Ooops! My Brain just hit a Bad sector

To Standby

2008-05-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Its not as if I write everyday.. But it gives me immense joy to post: "Going Off-line for 5 days.. In case of emergency please fly down to Cancun, Mexico and locate me on one of the beaches there.. "

On count of 3:

3 2 1 ......... .... .. .

Late night music club with The Pixies

2008-05-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

On the lines of Crooks and Liars here is an open thread in the style of The Pixies..

Sufficient Laze

2008-05-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Okay.. Title says it.. In spite of many things happening I have just been too lazy to write.. But at least I am happy to say that the reason or the thing that pushes me out of this slumber is listening to Bob Dylan on an amazing Friday afternoon.
I get a huge collection of Neil Young, CSN and CSNY bootlegs from a colleague along with a Neil Young In Concert compilation book, and I couldn't be listening to better music. Amazing day.

Here is that Zimmerman playlist:

Happy Birthday Dahami

2008-05-01T18:40:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Dahami...

More news at 11

2008-04-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Now here's a new segment you can start with absolutely no need to be creative yourself. Many a times before the 9'o clock sitcom or for that matter any other show, the local FOX channel gives you a one liner news trailer with the actual NEWS to be followed up at 11. Here's the one I heard tonight and one that I heard around 10 days back. (Hope I can this one a regular on my TV routine now..)

1> A man found dead at Pismo Beach. We know who died, but we dont know WHY? To know more watch the NEWS at 11.

2> A major earthquake expected in some parts of California. To know which place watch the NEWS at 11.

Now the only bummer was that, the same night Santa Barbara was hit by an earthquake of 3.2 magnitude. Thankfully I didn't need to stay up till 11 to find out which part.

Design Woes..

2008-04-02T22:35:00.001-07:00

You really know that work is troubling you when you stop at a STOP sign for 2 minutes thinking its is a traffic light, because you are busy designing Grid Classes and their members in your head, and its only when the guy behind honks at you that you get back to reality.. Shit, I never thought I would see this day.. DAMN!!!!

Aaahhhh..

2008-03-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

So I have been having a feast ever since Dhara has padharoed here for her Spring Break. I have to add "Baingan Bharta" for Sunday and "Daal Turai" last night. And both served with garma garam roti's. :) Now I generally do not brag about the occasional good feast. But when its 5 days in a row I gotta rub my eyes or write about it.

As an aside. I have been roaming around the office, in meetings and generally everywhere displaying my new found love for sticks. Drum sticks that is. I generally cannot keep the sticks down and have been fiddling with them trying to get the right grip and also trying to get all my limbs develop a mind of their own, independent from each other's movement.

Also a proof that your guilt plays games with you. The whole last week I gave a disappointing show trying to reach office on time (the best I could do was reduce the margin by 2 hrs as the difference between the time I wanted to reach office and my actual majestic arrival time). The result: When my Boss calls me up this Saturday afternoon around 11:30am, I pick it up and without waiting for him to say anything, go on a rant giving excuses why I am still not in office and that I am really sorry about missing the meeting and that I am ready and was just leaving the house in a couple of minutes. And all i got in response was this monstrous laugh from the other side. And when I summed up the courage (thinking he might have caught my bluff that I still was in the bed and not ready to leave for office as i said) asking him the reason for the laugh, he explained "It is Saturday and I called up to ask whether you were coming for a game of raquetball".. My response "In my dreams"

P.S: He called up on Sunday around noon to confirm if I was in the office or in my Bed.

Follow it up with a dessert.

2008-03-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

And here are the desserts. :-) It is a Tarla Dalal fan blog!!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Vada Paws

2008-03-22T00:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday night vada paws.... :-)

No no.. Its not a Rachel Ray or a Tarla Dalal blog. Theres still some time for that.. :-)

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Bhel

2008-03-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Aaah.... Enjoying chana chor garam inspired bhel made by sachin after a very depressing day....
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

A more perfect Union

2008-03-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Obama tackles race issues:

JugalBandi

2008-03-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

Any two instruments in unison can create magic and I was treated to such a Tabla/Sitar jugalbandi last night. For the entire time that the concert was going on at some UCSB hall (Whats in a name? Right, Asawari? :-| ) I had a huge smile on my face. You couldnt very well call it a concert as there were just 25-30 people in the attendance and the hall was very small but with amazing acoustics. I wish I had some recording or atleast a photograph to post it here. However the concert was so beautiful that taking a snap/video was the last thing on my mind. Screw you Youtube!! This one is just for memory.

Following the concert was the feeling of depression of not knowing a musical instrument completely. And it was no coincidence that I went into the concert very frustrated trying to play a song on the guitar unsuccessfully.

The good news however: Kaushal was able to convince Rob into teaching us Drums from the coming week. A day has still to be decided upon though. Keeping fingers crossed.

Times of India : My Razzie Award for Worst Newspaper

2008-03-12T23:20:00.001-07:00

Now if there wasnt a single obnoxious sensationalisation limit that TOI had not crossed before, it did so in a very comically way this time. I hate the news agency to the very core but you gotta give it to them this time. Here is their version of Obama-Clinton. The Link.

AIDS Cure is here.

2008-03-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

"Screw you guys!! I am going home".. A new season of South Park was gonna air at 10 and thats where I was at, tonight. Home. And it wasn't any other ordinary episode. It was the episode that found the cure for AIDS. With a little help from Magic Johnson. It involved some Benjamin Franklin cash juice. :-) For those wondering what I am writing about, stop raking your brain and go watch the re-run you retard..

BTW.. If there is that one ad that drives you to insanity, I know so many of those to keep my insanity dosage high all night. One such is of Hover-round. A wheelchair commercial for old people. The ad sucks everest like but the name of the inventor of Hover-round is Tom Cruise. Honestly.. How original, just like the stupid ad. Aaaarrrghhhh...

Drop Table

2008-03-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

I have a new term for jokes understood within a certain community or a team. Jargon Jokes!! (I know.. Dumb..) Well there might be the case that this term has been used before by others. In that case consider the above to be my invention rhetoric.

I was looking around for something to munch on when Nikhil offered me some dark chocolate. After a minute my chocolate horns conjured up and I was looking around for some more chocolates ravenously.

I stumbled across Rohan's desk (Our regular chocolate supplier.. He steals it from a nice lady Marlyn though). Unfortunately his conscience (I hope) or probably his laziness (Marlyn shifted from across Rohan's office to a different section of the building) had surfaced and he was out of chocolates. I asked Harry for the same. His reply was "Maine chocolates ki table drop kar di hai (I have dropped the table named chocolate)" For those who dont get it (probably 0, tats many who read my blog): Database Jargon Joke :-)

Even if my chocolate appetence wasnt curbed, it was clearly overshadowed by my appetite for a guffaw for the next 20-30 mins..

Wait a min.. Did someone say Dark chocolate???

Neil Young site visitor

2008-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

Yeah!! I am visitor# 100 on Neil Young's website..

Rolling Stone Endorsement

2008-03-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama now carries the endorsement from The Rolling Stone magazine. Lets HOPE this Rolling Stone gathers some moss along with it. The Cover Story:

Random

2008-03-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just see something and it cheers you up completely. Changes your day. Click on the craigslist ad below.

Cynicism

2008-02-26T22:53:00.000-08:00

Me, Nikhil an Nathan in my office...

Me: Hows it going Nathan?
Nathan: Awesome. So we have a new guy from Pune office. We will get him to you guys for more training.
Nikhil: We have this cross team training this whole week, 9 to 12.
Nathan: Nice!! So he can attend it.
Nikhil: Only if he is willing to get his legs pulled and only if he can take jokes.
Nathan: Do you guys do that during your meetings generally.
Me: Well do not worry Nathan. That won't happen. Generally we do not get time off from the product to get personal with other people. Almost all of the time goes by in our cynicism of the product. Voyager... What?? Errrrors... YES!!!!!!!!!

Tremendous laughter response from Nikhil and Nathan.. Not funny??? Well it was kind of funny for us when such conversation transcribed only hours after a lengthy discussion of whether to jump the cliff and present the case for a complete design rehaul of the code. Hmmm...

RIP Weekend

2008-02-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

So another weekend (the one at home after a long time) goes by. Sometimes you just go along doing so many tasks in one weekend and sometimes a weekend just passes by with no credentials to boast off. Just you, the couch, the TV, the beer and the music.

-- Weekend # 8, Year 2008.

P.S. Oscars ceremonies do suck after all.. So does excessive Hookah...

Hard Sun

2007-12-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

I don't have a "radio" at home. Thats on my next "to-buy" list. Now I had borrowed one from my manager to listen to KSBY 91.1, the channel for which he was supposed to recommend me to host a show on Saturday. That still has to be done. But besides, I switched to 92.9 KJEE after a few hours and started finishing up on a book I have been reading since long. And there was 'Hard Sun' on the radio.

Inference: Nothing like listening to an awesome song spontaneously while reading an equally awesome book. There goes the use of the word "awesome" too many a times within one sentence.

La La La..

2007-12-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

Some stuff that I find sensible to think about:

1> A movie name: 'Ram'pur ka 'Laxman'
2> Turning the volume of my boss' speakers, selecting a loud sexy ring tone on his skype, waiting for him to step out, and then whenever someone passes by his office, calling him on his skype..
3> Questioning the legitimacy of drinking 'continously' in office..
4> Meanwhile one of Rabri Devi's immensely enlightening comments: "The government car is in a poor shape. It stops on its own suddenly," remarked Rabri. She pointed out the faults of her bullet-proof car to mediapersons. The list of her complaints about the car is a long one. "There is a hole in the window and its tyres are not bullet-proof. One of its doors does not lock and someone has to hold it so that the door will not fling open when the car is in motion," she said

Aaahhh.. The country's is in nice and able hands..

Bad Idea..

2007-12-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

Having a coffe mug, filled, next to your laptop while doing a presentation is a bad idea. Very BAD idea..

Heroes!!

2007-12-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

I have been dilly dallying around writing about all the stuff that I have done since my last post. But I just could not shake away my laziness and write. But this one is different. This one is while watching CNN Heroes. Not the drama series. But real life honor for real life Heroes.

Simply amazing stories. Its still going on and I sit in awe and almost in tears.

The sound I got to hate

2007-11-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

The sound of a 12 beer bottle carton falling down the stairs one step at a time, rolling over, with the fizz coming out through the cardboard sides. I always knew I would, and now I know for sure, that is one sound I will always associate with hatred.

Thanks Sachin..

Friday thoughts

2007-11-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

Now, on a friday evening, sitting in my office, listening to the songs loudly shuffling between "Yes Boss" to "Pearl Jam" to "Ten Years After" to "The Beatles", wondering whether the new module works properly or not, after your manager confirms the fragility of the code, after you have spent the last week working on the same module, wondering whether there would be a false fire alarm to take that 5 minutes of socializing break like yesterday, again wondering whether the 'almost dead' car battery would need a jump start or not, wondering all that coffee indulged in today will lead to some bad chemical reaction within, imagining what it would be like to pick up the guitar and play again, thinking if pakistan would be normal again, wondering how can people capture a town in India in this age like in Nandigram and how can a chief minister say 'taking over' a town is correct and constitutional, trying to recollect which movie Amol Palekar and Shatrughan Sinha starred in together, to wondering ...

Wait a minute.. Wasnt today 'PayCheck' Day.. Fuck all those problems.. Got the money this fortnight. Lets go home and have litres of Beer..

Waaah kya pakda hai...

2007-11-13T13:25:00.001-08:00

The Diwali weekend started with dinner at the now regular Zaytoon's in SB downtown, with the usual horse food (thats what i call the food u get at Zaytoon's which btw is a middle eastern restaurant) and Lebanese beer to try. Saturday morning was work day followed by a UCSB and Solvang trip with Vinay's folks. I have never seen Solvang so patiently and so with admiration too.

Saturday evening was diwali celebration dinner with more friends here in SB. Met new people, with most of them playing some sort of musical instrument. After a few drinks, playing XBOX, some cooking, a little bit more drinking and finally dinner people staring jamming with the Tabla, a guitar and the flute. Even though it was just plain simple jamming on songs such as Mitwa, Maaeri and a few more, it indeed was fun watching people play so naturally. The newest phrase learned was the use of "Waah!! Kya pakda hai" on a successful jugalbandi...

Sunday evening was nothing less than crazy, the evening starting with a few beers down at the nearby SB downtown brewery. On the cards was the 9:30 show of "Om Shanti Om" at fallbrook. Unfortunately no tickets were available when we got there. Cursing Shahrukh and his fans we reached Venice to have dinner at Annapoorna. While cursing Shahrulh a bit more and watching his greatest hits on the restaurant TV screen we decided to give it a shot and see if we would get tickets at Artesia. However Shahrukh didnt oblige and he was cursed a bit more when we couldnt get tickets even at Artesia. Almost when we thought that the night would now be over with a long 100+ mile drive back to SB, one of us decided to give it a final shot and try for tickets. This time Shahrukh "Six Pack" Khan obliged and due to some fellow's (lucky) ticket cancellations we got tickets for the very late night 11pm show and reached back home at 4 a.m on Monday. So now guess who didnt work a single minute on Monday.. :)

Turns out the movie was incidentally funny in both the movie halves first half (phew). Biggest surprise though was seeing Arjun Rampal as the bad guy. There were no claps and whistles from me this time though. Tried to keep Rampal admiration a little discreet. :|

:|

2007-11-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

Bad Habits Die Hard!! Left the lights on again. Rampyaari needed two jumpstarts in a single day. In a single day.. People are advising me to keep a note in the car that reminds me to check lights everytime I get out of the car. But I guess I would get used to the note too in a few days crawling back to the old habit. Else the note would be thrown out of the car in a few days when I get too confident out of the good results.. So the only option I think that might work, get "Turn off the lights" engraved on the dashboard. The effectiveness is still doubtful. But that would atleast be a start.

Stung by the Bee

2007-11-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

To my brother: Sir, One more reason to not get married: You will not have to go to the theater on a Sunday evening with your kids to watch the stupid animated movies in the future. And neither me with my bhatija's and bhatiji's...
If you could not take the movie with your friends, watching and bearing such insane movies with your kids will be a nightmare thrown away straight from hell..

P.S: Roaming around the downtown, I saw a caricature artist, who was definitely skilled, in that he had some great portraits and caricatures on display.. But his best display to attract potential customers: A dog lying down on the pavement with a cat lying on top of the dog with a mice lying on top of the cat... (All Alive.. Mind ya..) Only if I had a phone with a better camera to capture that.. (Right now I have a miniature beetel cordless phone)

The Concert Spot

2007-11-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

With bulk of my money in the past two years being blown away in attending concerts and all that other stuff related to concerts, why not a small concertlogue. For starters, just added the names and details of the concert. More stuff MIGHT come later on. Anyways, the spot.

Aah!!

2007-10-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

Just a little Aah!! for the new occurrent in my life.

Boooze...

2007-10-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

Foreword and Conclusion: Thursday night boooze is awesome...

P.S: After a weekend at Vegas after a long time all I can say is that There should be a vegas trip atleast once a year.. Atleast once a year. Amen.....

This week...

2007-10-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

1> The car that i was interested in (model and price) was sold even before I could test drive it.
2> Few items still remain to be bought out of my "List to buy"
3> My guitars are still lying idle, waiting to be picked up again and be felt, carressed or atleast played.
4> My luggage bags from India still need to be moved..
5> If joining the gym was a problem till now then gulp this, I still havent bought a pair of shoes to wear to the Gym.
6> We have managed to cook a whole week's dinner and lunch without any onions in the house.
7> One of the smallest books I am reading still needs to be finished.
8> My car still needs to be washed
9> Certain things still need to be talked over at work with appropriate people.

But besides that,

1> I have managed to call up my new credit card company and pay the bill just the night before the last date to do so.
2> My car has been washed automatically by driving it in a late night shower. (I actually saved money (this time from the car wash) for the first time because of my procastrination. Now tats a first)
3> I have still managed to buy few of the important stuff from my "List to Buy"
4> Atleast we are cooking good tasty edible food, be it withiout onions.
5> Have heard some of the best blues song's out there. Classic ones.

P.S: I missed on Che's (R.I.P) Death Anniversary. Also, managed to make a now better "List of songs and albums I want" and I am resisting the urges to illegally download the songs. I gotta start buying them from now on.

Yaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn!!!!

2007-10-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

After a friday evening 10 hour drinking binge, across 3 different places spread out over 40 miles, you would pray for a very relaxed weekend. But there, after just 5 hours of phone marred sleep, I was test-driving cars and then shopping on Saturday, the whole day. And now again I will have to step out today for a bit more of shopping and head scratching over which cars to test-drive.

Meanwhile, immediately after my previous post, I left the lights on and RamPyaari again needed a jumpstart. And the car was stuck in the parking lot with the adjacent spots never empty. After two days of waiting, we jumpstarted the car by joining two jump cables and got the car running for me to ONLY leave the lights on again. Third day in running. And there i was jumpstarting the car again. My objective to leave the lights on this time: Just so that I remember to shut them off again (A Herculean task).

Ram Pyaari Problems

2007-10-10T10:50:00.004-07:00

If two jump starts this week were not enough, Ram Pyaari made me wait at home today morning for atleast 30 minutes. Waiting another 30 minutes to get to work, till the time someone drops me was not my problem. My problem was getting down from the apartment to the parking lot (which ofcourse has been taking me atleast 10 minutes because of my back-pain induced limping) twice. Add to that another 5 minutes of getting inside the car karyakram, TWICE. I need both, a new car, and a set of new non-inflamed back nerves.. Someone?

Stoned!!!!!

2007-10-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

Firstly, Happy Birthday John Lennon.

Now being the exciting person that I am, I was just sitting at home this Sunday night, just like the previous two nights of the weekend, giving myself excuses for not getting out of the house. While surfing the net, I was just skipping channels without actually paying attention to what was actually going on the TV. But then, through the corner of my eye, I saw a movie listing titled "STONED". Just the plain, simple, uncomplicated, dim-witted, twinkly name, "STONED". [:D] So having no clue as to what that would mean, :) I went for the movie info, and it turned out to be a movie about Brian Jones, The undocumented king of Rock n Roll and Monterey, and his life with and without The Rolling Stones.

Slowly I just found myself hooked to the character of Brian Jones played amazingly well by Leo Gregory. Now even before having watched the movie, I already had ample information about Jones and his rise with Rolling Stones.. However the whole picturisation of the movie was so plot perfect that you just wouldnt even want to blink to avoid missing a second. Plus, for a few days I had been wanting to write about a few independent channels such as Encore and Sundance. Watching this movie on one of those channels made it even more compelling for me to acknowledge those channels. The best part about these channels is that there are no 30 minutes advertisement slots in between movies. You enjoy your movie uncut and ooh yes uncensored too. Yes, they do not even cut out the very much story-necessary nudity..

Now, many a times I have been asked by friends, which all actresses or celebrities will be there in your all time to-do list. Now, I can very well say the list has been modified boys. The character of Anita Pallenberg was played by one of the most "aaaaaaahhhhhhh" and "woooowwwwww" actress I have seen (well I should rather say, I have been fortunate and lucky enough to see in this measly lifetime). She was Monet Mazur. Not just another sexy face. She played Anita Pallenberg as a dominating figure in Jones' life so well that it will now attach a new kind of sensuality to Anita Pallenberg in my mind forever. Any time I now hear Rolling Stones, it would be Monet Mazur in my head. I sincerely thank the director for naming the movie "STONED" and having it catch my attention on TV listings, if not for more Brian Jones' info, then definitely for Monet Mazur.

Yoodle O's

2007-10-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

Short Post. While listening a relatively new, but slowly catching up, song on the radio, from the new movie Sawaariya, I couldnt believe hearing "Yoodle's" (*) in the song. Thats something I am hearing after a long time. That was something lost in the mid 80's. Atleast I havent heard it on any recent songs. So here's to a bit of nostalgia in songs.

(*) : Now there is a term which goes with singing "yooodle ouiiiiii's". However I will just refer it to as "Yoodle O's".

CCD's

2007-09-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

One of the best places that I hung around this time was the CCD's at Interface. Now till the last time I was in Mumbai and when I was in RGIT, there was a CCD's at MindSpace, which is a sprawling complex of Call Center's in Malad(W). There was this usual hustle bustle there coming from the Call Center crowd which of-course is there 24/7. However, like most things in life, it wasn't staying the same. More the time went, more crowded & more dirty the surroundings got.

But now the same similar surroundings just a couple of blocks north, and the same similar CCD's. It has that similar openness around, nice cool breeze blowing and less hustle bustle. Just the new Interface crowd. Here's a "Vegan Shake" to the place staying the same till I come around the next time.

P.S: The place is so out there but hidden at the same time, that it calls in for an occasional roadside booze session there too. Time to call in Jay, Ankit and Kaka and hit it tonight. :-)

Cough/Cold...

2007-09-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

While the weather has been a bit wad during the past week, it has kept the humidity at bay. I am counting the few days left of my trip to India and contemplating about all those things that are left for me to do here. Meanwhile, terrible "cold and cough" has kept me at home over the last two days. ( I will attribute it to the endless mixture of cold beer pitchers, Goldflake Lights, Goldflake Big's, Chutki's, Ocassional Rajnigandha's followed by hot coffee cup's every night over the past 2 weeks ).

Cough.. Cough.. Cough.... Time for some Grillinctus...

Bigger the Wat....

2007-09-20T01:32:00.000-07:00

One of the few rascalously, drink spitting, funny moments when me, shetty, du and mandy met..

Me: so hows college durani??
Du: sahi ja raha hai...
Me: to item log hai ya nahin??
Du: sab harami hai...
Me: kyun kya hua??
Du: saala, MBA ki ladkiyan hai...
Me: so??
Du: saala wahan ki ladkiyan harami hoti hai..
Me: kyun??
Du: tujhe pata nahin hai un ladkiyon ka... saala "The bigger the boobs.. bigger the attitude"..

And we all were on the floor.... :)

First Few Days

2007-09-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Dhink dhank dhank dhank dhink.... Am in India after 20 months... Couldnt have been a merrier sight seeing all all all your friends (16 of them) at the airport chanting "hagga!!!! hagga!!!! hagga!!!! hagga!!!!" with other people looking at disgust towards them, as to what prompted them to use such a "synonymically shitty" term.. Then I realised it was me.... The "SHIT-MAN".... But, who cares... I was too too too too frantic at the airport... Love them all.. In case I havent said that yet... Love them all....

Was a surprise at home again.. Me and Saurabh were trying to find reasons to blame each other for the surprise in case dad gets too hysterically angry at the sight of getting a surprise again... But all's well that has a merry sight at the end... Happy family trying to discuss why does a son do this... [:D]

Any ways, went to KV for old times sake. Went shopping with friends and friends future wives.. One thing I learned.. Never go shopping for girls with girls... :D And also went to town, and did a quckie at college and SHANKARI.. but heres to all the excitement for tomorow nights "RGIT All star" converse at Shankari...

Amen.....

P.S: Mumbai is getting crowded hour by hour's, minute by minute's seconds... Plus too humid... But nothing like a rain that drenches you to bhulaaao the sweat...

Fold & Pack

2007-08-25T13:57:00.001-07:00

With all so many of my written but unposted blogs, the only reason I am posting this one is because I am doing something, I detest to the core.. Packing.. 5 more days (waaaaah) to go to India, I started packing, stopped in between and am writing this entry. Wonder how many days I am actually gonna take for this whole stupid packing karya...

[Hold the shirt face upwards in your hands, fold the left sleeve, fold the right sleeve and fold it from between.. Aaaah... Done... Wait, the left sleeve side is more folded than the right side.... For the love of paid wages... Fucccckkkk It...]

I "Imagini" This : My Visual DNA

2007-06-29T16:34:00.001-07:00

Read my VisualDNA

Alarm Clock Stories

2007-06-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Getting up early was never my thing. Ofcourse unless Wham's music is playing somewhere near, for me to get up and dance.. which i do horribly.. just to go back to sleep... [ What... Wham!!! Sorry.. Just momentary sad blabber.. Dunno why i wrote that... Wham!!!!] Neways... So as i said it just isn't meant for me.. Everyone comes up with a reason for getting up late.. But my reason to get up late is real time.. Ooooh yes.... This week i made a deliberate effort to remember my reasons. Three of those:

Monday: The phone alarm rang. I put it off to snooze, kept the phone on the other side and turned around and went back to sleep.. And for the next couple of times on snooze, I kept thinking there are actually two phones and two alarms, one on each side.. One side was the actual phone and one side was the phone which was ringing faster than it was supposed too. So the phone that wasnt ringing was actually on time and i should get up when it rings the next time.. Guess what it never rang.. Result: I got up an hour later than the time i was supposed to be in office...

Tuesday: The phone gave the alarm tone and i burst into my regular morning capitalist working curse. I put the alarm off to snooze and for the next 5-6 times my mind started thinking of the phone, as having a new functionality, in beta ofcourse. The regular snooozing was actually a flawed design in the functionality which made it to ring earlier than it was supposed to.. And I kept dreaming..... The result was same as the previous day...

Friday: [This one is the wierdest.. I do not know why i thought of this..] I have converted my religion and have become a Catholic. Hence, Jesus is on my side. And hence I am allowed to get up late...

It sounds too surreal, but i swear on my sleep, thats what my twisted mind thinks, every morning, just to get up late...

Shred

2007-06-16T02:45:00.001-07:00

Yipppie... My first Les Paul is here... :D

Passing on what is called, "The Legacy"

2007-06-16T01:50:00.000-07:00

Whenever you watch a good movie or listen and hum to those timeless numbers you know that its a legacy which is passing on. Its like something that was created out of a situation, out of a moment, out of an event or out of sheer passion and it somehow rubbed against us and became intertwined with our deeds to be passed on down the line. And thats when I think what will be something mine that I would like to see getting passed on. Top 10 on that list would be:
1> A band, a team, few songs or a few movies that I love to their very core of existence.
2> A band, a team, few songs or a few movies that I despise to death.
3> A lucky number.
4> A family catch phrase. One that I just came across a few days back is "Proud to be a baniya". Although am not too proud to have it as a catch phrase. But hey who gives a fuck.
5> A shirt or a denim or an underwear (dunno why an underwear.. but u never know...) that i would probably treasure through out.
6> A handwritten piece of script depicting my piece of mind. Not this digitized fucked uip technology called as a blog. But a manuscript with all those weird diagrams and figures and phrases in it.
7> Stories of my screwups. These would probably be the biggest piece of legacy.
8> Stories that started with sheer coincidence and probably lead to a life defining moment. This reminds me of a letter that Neil Young wrote one of the many times he quit Buffalo Springfield. This was told to me by my guitar teacher. "Its funny how amazing things start so spontaneously and also end up so spontaneously"
9> My legacy of prejudice. Why I would support something without any reason and with all the baseless illogical mindset. It could be a band or a particular beer or a type of cigarette or a type of joint.
10> Nothing. Just so that in case nothing in the above 9 happen I would say hey 10th was nothing and thats what you getting. Anticlimax I betch ya... :D Go fucking make your own life.

World Map - From the point of view of america

2007-06-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

You know you are an american when you see this Map when you want to see the world!!!

(Source: doheth.co.uk)

Rampyaari (My Car) Blues

2007-05-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Got a jumpstart again today after i left my lights on. This is the second time in less than a week's time. So heres my thought about it:

Miles Surpassed: 200K
Money Spent: 3K +
Broken Into: Once
Number of Jumpstarts in the past 8 months: 10 (approx)
Feeling of having someone give rampyaari a jumpstart in less then 5 mins: Priceless

Wat was meant to be weekend blues...

2007-05-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Things i did this weekend:

1> Slept.. Slept and slept...
2> Almost bought a bed before some lady crawled into the lady who was supposed to give me the bed frame and bitched her away into taking the bed frame herself..
3> Got the car tires replaced... Feels like a car now as against something which was running against her wishes before...
4> Have almost got my back ache resurfacing... @!#@$$#@#@!!$##$@%$

Monday blues:

1> John Rambo is back... Luckily this doesnt look like a PG-13 movie and would be the kick ass action movie that has been missing for long.

2> War is back in Lebanon. This time agnst the supposed plaestinian islamist militants.. The shaky truce is holding up.. God willing this truce will be for long.. Although it looks really unlikely...
3> Also cant wait for "Shootout at lokhandwala" and also "Apne" starring Garam-Dharam with sunny and bobby... Orkutte... :D

Tuesday Terror:

1> Still waiting to do something and its almost the end of the day... :D

1857 Mutiny: 150 years to the rise of nationalism.

2007-05-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

"One of their leaders waving his sword, shouted 'Come on my braves!"
Illustration from London Printing Company Limited

150 years since it all began. The 1857 war of Independence began this day 150 years back. All i can feel is intrigued towards the series of events that might have occurred then. From whatever minutes i could get since yesterday, I have been snooping around to quench that thirst for a sip of history.

If you wish and are interested there is so much stuff online about 1857 War. But one disappointment presses all that exciting reading into a pit. The National Archives of India is not yet digitized and very confusing to find stuff in. How i wish it was digitized for one to dig in some more into the history.

Let people dwell into today's India, cribbing about all the problems that she has today or even about the 1857 war and its motives and its outcomes, it's a glorious moment in our history (Its referred to by even Marx as a sort of first National and not princely uprising against foreign rule. See P.S) and I just feel a little sedated by it.

It was after all a rebellion against religious and economic antagonism, expansionism and torture and oppression and even though it was a chaotic, disorganized peasant uprising, the "unorganized peasants" of India fought one of the most powerful empires in the world to near defeat with limited resources and even more limited training.

Tersely put it by UK national archives: "Nevertheless, the lesson of the Sepoy War is not one of victory or justice, but failure. Though the exact cause of the Sepoy War has yet to be agreed upon, and it is likely that there were many complex causes rather than one (some say it to be a war on religion, against forced christanity conversion), it is clear that British interference governments and the oppression of the Indian people, religious and economic, created a bloody revolution. If there is a lesson to be learned from any of this, it is that a people, once pushed into a corner, will fight for nothing more than the freedom to fight, and live, if not for religion then for their basic right to live in freedom. Furthermore, in the desperate vengeance of a people reduced to pure indignity, lives a coldness that rivals that of their oppressors."

P.S: Karl Marx's exact quote: "The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilization lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home, where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies, where it goes naked. Did they not, in India, to borrow an expression of that great robber, Lord Clive himself, resort to atrocious extortion, when simple corruption could not keep pace with their rapacity? While they prated in Europe about the inviolable sanctity of the national debt, did they not confiscate in India the dividends of the rajahs, who had invested their private savings in the Company's own funds? While they combated the French revolution under the pretext of defending "our holy religion," did they not forbid, at the same time, Christianity to be propagated in India, and did they not, in order to make money out of the pilgrims streaming to the temples of Orissa and Bengal, take up the trade in the murder and prostitution perpetrated in the temple of the Juggernaut? These are the men of "Property, Order, Family, and Religion."

Concordance or Dissonance

2007-05-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

Licks and Riffs and Pulls and Hammers.. These are probably the only things going on through my mind and possibly through my fingers too [:D] now a days. Also included, a pick on 'B' on the 8th fret followed by a hammer on 10th on high 'E' followed by a pick on high 'E' on 8th followed by a hammer on 11th on high 'E' followed again by a pick on 8th on high 'E' followed by a pick on the 8th on the 'B"...

Follow it up with a chain, a chain of thaaaaghts....

" I cannot stop the thought... I keep running in the dark...
Coming up a which way sign... All good truants must decide...
.. Immortality "

Surreal Thoughts..

2007-05-03T22:29:00.001-07:00

This long pause can be attributed to too many amazing imagery of thoughts which i was just too lazy to jot down.. {true} {FYI.. you can put in grinning smileys all the way after each and every word in this post} I mean ten different cerebrations which ofcourse makes it too confusing to then focalize on one {ususal problem}... So i decided to do the most optimum {actually easY} way out.. When tasks are surplus, do nothing.. Atleast you save yourself from being partisan..

And thats the word of the day.. Partisan... Look around and the word's reallly got some meaning... Governments, Employees, Employers, Countries, Leaders, Followers, your colleagues & YOU.. Partisan!!!!!

But, also look around and the place is brimming with optimism. After all you can be optimistic by insisiting on being irrational, stubborn and unreasonable.. And, so the world lives on...

I Believe in Miracles

2007-02-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

Somehow it makes a lot more sense today.

I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles cause Im one.
A have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years Im still alive.

Im out here cookin with the band.
Im no longer a solitary man.
Every day my time runs out.
Lived like a fool, thats what I was about, oh.

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

Tattoo your name on my arm.
I always said my girls my good luck charm.
If she could find a reason to forgive,
Then I could find a reason to live.

I used to be on an endless run.
Believe in miracles cause Im one.
A have been blessed with the power to survive.
After all these years Im still alive.

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

I close my eyes and think how it might be.
The futures here today.
Its not too late.
Its not too late, yeah!

I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.
Oh, I believe in miracles.
I believe in a better world for me and you.

-- Ramones

What Can i do?

2007-01-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

As i said to my boss, "IT WASNT ME"

But hye, who believes it. So back to fixing it.

Hello!!! (Very Sadly)

2006-12-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Phewww... Almost 4 months since i last wrote something stupid down here... Sitting on the verge of the beginning of a new year which i hope would be a little more peaceful on each and every front and a little less crazy as this year was.. Well, honestly if u ask me, Fuck the peace.. Make it even more crazier God.. Just keep the financial part peaceful, rest i can definetly deal with..

Many things, good, bad and ugly have happened in these past 4 months.. I got a car.. An old 92' Honda Civic and after months of deliberations just yesterday I named it "RamPyaari" coz thats what the car feels like right now after a jerk broke into my car and stole the stereo, broke the dashboard and the rear window too. If it was on me I would have peacefully taken out the stereo and given it to him. I am just back with a big hole in my pocket after getting the car serviced. Hopefully the car will not give any more problems. Amen.

I picked up learning and playing a guitar this October. I am hating myself for giving up learning the guitar for the past month. One of my new year's resolution: "Bleeding fingers with the Guitar".

I want to put in so many things but the proper amount of motivation just ain't there." so, till the time I can gather some more, Adios.

Sunil Kumar: The life and death of a Bhopali

2006-09-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Indra Sinha who recides in France wrote this moving story about a Bhopal gas Tragedy Victim, Sunil Kumar, who recently committed sucide. (Courtsey: InfoChangeIndia)

Sunil Kumar
SUNIL KUMAR BORN JULY 20, 1971 DIED JULY 26 2006

Sunil, for much of your short life, you believed that people were coming to murder you.

Nonsense, we, your friends, would try to reassure you. “The sky's blue. We are all here. You have done no harm to a soul, why should anyone want to harm you?”

“I guess I'm mad,” you'd say, who could see nightmares in sunlight and hear voices bellowing in his head.

Mad? Maybe you were. If so it was hardly surprising.

When you are 13 years old, safely asleep in your house with your parents, three brothers and four sisters, you don't expect to be woken by screams. You don't expect your eyes to be burning and your lungs on fire, nor to discover that the screaming is coming from your mum, or that your dad's yelling “Quick, everyone, we must get out! Union Carbide's factory has exploded!”

Nothing in your life has prepared you for what you now experience. Your family bundles out into a darkness thickened by something that blinds and burns. All around you terrified people are choking, throwing up, moaning in agony. A woman lies convulsing where yesterday you played marbles. In the panic-stricken rush to escape you are wrenched from your parents and swept away to fall into blackness. You wake on a truck piled with corpses, bundling you off to a funeral pyre because the people who found you thought you were dead.

When you learn of the awful, terrifying, unbelievable thing that has happened, you return to Bhopal to look for your family. Alone and crying, you wander the streets. There are posters up everywhere showing the faces of bodies as yet unidentified. On each brow rests a numbered scrap of paper. This is how you learn that your mum and dad and five of your brothers and sisters are dead. What of the other two? You keep searching, and by a miracle find them, your baby brother of 18 months and your sister of nine, alive. You bring them to the only home you have, the house across the road from the Union Carbide factory.

So at 13, Sunil, you are the man of the family, the breadwinner. You find casual jobs as a day labourer and at night wash glasses at a tea stall. You keep your little family going and somehow manage to get yourself to school often enough to pass the 10th standard.

For the sake of your little brother and sister you refuse to give up or be defeated. You are kind to others and your house becomes a refuge for kids whose parents beat them. You ask, “Is it better to have parents who beat you, or no parents at all?”

You learn all you can about the disaster that took away your family, and you join with other survivors. You are young but you take the lead. When neither Union Carbide nor the authorities give medical help, it's you who lays the symbolic foundation stone at the pole-and-thatch health centre the survivors themselves start, which will soon be ripped down by the police. You march at every anniversary. Your voice is heard. Then, you are sent to the USA to give evidence in the Indian government's case against Union Carbide. You have never flown before and don't care for the food. The government lawyers tell you to be brave and honest and just tell your story.

But neither they nor the government consult you or the other survivors before they do a deal with Union Carbide that makes its share price leap for joy. You are incensed. Off you go on another world tour against injustice, another month of telling your tale to whoever will listen in Ireland, Holland and the UK, which you tour with Bianca Jagger. You're mixing with famous people, but you just want to be home in Bhopal. Instead you find yourself at the Union Carbide AGM in Houston. In the hotel lobby you are handing out copies of an environmental report when you're arrested. Union Carbide, whose gases entered your house and killed your family, charges you with criminal trespass. You're thrown in jail. It takes hundreds of phone calls to the mayor of Houston before you are released without charge. At last you can go home.

The voices in your head grow louder. They torment and taunt. By now you know your mind is playing tricks. You are anxious all the time about being killed, you don't want to sleep. You fall into deep depressions and begin to talk of taking your life. We, your friends, try to joke you out of it, but privately we are worried.

Then you find another way to give up this cruel human world. You run off into the jungle to live like a free creature. “I lay on my belly and drank from a ditch like a dog,” you tell us when our search parties finally find you.

You cannot find work, but when we open the free Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal you instantly volunteer. You're penniless, but refuse to be paid for your work.
We soon learn that you have a phenomenal memory. Every day you scan the papers for Bhopal gas disaster stories and years later can recall the slightest details. You go to work in the clinic's medicinal garden and for a time your voices abate. Such stories they tell of you, like how one day you pissed in a cobra's hole calling, “Come out, ohé cobra maharaj!” And when the enraged reptile erupted from its defiled home, head raised and hood spread, you sprinted 400 yards to the tamarind tree and never pissed in a snake's hole again.

Ah, Sunil brother, the cool and beauty of the herb garden were not enough to keep the demons from you. Again you tried to take your life. You drank rat poison and after we'd had your stomach pumped, you rang the man who through his tears is writing this and said, “Hey guess what, it tasted sweet!”

Dear Sunil, we did our best to get help for you, but there was little help to be had. Although some 60,000 Bhopal survivors suffer from depression, anxiety, memory loss, panic attacks, insomnia and a host of other psychological afflictions, the government refuses to accept mental health problems as a consequence of the gas disaster. People with mental problems get no compensation or treatment, in fact they are ridiculed and dismissed. Today, in all Bhopal's hospitals, there is only one part-time psychiatric consultant.

Sunil, when you were still a child, you told a journalist that those responsible for the death and suffering in Bhopal should be hanged. Never have they even been brought to trial and in the end, the person who was hanged was you. We found you in your flat, dangling from the ceiling fan. You left a note saying that when you made the decision to end your life you were completely in your senses. You had bathed and dressed in clean clothes. You, who rarely wore T-shirts, had put one on especially for this final farewell. It said NO MORE BHOPALS.

Sunil, we take this as a message from you to the uncaring world. We think you wanted people to know how horror, illness and grief continue to ruin lives in this city, 22 years after the night of terror.

If you were still alive, we could tell you that on September 27, 2006 your friends all over the world will plant trees in your memory. The trees will grow and flower for you all over India, all over Asia, in Africa, in the UK, France, in USA and many other places. We are planting two trees for you: one next to the people's museum on the disaster – Yaad-e-Haadasaa -- which you inaugurated in December 2005, and one in the Sambhavna herbal garden where you volunteered, but not too near the cobra's hole.

Also we could tell you that the Sambhavna Trust Clinic will open a new mental health department with full-time counsellors and psychiatrists, so that others will never again have as little help as you had.

Sunil, you thought you were mad, but a world without justice is madder. At least you are now safe. We scattered your ashes in the flooded Narmada river, and for your funeral feast we followed your precise instructions: quarter bottle of Goa brand whisky, mutton curry from Dulare's hotel near the bus stand, betel nut, tobacco and all. Were you there with us? If not, who was it that in the darkness chuckled, “I am no longer afraid of being killed – I am already dead and fearless.”

Please plant a tree in memory of Sunil on September 27, 2006.

Ten poeple I would like to meet (alive or dead)..

2006-08-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Objective: To meet people who have left a deep impression on me.. Just to talk to them for a few minutes.. Now I did not think too much about the list.. The poeple who came to my mind first are in here... If I think before I write down the list I would never be able to curtail it to 10 people.

0> Eddie Vedder
1> Che Guevara
2> Subash Chandra Bose
3> Mahatma Gandhi
4> Adolf Hitler
5> Dhanraj Pillay
6> Lal Bahadur Shastri
7> APJ Abdul Kalaam
8> Atal Bihari Vajpayee
9> Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

Along with it a beautiful adaptation of Yellow Ledbetter to portray the evils of the war.

Destroying Mankind: Dark side of War

2006-08-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

"The U.N. resolution is a consolation prize for the Olmert regime, whose failure in Lebanon throws the wider U.S.-Israeli game plan for the region into disarray."

An impressive article by Siddharth Vardarajan on the aftermath of the Lebanon War and a video highlighting the inhuman and irresponsible kind of attack by Israel bringing down a country, a democracy and above all life.

The Article: The Hindu

Who cares???

2006-08-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a hard hitting month and a half, both nationally and politically. Its exactly one month after the mumbai train blasts and still no clue (atleast out in public) about the culprits or about any advances being made in the case (except ofcourse, blaming pakistan and going on and off on the peace process). But hey what am i thinking. Its been 13 years since the first string of Mumbai bomb blasts and guess what, the TADA ruling has been again delayed by a month. If we cannot nab the criminal who executes our Prime Minister in 15 years how can we expect to bring to justice the terrorists who are bombing our cities. Now I am no expert in politics or defense system of the country, but it does not stop me from sitting up and noticing the things going around. One month after the bombing, the key questions being raised in the lower parliamentary house should still be "Why have the culprits not been caught?" or "What should be done to take care of the recurring floods?" Instead what gains more importance is coming up with ways to suspend the session of the house on deciding over the group with which Mr Natwar Singh is showing alliance or what and why Mr. Vajpayee has written to the Speaker or why should we distance ourself from Israel. Also, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, please go get some real work besides praising the spirit of Mumbai. We do not like being bombed again and again just to show off our "Rising from the rubble and getting back to normal in one day" spirit.

Another issue which I think has been doing the rounds is the Pesti-Cola case. Now I was elated when kerala banned cola drinks in the state. Its understandable that banning an MNC, and that too big ones like Coke or Pepsi would affect the FDI and Indian Industry reform standards bringing them down on a low pedestal internationally. But the ill effects of cola consumption is not hidden from anyone. So if a state stands up and does the right thing, the CII and FICCI warns the state government to rethink about the decision. I think when it comes to morality the Indian Industry tries its best to leave no efforts in showing off that it has none. (Also Shahrukh Khan, shame on you for comparing mother's milk with cola drinks. Its not a movie for kkkiran's sake.) Now FDI in infrastructure and export is always good but India, I think India is self sufficient in consumer goods to rely on FDI. If we have to be poisoned lets be poisoned by local cola companies and lets not take any help from MNC's in that. And yes, let us not forget the government in this case. What are we doing to raise the already poor health standards to make these firms look up and atleast adhere to it. Even though poison is poison, who cares what the standards say.

And hey, I complete my first month at work today. No disasters yet. Phewwwww.... Cannot wait for the weekend. As ashu would have said it "No Fighting"

Its still alive

2006-08-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Now this one is just out of sheer "nothing to do" time.. But never the less here it is:

Looking at all the farce around us
We've got fucking bombs dropping on us

As if it aint enough
We've got pop, hip hop, RnB and rust

I dont mind people worshipping fake busts
But I wont, I aint hungry and this noise sucks

So open your eyes, its not an occult, Its very much alive..
Oooohhhh!!!!! Long live Rock n Roll..

I do not care if you do not agree with the above. Apparantely you dont. F@#k You..

Weekend View

2006-08-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here's hoping a fast recovery to Fidel so that he comes back and holds his bastion firm against the yankee imperialism. I am not saying this coz I am a communist or socialist but just because I was and will always be in awe of the revolutionary movement started and successfully carried out by him and Che.
Also this weekend I attended the Old Spanish Santa Barbara Fiesta and man was it crazy.. Streets and beaches full of people enjoying themselves showing no such signs of constraint. I was in there from friday evening to saturday morning and the signs of burn out are now showing up in office and I am slowly catering to the need of an afternoon sleep.. :)

Moving On

2006-08-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Its all slowly but surely begining to get fun at work. I enjoy my coffee and sutta breaks at work with mah colleagues. Nice way to earn some moolah haan.. Having been assigned a team finally makes me feel accepted at work :) My team is supposed to be the loudest at work with all sort of nosies emitting from our corner and I for sure plan not to let them down. Besides I have also finally settled down on an apartment in Santa Barbara near or rather within the UCSB housing area. It is 5 minutes walk to the beach and the plan is to keep myself sane living with students.
It hits you too much when you leave your house for the past year. Menlo (My previous house as friends used to call it) has been a house bustling with people all the time and to think of it that the next time around when I go to L.A the destination aint gonna be Menlo kills me. But hey ladies in UCSB aint complaining so why the hell should I? :)
Music's rocking as usual. Roger Waters gets his due in October and The Who in November. I just cannot wait for the "The Who" concert. I want to pay my homage to Pete Townshend and I consider myself too lucky to get a chance to do that.

P.S. The first paycheck feels too good even though it goes back to the stupid credit card companies.

dhicchhkyaaaoooon.....

2006-07-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Weeks at work: 1
Days at work: 4
Work done equivalent to: 0
Total # of coffee mugs input: 15-20
No. of sutta breaks: 20+

Getting paid for the above: Priceless

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ..........

2006-07-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

I am trying hard to force myself away from the lure of a nice afternoon sleep but the damn desi food with extra doses of soda in it is proving very hard to resist. I have not been assigned any work/team till now and I am not the types who will indulge in going ahead and asking for one or looking for one.

The town can very easily pass on as a town for the retirees. And believe me you will indeed be fooled by it. But wait, walk into UCSB campus or take a stroll onto the main street of Santa Barbara, "State Street" and you will notice the young, crazy, vibrant & partying crowd of Santa Barbara. I am specially dumbstruck by the kind of environment around the hosuing campus of UCSB. It just has to be seen to be believed.

I have now for five minutes resisted sleep but i do not think I can take it anymzzz."o"z.zzzzz."r".zzzzzzzzzz."e". zzzzzzzz.zzzzzz

Mixed feelings

2006-07-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday night rocked for me in a dream way. Tonight Mumbai rocked in a different way. It started with an amazing Pearl Jam concert for me. Eddie and band rocked for almost 3 hours with around 30 tunes and 2 encores. It was not just a Pearl Jam concert. It was "sing along with ed" concert. I think they are right up there as one of the best stadium rock bands. No "I love L.A" or "You rock L.A" kind of live concert cliches. It was all about entertainment with just a few political statements which do not come as a surprise. It started with Ed proclaiming Dick Cheney as the biggest asshole around and also an updated version of "Here's to the state of Mississippi" with actor Tim Robbins. In all a triumphant and masterful show on a Sunday night that rocked like a Saturday night.

I am writing this blog while watching reports of bomb blasts across Srinagar and Mumbai. The toll has risen to around 150 dead and 500 injured. TV channels are full of pictures, videos and cliches about "resilient mumbaikars" and "useless politicians". A useful link that I found out was "Mumbai-How can we help you". Lets hope for peace back in Mumbai.

Procrastination time finally

2006-07-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

Aaahhh... Finally, I get to do wat I like the most.. Procrastinate...Its been such a crazy last month. I think I have become oblivion to the concept of day, night, week or month. Everything just seems like one moment. And it is passing by. Fairly qucikly. Seems like I have been eschewed away from everything. Be it reading the same books over and over again or watching the same TV shows again and again or listening to the same good old music again and again (I know 'again', repeated many a times again and again. Now tat is wat happens when you have too much of time..). The only saviour to this monotonous routine has been watching a few movies here and there.

Anyways tomorow is concert time. Tat too Pearl Jam baby... :)

Escape?

2006-06-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

My state of mind right now:

Visions keep haunting, got so many things to do....
Like am riding in my dreams, bewitched by a voodoo....

I feel home so far away, the feeling it gets left behind....
the numbness in my eyes, theres no need to hide....

I cannot stop the thought, I want to see the light impart...
On the cross-road, Escape, Its never the safest path...

---- Moi

Sleepless Nights

2006-05-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

I am getting a lott of sleepless nights lately.. Gotta find the reason behind it...

Besides that our Agent fever is down and we are up for the Mutant fever after watching X-Men III. :)

Bulls Eye

2006-05-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

This saturday I went along with Vinay, Randal, Yash, Abhi & Sam to the Los Angeles Gus Club to get our hands dirty with some pistols and revolvers in the shooting range. I chose the Baretta 92FS pistol with the magazine having room for 10 bullets. I was not liking it initially (maybe because I am so shanti priya :).. yeah I like both Shanti and Priya), but seeing my good nishaana :) I eventually got into it putting the 100 rounds of bullets(real) into paper villian. Rest all is as usual sitting at home trying to kill makkhi's and time..

Ooh yea, Just this morning I managed to get up at 8:30 (phew) and get my ass to school for an interview.. There was not a single soul in the whole school and I actually liked it.. Eventually the interview did not happen and here I am sitting at home blogging unwantingly...

Pearl Jam on Google Blog

2006-05-27T00:56:00.000-07:00

I was extremely happy the other day seeing a Pearl Jam posting on the official google blog. Here is the link.

Transient times

2006-05-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

I could not stop but ponder over the changes that happen in your life once you graduate.. Under the unnecessary pressure from our land lady, we started cleaning our house. Now for those who have visited our house, they know what to expect once they enter our house. Posters, more posters and more posters. Now everything is gone for the lure of getting our precious deposit back from the land lord. So after scrubbing the bathroom for over then 3 hours we (mah, vinay and ashu) started removing the posters. Heartbroken that I was Ashu and Vinay were devouring themselves into removing those gems of ours from the wall.

After recuparating from the almost dying experience of cleaning the house we went for Da Vinci Code, The, movie. Nicely shot movie. But back to our house. As soon as I entered the house after coming from the movie I could not recognise the place as ours. It was empty. Then and there mah and ashu began pondering, our friends are going to disperse as and when they recieve a full time job. Wat we had for ourselves were our friends stuck to the wall (likes of vedder, cobain, morrision, plant and others). Now even they have deserted us and all we have are memories.

We Honorable Men

2006-05-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Rahul sent me this hillarious and tru post.. I had to put it up.. I could not have kept up with the pressure of hiding this truth from the world.

One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river, his axe fell into the river. When he cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "Why are you crying?" The woodcutter replied that his axe has fallen into water, and he needed the axe to make his living. The Lord went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe. "Is this your axe?" the Lord asked. The woodcutter replied, "No." The Lord again went down and came up with a silver Axe. "Is this your axe?" the Lord asked. Again, the woodcutter replied, "No." The Lord went down again and came up with an iron Axe. "Is this your axe?" the Lord asked. The woodcutter replied, "Yes." The Lord was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all three axes to keep, and the woodcutter went home happy.

Some time later the woodcutter was walking with his wife along the riverbank, and his wife fell into the river. When he cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?" "Oh Lord, my wife has fallen into the water!" The Lord went down into the water and came up with Mallika Sherawat. "Is this your wife?" the Lord asked. "Yes," cried the woodcutter. The Lord was furious. "You lied! That is an untruth!"

The woodcutter replied, "Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to Mallika Sherawat, You would have come up with Bipasha Basu. Then if I said 'no' to her, you would have come up with my wife. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I am a poor man, and am not able to take care of all three wives, so THAT'S why I said yes to Mallika Sherawat."
The moral of this story is: Whenever a man lies, it is for a good and honorable reason, and for the benefit of others.

That's our story, and we're sticking to it! - "WE HONORABLE MEN!!!!!!"

hurraaaayyy

2006-05-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Short and great: I graduated....

Final Blues

2006-05-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

I have probably the last academic exam of my life tomorow and still I cannot gather enough motivation for myself to get up and study. I got up at 11:30 after laughing of the whole night with randal, vinay and abhijit till 4am. We have been quite restless after watching MI:3. We have become these stupid little kids playing and shooting each other with finger guns, jumping on cars and calling each other agents. FYI I am agent "Smoky", Randal is Agent "FartFace", Vinay is Agent "Pedro" and abhijit is Agent "Patil".

My mind is all diverted towards the big party we are throwing this friday, trying to download songs to make one hell of a playlist.

I have been reading "Che" lately and I cannot stop raving about Che Guevara. Some rebellion jugs up inside you reading and thinking about him. I guess I would love to give an exam concerning his life rather than data mining. I just wish I was in 60's. I would have packed up my bags and joined him in his rebellion I guess with an IPOD listening to Led Zep and Floyd. :)

Naive computer users

2006-05-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

I often come across people who have absolutely no idea what a computer or an internet actually are? Some funny misconceptions that they have in their mind:

1. Computer is Windows. You have never heard of anything called as operating system and no one uses anything besides Windows.

2. Nothing in a computer is cooler than an animated screensaver.

3. I do not know how a computer broke down. Its always the computer's fault. I never did anything.

4. There are no games other then solitaire or minesweeper.

5. Computers get slower from time to time. I need to buy a new one every year. If anything happens to my computer 'Formatting' is the best option I have.

6. Internet Explorer is the internet. Somehow when I will open I.E. everything will be on my computer.

7. I need to use google for everything. Even for going to google. :o

8. Even if a geeky friend tells you to use Firefox becasue its better do not listen.. Because no one knows better then you.

9. Bill Gates is God. He can create anything he wants. This whole world of computers is created by Bill Gates.

10. Any web page that has more animations is better.

What the heck should i do?

2006-05-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah tats wat you feel once you are nearing graduation and have no interviews to give.. Wat the heck should I do?

Should I write or read blogs? Nah.. Should I bitch around about friends who have got a job? Nah.. Should I prepare myself for doomsday? nah.. (btw when is tat?) As I have said before in my blog, Should I scratch myself, Should I swallow my tongue? nah... Should i try hacking somehwere? nah.. (assume i never said that)

Should I procastrinate? yeah..... tats wat i should do :)

My prayer to god: When I'm having a really bad day, and it seems that people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me.

Anyways: Welcome Randal to this world of stupid time wasting, preserving yourself shit called blogspot...

Kill I.E.

2006-04-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, its finally here. The campaign against I.E. is here. A group is going out guns to kill I.E. I would love to see that. Check out the website of the group.

For I.E. lovers here's the deal.

Some one rightly said: "IE is like a dog with rabies, but I can deal with it." How he dealt with it? Changing over to firefox.

Dear God

2006-04-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

It hits you with a smack. You try to shake it off. It comes back and hits you again. What feeling is it? I was out for dinner with my rommmates and the peepal i live around with, sunday night. I have been living with these guys since the time i came in L.A and have gone about sharing every emotion of mine with these people.

You try to think this is not real. You try to think this is not ephemeral. Its not been 18 months since u came here. Wat will happen in a few months? Where will everyone be? Wat lies ahead for us? No one knows. Wat I do know is that keeping college friends after graduating is not an easy task. It takes in a lot of effort from both the sides. Lets hope we all try to put in the effor required.

So I know what would be my wish among the following letters. link.

Star trek kid

2006-04-23T01:51:00.000-07:00

Captain Kirk might have been happy to have found a new member to its star trek fleet. Check this out.

Library blues

2006-04-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

Its been almost 5 months since I went to Leavey Library to study, this time on Jude's persuasion.

12.30pm Trying to shrug the feeling off me, I made it up to room 202B with jude after a few shocks from my friends.

2.20pm It was a cool ride, till I decided to take my lunch break. I was off to UV with vinay and sam.

3.15pm We came back to school and I was back in my room.

4.45pm I tried hard to keep going, and after five rigorous minutes, I started dozing.

5.30 I got up, packed my bag and left for gym.

Enough for studying at Library. Guess I am not made for that stuff.

Bored? Hmmmmm?

2006-04-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

I cannot take my lazy bones outside the house for the last 3 days. Here are some interesting things that I thought i would do to pass away my time, but I just rather wrote it:

1> See how long you can hold your breath (Potential amusement 4-20 minutes): It sure passes time if it is not that much fun. Play with a friend or try to beat ur personal best.

2> Use your mind power (Potential amusement 5-10 minutes): Pick a passer by and try to command them to do something, like drop their bags or knock into someone. Law of averages say that sooner or later one of your mind commands would come true and you can convince yourself that you have superpowers.

3> Scratch yourself (Potential amusement 1-5 minutes): Go ahead scratch yourself. Anywhere anytime.

4> Repeat the same word until it loses meaning (Potential amusement 1-10 minutes): Take any word out of the dictionary and just repeat it till it becomes noises.

5> Try to swallow ur tongue (Potential amusement 1-3 minutes): Nothing to say about that. If a person cannot do that, pls see a doctor.

6> Get yourself nauseated (Potential amusement 4-20 minutes): Look up and spin around as much as u can. This makes boredom feel nice.

Or else just go and check your neighbors trash, make prank phone calls, pretend that the world has come to an end except u and ur roommates, watch tv and repeat everything in Hindi or have some water drinking contest.

I am pretty sure that after all these enactments you will just get ur bum outside the house and sweat it out doing some work.

Disclaimer: Any view that a passerby gets seeing you do any of the stuff above, is your own responsibility. I would rather sleep :)

Right way to write an academic paper

2006-04-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Do You want to write an academic paper.

Here is the right way to do it.. The link

Riots Everywhere

2006-04-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

Its raining here in L.A. again after a very warm day yesterday. I am stuck at home
getting bored, nothing to do and nowhere to go. But deifinetly something to think and get
scared about:

Twin Blasts in Delhi's Jama Masjid
5 Explosions in Srinagar.
Fans riot in Bangalore after Superstar die.

Okay, the 3rd one is not a terrorist act. Its an act of stupidity. People rioting. Why?
Because their favourite superstar died. Yeah, tats the way to go about expressing
grief over a death. Bring destruction to the whole city.

What sort of a pattern do the first two blasts indicate, I do not know. But lets just hope that
people of both the communities do not fall into the nefarious games of few individuals trying
to bring in a communal divide.

Bad week after a good weekend

2006-04-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

My weekend was definetly good. My start to the week, however, very boring. Cleaning roaches in the house and studying papers do tell me that the week is going to go really sad. Only time will tell.

Another news I happen to come across is that our stupid IOC spent an amount to the tune of Rs. 40 crores on our patriotic bollywood star's 11 minutes performance at Melbourne to attract more people to the next Commonwealth games in New Delhi. India can definetly use that money to improve the infrastructure and pay a little more money to our sports people rather than the bollywood stars who have their bank accounts overflowing.

Vinay, welcome back and do show us some traces of ur presence.

Donnie Darko

2006-04-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my day of total procastrination. I played games thru out the day and watched three great movies into late night. Donnie Darko was the movie which although being an incredible movie turned out to be a bit of mind fuck. The movie revloved around the presence of a tangent universe and around time travel. Although the only thing that does travel in time in the movie is a jet engine. The movie starts from present goes in the future and then comes back to present to change the way future will be. Confused, watch Donnie Darko and you will search for answers.

Other movies i watched were Leon and Good night and Good Luck. Also i finished a book on Arafat and have decided upon the next book I am going to read, A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking, inspired, ofcourse from Donnie Darko.

Ranting on Indian Rock

2006-04-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

While studying for the stupid interviews that will eventually lead me
to some stupid job, I have been listening to some Indian and Pakistani rock bands. It feels nice to know that we have many of them which are just mindblowing. Indian Ocean still has that jazz touch which you can hear at any time of the day. One new band which I happened to listen is this Pakistani band called Noori. Really good guitar and drums in there. Have not found any suffism trace in their music, gotta listen more to find out.

p.s. I am going for the pearl jam concert :)

Wishlist

2006-04-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

My biggest non accoustic dream is coming true. Pearl Jam is coming to Los Angeles. Their last tour did not have a pit stop in L.A and all I could ever think was, will I get a chance? Well the answer seems YES! However looking at the glitches that happen in my life on a regular basis, I would wait till the time I actually go to the concert. I do not know where I would be in July when they are performing in L.A.

But with tickets in my hand "I am Alive".

Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi

2006-03-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

My first Blog!!! While watching hazaron khwaishein aisi.. As it happens rarely, I was moved by a hindi movie. It feels like hindi movies are going somewhere, specifically to the good old time when more sensible movies (before running into a conclusion, stress on the word used, "more" not "all") used to be made. Be it romance or family or comdey, cinema back then was good.

I always wonder what India would have been like, say, 40 yrs back. What Bombay would have been like 40 yrs back. Less people, less frenzy, less pollution, less apathy and definetly less mordid. More peace, more space and definetly more human. Its just not an after thought. It has been lingering in some numb corner of my brain for quite some time. Wish could feel and live in such a Bombay.

Okay, the news today..

Rumors has it that 50% of Indias IIT's and IIM's would be reserved.. What??? This cannot be happening. The last piece of educational credibility is slipping away. Will the students in these instituions would suffer the same treatment as the normal engineering colleges do? Would a student from an IIT be looked in the same suspicious way as other engineering students are? Only time and politicians will tell.

Also Britney spears once again managed to gain the top front spot in Times of India's website. Why? Because her bodyguards say they were not paid their salary. Well I am so blown away. What will her bodyguards do. Will they be able to run their families now? Only Times of India would tell (It would be a front page news, so you would probably not miss it).

Sensex crosses 11,300.. Good for India. FDI flowing in. I just wish that it is not a balloon waiting to blast anytime. Only dalals will tell.

Weather in Los Angeles continue to be undecided. It rains, shines and then rains again.

Finally some thoughts from the past weeks events.

Commonwealth is coming to India. But is it worth it? Some would say, Its good for India, It would be kind of a global India marketing. But hey who doesnt believe India cannot do it. But again is it worth it? Could it not happen that India would absolutely ruin it by not living upto the Australian sporting infrastructure standards (Comon if someone does believe that India can, I would question his optimism)? Could it happen that we spend millions of money to organise a sporting event when the money can be used to raise the standards of a common Indian athlete (believe me there are a lot of things India could do with that money for sports in India)? Could it happen that as always Bollywood and cricket stars would be the highlights and not sportsperson who would be in the spotlight (ask IOC who bought in Aishwairya rai, Bipasha Basu, Amir Khan and Rani mukherjee to carry the Olympic torch, and i certainly dread Amitabh Bachhan falling sick then)? Or Could it happen that India does build amazing stadiums for the games, provide amazing hospitality and build a dream to host olympics some day? Could it also happen that a small child does develop a dream to become a national hero one day watching some athelete during the commonwealth games 2010? Only time will tell....

And finally the reason for coming on blogs... I ccan now say..

"I have NOT lost my mind — I have it backed up on tape somewhere."