Kung - Fu - Panda

Over exposure to pure awesomeness!

A boy wearing a Chinese hat (cone-like) running through obstacles & watery patches with a bamboo stick in hand (a fishing rod), jumps from a cliff to land on a thin crescent and the shining letters appear on screen forming ‘DreamWorks Animation Studio ’ here starts the movie and whatever follows, is…absolute Overexposure to pure awesomeness!!!

A brief Introduction to the characters:

Master Oogway –

The present master of the jade palace and the authority to chose the ‘Dragon warrior’. The wisest person and the only one who can stop ‘Tai-lung’ other than the ‘Dragon warrior’.

Master Shi-fu-

the chief trainer at the palace who is supposed to be the best in whole of china, the one who trained ‘Tai-lung ’ and loved him more than anyone he ever had… but that becomes his weakness and he fails to control him.

The fabulous Five! –

They have to be mentioned together master tigress, monkey, snake, mantis and Crane. Known for their heroics at the battle of the weeping river (umm... sorry guys, I’m really getting into it now)

Tai-lung –

The villain, one who was portrayed by his master as the potential ‘Dragon warrior’ but not chosen for the title by Oogway because of his negative streaks. Now in prison and if set free will bring destruction to the valley to get the ‘Dragon Scroll’ believed to be the secret to supreme power.

PO –

HA! Have you seen a good-for-nothing creature? He’s got all the prerequisites to make one! Obsessed with Kung-Fu and suppressed by father’s expectations to take over the family business of noodle-making. Well… not confused though, since he seemed to have got no ambition to make it big…it’s just a dream!

The Dragon warrior – now that’s the question everyone has… who will it be?

The Story begins:

The story develops somewhere in china where people not only love but worship kung fu. PO is no different, he helps his father (a duck-how’s that possible? but neither did I ask nor will you) at the family noodle restaurant.

The movie starts with PO dreaming of a war, where he is fighting the enemies side by side with his five heroes’ .Just when they are at the peak of the war, the father gives a wake-up call. The heavy panda tries to get up by doing a back flip but only to shake the room.

Po lies to his father that he got late coz he was dreaming about noodles… a lie which his father assumes as a lucky sign as ‘noodle dream’ is considered to be the indicative that PO, can now know the ‘secret ingredient’ recipe for noodle soup. Apparently his dad had also had a noodle dream!

There at the palace, Master Oogway (the turtle) has a dream that Tai-lung, is about to escape and come to the palace to steal the ‘Dragon Scroll’ and get the secret to limitless power. He summons his old friend master shifu and tells him about his dream and immediately sends a messenger to the prison to get the report and increase the security.

Master Oogway realizes that the time has come when the universe should have the new ‘Dragon warrior’ (not sure himself about who is it going to be?)So he announces the traditional tournament for choosing 1! Knowing this PO who is a big fan of the fabulous five decides to go to the function but… urr… dad would not like .actually that duck is shown to be a very soft guy, I like it when he doesn’t stop PO from attending the ceremony (had it been a hindi animation movie…he wd have said…’tumhe apni pita ke laash se gujarna hoga!’ and universe wd have missed…. U’ll find out what!)

So, our Po gives an excuse of selling noodles and heads to the palace with the cart, only to leave it at the footsteps of the hill and manages somehow to take his huge body up to the palace but to his bad (or good?) luck, the door shuts on his face and then follows a series of stupid and hilarious efforts to get in and witness the ceremony of choosing ‘Dragon Warrior’. After all the hopeless efforts Po manages to design a rocket chair with help of crackers lying around but dad arrives at the scene (out of hidden love for kung-fu or to keep a watch on Po’s activities…?) that is where Po reveals to him the noodle-dream story was fake and he always dreamt of Kung-fu.

The Universe has…new ‘dragon-Warrior’:

After a few hiccups the rocket-chair takes off and Po lands exactly at the centre stage where master Oogway is about to select the new Dragon-Warrior he closes his eyes and stretches out his hand to point to the right candidate and opens his eyes only to see a big-fat Panda lying in-front…

Is it an accident…? “No my friend, There are No Accidents” master Oogway reveals… and the celebrations start… with everybody shocked (par kya kare… duty is duty) - a lovely Chinese tune which makes u feel very happy about having a new ‘Dragon warrior’ (much to Po's own astonishment!;-) )

The making:

Master Shifu and the gang try to get rid of this pompous creature that, leave alone touching his own toes, can barely see them but because of the faith shown by Oogway and craze for kung-fu. Po takes up the challenge and survives the initial ragging.

Meanwhile Oogway realizes that the new ‘Dragon Warrior’ eats when he is upset (a beautiful scene packed with friendly words of wisdom from the old turtle) and asks Shifu to to believe in the destiny and in his decision.

There at the prison Tai-lung unlocks himself using the feather of the messenger sent by Shifu and escapes from prison to head towards the valley (a fight sequence full of brilliance and skills).

Oogway receives the news and hands over the responsibility to Shifu to train Po and disappears in the envelope of pink peach tree leaves (the most beautiful scene).

Po, realizing now the seriousness of the situation tries to escape but without success and accepts the responsibility (marta, kya na karta!)

Shifu, trying to figure out how to start training discovers Po’s obsession for food and devises unconventional techniques to train him and takes him to the pool of sacred tears where the legendary Oogway practiced his art.

Action Begins:

Tai-lung reaches the threshold of the valley where the fabulous five try to stop him only to get beaten up miserably and sent back to Shifu to give the message that ‘I am Back’.

Shifu hands the secret dragon-scroll to Po but its blank!!! No secret formula written on it!!!

Disappointed and realizing the end is near… Shifu orders his disciples to vacate the village keeping him to the palace to face tai-lung. Po, dejected… returns to his father showing him the empty scroll the wise duck offers him the apron and consoles him that it may not be his destiny… also revealing that the secret of the ‘secret-noodle-recipe’ is actually nothing!

To make something special you have to believe that it’s special!!!

So that’s the trick! Po realizes the meaning looks again in the empty scroll only to see his own reflection! And that’s it… he runs to the palace where a furious fight is going on between Shifu and Tai-lung.

Po Challenges Tai-lung to get the scroll by defeating him which Tai-lung, already raged and rather amused to see the teddy-Dragon-warrior, readily accepts.

Then follows the most hilarious fight sequence which completely demoralizes tai-lung and convinces Po that he is the ‘Dragon-Warrior’. Po ends the fight with the most lethal ‘Wuxi Finger hold’ and emerges as the supreme power and golden light spreads over the valley to mark the end of evil.

The fabulous five bow in front of the new master and Po heads back to the palace to look for Shifu.

Shi-fu feels relaxed that the terror of tai-lung is finally over and valley is again in peace. So is Shi-fu.

The End

A frame by frame beautiful movie ends here leaving not just the cramps in stomach which has got an equivalent exercise of doing 100 abs but many good aspects of life to think about.

Making you believe that there are no accidents, we are mere puppets in the hands of destiny. Many times v come across puzzling situations leaving us with no answers to all the ‘Wh’ type questions. To us, it’s inexplicable... but somewhere our life is taking shape and these are just the building blocks.

“Yesterday... is a history, tomorrow is a mystery,

But Today, is a gift, that’s why it’s called ‘Present’!”

We all have a place in this world,we all are destined to become something... someone, unique in some way. so whenever you feel low just remember that…

“There’s no secret ingredient! To make something special, you just have to believe that it’s special…”

Heart Beat Concert- A Divine Eve!

2nd Dec,2008

Music – The universal language, a rhythmic composition. You don’t learn it; it’s there everywhere…Omnipresent, all-pervading! From the time immemorial & will be there till the time infinite. Our link with it is established with our birth… rather, even before that…in mother’s womb where the child cannot breathe directly, the mother breaths for the child but their hearts beat together, in harmony. There… the ‘Rhythm’ is set, to sing the song of life…

Blessing in Disguise...

The day showed the signs to be a different one. As such I was very forgetful for past couple of days, and was naturally irritated to miss out on couple of important tasks. But this one started well, we I & Surendra had very good breakfast b4 v reached office and work was, as it is in the month of December, very less.

Last few days I was unable to go to the gym and flex my muscles & was very resolute upon not missing it that day but the charm continues and I realize that the gym-bag is in the room itself and also the coupon required for the subscription of some magazine. So, left with no other option I headed for home. On my way out,Dawood met me in the lift & enquired if I was attending the music concert in the evening. I shook my head indicating that I had no idea about it & went straight to the room assuming it must 1 of those Rock shows...

As the common scenario in our room is, Bhargav is always busy with some

thing and I was, after many days surfing the internet with some Hindi songs being played in the background. When the ‘Rock ON’ started, suddenly Bhargav turned to me & said “Babuuu , you want to go to music concert ?I have two passes” naturally he referred to the same concert as Dawood did. When I read the names on the passes… my jaw literally dropped in amazement. I snatched the passes from him and immediately called Rahul asking him to meet @ the auditorium as we didn’t have much time in hands since it was past 6.30 p.m. and the show timing was 7.30.

With a bit of thrilling (Rash, to be honest!) driving and good luck, I reached the place in less than 20 minutes!!!(I can dedicate a separate blog for that ride).

To be Or Not to be...

After parking the bike I looked around and saw huge crowd… (Actually it was far better than just ‘crowd’).in another 10-15 minutes Rahul joined me and we settled ourselves in a big queue wondering how the arrangements will be? Are these passes really for free? (I started looking for asterisk signs on the pass), can we get a seat or will have to look over other’s shoulders … & so on…

But as we approached the entrance, all my doubts started getting cleared… it was a grand entrance which read ‘University of Madras’ telling a glorious history of 150 years . At the gate a security guard was constantly shouting something of which I could only hear “seats over aaitcha”. I was just about to curse my luck for not being lucky enough...When Rahul said it’s only for the ground floor & rest of the crowd was diverted to the balcony. There was a pleasant scene awaiting us… as, when we entered half the seats were still empty, so rather than struggling for seats ,we carried out a detailed survey of the balcony and chose the right place to sit from where we could clearly watch the artists perform!

The divine evening begins:

With some introductory blabbering, the host (who, though a famous RJ but totally forgotten as the show started) invited the music maestro’s … & people like me, who never saw these greats before, held their breaths. But… even after the announcement nobody turned up on stage & my mind again entered into negative mode wondering if anyone had fallen ill, as it generally happens with celebrities. But… I was not to be let down and one by one, the 5 of them appeared on stage bowed to the audience and took their seats as many of us watched in amazement.

Pt. Srinivas on mandolin, Pt. Selvaganesh with kanjira, Pt. Shankar with mike,Ustad Zakir Hussain on Tabla and none other than Shivamani with his fleet of instruments ranging from staplers to pens to switches to ghungaroos to huge drums. Everybody observed a minute of silence before the show.

Floating in air:

The Show began and in no time they hypnotized the audience with their magic.

I don’t know the purpose behind keeping the name ‘Heart Beat Concert’ but certainly, I felt my heart was beating to tunes and beats coming out of various instruments.

The evening started with the Ganesh-Stuti by Shankar and followed by jugalbandi between Shankar and Pt. Srinivas and slowly the others pitched in, to take it to the peak like a tasty recipe in which the preparation starts with ‘tadka’ and one by one other main ingredients are added.

Just when we thought it’s turning out to be purely classical , they changed the gears and surprised us with a tangy flavor of ‘Blues’.

Followed by the unforgettable combination of melody and percussions, as we watched with our eyes popped out and ears stretched in order not to miss even a single beat. There they were Pt. Srinivas, producing sweetest notes with those delicate strings and Shivamani doing wonders with the numerous instruments, sometimes using household items like spoons, sticks, kitchen vessels, suitcases and god knows what… generally percussion instruments play a supporting role but when shivamani played, it seemed complete.

By this time audience was in groove and totally charged up so it needed some cool down which was provided by a beautiful Raga-based composition ‘Ab Radhe Rani’ by Shankar accompanied by Srinivas.

The next 10-15 minutes completely belonged to Selvaganesh and his kanjira. As his fingers tapped the Kanjira , we saw in amazement how so many sounds can be produced by such a small instrument rightly complimented by ustad Zakir Husain; ” It is very difficult to follow and bring up the rear ,such drummers to play with. I mean I have two,Shivamani has two hundred but Selva has only one and it sounds like 2 million!” He also made a point to remind the audience the seriousness of the event and the cause.

The time after that belonged to the Ustad, one & only Zakir Husain, I always wondered what could be the difference between the other tabla-players… after his performance this question will never come in my mind. What can you say about a man who can make you visualize the ‘Tandav’ of lord Shiva just with the help of table and sheer finesse of his art? It can’t be described in words it has to be witnessed. (though my one wish remained unfulfilled, I wanted to hear “Wah Taj! From Ustad.)

Closing Time :

We realized it’s about to end when the soothing words ‘Ishwar - allah tero naam..’ fell on ears… and Once again, I felt purpose of having hearing power was served (I feel it every time when my mother calls me).

The show ended with that beautiful bhajan and people started moving reluctantly towards exit.

It was a great evening, in the sense that it had not only delighted music lovers and artists but it had also sent out the message that we are the people of a rich and diverse but united nation and no one can deter us from enjoying our freedom. Looking at the response from chennaiites I feel,this purpose was well served.

I learnt one thing from this evening:

Life is a chance, to live your dreams,

But the achievements are measured by,

Number of people you please.

Never expect anything, just let it be,

Coz, Good things come for a price,

Great things are for FREE!

Quantum of a sole-ass!

(Disclaimer: This is not a review of any movie; the author intends to use his freedom of expression to vent out his frustration and provide some solace to himself)

Let me declare first that I am not a big ‘Bond-fan’ or something. I admire Bond-girls more than Mr.007’s gadgets & heroics, more than admiration bond is worth for my jealousy (for obvious reason). Not getting carried away by visual delight index but the Romance scenes in Bond movies have got more practical value than the extra-ordinary action scenes.

Enough of self-defense, the point I want to make is, Bond movies have been value for money so far… if they disappoint in one aspect they make it up with something unique may it be the actions sequences or camerawork , that’s my perception about majority foreign movies.

First of all, I (rather my Indian mind, overwhelmed by Hollywood films) could never agree that the film which involves so much money, sorry for the understatement, I meant millions of pounds (that sounds better), can be bad or even close to being uninteresting/illogical etc.etc… except for if it is a Karan Johar or Suraj Barjatya’s movie.

But all that changed with one gr8 movie which was like the last nail in the coffin & a successful effort from the maker’s point of view to Re-define the Bond.

Actually I had liked this Bond in the last movie because he used very less (illogical) gadgets and did everything on his own without much of a support staff and resources. The one who stumbled like a normal human being when he jumped from one roof to another, bled/ fainted / got confused/struggled and possessed a gr8 physique unlike previous Bond’s who fought in a suite without even forming a wrinkle.

The more humanized and error prone Bond Seemed to be logical but all that went down the drain , when we saw this new Bond flick which gave us nothing but disappointment and many unanswered questions like how, even after blocking all the credit and sim cards Bond manages to get all the resources and help whenever he wants ? Why he is never shown using a public phone or petrol pump? Isn’t it funny to find a knife in James Bond’s pocket when you expect Hi-Fi gadgets? How he breaks the handle of the washroom door with a single hand when sometimes I find it difficult to even twist & open the door??? why they dip the agent in oil and how the dead body gets inside the suite? Where are the trails of oil drops (none on the floor) ?How he goes to Russia without necessary documents…? and so on…all of them un-answered.

Generally Bond Movies are famous for the Romantic (Please decode it as per your convenience) scenes but in this, there was none! Except for one bedroom scene which they could show even on POGO ,with (God-knows-who) an agent which I can say is the most irrelevant scene of the movie (I think cost-cutting has badly affected Bond movies as well).

The boring movie became a bliss later on as we entertained ourselves with our own comments much to the dismay of the other people but had to provide some ‘quantum of solace’ to our souls .in the end, I would not say it was bad, but if at all I have to describe it, it was ‘0 0 1/7’.

Mansoorbhaay bole-” %@#&( #@* !, bhalai ka zamanahi nahi raha! “

‘Ae Dil, Hai Mushkil … Jeena Yahan,

Zara hatke,zara bach ke,Ye hai Bombay Meri jaan…’

(Otherwise, even I call it “Mumbai”, it’s better to clarify and stay away from controversies)

Just the second day after I set my foot in my hometown – Mumbai… and had already started experiencing it all over again.

Except for my people, my pals and some beautiful memories (that’s expected when you spend 21 years of life in the same setup), that make you nostalgic (the best part about being nostalgic is, It occurs only when you enter the same system again, otherwise it doesn’t trouble much!), this city has got nothing for a person who loves spending time with himself/herself… it simply doesn’t allow you to do so.

It had been two years that all of us had spent some time together -myself, Sanjog,rajesh,nitin,varun,gajanan,rajendra (L yes… no girls, sadly I didn’t belong to mechanical department also, but as the saying goes… ‘naseeb &@#!^ ,to kya karega Pandu!’)

On the same lines as summer of ’69, I wd say…

Gajanan quit (India ),Varun got married…lol! And most of us got busy with our lives.

Had it not been for my visit… I don’t find any strong reason that all of us got together (last time it was for Varun’s marriage)

So we decided to meet @ siddhivinayak temple. Not sure whether everyone will come, I started right on time to reach Dadar by 4.30.the speciality of Mumbai is, even if you start on or even before time… you will be late to reach your destination.(I guess half the Murphey's laws were framed here-it has got its advantages though, it provides an excuse to public to go home/office/college late…but surprisingly the same crowd with same transportation system @ service, reaches on time to the examination and movie halls) I had started getting the signs of getting late already , as I sat in a share-auto along with a co-passenger ,both of us waiting for the third 1 so that the auto could start. My co-passenger a bearded Muslim guy with a skull cap and an electrician’s bag and a typical attire of a related trade was very restless; maybe he was finding it tough to keep quiet but my acquired sophistication after landing into a job held me from engaging into a leisure chat while we waited… it could even be for my new sunglasses as well..

I was restless for another reason for, I was getting late... Somehow I wanted wash off my impression of a ‘late comer’ so I thought of taking initiative and asked one of the people standing around if anyone could join… but no one showed interest , I guess they were happy waiting for the bus.

” BH#&( #@* !, bhalai ka zamanahi nahi raha! “ said the person sitting next to me… and started cursing hopeless bus service and stupid people. I knew I was due for some entertainment for next 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile another passenger joined us and the ric started moving.

‘Ye log aisehi hain saale,subhe ko rickshaw Milne ko maramari, aur sham ko aadmi milne ko maramari ’.

When I joined as an assistant TV mechanic, ustad (mentor) told me bhalai ke raste se koi tarakki nahi kar sakta,thoda shana hona padta hai” (U have to manipulate things sometimes).

He quoted an incident when he, for the first time went for TV repairing alone, some 10 years back without his master. It was a Marathi (Hindu) family, so he modestly took their permission to keep his footwear considering the possibility of a minor shock. The problem was very minute and could be fixed by replacing a transistor, so he told them the total cost to be 90 Rs. But soon he gathered from their talk (with whatever knowledge of Marathi he possessed) that, they actually doubted that such problem could be fixed so cheaply and they also thought of the possibility of an inferior quality of work.

Meanwhile we crossed another auto in which an old man sat whom mansoor bhai knew already, as he belonged to the same trade… “ek antenna fix karne ka 350 rupaya leta tha, par antenna aisa jagape lagayega ki signal ekdum perfect ’.. What he meant was if you are good at something, don’t do it for cheap.post above incident,manssor bhai followed the same principle and made a decent fortune… worked in middle-east for 5-6 years but didn’t get rewarded much… ‘choos lete hain saale,bhalaika…’ . Now he is into some construction related work.

By this time we had approached the entrance of the ticket counter, we had had a very pleasant conversation so far ( thanks to my listening skills), realizing that I don’t have a pass and will have to unnecessarily spend 10-15 minutes in a boring queue… Mansoor bhai offered me the punching-coupons he always kept as reserve in order to avoid standing in the line, but may be due to my modesty or reluctance to take help… I refused to take them and told that, I will get my tickets.

It wouldn’t have mattered much as the ticket cost a mere 7 Rs. So we bid goodbye to each other, went our ways…he, to the platform and I to the long queue. But I’m sure, while keeping those coupons back in his pocket, he must have definitely said, ” %@#&( #@* !, bhalai ka zamanahi nahi raha! “

Mowrie - the sailor man!

It was Friday the 24^th of October 2008 and time around 6.50 a.m. when the whistle blew off and our Mumbai bound train from Chennai slowly started creeping.

This was the first time I had a known company during journey.Vivek, my roommate was going home after a year (I hope his parents recognized him).since we both booked separately, we got seats in different coaches and after checking his seat and most importantly co-passengers, I moved to my coach hoping to see a better crowd ;-).as always I am lucky to get the upper berth but to my surprise rather agony, there was someone already sleeping!! From his overall appearance & color he appeared to be Nepalese & related to some industry where there was lot of physical work required. Slightly offended by this arrogance and inconsiderateness I nudged him to wake him up and vacate my place so that I could keep my bag.

1^st shock: In response... He just looked down at me and said in English “I will vacate as soon as the TTE comes” (This guy seemed to be experienced in such matters) and left me silent & with many questions like, is this really my seat? Do I lack command presence? Or was my demand to ask for my seat, unfair? . Then I started analyzing him… average or slightly shorter height, very athletic body, a brown dusty T, a brown cargo and a very odd red cap and red bag. I was not going to lose anything in letting him sleep so I decided to wait till the TTE comes. Meanwhile Vivek came to my coach disappointed with the pack in his compartment and most importantly assured about his luggage. Both of us had breakfast(special 'Rubber-idlis' served by IRCTC pantry) and got into chat with other passengers.

After an hour and a half the TTE came and started inspecting. By this time this guy had come down and voluntarily put my bag on the upper birth and sat in the corner of the horizontal seat opposite & was continuously making some notes on colorful stick-on papers, very cool & calm awaiting his turn for ticket checking. By this time I was sure that he was some ‘jholjhal party’ (fraud - Mumbai slang), but to my surprise he paid the difference without arguing anything though TC did not assure him any seat. At that moment I thought this guy is not what he looks like, so I thought of knowing him more.

After basic introduction, we learned that he was from shillong and was a sailor!!!

‘Are vo saala paisa le liya aur bolta hai jaga nahi milega’ I always say there is a very thin line between honesty & shamelessness, we didn’t bother coz we had our seats reserved but one thing was sure we had an interesting company.

He started speaking and whatever followed was a knowledge enhancement session for all of us coz everything he spoke was new for us.

He basically belonged to Meghalaya…a place in clouds as they believe and rightly so as we could infer from mowrie’s description.

He belonged to a tribe called ‘Khasi’ who’s people are called ‘Khasi’ who speak ‘Khasi’ and who’s religion is also ‘Khasi’ and gods are the natural elements who’s divinity and miracles they can actually see. but his forefathers adopted the teachings of lord Jesus through missionaries who run schools and other institutions all over their state.. rather all over India. So the community is divided in Christians and ‘Khasi’s’ nobody knows Hindi but every child sings carols, along with archery and & other basic training of tribes these kids learn guitar as well, no wonder why it has become the rock capital of India. The only thing they don’t have is industry and obviously… employment opportunities.

But everybody seems to be prosperous… how & why even he didn’t know the answers ‘mujhe bhi nahi pata hum log ke paas paisa kaha se aata hai’ . Folks there have small businesses like garage or fishing and some others have farms.

But the most interesting fact about their society was I feel is the best example of our country’s punch line ‘unity in diversity’. Their society is completely opposite to the rest of India. It’s totally women oriented… there a Girl marries a Guy and not the other way like us… she inherits all the family fortune and the best part is the groom has to shift to the bride’s house after marriage, adopt her name & so on… the statement, ‘hajaar aadmi protest karega to bhi kuch nahi hoga, par ek aurat bolega curfew lag jayega’ said it all!

They even have a small ‘Khasi ’ kingdom where they have queen and princess and also have a royal army apart from the state government.

The society is very open… I don’t know really what attracts people, religion, teachings or the life style…but that’s just a vague thought not the scope of this blog. The Khasi’s have a very interesting ritual, only for young people who are pure... in other words...Not yet resorted to the raging emotions of young age. The belief is, if anyone participates who’s not virgin, loses life. He quoted a few examples as well...to prove the legend. I could see some hesitation to both believe as well as protest the fable owing to his link to the modern world.

Then he began talking about the life on ship… believe me... the word ‘life’ did not sound very lively from his description… after spending three years of life as a sailor and majority of the time away from land ,he seemed to be sick of the lifestyle..But it was paying him better than many of his age in ¼th of the lifespan he had seen almost whole of the world…& tasted different waters as well ;-) but few things can be excused considering the harsh life on the ship. He had all the luxuries on the ship a well furnished cabin, chef to cater to their moods...You name it & they have it. But somewhere he seemed to be tired of all that...Sort of been there, done that but with a humble attitude.

It was afternoon by this time… and it seemed like I was watching a movie because what we see in movies is something which we can’t realize rather experience in real life… though an Indian and of the same age group he had a lived a different life altogether, full of adventures and surprises he wanted to be a sailor and he lived his dream while we, in spite of having all the guidance & infrastructure are busy convincing ourselves what we are living was what we wanted. Unsure about our aspirations… many times I feel too much of exposure & information results in more of confusion than clarity of thought. After finishing our lunch… we moved on to the technical side of sailing… this guy had immense knowledge about almost all the aspects of ship…because of lunch or excess of knowledge content, I don’t know but I was saturated and fell asleep... for your kind information, I can sleep anywhere, anytime except for when a normal human being is supposed to..Of whatever he spoke, every word was an information for us coz, he belonged to a totally different world.

Now the unanswered question...why was he in Chennai train and why was he going to Mumbai?

Another piece of info for me… all those students here in Chennai we called ‘kancha-kanchi’ were from Meghalaya & Bhutan... Many of them were his friends, a few of them were siblings and one of them was his sweet girlfriend who waited for years to express her love and for months to hear his voice when he was on ship. His next trip was about to start from Mumbai harbor. This was going to be his 3^rd trip, this time for a lesser duration of 9 months and supposedly the last one may be coz he had started feeling an urge to settle down, now since he had found his love and having lived his dream of becoming a sailor. He might study or join his uncle’s garage or whatever… when he comes back. But one thing was for sure... he was going to be happier. What an irony the train which carried most of to us near to our families, to our people, the same train carried him to a place from where he was going far from his dear ones… he was not going to see them or speak to them for months to come and we cribbed about staying away from home and visiting once in few months.

This is life; your destination can be the starting point for someone. Your routine life can be privilege for someone… to me he was a great man, not that I was not happy about my achievements but on a bigger picture they were just a bunch of certificates and mark sheets. But the best we can do is to take life as it comes and try to realize our dreams… and most importantly… ‘Our Selves’!

MY First bLOG!!

My first blog...

BLOG – the hybrid term for ‘web log’ or in a way web diary.

I got introduced to this term very late as per the world standards… and took even longer to understand actually what it is… a phenomenon with which my mom associates me often “kuthlya jagaat vavartoys?”(Are you aware of what’s happening around?), I don’t mind though…at least this time as even she didn’t know anything about blogging.

Varghese, a good friend of mine mentioned about a blog he wrote describing a thrilling (rather stuffy) auto-rickshaw ride with 8 co-passengers, all friends though (I hope the number is not bigger) from one theatre to the other in Hyderabad. I hid my lack of knowledge for the concept of blogging then, but somewhere I decided to write a blog myself someday, when my inbuilt laziness is overpowered by itself & doesn’t act and stop me from giving any effort to my brain…so, I decided to wait for the right time.

“I have an inbuilt Quality of dEciSiOn making...PeOple call it laziness!”

– Suyog.

And the time came… rather, high time that I should have known what blogging is when we formed a group dedicated to outdoor adventures and decided to share our experiences on the internet through the community blog. After our maiden trek to 'kolli hills' near Salem (Tamilnadu), my friends prepared very nice and descriptive article…but I managed to stay away from the trouble until our 2^nd adventure on the 5^th of October which didn’t have one of the founders of the group. It was a nice trek and I thought it to be the right time to start blogging.

So I began… typing…& with inputs from my generous friends I managed to frame a decent article with some descriptive images in between the paragraphs. But the real challenges in front of me was posting it on the net and make it look like other blogs I had viewed as part of my case study and become happy!

Believe me… if you are doing it for the first time and are shy about your lack of knowledge to ask help...

It’s quite a tough job! Towards the end I even forgot that I am posting my first blog it was all about getting formatting/fonts/size/pictures right and many such ‘word’ related things which make it look like other blogs on the net. It took me from morning to noon to fix it with feedbacks from friends.

Before publishing the first ever blog I had promised Prasad that I will keep this space “dynamic” and I have kept it by writing this second blog. Don’t go by the title... this is not my first blog. Rather… this is a blog about my first blog. The link to which is present in the form of a snippet on the left hand side.

I would not list the advantages/disadvantages of blogging neither would I say you will know me better by reading this or if you blog your communication skills will get sharpened etc. etc… but for all those who have not yet started, let me tell you… it gives good relaxation to mind, all those ideas, thoughts which are there in our mind in form of congested mesh get some channel.

As they say narrating is like listening twice, I would say blogging is like narrating twice.

It’s better to register your thoughts, because many a times we encounter following situation…

A thought went up my mind to-day
That I have had before,
But did not finish,--some way back,
I could not fix the year,

Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely what it was,
Have I the art to say.

But somewhere in my soul, I know
I've met the thing before;
It just reminded me--'t was all--
And came my way no more.

-Emily Dickinson