It took around 15 minutes to reach a point from where one could see the horizon.

The clouds gathered at a region in the sky, the sun hiding behind them, ships on the horizon and a lone man stepping onto the white sand. The images were stunning. I hate when there are too many people around. Amidst the population which indulged in water activities, beach side sport, talking and other things which I couldn’t see (they were sitting far off), I found a place for myself. I pulled out my digital image capturer and focused the lens on the picturesque view in the sky, though it had changed slightly. I took a few of them, having anchored liner and the sun behind the clouds(which you can see here), a brilliant amalgamation of colors in the sky with a line of water embedded in the image.

I decided to take a walk and take more pictures as and when the scene in the sky develops. I walked past writings on the sand, sand castles destroyed by raucous waves, people capturing picturesque view in their phones, group of shells on the shore – broken. After covering a distance, I take ‘the capturer’ and click the way to hold the image. Clicking, viewing and deleting ones that were not ‘imprinted’ well. I had walked enough. It was around 6:45 and I thought its better I move the other direction and get onto the ‘short road’ made of huge stone blocks. The road that directs to the sea! And there I go. The twilight shade was getting darker every minute but I decided to stay longer.

I embarked the journey to the other side. This time it took me around 20 minutes to reach to the start of the road. It was dark already, the sun was going to bed quite early(which I got to know from my aunt later when she said ‘its getting dark early these days’). I step onto the road to walk into the sea and I see people walking the other direction (its known around that staying beyond 7 in that area is not a good idea. Sirjee!). As I walk into the dark sea, I see two men fishing, standing on piled stones. I captured it and got a blurred image. It seems I hadn’t chosen the right option for the night picture, plus the one which does not emit the powerful light, keeping the natural essence intact. I did not remember the mode and the way to set it and was in no mood to test the option as well. Had to be content with what ever I could capture. For the next image, keeping the option which got me the blurred image, active, I tried to compensate the blur by avoiding the ‘hand trembles’. Failed miserably in that and had to suffice with what I had got. It was close to 7:30 and I was still making my way into the sea. Amidst the craze of capturing scenic beauty, it never crossed my mind to stop and take a look around at the dark night in the sea with the glittering stars on top. I stopped three-fourth of the way and stood on one of the stones that formed the pavement and stared at the ocean. The ships had lit up at this time, strong breeze flew past me, waves hit each other and eventually hit the stone surfaces, the night had occupied the place and I had occupied a tiny space to watch this. The mind was void, void of any activity (as is the case always). It was only viewing. Do nothing else. I turned to look the extreme where the ‘road’ ends (a little light was available) and realized I’m alone. There is no one around. That was it. I was alone staring the dark, feeling it all. The silence I guess was what made me stand there for another 10 minutes. I started walking back – jumping on the stones – turned each time to see. Fatigue had set in. My skin pores were making way for the water from the body. I think this diminished my experience with the night – alone. Nonetheless, the surrounding was something to embrace.