Random images from my flickr stream...

www.flickr.com

30/09/09

I pressed the 7 button again!!!

Time and again I have been reminded of a few things!!! one of them is that I cannot rely on luck!!!

but no! I have to and I did it again!

I rely on luck and not my work at times, and THAT is my mantra of failure!

its funny how I realize that every time I am depend on luck! seriously!!!

Anyway!!! I love this song! enjoy!



बोलो देखा है कभी तुमने मुझे उड़ते हुए?

just can't get enough of it!

29/09/09

The 7 button!

How many times has it happened with you that you end up pressing an already lit up floor button or atleast move your finger towards and stop just short of touching it, in an elevator?

I bet a lot of times!

Happens with me so often!

I work on the 7th floor these days, like a lot of other people and more often than not I end up either pushing the 7 button or stop just short of it when I see it lit...

The point is that I move into the elevator with a thought in mind... that I have to get to the 7th floor and that I need to press the button.. the hand is already ready to push the button when it realizes that its already lit!

Think about it for a second about some similar other situations too.. where the mind conditions you to do/think/make/move/expect/reject/want something and by the time you realise its too late you have already done that... just that in those cases, the time lag is lot more than the elevator story that I was talking about!

Typical situations when you first blame someone else for something and then yourself, and then sulk and then feel like an idiot thinking that you made of fool out of yourself! very typical! but a fact... and problem is that its a fact and it was conditioned to happen this way, without it being someone's fault! but we humans kind of feel better after we have blamed someone for something that went wrong, doesn't matter if its ourselves! I am not saying that this is correct for 100% of the situations... I know where people are at fault, and I also know that in such cases someone or the other is temporarily blinded by emotions or feelings or what not! I myself being an example of making a complete idiot of myself for one of the biggest decisions of my life sometime back! And at the same time I am also proud of myself for doing a few things that most other people would not have done in similar situations!

Some facts are facts... why what when who and things like that don't really matter! what matters is that it happened and its past tense! learn and move on!

Having said that I am sure I would press that 7 button tomorrow morning when I enter the elevator! :)

28/09/09

Chacha Chaudhary it is!!!

In a recent poll on Chai ki Dukaan, more than 60% of the voters chose Chacha Chaudhary as the Prime Minister of India along with his super team of Sabu, Rocket, Super Commando Dhruv, Nagraj and so on...

Lets give them portfolios now! shall we?

So comment on!

  • Chachaji - Prime Minister
  • Sabu - ? (I give him Internal Security - New Portfolio)
  • Rocket - ? (I give him Special Protection Group - Bite the buggers out, save the specials)
  • Super Command Dhruv - ? (I give him... I dunno)
  • Nagraj - ? (I give him external affairs and defense)

What about you?

Next Few

  • A Royal Enfield - Thunderbird Twinspark (reminds me of allspark from Transformers) or a Machismo 500 (I don't like the split seat though)!
  • A Tata Safari Dicor, and
  • A Fiat Punto or a Hyundai i10
Needs planning (can do), Time (have loads) and money ( umm! :) have to get all of it )

and all of this while I am trying to find out, how I am going to manage
  • a macbook pro 15" (that seems to be insight though)
  • a canon 5D M2 or a Canon 7D
ab kya karenge bhaiyya
ab kahan jayenge bhaiyya!!!

23/09/09

Wake me up when September ends!

Knowing how much I love Radha, it would be a shame if I would not write about a milestone in my relationship with her! right?

thank you Vaishali for pointing that out!

There are so many memories that have been associated with her that I would not even know where to start and end...

  • The first time I saw her, I knew she was going to be mine
  • The extreme personification of something that a lot of people would call just a car
  • The fact that most people who know about her call her Radha too!
  • That I was using a Rs. 250 radio to listen to music for the first few months because I was totally broke after I got the car
  • That I feel the most secure when I am driving around with her
  • That she probably has one of the best audio quality that I know of... what else do you expect from a combination of Sony, JBL, and Blaupunkt?
  • That it has saved my family from an accident which would have been a nightmare in any other car
  • That she is one of the finest machines, one of the safest cars and of course one of the smartest looking cars that runs on Indian Roads
  • That she is a perfect example of what friendships should be like
  • And that she still looks as beautiful as she looked the first day I met her :)

and a lot more!


This September is a special month for me! a lot of things happened including Chai ki Dukaan celebrating 5 years, some things and thoughts moving at the personal front, and my EMIs for the car getting over! now I can start saving for the Enfield I have been eyeing for a while! :P

Speaking of cars, this weekend I drove the largest SUV I have been in, so far! A Toyota Sequoia. It was a 4.6 litre, 32 Valve V8 engine which produces a mind boggling 310 bhp@ 5400 rpm! The pictures below should tell you something about the size too!


Title courtesy : Green Day
Photographs with me in them, courtesy : Pritam

22/09/09

...

Its good that at times, some not so nice things that happen to you, clear the vision so much!

I am glad that looking at things from a different perspective is something that I can manage often!

might not respond to any comments on this post!This is just a note to myself

21/09/09

A lot for a day!

What a day it was today!!!!

It started with reading an email of some wealth comparisons between India and Pakistan...

Mukesh Ambani's phenomenal wealth and the fact that he can buy all the companies listed on the Karanchi stock exchange and still would have a few billions left... about the aircraft he gifted his wife and the details of his 60 storey apartment complex, the details of which were doing rounds of the internet sometime back! It also talked about Sabeer Bhatia, and Sun Microsystems etc and how many Indians make it to the silicon valley

so good head to head comparisons of what India's wealth is about and what Pakistan's wealth is about... needless to say India is rich, both in financial terms and people terms!!!

Makes you proud right? good!

And then I was talking to Deepak and Pritam about the disjoint value system in the US and how kids are raised here! some interesting discussions at that time too! About how Diwali is, and about how Holi is... about how there is something called Life that you can celebrate in India, and how even in a state fair you will feel disconnected with the thousands of people who surround you in the US! About how US is a bit different from Europe in terms of community and systems (mostly emotional and personal)

And the day ended with watching "We Were Soldiers" based off of the Ia Drang Valley Battle in 1965 in the Vietnam War! I have been watching a few American war movies lately, and while these movies try to glorify almost everything they should about USA, there is a lot that you get to realise if you want to connect the dots!

America and its soldiers have been in war (their own or adopted) for years... continuously! and almost every family in the USA would either know or be related to a active defense (I don't think "defense" is a valid term here... "offense" is more like it) person, or a war veteran! They have all the reason to be bloody proud of their people...and that simply translates into being proud of the country! The people give a lot to the country, and the country gives it back to them, and the cycle continues! I am not saying bottlenecks do not exist here, or the leadership has always been good! I am not saying that its perfect the way it works either! I am saying that behind all the value system that I was talking about in the second part of this post, there is a much strong value system that connects almost every person to this "COUNTRY". and that makes all the bloody difference!

Back to India now... where I know of more bottlenecks than smooth flows of this pride... where praise of the country is limited to speeches, and some long lost books... where the independence is said to be the work of one man called the Gandhi, and people ignore people like Lala Lajpat Rai, Azad, Bhagat Singh, Bose with ease... where leaders like Mayawati ask the central government for a Rs.2000 grant to solve the power situation UP and spend Rs. 500 crore on statues (BITCH)... where leaders like Mamta Banerjee lead people to throw TATA out of West Bengal when it would have put WB on the World Map... where the youth craves for ipods and latest gadgets when just about 50 kms off the highway kids still have to walk 5 kms to the nearest school... where we lead the world in the number of terrorist groups operating in the country (27 out of the 34 groups which the Ministry of Home Affairs labels as Terrorist Organization under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, are home grown groups! another record actually) where we tend to forget the mumbai blasts, or the attack the Parliament, or the Delhi Diwali blasts, or 26/11 for the latest news on something more commercially viable and move on....

where we claim to be proud of the country, but when it will come to identifying what you have done for this country, you might just be short of words and things!!!

Don't get me wrong!

I am proud of India and its growth, and I feel bad about not knowing crap about its history and how its growing in leaps and bounds! I just feel helpless at times! and extremely sad about how this country might just collapse one day :'( and none of us might not be able to do anything about it!!!

Before I end this post, I just want to remind myself that I am going to do whatever I can! Period!

And if you have a comment on this post, I would appreciate if you do something about it too, in addition of just voicing your opinion!

I should stop now! have a good day everyone!

17/09/09

love, my friend, is like...

Ever loved someone very much and wondered why they don't seem to care?
Ever whispered something to someone, and wondered why they don't seem to hear?

Well my friend,
you did not realize,
that love is like a pesticide....


Think about it... how does pesticide work?
You have to have the right amount of dose sprinkled all over for it to be effective...

Concentrate it too much, it would not work
Dilute it too much, it would not work either
Overuse it, and pests would get used to it, and develop immunity, it would not work
Under-use it, its not effective enough, umm, it would not work!!!

My take on it...

Sprinkle it, but know how much is too much!

16/09/09

Shall we...

and then I saw a few rain drops
the roads took a turn to something green
I rolled down the window

and the raindrops reached the ground after they kissed me
the air was flowing and brushing against my smiling face


Lets call it romance!

Shall we!

15/09/09

Chai ki Dukaan is 5 years old today!


and I am glad!!!

Though I have always maintained that I write for myself, it would not have been possible to complete 5 years if it was not for the support and encouragement that I got from everyone who reads, visits, has read or visited Chai ki Dukaan!

Heartfelt thanks!!!!

14/09/09

No Deal for Nadal

I just finished watching the 20 year old 6th seed Del Potro kick Nadal's ass big time, in the semi-finals of US Open!

what a match!!!

Del Potro beat Nadal 6-2 6-2 6-2

Nadal is an amazing athlete, and Del Potro made him run like a kid today!!! and had an answer to EVERYTHING that Nadal has in his kitty!!!

I am looking forward to a Del Potro - Federer final!

update...

and Federer wins the other semi in straight sets! Excellent fight from Djokovic, but Federer got the better of him!!! loved the last but one point!

Now looking forward to "the" Del Potro - Federer final... He has lost at the hands of Federer before, but after what he has done to Nadal today, I hope he continues with a similar game and gives Federer a tough game to win!

13/09/09

Jungle mein mangal!

Another weekend, another trip! Simple :) wish a few other things were this simple too!


I am not going to post details of the trip to the mountains that I went to last weekend, but clear my backlog from the trip to door county that I went for!


The most interesting thing about this trip was that I was not aware of the destination till the time we started driving! Infact because the directions were to a new place, I did not know where was I going till I reached!


The trip was called "Is Jungle se mujhe bachao" and it was about a set of challanges over two days between two teams randomly selected... I was the captain of one of the two teams and Shailendra led the other team!


The Pontiac Vibe I was driving!

So we reached our destination in about 4 hours... and this was a lovely wood cabin, with 4 bedrooms and lovely settings inside... The first rule of the house was that Guys were to cook and our lunch was some amazing mattar paneer, dal, rice and paranthas! After a full lunch started our games !!!!





A total of 11 people were staying in this cabin some 4 hours north of Milwaukee... Beautifully made place with a place to sleep about 15 people.... had a nice elaborate kitchen and lovely living room, and loads of playing space outside....


This was probably one of the first things that happened! Beer Cans on the table outside... I wonder what is the connection of traveling and alcohol. Most of the people who like to drink like to see traveling as a drinking opportunity more than anything else. Though the group I was with did not drink much.


Our challenges were divided into jungle challenges and maha jungle challenges with a different point system... my team started with 3 points less than the other team because we had answered some quiz questions incorrectly...

Some of the games that we participated in were
1. Jungle Fashion show...

oh... my team's name was Mattar Paneer with Miller Lite and our slogan was

Khao Piyo Mast Jiyo
Dhoom Machao Jeet ke Jao

and back to the games now..
2. Getting water from the wild
3. Collecting 3 live animals
4. Karela Eating
5. Mushrooms eating
6. Banana eating (with the peel)
7. Shrimps eating
8. Raw Eggs (breaking and having them)

And then a maha jungle challenge... my team was supposed to make a Ravan, and the other team was to put up a 10 seater tent! What you see below is the Ravan that we made!


There were loads of ball games as well which we enjoyed thoroughly... I also managed to sneak out for a small walk and some photography during a break!


By the evening, all of us were exhausted but we did acknowledge that we had an amazing time so far. There were a couple of challenges at this hour as well which involved counting things in the dark! scary!

And we also had a huge bonfire! The sky was absolutely clear that night and it was full of stars! The only time I have seen a better sky was when we had camped at Pangong Tso in Ladakh!


We slept around 2 am and got up early too! I had Gaurav's phone with me, and I set an alarm for 8 am and woke up when the phone rang as well! I did wake some of the other guys up in my room asking them to come for a walk outside!

About hour an hour later I realized that I had woken up because of the 6 am alarm on Gaurav's phone and not the 8 am one that I had set! :P


I did not realize the last night while parking the car that it would turn out to be a nice photo opportunity with the dull grey and the shiny red of the car contrasting each other well...

The next day was a light one in terms of games, but we did play a few... including one where we had finish 30 golgappas! I participated in that one, and WON :D


The breakfast was some lovely Poha and Chai ...




Overall, this was one of the very few trips with such a large group that I have been in, and needless to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly!!!! One of the important things being, that team won, even though we started with 3 points less :) It was the last game which turned out to be a deciding game as well! thrilling competition!

And all of us heading back to our homes happily :)

Will write about the other two trips soon...

1. The 3 day weekend in Canada
2. The 1600 mile roadtrip

Is "Hamara Bajaj" really Hamara?




The images that you see above are of a wooden replica of a Vespa which I clicked in a museum recently. I am surprised by the similarity of this model with a Bajaj Priya that used to share the road with some other models from Bajaj in the 80's and 90's! This replica is made completely out of wood and is made by an Italian artist.

Its exactly the same as Bajaj Priya scooter... inch by inch, switch by switch, curve by curve! someone please tell me that Bajaj picked up this design legally and did not steal it! I would be very disappointed if they did steal it!

I checked the Bajaj official website too, it talks about introduction of Bajaj Super, Chetak and Classic, but does not mention Priya anywhere! Was this a Bajaj model at all? or am I wrong? I remember using this scooter when I was doing mu PG. My batch-mate Gaurav used to have this model and it had a bajaj tag on it!

12/09/09

The Dead Terrorist!

a different take on a dead terrorist! Enjoy!

One of the best videos I have seen, and must have seen it atleast 30 times....



Do search for some more characters from Jeff - Peanut, Walter, Hose! This guy is absolutely brilliant with what he does!

Not Nine Not Eleven

My heart goes out to those people who lost their loved ones in 9/11... and kudos to America for taking some tough stands after that incident!

At the same time, I cannot ignore the fact that some amount of brain have been behind causing 9/11 and all such similar incidents!

Click here to see some heartwarming and some amazing photographs related to 9/11.

And I have been reading about how India and Pakistan are arguing like kids on what happened in Bombay! It is so shameful for us as a nation and disrespectful to people who lost their lives and the ones who lost someone important! Is it that we Indians do not know how to take a stand or are we people who can be walked over with ease?

11/09/09

She came and went!!!

She came to the city to surprise a few friends... she did manage to give them one of the biggest surprise of their lives!

She died!

Or should I say she was killed!

How?

Driving under Influence is how the police puts it!

My friend gets a call from the hospital inquiring if he knows about the girl and then the caller tells him about the "unfortunate" incident

Her boyfriend flies from Houston, makes efforts to take her from this hospital to Chicago because his relatives are doctors there and they might help. The local doctors had given up already!

The body now flies to India, where her parents are eagerly waiting! not for her but for the body!

All of this because someone was drunk, and decided to drive!

I know of so many people who claim to be in complete control after they have a few drinks, and I know for sure how much in control they are! but then on a different day, we would have laughed about driving and drinking by quoting some funny lines by people who are drunk!

Its not really worth it! seriously! if you are having alcohol, please stay away from the steering wheel! take a cab home, ride a bus back home, or just pass out! but please do not drink and drive! you would never know the impact of something "unfortunate" that happens when you felt you were in total control!

Please learn from someone else's mistakes!

A big thank you for the kind souls who did whatever they could to save the girl in question here. It was probably the way she had to go!

and a big thank you if you have ever decided to take a cab to the pub and back instead of driving!

10/09/09

Das Leben der Anderen

or "The Lives of Others" is a movie set in the 1980s when Germany was still divided between east and west Germany. The movie shows how Stasi, the secret police of GDR (German Democratic Republic or East Germany) used to bug houses of people they suspected for being unfaithful to the leadership.

Its about a German surveillance officer while working on a project to find reasons to frame a dramatist and writer because a minister has developed liking towards the writer's girlfriend, starts to understand their point of view better and questions his own principals and faithfulness to Stasi.

Beautifully presented, this is a must see in case you are interested in some serious drama. I always am impressed by the use of light and camera in such movies. Its amazing!

The movie is in German and you would need to read through the subtitles unless you find an English dubbed version of it.

You could read the entire plot on wiki, however I would recommend against it as it kind of gives away the entire story. Find the movie, watch it, and make an opinion!

Another movie that I just finished watching is "Primal Fear" starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. What a brilliant performance by Edward Norton in this movie. The movie is based on a novel by William Diehl and revolves around a trial where Richard Gere is trying to protect the accused. Excellent pace, lovely characterization, and a brilliant twist! loved it!

08/09/09

(KA) Road Pati !

How does the thought of driving from New Delhi to Kanya Kumari sound like?

nice?

I was on a road trip just about that distance long this weekend!


A total of close to 1600 miles driven in 3 days across 4 states in the US!

Thank you Uncle God for getting me back to Milwaukee safe and sound!

the photograph is from a different trip!

05/09/09

आओ मिलो शीलो शालो, कच्चा धागा रेस लगा लो !

हम थोड़ा सा घूम कर आते हैं !!!


बस कुछ ही महीने बचे हैं सर्दी आने में... जरा मजे ले लें इस बचे कुचे गर्मी के मौसम के !!!

चाय की जो दुकान है... वो जरा - दिन बंद रहेगी... या के यूं कहिये... ताजा चाय नहीं मिल पायेगी... जो अभी है, वो दिल खोल कर एन्जाई कीजिये आप लोग !!!

फिर मिलते हैं...

हम लोग !!!!

01/09/09

I am back Eh!

Lets put in simple words!

3000+ miles of air travel
900+ kms of road travel
Short and not so Short Hikes
Lakes with color I had never imagined in my life
Mountains
Valleys
Plains
Gondolas
an over-speeding ticket :/ !

and did I mention

walking on a glacier?

oh and Greek food and Italian food

and.... will write in the next post... or maybe next to the next... for now... some photographs!