Short Cut :)... finally

For all the people after my life to get my hair cut short....

Catharsis at 4 AM

4 AM and I think I've lost you...
Got outside and looked for the drops on your raincoat..
Looking for what wasn't there... wondering what it costs you...
The rain pours down... no sign of her.... rain pours away

I drove for miles and roads...
to find a place which breathes life.. and more
Looking to have her.. for a time once more...
Her nose on my window.. a tap on the door
Reminds me of the times we lived for..

I know I tend to get so insecure
It doesn't matter anymore

Time slips back and I can see.. like it was yesterday...
Looking at the rain outside the window... she hands me my raincoat
Sometimes she just comes with the umbrella herself
Saving me from the rain..always ends up getting drenched.. me n her

She always wears that dress when it's raining
And she shouts in frolic and her voice is straining
She thinks that happiness the smile we manage.. when her foot is paining..
Reminds me of the times we celebrated with little life pertaining
But outside now it's stopped raining...


Its 4 AM outside... I feel lonely.. I am lonely...
Can't help but being scared of it.. in a life with me n me only
They say the rain's gonna wash away... I believe it
Washing the hurt... clean the soul.. cathartic

India...60 Years Young

As India celebrates 60 years of evolution, the questions that all cynics and critics ask - Has anything really changed? Are we the next big thing for the world and still the smallest thing for the people of the nation outside the metros? Well, we have evolved in areas of economy, industry and of course ITES (the biggest boom story). But there is still a huge divide between the rich and the poor. This is due to lack of trickle down effect and failure of government to provide basic necessary elements to one and all - basic education, 3 meals and employment. The big problem with India is "Non-issues are issues here" say for e.g religious intolerance and issues like "Valentine day should be celebrated or not" are given headline space!!

The challenges facing the subcontinent, of course, are enormous. Indian infants are more likely to be malnourished than African ones, infrastructure is straining to keep up with the economic boom, while corruption, discrimination, religious violence, child labor, bad schools and pollution persist blah blah blah... But is it the only thing. There are several bright changes in India which make us what we are today.

All said and done, we are a land which still coexists with all the differences in religion, caste, color and regions. Diversity has never bothered us & we probably are one of the most tolerant people in that regard. I admire the ability of Indians to get up after we are thrown down in the dumps (it happens as often as it can) and stand by each other. Its our never-say-die spirit which makes us different from the world. We are probably the best example of modern in ideas and enterprising nature yet culture-bound and emotional inside. We are more confident of ourselves now and with high disposable income in hand, we are no longer shy of consumerism and spending.

The best part is that 70% of India is under the age of 30. The youth have indeed taken up the responsibility on behalf of the citizens of the country – be it any health programme (like AIDS), social ills, saving environment or simply awareness campaigns – the youth are voicing their protests. They are also actively participating in the corridors of power that shape and decide the course of the country’s progress. Its good to see highly educated young Indians in the Indian parliament, young Indians who have stopped blaming the state and stood up to do something about it.

Its time to make a difference and god willing all of us together will take India to a glory that it deserves. I'm proud to be a part of an evolved and energetic India at 60...

Cheers to the indelible Spirit of India & Indians...

Mera Bharat jawan... Mera Bharat mahan

Cruise Control... from one man to the other

She's beautiful... very photogenic... I fell in love at the first sight.... This may be personal :) but she's very comfortable to ride... Well She's the love in my life right now...





Dj Navv is leaving for Norway and I took over from him.... The passion is transferred from one man to (A)man... We have christened it “the Black Bitch”

Check the pics.. night, morning and the daytime....

And I'm off with my love....... me, her and the nights :)

I look back and I wish.....

Just pondering over my life right now, It was inevitable to think about my teens (read 2 years of college) and early teens (meaning school). I also read an article in the news magazine section about “wise” childhood. I just had a pitstop on the early life and wondered how it would like to be in the teens again- just this time with the benefit of hindsight. Here's my list of things, in no particular order (random), I would keep in mind if in the teens again

Things I wish had known more clearly during my early teens

• The wannabe groups in school were actually not very cool people to hang out with. They would always stupid issues of the third kind.
• No matter how much you diet and how hard you exercise, you will never be that thin again.
• Nothing outside of who I am in God can make me cool.
• 2nd most important decision I would make is, who my friends were.
• People who invest in mutual funds are not losers.
• Eat all the desserts to satisfy your “sweet tooth”. Very soon even a spoonful of chocolate delight would travel straight to add to the paunch.
• If you keep looking at the phone, it would never ring.
• There is a reason why you lose touch with so many school friends. You simply have nothing in common except for the fact that you were once in a class together. Don't feel guilty.
• Don't bother fighting it, eventually you'll turn into your father. By the time a man realizes that his father was right, he'll have a son who thinks that he's wrong.
• A man who doesn't read good books has NO advantage over a man who doesn't read at all.
• You can only really make friends when you are young. After that, you’re stuck with chance acquaintances and work contacts whom you also socialize with.
• Nothing is as important as you think.
• Friends are way more important than lovers – and nearly always outlast them.
• If you want something, don’t be afraid to ask.
• Never throw a party if you will be the most interesting man in the party.
• You can’t change the world – but don’t let it change you either.
• Exercise is something you do to keep fit not to get thin.
• Ultimately, love remains out of necessity.
• Never mistake Knowledge for wisdom, one helps make a living, other helps you ,make a life.

Things I'm glad I knew

• Outdoors sports were as much fun (or more) than the en vogue Video and PC games
• Quizzing is great fun and not a nerdy game
• Succumbing to Peer Pressure is not Manly in any ways...
• Don't try and color your hair to be jazzy, you'll anyways have to do that as a monthly chore soon.
• That I was not a loser reading all the literature that I did during early years.

But Overall, I think what we did in the early teens was out of innocence. It was awesome because thats how we learn and most of our lives we learn the hard way.
I think our teens was the best of both the worlds – conventional, radical and adoption to advancements (socially and technologically). So we played the en vogue PC games listened to the “in” music & read the teen novels yet - loved life, listened to Indian soul music, read classic literature, enjoyed the lap of nature and played outdoors conventionally. As it is I love my life and have NO regrets.

So I look back in glory and just thank everyone for it....

My quotes..... and me quoting them

I was going through the diary that I have and I keep writing or saying some stuff. The funniest one-liners that I have heard are from Aman Sandhu's dad. He's awesome.

The best one-lines that I have said are in conversations with Rahul and Sandhu and of course ..aahh my girl. I'm writing some of the ones that I write and keep saying.. Rahul told me that its time I write all of them somewhere. Below are some of my own one-liners that came out in conversations or everyday talks.

- If everything in life is going too smooth, then you are probably going too slow.

- If you aren't living on the edge, you are wasting too much space.

- Life's like a lamp post, Sometimes its bright...
When its not, even dogs piss on you
(This was a reply to Sunaina's comment on my profile picture on Orkut)

- A soldier never backs out.
- I'm ready when you are....
(I use both of the ABOVE as a reply to accepting new responsibilities or challenges)

- Keep your friendship with books all the time - the only friend who doesn't complain

- God loves to play fair games with us & I like his company.

- I don't know what will happen tomorrow but I'm sure together we can make it beautiful

- You don't love the Times (good or bad).. but you fall in love with someone you want to spend those times with.

- The worst part about life is waiting, The best part about it is finding someone worth waiting for.

OTHER'S QUOTES THAT I LIKE

Dance like no-one is watching
Love like you'll never be hurt
Sing like no-one is listening
Live like its heaven on earth
-- William Purkey

-- I don't miss you and you alone... I miss you and me together...

Dream as you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.
-- James Dean

You'll know that you are in love when you see the world in her eyes and her eyes everywhere in the world.
-- David Levesque

When I'm with you, we stay up all night.
When you're not with me I can't go to sleep
Thank God for these two insomnias, and the difference between them
-- Rumi

No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice man who wishes that she were not.
-- H. L. Mencken

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

I was nauseous and tingly all over... I realized that I'm either in love or I had Smallpox

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
-- Thomas Merton

Lets end the post with my most favorite quote of all time by the great G. B. Shaw
Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?

Let me know what you think and please feel free to comment with your favorite quotes.

Cheers!!

Back to my reading ways

Its been a good 6 months since I last read anything.. (apart from the newspapers magazines and an odd book here and there and of course internet)... I'm glad to get back to my reading self...




Well it has its side effects when u visit the library after a along time... I ended up liking and actually buying all the books... when I cud have just got them issued... Now it makes more sense as to why leading libraries also have bookstores... Readers can't keep their hands (and eyes) of books...

Cheers to all the readers (of this blog too :-))

An Aura of Darkness...

This is one of the first pictures form my new camera... and I have some words to say.. its my state of mind

Sometimes I don’t know why I feel this way
Am I just a state of mind
Fighting the demons hiding in my head
And demons seem like angels

You’re numb from the outside
And you’re cryin’ out to the brightest star alive
You’re skin is trying to burn itself
Trying to guage the pain,
To tell the mud from the rain

Sailing away upon the sea of wonder
Drowning in the things you say
Learning to fly with broken wings
In the skies of my illusions

Is there darkness all around
or is this the darker side of light
Been sitting waiting for the signs
Feeling just a little trapped inside

The wind is cold, in my mind
its frozen and its numb, but is it kind
takes me a while, if ever I may find
my innocence
thought I’d traded it for a moment,
just one moment

Colours spin all turn to white
Close your eyes, try and touch the night
As each moment, pass me by
Save me from this blinding light

And I wait, Waiting for love

My Nu clicking machine

Its a piece of real beauty.... Specs

Name: Canon S3 IS
Age: 17 days
Status: Addictive
Qualifications- 6 MP, Bridge camera, 12x opt zoom and video rec (stereo sound)
Work Ex: Canon stable
Specialization: Rotating screen with Tilt angle recognition sensor

Check these out:





Well some of its work in my next posts with my favorite muse.. Aman Sandhu (incidentally he's always the muse of good times)

Messy thought for food

They call my desk the messiest area of the office.... read this and say what..

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

Keep me Grounded... A passing thought

There's so much good in the worst of us,
There's so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly becomes any of us,
To talk about the rest of us..

- Edward Wallis Hoch

Be humble - as your best may not be better than the rest of us.

- AB (urs truly)

December to dismember..

Is it the December Curse?... I have always seen people in December not too happy with life..

Everyone I talk to is depressed and not too happy.. or is Breaking up... or both.... There seems to be a lot of negativity around this time of the year always.. Things not going anyone's way

I've always seen dec this way.. I dunno maybe too much observation or I'm reading too much into it...

Its not just me.. If you think so.. read this http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/depressionchristmas1.shtml

Anyways friends.. my advice : Please Don't take any decisions personally or professionally this month.. try next year.. just few days ahead.. Please

Reduce.. Reuse.. Re-CYCLE

I sound like a Green earth activist right now... but thats not the only thing :-)

Crazy as it may sound I just bought a new bicycle.. and up to riding for the first time after my surgery.. Its not just the fact that I love cycling.. its actually a srtive towards flat bellism.. (if you have seen my paunch recently)

Actually the title may be more appropriate than I thought... Its certainly to meant to Reduce (flab and rust).. by Cycling and hope I Reuse the cycle everyday :-)

Cheers!!

Friday the 13 - Rock omen for a noble cause

"All's well that ends well" completely came true yesterday..

The event: Rock show at leisure valley
The rockers: De innovatives, Indian Ocean & Parikrama
People: Me, Navjot, Vrinda, Sarthak, Simran, Harsimrat & Mohit..... (the Gig gang- Coz we only meet at rock shows dese days:-))

We were kinda surprised as My very own Band "De Innovatives" who were supposed to be playing second .. actually started the show.. and given time only for 3 songs.. vande matram.. and original composition and Roadhouse blues.. The last one was the cherry on the cake and everyone was in groove the... and right then they were asked to go.. as*�@# organizers..

Then came the typical Indian way of honorary speeches and really bad compering.. which was a big turn off... leading the way to Our Bhartiya Mahasaagar..(terminology courtesy Mr Pawera)... They churned out really good quality Indian music with awesome vocals and guitaring.... there came a point when they were chanting some raag (some Vayu Raag I'm guessing) and the winds started blowing.. maybe gods were angry like the crowd. All that is good but it didn't go well with us atleast ... coz it wasn't an appropriate place for that kind of "lounge" music in a crowd (hardly there in some sections) craving for listening through their bones and not ears or heart....

Just when all were losing patience.. there came the band that has been there and done it all.. PARIKRAMA 15 years and they know how to get the crowd going... thats exactly what they did..

The crowd just waiting to burst.. did more than that.. Classic rock to alternative.. simply Bone jarring.. head banging and .. high quality music - Purple haze to Yellow to Highway to hell..

If I were to give you a short account of the event I would say: All road house blues.. ended on the jhini chadar.. and all bandeh (including one in heaven above) woke up.. took us on a highway to hell.. where the roads were all yellow... by the end we were all high and alleviated.. and life's in purple haze right now

Cheers!!

Ravana thy name is Celebration

All our celebrations start after Dussehara which make Ravana even more important.. To tell you the truth this is the first real time that I witnessed full Ceremony of Dussehra I couldnt help it.. as it was the first time that I'm close to the whole thing.. (10 steps away from my house)

I like this part of the year.. everything is decorated and jazzy.... It kind of makes us feel more Indian in some way.. Though I'm not the most enthusiastic ones around...

Well the traders aren't complaining coz everything.. I mean just about EVERYTHING sells at this time...:-)

Not taking any more time I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking..

Coming Back to life

Am I lost or am I there...

I know not...... but it still beckons me

Am i looking back at what i conquered or..
Am I looking to the new forts.....

Its just a beginning or the beginning of the end

New horizons new life...
No world to fight... no strife
I am just another soldier in the path called LIFE

An XquizIT moment of madness

Well guys I participated in the CII corporate quiz XquizIT that took place on Saturday. I thought I'll give you a first hand account of the event.

It was RedAlkemi's debut in the quizzing world and what a good start it was. Well to start with there was a fear - fear of losing before even starting like all debutants have. Also, a lot of trouble with my eyes - my lens gave way so we started the quiz with my myopic vision un-corrected which meant one down for the visuals even before the start of play. I couldn' recognize a being and it was a disadvantage because even the text questions were visually presented on the screen. But as it went the team chemistry was making a perfect solution and the funny part was two members explaining the looks of people in the visual questions to a near half blind member (and we still got both visuals right!!).

The end result was sweet as we qualified through the preliminaries and in style (later the quizmaster told us that we topped the prelims). At that point we were the best among 35 top teams of north including the likes of Infosys, Quark media, Maruti, Tata motors, OBC, Ranbaxy and Dell etc

So here we were - from fear of losing the the first round to a point where we could win the whole thing. Well the luck was not as happy with the team I guess as shown by signs earlier that day. There were some sitters asked around us and we missed a couple of crucial ones in one moment of madness. Well if it wasn't for that we would sure have been in the top three.

It took one moment of madness and my favourite tennis player to cost us a chance:

Q: With which infamous incident would you associate Gunter Parche?

Me (thinking) : stabbing of Monica Seles

Me (answering): Stabbing of Steffi Graf

Me(after a second of realisation): F@#k

So it came to a tie breaker situation - make or break situation for Quark, Infosys and RedAlkemi. Well unfortunately the draw of luck against us we didn't make it - a toughie on Arts (later confessed by the quizmaster)

We didn't make it to the top but we had a lot of fun and learnt along the journey. We made our impact in a small way and the region came to know that RedAlkemi is here to stay.

Well that was not the end. We decided to play a small game of simulation. We picked up a team and assumed that we were sitting in there place and would get the same questions and passes as them. This turned out to be fun and we realized in the end that if we were actually sitting in there place then we would have been third (wow)

We came back with lots of chocolates (for answering the audience questions) and feeling for having put up a decent fight.

Cheers!!

Trigger happy

Going the Sandhu way.. Couldnt help create the free logo..

Guess I'm just trigger happy :-)




Create your own at Web 2.0

Its always a thursday...

I went to Rahul's place today.. and there's it was Subzi Mandi..

A flash back to the good ole times... It so happened that everytime I went to Mr Gaur's Place.. there was a Subzimandi. So one of these days i asked him why.. Then I realized its on thursday and apparently (or coincidently I always went to his place on a Thursday..

From school to being partners in Quizzes and Dumb charades (and winning them of course] to ending up in Dav college and then GMSSS 10 (out of all places).. to hospitals and doctors to carrying stuff in my car while I was shifting my house.. to illegally meeting punditz for frnds kundaliz: :-).. to covering up for all his girlfrnds fone calls and gifts (who called him after midnight... Whatt!! aunty must be thinking we are gays to be talkin at that time for hours)..

Well we have come a long way havnt we.... But the thursday jinx is ON.. Veeray..Cheers to 9 years of our friendship.. and these Thurs(mundi)days..

I know Aunty says that all the time (she likes me so much) that TGIT - Thank G.. ... Thursday

If I may Ask......

We fall in love and have so much to say.....
I just wanna ask you on this day........

Would you still be in love with me when my hair turns grey...
Like you loved me in December ......
Would you still say that you love me... when it turns May....