Relationships

In relationships its important to know what exactly you are bringing to the table - for that determines where the relationship goes .

HNY 2011

2 years or so since I started the blog - I have been inconsistent in keeping this up (why are we surprised here , its typical me !! )

Ah ... somethings never change :)

Somehow--

--somehow I have been a little left out in the race of life .. A little left out is a very poor description of what I feel.

Skill sets , social life , investments ( non financial) and a meaning to life..

Somehow I feel like I am visiting a zoo and I sit and get amused with what I see around me..a distant ambivalent and contemplative...

Somehow...

Existence

I have always wondered what my existence has been for ? In the scheme of the universe what is my place ? I somehow dont prescribe to Bhagavad Gita that says do your dharma and the results will follow. There has to be a purpose of doing that right ?

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)

The movies simply brilliant - brilliance in execution by clint eastwood

Cross roads

Its once again one of those in numerable times in my life when I feel a vacuum - a desire to have stability in my life - even the gym routine has stopped now with some kind of fatigue overpowering me to sleep late into the morning.

Work is not so interesting now and nothing to do at home once I am back to my room..

Friends have dwindled with all except for few -getting married..

Its a phase I am trying to get through though excruciatingly slow.

Food

Some of the most simple foods in life can be the most awesome to eat- khichdi, sambhar rice, yellow dal and rice, chicken curry,lassi, alu paratha, curds. maggi noodles, pasta, omelletes ...:)

Face in the crowd

A face in the crowd

Friendly,warm ,smiling

Constant,

Tend to lose sight of it

Get pushed around

In the crowd

I look back

Its still there

Hand stretched out

To pull me up

To make me smile

To make me hope

That someday

I will know her name.

Poetry

I am doing some poetry - i finished one couple of weeks back and I am posting it up.

Shiv Sena and SRK

Dear Swapan Dasgupta, - apologies for lifting your article from todays sunday times of india- i loved it and infact matches my ideas - thanks for voicing them

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RIGHT & WRONG

Why Sena needs to pass a loyalty test

SWAPAN DASGUPTA

Assuming Islamabad has an equivalent of the committee of the great and good that decides on India’s Republic Day honours, it may find it worthwhile considering something innovative: honouring the Shiv Sena with a Pakistani award. There are few organizations that in recent weeks have done more to foster a spirit of generosity towards Pakistan as has the Sena and its leadership.
The Sena’s services to Pakistan are difficult to surpass. First, it has put Mumbai on par with Peshawar in the global safety index for cricket matches. If it is hazardous for a visiting cricketer to either field near the boundary line or venture into town in Peshawar, the Shiv Sena has made it known that it will not countenance any Australian or Pakistani player in the Mumbai leg of the IPL. Unwittingly or otherwise, the Sena has helped establish political equivalence between India and Pakistan. It has neatly punctured India’s claim to be a cut above the rest in the subcontinent.
Secondly, the Sena has established the validity of what Pakistan’s politicians and generals have steadfastly maintained after 26/11: that perverted thinking in the Islamic Republic doesn’t emanate from state-sponsorship but from troublesome, yet independent, ‘nonstate’ players. Pakistanis can now assert with greater confidence that just as they have their wild lot in Muridke, India has its crazies in Mumbai. True, the devotees of Bal Thackeray rely exclusively on sticks, stones and muscle power, whereas the holy warriors have considerable expertise in armed warfare. But these, many in Islamabad would undoubtedly argue, are niggling matters of detail. What counts is that fanaticism and lunacy aren’t exclusive Pakistani prerogatives.
Finally, by picking on Bollywood’s most exalted star, the Sena has advanced the Pakistanization of India. Shah Rukh Khan isn’t, and has never pretended to be, a political pundit tutored in the nuances of the Great Game along the Radcliffe Line. He is not Aamir Khan who loves a ‘cause’ each day for breakfast. What Shah Rukh has to say about good neighbourliness may be potentially interesting, even incisive. But to suggest that his starry-eyed comment “It (Pakistan) is a great neighbour…We are great neighbours, they are good neighbours. Let us love each other” constitutes an act of devilish treachery for which he must seek forgiveness is incredible. If film stars start being assessed for patriotism—like what Senator Joe McCarthy did in Hollywood to combat communism in the 1950s — India will be perilously close to emulating those in the Pakistan cricket establishment who felt that the religiosity should be a factor in team selection.
In 2006, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Nasim Ashraf had to inform Captain Inzaman-ul-Huq that “that there should be no pressure on players who don’t pray regularly or any compulsion on them to do it under pressure… I have told him there should be no perception among players that if they don’t pray they will not be in the team…” In 2010, the owners of the Shiv Sena have set a new loyalty test that carries one message: you cannot do business in Mumbai if your hostility to Pakistan isn’t sufficiently robust.
By this logic, Thackeray should have broken off its political relationship with the BJP whose leader wrote a glowing testimonial to Mohammed Ali Jinnah after visiting the mausoleum in Karachi in 2005. Compared to Advani’s ballad, Shah Rukh was guilty of composing a poor ditty. But then, as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto used to say, consistency is the virtue of small minds.
The Sena’s role in making Pakistan seem respectable is seminal and immeasurable. It certainly surpasses the goody-goody utterances of the hero of My Name is Khan. But whereas Shah Rukh can at best be faulted for naïve sentimentalism—which in his business of selling dreams is hardly a crime—the Sena’s offence is graver. By virtue of his menacing antics, it has willy-nilly joined many millions of the star’s fans to a cause that was never foremost in their minds.
There are many Indians who are wary of New Delhi’s U-turn on Pakistan, and more so because memories of the 26/11 carnage in Mumbai are still fresh. They can’t empathize with Shah Rukh’s lovey-dovey approach, just as couldn’t identify with those who lit candles on the Wagah border. Yet, even those who advocate a mix of belligerence and benign neglect towards Pakistan have been appalled at the targeting of a star simply because he is innocent of foreign policy and his title is Khan. They have watched in horror the Sena make nationalism disreputable by turning it into thuggery.
If there is to be a loyalty test, it is the Sena that must first establish it is batting for India. As of now, it doesn’t seem all that clear cut

Getting hacked

my gmail and facebook accounts got hacked .. finally got thru them.. have deleted the facebook and orkut accounts for now.. never thought my cyber existence would get attacked like this..

I live like a refugee

The other day I realised that I live like a refugee - no roof on my head, no address proof of my own and no kitchen of my own..

I live like a refugee.....

How to Gain Weight

Nobody will tell you this- no website no journal or dietician would give this info. All they would say is eat more !!

I was skinny and I did the below to put on weight -

1) Joined a gym and did weight training - every day a particular body part - six days a week.

2) The gym routine made me hungry and I was instructed to feed my hunger by eating 6 times a day . As my body metabolism is high , I was free to eat everything under the sun and non veg atleast once a day.

Try it and let me know.

Bombay

I will call the mega polis as Bombay. I never liked it when they changed the city's name. The city is huge and yes mega is the right name for it. The nightspots are simply superb -one may require an entire fortnight to finish them.

The city has its own problems - the people are just one of them. It needs a mega plan to revitalise its infrastructure - transport, water,living spaces,waste treatment.

And on the other hand - what does the beloved Shiv Sena and MNS do ? Any grand ideas for the city thats crumbling and vulnerable from them ?

None at all - except play politics ;after all they are politicians ..

Helped a blind man today

to cross the road and it felt really good......

The gud old blore weather !!

The cold damp weather - once in a day rains of Bangalore are back again and one has only oneself to give company... I have touched 70 kgs - the only way was eating hard :) and parallely working out in the gym...Now need to move up the value chain of working out, meanwhile allow me to chill out in this beautiful weather. !

Funny Pics

1.The female monkey above looks longingly at an ATM security guard,for food

2. Hilarious sign put up at Dominoes Pizza Church Street-- it was such a disaster eating at the place there !!!

Durga Puja

Crackers on diwali

Poetry

I look out through the window

Up onto the white grey sky

and i see the moon

lovely little speck

I wish I was on a plane

so that I could poke it

and see it for myself

if it was real

I hold my gaze and it does

the same

wonder how did it learn this

little trick

Ah the moon,

lovely little speck

in the dark white sky

Serene,

And yet lonely