Photo078

Feb Snow early morning around Rishi's house (in Cincinnati).

Photo126

One of those Chill Out joints along the Delhi-Agra highway.

Midnight Gupshup

Midnight Gupshup; hmmmmm.....

Guess, I should have written something sensuous, perhaps having shades of erotica. But then, my midnights are just like my days; I wont label them boring, but I'll be surprised if anyone else finds them enterprising.

Over dinner at Kebabish, I decided to pass the night in the night-out mode. I keep doing this from time to time, sometime night forcing itself on me, at other times, such as this, I forcing myself on the night. I guess this ends up being symmetric anyways, irrespective of who forces oneself on the other.
Anyways, I watched Tahaan and liked it. Somehow I bias my mind to movies. I very much know even before watching a movie, if I am going to like it or not. I like watching fable kinda movies, especially the ones with kids playing central roles (Blue Umbrella, Makdee).
I also wasted my hours shuffling between numerous routines of Hearts, Solitaire and Free Cell. Often I have noticed that if I indulge too much in these card games, my dreams start to appear green; talk about subconscious :)
Oh, by the way, philosophy. Its an important aspect of any conversation that has to be deemed meaningful. Though you need not necessarily talk meaningfully, quite a lot of people still fall trap to this pseudo intellectualism which more often than not is nothing but gibberish. Well, the above sentence is one such example; but let me quote the one that we (Me and Murli) invented during dinner. This one was based on another famous philosophy; 'Take Life as it comes'. We devised our own version, 'One need not worry too much about life, it anyways ends up taking you whether you want to come or leave'.

On parting notes, here's the thought of the night:

There are thousand many ways of screwing your life; sooner or later you'll figure them out ;)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watch Gulaal when it releases, watch Dev D if you haven't done that, listen to Death Metal with lights off.

or

Drink Camomile Tea for better sleep, do Yoga for relaxation, frequent cafes in the town, you might see a face or two that're indeed better than yours.

:)

The Rainbow Bridge over Nothingness (The One of Turquoise Eyes - 4)

It was morning when he woke up. Lazy eyes, swollen and red due to lack of sleep and tired of holding eternity, caught the first glimpse of the rainbow bridge. The wind was soft and soothing, bit cold but that was due to the night which never left before leaving its mark on the morn of the following day(s). There was light mist around and the bridge hung in the thin veil of the fog. He could see the peak, way beyond the green valley on the other side of the bridge. The rainbow bridge would soon be without its colors, all draining one after another as Sun would raise high up in the azure. The skies were already reddish orange, and the Sun, a baby pink reminiscent of glories, whose presence had become so commonplace now.
‘Now’. What was now? Not the bridge, not its colors; not even its name. It faded slowly, from the view, from the landscape, from his eyes. The day was clear and sun no longer pink. The bridge was away from its colors and what remained of it was what always existed, carefully placed stones, tied and hung in that space by who knew whom. Chiseled stones welcomed his slow and unsure steps. “Are you comfortable”, they asked. He should have replied but he didn’t. No one knew the significance of these steps of his, not the stones, not the bridge or the peak. The sun and the faded colors didn’t knew it either.
He continued his slow walk, seldom looking around or paying attention to the talks of the stones who continued with their questions; “Are you comfortable”, “What took it so long for you to come”, “Are you heading to the valley and the peak beyond”.
The sun was now on the other side of the bridge, watching him as patiently as ever. He had passed the middle of the bridge when he noticed that nothing existed beneath the bridge. This was a bridge over nothingness; dark, ever growing and encompassing nothingness. A nothingness way beyond the Sun and its golden hue, nothingness where even night was afraid to go. Where did then the Night slept?
Was it this vast nothingness in which melted the colors of the rainbow bridge?
As his turquoise eyes met the nothingness from far above the bridge, the air became melancholic. The stone voices grew thin and then finally died down on their own, assimilating perhaps in the nothing. Sun once again shifted it stance and now hung close to his head, right above him.
His turquoise eyes saw his shadows cast over the surface of the nothingness, some even piercing deep inside it. His eyes had seen a lot and held even more. All that; the cave, those yellows, that ember and all else was a part of him, his eyes and this nothingness.
He lifted his eyes, away from his shadows, away from the nothingness beneath him. Over his shoulder hung the sun, who was to die soon one more of his eternal silent deaths. Far away in the distance was the peak and in between lay the valley. All of them were silent, listening to the melancholy which was his, looking at his somber turquoise eyes and his face on which had arrived the shades of rainbow,

An Indigo sad in the company of a Violet
A Yellow and A Red, part of his nothingness, adopted and parted with
An Orange of the dying evening Sun
A Green of that jungle, that lied buried in the Blue
A Blue that was eternal.

His turquoise eyes looked around, casting themselves on the Sun, the valley and the peak beyond, the bridge; his eyes looked at them all. And then they looked down again at the nothingness smeared with his shadows.

From above the rainbow bridge, he opened his arms and jumped to the embrace of nothingness.

The Dream (The One of Turquoise Eyes - 3)

They passed through the skin
as they marched towards the cave
with their sharpened teeth
cluttering vociferously.

The voices within
and around
have long been dead,
silence resided there
with fellows no one knew;
but they were not the explorers
inquisitors.

Hungry shadows lurked around
shadows without sun
shadows that knew no moon.

They might have been singing a song
out of tune
and soon they were
in front of the cave.

He saw them go inside
one by one
cluttering their teeth
singing their song,
he saw them go inside
with his Turquoise eyes,
Those eyes of his
that shed green tears,
He saw them
disappear,
one by one;
hunger ,
shadows,
song;
All were for his Turquoise eyes
to behold.

There’s a cloud
Somewhere,
a sun and a moon as well,
day and night
and
the Cave;
dark and silent it was,
dark and silent it might be.

He moves away
slow and staggering
crushing his shadows repeatedly
eyes open to himself
but closed to vision.

Do watch him go
Do keep an eye
Warn him

“Run”.
“But I have no fear”.
“Run”.
“From whom”?
“Run”.
“Why”?
“Run”.
“I won’t”?


“Then, perish”.
“……………”.


“I will”.

The One of Turquoise Eyes (2)

Far away in the distance, where the mountain took a dip in the blues, he sits staring at the cave. His eyes burned ember. He hasn’t slept for a while. Nights don’t remember if they have seen him sleeping. What is he doing there?
From inside the cave, he could hear the voices patting the corridors of his mind. His head is heavy with the lightness of these sounds. How many? He looks endlessly, his infinite gaze fixed on the cave. Perhaps he is waiting patiently for someone, that’s what this night sang. This night, tonight, dark, dim and lazy, like every night, a messenger of the day, a careless, casual messenger of the day.
There’s a cloud floating by. It stops as its drowsy eyes catch a glimpse of him. Who sent this cloud? A grey cloud, whose grey is prominent against the blue of the heavens. There have been no clouds since, no one knows since when. There have been no tears either. But this cloud saw him and stopped, and for a while everything stopped, everything. His eyes were still active though in their never ending, relentless gaze. They realized that there were no voices anymore and yet they didn’t bat the eyelids. They continued like before, persistent as always and still active in those moments of eternal inactivity. How much was eternal? For how long did the cloud stopped?
Inside of the cave burned bright, as if that yellow moon had taken refuge there. His eyes had noticed this change, for they now reflected the yellow. And as yellow started filling the spaces of his eyes, out came the ember that has been gracing them all this while. Ember flowed out of yellow eyes and the cave burned yellow without those voices that existed till that moment when everything stood still.
The cloud was no where to be seen, it had disappeared. Nights continued with their boring routine, passing without any cause or concern. They bothered for neither his eyes emptied of ember nor for the bright yellow that now occupied the same. But his eyes remained intent on gazing through the cave. They didn’t knew the reasons, they weren’t aware of the purposes, his purposes that is. Someone had asked, some time, “What’s your purpose”? “Seeing”.

How much?
How long?
What?
Why?

He got up and walked, away from the cave; Eyes closed, Yellow enslaved, Ember abandoned.

Short Movies 2

I'll Wait For The Next One

The Ball

Movies By Ted Chung

On Time

A Thousand Words

The List : Movies 2008

In my opinion, 2008 was a good year for Indian Cinema. Hit/Flop aside, there were a lot of good, meaningful movies that came out this year. Here's a list of my favs from the year that went by (in no particular order)

• A Wednesday

• Aamir

• Mumbai Meri Jaan

• Tahaan

• Dasvidaniya

• Mithya

• Jannat

• Welcome To Sajjanpur

• Oye Lucky Lucky Oye

• Rock On

There were some other good movies, which missed the list. Here's a quick list for them without posters

• Sorry Bhai
• Last Lear
• Khuda Ke Liye
• Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
• Ramchand Pakistani
• Hulla
• Shoot on Sight
• SarkarRaj
• Dil Kabaddi

2008: The Year That Was (In Life of S for Me and C for Crazy)

2008 was an interesting year; I guess a year of changes; personal, professional and spatial changes. Here's a quick recap.

• January
  

Celebrated New Year at Kika's and spent most of January in nomadic style with days (starting at 3:00 AM) in lab and nights at Vasant's place (as Altra was in India those days). Busy writing dissertation, sipping coffee and yes with no actual address of my own. By the end of Januray, I has shifted my temporary base from Vasant's place to Shrikant's SC 903 apt, where I sort of remained till I finally moved out of Cinci.

• February
  

Feb started and ended on fabulous notes. Annual IMAC trip involved driving the 10 seater Chevy all the way from Cinci to Orlando, enjoying Jacksonville beach and Daytona beach on the way. IMAC was, as usual, fun and then we rounded it off by visiting Key West. Snorkeling, para sailing and cruise in Key West were followed by an afternoon on Miami beach during the return dash to Cinci. Forgot to mention the evening in Cocoa beach spent right after IMAC concluded. By the way, we were six in total, Wanchang, Ryota and his Japanese Friend, Bala, Batman and myself.
28th of Feb was when it finally ended, I mean my doctoral studies reached satisfactory conclusions. 45 min talk, few questions and photographs, round of hand shakes, congratulations; that is what four years of work/studies culminated into :)

• March

March was a busy month; lot of people to meet and treat, finalizing stuff in Denmark and the memorable farewell at Myrtle Beach. PF Chang, Teak Thai, The Thai place near Sippy's house, Amma's Kitchen, Party at Morgens, The Chinese Place in Downtown and the usual suspects, Krishna, Chipotle, Cilantro, King Wok, hmmmmmm March was the month of Restaurants and Parties.
I made a quick trip to Copenhagen and finalized the apartment where I currently reside. Myrtle beach trip followed soon after. Four memorable days, spent amongst friends, My Cinci family. We celebrated Daksh's b'day and time was spent gossiping, dozing around the oceanfront house; and of course there was holi on the beach :)

• April

No tears shed this farewell and I moved from one part of the world to another. April passed figuring out the new surroundings and lifestyle; getting used to the fact that reliance on public transport is the way to be, shops closing down around 6:00 in the evening, paying for water you drink at the restaurants, paying for the carry bags at grocery stores, cola refills don't come free, etc. etc.

• May

May was the month of spring and thus traveling and exploring Sjaelland part of the country. This has started in April itself, but almost all the weekends in May were devoted to this activity. Helsingor Castle, Hillerod Castle, Rosenborg, Fredensberg, Radhuspladsen, Walking Street, Roskilde and many others. I guess I finished my Denmark darshan in May itself :)

• June

June started with a cruise to Oslo, Norway with Sumit who took a Detour to Denmark during his trip to Germany. We came back from Oslo and headed straight to USA for my graduation ceremony. It was sort of reuniting with Cinci family and other friends at University of Cincinnati. Even got to meet Anshul who drove all the way from Maryland and also Utkarsh. Met Goutham and Ananta, met Bala bros, met folks from AID, met Srikant and Sushant, met my Profs, met ........

• July

July was more about moving around Copenhagen, enjoying the summer and 20 hrs of daylight. There was one particular weekend a 16 Km trek to Stevn's Klint proposed/forced by me which obviously wasn't liked by most. It was indeed tiring but still quite enjoyable, especially the limestone cliffs.

• August

Short trip to India for business purposes. Raghavendra coming to Denmark for his interview with Vestas at Aarhus but could not take him around as I was down with flu. That's pretty much it. It was good for a change that there wasn't much worth mentioning in August.

• September

Trip to Belgium for ISMA. Ate crazy sea food, took a pic and sent it to my parents. As I look at that picture now, my mother's shock on seeing me eat not so friendly looking creatures seems very justified.

• October

Copenhagen Culture Night, My Day of Birth and sad news right before Diwali (My Grandmother expired).

• November

November wasn't a friendly month. I made a quick trip to India for attending my Grandmother's tehrawi. What happened on 26/11 in Mumbai is known to all. November started and ended on sad note.

• December

Trip to Frankfurt, Germany to meet Sumit alongwith Raghavendra. Plenty of vacations starting 21st. We discovered a cinema hall in CPH that exclusively shows Bollwood movies and ended up watching RNBDT and Ghajini. Christmas eve was spent in Malmo, Sweden and New Year witnessing one of the best celebrations of the day, fire crackers bursting all around the lake on the clear night. It was like witnessing Diwali, just that it was -2 deg outside and yes almost everyone was drunk, except me ;)
December went down nicely, except that I lost my S5 IS Camera
:(
par chalta hai, as they say 'Everything need not be perfect'
:)

Wishing all a very happy 2009, I hope it unfolds all things nice and fine for everyone, including me.

The One of Turquoise Eyes (1)

When they see him they will realize that he has not changed much, pretty much same eyes, same nose and same curly hairs. How much time has passed, hmm; no one knows. They wonder, how much time. A lot is what they can think of, precisely how much, no one knows. They had given up the concept of tracking time long ago, ages ago will probably be the right word. That was their way of defeating time. Time was anyway a concept, defeating a concept seems so abstract now. Time was an absurd concept anyways.

His eyes were blue, actually turquoise. They say he was son of the green jungle that lay buried in the depth of the blues. On a certain night, he would just wander alone near the shore and his eyes, those turquoise eyes, will shed tears, green tears. They will all cry then, for no reasons known. Nobody ever asked him the reasons; and he, he never bothered about them. But that was all a long while ago. One fine day, or was it the afternoon; no one recalls the exactitude of that moment, but they recall that one fine moment (time, they sometime wonder if they really defeated it), ages ago, he was gone, just like that, without any premonition, perhaps without reasons as well, he just left.

They had not sent any search parties, they didn’t even worried, those were not the sentiments they shared/felt anyways. The only thing they missed, were the green tears which made them cry, for reasons they never knew. And although they missed crying, it was not that they knew that they missed it. They would go to the shore on the nights when the moon would be yellow and dimly lit and they will keep looking at the ocean, its blueness, its vastness. In the morning, when last of the stars took a holy dip in the blue ocean, they will return, feeling uneasy, incomplete and unsure of what is it that they were searching for, looking for.

All this was long ago; very, very long ago, for now it was a ritual, to wait for the moon to be yellow, stars to take a dip in the blueness and return engulfed with uneasiness, incoherency. Nobody had realized that all this while, their own eyes haven’t watered, that they have not cried, wailed and mourned. Those were emotions of past, emotions that lied buried away from the present (Time, they had thought they had defeated it), emotions they were unaware of, untouched from. Amongst those nights of yellow moon, were the days of golden hue and crimson shadows that filled them with life. It was a set routine, a day soaked with crimson, followed by a moon of varying shades and colors. There were intermittent days of violet as well, but that was when they wanted it to be that way, and those days were too less and limited. On days like that, there will be clouds in the sky, veiling the moon and its blueness. Actually these clouds will engulf the moon in the night itself and no matter how hard the moon tries, it will not be able to make itself free after being entangled amongst these clouds (unless they wanted to set it free). And then, the crimson shadows arrived, bathing the blueness of the moon; the moon will cry and threw tantrums but the clouds wont let him go; till the day becomes violet.

Those days were few and far between, but those were the occasions when they recalled faintly that there was once someone amongst them whose eyes were turquoise. They didn’t remember those green tears, but they had faint remembrances of him, he who had left long ago.

Losing

So many times I lost my heart and I felt sad, for there were no takers. I always ended up getting it back.

I lost three cameras and I felt sad; nobody returned them.

Ensuing Fall

When it falls
will let you have a taste of it,
till then
you need to try
and continue doing so;
for I am still
able to bear the pain.
I am crazy,
calling me insane
wont get you anywhere,
for I know this well
and I dont deny
so harder you got to try.
Harder,
more painful
scathing, full of hurt and harm;
that's how you need to hit me
and it will surely fall.
It's not a promise,
mere destiny
just that it will take a while,
for I am thick skinned
more than strong willed,
as wrongly perceived.
But then
I am human
and humans fall,
so do tears;
So have no fears,
I will let you win in the end
till then let me fight my tears
and defend :)


Photo courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27235917@N02/3080314161/sizes/l/

Rhyme with a lil' Slime and some Grime :)

I need to write something; first the reasons WHY

• I need to get over 'Rab Ne Paka Di Thodi'.
• I need to get over another home draw by Chelsea.
• I need to keep up with Baba Sehgal; 'Pump Up Your Style'.

....................................

Rhyme of the Day

Mere Nahane Ka Style hai
Mere Gaane ka Style hai
Khaana Banane ka style hai

Mere Aane ka style hai
Mere Jaane ka style hai
Ladki Ghoomane ka style hai

Mere Naam mein style hai
Mere Kaam mein style hai
Subah Shaam mein style hai


Slime of The Day

Yaad hai mujhe woh din
Jab jalaye the baal
aur giraye the chawal apni pant par
Jab Tuesday ko dekhi thi 'A Wednesday'
2:40 par pakdi thi '1:40 ki last local'
khaye the kisi ne Flowers ke petal
Main chahta tha kehna
ban gaye tum April Fool
tha woh mahina lekin December
jab giraye the chawal apni pant par
Yaad hai mujhe ....
Yaad hai mujhe ....

Grime of The Day


Ek sharif aadmi ki Frankfurt mein hui jam ke dhunai,
in do badmasho ko mujh par zara bhi daya nahi aayi,
You may ask me 'who the hell were they',
Ab kya kahoon ki yeh the Aparajita aur Samyukta ke bhai :)

....................................

.Order Reversed In, Rest The For Pointers (<- Read )

• Aparajita and Samyukta are fictional, their brothers aren't.
• I can croon 'Yaad Hai Mujhe' just like a certain Atif Aslam.
• Call me StyleGuru, I hate being called a Bhai, no matter if its style related :0

It's a Beautiful Day

Its dark, gloomy
dull and cloudy,
windy as well
and bit chilly;
Sun probably
wont shine today
and skies will throughout
remain Grey.
As I open my umbrella
and walk leisurely
to my office
I realize,
Nice and Beautiful
were never
about day and weather.
There's a smile on my face
as I go along my way
I whistle,
'Its indeed a beautiful day'.

A day in the life of S for Me and C for Crazy

These will be written in bulleted format (Ask 'Why').

• Getting up an hour before the alarm rings and enjoy the feeling of being ahead of the time.
  
• Office is nicely decorated and all set for tomorrow's Christmas Party.
• Listen to Jazz with lights switched off.
• Laziness leads to fried rice in dinner (Recipe : Prepare rice in MW, cut onions, fry the cooked rice with onion and cumin seeds in oil, add chili and salt).
• Say 'crap' as 'keeraaaap'; its not fun but still worth trying.
• Spend half hour to zero on the word that will be mispronounced tomorrow.
• Take bathroom singing seriously, it motivates one for taking a bath.
• Equating girls to evil leads to horrific results.
  

Ok 8 points down the line, boredom prevails; so here's finishing off with the thought of the Night.

To know everything is neither possible nor necessary.

In Times Like This, My Friend

In times likes this
I see you my friend,
helpless and stranded,
frightened, hopeless.
You cry my tears, my friend
you bleed my blood;
my pain, my agony,
you go through this all.

There's a story of your nightmare
I heard;
I experienced
the horror on your face;
terrified eyes, yours
sorrow in mine.

We are shaken as of now,
sad will follow soon;
perhaps anger as well
but from now we know
we'll never talk of hell.
I have seen one
the one you went through
the one we never knew
existed
right next to where we dwell
My, your, Our Hell.

We are orphaned my friend
both you and me,
you on that other side
I, alone on mine
few paces, few screens away.
I see you,
my friend;
I know not
your religion,
caste, creed or nation
I only see you bleed
a red, that I know and recognize.

I am sorry my friend
for I can do nothing more
I can grief
I can mourn
go through this feeling unknown.
Is this enough
I doubt my friend,
and I have no one to ask
for we all sail in the same boat
that is struggling to stay afloat.

I hope
and I know we all do;
we know not
how it might have all started
I just pray with my eyes closed
and hands folded
that this is indeed the end
for I can't bear the times like these
as I mourn you, my unknown friend.

Trippin (My Favourite Songs)

Lets restrict this to five recent ones with sufiana flavour to them.

• Ha Raham Farma-e-Khuda (Mehfooz) - AAMIR

Aani jaani hai kahani
Bulbule si Zindagani
Banti kabhi bigadti
Tez hawa se ladti bhidti

Armaan kare kaaya yeh ujali
Mitti mein mil jaayegi
Chahe jitni shamayein roshan kar le
Dhoop to dhal jaayegi, jaayegi

Kya mazaal teri marzi ke aage
Bando ki chal jaayegi
Thaame ungli jo tu katputli bhi
Chaal badal jaayegi, jaayegi

Ha raham, ha raham farm-e-Khuda
Mefooz har kadam karna e-khuda

Beyond words :)

• Tose Naina Lage (Jaaveda Zindagi) - ANWAR

Two muslim characters playing Lord Krishna and Radha, what better way to celebrate the great feeling of love that goes beyond religion, region, caste or creed :)

• Meharbaan - ADA

Tu hai nihaa (Secret), main hoon ayaan (visible),
Tu hatheli (Palm), main hoon heena (Decoration).

AR Rahman vocals, AR Rahman music, beautiful Urdu laden poetry; brings smile to one's face, peace to one's mind and makes one feel good about oneself and everything around.

• Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaye - KALYUG

Simple yet mersmerizing, magical.

• Teri Deewani - KAILASA (Kailash Kher)

Off late we have been blessed with some great composers and singers, Amit Trivedi (Aamir music director) is one and Kailash Kher is another. Beautiful composition, even better video; showing various shades of love, each as endearing as other. Add the subtle spirituality that flows underneath and here's music fulfilling its very purpose :)

Amazing songs, nothing more can be said, just listen and experience it for yourself.

Danish White Satin

They greeted me in the morn,
The snow, the wind and the chilling cold;
"Wake up and be outside", they said,
"There's beauty spread for you to behold".

*******