A trip with The Stranger

As I stand there looking at the eager crowd, more interested in inquiring costs and bargaining than actually buying stuff, Asifa received a call from Sushma - " Saturday Nite Market is closed, please get back to the Guest House". Where the hell am I standing on this Saturday nite !! I am more than puzzled, so is Asifa. We realized either of us is lost. It is common in Goa, specially when we hire those little scooters and try to trace the Konkan Coastal State ourselves. One cannot really say that wasn't fun - not even the getting lost part. And the best part is we visited that place exactly 2 hours ago. It was a hefty but fun-filled journey from Bengaluru to Vasco De Gama - Hefty becoz of the traffic at Bengaluru - Fun Filled becoz of 7 wonderful travel mates. As I look into the map in my little Goa book, I realize our guest house is on the third north most beach of Goa State atleast 30 Kms away from Center, Panaji. For starters!! my plans to cover the entire stretch of goa seem to fade away.

Eat sea food, Get a tan, People[ read it foreigners] watching, fun with the waves !! Whatever may be one's intentions, Anjuna beach is a good start. Despite of the cultural diversity of the group and specific significance at the place, one of the most important things I forgot include that it was the Christmas Day. We realised it and went to celebrate in 9 bar, we were cheap enough to find a free disco. I am sure my dance moves are impressive enough, there just wasn't enuf light to support audience. I can't say that all the night visits were messy, but stuff did happen. Moon light visit to the Chapora Fort did not give access to atleast few others, they did not find the door - Saturday Nite Market.. please read from the beginning - Light house wasn't really impressive , Hey!! I liked it.

As I lean over Asifa's right shoulder to teach her how to drive, A voice from behind starts firing "pyar pyar pyar".. this particular person - Rana, though made a wild card entry, worked hard to entertain the group. Journey to Old Goa through Ruins of Church of St.Augustine, Bom Jesus and Archeological Museum is impressive proving the Cultural Splendor of this place. Chandu and I had a gud deal of Photography, poor he- his battery drained at the very beginning. Everyday is photo opportunity day for us. The other day at Baga Beach people really started to wonder if I were a professional photographer and Asifa - a professional model. I am sure we can make good professionals.

When it comes to food, i am heads and heels over sea food. I ate all kinds of sea food including prawns, prawns and prawns. The last day i got a whole lot compartment to sleep, met a guy - Sakthi, actually met him before but got to interact with him in the bus. Very impressive aspect of Sakthi, apart from his Girl Friend, is his span of interests including movies, books and movies. How could my year of 2009 filled with Adventures at IIT Delhi, Amusements at The Himalayas, Relaxing with the Paragliding Course, Exhausted at Araku Hill station, ended better !

PS :- The stranger in the title is me...I thot ppl cud read between the Lines

Philosophy of Life

Philosophy of Life :

This is a simple parody of what seems to us like life.
Everything ahead seems up-hill, it has to be achieved.
There is no going back either, it always seems
we have come a long way down this track.
As the lonely traveller, I can trot the vasts of the desert
and the greatest gift I got is my freedom.
Alas ! It is a great illusion, why can't I see what is ahead,
why is it uncertain, or realise the same.


Until one day when I realised I am the camel, tamed by
an embodiment of social and emotional responsibilities, The Society;
A society that thinks if let free I may
choose a wrong path, wrong according to it.
A society that feels i must be responsible
as it feeds me, though i can hunt myself.
My freedom is confined to the immeasurable length
of the unbreakable bonds, used to tie my mouth.
Alas ! Life is a great illusion, why can't I see what is ahead,
why is it uncertain, or realise the same.

Inglorious Basterds

Standing in the 'Q' at 1:10pm, I am already worried about the availability of tickets for 1:15pm show. I stand before the counter asking the person to give me 1 ticket for 1:15 show. He started in a high tone "Inglorious" that faded to silence as he reached the second word. Many people specially at the ticket counters are ashamed to yell out the name of the film, one of the very few good ones i have seen lately - "The Inglorious Basterds"
One good thing about movies set during WW-II is that one can get to avoid jazzy electric guitars ringing into the ears. And with a director like Quentin Tarantino, one can safely dismiss thoughts of such revealing Anachronisms. Though certain things popped in particularly by "the bear jew" and translucent materials used for several stuff - zips, letters for cinema - such materials not really invented. Not really classic as it may sound; one can get to hear classical music mostly composed by Beethovan, Chopin and others. Details - one thing that has to be in there in a Tarantino movie naturally pushes the usual length of 90 mins to somewhere around 150 mins. Doing such a thing is not beneficial to the director at all, he openly challenges critics by providing them more window to disclose errors.
Being a multi-lingual film by itself; one cannot avoid to judge how well the accents and origins matched. Brad Pitt did a damn good job talking the Red Neck Way. I am pretty much disappointed by the way Christoph Waltz talked or speaked. He managed to push in European accent for easy words; but running with a strong American accent on a little harder vocabulary. The American teachers of english didnt exist during those days, atleast not all around the world.
One thing is for sure Todays's movie disturbed my knowledge of European history during WW-II particularly about The Fuhrer. If I find that the movie gives a real account of what happened actually; I bet myself I should read "Mein Kampf" again or dismiss it to be a total lie. And I wonder how "Shosanna Dreyfus" has so easily changed the aspect ratio of 35 mm film; even to this day it's a real problem without distorting the picture.
Cleanly organised into chapters, give the feel of drama acts, the style in which the movie is shot is definitely interesting and captivating. I really got pulled into the movie by the opening scene with a variation of Fur Elise being played, incredible piece penned down by Beethovan. And the music speaks of the old saying - " Speech is silver - silence is gold". Exactly when the scene demands pin-drop silence; it is provided by the composers. Most of the compositions done by Enni Morricone who hardwired his "good bad and ugly" theme into everyones mind.
Overall the movie is really impressive;I am already awaiting an opportunity to knock me to watch this movie again..

A True Traveller

Many of my thoughts and deeds are seldom completely understood or comprehended by a single individual, I dont really know what is the problem of the so-called Society in recognizing possibilities. Very recently I could not help noticing that the disabled persons are referred to as differently-abled. Though it mite sound offensive to certain class of people, they both are different. After having interacted with people of dinstict backgrounds and mentality, I tend to find myself a little different than most of them. If one does a course, what matters at the end of the day to one is the grade one can obtain in it. For some rare ones , the path also matters but still the grade matters. I on the other-hand fail to look at the importance of the grade. That pisses me off a lot of times, when people come up with questions and I dont have answers that they can understand. If anticipation or expectation of future is the key motive of doing something, i would suggest every one should have foretelling as their dream job -"If you do this now, you will become this- you will get this." I am a true traveller - I see the beauty of my journey , not the places between which I am travelling.

"...sa pa ma pa ma pa ma pa ma pa ni ni da ma pa...[1]" Flowed into my ears, a song with a rich combination of what could have possibly been the best instruments, as we overtook a lorry. On the way back to Delhi from Neemrana, where we zipped on non-electric cables frm one hill to other over the fort. We woke up at 6:30 am, got ready as soon as possible picked up cameras and set out to reach there, it was the "free" factor that drove us. Yeah flyingfox started it recently, they were promoting this sport by offering free packages for the first three days. The day went perfect, everyone dozed off in the taxi but me. I was in co-driver's seat with my shuffle pumping hours of music into my ears. I remember that voice, i heard it so many times, i could easily recognise even if that person catches a bad cold. I heard it on the entire journey to and from amritsar. I should not forget to mention Golden temple and Jallian Wala bagh, though the latter turned famous because of the massacre. The entire patriotic thing drives me crazy sometimes, "are these people really worried about their country / are they just raising their voices to show off.", looking at cheering crowd at wagah border retreat parade. Even there my senses could not let go the song played and the voice heard [2]. The military guys performed it wonderfully, the way they brought both the flags down at sunset and the entire setup was really mind-blowing. During all the journeys one question traveled in my mind on-and-on, "Is this world ready to spread name of the genius, is it ready to discover the genius" The question got a little intense after he recieved golden globe for music of Slumdog Millionaire. On Thursday, the nominees list for oscars will be out. If I was on the panel no wonder I would not have considered that music for oscars, not after listening to the entire music he has composed so far. "Jai ho" as it claims is not even close to the best of the songs he has composed. He did'nt rise slowly like other music directors, it was an impulse. He just started off and never, not even once, another music director could compete with this maestro. Nobody in India composed for 16 years straight, moulding the music as the trend changed. He put bhangra dolls, scratch effects, sitars, electric guitars to make it sound happy, sad, lucky or whatever is the emotion required. He happened to be the change that happened to Indian music, humbly he claims it's god who is doing all this. Totally ethical, so far scores composed by him were copied even by hollywood movies, some acknowledged and some were'nt.

[1] - song frm Yuva
[2] - Maa Tujhe Salaam

Such a lovely place, such a lovely place

Unfortunately i came to know that i effortlessly disappointed countably large number of my blog viewers with the revelation of my attitude towards birthdays. For those who wanted to argue, make a point in comments rather than arguing in messenger with me. After a long time, i sit down to write a blog, not ever did i feel so different writing a blog. I completely feel like empty minded, i got it refreshed among the valleys of araku and hills of tirumala. I used to have a lot of things to think about, i tried the same and dozed off yesterday. As i signed into my gtalk, one of my friend's status message speaks "Its very simple to be happy, but it is impossible to be simple", not really admirable but it reminds me of some very interesting saying of Schopenhauer "A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants". This reminds of dreams i used to have that remained dreams forever. I wanted to be a pilot in my childhood kiss the clouds, i always had an affinity to heights. Dec 31st - 8 pm, when delhiites were busy lighting up the city for the new year eve, I was right above delhi some 12000 ft. This wasnt my first time flying, nor first time flying to delhi, still i felt happy really happy to be there on that flight. I was looking up at moon through clear sky above clouds, well one might ask a valid question "how come clear sky!!! what happened to the fog that got so many flights and trains cancelled, rescheduled or delayed? ". I too got the same doubt, i started to look down, the very sight made me so happy, all possible levels in my body must have sprung exponentially. There are barely any words to describe that, let me give it a shot. All the fog has some gravity, so it can extend only upto some height say 11900 ft. Due to the enthusiastic celebrations of new year eve, all the fog that is 100 ft beneath me glowed. And the scene just matched one of those pictures shown by space travellers when they just fly out of atmosphere. It made me think some where deep in my heart i always wanted to be an astronaut. Such incidents keep happening which bring this thought of mine to surface and keep it alive all the time. One such incident is the talk by a swiss astronaut in our campus. The pictures of drinking tea with chopsticks, the scene of them sleeping without touching any surface. Huh!! they brought the dream back. Some times i get serious about actually chasing that dream....

PS: Regarding the title, i was thinking what to name it.. thanks to Eagles song Hotel California, that was playin on my laptop. It played "such a lovely place , such a lovely place, such a lovely face......."

Birthday wishes

Just wearing a T-shirt, i came out to have my lunch, i felt the warmth of sun pleasing on this winter evening. As we sat down to eat pizza, sun slowly slipped down, i felt a chill in the air. I have to take a jacket, go to lab, make a presentation and probably ekta is psyched up after today's episode. The episode is nothing complicated, a rather simple one. Rancho offered me to come over to his room and play some piano, both are beginners. Well!! I didnt even begin to learn. I insisted him on playing valse, a classic piece from chopin. Then i came down to go to lab, thought just strike once on door of Meet's room. I ended waking him up. He was in no situation to entertain me, he pointed out a science reporter article by Karthik. As i was busy reading through it, my phone played a seriously weird music. I never remembered an instance, where i set that music for some event. Definitely confused, I looked at the screen of my mobile, Alas!! it said " Preeti's Birthday". I thought "yeah!! ofcourse it is !! today is nov 27th.." But that's an STD call, I need to recharge my phone account. I left hurriedly leaving the article behind, to shop for recharge coupons. As I walk to shop, i thought about how important birthday's are in people's life. Too many incidents flashed into my mind, some were sweet, some were suspicious, some were bad memories.

I remembered chatting with a friend of mine, we had a really good time when we were kids. I had a kind of break during 11th and 12th class with my relations from school. So i fetched up all the contacts and started building up on the relations again. She asked me a question, a question I hate very much, the answer to which seems not important with respect to me, not even a little. So she asked me " Do you remember my birthday?", for obvious reasons I dont know the answer. I dont think birthday is some great event in ones life. I still remember some of my birthday's when i tried dozing off whole morning, but had to attend calls just becoz some people were "concerned" about me and they "cared" about me. And hence I hated that day, a few times. So I replied I dont remember any body's birthday, infact I can't. Then she started telling me how bad I am, I never knew that much "bad" about me. Then she started refining her statements, she had told that she now realized that she was not considered a good friend of me by me, which is not at all true. And our relation was never the same before this event and after this, not even for a moment.
April 19th, thats my birthday [not stating with pride as it apparently sounds], Well its infact on April 20th 2 am, I received a call from an unknown number. I thought "thats really convenient time to receive birthday wishes, I dont mind this call!! ". I received it with full energy, i hear a shrill voice in a very small amplitude. It said "shh...". I thought somebody is in serious trouble, they must have called me for help. I reduced my energy and inquired who it was. It was my friend, and for god's sake she called to wish me. Dont get startled for this weird statement. There is something I would like to explain. In Andhra Pradesh, 11th and 12th class are called intermediate. And so called intermediate colleges are really serious regarding the rules for girls in hostel. They are not supposed to call any strangers, and they are not supposed carry mobiles with them. But even to call parents, they should get through a very long queue at the STD booth. So some people secretly maintain mobiles phone with them, that always remain switched off, and call parents or someone they wanted to call very silently very secretly at really odd times. Believe me!! I also went through such things, it is a serious pain in the ass, its not easy as it sounds. So this friend of mine picked up a mobile which a friend of hers maintained quite secretly and called me at 2 am!! Thats another instance when I thought "is Birthday such an important issue !!"
Recently I have been to Taiwan, there I made a really good friend. Her birthday was on November 11th, I thought i should call her and wish her. That's the least of courtesy I am supposed to show for the help she did to me. I called her and wished her. Her happiness had no bounds, I swear to god she literally went crazy. Obviously I felt happy too, hearing her that happy. After the call, i again thought "Is Birthday really that an important event!!"
I recharged my mobile, called her and she also felt happy. she described the gifts she received.


PS: Unfortunately all the events concerned to this issue are girls, so i always justify myself saying, girls do over-react most of the times.... :P