Life of a Fencer

The Parting Kiss... Robert Burns

2009-01-22T04:30:00.001-08:00

Humid seal of soft affections,
Tenderest pledge of future bliss,
Dearest tie of young connections,
Love's first snowdrop, virgin kiss!

Speaking silence, dumb confession,
Passion's birth, and infant's play,
Dove-like fondness, chaste concession,
Glowing dawn of future day!

Sorrowing joy, Adieu's last action,
(Lingering lips must now disjoin),
What words can ever speak affection
So thrilling and sincere as thine!

2009-01-16T02:47:00.001-08:00

Touch and Go....

2009-01-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

She looked like someone with a difference. There was a shine in her eyes, redness in her cheeks and a smooth flow of the wind in her hair. She walked gracefully, yet her attitude exuberated non chalance never noticed before. Waited for my car to come to a stop and then with one quick glance asked and then told me that she will cross the road now. I did not even bat an eyelid. As she walked, I could only look and thank the forces of nature that led to creation of such beautiful beings.

With eyes that never need mascara, ears long and shapely and a look on her face of innocence and childlikeness. With a slight curve on her belly on both the sides that made me excited. Those thin long legs, made her easy walk look so elegant. O Lovely....

An Evening in Madrid

2008-12-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

As we entered Madrid, the one thing that struck me was the amount of traffic in the city. Roads are massive here, a number of four lane motorways leading to the capital city. Once we managed to get off the highway and into the streets of the city centre, there were loads of cars everywhere. We were booked in a hostel very close to Gran via, which is the main central lane of Madrid. Finding our hostel and a place to park were both a nightmare. As we maneuvered our car in the wee streets trying to find a spot, we encountered a hilarious incident. A woman on a huge BMW trying to squeeze her car into a small place, in which even our Golf had problems squeezing into. Her car had scratches everywhere, evident from the way she was trying to park the car. Matchbox parking is not for everyone, and she was bumping again and again into the Mini cooper parked behind. There was some scaffolding in front and the only thing that she was successful in doing was constantly bump both the front and the back of her car. It was a one way small lane, and we were right behind her and there were like a long queue behind us. We were in no hurry to miss this life time oppurtunity of a woman trying out her parking skills. The cars behind were honking like crazy and we were holding our stomachs. I dont mean to be sexist, but women can be great on the road sometimes.

Later in the evening after settling down at our hostel, we headed to get some food in our belly and met a Bangladeshi bloke making Kebap's in Numret, a Turkish food chain in Madrid. He made some nice middle eastern tea for us, a special one served in small glasses. Appetite satisfied, we headed to get some cane juice inside us and entered a rustic looking bar. Some guys were leaving a table and as we headed towards it, a guy smiled and blew a kiss at me. Not sure at first, it occured to me that he was either being nice (in a strange way) or was gay. Soon we were sitting next a bunch of nice looking people but acting in a weird way. There were two girls in the group that started kissing and feeling each other up. They were ofcourse lesbians. Never mind, there can always be different people in a crowd. Then there came three guys who sat in front of me. Two of them were holding hands and started kissing. This was the first time i was seeing two guys kiss. Soon looking at the rest of the crowd we realized that we were the different ones in the crowd. We got chatty with this group of comprising of the two girls and were talking about the night life around in the area. We only heard of gay clubs around, they had no idea about straight ones. Then I realized that they were under the impression that we were a couple. LOLZ. (Yes.. AB... I wanto see ur expression now). They invited us to join them for the evening to a club called 'Heaven' Before things got out of hand, we put our coats on and headed out. A bloke there gave us a couple of passes to a night club near by and we decided to try it. On entering the bartender seemed to move in a different way. There were girls dancing in one group and guys in another. We had ended up in the wrong place again. This was enough and our idea of a few peaceful beers before hitting the bed vanished. Stepping out as quickly as we had entered, we decided it best to head to the security of our hostel.

Alicante to Madrid - 450 Kms

2008-12-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

As usual a lazy morning, this time though the church bells in the vicinity started breaking our dreams early in the morning. Abhi was slumbering in the bed and I was constantly trying to get him to go and take a shower. I cannot understand why I would not do the same instead. It is better to push the other person to get to do things and then follow suit.

Had our favourite holiday food, Kebab, which in Spanish is ‘Kebap’. To be followed by an English style tea with milk and sugar. Though the fella behind the counter did not understand what milk was, so in a friendly fashion made us put the words in his mouth ‘You don’t have milk’. He happily agreed, though my Indian friend who only likes his tea the English style, made him open cupboards and find a huge jug of milk sitting pretty. This made him jump to ‘leche’ (milk for spanish) and reminded me from my trip to Barcelona earlier this year about café con leche, which as you would have already guessed is coffee with milk.

The weather in Alicante was chilly with a dominant cloud cover in the sky. Took some photographs and bought myself some shades off the road from an African Spanish bloke who spoke decent English but did not know his numbers and had to tell me the price by typing it on his mobile. Luckily the shades I liked had a small insignificant scratch on one corner and I managed to pull his selling price down to 9 Euros instead of 15. According to him they are originals nicked off from some weird warehouse and to be sold at the streets of Spain. Not plausible, but then you can take these stories on their face value and enjoy them. Most of these street vendors are illegal and are often chased by the police. To counter, these guys have their merchandise displayed on a big piece of cloth with diagonal ropes tied at the four ends. This way if the cops come they can pull everything together in a matter of seconds and run. As is always the story with immigration, the local authorities cannot do without a certain number of people who are willing to do odd jobs. So all these Africans are an integral part of Spain doing their bit.

The beach in Alicante reminds me of a plan that a girl once had. She wanted to go the beach in the night with her boyfriend and have a quiet relaxing time under the moon with the waves of the sea in the foreground. They were in Alicante at the festival time and after walking around for sometime they decided to head to the beach at about 11 in the evening. As they headed to the beach, they found the place full of people, everyone partying like crazy. The novel idea that she had was already taken up by loads of other people and possibly they do it all the time. The expression on her face was remarkable.

It was a cold day and definitely not the most conducive one for a dip. So after some clicking it was time to head back to the Golf and start our penultimate journey, this time to the capital, Madrid. Sometimes these motorways can be boring, they are smooth and clean and have nothing but fast moving vehicles on them. The scenery around is more or less the same with greenery at places and buildings at others. When speed cameras come everyone tends to slow down and other times people hit the gas without respecting the speed limits too much. I touched 195 today, which is possibly a personal best and a million miles over the allowed speed of 120. We are about 200 kms from Madrid now and can see lots of windmills around, generating energy using ever present resource of wind and helping us get a bit away from oil. The most interesting part of the trip is when we make a stop over a the gas station for a cigarette and a café. Stopping at a Respol Service station, gave the Golf a face uplift, I.e. a car wash. There was no tea available and Abhi was almost convinced to go on to the next gas station, but something changed his mind and he settled for café con leche.

One of my favourite hindi movies is ‘Bollywood Calling’. Om Puri has done a genuinely masterpiece of a role in that flick. I am reminded when they are shooting a song in some park, and ‘Manu Ji’ is dressed up in a colourful dress with a blue ribbon tied around his massive waist. He is 60 years old and acting as a hero, with a 25 year old chick playing the actress and dancing around the trees with him. Om Puri is the director and is shouting ‘Balls, Balls, I want more balls’. ‘That bastard on the third tree is not shaking the flag… arre baba shake shake’. It is absolutely hilarious and a must see.

I am getting a bit tired now of sitting here and typing away my weird thoughts. Abi seems to be in a mood to talk (as usual), in all possibility we are going to talk about the Germans again. Adios amigos!

Road Trip from Granada to Alicante

2008-12-27T11:14:00.001-08:00

Wrapped in a Polythene,
Tucked away safe in my mind
A little goodbye maybe or just a passing smile….

I was up early today, to take some pictures of the sunrise in Granada. Sylvain, the guy managing the hostel, told me that the sunrise is at about 8 these days. I had the alarm for everything from 6 - 7, but as expected I slept through them all. Rather kept switching off the alarms. At 8 15 sharp my consciousness forced me to open my eyes and end the lethargy. Hurried out of the bed and put my jeans on top of my pyjamas to fight the morning cold. Put on the first jumper I could lay my hands on and rushed out of the room. Hurrying down and then up the stone path there was only one thought in my mind, missed shooting my first sunrise, how can I be so daft. We were to leave Granada later in the day and head to Alicante, so there was going to be no second chance unless I came back (Which is very much possible).
Daft yes, because I could not see the sun anywhere as yet and could not put two and two together. As I went up the hill, the realization sank in that the sun has not risen as yet. It was almost 8 30 and it was easily another 30 minutes before it would show its face.

I busied myself with capturing other things. There were strange looking caves all over the upper face of the hill. Sylvain later told me that these are like the slums of Granada and people live in those caves. I dared to walk into one of them, which seemed abandoned. Smell of faeces greeted me, with a heap of toilet paper lying in one corner. It was too dark and unappealing to take any meaningful photographs, instead I headed to another one of these cave shacks. This one had a door (yes, the modern cave man was here to stay) and it was closed. Possibly there were people sleeping inside. On the outside there seemed something that could be called a kitchen, though there were no stoves to light a fire. But strewn around were some utensils that indicated someone had been gratifying their appetite in the recent past there. Wishing that whoever had been subjected to eat and drink in such filth gets to see better days, I shot some pictures and got out of there before someone came out of that door to club me to a painful visit to the local pharmacy. Considering that my Spanish is as good as my Martian, I would not get an opportunity to explain what I was doing here. In all possibility my camera would have been mugged in return for a black eye.

Soon I could see the sun popping out of the mountain in front and that gave me a reason to make a quick exit. Trying different configurations with my new toy, I tried to take as many pictures of the rising sun. The first rays of the sun hitting the mountain on this side created a beautiful effect and those images ended up trapped in my memory chip too. The main difference between the rising and the setting sun is that the former is very bright and does not create a great effect, while the latter is very simmered down (after a hard days work of brightening this world). It is easier to capture good effects of the setting sun, especially considering that it makes the sky a combination of wonderful colours.

After spending more than an hour clicking various interesting object in and around the Granada Slums, I headed back to the ‘Rambutan’, the hostel with a difference. Abhi was still fast asleep and seeing him tempted me to hop on to the top of the bunk bed and get back to my slumber.

At about two in the afternoon we hit the road again, to head to Alicante, this time a long distance trip of 350 Kms. Our desire to see as much as possible in eight days was still going strong and we were meeting the time table nicely. Abhi looked a bit happy as he had received a text from a certain German friend of his from Quito, Ecquador. Yes, these Germans are everywhere. I took the car out of the super narrow lanes of Granda heading toward A-92, the motorway to Alicante. Abhi took over once we hit the main roads and here I am whiling my time on the keyboard. It is very foggy here as we have come up on the mountains and there is snow around. Does not seem very cold though, especially not from in here. These roads are long, empty and kind of give one a feeling that you are here to have a good time and we have made the best arrangements for that. Thank you Spain!

250 Kilometres for a Dinner

2008-12-27T11:13:00.001-08:00

Woke up thinking we will head to Gibraltar and see the strait and photograph some visiting ships. Instead while having tea laziness set in and the plan was narrowed down to being in Malaga for the day. After a quick shower and a meal at Burger king, the body came out of the sluggishness and was raring to head for a road trip again. So the plan changed accordingly, this time though the ambition was to visit Cadiz, recommended by a guy we had met in the hostel. Being Christmas day everything everywhere was closed. So we were left with the main option of travelling around and do some sight seeing. It was a long drive, though the road was smooth. The motorway made the drive quick though interesting. All the while listening to Adele’s recent grammy nomination of ‘Chasing Pavements’. Every now and then Abhi wanted to switch to some Indian music which I personally find icky sticky and full of only one thing ‘love’. The word reminds me of the continuous texts that I was receiving which kept my mind at things other than the road.

Touched Algiceras at 6 PM and stopped at a booth for a coffee and a cigarette. The booth was full of old Spanish folk spending their Christmas evening at cards. As expected none of them had a clue about the existence of any word that we spoke in English. But were more than willing to give us an ear and see if they could give us something we needed. Unfortunately the only drink they had in the small shop was some beer, and our driver’s instinct and the long drive ahead made us keep our mouths dry. The road ahead was not a motorway and it was already getting dark. Abhi insisted on taking the wheel and his limited exposure to night driving kept me on the toes. At every curve the brake lights went strong red suggesting to the guys behind that there is an intoxicated tourist on the road. The next 60 kilometres were a roller coaster ride in which the only thing I could do was to keep my fingers crossed. I took over at the motorway again and realizing that we would have to do the 250 kms back that night itself, I stepped on the gas touching speeds of 180 kms, which on any speed camera would have entitled me to losing me my driving license. Why don’t these countries learn something from their german counterparts. Autobahn anyone?

At about 9 we were in Cadiz, which like other Spanish cities we had seen so far was decorated for Christmas. Cobbled streets in the old town, were beautified with shimmering lights in the shape of a tree or leaves. The city looked so beautiful that I spent almost an hour taking photographs. The wish was to head to a pub/club to get a hang of the local people. Regrettably most of the businesses were closed. Headed to an open cafeteria, manned by an old man who seemed to be sulking for having to work on the Christmas day. Or it could have just been an argument with the wife last night. Ate a typical Spanish meal of tapas, with some British chips thrown in for a tourist. Yea sure, an Indian living in Britain, visiting spain and missing british chips! The food was good and the conversation over the cup of tea was even more interesting. Revolving around our German friends and the strange attitude that one of them has subjected my dear Indian friend to. A conflict of cultures or just a misunderstanding? Hard to say but possibly this mystery can be solved only when one them throws in the white flag and decides to move to our shitty city of Glasgow.

At about half ten, the desire to head back to our warm beds started creeping in and after an inexpensive meal and some photographs of Cadiz, we were on the road again. Possibly one of the longest distances I have driven for a meal. Abhi as usual was very eager to take over the wheels. I cautious on the other hand told him gently to ‘SOD OFF’. Surprisingly he listened. Again back on the motorway, our biggest concern was that we had only two cigarettes left. We decided to not smoke for an hour. Things got a bit worse when I noticed that the fuel meter did not look very encouraging. It was late in the night and being a holiday, the respite centres may not be open. There was of course again a small feud about the music and this time I had to relent. With sounds of ‘pyar’ (love) I drove with my ears partially closed. After driving for about a 100 kilometres found a petrol station open and tanked up the Golf. Not very surprisingly we were on a German car too. These Germans are everywhere.

Though now I had to let Abhi drive the remaining distance and also had to subject myself to the melodies of bollywood music, which sounded like fun at one in the morning. Tried to take some pictures of the road by trying out a variable shutter speed and came up with some amazing results. My first stint at trying out photography of moving objects in the night time. I would not say that the pictures are jaw dropping, but the effects that the camera is capable of producing are definitely noteworthy.
At about 2 in the morning we hit our beds to wake up to another bright sunny day.

2008-12-21T17:26:00.000-08:00

Vision can show us only up till the horizon...

It is the eyes of the mind that take us beyond..

2008-12-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

Before I go, before u go, its time to think about where we are going and what we are going to do. if there is anything more important than what is already there. To think and think and think ever more will get us in the world of philosophy cause that is what philosophers do. And I am not one. I am a regular bloke with regular desires and regular problems. But sometimes i stop to think and the more i think the more i think it is possible, On the surface things seem full of issues and problems, that will probably need a number of experts to sit down and conclude that there is no solution. That is where hope walks in and shows a way. To some it comes from far away, to others from closeby, to still some others it takes even more time to come. Sadly though, sometimes it forgets to come. Even sadder when it comes and then leaves if you dont respect it.

Some one once told me that hope is a four lettered word... like 'F***' and then another person told me that it is a four lettered word like 'Love'. i figured out that hope is something that can be used and abused by different people, for some it is a blessing in disguise, for some others it is way of procrastinating the inevitable. For me though, hope is what we take it for. Used wisely and respected, it comes back again and again, showing us the way to life.

2008-12-21T04:08:00.000-08:00

A morning in glasgow, could bring to your doorstep surprises that you get used to only after living here for 6 months or so. Yesterday morning, i opened my eyes and stepped out to my living room to find a bright and sunny day outside. Today on the other hand it is partially cloudy, not as bright, not dark though and neither gloomy. Trees have shed their leaves and the only greenry is that of the grass and some small plants that can survive the widy glaswegian cold. It is the kind of wet day that attracts you to step out and take in the freshness of the wet soil into your lungs. Walk by the river and take pictures of the construction work on the new bridge. But before that have a good breakfast, comprising of cereals from Tesco, that have been given to you by someone who cares.

Tesco - the Cereals Advertisement.

Development of Religion...

2008-12-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

Recently I was pondering over the use of religion in our short lived existence. If it does provide any positives to the life of a human being or does it add to the complexities of life. Are we better off with or without it? Is it possible to answer all the riddles of life with religion or is it is it just a guideline to how to live your life?

With the amount of chaos that some people have caused in the name of religion in this world, many of us especially in the western world would think that religion is a waste of time and the world can do best without it. At the same time there are many more that possibly feel that this is the time to get closer to God.

I perceive that there was a method through which the neanderthal man must have come up with the idea of God (Presuming that God did not tell him). Man's life has always been an inquest to reach the end, the achieve something. Sometimes when we cannot get to the end, our imagination helps our mind get there before we realistically can. During the olden days, man did not have any answers for a variety of things. One of these was natural phenomenon, another one was the differences between various kinds of living beings and why were some wild animals much stronger than the man. The mere fact that man could not control a number of things in and around his life, made him look up to something/someone that could. Some people started praying monsters while some indulged in praying natural forces like the sun, rain etc. This lead to the formation of a very crude idea of what 'GOD' is. Around the world at different times, people had different kinds of gods. I have heard of people that treat snakes, forests, land, food, fellow humans etc as gods. So in all there was a very stiff competetion with who was the right god. As time unfolded, the concept of god became smooth and people with power started using it as a tool to control people. This was one entity that most people would bow their heads to without asking too many (infact any) questions. As this pleased the rulers and people in powerful positions, soon GOD was the way forward. He was the protector and the saviour of our souls. It was through this imaginative concept that people unknowingly stumbled on the power of belief. The power remained unknown and to this day, belief is a concept practised by many, but used as a powerful tool only by a few.

As religion made the people bow their heads to the unknown, people in position of power had to treat GOD as the epitome of all beings. Kings were supposed to be directly accountable to the supreme power. At some point both power hungry and honest kings, used and utilised the belief in god for the development of their own reign and their society. Kings would have special people (who came to be known as priests), who would perform rituals and ceremonies. Other than physical and material strength, religion was another tool of keeping people under control. Most typical example here is the development of christianity spurred by the Romans to control the people and expand the horizons of their kingdom.

Humans around the world developed their belief in different kinds of god and when they met they talked about their own specific supreme power. This was a cause of conflict, not because the gods were different but because we had spent all our lives believing in our god being supreme and the most powerful and there came a human being claiming that there is another supreme power. Noteworthy here is the fact that God was only a result of our imagination and belief. Majority and possibly all of us have never encountered God in its real self. We talk of god through prophets and miraculous experiences and faith and hope. But we fail to see the god in ourself and in our fellow beings.

There are a number of questions that religion can possibly answer and loads others that religion can possibly not even think of as questions. It is not the end, neither is it the means.

Dentist Anyone...?

2008-10-09T06:15:00.001-07:00

The orthodonitst after taking out the braces from my mouth asked me to take a walk down the corridor to the chambers of the periodontist, who would disinfect my gums. As a consequence of having braces for so many months one of my molars had caught an infection and had to be reccomended to an endodontist who would perform a root canal treatment. Alas, he only had to cast one eye on my dying calcium chunk before he rushed me off to the exodontist for a tooth removal process. The exodontist who had also spent time pouring over huge volumes of pedodontia told me some spine chilling stories of children he had treated.

Formula 1 - What it is all about?

2008-10-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

Many of us look at those fancy compact cars of Formula 1 as alien vehicles that are helpful only in ozone depletion. However, irrespective of the minuscule negative effect that these cars must be having on the environment, they actually serve a wonderful purpose - that of keeping people entertained, a single race has managed to keep me on the edge of my seat on many occasions. And as all major automobile manufacturers have a Formula 1 team, developments in these cars trickle to passenger cars over the years. So with a two fold positive effect that they have, it is a pity that many of us are not following Formula 1 only because it seems like a technical sport and not just like a simple car race. I will try to put together some information about this sport and present it in such a way so that you could become a beginner in the art of distinguishing between a constructor and a driver championship.

As off 2008 there are 18 F1 races held every year. These cover 5 continents and 17 countries in all. Spain got to hold two races this year, one in Barcelona and another in Valencia. In the past some countries have hosted two races in a year, generally the second race is called the European Grand Prix, the first one being the name of the country. Major countries that have featured a F1 race include Great Britain (Silverstone - Also the home of British Grand Prix), Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, China, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Morocco, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Bahrain, Portugal, Swithzerland, USA, Mexico, Hungary, Monaco, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Netherlands. In the near future India is also to join the league. Not all of the above mentioned countries hold a grand prix anymore. Surprisingly though there is no race to be held in USA for 2008 and 2009, due to differences between Formula 1 organizational body and the Indianapolis (where the official American grand prix was held every year till 2007) Motor Speedway.

There are 11 teams in all (In 2008, but this may vary), the most popular ones being Ferrari, Mclaren Mercedes, BMW, Williams, Toro Rosso, Toyota and Honda. A number of teams have pulled out of the championship over the years due to financial reasons. Some teams also merge to reduce cost and share technology. Ferrari is the most successful team winning the championship 15 times since it started in 1950. Each team has two representatives in the race, so the performance of the team is dependent on two instead of just one driver. Whereas the points collected by an individual driver are dependent only on the performance of the car and the driver on the race day.

A race is held on a Sunday and generally there is at least a gap of two weeks between races. Though there have been instances where the race is held on consecutive Sundays. Saturdays are kept for qualifying rounds and Fridays for practice and getting familiarized to the track. So a formula 1 programme is generally a three day saga, drama packed action from Friday to Sunday. Generally Friday is boring and just gives an idea of how the race could proceed.

Unlike many other sports, a Formula 1 race is a combined team and individual event where both are taking place simultaneously. This is different from a game like tennis, where an individual victory in a Davis cup tie would mean nothing if a team loses a best of five. After every race, both the driver and the team are awarded points depending on their position. There are points only for the first 8 positions in the race, thus out of the 20 drivers that start the race only 8 end up with points. The driver who comes first gets 10 points, second gets 8, third gets 6 and 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grab 5,4,3,2 and 1 point(s) respectively. And all these points add on to determine who the champion is at the end of the year, which is generally decided after the Brazilian Grand Prix, the last one of the year to be held in November. There are two championships, the drivers and the constructors. Former being self explanatory, latter is for the team and is determined by the sum total of all the points collected by its two drivers in all the races held throughout the year. Some of the technical terms are explained below.

The Pole Position – In Formula 1 the beginning of the race is very important, who stands up front is determined by qualifying rounds that are held a day before on Saturday. The person in the front can hold back the guys behind him by not letting them overtake, which gives him a position of power. If used tactfully, it can be used to get a podium finish. This position is called the Pole position.

Qualifying Rounds (Q1, Q2 and Q3) – There are three qualifying rounds held on Saturday. The most important one being Q3, in which only ten participants are allowed. Before the Q3 is the Q1 and Q2. In the Q1 all the cars hit an empty track for 20 minutes and each driver's fastest lap time is recorded; the last five are not included in Q2. Grid positions 15-20 are put out depending on their lap times. In the second qualifying session, the remaining cars (15 for 2008), hit the empty track again (for 15 minutes this time) and the fastest lap time of each one determines if they will go through to Q1 or not. The top ten from Q2 make it to the most crucial and the final session. The last period also known as the 'Pole Position Shootout' runs for 10 minutes and again the fastest lap times determine their position on the grid from 1-10. The driver at position 1 stands at the pole position and gets maximum advantage in the race on Sunday.

There are loads of other technical terms that would mean nothing till you get into the race and start following it seriosuly. But for now as a beginner, this should be enough information for you to get into and start talking FORMULA 1. Enjoy!

To follow this sport, check out www.formula1.com.

General..am Back blog

2008-09-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

Serious blogging, I have started this time and again and gone into a long sleep mode... here i m back with bloggin, trying to post anything that makes sense to my small mind and your large brain. Things that i may like and things that would not be of any relevance to anyone in this world other than that bloke sitting accross the street with a small cup in his hand asking for alms. Well, it doesnt matter cause he possibly cannot access the internet. Though in this modern age, anything is possible. M sure he will pop out his blackberry anytime and scare the sh*t out of me making me feel like a dolphin in front of a whale. Not that a dolphin is any worse, just that a whale is bigger. Though ofcourse a baby whale is smaller than a full grown dolphin (atleast i hope so). It would be weird for baby whale to be huge.. cause it is a baby. unless ofcourse these are dinosaurous times where size does not matter. Thats what most women say, but believe me it does.

Anyways i will take leave now, cause i m at work and should not be blogging on company money..! (its cool though). ta...

The Aristocratic cat..

2007-08-26T06:12:00.001-07:00

When i bought my apartment 3 months ago, my intention was to have one flatmate that would help me in paying the bills and at the same time provide some company. Soon after i moved in, the wildlife in the area started getting attracted to my habitat, possibly because animals understand each other very well. Me - A social animal and them - wild animals. There was a cat, a fox, and some ducks that would come sometime. The cat, was the most curious about my place, not to mention because there was always the odd bite of chicken for it. I would get to see the cat only twice or thrice a week as most of the evenings i was away. Last month I found Alfredo, the italion stallion(?), who has now moved in and is my flatmate. I will not get into the nitty gritties of how he is as a flatmate as that is not the topic of discussion here. But with his moving in, there being two people in the flat, the cat started finding that someone or the other was available in the evenings. And thus started the making of 'The Aristocratic Cat'. Vey happy with an odd bite in the beginning, it has now started making sure that it gets treated almost equally whenever it comes in. As u can c in the picture below, Charlie (as we call it now) is enjoying the luxury of an IKEA sofa. Very uncatlike though, it seems to have certain religious inclination, we tried to feed it with pork and it would not touch it. Neither does it like alcohol. Making our flat religiously harmonious, a hindu, a christian and now a muslim as well. :)!

Tekken Freaks....!!!

2007-08-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Guess what these two blokes are doing... heavily absorbed in something called 'TEkKEN'. Time doesnt matter any more, they are going game after game, obsessed with teh fact that they wanto beat the hell out of each other in this game. Good to mention that one is german and the other indian, would have been good if the germans and indians in germany had tried to resolve their differences in this manner over a playstation instead of clobbering the hell out of the indi people.

You might be wondering what am i doing taking these pictures instead of being a part of the game. Well, I have smacked the hell out of both of them and getting bored in the side lines enjoying the under dogs battle it out. :)

2007-08-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

Being Explicit is a dying form of expression. In the process of human evolution, this has always been a dying human expression and will always be like that. In order to be good at something, one has to move out of being explicit and let things be in the grey zone. Once u r in the grey zone, u start appreciating and enjoying the unpredictability of the both the present and the future. As they say life is not black or white... it is a mix of colours.. same with the form of expressions that we practise.

Graciously saved by Dobry Sztank

Chak dey... India

2007-08-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is one movie that i wanted to c and it kinda broke a long time hibernation that i had been into from seeing hindi movies. unsure but possibly the last one i saw was the new don... (another shah rukh)!

This is a good one, a very unlike Shah Rukh thing. Emotional yes, but a little macho emotional kind. More than that the fun thing was that it highlighted one of the biggest issues in Indi land. The movie does not hide the pathetic conditions that most sports in india (other than cricket) face on a regular basis. the best one was when all the hockey girls are in aussie land and they fill their plates up with loads of food. nice expressive and original. lovely work.!

The Story of a Squash Racquet...

2007-08-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, its me. A squash racquet, more precisely Gaurav's squash racquet. You can see my battered state in the picture. Today i died, or to put it better, it was the last day of my slow death. Ever since i got into Gaurav's hands this summer I have been thoroughly abused and thrashed all over the place. I am a HEAD, that is one of the best racquet companies in the world, I did not expect to die so soon. It felt good in the beginning, Gaurav's hands were soft, he handled me with care. Ensured that everytime the ball was close to the wall, he would let it die instead of thrashing me hard against the wall surface. But soon, he learned the tricks of the trade, albeit in the wrong fashion. He would smack me hard on the all the surfaces, ground, side wall or the back wall. Instead of putting his foot forward he would hit me on the ground to reach the ball. Running at full speed in the direction of the ball, i would get smacked on the wall. I would hit the ball on the way, but the momentum generated by his speed would cause the edges of my frame to brush against the wall. That did the maximum damage, as one side there was a hard strong grip driving me forward and on the other there was the frame that was being stopped by the wall. Causing high bending moments all along my whole length.

In the last few days, Gaurav had started throwing me hard on the ground if he lost a stupid point. Thankfully the floor is wooden and not solid brick and cement work like the walls. Everytime i landed on that wooden floor, i thought like an optimist. Hey, it could have been the wall and then you would have had it. And everytime Gaurav hit me on one of the walls, his favourite words were.. "Sooner or Later" and would look at my frame with a smirk on his face. As if he was an all knowing god who can see the imminent coming. Those were the times i hated him the most, more than the times when he threw me or abused me. I hate it when he thinks of himself an omniscient human.

I do not really know when this happened, but in the beginning it felt like the paint was chipping off, but it was really a deep fracture that had caused the rupture of the much expensive carbon fibre that my body is made of. Gaurav saw the crack and consulted Andy, who was also of the opinion that it was a chip of the paint than anything more. Not that either one of them could do anything about it. I had suffered a long deep crack on the inside and noone could do anything about it other than dump me in the bin and get another HEAD or maybe even a WILSON. That was the day when my slow death started. Though the best thing is that even i did not know that this was coming. I could still put in my best without having the thought of death lurking in the background somewhere, waiting for me to crack so that it could take my soul with it. Today death came unknowingly, without a warning, one point against the italian novice and there it was... I was no more. Even i did not know about it for a few seconds. The best way for a racquet to die.

My end is sweet yet bitter; beautiful yet ugly. Gaurav plays decent squash now, he has learnt his moves and moves well on the court. Though he is still a lousy arse, he knows how to make his opponent move more than himself. When he hits, he hits the ball hard, his forehand being stronger than his back hand. He used me effectively to place the ball as close to the wall as possible. Andy, his partner had to run from one end of the court to the other just pick up the return of the serve. Sometimes the ball was hit so hard and flat that it would just die before Andy could reach it. Those were some of the moments full of pride in my short life. Gaurav is not a master, but atleast he tries. And in the words of Paulo Coelho...."As long as there is enthusiasm, there is life". He lives it everyday.

Cheerios!

Willpower vs habit

2007-07-31T13:41:00.001-07:00

The other day i got into a small discussion with my brother about 'Willpower & Habit'. Which one of these is more powerful and plays a greater role in our lives. According to merriam webster, habit is a 'behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance' and willpower is defined in two subtle words 'energetic determination'. I am the kind of person who would place habit over willpower, for a number of reasons as I would explain later in this passage. My brother on the other hand thinks that willpower is more significant.

The first step of achieving something starts with willpower - "The determination to do". As a result of this, new resolutions are formed, where things that have to be done to achieve the desired result are defined and the manner of following them is determined. Once this is done, the next stage is that of execution of ideas, where generally lies all the heat. For instance, a math student can have tremendous willpower (to begin with), for learning how to solve his problems and excelling in class. This is at the beginning of the academic year. Soon however this determination fades away for a number of reasons, one of them being lack of motivation. However a student who has developed an acumen for maths by working on it over the years would not have a problem in motivating himself to excel in the subject. The first student's determination is more a burst of energy, where he wants to capture the marvel of being good in maths in a nutshell and use that information in convincing himself that he should work hard to improve. However, when it comes to daily coaxing himself to work with fine nuances of mathematics he fails. If instead he gets himself into the routine of working a few hours with it ever week, with time he will definitely take strides and learn to walk. Soon, though not in a very short period of time, his math could reach a level as good as some of the other brilliant students and possibly even excel and do better than them. It is relatively easy to imagine and fathom ideas on the table, a completly different task of executing them.

Let us think of a man named Jack, 26 years old who once goes to a see the competetion of Mr. Olympia. He gets very impressed with the muscular build of Ronnie Coleman. Now Ronnie is 42 years old and posseses such a magnificient body. Jack sees that Ronnie is 16 years older than him and still winning and super fit. Jack on the other hand is a man with an average body. He likes the nutshell in which Ronnie is enjoying his fame and glory. Attracted by the nutshell, he decides to give it a try. Soon Jack is on the members list of the most expensive gyms in Houston. His membership includes three free counsellings with the instructor. He is very enthusiastic about the whole thing and talks in great detail with the physical trainer at the gym. Soon he is on his first day at the gym. With tremendous will power, he starts his work outs. Anyone who has spent some weeks in the gym, knows how tedious it is to shape up those sinews. Jack tries hard, trying to lift weights by keeping the image of Ronnie in his mind. Ofcourse with so much of energy inside him bursting to lift more and more, he tries too hard and ends up with a lot of muscular pain on his first day. Not to be discouraged he is back the second and the third and the fourth day, finally taking a much deserved break on friday evening, when he loves to party with his friends. Soon though he realizes that if you are a regular at the gym, alcohol dehydrates the body and is not recommended when you are training. Fatty food is also a strict 'no-no', but only if you are bulking up. There are a hundred supplements out there that he can take, starting from whey protein to ceratin etc etc. Ceratin is to be had only in the first month, when you are hydrating the muscels. Drink as much water as you can. Bodybuilding, ofcourse is a science and there are no shortcuts. All this load of information soon convinces Jack that his job as a sales manager is good enough and he should focus on his squash which is so much more satisfying. So his willpower of doing a Ronnie Coleman is dissolved in the practicalities of day to day life. In order to succeed he needed to go to the gym regularly, six days a week, two hours every day, maybe 4 (I dont know) for atleast 2-4 years, before he could have thought of getting into his first competetion. He needed a habit to supplement his imagination and willpower.

Now lets assume that Jack started going to the gym when he was 15 and had no dreams or desire of becoming a bodybuilder. His training sessions pump up his body and he loves what he sees in the mirror after a few months. He goes on and on for a couple of years. Soon he is 18 and a trainer recommends him to train harder for the local competetion, Boosted by his three year old habit of spending time at the gym, he has no problem in transitioning from an amateur to a professional, and soon he enters the big league, where he sees more competetion and enjoys the whole process of growing into it. Habit, got him to a point where he needed a small amount of willpower to boost himself from one level to another. Willpower, then according to me should never be very huge, for bigger the willpower, higher the chance that it will fail to convert itself into a regular habit. This law does not mean that smaller the willpower, greater the chance of it being successful. It implies that there is an optimum range where willpower thrives. Above and below that range it could be ego or plain stupidity that are doing the talking. And this range is generally different for different people and is very much dependent on a person's achievements, abilities etc.

Even imagination is more powerful than willpower, a good example of this has been cited by Paul McKenna in his book "How to change your life in 7 days". If I wanted to increase my heartbeat, could I just tell my heart to beat faster? It wouldnt work, irrespective of the heaps of willpower I am ready to put into it. If however I were to close my eyes for a moment and imagine that i am walking down a dark alley in the middle of a dark night hearing footsteps behind me getting closer and closer, that would surely help.

Willpower is an important part of an individual's decision making process, however this tool is often misguided and misused by our egos. It is very important to understand the power of 'willpower' and remember that every willpower has to lead to a habit. Without a habit, willpower is powerless.

A Short History of the Tallest Man made Structures of the World

2007-07-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

The human desire to be the best has often been the single biggest reason for us to design and construct bigger and better. From the ancient times of the Egyptians to the very modern feats of the twentieth century, humans have gone on to build taller and bigger structures. Our desire supplemented by technological advances have urged and assisted us in making more complex architecture and using more diverse materials.

One of the oldest known structures, the Red Pyramid of Sneferu was built around 2600 BC and stands at a height of 105 m. Close behind this is one of the oldest and last remaining original seven wonders of the world, the Great Pyramid of Giza. At the time of completion in about 2570 BC it was 146m high, though it was eroded to a height of 139m by AD1439. It remained the highest building in the world for a period of more than 3500 years till 1300 AD when the Lincoln cathedral standing at 160m overtook it. These pyramids were typically made of stones or bricks. Such magnificent and potent structures stood and adorned our earth years before the industrial revolution.

Figure 1 - The Red Pyramid and the Great Pyramid of Gaza

After the Egyptian pyramids, it was the turn of the Europeans to exhibit their architectural and engineering skills. The English made the Lincoln Cathedral which stood at about 160m in 1300 AD. The height includes the spire, which was destroyed in a storm in 1549. A number of tall structures all of them religious in nature were built in Europe from the 13^th century to the end of 19^th century. In 1884 the Washington monument, which is an obelisk was made to honour George Washington. It was 169m tall and remained the highest man made structure in the world for 5 years till the Eiffel tower, the beauty of Paris was made in 1889.

The Eiffel known as La Tour Eiffel in French is made of iron, the first of its kind. Surprisingly, it overtook the Washington Monument by a huge 131m. The high stiffness provided by iron as compared to concrete or bricks enabled the construction of such a high tower. At 300m, located besides river Seine it is still the tallest structure in Paris. With its antenna of 24m, its total height is 324m. Astonishingly, the tower was never meant to last so long, the initial plan was to tear it down after about 20 years. However soon the public started liking it very much and it was decided to let it stay, only to become one of the most romantic structures in the world. At the turn of the millennium, the Eiffel was decorated with shimmering lights to celebrate the New Years Eve. The plan again was to take the lights down sometime after the New Year celebrations, but it never happened. And six years hence, the shimmering lights still beautify this wonderful structure.

Figure 2 - The Shimmering Eiffel

In the 20^th century however, the human fascination with ‘high and big’ moved over to North America, USA to be more specific. With a highly active economy, the need for skyscrapers became evident in the new America. The Chrysler in New York made in 1930, is still the tallest brick building in the world, it is 319m high. Soon after in 1932, it was surpassed by the famous Empire State building, which stands at 381m. It has 102 floors and together with the antenna it stands at 448m. This was also the first building to have more than a 100 floors. It’s needless to say that in the background, there was a fight to height in all these New York Structures. It remained the tallest skyscraper for a period of 41 years and the tallest man made structure for 23 (a skyscraper would be a building made from a combination of concrete, bricks and steel or iron, while the tallest man made structure could also be a tower like the Eiffel made completely out of iron).

Figure 3 - The Chrysler and the Empire State Building

Making a half a kilometre high building was beyond the requirements and the think tank of innovators and engineers in the mid of the 20^th century. In Russia or USSR as it was known in those days, a tower was made which exceeded the 500m height barrier, by making a television tower (Ostankino tower) in 1967 which was 540 m high and remained the tallest man made structure in the world for 10 years, before the CN tower in Toronto, Canada at 553.33 m exceeded it. The CN tower is still the tallest man made structure in the world.

Figure 4 - The CN and the Ostankino Tower

Coming back the stiff competition of high buildings in USA, the world trade centre or the twin towers had 110 stories each and WTC 1 became the tallest building on earth at 417m when it was completed in 1972. However the twin towers did not maintain their top spot for long. The Sears towers in Chicago the construction of which was completed in 1973 and is still the highest in USA, stands at 442m. With the September 11 attacks in 2001, the empire state building again became the tallest in New York.

Figure 5 - The Sears Tower and the Twin Towers (Before Sept 11, 2001)

The world has grown out of this competition now, at least it seems so. With so many potential booming economies in the world, the past 15 years have seen many skyscrapers being built outside the USA. Currently the Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan is the one holding the coveted position; however there are many buildings in the pipeline which shall soon over take this 509m, 101 storey square shaped marvel.

Figure 6 - Taipei 101

2007-07-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

That which burns fast, burns out even faster.

A happy friend... from London

2007-07-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.6
Mind:	6
Body:	8.6
Spirit:	4.5
Friends/Family:	3.8
Love:	4.3
Finance:	7.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

I took this life rating quiz lately. I am not very surprised that it has come out like this, but it helps to put things in perspective. Provides a better understanding of the areas in life that need to be worked on. Though considering the lousy 'arse' that I can be, I think i will just learn to live with these results. There are two things in this result that are quite optimistic, that of the body and the finance. I have been able to appreciate the value of money over the years and have learnt how to grow it in a fashion where it reaps what i sow. the body ofcourse has always been of interest. Being a fat (slightly overweight) teenager, I have learnt to respect the importance of sports in my life and how they keep my pulse going. If i do not play squash any day, it kind of creates a feeling of unrest inside, a feeling that pokes in my head to go out and do something. Thankfully, I have Andy, a very sincere and devoted squash player as well, and now there is Alfero as well. He is a beginner, but then so was I sometime back.

2007-07-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Love is made by God, ignore it and you suffer as you cannot imagine.

Isolade, Tristan and Isolade

The myth, the creations, the happenings

2007-07-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

It is the only path and i m scared of walking it.
It is a way which will take me where ever I want to go, yet I am scared of walking it.
I know that it is the only way, and yet I am scared of walking it.
It makes me feel good, and yet I am scared of walking it.
I want to walk.. I want to learn how to walk.. I know the path, I know the way, I am just scared.