Battles in the northern sky

The stars and planets begin to align themselves for an impending showdown...

Hooked!

There are some songs that haunt you, in your moments of solitude they play in your mind, over and over again. Banco de Gaia's "Farewell Ferengistan" is one of those songs. The first time I heard it, I knew this one wasn't going to leave me for some time. It's the kind of song that sets the mood for introspection, the kind of song that makes you wonder about what's been your life and what will, the kind of song that makes you realise that after all life is a journey and through all the ups and downs.................we must sail on.

Red Letter Day

Read this. A news article that really does not seem to have any ramifications for the educated Indian reader. But ramifications there are, as it announces the rebirth of a country fighting hard to shed it's social ills. 60 years of independence and the thorn of caste discrimination still remains. What purportedly started out to be the division of society based on occupation, only served to justify the oppression and humiliation of vast sections of our people. Religion played partner in crime over the centuries, with the creation of exclusive institutions for the upper classes. Practices such as endogamy served to contain the classes within themselves and are adhered to even in this age. Inter-caste marriages receive stiff opposition even in educated urban circles. I would hold the policy makers amongst our ancestors guilty on one single count. The consistent denial of the right to a life of respect, to large sections of the populace throughout history.
Which is why, I wouldn't dismiss this news article as insipid. If our country harbours dreams of becoming a developed nation, merely joining the nuclear kitty club won't do. These slow steps which aim at binding our fractured society address our grass-root problems. Our potential will only be fully recognised if we as a population are able to function as one seamless whole.
The time has come to expedite the undoing of social crimes committed for centuries, that time is now.

King of a stellar war

The conflict has played itself out and battles are waged every day in an invisible realm. Some days there is a lull, but is usually followed by an intense struggle later. It is a conflict of ideologies, a conflict of principles, Odysseus trumpets rationale, Rama espouses compassion. Interestingly the outcome is known ab initio, ..... there can be no victor, this war can be waged for eternity. But we battle on, as if bound by duty. Someday a truce will be realised, ....someday.

And I stand among ruins today, the dust lies thick in the air. Entire settlements have been demolished in the aftermath. Every broken brick here holds a memory, but will be buried in time. She has visited these wreckages, I can feel her, her subtle yet sweet fragrance lingers. A single rain drop crashes on the terra firma and I look to the overcast sky. Before long my surroundings are drenched by the cloudburst, a man remains to comfort a troubled land.

A struggle called life

My body takes to this cold floor well, I continue to lie against it. My chest heaves in rhythm to the guitars that play in the background. If my heart were to beat any faster it may explode. This pain I put myself through is addictive. A few minutes ago every muscle in my legs strained to carry my body forward, at the decree of a mind wishing to maintain a steady, swift pace. He'd screamed to stop, this hurt was killing, every nerve racing to the brain signalling an aching,.... an incessant aching. But in the battle of mind over body, the strong willed wins, all pleas go unheard.
.......And a wave of heat rises off me, this pain slowly begins to cease,.....this bittersweet pain. A brief moment of peace comes alive, elusive as it has been for quiet awhile. I know it won't last for long, I savour every minute of it. The calm ebbs and I know it will soon be over, the music returns to my ears, my senses begin to respond to the cool floor. I know I have to rise soon and return to life,... a struggle called life.

A blog less ordinary

I need to start a new blog. To all those, whose attention this blog hasn't been able to hold, my apologies. I must admit, I have been quite selfish about this blog. The words that are penned here are done so for the mere satisfaction and pleasure of the blogger himself. It isn't written keeping in mind what fellow netizens would like to read. Which brings me around to the idea, that if I had to write for someone who would I write for. A netizen is too broad a term.When it finally boils down to individuals, there are differences, there are sections of them with varying tastes, and while being able to cater to all of them through a single blog may not be impossible, it will take a lot of creative exhaustion to bring to existence. Luckily, I have had a certain section of my rare readers return to me with criticism which is constructive (Wise quote: Criticism which does not come forth, no matter how well intentioned, is anything but constructive. To Blog: The psychology of criticism) And while they speak, I feel quite safe in assuming that they speak for a greater majority. Words less taxing on the mind, ideas a little less complex, the blog for the normal man, who loves his meals, committed to his job, worries more about his family than his world and would prefer reading something more straightforward. I don't think at the end of a day he would like to decipher the esoteric writings of a blogger whose thoughts more often than not border on the unconventional. Then to you my friends I will soon begin one, we have laid the seeds, just give it some time to sprout. Watch this page.
As for this space here, I am afraid he will continue to cater to one mind alone.

Can't get you out of my head

Songs that have me hooked as of today, rather...tonight:
* City and Colour - Comin' Home
* Tom Cochrane - Didn't mean
* Fuel - Million miles

Define

Like the gentle breeze that wafts though the slender stalks of green paddy fields, like the soft rain that falls upon the rustic earth....the cool water quenching its thirst, like the warmth that envelops them when two lovers kiss, like the clear night sky speckled with a million stars that shine upon the universe, like the graceful trot of a stallion by the riverside......
Towards these beautiful aspects of nature, I bear no hate, but an association I have none.
I owe my allegiance to the raging storms that battle the titanic oceans on dark moonless nights, to the violent explosions on the surface of the sun threatening to split him apart, to the lone cliff that rises from the ground in contempt of the crashing waves, to the chest that braves a bullet in his struggle for freedom, to the spirit of the wolf as he howls to his pack just before they set out for a twilight hunt on the barren Alaskan snowfields
....It is these unspoken acts of defiance that have my loyalty.

Final straws

Come December
the last maple leaves that cling in desperation
Will be forced to kiss the ground
the squirrels that pranced around in gaiety
will seek shelter in the earth below
water which nows runs free over these rocks
shall soon be frozen in motion
the year that saw the end of a chapter
shall soon come to its dark end

And I will wait for these cold winds to blow
to know which way they go
I will watch another lake freeze, another river struck still,
the trees laid bare,............
the last shards of vulnerability, laid siege to by nature's plan
know no dread, neither any fear
I will be waiting
Come December

Hallowed be thy name

To those familiar,.....

• I have seen Iron Maiden in flesh and blood.
• I have screamed along with Bruce......live!
• I have seen Eddie
• I have chanted along with 15000 people to "Fear of the Dark"

Orca

Last weekend, I spent time with a couple of dolphins, seals, walruses and killer whales. Though I couldn't strike a meaningful conversation with any of them, we were in close proximity as they swam in man-made tanks. I was attracted to the killer whale(Orca) in particular, in fact "killer whale" is a misnomer. They belong to the dolphin family, the largest one at that. An appealing trait is their intelligence which is visible in their group hunting strategies(known to prey on blue whales, hence "killer whale"), their social structure, their methods of communication.
While it was indeed a memorable experience to watch these magnificent creatures swimming around in an environment where it is possible to watch them more closely, there is a price that is paid. A price paid by the orca himself. Under captivity, they are known to suffer from a condition called dorsal fin collapse. The water in the tanks lack sufficient pressure as compared to that of the ocean, which is supposedly required for the dorsal fin's development.
While developed nations have certainly reached a more humane way of treating animals in captivity, the truth will always remain. Captivity, no matter how humane, is unfair. These mute beings have a right to roam free in the wild, and shouldn't have found their way into this blog to be described as beautiful.

Fate

"Fate...is a funny thing. It swells up like raging waters that we are forced to travel. It provides no exit, no deviation, no respite. It drops us in a bottomless ocean and compels us....we either swim,...or drown. And sometimes as we struggle against the unforgiving tide, a great truth arises......, we've been here before."

26

I woke up a couple of days ago to be reminded that I had turned 26. Some people had more reason to be excited than myself. Thank you all, I feel honoured.
My fascination with birthdays ceased many years ago, after I got my He-Man costume as a birthday gift from my parents. The following year He-Man was no longer my superhero, and slowly birthdays became to me nothing more than a cake, a party and lots of gifts. And if birthdays were supposed to make one feel good/special on one particular day, then, at the risk of sounding vain, I felt great about myself almost all the time. Yeah, there were times when I felt like a loser, but bouncing back thrills me to this day.
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26 years and maybe I can afford to feel justified in imparting some wise statements on life:
* You could have two or more opposing viewpoints on the same subject, but still be on the right side.
* Education alone does not ensure the development of an individual, his environment is as important if not more.
* Indians are survivors
* Men and women probably have the same amount of emotions, but thats probably as far as we will get when it comes to equality. Men can't deal with emotions too well and women seem definitely beter equipped.
* Mothers are angels, they will put up with all your nonsense and still receive you with open arms.
* Standing up for one's principles is not easy, they will be shunned, they will face resistance. But whether they prevail is actually a test of how steadfast they were in the first place.
* Money probably does not bring happiness, but spending it definitely does.
* Racial discrimination is not an evil of the west, it is as rampant in other parts of the world, albeit in different forms.
* People can change, adulthood does not imply a fixed character, we are capable of constantly evolving, though the temptation to stagnate is quite strong.
* We love logical ends, so I shall stop with 10.
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Proof of man's questioning mind, you counted.

Mrs. Life

If life is a great teacher, then she definitely has some very confusing lessons. For instance, the practice of being well planned and organising one's time efficiently, would seem like a very valuable trait. But no sooner than you begin to exercise this discipline upon yourself and your surrounding life, you risk portaying yourself as a rigid person. You are criticized for your lack of flexibility, of not being able to accept that nothing in the world goes as planned, of expecting your matters and those accociated with yours to execute themselves like clockwork.
So little Johny tells himself, he needs to be more relaxed, a little less uptight about time, be more accepting of the inherent flaws in people and himself. Little Johny relaxes his principles a bit, but he is caught by surprise almost immediately, because now criticism comes again from the same quarters and maybe new ones as well. This time around his reliability is questioned, he comes across as a person who cannot be depended upon, how can one trust someone who does not value time, both his and that of his fellowmen??
Oh Life! Your stature as one of the greatest teachers of men is probably equalled only by Death, and I bow with both humility and respect. But I am just a small boy playing along the shores of the sea of knowledge that you have to impart. I may fall, I may hurt, I may go wrong, ....but I will learn.
So..... could you please cut me some slack!!!

An old profile

I am Indian
I believe all men are equal
I trust in man's capability to do good
I accept man's failure to do good all the time
I love music
I hate jazz
I loved the Matrix
I hate the Wachowski brothers for ruining what could have been the greatest trilogy
I don't believe in superstitions
I love my friends
I dislike wannabes
I don't pray
I worship Joe Satriani
I have lost in love
I love dogs
I hate cats
I can tolerate kittens
I believe luck is a coincidence that works in one's favour
I don't trust in it
I can head-bang
I am my own God
I abhor religious fanaticism, child labour, oppression of women, racism, casteism, communalism
I respect others religious beliefs
I love chocolate
I love jumping off heights when I can be assured of safety
I hate girl bands, boy bands and Britney Spears
I do like some of their songs
I am heterosexual
I strive to be more accepting of the sexual preferences of others
I love my country
I believe we can learn a lot from other cultures
I believe all species are at their cutest in their infant stage
I write code for a living
I feel uncomfortable in hospitals
I could go on forever
I think I'll stop
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I am myself.

Thoughts of a tired man 4 hours before bed time

I don't have anything to write about in particular, but I have some spare time on my hands.
I make an attempt to explain concert atmosphere, (most recently, had been to a Nickelback gig), the electric charge in the air, the opportunity to have screaming fun with a group of strangers whom you wouldn't recognise if you saw them on the street the next day. But I'll save that for another day, I'm not in a rocking state of mind.
I try to put forward my two cents on the Lebanon-Beirut crisis.
Action: Hezbollah kidnaps two soldiers.
Reaction: Southern Beirut is more or less reduced to rubble; 450 Lebanese, 50 Isrealis dead and still counting; around 500,000 people displaced; Condoleezza Rice wastes some air fuel doing her bit for environmental pollution, by aimlessly flying to Israel and Lebanon with not the slightest incline to attain a ceasefire, Bush's intellect is challenged yet again trying to figure out whether Lebanon is a country or a city!
Over reaction?

But while I would like to give a discourse on the futility of war, my tired mind disagrees. So we'll save that too.

Read a news article, family of approximately 7, finally decide to leave their village after a few days since the Israelis sent a warning. war planes, constantly scanning the terrain for any transportation of enemy ammunition, bomb the van in which the family is travelling. Cruelly enough, only survivors are 3 bleeding children, left to fend for themselves. Is the world crying???

Shall leave with a parting thought. When you begin to worry about your pay hike/ your next promotion/ your poor jilted self/ the impression your boss has about you/ how unfair life has been to you, pick up the paper. Rest assured you'll find enough to read, that will make your teensy-weensy problem seem like a scratch compared to the cancer this world suffers from.

Superman Returns........Yawn!

I watched Superman Returns last weekend, slept through certain parts, though whenever I woke up it didn't seem like I missed anything. The IMAX where it was screened had around 4 scenes from the movie specially converted with 3D effects. But even that stunt failed to lift the movie. Hollywood's obsesion to convert comic superheroes into overtly emotional soap actors continues. Previously we had Spiderman continuously ruing over his love life in S-2. Superman makes a kid in this one!!!! (You were supposed to save the world, not impregnate our women.) And the kid in question seems more mentally challenged and less of a superhero child! The plot is long drawn, the action sequences lack creativity and the actors themselves seem so bored to be in the movie.
All in all a movie one can comfortably forget.

Tribute

A little less than a month from now, and it will be a year since you breathed your last. The months immediately after your demise that had dragged drearily, picked up pace by the end of the year. It has taken time to make peace with life, for the sudden manner in which he took you away from us. But I finally feel comfortable in acceptance of life's harsh ways, it would never have been easy. That is the law of life, the law of death. Pain and sorrow remind us we're alive.
One of the regrets that I will live with for the rest of my life, is not having been able to see you one last time. I was late, forgive me. The only grace I was offered was being able to pay my respects to your still body before the cremation. It rained incessantly for days afterwards, everywhere we went,........you would never shed a tear in front of us when alive.
Today, as I break old bonds and assert myself in this chaotic world, your principles guide me through. All the times that I thought you were being too difficult on me, all the lessons you taught me the hard way, come to my assistance today. I am a better man today, because of you. This is my tribute, Thank you.

A proud son