Looney, Toony and some Baloney !!

Daddy’s day out!

2011-01-24T00:34:00.001-08:00

Dads are known for their humorous witty one liner’s… this is just another incident which got us going for the evening.

We recently bought a new car and were showing off to relatives about the good and not so good of the vehicle. One major problem was the car getting dirty because of the dust, the dried leaves and the most important, the crows!

Crows have this amazing ability to dirty the newest of things… from bike seat covers to shirts. Every morning the car was covered in sloshes of crow excreta. There were no trees where the car was parked, so the only possibility was when crows are flying.

As we were discussing this possibility, dad remarked with a grin, “That’s motion in motion!” … the rest was a classic Kodak moment!

The Yagi lives on...

2009-10-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

It's yagi... a slight modification of which makes me think it's been long since I watched the yogi bear series on Cartoon network or even heard the ramta jogi song from taal and... guess am 'wave'ring from what i actually wanted to say about the one-quarter wavelength spaced elements of the veteran Yagi-Uda beam antenna.

Ah yeah...coming back to the antenna, it's rare to spot this 83 year old war horse in the common houses of the metros... wait it's not completed... in Chennai. It's been quite a while since I amply remember seeing a functional yagi-uda antenna. The attack of the cable operators & the dish antennas have long displaced the yagi and all that can be seen today is a part of the beams (yes common place term, any EC engineer reading this & still remembering the parts of the yagi - Gomen nasai) at places where people have not even bothered to remember they had the yagi.

Interestingly, last few days that I've been going around the residential colonies of Arlington Heights, I was able to spot...well.. let me count...26 in-shape Yagi-uda antennas (operational I guess) in 39 houses making it an average 66.67% chance of spotting an Yagi in the neighbor. My survey might be insufficient to state that the US neighborhood uses yagi-uda more than the Indian neighborhood but then it's enough say that you can visually spot more yagis here.

Those were good days when we had to run to the terrace to adjust the yagi and shout downstairs to check if the transmission was good. Mom anxiously waiting for Surabhi, dad for the DD news, bro for the sunday morning cartoons, granny for rangoli & the entire family for a nice cricket match... will we ever see those days? Now that we can record live television, pause & see various angles... we would never have to run upstairs to adjust the set of cross beams - 'Uda' diya humne 'Yagi' ko!

729

2009-10-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

What's 27 X 27 i.e. 3 raised to the power of 6 or the cube of 9 - we'll it's the duration between my last post & this one. Just wanted to start again...

Die't' Hard 7.0

2007-08-05T00:14:00.000-07:00

Maybe it was a bolt of lightning or maybe someone broke a flower vase on my head or maybe it was one of those days when I was thinking weird…well I decided to go on a diet! I came across GM diet few months back and found it very interesting, now I decided to give it a shot.

On one hand, I decided to bring down my weight and on the other wanted to test my self control. I went a got a whole lot of snacks for my bro to eat and wanted to see if I can abstain myself from eating any of those. For a guy who fantasizes about food, it was a difficult task but then wanted to test myself!

DAY 1
It was all fruits day. All I could eat was fruits. The best part of this diet is that it doesn’t restrict you on quantity. I had a full water melon, mangoes, apple, chiku and pear all day and it wasn’t very difficult. My will was strong and even though my bro was enticing me with chocolates and all sorts of snacks, I was happy to eat fruits.

DAY 2
It was all vegetables day. No fruits at all. I didn’t have a problem with breakfast. Potatoes are my favorite and the diet prescribed 2 boiled potatoes for breakfast. The mashed potatoes, cauliflower, beans, corn and peas for lunch were kinda tasty.

DAY 3
It was all fruits and vegetables. If I could pass the first 2 days, I thought this was a cake walk… the challenging part, it was Monday and work day. Well my friends did raise their eyebrows seeing my finger-licking and lip-smacking emotions, especially for the vegetable paste I was eating and were trying to allure me to their chappatis and sambar saadam, but the headstrong boy didn’t budge. The evening snack consisting of apples, guava and pear was received with a greeting and was cheerfully consumed by all. A wonderful night’s sleep followed the vegetable slush with mango dinner.

DAY 4
I knew this was the best day of the diet. All I had to take was 8 bananas and 3 glasses of milk. Enthusiastically, I bought a dozen huge bananas the previous day and filled my lunch case with 5 of them. 2 bananas and a large glass of milk was breakfast. People did freak out a bit when I opened my lunch case to see 5 big bananas instead of my Tiffin box. I ate the bananas to my hearts content… I should say the onlookers should have had a hilarious time watching me slurping and eating. We did have a great time after that, with all kind of weird pictures of ‘man from mars’ made of banana peels and ‘mars’ chocolate… a personification of the phrase ‘going bananas’.

DAY 5
The best day was followed by the worst day. It was time for beef and tomatoes. Being vegetarian, I could substitute beef with a cup of rice. But tomatoes … poor me, I had to go through it. Every hero has to face the dragon and only if he kills it, will he reach the princess… I had no choice but to fight the dragon. I tried everything possible to negate my taste buds, but the tomatoes were too strong, they too were fighting me. Thanks to my ‘Water’ shield, which was used in large portions after every swallow of boiled tomato, victory was mine. I successfully won the battle against the evil tyrannical tomatoes.

DAY6
The battle though won, made me weak. The temptation to eat sweet, spice and everything nice crept in. I could eat rice and boiled vegetables but my craving for other food was budding, nevertheless I held on. To worsen the situation, my neighbor brought in a bowl full of ‘Tirupati Prasadam’ or simply ladoo. I considered this as a literal ‘blessing in disguise’ and with auspicious emotion, savored a petite piece of the Tirupati ladoo. That was it for the day.

DAY 7
Now the temptation took a different turn, I spent the day thinking about the last 6 days and what all I could eat the next day. And yeah it was Feast day. One spoon of oil was allowed, I could have fruit juices, rice and vegetables. And even before I could realize, the day was over and so was the ‘diet’.

I was proud of myself, being strong and willful to avoid all the goodies and stick to the plan. What did I gain – self confidence. What did I lose – 3 kgs, lots of toxins, money (buying fruits and vegetables), chocolates (somehow I felt everyone were eating more than ever!) and a good chunk of flesh from my cheeks. You know sometimes it’s better to lose more than you gain.

Next day, I started by biting myself into a big chunk of chocolate and that’s exactly what I am doing right now… so diet hard … eat harder!

The wait … is over!

2007-07-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

It didn’t work... it didn’t … how could have my noble mobile betrayed me or did it not? Was it my sheer tired fingers after 13 hours of work at office which silenced the alarm at 4:30 in the morning? Either way, I woke up late, it was already 5:05 AM and I panicked as I saw every minute ticking. I brushed quickly, picked up my wallet and the most important receipt of the pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, rushed out of the house wondering how long the queue would have already become, if they had already started giving out the book!

Thanks to the stark empty roads, I made my way to City Center in about 20 min and stumbled my way to the already long queue of people eagerly waiting the launch of the book. The ambiance was filled with Potter talks as two guys in robes handed out Potter trivia, scrambled words and spell quizzes to all. Few screams now and then excited everyone that Landmark had started giving out the books but in vain. It was almost an hour’s wait before the escalator started ascending to the Landmark Book Store. Reporters from news channels captured the exciting moments and interviewed the fervent fans on the stereotype stuff.

Groups of ten were allowed inside to pick up their copies when a guy screamed on top of his voice, ‘I have got the first copy!’ … unfortunately to his astonishment nobody bothered to respond as everyone were eagerly waiting for their turn. Soon it was my time, it was like picking up treasure, a priced possession, there was this tingling feeling to open the book and start reading but my serenity overcame the rage and I made my quickly back home.

Well… so now for the book. I am not gonna give comments on what’s nice and what’s not... it’s exciting; it’s clinching, very emotional … and yes the last of the series. It does pain to think that there is no new part coming up… but this this little boy wonder is always etched in the hearts as …. The Boy who lived!

Grand ol' man of the terrace

2007-07-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

It was one of those usual 16:30 tea breaks at office. We had made our way to the terrace, the open world, free from the clutches of the so-called ‘Ergonomic computer chair’. It was pleasant as it has been for a quite a while during evenings, which of course has been very contrary to the mornings. That was when we noticed an old man on the opposite building, in shorts, white shirt and stick in hand walking on the terrace. He should have been about 75 to 80 years old.

The house was amusing, to notice. It had a small terrace and beside it was a series of inclined tiles reaching to the overhead tank which was about 10 feet from the terrace. To our surprise the old man stepped over the small parapet and started ascending the tiles. Very nonchalantly he walked up the tiles to a small ledge at the top. He removed his slippers there and climbed on top of the tank, with ease. He opened the 3 lids covering the tank and started measuring the water levels with the stick he was carrying. Once done, he closed them and got down to the ledge where he put on his slippers back. It was amusing to watch him do it with an aplomb of his own and were wondering how he would come down the tiles as it was fairly steep. We knew he wouldn’t walk down, probably he would sit and slowly make his way down but again to our astonishment, he picked up a rope which was tied at one end to the tank and merrily made his way down, over the parapet and back to the terrace. Mission Accomplished…He had measured the water levels in the tank!

It was truly amusing to watch the old man do it so casually and began to wonder if we could even do something like that at this present age… too preoccupied with electronic gadgets that we would just switch on the motor and wait for the tank to overflow. Well… it was time to go or else people would act as if the world had come to an end… and we carry on, inspired from such charming people!

'Hell'met Mania

2007-06-17T04:02:00.000-07:00

An unbelievable rush opposite thousand lights mosque, mob hysteria-like scene at Kodambakkam bridge, huge crowds near power house were some of the common sights witnessed on May 31^st 2007. Occasion – nothing. Reason – Helmets were made compulsory in Chennai from June 1^st. Get the picture?

It was a government order…on the premise that the city roads should, in theory, present a much safer proposition for two-wheeler riders and car passengers. Car passengers could disagree, as helmets would dent their cars more than bare heads, incase of an accident. Coming back to the government order, when have people really bothered to follow rules and orders? This is where the clause comes – “Failure to do so will attract penal provisions — Rs.100 for first-time offenders; Rs.300 for second-time offenders; and cancellation of license for repeated offenders.” (Courtesy – The Hindu). And Chennaites know much better about police, the above lines is merely a code, what you pay is a lot more.

It was a typical Chennai day on 1^st June…hot, humid, lots of traffic and yes loads of police at every corner, vigilant than ever. But to my surprise and ob to the disappointment of the police, there were countable heads without helmets(31 in a stretch of about 12 km - I did count !). Every man, woman and child were adorning their new shiny helmets with sponsorship from everyone staring SAP to Marlboro. Youngsters who have never burdened anything on their heads before, had something to burden now, Married men and woman now had another burden to add to their list, kids looked like aliens in B-rated Hollywood movies, teen girls switched from their pocket-size make-up kits to mini beauty parlors. But for veterans like me (with the helmet, I mean), it was amusing to notice people’s actions and reactions.

99% of Chennai’s population was wearing helmets. It was as if someone hypnotized the world when we were asleep. No wonder what people can do to save a few bucks? Now… Why am I being so negative? Why shouldn’t people obey rules? Why shouldn’t they care for safety and wear helmets? Well, this is what happened within 30 hours of imposition of the helmet rule – it was relaxed! Police were only allowed to warn travelers and not to impose a fine on anyone. Pillion riders (be it 2 or 3 or any number) can wear helmets as per their convenience and safety (this include tank riders also).

June 4^th … Chennai was back to normal, new helmets found their place in garages or showcases. People resorted to their normal selves, it was as if the spell was broken, no more amusement for us veterans, and we carry on. To young innovative entrepreneurs, it would have been a disappointment. Helmets as Shivaji merchandise could have been sold like hot cakes. Kid sized helmets with Harry Potter or Spiderman or any Disney characters would have made it easier for kids to look like kids with helmets and not as I had mentioned earlier. Helmets with built-in music players or cell phone holders would have captured the youth market. Helmets with 99 girly colors, matching their vehicles or even giving them free with the vehicle purchase would have probably started off the another one of ‘why should only boys wear helmets’ campaign.

Bottom line is helmets are for safety, be it a rule or no-rule, it’s up to every individual to think about it and care for the safety of themselves and their fellow riders. It might be difficult to wear a helmet in Chennai’s climate but then like Shahrukh khan says ‘Kuch Pane ke liye kuch khona padtha hain’ (to gain some, you lose some).

One thing is, making it an order and imposing it doesn’t work. Think about it. How can a Sikh wear a helmet? Do you need to have a helmet if you are asking for a lift? Can parents see their kids like aliens in B-rated Hollywood movies? Can teens compromise their 500 rupee beauty parlor hair-do? What would guys do at signals if all the girls are wearing helmets? How would a policeman make his ends meet?

Young entrepreneurs of India … think and make better user-friendly helmets. Make it a fashion and everyone will follow it. Make it a rule, consider yourself a fool.

Dark side of the moon - Bright side of Waters !

2007-02-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

Oooohhh, aaaahhhh, whistle, roar, clap claP clAP cLAP CLAP … Enters Roger Waters. Applause, scream…

Well let me go back exactly 16 minutes. It was February the 12^th 2007, 19:54 hrs, I was walking into the Shanghai Grand stadium with a Roger Waters concert ticket in my hand. With ‘high hopes’ and enthusiasm and excitement, I got myself a bag of popcorn and kept looking for Row17 seat27. Comfortably settling into the moulded plastic chair and munching popcorn, I eagerly awaited the entrance of one of the most prolific musicians of all times and a focal part of my most favourite band Pink Floyd, George Roger Waters!

The crowd started pouring in and soon the stadium was almost full, though I had the empty seats on either side. For some reason it was warm inside the stadium and adding to this, a young pretty German girl found her seat beside mine. She too was complaining about the heat and just when we were about to strike a conversation, the music started!

The ticket said ‘No Video, No pictures’ but then everyone had some sort of digital optical device through which they captured the scene. But I, having followed the “rules” just sat looking. I felt devastated by the fact that I could have got my cam and captured the entire event but shortly I realized how lucky I was. I will get to that later.

The stage backdrop was amazing. It had a radio set, a whiskey bottle and a glass with a little amount of whiskey in it, an ash tray and a cigar with smoke emanating. A hand came across to change the station on the radio and played all songs from Elvis to Abba times and then…Oooohhh, aaaahhhh, whistle, roar, clap claP clAP cLAP CLAP … Enters Roger Waters. Applause, scream, whistle, ooooooohhhhh, aaaaahhhhh.

Waters and the rest of the band started off with In the Flesh (In the Flesh), and every guitar ‘tring’, every drum beat was responded with oooh’s aaah’s. The crowd got silent with the next song which was Mother (The Wall). It was played with utmost brilliance and with amazing precision. The next song was Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (A Saucer Full of Secrets). The backdrop was simply superb and Waters was at his best, emotional and passionate. And then came the fantastic beginning score of Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Wish you were here) and once again the crowd went crazy howling and clapping and cheering and in an instance there was silence. Waters mesmerized the crowd with an unfaltering vocal display. And somehow the heat in the stadium had abated, there was a cool breeze blowing out of nowhere… maybe it was just the song! This was when I realized that the pretty German sitting next to me had left…no bother I fell back to the charm.

The next song was Have a Cigar (Wish you were here). This was one of the songs I have seldom heard but was encapsulated in the captivating performance. Then came one of my favourite songs Wish you were here (Wish you were here) with all its graceful tunes and recitation and lyrics. A few lines worth mentioning here …

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

The backdrop for this song was the same as the initial one with the radio but to the end the screen changed. It was stunning with candles all over and red poppies falling.

Southampton Dock (The Final Cut) and The Fletcher memorial home (The Final Cut) were soft and very touching with a black-white screen of a lovely country side. The crowd swayed to the melody and there were momentary screams when George Bush was depicted amongst a list of terrorists… Ha!ha!ha!. The crowd erupted for the next song Perfect sense-Part 1 & 2 (In the flesh) when an inflatable astronaut came floating into the auditorium. Cameras flickered all over and the crowd was busy capturing the scene. This was when I realized how lucky I was not to get my camera. Otherwise I would have been involved in capturing “perfect” electronic images of the event or adjusting the digital equipment rather than losing myself to the performance which is what I ultimately did. I knew I was capturing every moment more effectively than anyone else filming the event.

Next was his rumination on the incident that happened when he traveled alone to the Middle East as a young man. The hospitality and care showered to him by a poor Lebanese family was immortalized in his latest single Leaving Beirut (Leaving Beirut/To Kill the Child). Waters expressed his political side deriding Bush for his action on the Middle East. It was brilliant with a comic strip story providing the background which received loud cheers from the crowd.

Check it out at http://www.roger-waters.com/lyricsbeirut.html. One sentence worth mentioning, which if I am right probably got the loudest laughs/scream in the first half of the concert.

Oh George! Oh George!
That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small

It was time for the second inflatable of the concert and this time it was a huge pink pig. You guessed it right, the song was Sheep (Animals). Well the Pig had wordings all over it … “Cut along the dotted lines”, “Habeus Corpus Matters”, “Save our bacon” etc. but the best of it all was “Impeach Bush now” on the Pig’s behind…Ha!ha!ha! The crowd went all crazy again.

Waters requested for a 20 min break and left the stage. Well, I got back to my senses…had some water and was expressionlessly looking around. To my surprise all his songs were running in my head and unbelievably I remembered all the songs in the right order! Phew, quite a feat considering my volatile memory. The screen showed a moon which was initially small and kept growing in size and before long, the lights went out and they were back on stage. The second half of the concert picked up pace and my god… was ULTIMATE! We took a trip to the “Dark side of the moon”.

The crowd got the true effect of the instruments with Speak to me (Dark side of the moon) and the oooh’s aah’s woooo’s got more frequent with Breathe. The crowd literally went insane with On the Run… the band were at their best with the instruments and the ambiance was completely absorbing, a colourful techno graphic background, stunning sound, crazy crowd! Next was one of the most famous songs – Time… the crowd got into the act and started singing along, I was no exception. Starting with dazzling drum beats, this got the crowd on their feet. Everyone crashed back into their seats stunned by the incredible female vocals for The great gig in the sky. It was such a beautiful, splendid, terrific performance that the crowd were all cheers and applause at the end. The enthusiasm didn’t abate when the crowd next heard tinkering of coins… again one of the best composed songs ever, Money was sung by the entire auditorium with utmost zeal.

Us and them and Any colour you like followed and there was no sign of the crowd getting tired, if not mentally even physically. Just when it felt as though the crowd was getting a little tired, all of us came right back with Brain Damage and Eclipse. These two songs are my personal favourite and I was completely lost. I was singing at the top of my voice and had no clue of who were around me… we’ll I guess everyone were in the same state. I can’t count as to how many times I have heard this song, but then every time I listen to it, I lose myself. At this juncture, a special thanks to my friend Sudhar V Rajan, who is acclaimed to have introduced me to the Floyd music and one person I truly missed at this concert, was him…. “Wish you were here”

At the end of Eclipse, as the tunes slowly faded, the crowd went nuts… oooooh’s aaaaah’s whistles screams, wails, roars, and I am not exaggerating, the applause went for about 8 minutes continuous. The band left the stage but the applause went on and on and on and on and on till they came back and acknowledged with what I would say the best part of the entire show.

Starting with Happiest days of our life (The wall), which was faintly heard with those 50,000 Watt speakers (I might be exaggerating but it was LOUD) because of the crowd who were still applauding and screaming on top of their voices. (All through out I have been mentioning “crowd” with the assumption that I am a part of it and everything attributed to the “crowd” is attributed to my actions also). The applause ceased and excitement grew with the beginning score of Another brick in the wall, rich/ardent/crazy people who spent close to 3000 Chinese yuan gathered around the dais swinging arms in unison. And we the back-seaters were bowing down to the brilliance of brilliants. Once again the crowd joined the band in singing aloud and continuously clapping along with the tune. Unable to restrict myself, here are the lyrics…

We don't need no education,
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom,
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

Vera / Bring the boys back home followed but again the initial part of this song was shadowed by the ongoing enthusiastic cries of the previous song. The crowd regained their senses but the clapping and applause continued and the crowd was once again caught in the fervour and sensation of Comfortably Numb. Completely lost in the lyrics, guitars, music, vocals….it took a while to realise that it was the last song of the evening (Was night by then). The cries grew louder, the applause wilder and wilder till our hands became numb.

As a whole, a blissful evening with a mind-boggling ambiance, brilliant performance, perpetual enthusiasm, profound emotions, sublime music and George Roger Waters!

“There is no dark side of the Moon really... matter of fact it's all dark"

p.s. - Special thanks to the one's who took the pictures and posted them online (Webweaver - (http://webweaversworld.blogspot.com/2007/02/roger-waters-dark-side-of-moon-live.html).
None of the pictures shown above have been taken by me. They have been merely used for the readers.

Cornography...

2007-02-08T00:39:00.000-08:00

Corn, as it is popularly know is simply a’maize’ing. With not much of an etymological complication, it simply means Grain. It might occur to some as to why is this crazy guy is writing about Corn. I would say “It’s wonderful to eat” and I would want to dedicate a few words to this special delicacy.

With about 800 kernels in an ear (that’s what one piece of corn is known as) rich in protein and carbohydrates, it’s surely is a tummy filler. Corn is superb in any form it is made and it sure is consumed in numerous ways.

I have been a corn-lover all my life. The roasted corn anointed with salt and chilly powder with a tinge of lemon has been my all time favorite. Pop-corn with or without butter is a must at cinema and exhibitions. The all popular American sweet corn is simply godly. With a variety of addendums, from lemon to spices it stands as one of the yummy yet healthy snacks. Corn soup, creamy or clear, sweet or salty, is a tantalizing starter to a heavy meal. Corn fry with onions is another pleasurable choice. Boiled corn, corn pie, corn pizza, corn chat, corn ice-cream, corn chocolate… I can go talking piggishly about it all day. To top it all, the Corn and Peas Subway is simply “divine.”

With China producing almost 20% of the World’s corn, I have been ardent enough to eat some form of Corn almost everyday. And I am pretty sure that if I do continue this forever, I would never be bored of it. Somehow there has been ridiculing & spoofing around with the way corn is being eaten but then it has never bothered me … as long as no one touches my corn. As Harriet Martineau quotes "The greatest drawback is the way in which it is necessary to eat it.....It looks awkward enough: but what is to be done? Surrendering such a delightful food from considerations of grace is not to be thought of." And she can’t be more right!

The Bore identity

2007-02-06T23:38:00.000-08:00

It’s quite a paradox that I am writing what I am writing but then everything or rather everyone has some anomalies about themselves.

The question to be asked or rather answered is “What is the identification factor for IT professionals?” … reduced sleep, lazy habits, no physical exercise, loss of sight, headache, chain smoking, boozehounds… the list is endless but then what about the professional appearance?

Doctors have their own identifications, so do nurses and scientists and site engineers and shop floor workers and lawyers and military and sportsmen and why even journalists. But we … either crazy t-shits and jeans or formal shirts and pants … either way we look like backyard pop stars or door-to-door sales people. The “formal clothing” is much generalized and therefore cannot be specifically attributed to any profession.

This is quite debatable in the context of what business men, shop keepers, bank employees, architects etc. have as their “identification factor” but then I think I am digressing. This is an altogether different view and I am not bringing that here. Let’s get back to IT…

But on the flip side, everyone identified with a specific dress, use it for a specific purpose. Doctors don’t wear their coats for no reason, engineers don’t wear helmets just because they like them, sportsmen don’t wear shoes just because someone is sponsoring them, and the military don’t wear bullet proofs and carry guns just to play hide-and-kill.

But the purposes of an IT professional… well for me … dark heavy Nimbostratus clouds are looming over my head. There have been numerous articles and writing on what the present-day IT outlook is esp. in India. Someone once attributed us as “Merely roadside mechanics” and not innovators or creators, which I would say is almost right (almost because there’s always something invented in everything, it need not be material).

So what do we carry about as “our identification”? Desktops are too heavy, laptops are expensive, cell phones are too common, music players are considered “un-professional” and well… everything seems to be associated with something else or considered inappropriate. Finally, what do we do … wear ID tags which are supposedly considered to be in vogue with the flourishing of the IT sector just that we fail to realize pets and farm animals used them from time immemorial and today everyone from taxi drivers to school children wear tags.

Ultimately, let me just be myself and say “Big deal!” as Jean Paul Gaultier quotes “It's always the badly dressed people who are the most interesting.”

The great Chinese Hair-o-nomic Depression

2007-01-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

It was a cold Sunday morning, blop… blop water dripping from the tap, vapours raising and splash, I wash my face with a handful of warm water… looking at myself in the mirror, there’s something different, somehow I don’t seem myself… there’s an unusually lot of hair on my head and on my face despite the fact that I haven’t shaved for two weeks. That’s when I realize it’s been over 2 months that I have cropped my hair. I decide to pay a visit to the local barber without the slightest idea of where to go or how they crop or how much it costs.

Locating the details of the nearest saloon, I decide to embark on this adventurous tour in alien-land. It was a pretty cold day and I walked about 2 kms to get to the saloon. On the way I found some saloons also, but wasn’t very sure if they were for hair-cut. All I could see in them were a few chairs, some beds and girls with heavy make-up. Just for the record, it was 8:00 in the morning.

Finally I reached the saloon I had intended to go. It was big, with mirrors rising from the floor in a specific pattern. I never bothered to notice what the pattern was. There were about 4-5 girls dressed in pink skirts and tops and a few punk-looking guys with Mohican hairstyle. I was welcomed inside with incomprehensible Chinese greetings… and taken to a sink! There was a row of sinks and chairs beside each one. I was seated in of them and a girl took my coat and wrapped me with towels. I was little nervous and panicky at this point.

She got a liquid soap and anointed my hair completely and splosh… out of nowhere there’s a bottle of water emptied on my head. Had a clean hair wash and a bit of a head massage. Once it was over I was blindly led to a reclining chair. I had my eyes closed, so again the panicky feeling came through. This time there was no liquid soap but a few bottles of water were emptied on my head, and was blown over by an 1875 Watt, 220 volt, 60Hz 2 heat / 2 speed cool shot 3 position macro hair-dryer … or Whatever!

I was made to sit in front of one of the huge mirrors when I decided to ask it “who is the smartest of them all”, but already knowing the response and what swearing it might give me, I held back. Then came this Mohican-haired punk-looking guy looking like Edward scissor hands (Not hurting Johnny Depp’s emotions), and started working on my hair. It was hardly a minute and he had hardly cut 10% of what I wanted him to do, he said “Done”! I looked at myself in the mirror and asked him for more. It was a complete disaster, there was no pattern in the way he was cutting my hair (neither I have never observed nor have any idea if it’s done in any pattern … but I believe the Indian barbers do) and I realized that once it was done.

I thanked him for having me left with something on my head and before I could pay him the 10 RMB (pretty cheap, eh?), the lady took me to another hair wash and again the panic started. Good that it ended up within a minute and I gladly paid off what I owed and quickly made my way back home!

Babies haven't any hair:
Old men's heads are just as bare;
From the cradle to the grave
Lies a haircut and a shave.
~Samuel Goodman Hoffenstein

Da Picturesque Sojourn !

2006-12-28T22:29:00.000-08:00

Little earthlings!

Discover Hong Kong - Cramped and Crowded!

Bruce lee and
Bommireddipal-lee

Smooooke on the water, Fire in the sky!

Towering heights...

HK and BVK !

Momma always said, "Life's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get."

Feature Presentation - Rembrandt's .......
I dunno .... maybe one of those Syndics of the Clothmakers' Guild or let's just say Les cinq célèbres !

Now.. how many of you are jealous ;)

Repulse bay - Am sure it can't be cold shouldered

Sands of time...

Troubled waters... Roger waters ... complete the sequence..

WOW - Windows of the World!

Strange but true - I go all the way from Chennai to Shenzhen to see the Taj Mahal !

Ooooooom!

Taming the merlion...

Signing the treaty of Versailles...

Bonjour, je m'appelle karthimodo!

Leaning tower of pisa and the about-to-lean tower with pizza...

Aloha !

Search for the Triwizard cup...

Now picture that ! Where can you get to see 3 wonders together...

With love,
From the foot of the Abu Simbel

So long and Good bye .... وداعا حسن

So long and thanks for all the vegetables!

2006-12-16T04:25:00.000-08:00

When I knew I was coming to China, I was mentally prepared about food, which by the way is one of the most important things in my life! i wondered how I could adjust for 4 months but after coming here it actually isn’t bad. Considering the fact that I used to crib about vegetables at home, I am sure my mom should be the happiest person reading this blog!

Chinese restaurants predominantly have non-vegetarian food and a small part; maybe 3 or 4 dishes are unheard roots and shoots. Some places dun even have the veggies on their menu and you need to specifically tell them what you want.

The past one month has been what I call “Treat-full”, the clients have been very big-hearted taking us to restaurants every week though they have been full-fledged Chinese restaurants (if you have not been following, read the prev para).And the best part was they used to order the veggie food for us, and this was our invariable dishes

Tofu – They say it’s their version of our Paneer but tastes nothing like it. Marinated in some Chinese brown sauce, they are not very inviting to see but don’t taste all that bad.

Tu Dou Da Dou – Nothing but potato and Green beans. One of those dishes which prove the saying “Appearances are often deceptive” and one of my favourites.

Yu Xiang Qie Zi – Eggplant stew in some kinda Chinese sauce. Yes I did manage to eat them, after all it’s an eat or die situation!

Kong Xin Cai – These are underwater plants, typically you could imagine the ones you see in your aquarium or maybe on discovery channel when Ian Wright goes underwater diving. Edible though.

Xiang cai xiao la jiao – That’s parsley and broccoli and other leaves. Oh yeah obviously in sauce.

Bamboo – All we have seen of bamboo is furniture or that stick you principal used to threaten you in school, but here it’s the most delicious dish of all. There are a million varieties of bamboo…spicy, sweet, sour, add all those adjectives you want. By far there’s this dish not sure about the name where the bamboo shoot is sliced into perfect cuboids and marinated in a sweet yellow sauce, mouth-watering isn’t it!

Lotus roots - Their favorite Vegetarian dish.Actually isn't very bad considering the plethora of items we get to eat in a Chinese restaruant.

Salad – I dun even bother to know how it’s called in Chinese, the moment it’s ordered I pounce on it and by the time people get to count the vegetables in it, it’s over….burp!

All through out India, I was envied by my non-vegetarian friends for getting my order first. By the time they get their dishes, I am half way through mine but over here it’s completely ulta pulta. The veggies come at the end after all the other land, sea and air living beings are served.

The Chinese are crazy (I might be drawing criticism and swearing if a Chinese reads this but then this is my view). They literally eat everything except humans though (I have no awareness on Chinese cannibalism), there are provinces where dogs and cats are delicacies let alone snakes and frogs. And they believe animal parts are good for their body just like we say carrots are good for the eyes and lady’s finger(the vegetable) is good for the brain (I never did well in math despite eating lots of them). Yeah they would think we too are crazy fantasizing vegetables will give us good health and brains.

I was talking to one of our Clients about this and some of them were shocking to hear.

Good for skin - Pigskin, Duck legs & Chicken legs
Good for liver - goose liver
Good for eyes - snake blood
Winter delicacy - hairy crabs

This is where I stopped him, this conversation was brought about at the dinner table and I didn’t want to mess it up.

This is one place where Paul McCartney’s quote doesn’t work – “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

ASITHUM

2006-12-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when you think back on situations which were never meant to be the way they really turned out, you wouldn’t believe how many of them you actually come across.

I would more appropriately call it a Acidentally SITuational HUMor… it just happens, excites and vanishes. I have experienced so many of them in the past one year but I seldom remember any, thanks to my overgrown cranial tissues which seems to be toiling for something totally incomprehensible.

Let alone the “heavy-word” talk, and I think back, I can share some of those situations…

I work in the IT industry and there’s something called the “Issue-Log” which is updated with the issue status worked upon by the offshore team and the same is updated by the onsite team during their working hours. It was a typical situation when the clients had to do some testing for the code we had developed. They had to produce some test cases and check if everything is alright. We opened the issue log to check if they had done it. The update was “Sorry. Norbert can’t reproduce! Will take some more time.” We didn’t work for the rest of the day!

It was a heated discussion about some business process between the clients and our team onsite. The meeting was long and everyone was tired, as always there was no conclusion. The chair person of the meeting was trying to get things done and deciding on the deadlines. In all the commotion, she uttered “Come on, At least se (i) x!” There was awe and silence!

We had done some important work and the user was very happy. He very casually told us that he would take us out for lunch sometime when we were free. We told him we would prefer pizza just to play around, nothing was serious. The next day, it was about 10:30 in the morning, he storms into the room with a huge vegan pizza with vegetables and colorful peppers and cheese and mayonnaise and all. We were addled for a moment of having to eat a huge pizza just after breakfast and just before lunch, but who cares …. Mouth-watering, hogging, burping!

There was this one time when my friend and I had to go to Trivandrum, Kerela to attend a friend’s wedding. We got out of the railway station and were looking for an auto, all that we knew was that our friend had booked us a place to stay and we had a worn piece of paper with the address. There was this taxi person who identified us as strangers and came forward to help us. He greeted us with a smile and asked us to show the address, we did and he took us to his taxi. He was very friendly and cheerful but the moment we stepped into his taxi, he started “Saar, this blace is simblly daaangerous. Yesterday the bolice came and arrested some ladies. Be gareful!” All along, he was saying things like this and made us chickens!

Another one of Kerela’s incidents… It was early in the morning at around 6:00 and I was taking a morning walk. There was this fly-over which I was walking on, when I noticed a skinny guy pushing a cart load of filled water cans uphill. I decided to help him out, he gladly agreed and we pushed it to the top. The downhill part was easy, I told him goodbye and carried on…but he insisted me to sit on the cart and we could rocket down (yes…rocket’s do come down). I didn’t want to disappoint him and by the fact that I am born lazy, I agreed and sat in his cart. Seconds after I sat, we realized that the brake lever had failed! I still am not sure how we stopped, but we did, and I was still in one piece!

Life is amazing…just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get!

KaM-YoU-nI-cA-tIoN

2006-12-09T03:13:00.000-08:00

Blue blistering barnacles.. I am not even able to spell that right. Just a week of gesticulation and am already forgetting to spell words!!

It’s amazing how people just don’t understand what someone wants. It’s been a typical monkey-behaviour in the past week in Shanghai. In India, though we have different languages we can still talk in English and most people would understand, or maybe hindi in the north is comprehendible to all. Am talking about public places like Shopping malls and transport. But people here are completely clueless about what we need.

Taxis and buses are completely out-of-touch with any other foreign language and at shopping malls, maybe 4 out of 14 counters may have an attendee who knows a bit of English(very lil believe me). In the past week, I have realized my inbuilt ability of gesticulating to people and get what I want. This could be typical of me, ‘coz am not very much bothered about what people might think if I do something funny. People who are very conscious about their behavior would be out of place here. Below are some of the funny experiences…

To get a potato peeler, I literally had to get a potato and act as if I am peeling it to make the market girl understand what I wanted.(ha-ha.. market girl)

To get a rope for drying clothes, I had to do the cowboy thing to swing the rope and draw something closer but that didn’t work and then I had to show them how I dry clothes on ropes and finally got it.

The best part which happens everyday is to find out if it’s vegetarian or not. We have to show them a chicken (paak-pak) and a fish and a cow and what not.

If it’s a big shopping center or a super market there are name-boards in English which shouldn’t be a problem but then every product has a whole lot of Chinese on it and very little English. Something like the “Conditions apply” case… everything in Chinese is BIG and there’s a small part written in English.

And the funniest part of kamyounication is with the Taxi drivers. They keep talking to you in Chinese and any other language you talk in, they don’t have a clue. We learnt a few Chinese words, at least the directions and for a week kept giving the drivers the wrong words for the right directions and we used to screech halt and use the signs to communicate better….phew I got it right this time!

It’s funny, it’s necessary, it’s nice to communicate… just like how would say ‘I would like to buy a Ham-burger’.

RoadSpace : TURN ON YOUR SENSES

2006-09-21T04:11:00.000-07:00

Chennai traffic .... no no not a remake of the Steven Soderbergh film... Good ol' Chennai's traffic is getting way outta hand these days. Be it early in the morning or late at night , there's always a flurry of vehicles and people. Chennai's lifestyle has drastically changed from the 6am-8pm days to 6am-11pm days and it's always the 'Rush Hour'. A misnomer by itself, Chennai traffic is becoming a bane to the city.

Reasons are many...solution just one - 'Common Sense'.Only when the 'mahkkal' learn to respect one another on the road, this problem can be fought. Following the traffic rules is no more a requisite while driving, vehicle-regulations are no more valid, fear of cops has been conquered by the almighty banknotes...roads are now everyone's own hallway. People drive without the slightest concern of whose coming beside or behind or who's in front of them.

At this point, I would like to bring forth a concept called 'RoadSpace'..this was something I had deliberated for a long time and found it a very scopious way of overcoming traffic jams. Over the few years I have been observing, the city buses take up most of the road space and the drivers think they're just driving 6 wheeled cycles... and the other shylock are the bi-cycle riders, who think they're driving buses. And yeah I don't have to say about our pesty auto-rickshaws.

Resource utilizations is the 'Mantra' for many successful firms...so then why can't this 'Mantra' be used in day-to-day life to control traffic. Fundementally there are no lanes and vehicles run helter-skelter all over the place. 'Junta' just can't wait at a traffic signal,they occupy the most umimaginable place a vehicle can occupy while there's the 'RED' signal and once it's green, it's takes them infinite time to move. Why in the world isin't there discipline while driving?, why is there no concern for others on the road? These are questions, we need to ask ourselves!

Coming back to 'Roadspace', it goes like this - 'The amount of free usable vehicular space on the road is proportional to the potential cause of traffic jams'. To go further and explain it, there are lot of bottle-necks on the roads.. Obvioulsy not all roads are of the same width and places where wide roads become narrow are potential mainsprings for traffic jams. Imagine a big slowmover at this place.. it creates havoc and doesn't even allow vehicles to overtake it. It's like there's so much unused space on the road which can be made use of !

It's all about maintianing the minimum vehicular gap and make use of all the space on the road. Obviously there are roads which are completely inaccessible for proper driving but then we can atleast make good use of the one's which are! All one needs to do is keep track of the person in front..if everyone can maintain a close-to-uniform speed and not trouble the person in front, the entire stretch of traffic can be controlled.

Ultimately,the bottom-line is make use of common sense and utilize the roadspace...afterall it's for our own good!

TEMPLES..TEMPLEs..TEMPLes..TEMPles..TEMples..TEmples..Temples..temples !!!!

2005-10-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

It was 4:00 am on a wonderful lazy Sunday…that I was woken up from sleep and asked to get ready…. ready!! For what? Oh that was when I realized we had planned for a 3-day pilgrimage to some of the awesome temples of South India. Temples being one of my passions…there was no reason to be still in bed!! To my surprise everyone else were already ready and all dressed up…just for the count there were about 15 of them…14 to be exactly (6 kids and 8 adults…oh yes that includes me). The transport for the entire trip…apparently a ‘15- seater-van’ was already there. Soon we embarked the ‘15-seater-van’ and on our way down south…. we stopped for breakfast at some place…I dunno where as I was woken up all of a sudden, again to find I was the only one in the van while others had already made their way to satiate their hungry stomach which had nothing but a cup of coffee from the morning…one, two and yeah three rounds of hot idli and sambar was sufficient with the all famous south Indian filter coffee to do the finishing honours….at this point it is important mentioning that all the people are from Andhra pradesh….and I duuno wat but they have a passion about south Indian filter coffee !!

The journey continued and we reached Chidambaram…the first temple on the itinerary. People who haven’t seen it…. it’s just amazing..incidently we were in time for the mid-day ‘harati’ and it was just great !! From there we continued out journey to Vaideshwaran temple. We had lunch at some totally remote place…and had to wait in the temple as the main shrine was closed till 4:00 pm. Finally there’s no need mentioning the spectacle witnessed…the temple had a ‘Kozhlam’ which again was very amusing for the kids…Then we proceeded to all-famous Kumbakonam…on the way to the main city we visited 2 temples one of which was ‘Oppiliappan koil’ which is apparently one of the 108 sacred temples of the vaishnavaites and is infact knows as ‘chinna tirupati’…a brilliant temple… a must visit for temple lovers !! The night halt was at Kumbakonnam…and there was nothing much that day…everyone just wanted to get to their beds..and zzzzzzzz.

Early morning…the temples of Kumbakonam was on the charts…so we started visiting one after the other…we had to visit four main temples there…well thanks to my friend for the advice as to what temples we need to visit…. that is because every street in Kumbakonam has a minimum of 1 temple. And the best part was, we had breakfast in this perfect ‘iyer’ hotel where the menu is idli, dosa and halwa…that’s it!! It was amazing and this was the place that I tried Coffee for the first time in my life…and I can’t think of a better place to start with…it was good…not brilliant but not bad!! We continued to Thiruvayyar…where there annual thyagaraja music festival is held. This is the place where Shri thyagaraja lay down to rest, forever. The place was amazing with a cauvery tributary passing alongside the shrine. From there we made our way to Thanjavur to see the Brihadeeshwarar temple or ‘Periya Koil’. This truly was spectacular…the size of the ‘Gopuram’ was mammoth… roughly around 220 feet high…. absolutely brilliant. The entire temple was huge…should have easily covered about 5 acres. It was evening by then, so we visited ‘Saraswati Mahal’ which was a medieval museum-cum-library and was virtually a treasure trove of ancient palm leaf and paper manuscripts, and other interesting artifacts of the Marathas of tanjavur.

Next on the list was Trichy…. and we reached trichy sometime around 20:00 hrs. We had lunch and crashed. Next day, all of us were up early and ready…and excited. Ah the reason was we were on our way to the temple of Sri Ranganathaswami at Srirangam. All I can say is none of us had anything to talk…all of us were just mesmerized by the beauty of the temple and the idol inside. The silence was broken when we saw ‘Prasadham’ outside as we all realized we didn’t have breakfast that day and the plight of our poor stomachs could be heard only now…we gorged ‘Prasadham’ for breakfast and soon it was time to return home. We had also planned to Thiruvannmalai on the way back home so we had lunch at some arbitrary place and took a diversion to Thiruvannmalai. The Arunachaleswarar Temple and Ramana ashram were what we visited there…it was almost 21:00 hrs then…so we thought we could make it back home…no one were interested in dinner…everyone just wanted to get back to ‘home-sweet-home’. The return was adventurous…everyone were tired and were dozing off…whilst I was sitting with the driver yapping. It was pitch dark on the way we took and it started raining…apparently some auto-guy said that was a short-cut…so we thought we could save time but we went through…. whatever…as all I could see was the head-lights of the ’15-seater-van’ and nothing else was there to show us the light… Finally we came across a perpendicular road to the road we were traveling in and an old broken milestone, which said ‘Chennai’… the driver, and I almost screamed in joy but we knew we shouldn’t wake people up…. so we carried on and soon reached Chennai in less than 5 hours…yeah it was almost 3:00 the next morning…

It was 4:00 am on a not-so-lazy Wednesday morning…that I had to go back to sleep!!!

Days at office …… when you have no work !!!!

2005-08-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

Early morning ….. the sun shines, the birds sing and the suprabatham starts…..that’s when you wake up after a tired and long night at office…your head feels like a boulder and your body just dosen’t want to move…u feel you are ‘petrified totalus’ !! but still you build up all that is left in you and get up from you bed…put your feet down on the ground and that’s when you believe you can do anything humanly possible !! You are surprised by the activity going on at home and that’s when you realize that’s its not ‘early morning’ but you’ve only an hour to report at office. You are excited and panicked…you scream to your mom about the toothpaste and every little thing you find in your way….you ask her to get your coffee ready and you stand behind you dad waiting for the paper…..finally you loose your patience and say ‘dad….i need the paper..i’m getting late for office’….as if he’s got no better work to do….all of a sudden you forget everything….you plunge deep into the realms of the newspaper…you are among the action, the disasters, the controversies…..to the fact that you imagine to be the Indian cricket team captain and of course jyothika’s hero in her next movie !! from nowhere you hear a voice… ‘kanna , the water is already boiling’…..oops, you know it’s time for your bath….you leave the paper as it is…..n your poor dad who waits there all this while , gets to save the newspaper from the clutches of the ceiling fan !! just as your mom is about to pack your food …..there’s a scream…. ‘amma, where’s my towel’…..poor lady , she has to rush all around the house looking for your towel….finally she finds it under your helmet(for reasons unknown)…..and all you have to say when she hands it over to you is ‘what took you soo long ?’ . she goes back to the kitchen to pack food when you ask her to get you breakfast and turn to your dad for clothes……he points you to the chair beside you and as if you had known all this while, you casually pick ‘em up !! by the time you are dressed, breakfast is ready and you gobble up half of it and leave the rest….you put on your shoes and pick up your bag……and then the search for the bike key starts….you are worried about the time…and start cursing the keys….that’s when you realize that your dad has already taken the keys and is warming up the bike….you run to it and sit and once again you realize you haven’t taken your lunch….you scream to your mom for your lunch and finally when she brings it…..you look as if it’s all her fault and you’re getting late ‘coz of them !! but then just before you leave…your mom says ‘take care kanna, don’t go too fast, when will you come back…..’ and that’s when you start off ‘mom…I’m not a kid…I can take care of myself’ ….even before you finish this you give your mom that totally lovable kiss and she smiles back at you ……..no matter what happens in this world…..this love between a mother and child always lasts long….really long !!

The journey to office starts….you’ve only 15 min and you’ve got to travel 10 kms in the most ruthless, savage, and unmerciful traffic anyone has ever experienced!! You drive through each and every narrow gap you can find on the road….be it pavements or the mud that’s recently been covered over the dug, roadsides. Signals are not a matter of concern at all and if there’s no policeman….any signal means ‘you are welcome to pass…jus don’t bother about the others !’ The trip is one of the worst as you go down to the wire of almost driving over people….if not for those brakes that you had just repaired after a huge battle with your dad …..trying to convince him that they are alright just because you have to move out of the house on a Sunday morning to get them fixed. This is the time you try and recollect all the bad words you come across in movies….but unfortunately however bad they are……the others have worse words to say…which make you feel down right dirty….that’s when it strikes ‘silence is golden’ ….n for the next few minutes…..no matter what happens…..you keep shut !! finally the eventful journey is over….and you reach office in the nick of time !!

You find out that the parking lot inside the campus is full and you’ll have to put the bike outside…you think about the dust and the crow’s….( i guess you would have figured that out) and start cursing all the people ‘coz of whom you were late (except yourself …obviously) and finally you find a spot to park the bike. You go in with an air of authority as if you are the head of the entire company…..as if you are the most busiest man on this planet…and all that just dies down once you see your friends…all your college instincts rush up your brain..and all that machan, mama talks starts off !! You sit infront of the pc and twirl about in your chair with the impression that you’ll look totally cool but you fail to think about the fun the others are having seeing you do the things you do…which you actually think is attracting them….it definitely is attracting but only for a different cause…..i call entertainment !! You then check your mails as if the entire nations’ security lies in your mailbox….but all you end up doing is reading about how the sardar goes about doing things in his life…..which you think is the most funniest thing on this planet…..what you don’t realize is what you do isin’t forwarded or else the scenario is a lot different !! You go about looking at ice-castles, horoscopes, clips on babies and what not !! and by the time you finish with all that you realize it’s time for tea…you go around ..maybe even to the terrace, have a cup of tea and come back to work !! then it’s up to you to send all the important mails you’ve been looking at until now to all the other people whom you think is of worldly importance and also the people whom you think aren’t all that important and infact you send double the mails to the people who aren’t important at all !! by the time you’ve finished with all that…it’s time for lunch !! you go to the pantry…sit there waiting for your friends…once they’ve arrived, you go about having your food and talking about all the people who you consider the most irritating people on this planet (for eg: TL,PM,AM etc.) and it’s only when you’ve finished with all that you realize you’ve been sitting there for over an hour and there’s a long queue waiting to get a place to eat…you give them the look as if they’ve been standing there ogling at you all this while, and cursing you while you were eating…and coolly walk away without even bothering to realize that they are the senior-most people in the company !! you go back to your workplace….start talking to your friends again…curse them for having put you in this situation..as if it’s been their fault that you are here and curse them that they’ve been really lucky to get into another stream and that you’ve been struggling all through out going home late at nights and coming back early in the mornings….all that is to say is ‘whatever’!! you are bored…that’s when you get the idea of using technology to the full extent, so now use start using the most trendy electronic device today….the cellular phone. phone calls and sms now flow and you exhibit the sleight of your hand by sending consecutive messages even before the receiver can read them…you don’t expect anyone to reply you back but when you get one….you feel as if you are bayangaramma getting disturbed. Even this gets bored after sometime and you feel you head is heavy and is not able to take the stress any longer…your eyes are tired and they are not able to make you see anymore…your mouth starts opening up and even before you know it…..your head places itself on the chair and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. All of a sudden there’s an aroma, you can see tea gardens all around the place….the climate is wonderful , cool and windy and you are shivering…..poof you get up realizing that the air conditioning in your room is really cold now and you remember it’s time for tea….you go for a tea-break ….once again the chat with friends start….only this time it’s about messages and when they’ll be leaving home. You come back searching the LAN for movies esp. English as you don’t have 3 hours to spend on a desi movie. Finally you get to watch the same old desi movie you’ve watched a hundred times over and over again!! In between it’s time for snacks which brilliantly synchronizes with the snack-break….so you go for snacks once again talking to your friends about the movie and giving expert dialogues and posing your acting skills….you go back after 10 minutes giving it a real theatre effect for the break…and then resume the second half of the movie. Finally the hero instinct within you springs up after ‘the end’ of the movie….you have a glass of water, visit the restroom and with all the enthu, come back and start playing your favorite game..be it riding a chopper or hanging a kangaroo !! After a while you begin to look at the timepiece and realize it’s almost 6 p.m…..you pack your bag and get ready to leave when you realize you team leader and project manager are still waiting there ( for reasons not to be disclosed) …..and so you have no other choice rather than sit and wait for them to leave first…..so you get back to your gaming trying to break all your friends’ records !! Finally your team leader leaves his place…..and even before he steps out you are there at the lift waiting for him….you smile at him and say ‘ah ! what a day’ felling all the more tired and as if you’ve been doing all the work at office. You go to the parking lot showing the ‘tata’ sign to everyone (whether you know them or not) and are surprised to see all the bikes still there…anyway who cares !!

The drive back home is again hideous, battling through nastiest of all battle the human race has ever seen….finally after evading every death threat and with a lot of heated verbose accusations….you reach HOME !!

As you get in, you create that sympathy ambience for yourself …..and your mom comes and asks you how your day was…and that’s when you give this expression of …what do you think…it was evidently hectic !! you go have a nice bath in warm water and sit down to eat those lovely chappatis mom has made for you….you happily hog and watch the television for sometime…even your grandma is willing to give up her age-old mega serials for you , NOW !! You are bored watching the dumb channels …entertainment has lost flair once the CAS was into the picture …..so you go to bed….taking the most boring book you’ve ever read (now it’s no more the college text book) … and before you finish up with the first few lines…all is dark ……….the end !!

Up , up and Away !!

2005-08-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

Hey what’s up there ? is it a goat ? is it a tree swaying ? No, it’s karthik climbing a hill !! Fine I know it was bad…….but definitely my trip last Sunday wasn’t !! It all started when I got this Pune Guide and Map from Crossword(famous book store) and started going all around pune during the week-ends.That was when I got to know this place called Sinhgad … that’s lion fort just for the heck of translation !!

It is 25kms from Pune and is one of the forts of Shivaji…no ganeshan….just Shivaji . The fort was won by shivaji while most of the dishum dishum was done by his loyal and brave kshatriya Tanaji Malusare who unfortunately lost his life during the battle. The fort has his Samadhi and also bungalows of Lokmanya Tilak and the famous Marathi poet Ga Di Ma …..yeah that’s his name…..we shud’ve studied history better!! Fine let’s forget the past and come to the trekking part….

The fort is 1200m high …..yeah 1.2 kms is no big deal…but it is when you go against gravity on dicey rocks and creepy plants with the hum of water just beside your ear….and when you try to take a look and find a 1200m drop and realize it’s a waterfall ….yes it is a BIG DEAL !! I went there all alone but just at the foot of the hill met up with 5 more ppl planning to trek. The 5 of them were just awesome…all from in and around pune…3 of them doing the 2nd year engineering…if u r thinking if I’d have scene potufied…you are perfectly right !! 2 of ‘em were working in NARI…c’mon guys wipe that look off…it’s National Aids Research Institute !

We started climbing up at around 12:00 in the afternoon….initially we were all pumped up and it wasn’t very tiring ….but as the altitude augmented, exhaustion started creeping in…and after a point of time…say 350m…we just couldn’t carry ourselves and the temperature started dropping…it wasn’t a problem for them but having coming from a place which hasn’t seen the 20degreesC range for a long time…it was another problem….

The route was bad….infact there was no route…we had to make our own way up…and owing to the perpetual rains….the entire path was damp ! That made it a lil more difficult to get a grip on the rocks…but it was just awesome…we kept taking breaks fer almost every 100-150 m ….there are these small huts at certain places ( jus imagine ppl really living in the jungleee areas) … where we used to stop for buttermilk and chai..or chaha as in Marathi ! ! The best part was … when you are panting for a gulp of air and just turn around and look how far you are (‘you just can’t look how much more….’coz its all clouds)…you get this utterly stunning view…which makes up for all the effort…all the energy comes back and you start walking !!

At one point there was this path…wherein there was place for only one foot…so you need to put 1 foot at a time and go through….the sides were totally covered by trees ..we just didn’t know what was there…but there was this perpetual sound of water from somewhere but due to the heavy vegetation we just couldn’t get a glance….but when we tried to clear a bit of leaves and check out…boy it was the most blissful spectacle I had ever seen….we were just beside a waterfall… and the sight just can’t be put in words!! We carried on having rendezvous with snakes, a maajar variety of birds, mongooses and ofcourse the ‘we are everywhere’ insect world !!

After about 700m we could actually see the clouds passing through us and it was soo cold that all of us started puffing out smoke from our mouth, nose and strangely our ears also…it was soo cold that my gherkin started puffing … HA!ha!..that was the first time I was seeing this happen and it was quite amusing…we kept going and then the worst part started….it started raining…and it became even more slippery and since we had to look up, the rain was lashing straight into our eyes…that was really difficult and we started taking more breaks …. And finally after 150 minutes of excitement, adventure and eye-popping spectacles….we were there…..at Sinhgad !!

It was continuously raining there…and all of us were tired and hungry !! The temp. would have been around 10 or 12 degrees C up there… and since we were all wet…god it was freezing !! And to top it all the wind up there was blowing at around …… I dunno the kmph but if I was 20kgs less I’d hve been blown off the cliff…ah! So now you are thinking how much this guy would weigh…am I 20kgs less than him ? HA!ha!ha! The best and most amusing part on top was that there was an Airtel and BPl tower…and I also got a phone from office….now what can I say about that !!

We looked around the place for sometime…and then went to a dhaba there…yes it is a tourist spot and so there are small hotels there…actually there’s even a road where jeeps bring people up and down…but what fun is it sitting in a jeep and going all the way up!! The wind blowing soo fast, it made the rain drops hit our faces soo hard that it actually started hurting a lot . So we took shelter in the dhaba and first had black chaha. Then there’s this roti type thing called Pithle-Bhakari which is as famous as idli in tn,here. It was served hot with dal and we hogged like hogs…then we had Kanda Bhaji(nambe normal rende rubaa bajji) and Meeti dahi(sweet curd) in small earthenware pots.

We didn’t realize but it was getting late…it was almost 5:00 pm when we finished and it was time to climb down as it is impossible when dark(it was already dark ‘coz of the heavy dark clouds)!! So we got some Bhuee Mugg (Oh! that’s not some high funda parlance….it’s just ‘kadale’ in marathi J ). The trek down was not as taxing as climbing up but needed utmost precaution and one thing which kept going on in my mind all the way down was ‘look and put your step’…’coz one small mistake and you’ll land up in a hospital !! It took us about 90 min to climb down. As we came down the rain slowly stopped and once again mother nature proved aishwarya rai is no miss world ….she is !! fine you might argue saying it is ‘mother nature’ and ‘miss world’….so forget it !! It was gorgeous …..that sums it up…ok ?

It’s not fair if I don’t mention the kinda company the five gave me…if I’d have done this all of my own…I dun think I could have dun it..i’d have come back and taken the jeep instead…they kept singing all the way up and down…they thought me a lil marathi…I dun remember any and I thought them bit of tamil and telugu…it was great fun !! They were sooo sweet they invited me for dinner to their place…so we took a bus from the foot of the hill to their place…and just because I said I eat rice a lot in Chennai…you know they made rice for me !! it was totally sweet of them…we had a gala time and even before I knew it, it was 11:00 in the night…then I took and auto to my place and crashed !!

I can just go on writing about this all day…but all of us have work…all thorough the trip I just wanted to stop and rejoice every sight, every moment …. I just wished I could just stand there all day and keep watching that out of this world exhibition but we have to move on. It might be only a momentary bliss but the memory will stay for eternity!! The only thing I regretted and was totally disappointed throughout the entire trip was that I had neither a handycam nor a camera….i didn’t expect all this !! I know these spectacles are like readers envy , writers pride when you read all this and think about it…but it’d have been great if I cud’ve put some of those snaps with along with this !!

The trip is definitely not one of the best in the entire world…but for me … though this is not my first trekking experience…it’s been one after a long time and I will remember it for a long long time….one day I would tell my grandchildren (hey wipe those stupid smile off ur faces !!) by starting off ….hey what’s up there !!