Ram... to ...Hey Ram !!

Ram..
Most controversial word since last 2 weeks.

What are we up to ??
Challenging our own roots.. only for some political reason ??
Only to completely change the history that we were taught..
Only to change the history that we are so proud of..

And why ??
Just because some political party opposes the 'setu-samudram' project and the other one supports it.. Both the parties doing so blindly, that one of the parties is even ready to say that Ram is a just a mythical figure..

Just imagine it this way... Lets accept that Shriram was a mythical figure, and not an actual human being. Going by the story, Hanuman should also be considered as mythical. Further going by the stories that we were so fondly told, shouldn't the Kauravas and Pandavas be accepted as mythical figurines ?? Doing so, there's chain of stories that we would have to accept as Imaginary..

Has anyone ever thought of this ... these stories are being taught in primary schools for last centuries, only to imbibe the very basic principles of life and good behavior on kids...
And by simply filing an affidavit in court, saying that Ram was an imaginary figure, aren't we contradicting the very basis of our education..

By doing this, aren't we heading towards transforming into another US of A ?? a huge country with world's second largest population and culturally, gone completely haywire...

BJP or Congress or DMK -- it doesnt matter who stands correct and who doesn't.
Let them blare out whatever they want to.. Its upon 'us' to decide what we believe in and what we follow.

@ Setu-samudram project -- going by the advantages of the project, shouldn't we keep our history aside - but not forget it -- and support something that is going to be profitable to all ???

Few songs worth a mention

Just thought of posting few mentionable songs i've been listening to ..

1. Saiyyan -- this ones by Kailash kher -- awesome vocals supported by really good string work

2. Sehra -- this one's by Roopkumar Rathod from movie Agar ( 'Aggar' if its to be spelt as per the makers ) -- touching lyrics. Beautiful music by Mithoon.

3. Shaam tanha -- this one is by Agnee -- man, these guys are the pioneers of
Indi-rock. The ease with which they shift from a seemingly sadistic song like 'Sadho re' (which infact, is one of Sant Kabir's dohaas) to a soft melodious rendition like shaam tanha.. SUPER !!!

4. Alvida -- song from Metro. Pritam, along with James simply rock with this one. Moves you inside out.

5. Tere Naina -- kailash kher again. Simply beautiful song.

6. Its not over -- song by Daughtry -- well written, and played.

7. You're beautiful -- by James Blunt. Intelligent.

8. What goes around, comes around -- by Justin Timberlake. A song that signifies one simple fact of life thru its lyrics. intelligent music. Awesome video with stunning Scarlett Johanson.

9. The reason -- by Hoobastank. Meaningful. Apt.

Update :
10. Junoon -- this one's by Abhijeet Sawant. Meaningful lyrics, good music -- accompanied by equally good vocals by Abhijeet Sawant.

what happens when you couple a 10 year old Nikkor 100mm MF lens with a Nikon D80

white eye

white eye

Some new photos from my side..

few moments after a very refreshing rain..

moon on 4th of July 2007 ..


and finally, who needs an umbrella ???

Rain..

i love it when it rains just before dawn.. only to experience one of the beautiful sights in nature..



i love it when it rains in the late evening.. only to enjoy long drives with some good music..


i love it when it rains.. only to enjoy walking in the rain.. so that people dont see me cry..


ok.. the last one is by Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. a.k.a. Charlie Chaplin.. [:D]

but frankly, i love it whenever it rains.. love the music of raindrops.. with every drop creating a different sound and forming out a brilliant composition so naturally..

Undo; Ctrl + Z

sometimes i wish i had a 'undo' button.. to turn back things that haven't turned out the way i want them to.. loads of them actually.
Not that i regret these things - but sometimes it feels like there was some other and better way..

but will it really help ? or is it more appropriate what spidey says - you always have the choice to do the right thing..

If tomorrow never comes...

Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping
She's lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of..
If tomorrow never comes


Beautiful song..

darkness...

staring into the darkness..
like entering a dark tunnel.. with no light to guide you thru..
not knowing whats comin on to you...
standing right there..
not knowing whats waiting for you at the end ..
yet ready to embrace the unknown..
or
is it that i am walkin with my eyes closed in a brightly lit tunnel ?
not opening them to avoid reality..

shit.. i am thinking too pessimistically i guess...

Life's a game

Life is like a computer game... proceeding thru different levels -- and you cant get into the next one until you complete each one...
only difference being you cant re-play it... and no matter whatever cheats you put in.. you have to play it... no skippin levels, no infinite ammo, no body armour and important of all... no God mode..

And i am at the end of one level... but cant find that exit..

skies clearing up ... or is it ????

well i did something on 20th march that might end all the confusions that have clogged my mind until now..

It has cleared up a lot of things in my mind. At first i thought i was doing something wrong - it might reflect badly on my friendship but until now, it hasn't. And i hope that it will never.. :)

skies clearing up...
or just makin way for another emotional turmoil...
am i afraid.. ??
no.. not this time ..
cos someone stands by my side..

good bye .. MH12CA5741 ..

today could be an emotional day for me, had i been very sensitive... but still..

My first 'loved' car.. the zen .. was given away ( not sold ) today..
there are memories .. loads of memories attached with it.. i used it for about 3 years and added almost 50k KMs to the odo -- enjoyed every bit of it.. why wont i love it then ??

too many things..
timepass we did in college.. those drives to Lonavla -- ripping it on the empty stretches of road -- bunking college and going to vaishali -- those frequent visits to Adlabs and Esquare.. well, 'frequent' is an understatement here :D --- all that tp with 'other' group ;) -- unforgettable one-day mumbai trips -- getting caught by the police -- car breaking down at a very busy intersection and traffic police helping us .. roaming around alone in the rains with windows rolled down -- damn .. there's so much to write about all of it..

All this makes me feel very nostalgic ..

all i wish is whoever uses her, should care for her .. more than i did ..

My photos -- few of the best ones in my opinion - part 2

some more of pics clicked by me... will be completing my post in parts..

some big words - with bigger meanings...

commitment..
darn.. how do i de-code it ???
this one word has been fiddling around in my mind for last 2-3 days ... and i am searching for answers since then..

confused ...

hmm its been a busy month for me... doin a lot of stuff on site/ off site..
and i am confused.. very much confused.. about my future -- i have no idea abt whether i shld be going ahead with the family business or take up PG in construction management, fights with dad over new ideas ( man i can feel the generation gap first hand ) ...or may be its just too many things at hand right now..
Other thing that gobbles up a hell lot of my time is my relationship ( may be i shld say relationships ) ... its been something like an emotional gang-bang over last few weeks - 6 to be precise...

Amongst all this, i found a great song.. ' ya rabba ' from 'salaam e ishq' ... the movie is so -so .. didnt like it much -- even napped for 10-15 mins while watching it... but man, that song touched my heart .. may be because the string of events that i am going thru but seriously, after a long time i heard a song that touched me .. made feel like crying... Worth a listen and
listen carefully if you have ever been in love ..

My photos -- few of the best ones in my opinion

45 litres of 97 Octane petrol, Cold air induction and 4 hours to spare

Its all abt driving.
Its all about enjoying a drive and a sunday morning - the chilly winter types ..

I would have prefered to stay in my bed and sleep till 9.00 .. but somehow, i was just charged up about this drive thingy. So i went .. i went all alone ( nothin great actually but might sound crazy ).. to Lavasa city. It should have been a 120 Km drive in toto but My great knowledge of roads added another 120 Kms to it and thus odo reading jumped from 21010 to 21270..

those curvy roads are something to die for.. and taking on the curves at speeds of 70 -80 gave me experience of a life time -- and a lesson too... :D .. well doing a 360 turn un-intentionally gives you a hell lotta kicks ;) but doing 90 kmph on a curve is not advisable with car running 175 profile at rear ..

boy was that drive fun ?? hehehe.. i am gonna give it one more shot -- this time with my new camera :) so that should be more fun... and a whole lot of photographs.

Inspiring story

ok this is in a bit of hurry...
today afternnon, watching Discovery channel or Nat Geo.. am not sure about the channel, i came across a story of certain CHRIS MOON.
this guy, working in a medical unit with UN in Combodia, was captured by the Khmer Rouge ( spellcheck ) regime. These people are infamous for their behaviour with prisoners. A very common practice was to take all the belongings and shoot down the captured person..
Somehow, Mr. Chris Moon managed to convince these SOBs to let him and his 2 mates go after 4 days of hard travel in worst areas of combodia .. ofcourse under Khmer rouge control.

In these 4 days, death was the only thing on Chris' mind. His skills of negotiation won him 3 lives and freedom.

now the bad part :
5-6 years later this Chris guy was sent to Mozambique in Africa for a very dangerous job of Landmine detection and De-activation. On a normal working day, an undetected mine blew off his leg. His right arm had to be amputed because of the injuries it had sustained. Now, survival back on his mind, he fought back with the incident and today,he is very much alive.

Any normal person could have stopped moving around and sat back home thinking about the past and singing self praise. Mr. Chris stood up on this and with help of medication, a hell lot of determination and technology. He got himself a robotic arm and a robotic leg ( i dont know proper words ... sorry for that ) and now he runs Cross - Desert Marathons for the Disabled. A remarkable event he runs eveytime is a 7 -day run through 7 deserts and as far as i think, he must have won atleast 2-3 times.

Now thats what i call can call a real HERO.
Kudos to Chris Moon !!!!


A little update : googled for Chris Moon - he appears to be a motivational speaker in UK - well worth the work .....

well ... this can happen only in India ..!!

Last week's been pretty much of ups and downs for the Indian cinema fraternity.
3 very big heroes... 3 very big incidences.... and all of them bad.

yeah.. firstly its our muscle boy.. Salman khan.
He was arrested on the charges of hunting down a Chinkara - an endangered species of deer, way back in 1998. The case has been going on for a freakin 8 years, with actor not turning up in court lot of times. As the court found him guilty of the charges, a 5 yr sentence was slapped on him, So the police arrested him on Monday 10th April 2006. now that move is made after 8 years of a very complicated legal battle in the courts of Jodhpur.
IMHO this was a very much deserved sentence for Salman..
now the worst part : when he was released on bail ( a very much expected event : i can guess what pressure the Judge for the case must have been through .. ) , there were celebrations by his fans across the country. when he reached mumbai, his fans gathered outside his house fired crackers, played dhols and what not, as if he was a war-hero... To top it off, Mr. Salman Khan danced with his fans ... aahh... great heroes !!!!

the second person is Mr. Rajkumar : a super popular hero from south. The same actor kidnapped by Veerappan.
As far as my knowledge goes, Rajkumar was known as the big B of south ... rather a greater figure than big B. I have always heard about him from the workers on my site and always in high regards. I have even seen 2 of our watchmans performing Puja on his photos......
Sadly this great man died on 12th april 2006. What his fans did after their hero's death, left me totally baffled. Bangalore almost came to halt because of the angry fans.. Fans angry because of their hero's death !!!! now this really can happen only in India ...

the third person i must mention here is Mr. Amir Khan.
yep - its a very unlikely name to take with above incidences but what Amir Khan did, really sets him apart.
He simply went to the place where people against Narmada Valley Project are protesting in form of fasting and satyagrah and declared his support to their demands. another thing he mentioned was the Bhopal gas tragedy. What he said and did was nowhere related to any political party.... Now as a result of this, workers from some party stopped screening of Amirs movie RDB. Now thats the treatment one gets if he tries to change something bad in this country.... it should be noted that Amir did not take any names in the press conference nor he expressed any support towards any political party... so in my opinion, there wont be some other motive behind all this. and what he gets in return is a 20 minute slot on every news channel and a stopped movie screening.

Now what the hell are we up to ??
burning down cars on a hero's death, dancing after another hero is released from jail and stopping movie screenings after the hero of that movie extends his hand to some people fighting for a cause ......
if this carries on ...the RDB way is not far away....

this one's almost a continuation to the post about favourite songs.
On & On - by Jay Sean - one of my top 20 list...
who says rap songs are all about gangsta life - just  check out the lyrics of this song ...
i find the song quite close to life ( may sound a bit aged - but thats how it makes you feel.. )


On 'n On

Thinking bout all of those days I left behind
Nowadays it seems I'm watching life just pass me by
The world is spinning beneath my feet at an unforgiving pace
And I, I just find myself falling victim to the chase

If only I could take it back, to the days when I was younger
Then maybe I would cherish that moment I grew older
Finally I understand that time won't wait for no one (no no no)
I can't live in the past

On N on, on N on, it don't look back (people move)
On N on, on N on, they won't look back (and thought I've moved)
On N on, on N on, I won't forget
What it took to get me here,
How much I sacrificed

Maybe I allowed myself to be consumed
Turned my back on what once the only life I knew
Too busy loving me to notice everything had changed
and I've come to realise that nothing ever stays the same

If only I could take it back, to the days when I was younger
Then maybe I would cherish that moment I grew older
Finally I understand that time won't wait for no one (no no no)
I can't live in the past

On N on, on N on, it don't look back (people move)
On N on, on N on, they won't look back (and thought I've moved)
On N on, on N on, I won't forget
What it took to get me here,
How much I sacrificed

Now I see, that on the road that I chose
I can't leave, when the weakness begins to show
Finally, I just gotta let it go

On N on, on N on, it don't look back (people move)
On N on, on N on, they won't look back (and thought I've moved)
On N on, on N on, I won't forget
What it took to get me here,
How much I sacrificed 

hats off to JS - too good.