Man Yeh Bawra ...

Mind .. heart ..soul.. they need a break sometime , from all the craziness and chaos around .. and a random good act can do precisely that for you sometimes.. it doesn't necessarily have to be a deed, can just be some simple good words , that go a long way in making a difference in someone's day..

Like yesterday morning.. I must have surely got up on the wrong side of the bed after having terrible sleep night before last. Disturbingly ridden with visions of sharks eating sharks.. and as if that wasn't sufficient the sharks were after me too with insatiated hunger.. talk about a nightmare with and appetite!! .. But it would not have been so bad if I hadn't watched Deep Blue Sea before hitting the bed .. although, I would not have really watched it if I hadn't had a terrible argument with my sweetheart about why he can never ever say the right things at the right time .. and picked the first dvd on my shelf to watch.. But geez, all I wanted from him was some good old mollifying , and well to tell the truth I would not have needed that if it weren't for the terrible time I had completing my project at work.. and feeling miserable about my uselessness and underproductivity.. which soon transformed into depression and better more terrible rage by the time I took the phone call in question ..

However it wasn't entirely my fault that I wasn't able to focus better at work.. it was the by product of the horrid migraine I has picked up waiting for my train at the station.. in what I call the "worst weather joke" by God or Mother nature.. whoever designs these storms!! One full week of lovely sunny weather.. and then the next morning its whizzing chilliness all over the land !! People say I am crazy.. did y'all take a look at the weather today ?!

So you see it really wasn't my fault that I was in a bad mood the next day morning.. I told myself I need chocolate .. just what the doctor ordered for the depressed heart ..I opened the refrigerator and reached the chocolate milk carton, cursing simultaneously over some email that popped up on my iPhone ( amazing how many instruments I have to make life complicated!) . I kept groping in the fridge but no chocolate milk .. just leftovers .. At this point I could have started crying.. but the clock in the microwave said 'not now.. no time' . Miserable , I picked my bags and decided to pick milk at the nearest grocery store . So I did. I picked up a bottle of my anti-depressant chocolate milk and headed straight for the cashier with a really morose, dejected, life's-so-not-fair expression..

I looked up as I was being billed by an elderly lady , she gave me a smile filled with care and said 'What happened dear .. itna serious kyun ho ? Sab theek hai na ?' I stared at her surprisingly .. Not that it was difficult to understand my miserable self from my expression, but I did not expect a complete stranger to ask me if all's well .. !!

I stared at her for several seconds before she smiled warmly again , like the wise folk often do, and said 'Sab theek hojayega .. Whatever it is it will be alright' I let out a deep sigh, and smiled at her , the first one in several hours. I payed my fare and left.. and I felt lighter, like a helium balloon, that's just been untied from its weights.. Was it the chocolate milk ? I think not ..

I held on to the smile till I reached work, I looked down at my half done project .. sighed again and sat down typing furiously when I heard a knock on my cube - my boss! I was sure to get beaten for my 'intolerable procrastination' ..so I gave him a huge smile with a dash of sorry-sheepishness , and said I will deliver the results by the next day .. Surprisingly he returned my smile, and went away , not before giving me 'friendly reminders' about deadlines.. Hah! I thought to myself, that went well.. pleased at it I was going to return to my work , when my phone rang , it was my sweetheart , he said something so absurd that I started laughing out loud .. no anger, any other time I would have retorted with 'What the ... ' But today my heart went out to him... I was smiling.. I could almost hear him relieved and well smiling!! ...

So you see.. a random good act can bring more smiles than you expect ... Crazy isn't it?

Shaam - e - Gham ki Qasam

Life goes on no matter what happens, people find a way to balance their lives.. That's what I penned down last ..

However today I have a different story to say - yes life goes on, but there are defining moments in life that make you a person you are, but this post isn’t really about those character building moments .. this is about those times when , even if its for a short while.. you realize that life isn’t really as predictable as you thought it was.. and sometimes there are no solutions that can make everything OK. This is about situations/ incidents /tragedies that compel you to re-think the way you have lived life, the way you’ve perceived yourself and those around you and bring back the lost humanity in you..

We as humans have an amazing mind that partitions itself so well that your day to day activities completely shut off the realities around the world.. and it takes a 9.2 Richter scale earthquake or a disastrous tsunami that claims millions of lives for us to wake up to the fact that we are slowly but surely being obliterated from the earth.. Whether or not we find another planet is a topic for another day. Whether the earth is just shaking us off of itself or whether its our own doing that has brought us to this stage is a question that has now lost its relevance, what is interesting though is that we are the most advanced form of life on earth and we haven't yet found a way to minimize if not completely evade human loss in natural disasters..

Yet.. this blog post is not about mass scale loss of life either.. its about the little incidents that are more closer.. living miles away from Haiti or Indonesia , earthquakes/tsunamis seem distant , something that cannot really happen or affect me.. What does disturb me though is the news of increasing number of deaths by DUIs, kids being kidnapped, raped and killed , stories of personal vengeance turning to massacres.

These days there is a report about at least one of the gory things I mentioned .. I generally go past these stories, to the science and technology section to see what Apple has got out in the market, its latest weapon to destroy what's left of the rest of the industry. But the day I do read them, especially the ones where kids are involved, I am pushed into a thought process that ends with me being skeptical about people around me, teachers, doctors, therapists, even clergy men - all but friends and family. Scared of future , thinking what if.. I were there ? What if it was one of my own? What do I do to protect the people I love? What do I do to make this world a safer place.. I'm visibly shaken and terribly disturbed.. But then.. I am after all a human, and a few hours later.. my minds calms itself and directs its focus on the papers lying on the desk, half empty cup of herbal tea and a half typed document , minimized on the computer screen.. Yes my mind has at this point successfully found a small partition of my brain where it can push these thoughts into and maintain peace for now.

You might think I am on a overdose of medicine.. or rather Law & Order SVU or CSI.. but no , this is real, more possible than a earthquake killing you, more probable than drowning in a tsunami.. not to undermine any of those tragedies.. but somehow these are happening closer to your world and at an alarmingly high rate. Crime used to fascinate me as a kid, it still does, but it sure can be scary... and its in these moments I close my eyes and am thankful for being alive , healthy and safe.. in all the unpredictability that surrounds the little world I've enveloped myself in.

Tujhse Naaraz Nahi Zindagi ..Hairaan Hoon Main..

The most intriguing part of life is that it goes on.. don’t know how.. right from getting over the reluctance of getting up at 6 to go to work.. to maintaining a healthy life, eating, exercising, to having a decent conversation without falling asleep in between .. everything seems hard these days, everything seems a chore.

I cannot fathom my life without the people I cherish the most, who I love and who love me back.. but the stress, the frustration, the daily agony is straining each and every relationship I treasure. There is a unexplainable distance, which seems non-existent at times but at other times its seems so huge that I am lost.. but life goes on..

I am the most tired, fatigued, exhausted (and all the synonyms you can find to express the feeling of almost dropping dead).. But yet, from an unknown source of energy, I wake up and dress up and drive to the train station, fearing what might be lying ahead in the day that will push me off the cliff.. the cliff of sanity to the abyss of irreproachable miserable insane depression... but then the day goes on, passes by and I come back to sanity of my home and life goes on....

Not to mention the lovely weather that's around these days.. when its not sunny that the skin burns, its gloomy .. gloomy enough to give me a heartache.. and when its not gloomy, its cold.. like the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge (Christmas Carol) .. but then life still goes on , no matter what the sun looks like..

We discover moon has water and mars can be inhabited and so we continue to destroy earth. We discover more and more ways to warm car seats and then make them perishable, we get diseases, we find cures, and then find that the cures give rise more complex diseases.. we get depressed for little things, and then be brave on the face of crisis.. we counter everything that ever happened around us and find a way to still get up and walk around like nothing happened.

Is there anything more intriguing than that? Life just goes on, just like the show that goes on.. that's possibly the only explanation why I take life so granted, I sleep and awake with predictability.. I think we as a human race have found balance in just about everything.. and as I read in a certain powerful ideological book.. "Even if the Sun weren't to rise, I am sure we will invent a substitute" . We will do everything to just make life go on...

Main Thi Main Hoon Main Rahoongi

Relationships - so simple, yet more than three quarters of world can't get it right - why? 'Its complicated' .. I heard my friend tell me when I queried about what she thought about Rihanna being butchered by her boyfriend and she patching up with him and accepting him back into her life... what do people see in their relationships that they decide to go back to the very same person who has hurt you, physically, mentally and has tortured you throughout his life.. its not just Rihanna, its millions of women around the world who are subjected to domestic violence every day and are still with their husbands.. there are men who cheat and lie, and their wives accept their lame excuses for cheating, and the best part is ... this happens not once .. but over and over again... A classic case as I heard on the radio this morning - A girl calls in to the "agony aunt" show - and asks the psychiatrist on the channel - My boyfriend has cheated on me thrice before, and he is has always come back and apologized and regretted it, and then he did it again this time - what do I do .. ?

I was really shocked, so shocked that I started laughing aloud - much to the misery of the people who were riding with me and took that show seriously... But that is the truth - the ridicularity( if there is a word like that in English ) of the issue was beyond all limits. How can a girl not see through this person, who is just using her! Good Lord I thought to myself, these people are so insecure that they are not willing to let go of the person who abuses the relationship, abuses their esteem, abuses everything that defines their existence... and all for what? So that they have someone to talk to? someone to give them company.. exactly what is motivating them to stay in there?


Now I agree in every relationship there are ups and downs , pluses and minuses, you can't have someone perfectly stitched for you, you kind of work around somethings.. and sometimes it does happen that you give something up , especially expectations or opinions those can be given up sometimes (I stress on the word sometimes) or if you are not the very opinionated person, you probably deserve to be bossed around... but I swear no one deserves to be cheated and lied to.. and definitely not beaten .. Of course there are people like me who are total high maintenance, so I need people to give me attention all the time, anything otherwise is sacrilege .. But given that you have defined your limits of patience, if someone goes past them, you react, retreat, scream shout , fight, win your stance back or at worst case let go of the person and get your freedom back... I don't know why anyone would want to hang on to years of abuse and ridiculing just beats the sense out of any human logic.. except may be insanity!

For now .. just a small message to all those people in abusive relationships .. there is a world out there that you can explore, all you have to do is just step out - go beyond temporary conveniences, step into a world of opportunities. Stand on your own and see the difference it makes in your life, 'coz afterall your life is at the end of the day about you and your existence!

Palkein Jhukao Na ....

This time around , my title isn't just titular it is the very content of the small blog -

I recently stumbled upon an old CD that had collected dust in my huge rack of cd's ... It had some really offbeat songs that I had picked and burnt apparently when my taste and mood was better than what it is today .. One song that featured in the CD was Palkein Jhukao Na from Sehar - a movie about gangsters vs police.. and you must be groaning saying "Oh no not one of those again .. .but not this was not one of those meaningless action movies where all you can hear is gunshots throughout the movie and end up with terrible ache in the head after the movie says "The End" .. no not this one - This was a really clean cut movie which had a bit of everything - it was about a good, honest police officer facing not just a criminal genius who want total absolute power over everything , but also the bureaucrats who really dont know which side they are on.. and over all of it his own traumatic childhood .. does this sound like a complex plot of emotional drama with the side of blood and gore? Nope wrong again this is by far the least emotional Indian movie I have seen - a well thought of and executed movie .... absolutely no nonsense stuff and has more depth than Sarfarosh - which is the only other cop movie that figures in my police favorites ...

... but movie apart - the song -reallyy delightful one .. picturized on the ever delightful cop (played by Arshad Warsi) and Anamika (played by Mahima Choudhary) his object of desire (other than the famed don 'gajraj' that is!!)

Adnan Sami's deep voice rendering the slow tune with soft beats, and the easy lyrics - the lover asking the the lady to confess her love for him .. and ofcourse doing the same himself.. Oh and does Arshad look sweet or what! Especially with the dimples when he blushes somewhere in between the song! Sweetest of the songs in the recent times.. The song has no surrealistic picturization - it has no dreamy stuff and definitely no large opulent sets - yet it lingers in your mind much after you've heard it or seen it...

....On this note - hear to the song and adieu till later!

Chup tum raho.. Chup hum rahe..

Words are the most beautiful things when said in the right way at the right time.. words are the most powerful if they come from the right person in the right tone.. Words mean a lot when they offer comfort to someone down and dejected .. and yet words are the most inadequate when it comes to expressing the most intricate feelings, especially that of love and sorrow.. I have increasingly noticed that people are the most quiet when they are in pain or they are with someone they really love and they just want to spend the time absorbing the presence of each other.. It does remind me of a song in Swades movie where the hero and the heroine are sitting inside the car with the song running in the background and they are not talking , not looking at each other (that would be too cliched eh?) not doing anything, but just reclining on the front seats of the car and ... thats it.. just feeling each others presence.. ain't that romantic? I think its amazing what silence between two people can convey..

Having said that.. I don't want to take the romance away from poetry and I definitely do believe that words play important role when communicating ones feelings and ones thoughts, its useless if one speaks too few words and then goes into some kind of a misunderstanding mode where all is lost to the lack of words..

But getting back to the silence.. there is a strange kind of understanding that develops when one stops speaking and just "feels".. I guess it has something to do with the development of some senses when others are shut down.. you are more sensitive to movements, to heart beat, to even the breeze whizzing through your hair.. It simply has an ethereal feel to it..

Although .. I doubt how long I would survive in the "silent movie" mode .. despite all its romanticism .. I have a trifle too much energy to stay quiet and unfigety for too long! But a stealing a couple of minutes of silence to truly experience the surroundings .. (whether it inculdes someone or not.. ) ain't a bad idea.. ain't a bad idea at all...!

Ajeeb daastan ..

No one really believes me when I say planets do affect us and our thoughts and actions. We are made of the same substance as the rest of the universe is, then how can we say that we aren't influenced by the forces of nature? Over the past several centuries we have evolved as humans but by definition we are still made of the same atoms and molecules as the mud on mars or the debris in Saturn's rings. So why is it considered a farce that planetary movement does tell upon a person's mind. Agreed that what exactly the planets do and how they actually influence us has a probablistic base and can be argued upon for eternity thanks to a few individuals who have corrupted the science for their personal gains.. but however it is undeniable that planets have a profound affect on peoples mind and not just the thought process, it influences everything around us .. and what more than a personal experience to make the belief stronger..

It was cold and freezing outside in the morning, and I was cuddled up in the bed, not willing to wake up and get to work when my phone rang.. It was my carpooler telling me that he wont make it to work today so I'd have to go by myself.. I got up reluctantly and packed my stuff and decided to take the train to work.. so I walk to the train station.. A kind lady at the station tells me "The train is not coming..some rails came off the tracks, so they canceled the train " I thought to myself.. "To go or not to go..." I decided to head back home and work from there , when a lone traveler like me turned up at the station and inquired about the train as well .. I could have walked away, but there I was waiting and listening to the very same words that I was told 5 minutes back.. and the traveler turned to me and said "I am driving to work, do you need a ride .." Call it impulse, call it madness, I would not have done the same thing another day, but today was different, I hopped into his SUV and hoped to good Lord that it was the right thing to do.. !

Surprisingly, the ride was very interesting, a good conversation and a decent start for what started out as a bad day.. My ride was only till 3/4ths of the distance .. I thought to myself, well thats not bad, I can make it to work from here, its just a couple of miles away and I knew what bus to take... it can't be that bad.. hmm spoke too soon!

I got off and bid adieu to a new friend, and started to the ticketing machine..and realized that I did not have any change left in my purse.. Thats when the cursing began. After finishing with calling myself all kinds of names I returned to the bus station to see if I could get to ride the bus free with my train ticket. It was purely luck when I got a really nice lady at the customer service - She told me to ride another train to the administrative office and get a token to ride the bus free all day - some compensation of kinds for the train breakdown - having no other choice at hand, this sounded like a really good thing, and besides, whats the worse that can happen ?

So I headed out..rode the train - finally found the building, but it took me eternity to find the entrance!! Geez I thought to myself.. why are buildings so complex here! So after 10 minutes of struggle I finally enter the building and pick up my token and head back to the ticket machine... well maybe it should be re-christened to ticket monster! 'coz it ate up my token and did not give me a ticket!! More cursing.. and this time along with lots of swearing.. coz the weather turned nasty and freezing...But I told myself.. you can do this..I called the customer service lady again and she was sweet enough to give me directions to the next ticketing center..and how to get my token back!

Thanked all stars and with restored faith in humanity, I got a ticket.. only to see the I had just missed the bus!! Cursed all stars above again and waited for half hour in freezing cold, hungry, tired, all I wanted now to see my desk.. not do anything, not think anything.. and I waited and waited.. finally after what seemed like a lifetime.. the bus came.. God was I happy to see the driver..! Got in the bus, thought it was end of my miseries.. I am rescued.. nothing can go wrong now.. Well thankfully nothing very significantly went bad with the bus ride except for a weirdo asking me if I smoked weed.. I was so tired I could as well have said yes.. but well I was not yet insane..so I just smiled and said.."No..not into weed" ..

Came to office and my computer would not log me in.. my work was pending, my brain did not work, people I needed to talk to did not talk to me.. people whom I did not want to talk to talked a lot to me.. spent a whole lot of time just to make things normal again and gosh was it a confusing mess... and I thought to myself what went wrong? where? ... It was 7 in the evening when I reached home .. more tired than I had been in all previous week put together and opened the laptop, still puzzled about what happened throughout the day.. and in the news section of google -I see in bold words - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.. It struck me like a lightening then, all the weird things happening made perfect sense! - And just for clarification to any skeptical readers - this has happened to me before, and as consistently bad as it was today!!

I sighed ... if penumbral lunar eclipse did this to my day and me..then what on earth am I going to do when its total lunar eclipse!!??

Kabhi Khud Pe Kabhi Haalat Pe Rona Aaya...

Why me .. ? how many times have we questioned ourselves that , how many times in our day to day life we've felt that the universe truly conspires to hit us hard when we are hurt the most .. and how many times have we felt a strange sympathy for ourselves..being the victim of the vicious circle of politicking and fraudulent systems.. inefficient methods and inconsistent society.

Self pity while being the most common trait in us, tends to eat away at your confidence slowly and steadily .. like arsenic poisoning in milligrams a day.. Its easy to pick out things that happen to us, but things aren't just happening to you and me..there are things that are happening all over the world to the entire human race.. not to mention the animals that are endangered.. and well how about earth itself? Why don't we ever wonder how mother earth would feel if she'd have the privilege to indulge in self pity? She'd go "Why torture me like this with Global Warming, with de-forestation, with ozone depletion, pollution, population, war, terror ... and mostly plastic...oh and as if that was not enough, you throw out space junk, so that one fine day it loses its orbit and comes crashes into me!!! .. Why me?!" Its rather strange how we forget that there are real problems in the world, in the universe that need to be addressed.. there are always problems in each one of our lives that will never go away.. why keep clinging to them and make life more miserable.. We as humans definitely tend to that quite often, we have queer pleasure in making our problems more complex than they really are and convincing our self to delve, revel, thrive in that gloated feeling of misery, when it is all really quite trivial..and can be simply resolved.

Isn't it a better thing to just take things in stride with a pinch of salt.. and if that's not enough, then a pinch of pepper as well and just be thankful for being alive and being able to think ..and truly speaking that is all one needs to survive it all... and sometimes food too.. there is nothing in this world that is more powerful than the human mind.. all you need to do is to tune it so that the mind stays at DC even when the situations around you are sinusoidal. However easy it is to succumb to self pity, one must realize that the greater truth is that if you are able to think, it means the worst has not come yet, and if you have lost your cognitive sense, then well you hardly would care about the world crumbling under your feet.. so there is no real reason for worry or sadness, not for prolonged time at least, it would only prohibit you from living life to its fullest. Having said that , its not good if you completely act ignorant of the compelling times ahead, but when things are out of your hand and there is nothing left to do, you wait and hope .. and patience is as much a virtue as is the ability to not sympathize with yourself!

Although sometimes this is easier said than done when you are in a particular helpless situation... There have been times when I have felt that there is so much that happened and there can be no looking up ever, times that my confidence in humanity was shattered, my dreams broken...but then the show never stops there, you pick up and move on... make more dreams, strive to make everyday worthy of you, rather than think that its never your day , your month .. or even your year.. you are what you make yourself to be.. and at the end of the day you can either be the winner by letting optimism take over.. or lose out on the good things in life by indulging in negativity and sympathy ..

As someone famous said -- Life is really long... don't make it more boring and longer by being sad.. Look inside yourself for happiness, then all else around will seem more saner and more beautiful than ever.. seek and thou shall find true love for life within thee.


Disclaimer: I absolutely love the song mentioned in the title.. its a beautiful song and nothing relates it to the actual content of this blog post, it just seemed a fit title, so used it...

Yeh Sama...

It wasn't your usual bright cheery day..In fact it was just the opposite, cloud covered sky and misty roads, I generally am depressed when weather's this way, but today driving on those roads felt like cruising on clouds!!

As I waited for my fellow carpooler to join me, I more deeply in love with the sights and sounds around me.. grass looked more greener, dew droplets dripped from the bare tree branches .. the distant houses on the hills looked like a whole new world with fog embracing the hill.. Ah..I could not help but let out a sigh.. just felt like singing Louis Armstrong 'what a wonderful world' out loud..My vocal cords never live up to my expectation anyway so let it go, just hummed to myself as my partner came in and we went on our usual commute to work.

The visuals were fantastic, I had been in the same place for over half a year, but this was my first winter, and gosh was I loving it! Living up a mountain certainly had its pluses .. I was adoring the sights all the way and secretly wishing time would stand still.. and let me absolve myself within the nature around me..

Well as they say.. be careful of what you wish for.. it might as well come true.. time did not stand still but we sure did! My car came down from 75mph to 5mph.. and eventually we stopped! no my car didn't break down, but somebody else's did and there was that fabled traffic jam again.. I thought to myself, hey no harm done, its a beautiful day, romance in the air, a little traffic jam ain't gonna ruin it!15 minutes later I realized that was not true!! To hell with the beautiful day.. I need to get to work, gosh that important meeting, I could almost see my manager give me that one-raised-eyebrow look! I gulped.. looked around.. the green grass did not speak out to me this time.. I turned to music instead and gave my partner a cursory glance and said - 'hey do you think we'll be able to make it in time ?' and well I can't be too sure, but I think I heard a four letter word followed by a what sounded like a mumble "Do you REALLY want me to answer that?!" and some more of the four letter words..

I tried to laugh it off but it sounded more like a soft whimper of a wet doggy. 'Ah.. now where did that CD go..' I thought to myself music soothes the biggest and meanest of the creatures, lets try that.. it wasn't the best CD I had but will do. 2 songs later.. that opinion changed to wont do!! and I was fidgeting with the cd player trying to skip songs as soon as I knew what it was, apparently did not realize that'd cause the anti-soothing effect on big and mean creatures.. and there was that four letter word coming out again.. "would you not do that!! .....please" that please came out after a long awkward pause.. and I told myself I'd better behave lest I wanna a be called the soup of the day! So music was out .. and returned to gazing out of the window again.. and huge chevy drove up beside me .. conveniently blocking my view of the exotic mountain!! It was my turn to growl..I fumed over the fact that I was now seeing a muddy pickup that probably wasn't washed for centuries instead of the grazing cattle and green fields!

And then my eyes caught something.. a pair of the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, glistening in the sunlight that just peeked through the clouds, and not willing to let me gaze move away.. I felt the smile returning on my face as I looked into the adorable big eager eyes of the cutest golden retriever I had ever seen.. I chuckled to myself and well.. started humming what a wonderful world all over again.. and well as they sing and the world sings with you.. the big beast.. err..I mean my carpooler exclaimed hey that's my favourite song!! and sang along all the way to work!

And so my first work day of the new year began with a smile... Happy new year to all my readers!

Koi Mil Gaya ??!!

Desperation for love.. a deadly syndrome hitting all my friends these days.. I want to love someone I want to have a girl in my arms when I meet my friends.. Nice, but do you realize what you are headed for? 'I want to get married.. its high time I do'.. they say, and I ask 'so.. you can't force yourself into love honey, you've gotta find love and that ain't simple as you think it is'.

Love is a pure feeling that emanates out of a want to be with someone, to make memories with someone who not just shares your interests but shares your attitudes, respects your opinions and decisions, is able to put you before themselves when needed and ... the same works for you as well you should be ready to put them before yourself. Its not a one time see and decide story.. thats possibly an arranged marriage.. not love. You grow to like a person, no instant coffee here!

And the dreaded C word .. Commitment, think about it.. one person all your life, no matter what happens, no matter how old and wrinkly they get, no matter how grumpy they get during their midlife crisis, no matter how unstable the situations around you are you have to stick by each other and have that love going for eons to come.. are you ready for that? Not if you go in with a mindset that I am going to love the next single cute girl I see.. how do you know she's the one? there should be something.. some one thing other than looks that will make you want that person all your life.. and that one thing believe me is not easy to find.. Finding faults is easier..and you will find faults all your life with your partner.. but then there should be that one reason that will make you still stick to that person.. I am amazed everytime I see mom and dad quarrel and then settle down.. how can you be with a person who's hurt you so much with words I ask my mother, and she always says .. he is like that, he'll come around in a while, we can't stay without each other! And thats what is love.. no matter what happens, there should be a strong enough reason for you to go back to the same person...

Its really silly to love a person just because its the in thing, or just because all your friends are married. No amount of social pressure is enough to make me fall in love.. Ah but then again that's just me.. the rest of world around me is blissfully hunting for love.. which on the face of it ain't a bad idea.. but then grabbing on to the first girl/guy you find and decide to say I do in a weeks time and expect it to last for a lifetime.. well lets say is too ambitious. Ofcourse there are classes of people who can pick people like we pick melons.. one look and that it you know it all.. but I ain't one of 'em.. and there aren't really as many like that anyway.

So all people who are desperately hunting for love .. think of a girl/guy..not a status symbol, think of companionship not something to show off.. think of love and commitment .. not desperation for commitment.. Seek and you shall find.. and think before you say " Eureka!! I've found the one"

Allah Ke Bandhe Hasde....

Uncertainty - in everything! Every place I go I see so much to make me upset forever.. and throw me into maniacal depression. And I am not even talking about the real problems .. no poverty, no global warming, no terrorism yet in my list. Simple things make me depressed these days.. two failed marriages of people whom I hardly know.. relationships that are based on absolute zilch.. shaky job scenario around the US and the world in general.. old missed opportunities that haunt and taunt me.. Nice people with real bad luck.. bachelors with bad bathrooms!! You name it and I am depressed with it.. and sometimes (especially on full moon nights) I seem to be unable to shut my brain and say stop it! that's enough! I want to not think about depressing things. As it is the everything from economy to rice supplies in Indian stores are down.. I don't want to bog myself down too.. but the brain ah .. it ofcourse has a mind of its own!

You must be thinking .. PJ.. yes the famous acronym for a Poor Joke.. or the way I put it silly rotten jokes.. and that's when it hit me.. a light moment that's all it takes to bring a smile back to a depressed face. Imagine couple angry with each other and have just finished a real WW III type argument and one of them does something silly or funny.. I bet you the anger goes out the window.. at least temporarily.. Ofcourse this ain't a fool proof solution.. but then light moments are unbeatable when it comes to minor repairs!!

So this blog is dedicated to PJ's!! Use without caution!!

Q:what do monsters make with cars?
A:Traffic Jam!!

Q:what do sea monsters eat?
A: Fish and Ships!!

Q:what is black white and red all over
A: A zebra wearing too much lipstick!

Q:why do mummies like chirstmas
A:Because of all the wrappings!

Q:why did the hen cross the road
A:he had to prove that he was not chicken!!

Q:why did the chewing gum cross the road
A:because it was stuck to the hen :-o .. That is a true PJ

Q:why did king kong climb all the way to the top of Empire state bldg?
A:because he was too big for the elevator!!

Q 1 :I buried a stone in a park.. and looked for it 10 mins later.. but it was missing what happened to it... (wait for the answer (its marked as A1))

Q:what makes an octopus laugh
A:ten tickles (tentacles)

Q:when can u put pickles in a door
A: when its ajar (a jar)

A1: The green eyed stone eater ate it :D

Q2: Ok now I picked the stone up and put in another spot and when I checked after 10 mins it was missing and Green eyed stone eater had an alibi so be assured it did not eat it!!
A2 : A red eyed stone eater ate it!! :-o

Q: why do african animals not play games
A: because there are too many cheaters (cheetahs)

Q:why does batman keep cancelling his fishing trip
A:because robin eats up all his worms!!

Q: All you engineers this is for you...What happens when I dig a hole through the earth (pole to pole) and throw a stone in ..? .. answer will come later

Q: what is an elephants favorite game
A: Squash!

Q: why did the elephant paint its toenails red?
A: Because it wanted to hide in a raspberry bush

Q: why did the elephant want to hide in a raspberry bush?
A: So that it can jump out and stomp people

Q: why did the elephant jump out and stomp people?
A: Because that is the way elephants play Squash!! :D

Answer to the engineering question .....if I dig a hole through and through in the earth and drop a stone in.. all you engineers , I hope you recall this from your gravity based physics classes: the stone oscillates pole to pole before it settles in a equilibrium .... ahem. but that's not the answer .. we ain't geeks! we are silly people at present so.........the answer is.. the green eyed stone eater gobbles it up!! :D


Alright.. I think you get the point .. a little laugh a little fun is the way to go!

Jaane Kya Hoga Rama Re....

What is it about super heroes that we like the most? Is it their invincibility? Or is it the fact that they are always there to protect the world from the evil? Or is it that they are so .. human despite the powers?

Ask me and I'd say the most desirable thing in a superhero is their invincibility...! But many would vote for the vulnerability despite the super powers.. we are a race that likes to see power being defeated.. why can't we accept superiority? Why can't we accept perfection.. a super hero has to have a flaw.. why? well part of the reason is that there wont be anything for the villain to work on otherwise and hence no storyline... but those can be restricted to weaknesses like superman's failure when there's kyrptonite around .. but these days the audience has turned the villain instead.. asking for more human-like superheros.. they should be susceptible to a dark side within themselves, they should be envious like others.. they should be susceptible to even subpoenas when someone sues them.. I mean where are we headed.. even the heroes we idolize are like us .. then whats so super about them...Really we should stop making the extraordinary seem ordinary.. and ordinary seem like the be all and end all of life.. Its not fair.. not for the people who aim for perfection..

The concept of greatness is far miscalculated and misjudged these days, right from reality shows that vote for the most vulnerable and supposedly downtrodden than the actual genius.. just be cause 'humanness' is over rated.. the common man is powerful.. but hey guys let the experts do their job.. We elect people who are commoners and have no bit of leadership qualities.. because we identify with them as a commoner.. and see what happens when you hand over the nation to such people who can't lead.. where as the actual leaders.. they have to sit all day in the parliament trying to prove their point..and become mere non-entities..

I am not saying that perfection does not exist among the commoners.. but that does not mean you select someone who has no talent just because he is a commoner or a person from a community that was backward in the 1940's or was treated badly in the early 1800's! We are slowly headed towards a society where people staunchly believe that a person cannot be good at everything.. cannot be a perfect person and a person even remotely having such qualities is a fraud.. well leave alone perfect at everything.. the world these does can't even accept that a person can have exceptional ability in any one thing either.. it pains me when I see Emon Chatterjee from Indian Idol participate in all XYZ competition to prove himself while the likes of Suhit and Abhishek and Chang (whose talent is honestly not on par with Emon) get to cut an album with Sony.. and you know the worst part.. the winner is even worse in singing talent than the people mentioned above... and why is all this happening? Its because the winner is from a small town.. has a background that is different from the others.. and was initially not treated well in the competition.. and his commonness and flaw-ful singing is glorified to the extent that he wins the competition and poor the talented lot.. are just named arrogant and affluent.. so are undeserving..

when is this going to stop? Movies show us how a small town girl comes up on her own and her feet to win a modeling contest.. a fairytale story.. but if every small town girl without any talent or looks comes to town and is made a model.. imagine how lakme fashion week would be! And categorizing the city ones as snooty and high-and-mighty.. is a gross stereotyping of the city lot.. what does that mean..? all city girls are snobs and all small town girls are modest.. give me a break! That is not just presumptuous but also preposterous.. Wake up guys.. let talent be talent.. no strings attached.. let heroes be heroes .. don't make them human..!

Hmm if you are wondering why this sudden post of heroes and talent .. its the anticipatory emotion on the release of Drona and the beginning of the new season of Indian Idol.. Jaane Kya Hoga Rama Re..........

Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Nata Koi

... Yunhi nahin dil lubhata koi.. Jaane Tu.. Yaa jaane na, Maane tu ya maane naa.. No.. I am not promoting the movie that claims to the the 'chweetest' college love story (of 2008) nor am I planning to promote a probable sequel 'Maane tu ya maane na' depicting the perils that Jai (Imran Khan) falls into after his made-in-heaven love marriage to Aditi (Genelia) , with her bossing him around singing the title -maane tu... Hmm silly jokes apart, why I brought the song up is because of its first sentence. Tera mujhse hai pehle ka nata koi .. How does one know whether there is a bonding between them, more so in their very first meeting , not that the song suggests it but I have seen several cases of 'love at first sight' and have always thought that at least one of the parties is surely kidding when they say they were in love at the first sight.. It can't be that two mature individuals look at each other and feel instant bonding of love. Love has its own strings attached that you discover that much later than the fabled first sight.

And yet there are people around the universe who claim their first meeting was the very moment they knew they were meant for each other.. My question is how?! Its not melons for crying out loud.. that you go look, knock, and take home! Its a completely different issue that even after several trials and tribulations I still can't select a good melon, let alone identify one by color or sound. But a life partner, which I'm sure most will agree with, is more complex a theory than melons.

Taking time has its own charm, the denial, fighting it out withing yourself whether this is it or not, finally owning up, building trust and once you find a reason behind your choice of a life partner.. you know you are in love! It's not fair giving credit to the first meeting alone, its what takes place after that, the realization that without him/her your life has this unexplicable emptyness that just refuses to go away, that is when you can declare to the world, that you are in love.. not really when you meet for the first time in a coffee shop.. or any other mushy romantic setup!

There was a strange observation I made about the correlation between love-at-first-sight and arranged marriages. They both happen in the first meet! think about it , practically speaking, how much time is given to a girl and guy who are supposed to get married by their parents wish.. one meeting in a busy living room and then a series of phone calls continue, but the would -be-couple are already in a mind frame that tells them they are already a couple and declaration is the only thing left - Thats as close as it gets to love at first sight.. except perhaps in this case, the mind frame is -lets try this out, rather than lets get this settled. (May be this should make the against-love parents relax a bit eh?)

And the same question arises again, how do you know this person is right for you.. some of my friends tell me its a feeling, you will know.. or as Madhuri Dixit in her all time hit says 'God will ishara-fy and your heart will understand' yeah yeah.. only if dear God was free enough to make us realize love in the first meet! I stand by my policy it take years.. at the minimum months to know if a person is really meant for you , whether its a 'pehle ka nata' or 'sau saal pehle ka pyar' or plain old pyar. Love grows on you.. and no not instantly!

Zara nazron se khehdo ji....

Ah! the language of eyes.. if only all could read and understand each other without the necessity of spelling out emotions.. or even actions.. ! Perhaps its not easy and is rather confusing, but it sure pays when you master the skill!

But leave the ishaare with eyes alone, its difficult for most these days to even understand words..Gen X seems to need 10x the words and 10x 'round the bush turns' to take a simple thing to their head! Can't seem to fathom the simple.. it has to be complex, its like simplicity and logic was never even published in their version of the dictionary. There begins the saga of misunderstandings!

But they aren't to blame! Take the soap operas aired at prime time these days, where even if you try hard,.. grit your teeth and use all your Grey cells you can't understand why the protagonists try and test their pea brained husbands with a 'here-we-go-round-the-mulberry-bush-routine' of half-truth narrative of events. No wonder people these days try to search between lines and construct conspiracy theories when there aren't any! If they would only sit and talk honest with each other, misunderstandings would never arise.. but in that case I guess the serials would not run either.. well at least not for years and years!

Talking of Soap Operas.. I have recently started reading a PremChand Novel (Don't ask me where I found that!) and it sounds really like one of the soap opera's up on air.. not that stupid but has a lot of inside the house politicking, and loads of misunderstanding and complex situations.

The novel is set in Benares, at a time when girls were married off to a older men for the sake of mere money.. The story revolves around a girl Nirmala, who falls into misery after misery (see why I call it a mega series soap?).. firstly she agrees to a marriage with a person almost the age of her father and has three kids (like Paro in Devdas).. with obviously no opposition .. such were the times I guess, then she gets pushed around by her sis-in-law , but bears it silently again no opposition, but the most intriguing of her miseries is when there is a huge misunderstanding of her realtionship to the eldest son.. who is conveniently almost her age.

Then there is husband character, I am not sure what Premchand had in his mind when he wrote the novel, but according to me the husband is one of those people who needs to be vaporized from the face of earth! Realises not that his wife in no good mind can have a 'normal' marriage with him and goes on to be irked by her attention to kids so much that he creates a rift and a misunderstanding between the eldest son and the step mom that nearly cost's one of them their life!

The eldest son is ofcourse oblivious from his father's devious notions, thinks he's at fault for a unknown unexplained reason, and thinks he is the harbinger of sadness and misery to his father and his mother ... even his real mother that died! Only if they talked straight to each other none of this would arise. But people do have a habit of bringing hell on to themselves .. and so did Nirmala and her family. But enough about Nirmala here, I do have another blog where I do go into the story much deeper.. do stop by if you are intrigued or even just plain curious about the story!

Zindagi kaisi hai paheli...

There are ups and downs trials and tribulations...and yet life is life.. you hate being yourself sometimes.. Wish you weren't yourself when you are depressed about gaining that extra pound or when you have a nagging pain pounding your head.. or this one's my favorite.. when your going through a heart break.. You feel.. why am I myself.. but the universe answers for you. You are what you are for a certain purpose it which fits into the bigger picture, if you were not there the chain of events would have been different.. If you are facing difficulties, its for a purpose and not in vain.. and so're the rest of the people around you. Sometimes I come face to face with people who I secretly wish could be vaporized from the face of the earth... just for their incompetance or their stupidity.. it can be frustrating at times.. but then I realize after they've left that they might be better at something else.. they just may not be the best people in my field.. and I owe them that benefit of doubt that they are in the wrong place.. all they have to do is identify their purpose in life.

Hey and whoever said life's perfect.. either is smoking pot.. or is in a deep bliss of ignorance. I see people laughing and playing and getting almost everything they wished upon the star for, but the point I try to think.. they have luck.. so what? I have perseverance.. and thats what comes handy when luck runs out. I was really jealous of all those people who got jobs I'd kill for and got paid and laid much faster than I did, But then.. if I had followed the suit..I would not be here with a higher degree of education and of respect.. I love myself now.. the respect I get when I tell them I am a doc! So there was a purpose for me not getting an instant placement..

I used to scorn when my mother in her typical nirupa roy tone used to tell me " Jo kuch hota hai, sab acche ke liye hota hai". I realize now that what she meant was not that whats happening is going to beget good.. but you can make it a life experience and learn from it.. So one might question... So what did I learn by being involved in a relationship that gave me nothing but sadness.. like my friend asked wide eyed and tearfully, when her 7 year old relationship with her boy friend came crashing down two days before her final.

Tough.. I said.. but you will realize eventually.. and well yeah she did.. realize the new found freedom and the ability to make her own decisions and joys of being single again!! And the pressure before her final made her flunk it.. but she made it up next sem with better percentage..! a tiny winy minor detail!

But the point is.. life is tough.. its not perfect..swings like a sinusoid.. but hey.. its your's and its upto you what you make out of it.. Depression can pull you down.. or just shrug and walk on.. and you'll realize the beauty of life..

Zindagi... kaisi hai paheli haii... kabhi to hasaye.. kabhi yeh rulaye...

Gham se ab ghabraana kaisa...

... Gham sau baar mila... Thats what gurudutt sang in pyaasa..may be thats true.. and more so in my case.. Met with an accident two weeks back.. and its changed things, no not physically but it was a rude push into the real world for me. I was living in my own sweet dream sequence that never had serious life threatening issues.. where nothing can shake a person.. its all in the mind... ya it still is.. but now I know.. things are not as simple as my mind had conceived them to be. But why that title you might wonder.. well my car accident was followed the next week by another accident this time with hot water. Two accidents and a couple of lectures from friends later my mind at least has started questioning itself...Lemme start at the very beginning.

It was a gloomy cloudy day.. never wanted to start to office in the first place.. the very begining of my mental inertia.. but reluctantly woke up.. and dressed shabbily for office and started out. It was raining and I was thinking , can't quite remember what.. it was never that important that I don't notice a red light fall infront of me.. I saw it.. I stared at it.. and lo behold.. I did not stop..I did not react.. I saw a car come from my left and again.. I did not react.. kept staring at it.. and then I banged into it... my mind the inert.. was just watching all this happening.. I went and banged a pole.. and then let out a shout.. Screamed and airbag burst on my face. hit the dashboard.. and thats it.. I knew it was over.. and still I feel that was a condition reaction to scream... my mind was in inertia all through.. why was that .. can't explain.. why did I not break? why did I not stop even when I saw another car approaching? Why? Was it the rain? I guess not.. It was my mind.. which I sincerely believe was not ready to come into the present.. just stayed in a "sleep mode".

And then the ordeal began.. with million calls to insurance agents.. Well thats not quite it.. I got away with only some ordeal.. but eventually all that matters is that I am back with a car and my faith in humanity is replenished fully.. thanks to my insurance agent and the accident and insurance investigator! I do have someone else driving though.. But its surprising that I survived.. and more surprising that I did not 'feel' it when I was actually involved.. it was after it was over that I realized what I did and the magnitude of it...it was I was watching myself from a distance go bang into a car and a pole. What was going on in my mind? I dont know.. it was emptiness in the mind and numbness in the body..although there was no physical harm all that there was a mental pang of guilt mixed with hordes of dreams of mental atrophy..

Hardly had I recovered from that I poured some hot tea over my self.. and burnt my skin so bad it still hurts... and why was that? Again the inertia.. I was not even thinking this time.. it get progressively worse I guess...there I was drinking and it was too hot even to sniff and I tried placing it on a table it spilled over me and I lay there still.. staring.. and then i got up and put a cream.. the absolutely wrong thing to do when you have burns!! I learnt it the hard way.. First Aid has never been my forte.. but still common sense should've been. I was at least conscious enough to call my friend and ask her what to do.. she said no ointments just cold water.. and volunteered to call the emergency for me... and I stared down at the lump of ointment I applied..washed it off while the emergency arrived... Three shots of morphine and loads of painkillers later.. it dawned on me..and I questioned again .. what was I thinking? and the answer is anyone's guess.. nothing.. nada.. nil.. why? Why does the mind go wandering when you need it the most? Why does it go into lapses when it needs to concentrate more.. it goes into sleep mode stays there.. refuses to change state..but why?

Unanswered questions ... but one thing is for sure I am not afraid.. yes there is the inherent fear of the unknown and the prayer that this not happen again.. but apart from that .. I am used to it now! .. and again this might be a game that the mind is playing... going back into the state where it thinks nothing matters.. pain, agony, ecstasy, sorrow, happiness.. none of it makes a difference.. its inert!

Ghar aaja pardesi....

Hmm.. home sweet home.. but where is it? ..I wonder often, where is home.. is it the place you were born in? is it the place your roots trace back to? Is it the place you reside in.. where .. it can be quite a confusing and emotionally challenging if all of them are different and in different countries even... and in the current generation there are increasing number of people who are that way.. I did think home's the place you miss the most when you are away.. but that is not the entirety.. may be is the one that is closest to your heart.. but isn't fair to let go of the rest.. sometimes I feel I am being rude when I think that the home I decorated with my own hands is the closest.. there are my other homes that are equally close..one that holds memories of my childhood.. and another which helps me understand my true identity as an Indian.. the soil is dearest to my heart.. and yet I want to return to the home in US..as I am so used to it now and its customised to my comforts..Never thought that this would be so confusing..

I did try.. aka Karan Johar's/Yash Raj film's ishtyle.. close my eyes and think.. and the one I love the most.. alas.. never works the way it works for them in the movies.. sometimes I even get the famed portabello (75 million house in California) in my mind's eye.. and I don't even own it..and yet its there..perhaps my dream home.. Nicest part of having so many homes is that my memoirs have variety..the one thing that spices up life.. whenever i am bored with one home i just go on to the other.. vacation.. change and then i am in love with it all over again..

Isn't life full of hurdles and troubles all the time.. so much of inconsistency in mankind.. that you need something that can stick in mind as a constant.. never changing.. and that's your memory of home.. something that has been a solid (literally) pillar of support!! If you are still wondering why all the fuss suddenly about home.. its vacation time!! time to go back in search of your favorite home with favorite memories and loads of laughter and happiness....

Happy Holidays....!!

Naam Bade Aur Darshan Chote...

Yes.. the world around me does remind me constantly of this song that I used to often hear on my Dad's Old Hindi Songs collection... "Bholi surat dil ke khote, Naam bade aur Darshan chote" a cry of frustration when one is duped by the dangerous hype that completely evades the actual truth.. this is prevalent in every walk of life.. there is famous saying that goes "Empty vessels make more noise" no one seems to be realising that these days... It might have started years/eons ago.. but has taken a different and for-the-worse twist now.. and as someone great I know said.."We are living in perilous times darling.. The World belongs to Bullshitters". Oh God .. what wouldn't I do to keep things straight forward.. instead of playing with words so much that they eventually mean nothing..all though this has been existing from long long time.. the frustration with such people came back with vengeance not too long back... and with a movie called "Saawariya" ... in two words.. terrible disappointment.. I have read white nights.. and expected the director to do some justice.. as the story itself has not much in it.. its all the characters... and the melancholic wait of the lady and then the man..its not about innocent love.. its about the passion in their wait... he has all his priorities wrong in the movie.. took some really straight forward people and complicated them to hell.. played with hysteria and voila... saawariya.. oh and by the way the 40 crores that were wasted on this movie.. and Sanjayji asks "I have visuals.. and I have good songs .. what else does the audience want" .. How unassuming!! Hah! Does he think his audience is as dumb as him.. Good Lord made a soft romantic short story into a nightmare.. this could have as well been done on a pretty bridge by the dal lake even.. and would have been a hit had he stuck to the book... but alas.. had to waste crores... can never get over that fact.. I am not against using opulent sets.. no way.. I am probably the most ardent fan or art directors.. people who are constantly ignored.. and the art is good.. only when substantiated by equivalent goodness and soundness in story, direction, action... Alas.. we don't live in that world anymore.. and what hurts me even more.. is that people actually think its a master piece.. It took me a galore of Hrishikesh Mukherji's movies to get me back to normalcy..

And just when I was recovering.. bullshitters strike back with a vengeance... and I realized that they do this more often than any supervillian in a comic book does..In a certain class I take I came across this one person who speaks.. and oh my does he speak.. anyone with even an ounce of knowledge of the subject will know that its bull shit! but he chooses his victims carefully.. and talks about the subject as though he's known it all of his life.. the truth is nada...nothing at all.. nor knowledge, nor facts.. but yet people listen to him with rapt attention as though he is some Guru... I did feel like walking up and yelling and saying.. wait.. this is not real stuff.. he's just speaking for the sake of it... not real matter.. And I would have if sense had not prevailed over me.. but that was not the end.. a certain professor I spoke to replies to a query when asked what is the value of this constant? It could be N .. it could be N+1.. it could be anything.. its more important that you understand that it could be anything than thinking perse what it could be actually...." Grrr.. the truth there was that the constant could and should take one and only one values else the whole theory is annulled! I did not know whether to break into tears or laughter... and the philosopher who created the "may be" theory... that proposes that man should never be certain about anything.. even the plain visible facts.. no the grass may be green, pink or blue.. you never know... yes but what is visible to you, there should be some absolutes somewhere.. axioms of which you derive and propose theories.. they may be disproved.. but then there is another axiom that has come into picture that has disproved it.. there has to be a fixed point somewhere..

But what happens to all these people in real life? The student gets a job offer in a reknown company even before he can complete his first year .. the professor has got an opportunity in a another univ and left ours (thank God for that ).. and millions of copies of the book by that the "may be" philosopher are sold... why?? covering things in ambiguity has become a fad these days .. a person in a job is not told his exact responsibilities.. why because they don't simply know.. throwing terms around and shrouding them in ambiguity.. and laugh around at people who stand up against it and demand clarity "Hah.. you don't understand us??" Why can't people be simple and straight forward.. everything would be so clear if one just said straight forwardly.. this is what it is.. this is what you should do.. else a simple I don't know... lets find out... Its as simple as that.. if its not.. we'll tackle layer by layer.. but if the issues, facts, nothing is straight what can one do? except.. sing the way I did "Bhole surat dil ke khote, naam bade aur darshan chote"... and thus the world disappoints me...as I await the day when questions like "are you living? do you exist" come up with the answer "may be... who knows.. nothing is certain.."

Suhana Safar... Final part

Don't we always feel that the time should stop in its tracks when we are truly enjoying something, be it the company of a person or of nature, you just wish you could just freeze the moment and stay with it...yes I know there are photographs that you capture and keep it as a memoir for lifetime.. never let go, but then thats not the same as being in the moment for ever and ever more, thats the same feel I had when I was touring the cliffs and valleys at the Waimea canyon right upto the starting cliffs of Na'pali coast, the kalalau lookout. Honestly speaking, I felt for all my life's worth that this (the lookout) was truly the world's last piece of land, and I had actually reached the Horizon itself..the point where the sky meets the earth... don't take my words for it, look at the pics below.. you'll see for yourself that you can't distinguish the sky from the ocean.. they look like a continuum. Reminded me of the lyrics of an old hindi song.. "Yeh aasmaan jhuk raha hain zameen par, yeh milan humne dekha yahin par"





























Waimea was just like grand canyon of Arizona with lot more vegetation..and loads of pinapple stalls right at the parking area... and God the pineapples did taste divine! You never get such tasty ones ever in the Mainland.. makes a hell lot of difference how and where these fruits are grown I guess! It was slightly drizzling, which made the place misty and foggy like London weather.. rather Hampshire I'd say.. it was afterall more like country side than like a crowded city! but this really made the place look more romantic and just gave you that warm and mushy feeling!



There is a lot more adventure to this place than plain tours there's hiking, surfing, snorkeling, other rides but just not enough time .. there never is.. as I was saying right in the beginning, if there is something you really truly enjoy then there is never any time or space to get enough of it , but I have a theory that the universe conspires to bring what you want the most back to you when wish for it with utmost sincerity.. and thats the only thing that held me when I was returning home from Kaua'i, the hope that I would return to this place, sometime again, and prayed that the place remains as pristine and as pure as my memory holds it... the bluest of the blues, and the greenest of the greens with a tinge of Mai Tai and Tahitian fire torches and the famed Hanalei moon.....

Suhana Safar Part II

Interesting fact about Hawaii is that 2/3rds of Kauai used to be Sugarcane plantations and lots of coffee plantations, tea is not new to this place either. Alas, the old fashioned Kauaiians lost against the new hi-tech machinery and ample labor available in countries like China in producing sugar. So of all the plantations that had once flourished, whats left is just two plantations in the whole of Hawaii. The next day was fun.. Kauai is full of surprises especially in weather, the island has 10 degrees of variation from one part to another..the North shore is the prettiest, but most often the wettest, where as the south is as dry and sunny as it can get, the reason being the huge mountains that block out the clouds up in the north, the is the wettest spot on earth is situated right here, its called the Mt. Waialeale, the only other spot that manages to reach its average sometimes is Chirapunji in India.

Far beyond, the one mountain in the clouds is the wettest spot on earth.

So hoping that the weather stays clear, I set out to explore the island .. in ishtyle.. by air.. One of the most popular things to do in Kauai..and perhaps the one that is really worth all the money spent on it! The island is small, but has too many ridges and cliffs that commuting by road can show perhaps just half the island, for a grand view of things air is the best. And so I embarked upon the journey, least did I know that it would be such a breathtaking experience.

North East Shoreline.

Headed south to north through west and back to the east side where we had flown from. I was speechless, I thought the west side was amazing with a smaller version of the Grand Canyon called by Mark Twain as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" but the visuals that awaited me at the Na'pali Coastline were simply marvelous, at that time my mind was numb with excitement, but later I realized that these were places that were pristine because they were devoid of any human activity the pure air, the clear water, the clean beach, that's how I've always wanted beaches to be. Its not bad that the beaches have people, but its the fact that they eventually lose respect for nature that irks me, but well thats me, not many believe the same.

I was given a traditional kukui nut shell lei, these nuts take three years to grow and once they are harvested the shells are used for decoration and the nut is a delicacy. I was sad that the ride had come to an end but I was taking back not just the photographs but memoirs of perhaps the prettiest of the beaches and the pristine of the valleys.


Night life is not much in this island, but what I found interesting was there is a traditional ceremony of story telling by the natives, the whole thing started with them roasting their traditional dish (pork) in an Imu or their underground oven. They call upon the gods to bless the food and then after a scrumptious dinner put up a show, with their hula girls and surprisingly hula boys too, this is called the Luau. I went only for the show as I has dinner in another interesting place called "Blossoming Lotus" where they had dishes from all over the world, like Mahatma Moong dal, I thought that was hilarious than offending to the Gandhians, but I'm not really too fond of him so I cared lesser, went in for the Greek Aphrodite salad too, which was really good, but the best was the Mediterranean one and the bread made of lotus shoots. These dishes were a rarity and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

The show itself was great, but my only complaint was the native dancers were a bit on the fatter side.. (well that's really an understatement but I am trying to be nice for a change) well the stories were interesting though.. about the Goddess of Volcano who cursed and killed he God of Love 'coz he liked a mortal girl than her and how the other Gods felt pity on the li'l girl and got the God of Love back, but for the sake of her tears, and to make the memory of her love permanent a flowering plant grew in the valley where she'd sit and mourn, and its believed even till today that whenever someone plucks the flower off that plant, rain comes pouring down like crazy, and since it is after all the wettest spot on earth, one can't really disprove that theory! We had some exotic Tahitian dances too and thankfully these girls were thin and good looking! :) The show ended with some fire eating and dancing with firesticks kinda stuff which really looked amazing on that moonless dark night!


Well Good food and good endings always fill my heart. I retired to bed, the next day was my last day there, and I was gonna go on a long winding trip to the famed canyon and kayak and hike up the sacred Wailua river to the waterfalls where Jurassic Park was shot... Long day ahead and my eyes were drooping with sleep, wanting to preserve all they saw through the day....