Now or Never.......

Is it just self healing? Trying to console yourself? Content on living with what you got? All under the guise of optimism? Patience or lack of drive? Compromise is a double edged sword. Is it waiting for the 'right time' or laziness? Do you make philosophy out of the half-filled glass or get up and top it up? Do you look at the silver lining or fight for your sun light? Do you wait to be rescued or rescue yourself? Is 'faith', the panacea of all ills? Is preemption really jumping the gun? Is weight of wisdom greater than the bulk of conscience? Is 'self-identity' a redundant term? Is there a fine line between the sense of urgency and impatience? Is there such a thing called 'second chance'? Do you have enough time? Do you want to discover your fate or do you want your fate to discover you? Does fate have a plan B? If not, do YOU have a plan B? The parachute aint opening till you pull the chord. There is no 'undo' button in life. How will you know if you still got time? When will you cross the river?

Moral of the story: Its now or never........

Confluence of the Dark Knights...and...er..a white one...

Upon discovery of the degree confluence project (http://www.confluence.org/) I instantly knew that we, the SQF (Sinhgad Quizzing Fraternity) brethren were the right people for the job. I tossed the idea to the real life Calvin manifestation a.k.a. Anish and he jumped at the thought. Panday as is usually the case, volunteered lazily. White chocolate a.k.a. Rahul was a hard (and white) nut to crack. But he agreed to come after he realized that his lame excuses were futile against me. Now the problem was finding a GPS device. Like a saviour emerged Ashish Chaudhary. He had a device which he got from those NRI-relatives. Bless them. So we were set. Day-Sunday. Time-afternoon. Car-maruti 800. Punctuality-none. After setting off 45 mins late, we filled petrol and were off. Rahul (who henceforth will be referred to as ‘the tourist’ for reasons which would soon be obvious) was given a pizza. (which was nothing more than a 'bling-bling' papad) After the mustard sauce settled (all over the rear seat…..much to my distraught when I later realized that) we were out of Pune heading due south. This trip fulfilled my dream of riding a moon-buggy on the lunar surface. Well it almost did. Except that the moon buggy was the maruti and moonscape was the highway. After proving that maruti does make some of the best suspension systems in the world, we closed in our objective. Just before khambatki ghat, our GPS unit read that we had already crossed our confluence point!! (18N 74E) But we trusted Google Earth and NASA World Wind (whose maps we were using) more and decided to cross the ghat. The satellites put some sense back into our device which then read as expected. Just below that ghat, it started pointing to a point some 400m into a field. We parked our car and ventured into the lush green albeit shady looking field. Three fields, four weird looking cows and two snaps later we saw some form of habitation. They were farmers working in the fields. One of them saw us from a distance and started yelling in a vernacular tone, “Come here.” We weren’t surprised to hear a farmer speak English. We were wondering why he chose us to display his knowledge of the language. Then as is generally the case, we realized that he must have thought that Rahul was a foreigner! And indeed, when he approached him trying to explain what we were doing, he said he thought we were foreigners, because of Rahul. He apparently was a part time farmer working forBPCL in Wai, close by. He directed us around the field and after a few minutes of walking and crawling with the device, we finally successfully located 18.00.00 N and 74.00.00 E. I think it was the Sun in India that made the tourist loose his senses when he loudly proclaimed that the sun sets in the east. In his wid fit of mental imbalance he manged to loose our only pen. After a hearty laugh the required snaps were taken and we walked back to our car. On the way back, in continuation of his bad day, the tourist stepped in slush which he later had to clean with cow fodder. All this when we met the mobile phone brandishing sarpanch of the village. We reached Pune two and a half hours later.
So all in all it was more of a confluence of carefree road tripping and funny Rahul-related incidents rather than just a confluence of integer latitudes and longitudes.

Life...or something like it.....

This is for those of you who think that my last post was not quite me, I hope this one which also comes straight from the heart; is more 'like me'.....


I travelled so far.....
Saw sights a many.....
Was led by a guiding star....
Yearning for that short penny....

Was always runnin behind that penny and a chic....
Hoping someday my life would click....
At crossroads tossed the odd coin....
Tryin to decide which path to join...

Many years later today.....
I fondly remember the eventful yesterday...
Still cant decide what to keep and what to chuck....
Then look back and wonder.....Oh what the fuck.....

;-)

First...

To Walk is to Fall first...

To Dance is to Trip first...

To Emote is to Feel first...

To Learn is to Unlearn first...

To Sing is to Humm first...

To Walk is to Get up first...

To Quench is to be Thirsty first...

To Write is to Read first...

To Gaze is to Look first...

To Miss is to Meet first...

To Forgive is to Sin first...

To Befriend is To Be A Friend first...

To Succeed is to Fail first...

To Love is to Hurt first...


By:
Yours Truly.... ;-)

Shalom Namaste....but no thanks!

Everyone learns something or the other from bollywood movies...... Well this is what I learnt after watching 'Salaam Namaste'.....

1. Colourful undies are in.
2. Sensible lyrics are out.
3. Wear loud clothes and you get laid.
4. Melbourne is like Mundhwa. Catch a rick and you are there.
5. Athletic dancing of a nine months pregnant woman is good for her baby.
6. Cant speak English? Become a doctor in Australia...

Ok here's a simple question....
What do you get when cross mutated goat with a colourful donkey?
Simple.....You get Preity and Saif in Salaam Namste.
One cant stop braying and the other cant stop showing how gay he is....

*** SPOILER AHEAD *****
(movie story discussed)
Well, you cant really spoil that is already so bad.....


In a nutshell, wannabe guy-wannabe job-pretty girl-Australian lifestyle in Indian pay-both start off on wrong foot-sing a misplaced song-fall in love-live together-guy knocks up the girl-now the best part---INTERMISSION---girl pregnant-guy in denial-blame it on the faulty condom (so picked up from 'Friends')-girl sees guy's real colour-abortion attempt-sees meaning of life in clinic-abortion called off-guy hysterical-girl->"We should break up."-Guy->"Yeah. Maybe we should."-Me->"Yawn."-turmoil-that song with silly lyrics-get back together-happy ending-Me still yawning-Movie over-Me delighted.

On a more serious note, too much 'Kal Ho Na Ho' and 'HumTum' baggage. Sloppy direction. Too much plagiarism. Haywire scripting. More emphasis on packaging than on content. Superficial acting. Lame attempt of introducing comedy. Waste of Arshad Warsi.

Best Dialogue -- Javed Jaffarey: "While in Rome, do the Romans."

Best Scene - INTERMISSION

Best Plot: Preity Zinta trying to pull-off a Mallika Sherawat.

Exit Quote: "Should have watched 'No Entry' instead."

MORAL OF THE STORY: Dont watch unreviewed Yash Raj films.

Stick a fork in me Mama, I am done!

My thoughts when I got my B.E. (Bachelor of Engineering) result the other day. Now I am officially an electronics and telecommunications engineer. I am not trying to make hyperbolic statements here, but I think the last four years have been one helluva experience. As cliched as it may sound, let me say it. 'The last 4 years have changed me.' I have to say it because it's true. I know every graduate says the same thing with a lot of nostalgic emotion. But there is certainly something different about the BE degree. I can never talk about the '4 years' as good 'ol college days. I think they made me more resilient and patient. And most importantly I learnt to accept failure and move on. There were so many instances in these years when I felt, "I am in deep shit!". But then I started enjoying these 'shitty situations' and coming out of them. If there are any Rocky fans reading this they know the line - "Its the eye of the tiger its the cream of the fight...". Engineering taught me that.
In hindsight I feel enginnering was more of a finishing school for us to face life.