was JM philosophical ?

Ah keep your eyes on the road,
Your hands upon the wheel.
Keep your eyes on the road
Your hands upon the wheel.
Yeah, were going to the roadhouse,
Gonna have a real good-time.

.

.

.

.

“Road house blues – Jim Morrison”

Early to bed, early to rise …. there’s more to it than meets the eyes!

There’s something quite spectacular about the break of the day.
I mean, I do get up early, and am the most productive in the morning, but that’s not what this post is about. I guess people have their own “best times for the day”.

Oh. and for the record, the late night (with easy calm, and glitter of lights) is certainly a sight to behold. Such things linger around, when I close my eyes. I love them too.

So, now a days, I don’t wake up by an alarm clock. I depend on the light coming in from a window that I intentionaly leave open, just before hitting the bed. But I think it’s more to do with my body clock . Anyways, I might have slept a little earlier than ususal, or must have been uneasily sleeping, but when I got up, it was still dark, and very quiet. The time must’ve been 4:45 am.

Also, it wasn’t as though I was woken up by a bad dream. It was very normal, and when I got up, I felt fresh, and ready to go. After deciding I had nothing to do at that time of the hour, I decided, I’m going to watch the day break. So, I climbed up to my terrace, and made for the most comfortable position (It’s over the water tank).

Well, I have done such a thing in the past, but that’s usually, when I’m out, travelling to a place where horizon is visible, and I do love watching the sun rise. However, around my home, the place is filled with tall buildings, and houses, that I can only see as far (but it is not bad at all, trust me, even in Gurgaon).

So, it was very dark, I could not even see where I was stepping. I had to feel my terrace (since I haven’t been up there lately, and thnigs change ). I managed to find a spot though. It was also very quiet. I could hear the leaves rustling, and the slightest of the sounds made when I tiptoed over to the other end. There was also this pile of bricks I managed to hit, and when that fell, it made quite a racket .

So I concentrated on the part just over the horizon, thanks to the skyscrapers. It was dark, much the same everywhere. After a while though I noticed some activity among the birds. Initially, it was the big dark birds (I’ m ignorant of their names) which fly without flapping their wings so much. More like effortless gliding. There was this spot in the sky, which was looking quite different from rest of the dark sky. It had acquired a dark bluish tone.

In a while that point started getting brighter. I could tell the difference, every passing moment. Soon enough, there was a small band of colors at the spot. It was as if some one had stacked a blue strip over a white strip over a orange strip. The rest of the sky was dark. The coloring scheme I saw here looked marvellous. Pretty soon, this band started to gain in size (width wise, as well as length wise).

The birds decided to join the party at that time, and I could hear different kinds of chirps in the air. The affect was of an orchestra with people tuning their instruments. When it became a little brighter, the big birds had started to circle right over my head. It felt great. This was the best moment of the experience. I wish I had a camera there, but I guess mega pixels wouldn’t suffice to capture what I saw. Anyways, I noticed some sparrow type birds (ones who flap wings vigorously to stay air borne) circling the perimeter of the circle big birds had made over my head. The affect was more than what I have words to describe. It was the fusion of amazing colors, happiest of sounds, and a nice breeze, which was like a cherry on iced cake

I hopelessly wished “if time could freeze …”

So, if you haven’t seen this yourself, people, let me tell you …. you’ve missed something. And also, each sunrise is a different experience. Some leave you feeling humble and small. Other times, you feel peppy and charged up. But you never feel down.Today, I felt like roaring, and rearing to go!

Human behaviour

We (myself emphatically included), never seem to learn, when things are going nice and easy. It’s in a way suggestive that through hardships, and struggle, can one grow (or even think) towards a better life. Very recently, I was involved in a life threatening situation, which made me realize how much I value life. I feel the urge to celebrate every single day from now on. Had it not been for that incident, I would probably be cribbing for some other reason or two, and bitch about how life is unfair, and people don’t care. But anyways, I’m alive, and have so much to share (notice the silly rhyme?).

Admitted, life is ironic, but you’d rather be alive than be rich, or famous (or substitute your personal fantasy). You, all love life, and you probably realize that once you even get a fleeting glimpse of death approaching. Anyways, my point is, each new day is a invaluable treasure. Do cherish it. Do things that matter to your heart. Live it up. And never waste time sulking.

Also, as much as I thought, I’d be scarred for life, I feel like I have learnt my lessons in good time. Here’s a very positive thought “There are no mistakes in your life. Your life is made up by connecting the innumerable decisions you’ve taken, like dots. Own up to them. Retrospection is good, but over doing is not so good”

How it affects me?
For all the bad memories in my past life, I used to have sort of tape replaying over and over in my head. I would visualize the same moment, re-imagine the scenes, and would wonder, what if I hadn’t done/said that? Nothing consequential was achieved doing the futile activity, except for a odd realization at times, which would make me want to go at the replay more, and the cycle repeated. Turns out I wasted more time brooding this way.

Then, I heard this. “Why worry about something you know you can do. Just do the deeds and get it done! And, of course, for the things you know you cannot do, why worry?” Simple as it may sound, I feel that most of the problems we face are classifiable in the two categories. Then there are those for which one tends to be uncertain. I say, break it into parts. Ultimately, those smaller parts will either be doable, or un-doable , or depend on some one else’s contribution. Remember, you can motivate others, only to a certain point, but you should not have expectations.

Too much for a simple blog like mine? I agree. But some times, pensive mood gets this from you Anyways, I’ll conclude on this thought:
I might be down, but I’ll bounce back
wandering down the road, I’m lost, but soon I’ll be on track
I do not know how it’s going to look like
But I see hues, not just white and black.

how does it feel?

I thought I knew it all. I am a simple guy, easy to be with ….. am I?

People can be judged, by their actions, and their words ….. can they?

Time flows, has been flowing, and will continue to flow ….. does it?

People appreciate blunt honesty ….. do they?

Life does not give you a second chance ….. (it does) … what about third ?

Many people can talk the talk. How many can walk the walk?

Everything happens for a reason, or does it?

“I haven’t gotten it figured out just yet” – Thanks Alanis. You make most sense now.

Choice is good, but with a reason

Well, this post is going to be rant.

I am a gadget freak… I have realized it off late. As much as I try to convince myself otherwise . That being said, let me also re emphasize . If a brand comes out with a new product (say apple, and their iphone 3g fiasco, for the sake of example), I’m not interested, till I find a use for it. I do not swear by brands.

Well, nonetheless, I also have realized, that I am an audiophile. Good sound delights me in a way that snazzy interface would probably affect mac users. We all have our poison. If you are beginning to think this one’s against apple here, lemme clear it out, no I am not in a position to crib against them. Not a single apple product till date. They just make a good example of “obsessed people”, and crazy marketing.

Now, well, back to business….

So, I like good audio. I have lots of products from sony. (Naturally, you might say). O sony .. why must you do this to your users. The headphones are great. I’m loving it, even as I type out this post. But there’s a string (or shall we call it the sony proprietary connector …. eyuuch ) attached to my phone. What a totally useless piece of engineering. I mean look at the number of exposed pins( and the size). Looks like a recipe for disaster, as compared to plain old USB B mini.

So, I used to think, sony must’ve got it wrong, you know back in the ol’ days, of lesser standards, and days of experimentation. Look at the picture now. There have been more and enough people who crib about the same problem. Connectors of Sony Walkman phones go bust (aren’t they bound to). My second set of headphones are giving problems, and never have the plain ol’ 3.5 mm stereo connectors suggested anything to those lines. Not even the usb mini ones. Some of the design should be based on experiences, you know, they aren’t kidding when they say that time is the best teacher. The standards are based on the usability, and not due to a desire to capture the market. So who seems goofy now ? Go take a look at the newer lines of Sony phones. They have only one probable line of reasoning … backward compatibility (yeah, with crap).

Sony, when, most of the products are talking nicely of convergence, and well they also put their dollars where there mouth is. Yea I’m talking of memory cards. Nokia, motorola , and a lot of cameras, couple of other gadgets use a SD card. Seems good. Why must Sony products use a MS pro … I have a PSP, plays well with my other sony stuff, but very recently I bought a Nokia product(I am not a brand driven person) . Quite naturally, it won’t be allowed to exist in my Sony device ecosystem. So then, I have slowly come to a realization … Sony is not as sweet as it once seemed. Well, if only they could give me a reasoning for:

SD card has open specs as opposed to Sony MS crap.

SD card is generally cheaper around the market. go check yourself.

So, does MS pro offer any technological advantages? Not that I can think of.. or know .

Well, so all of you people, snared in Sony world, I urge you to reconsider your next Sony purchase?Is it worth it.Audio stuff from Sony is good, no doubt, but clearly, the company has decided that it does not intend to play around nicely to others, which I feel is a very bad policy, in today’s market.

So, what are the alternatives for common sony products, like walkman phones , PSP, and PS3, good headphones?Baah… must go out  and buy a new memory stick.

Monkey cap. How I miss you….

This post goes out to all the bongs I have jeered, (in college, and later) at for slipping into their monkey caps with the slightest fall in the mercury level. What I overlooked was that how cold you feel, and the way you react to that sensation is very personal, and highly dependent on what kind of weather you’re acclimatized to.

Well, so I arrived in Korea, Suwon on the 22 of Jan.

I’ve been in a state of shock since. Whereas, when I have to step out, I nicely wrap myself in a cap, earmuffs, and muffler, I see people here very conveniently wandering around in none of that. All they need is a jacket, and they’re ready to step out, and also claim that the weather is looking bright and warm. Not only that, females are seen in skirts, and mostly an overcoat, kids play around in the sun. Now look at me … I wrap myself in nearly 4 layers of clothings, and still crib about the cold wind.

• Maybe, their bodies have adjusted to the climate.(I’ll be able to comment in a week or two)
• Or they eat a special diet. (Again , a week and I’ll know)
• Or they have evolved somewhat into something distinct. (Any one comment on this)

DBM . The 4th Anniversary meet.

13^th January was the 4^th anniversary for the DBM, and this time around I decided, that I had been in Delhi long enough and I ought to meet the people, who write and whose work I so religiously follow (that even my RSS reader takes some time to load now-a-days).

 

So, well, I got into my shoes(apart from the other stuff), and decided to kick off till CP where the meeting was planned….. Blues.

 

Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive at first. Even more so because of a sort of “Power tussle” that managed to create 2 groups, and two meets, on separate dates. Anyways, after having met these people, I wonder why anyone would ever have problems in the first place.

 

Theories apart, My gatherings and observations from the meet are:

1. Blues is a nice place. If you are a Delhi-ite, like good music, this is a must visit. I just wish it had a section for non-smokers
2. The people involved with the organizing task are quite responsible and capable.
3. Some of the people I met are very Jovial. Quite frankly, I expected some bookworms, but, these people are lively (they still might be bookworms, though not in the typically portrayed mold )

4. Would have loved to speak to each of them separately, for longer durations of time, but blues is not quite a place that encourages conversations.

5. Never touch a sizzler plate, even after the smoke’s died out, and other people are mouthing it’s contents at a brisk pace.

 

PS: I realize, that this post is coming at a rather odd time, (read late), but I had been ridiculously busy for the past week. I further shamefully admit, that I’m composing this post from the airport, cause my flight is 3 hours late.

 

But I hope I’ll get to write more often in the near immediate future, cause I foresee myself having considerable amount of free time.

Taare Zamin Par

The concept … great

The acting …. brilliant (the entire cast).

Direction ….. very good. Nicely captured details, greatest shots I’ve seen from bollywood.

Music …. awesome. Still not over it … The title song … mindblowing:)

I’ve never been so attached to a movie before. I mean emotionally, the movie has so many highs and lows, that one can associate with the story in more than one ways, in certainly more than one scenes being depicted.

Psst…. I did cry while watching it. Although I earlier thought that there probably won’t ever be a movie which would make me cry, this one certainly proves me wrong.I’m sure I share this trait with many of people who have seen it.

OK, so what i’m trying to say, is definitely make it a point to see this one. hats off to Aamir Khan, Amole Gupte, Darsheel Safar (Ishaan), Tanay Chheda (Ishaan’s friend). Oh and Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy and Prasoon Joshi. The music is too good.

This is one special movie.Hoping that it has global enough acceptance for it to qualify as a Oscar candidate.

So, amongst the non bots to this page, which was the one scene that made you cry in the movie?

Save … (all you can) !!!

“I get up … and nothing gets me down” … Van halen

But this morning, something did. I flicked on my comp, and tuned to the 80’s and 90’s Channel. There was no music. They were going to bring down the net radio.

We have all heard of Save wildlife, Save water, and such issues. But as of today,  27th June 2007, my heart goes out to “save the internet radio movement“. I for one, seriously, and wholeheartedly wish that royalty rates’ hike that is to affect small time broadcasters (which tend to be popular, beyond a certain degree is rolled back).

What’s more, it’s going to be on affect from 15′th of July.

So I urge all the listeners to mark their protest against the ruling  .

Please visit savenetradio.org .All you music lovers.

Free as in free dinner.

*Note: This post is for those end users, who are fed up of Windows XP and would be thinking in terms of upgrading to Vista, (or linux)

Linux? which distro?will my xyz card work?Can I sync my songs with my ipod? I’ve heard it’s a hackers OS …. can I surf the net?Can i play MP3s?

Now this is an issue, I could go on and on and on ….

But to cut things short and get across (and possibly, help) to many people out there, I’ll abstain from the background and zap into the present scenario of things and consider the future possibilities.

I feel there’s a lot of on and on ….

But to cut things short and get across (and possibly, help) to many people out there, I’ll abstain from the background and zap into the present scenario of things and consider the future possibilities.

I feel there’s a lot of stigma attached to the nice n friendly OS, available out there,LINUX, free of cost, and full of goodies, (and absolutely delightful surprises).

But, I feel that the end user is still afraid to let go of the much bloated, memory hog … MS windows.

and I think, the reason of such a state of concern is the fact that linux is not hyped (read shamelessly publicized) to be a magic being, that enchants any living soul that goes near it. Linux people will state facts, but yet another fact is, that advertisement sells, and I hope this turns out as an intersting offer for those who want to take linux for a spin, but have a problem going the last mile. (weak knee syndrome!).

I hereby offer help …. for those who’d like to install linux but have issues related to partitioning, h/w support and other application migration concerns.
If you happen to be in vicinity (constrastigma attached to the nice n friendly OS, available out there,LINUX, free of cost, and full of goodies, (and absolutely delightful surprises).

But, I feel that the end user is still afraid to let go of the much bloated, memory hog … MS windows.

and I think, the reason of such a state of concern is the fact that linux is not hyped (read shamelessly publicized) to be a magic being, that enchants any living soul that goes near it. Linux people will state facts, but yet another fact is, that advertisement sells, and I hope this turns out as an intersting offer for those who want to take linux for a spin, but have a problem going the last mile. (weak knee syndrome!).

I hereby offer help …. for those who’d like to install linux but have issues related to partitioning, h/w support and other application migration concerns.
If you happen to be in vicinity (constraints to area around south Delhi/gurgaon) … I will actually do it in person (possibly on weekends, if you care to reach out), or else feel free to mail me at coolant9@myrealbox.com, regarding any such queries.

I can also offer ubuntu CDs, for those who haven’t checked it out (yes, it’ll work without installing anything), free of cost. You would have to make a slight effort of picking them up. Those who’re interested, mail me to fix a convenient place from where you can get them :

So anyone, who wishes to jump into the better world, pls. get i touch with me, if you don’t have the required knowhow abt. install of OS.

Important positives in using linux
Hardware support If you have a sound card/usb gadget, for which you don’t have “drivers” in windows…. try it with linux. It just might roll
Security concerns! bye bye!No need to update your virus definitions?Much less chances of being bugged by spyware.
you can use skimpy hardware. Have really old machines gathering dust in the corner of your store room. Turn them to routers/Media centers.

Don’t believe me ?
well, I’m not kidding one word, I go as far as to say, that at home , my parents have switched, for all of their day to day activities to linux. and they’re loving it.

Why would I do it?
OK, now, I’m sure you are unaware of FSF and it’s principles. I would have done it for free beer , but there’s a slight problem, I don’t drink. So, how bout, free dinner? or lunch?

Give Linux a chance. If things don’t quite work out the way you’d want them to, you have the freedom to choose MS s/w.