R.I.P.....

History is over

For people like me , who came from small town, he was the window to the west and the western music...... My first english song that I ever heard -> Dangerous.

BEAT IT

Waiting anxiously

Looks like my childhood fantasy.

IF...

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

--- Rudyard Kipling.

I have read this poem in my 10th standard. But still today it pretty much echoes within my self. Whatever is written over there is very difficult to follow.

It can be made easy by one simple answer to all the questions one has. It can be either "Yes" or "No". And from there on its like a simple flowchart diagram with decision boxes all along.

Middle finger to all those who say..."Its not as easy as you think"

Saw long time back and Remembered now

I saw the movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" long time back.(rather this movie debuted on my iPod and I found a better way of commuting to office)

I never paid attention to something very significant. Why was "Happyness" misspelt? offcourse it was intentional.

Wikipedia has a long story to say on the same about Thomas Jefferson and United States declaration of independence.

Well I found something while surfing that appealed to me a lot.

"There is no Y(why) in Happyness, only I".

Interesting musing.

Very aptly expressed

Found in one of the Rediff's discussion forum.

"If this movie had shown Indians as slum dwellers, poverty ridden, racist, corrupt and had shown Westerners as compassionate and our saviors, this would have topped the charts and won a few Oscars.
The hypocrisy of the Western scoundrels is mind blowing.
I'm not saying these things dont exist in India but to relentlessly portray only the negative side of our country in virtually every movie amounts to racial stereotyping. And frankly I'm tired of the BS."

Thanks Mr. Vijay M for echoing the same sentiments which was brewing in my mind since I saw this movie. Couldnt get words for it.

Flickr- thumbs up

I dont know whether Picassa offers this feature or not. But Joining various photography interest groups in Flickr has rekindled my interest in this pretty costly venture( After all some passions are not easy to follow.)

But I dont know whether the photographs are copyrighted?

Religion and us

When one person suffers from delusion it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from delusion it is called Religion
- Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance.

Very apt with what is happening in
1) Mangalore (Attack on the churches)
2) Nun's Rape in orissa
3) Bomb blasts throughout India

And incidentally, these are the times when one needs religion the most. As it provides you the strength to endure the pain caused.But its like an opium in the hands of fanatics.

All I need to say is wake up my friends and watch around before its too late and the scars which no time can heal.

The song that plays in the background.(Pink Floyd)

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bombs
Did you ever wonder
Why we had to run for shelter
When the promise of a brave new world
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bombs
The flames are all long gone
But the pain lingers on
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye blue sky

How dare you Mr. President?

I could not stop laughing my heart out or to be more generous lungs out when I read this news in ToI.( well I expect this from ToI as it was present on their front page).

There are 2 conclusions that I can draw from the same.

1) One of the very weird fatwa's
2) Mr. Sarkozy(with all due respect to the french people) would be hanged.People say that why am I after him.( after all he got the prettiest of all).

My experiment with 55 :D

He stands in the middle of the D wearing a blue jersey, facing the green one and on the verge of making history.The refree whistles. A moment of silence. Blue is kneeling down at the same place surrounded by greens with his face sunk in his chest. Brazil rejoices while Italy can't believe.

A Hero falls.

An instance from the penalty shoot out in the 1994 world cup which brazil won because Roberto Baggio could not convert the decisive penalty.

To cut a long story short

I read about the concept of 55 fiction (wikipedia link) while doing some random surfing. And indeed it is a very potent idea.

Just go through this blog \Love and Longing. Aptly titled. I am pretty much sure anybody can conjure an idea in 55 words but can it be as moving and potent?

Comfortable

Well if things are perfect then it doesnt mean that they have to last forever. And that is the irony, because from there on one has to just compromise.

Listening to song Comfortable by John Mayer.

....
She thinks I can't see the smile thats she's faking
And poses for pictures that aren't being taken
I loved you
Gray sweatpants
No makeup
So perfect
........

:)

दिल से तुझको बे दिली है,
मुझको है दिल का गुरूर,
तू ये माने के ना माने,
लोग मानेंगे ज़रूर.

...........

ऐसे वीरने में एक दिन,
घुट के मार जाएँगे हम,
जितना जी चाहे पुकारो,
फिर नही आएँगे हम.

ये मेरा दीवानापन है,
या मोहब्बत का सुरूर,
तू ना पहचाने तो है ये,
तेरी नज़रों का कसूर.

Heard it in the movie "Namesake". Originally from movie "Yahudi". The song has been sung by Susheela Raman.

Bangalore Rains

Rain rain go away,
Dont ever come again another day
Frustrated Rahul wants to go to office some day (without being drench)


The bangalore rains can either make you very romantic (if you have a partner) or will make you very angry (like me).
Love it or Loathe it but you cannot ignore it. :||

Every other day while returning from office, I am getting wet. All my shoes, Jeans, T-shirt are wet.So now I have started keeping an extra pair of clothes and shoes in my bag especially for Bangalore rains.

Solution :- Buy a Car.
Immediate solution :- stop going to office on bike.

I feel good about life(la vie en rose)

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose.......

Recently I saw the movie WALL-E and no doubt that it was one of the finest I have seen.I liked the sweet and beautiful love story of WALL-E and EVE.

And indeed one of the finest sequence was the dance in the space by WALL-E and EVE. The captain of the ship asks the robot to define dancing and there we see WALL-E and EVE dancing rhythmically.

Getting back to the point....

Well I am not an exponent of Jazz music but I heard the voice of Louis Armstrong in the movie singing "la vie en rose". This is a french sentence and exact translation in english is "I see life in pink". Well it literally means, This is life.

The song is played when WALL-E is following EVE on her mission.There is an inherent beauty about this song and the way the trumpet is played.Especially when you are listening the same in complete silence and you are transported to a different world. Planning to listen to some more of louis armstrong and the some more of classic Jazz.

Some more research has yielded that this song was orignially sung by french singer Edit Piaf and there is also an oscar winning movie on her life titled la vie en rose (next in line to be watched).

When you kiss me heaven sighs
And tho I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose.........

Simply "Rock On"-Nothing more

+ve

1) Arjun Rampal's wife
2) Farhan Akhtar's Vocals
3) Music .They have a purpose in the movie :)

-ve

1) Farhan Akhtar's Wife ( she looked like a big dumbo)
2) Very predictable story line
3) What was that guy Luke kenny(or whatever his name was) doing? I am gonna die and want to perform on the stage before I die.
4) Westernized Rock and not Indianized( my personal opinion). By Indianized, I dont mean singing in Hindi. There have been English rock numbers by Indian Bands too.
5) Hypocrisy (writing Hindi songs in English)

So overall a chocolaty movie but an effort that should be applauded.
Watched it, went home,slept, started my normal routine next day. But I should have also followed my dreams in between (may be in dreams though)
:)

waah ustaad waah

After watching the movie "Mumbai meri Jaan", I was awestruck on the simplicity of the movie and the intricacies of human thought it portrayed.
Hats off to Nishikant Kamat on coming with such a beautiful spectacle on the celluloid that is simply a treat to watch.

I liked the end of the movie a lot.Not like every other feature where everything is good, hunky-dory in the end and you go home smiling with tears of joy. Well some would certainly say that this is the purpose of the movie. For me movie is not a way to relax. Its a medium, and a very potent medium to make people think. And for my case I prefer the kind of movies that will make me think and could relate it to the real life.

The movie ended on a vey simple note,with a song from the old Hindi movie CID

"Aie Dil hai mushkil jeena yahan,
Jara hat ke, Jara bach ke,
Ye hai Bombay meri Jaan"

With the song in the background and real life pictures of the serial blasts in Mumbai local trains.

The various stories interwined in the feature
1) An IT professional whose sense of paranoia makes him look out for a life better worth living.
2) A news reporter, reminiscent of the current masala news channel, and the way she copes after becoming a victim.
3) A small time Tea vendor who is caught up in a dream world until he is ostracized by the socially affluent class
4) A Police inspector who is seeing his life and his dreams crumbling in front of him but is helpless and cannot do anything
5) An unemployed youth who takes up the cudgel of doing ethnic cleansing on himself.

And a common police inspector on the verge of retirement, who still finds hope amidst this chaos.

I dont think that any ways this movie salutes the so called undying spirit of Mumbai. And I dont even subscribe to this thought. I would define this as insensitiveness or "who even cares" attitude. The bottomline is, I dont care what happens to this world, I have a stomach to feed and I will have to run for my work. Come what may.That is the harsh reality and we dont want to come out of this vicious circle.

Beijing olympics

A spectable that will be emblazoned in the memory for times to come.A sign for the world to wake up and listen to an asian dragon leeping across the horizons and making sure that world notices it.

And Indeed I am lucky enough to have watched this.It would have been a real pleasure had India done the same feet.May be someday we will.

This olympics bought some of the real beautiful moments that will be etched in the memory for times to come.

The best one is the classic singature from Usain Bolt.

Do read this article courtesy rediff which captures 10 of the most beautiful moments from olympics.Beijing Olympics

who's right and who's not?

Well its a much discussed tea table issue. Atleast in our country. Who is right?You or your parents? As far as marraige is concerned, it is very contentious. one can take their personal decisions on any other issue ( career, friends, etc.). No parents object to the same.

So here we are standing at the point in life taking a major decision in life to spend the whole life with a person about whom the parents are not approving.

Now the question is how to decide who's right and who is not?And how can one decide? the most subtle argument is "For a person whom you know for a few moments, you can forget the whole life spent with us".

Indeed very subtle. But there is no fine line dividing the decisions as to who is right and not wrong. Its absolute.Either parents or not.

Something more interesting to read about
Love wrong,Parents right?


Listening to song "In between"- Linkin park

Michael phelps at its best

Watch michael phelps in action

Rise of the Titan

Now this is what I call a bold statement.Do you have guts?

Do you have a choice?

Never thought that anybody would call shots on the world superpower.

Looks like we are again heading for the good old 60's. The same old cold war era.