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I am talking about the least common denominator. A small bracket of mystery we all have in us. What is it? A warm blanket to sleep or a shot of vodka to numb our senses? With so much of dryness in me, I casually lit up a cigarette and vapour out those last thoughts of the day. My callous observations are wearing me down. Speed breakers hit me hard. My watch keeps banging the rod I am holding and soon It will stop. The tiny case breaks and I lose my energy. I have to get it nursed by a watch repairman. What time is it? Oh shit! Maybe that old man with more wrinkles than the roads in this city has a watch. Or maybe that other guy wearing a t-shirt that says 'Fcuk' has one. To my surprise, none. I reach my place. Its really silent except for a few stray dogs fighting and defending their territory.

Its 12:30AM ( I guess! ) and I feel like I am the only one awake in this wide wide mad mad world. Of those many splendid moments moving back and forth in my living memory, there lies a thought that 'shines like a crazy diamond'. I walk effortlessly and reach the corner of my street. I dare to reach my pocket, light a last one and fill the clean air with enough carbon to make Japanese innovators work harder.

The day we saw

The night we live in

A small mystery

we swallow to wet our lungs

and dry our mind

Life

I am nothing.
I will never be anything.
I cannot wish to be anything.
Bar that, I have in me all the dreams of the world.

May Nature be dissolved on my feverish head
Her sun, her rain, the wind that ruffles my hair,
And the rest, let it come if it must, it doesn't matter.

We have conquered the whole world before leaving our beds.
But we were awakened and it was opaque,
We rose and he was strange to us
We left the house and it was the whole world,
And also the Solar System, the Milky Way and the Indefinite...

Fernando Pessoa (The Tobacco Shop)

Null World

Sea, earth, air, sound, silence.
Plant, quadruped, bird,
By one music enchanted,
One deity stirred,--Each the other adorning,
Accompany still;
Night veileth the morning,
The vapor the hill.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Highway blues

Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

- Pink floyd

Last saturday was memorable. Tripathi with his automata theory was really fun. Experiencing every state of life and leaving the rest to 'Khuda' :) Pinkfloyd and DevD ruled the night, or atleast I thought these songs were played in heavy rotation :P I was all high :) Highway ride was really cool. It was 'somewhere in the middle of nowhere'. The rain gave us the thrill. We were infact celebrating our dear friend Ramesh's b'day with him sleeping like a pig all night :)

Another usual week ahead. Really really looking forward to 'code crunching' :) Sigh!

When history was made

My hunger for knowing 'History as I never knew' will go on. How fascinating it really is. It will take me light years to understand all the elements these tiny palms hold. Hunting for food, deceiving for greed, uprooting civilizations, establishing kingdoms, letting dogs feed on the entrails of human flesh, gun powder easily injected into human system, abolishing laws, embracing swords and what not. Need I worry about them?

The incipit of the text 'Instructions of Shuruppak', a part of ancient Sumerian literature regarded as one of the oldest scriptures, reads

"In those days, in those far remote times, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years"

'Diamond Sutra', the earliest printed book containing Buddhist verses, has these lines

Thus shall you think of this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,

A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,

A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

Study says, the birth of humanity took place in East Africa. People migrated and populated other continents. The first proto states emerged in Mesopotamia and along Indus river. History is magic.

When will it stop. Yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's seconds will fade away sometime. The sun is not here to stay very long. In about 5 billion years, it will turn into a very large red monster engulfing all planets leaving just dust behind. And we are in a perfect age. Facebook, Twitter, Google, Nokia, Toyota, Microwave ovens, Levi's jeans, Space shuttles, F-22 raptor, Stealth missiles, Alcohol and Poverty+Hunger+Ignorance.

It is all magic. Squeezing everything out of this vast timeline can cause mental harm. Be at peace. :)

Triumph

Sunny days are coming to an end(or atleast I suppose they are!). As much as I hate walking on damp murky road to reach office just in time, I just feel good when its raining! Glistening drops of rain take comfort on my rugged and brownish skin, and before it carries away my sweat to the ground more drops hang down my eye brows like a chain of monkeys hanging down from the branches of a tree. Wetting my hands and fingers, they run hurriedly to reach earth and be greeted by earthworms so anxiously waiting to come out.

As I read 'Life of Pi', I seem to associate every adventure and trauma so grandoisly elaborated by Yann Martel to the current events the world is witnessing. 'Air France' just falling from the sky and the ocean happily gobbling it up thus swallowing all evidence is one of the things I am following very keenly. It might be the speed sensors or radar defect or lightening breaking the plane into two chunks or as some people say 'This is called fate'. How far shall we go. How can we be sure that new technology taking birth every day can insulate us from all troubles and more importantly 'Mother nature'. I would definitely say 'When you have a match box, why use stones'. 'Cast Away', another similar reel story is coming back to me time and again.

So many things have been written and said. Opinions agreed or disagreed. Hypothesis, theorems, axioms proved or disproved. What remains to be done is not known. So we keep digging. Lets do that.

'To run away from all social connections' has become a hot topic among my friends :) Are we taking inspiration from cinematic experiences like 'Into the wild' 'Cast Away' 'Motorcycle diaries'? May be! Or is this a result of our lazy dumb asses not getting enough work? May be!Procrastination? May be! Or are we really tired of everything? May be! My temperament is fixed. No issues about that. Mal-adjusted and socially distorted mind juggling with too many puzzles and thoughts that are vaguely associated with what I do. My good friend Jose a.k.a Bobby a.k.a 911 a.k.a disaster management team head would say with quick frustration :D 'Dude, note down my new address and designation'

Super altitude Meditator
To become a modern Valmiki
Crates of Royal stag and cartons of cigarettes
Thick beard (of course!)
Atop Himalayas - ######
for the rest of my fucking life :)

I will continue to sit before this LCD - 9hrs a day - for some more time before joining him up there - if he ever goes - and attain Nirvana and Pari-Nirvana. To be drunk and sober at the same time.

More of our interesting conversations will follow. Peace be upon us who dare to think beyond skyscrapers and posh malls :)

3 Column tic-tac Blue

Yes.. a new template giving a refurbished look to my blog. With deep respect I bid goodbye to Harbour, who ruled all these years. I hope to write more frequently, because honestly I feel rejuvenated every time I open my page.

So many issues bouncing off my head right now. Salman Khan's dus ka dum :D, LTTE members arrested with cyanide capsules hung around their neck, (India,Ireland,Bangaldesh) in one group!, 'Turtles can fly' - really good movie, Yann martel in 'Life of Pi' saying Muslims are bearded Hindus & Christians are hat-wearing Muslims & Hindus are hairless Christians, Lionel Messi's header in the Champions league final (god! that was brutal), a distant friend of mine in Kerala saying 'I will stop taking drinks.. Meditation is the path for salvation (I have plans for him:P)', my spam mail offering me 'Hot comics with celebs' and finally 3 column tic tac blue:)

Evolution

Religion is a symbol to me. I think I mentioned this before. To any person questioning me about the sanctity of the world.. I say 'Go to Hell'. The quote below does not reflect my anger towards the everyday chaos nor does it force me to believe in Evolution. I have very little idea about evolution and other aspects of Darwinism, but I genuinely respect Attenborough's opinions, considering that he is a widely respected naturalist. But this definitely does put me in a position where I can frame my own opinions about our existence, which can be as simple as getting up and going to work or pondering over the consequences of our actions. Let our imaginations rule!

"My response is that when Creationists talk about God creating every individual species as a separate act, they always instance hummingbirds, or orchids, sunflowers and beautiful things. But I tend to think instead of a parasitic worm that is boring through the eye of a boy sitting on the bank of a river in West Africa, [a worm] that's going to make him blind. And [I ask them], 'Are you telling me that the God you believe in, who you also say is an all-merciful God, who cares for each one of us individually, are you saying that God created this worm that can live in no other way than in an innocent child's eyeball? Because that doesn't seem to me to coincide with a God who's full of mercy"

David Attenborough

Ahh words..

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

God Appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in the Night,
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of day.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

I want to write
I want to write the songs of my people.
I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.
I want to catch the last floating strains from their sob-torn throats. I
want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes. I want to
catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;
fling dark hands to a darker sky
and fill them full of stars
then crush and mix such lights till they become
a mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn.

Margaret Walker - I want to write

Equation of Life

An equation like this makes me crazy! Fuck that.. Life is not Calculus. Neither is it a programming language. It is not a concept to study.

Now this is cool... All time classic 'Black' by pearl jam. This is the equation of life. You are my hero.

Astronaut photography

As viewed from outer space.. City at night. Absolute bliss.. The streets of Japan(Internet umbrella's, get wet and still surf your way out.. thts Japan) use mercury-vapor lighting and the Mexican view below is due to sodium-vapor lighting. Little pearls on this much dreaded podium called Life :)

British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle stated, "Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from outside, is available - once the sheer isolation of the Earth becomes known - a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose."

Sources: Astronaut Photography
Earth Observatory - Nasa

8 fragments for Kurt Cobain

(Art by Cobain: Scary but mature)

This little piece titled '8 fragments for Kurt Cobain' by Jim Caroll (The Basketball diaries) really moved me. I have always wanted to know this. In fact all rock stars who had ruined their lives by taking into drugs (It looks cool but now that they are gone I want more of them)

But Kurt...
Didn't the thought that you would never write another song
Another feverish line or riff
Make you think twice?
That's what I don't understand
Because it's kept me alive, above any wounds

he ends by saying

That is always the cost
As Frank said,
Of a young artist's remorseless passion
Which starts out as a kiss
And follows like a curse

Yeah Cobain.. cocaine I get it! Anyways he might still be entertaining God up there.. Way to go man..

______________________________________________________

Further back and forth, a wave will break on me today
And love,... Wish the world could go again with love
One can't seem to have enough
And war,... Break the sky and tell me what it's for
I'll travel there on my own
And love,... What a different life
Had I not found this love with you

Parachutes - Pearl Jam

P.S - http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/8-fragments-for-kurt-cobain/

The soggy bottom boys!

I believe in face-to-face talk, 'cause you see I am a man of deep principles. So 'uck mobiles and its by products... Who am I kidding? Its a lame excuse (I lost my cell sometime back.. :))

I celebrate by listening to The Soggy Bottom Boys.. I love this song!



I am a man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my day.
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where I was born and raised.
(The place where he was born and raised )

For six long years I've been in trouble
No pleasures here on earth I found
For in this world I'm bound to ramble
I have no friends to help me now.

(chorus) He has no friends to help him now

Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
My face you'll never see no more.
But there is one promise that is given
I'll meet you on God's golden shore.

(chorus) He'll meet you on God's golden shore.

Oh Poesy! for you I grab a pen

Stop and consider! life is but a day;
A fragile dew-drop on its perilous way
From a tree's summit

And can I ever bid these joys farewell?
Yes, I must pass them for a nobler life,
Where I may find the agonies, the strife
Of human hearts

Is there so small a range
In the present strength of manhood, that the high
Imagination cannot freely fly

Sleep and Poetry - John Keats

The summer's flow'r is to the summer sweet,
though to itself it only live and die

Sonnet 94, Shakespeare

The humour that life is

"Nor permanent identity, nor idea of a person, nor of being alive, nor of a time of existence" - (From the cover of 'The Cost' by The Frames)

Society -- cough! cough!

Sometimes I get so lost and so happy. The way I fall in love with something makes me so damn happy. Music plays a very long role. Eddie vedder with his 'Love reign over me' tone, or Bono with his latest 'to sleep the night shooting out the stars', or James hetfield getting his lungs out with 'Why can't I forgive me'.

Rock scene in India

Maktub from Motherjane has raised the bar up further.. Indian rock scene is truly grand. No labels around. Well 'uck the labels. Bands are going indie these days and coming up with some truly awesome compositions. 'Kashmir' from Agni is by far the best rock song to come out in India ( Led zeppelinism). Pin drop violence, Zero, Junkyard groove are amazing. Vinapra from bangalore (Hindi rock) is awesome. Indus creed has always been good. The happening act is fusion. Violin, tabla and keyboards rule. Coming out of mainstream music scene takes guts, and these guys have it. Prestorika, PDV are heavy. And heavy it is. Heavy!! Superb

What is more interesting is their diverse backgrounds. Investment banker (new Agnee vocalist), MSc in Microbiology (Raghu dixit) and many more working in corporates regularly jam and make people crazy! Good stuff..

With many albums in the pipeline, the rock scene looks really great. Can't wait to catch some of them live..

The lost world

Happy new year to everyone. My friends from Gwalior - cool dudes forever. My best buds Bobby, Suraj and Kuttu (Hyd and kerala)

Few things cross my mind. Poesy, War and war, Poesy and War again

One war ends and another begins. At sunrise you get a view. At sunset you get a view, albeit a different one. Broken violins, perforated black boards, golden dust inside a burnt shoe, deserted streets, business at complete halt. Carnival of carnage. Third world violence a page turner for first world enthusiasts. At this point I have to quote Einstein.

"I am convinced that God does not play dice". If only its true.

The old man said 'I am old'. The rest say 'Go get groceries. War is on'. Rest is me. Me within me. Capsuled and colored.

_________________________________

Discovered gold. Few letters. A poet at heart. How can I come to terms with one who has been so structured and hard to face when all of a sudden I find his youth so adventurous. Love is a powerful weapon. Addressing letters to his 'lady love', calling her 'My eve'. Time changes everything. A complete change of character. Is this for real?

This world is too huge and too grand. Everything moves too fast. From the dirt comes beauty. I will stick to this thing.

'pester me with your unfeigned love'

'How is it R - in this self confidence of love, I have hope that my dearest one will hold candle with me without paddling her own canoe, Selfless - Sacrificing - Without bowing to the fragile charms of the world. Love is to love - not only in word but in deed too. This is love R. What do you say. Two loves should become one and clasp and make it to rise to its greater heights - There lies the charm and highest pleasure. Not in hiding love my dear'

Dad, 1st Jan 1983 in a letter to my mother

Am I not one among millions chosen to pluck the lucky of luckiest
Oh! how could it be - when would it be
Is it in the New Year 1983.

Dad. My Friend, My Guide, My God

Boney M

My father used to listen to this song all day.. rewind play rewind play.. like a zillion times.. awesome song.. moody but really soothing..

See the stars come joining down from the sky
Gently passing they kiss your tears when you cry
See the wind the summer blow your hair upon your head
See the rain, the falling rain, it's great
Still i'm sad

All my sounds my tears just fall into days
They are driving the night will find they are lost
Now i found the wind is blowing time into my heart
When the wind blows hard we are apart
Still i'm sad

See the stars come joining down from the sky
Gently passing they kiss your tears when you cry
See the wind the summer blow your hair upon your head
See the rain, the falling rain, it's great
Still i'm sad

Still i'm sad
Oh heart, i'm sad
Still i'm sad
Oh heart, i'm sad
Boney M - Still I'm sad

Breathe

Now you see, i would wait.. wait till all the butterflies go to sleep and have nocturnal dreams. You see what you have never seen and wonder how it happened. The coaster broke and the wind broke my windowpane. How did it happen? Or the politics of fear. One of those special moments you watch on television. Airplanes dropping food packets over ill-fated Afghanistan. Arundhati roy says 'does it not hurt the pride of a human being to hunt for scattered food and in the process getting shot by the taliban and stripped of all your wealth'. Big issues, big things. How can we choose to ignore all this. We are here to stay. Maybe all the belief systems should be changed. Oh that would mean changing the world map!

this moment till it lasts
i look at my watch
time would blow itself, i know
in a few hundred seconds
now my diverging dreams speak
little things, big things
we are here to stay

Viva la Vida

I feel so inundated.. Such a void inside my head, i'd rather run away to nowhere! Well, Coldplay's new album is out and is rocking all charts.. 'Viva la Vida' is awesome. Experimental work paid off. The title track carries with it the bands creative work, not to mention that it is the second fastest selling album in UK.

'Reign of love' is rendered in a very romantic way. Tops my playlist

Reign of love
I can’t let go
To the sea I offer
This heavy load

Locusts will
Lift me up
I’m just a prisoner
In a reign of love

Locusts will
Let us stop
I wish I’d spoken
To the reign of love

Reign of love
By the church, we’re waiting
Reign of love
My knees go praying

How I wish
I’d spoken up
Or we’d be carried
In the reign of love.