my introduction to cool

there is... so little that is to say.. but so much.. to just... feel.. remember and reminisce over...

going back to the days of school.. when we were.. in the least... MUCH less than cool...

he introduced us... to this one.. "english" tape... Dangerous!

suddenly... a new language was introduced... a new kind of music...

micheal jackson... and all those new possibilities!

it's almost like your first crush... and with my kind of issues @ letting go... how wud 1 ever get over this 1....

then... a few yrs back... n our beloved on toes... re-kindled an old flame... what with... 1 in the mornings... semi-drunk 20 somethings @ semi-past midnight.. watchin thriller videos on 4 LCD's... livin up the GOOD TIMES as they say!

n then... his phone.. caller tune... was oh MJ! so MJ!

the man who was in his glory days... when we were born... the king of pop when we were young...

is dead now... while we push towards anonimity... sure these kids can't figure out WHAT all the fuss is about! MJ is dead.. .SO?

rich man's car crash

so... nothing says... car crashes are good... or people like totalling their cars... not that this may not be true.. but we can fairly assume that's not the case with most of the lot... atleast not the one's i'm writing about here!

so... we have all i suppose... been through one major car-crash... and it has to be good... fire-works... something which causes the insurance firm to sit-up.. take notice :)

it's not so much about who's fault it is... i think? i mean obviously we're never... 100% in the right... and in most cases... we're not even 100% in the wrong.. put in a scoopfull of negligence... another scoop of the mood or the moment... add a dollop of this being at an un-earthly hour... and a dash of the thrill... of this being sucha "cool" THRILL!

again... we won't go crash our cars just to have the story i would think...

BUT! once it has happened... we like to milk it.. for all its worth... what with some realizations that you probably anyway wanted to get out? the facebook photo op? the bar-room stories of flashing and blinding lights!

ofcourse.. like all things unfortunate in life.. it is only permissible in moderation... you can cause monetary loss... and talk of it with a twinkle in your eye for the next fortnight... but... you lose a limb... yr kinda fucked... you run over innocent road sleepers.. BOY YR FUCKED!

i am ofcourse... very much part of this brigade... so i wouldn't call this "me ranting against things going wrong" lets' just try to call it.. "a study of social behavioral trends today?"

so... here's waiting for ... another set of rubber steel & glass pile :)

A Midsummer night's freak!

You fuck me to bits..
You suck on my tits.

When it's dimly lit..
I'm probably massaging yr clit!

When the frills don't do it..
We even fuck for thrills..

It's cheap when we're fighting over it..
I'm a creep when I'm forcing you into it!

Sometimes you get on top
Then you shudder to a stop!

You hold the wooden plank
As the bed goes clank-clank-clank

Then the show ends abruptly sometimes
The audience just claps and leaves?

today... i feel.. like chris isaac... singing....

when i was younger....

i used to think...

i could win?

now i WONDER!

how i WONDER!

hmmm... anyway... i have given up and given in... ppl keep stalling my life away...

i have absolutely no clue where i am going or what i'm doing here...

let's hope thru some magical serum i'm in banglore next week to find out more... about all this! 

glamour gutted!

so... here we were! young.. impressionable.. and on-to-something! 

what with their big-plans of europe here we come... and hk is where we wanna work... 

the lives full of plans.. of script-writers... i don't even know what not! but i am pretty sure.. between them.. .their dreams... (both awake and those sleepy-ones) they covered just about everything... that they would have done!

mind you... these weren't 5 yr olds... wanting to be... engineers, doctors.. or pilots... but 20 somethings... wanting everything... if you will believe airtel.. sufficiently... these guys.. were "www.impatientones.com" 

and then... i think what fucked things up was... we got on the wrong-side of 25... somehow... i think after 25... it's pretty much just down-hill... you go from dreams to just dreary-realities..

the fuck-up is... some of them aren't even 25.. just decided to age prematurely!

how else... do you explain... her marrying... him from office... she the elusive flower they said... and her... marrying him from school.. HIM? like seriously?!!

not to mention... him thinking of ... is she worth considerins :$

or him wandering into territory that was so clearly not-worth-mentioning.. just half-a-decade back!

we all gained a few pounds.. a few yrs... a LOT of cynicism... and suddenly... we're deeper entrenched into the system... the rat-race... the reality.. than we'd care to admit.. .even!

that navtej sarna line... comes to mind... and sadly seems to apply to self *we weren't lovers like that* and now... with a lil change.. we are those ppl... and yet.. we really.. weren't.. lovers like that :)

ah... in the ipl innings break... she's got the look  plays... reminder of those good ol' days maybe?

she says.. .we don't talk... you and i.. yr not much of a talker... am i not? i stopped sharing? caring? too much? or just turned too cynical somewhere along the way :S

well... this looks like something out of Sunday Evening Philosophers... but its clearly not something they'll use...

ON THE SIDE:

Katrina Kaif talking about cricket... brightened me up... blondie... who is clueless.. with a mike thrusted in her face... and she's supposed to comment on how she feels about the century (century #*%^&$ WHAT!!!) her teamie just scored...

bit of maddness to the method!

so... we often talk about how... there is.. a certain method to ppl's madness... how ... their... non-coherent... odd actions.. actually come naturally to them and they can make sense of all their things and in some odd way... have a clear idea or some kind of a clue.. on where they're headed!

there are.. ofcourse. the sorted variety... the seem non-sorted but Method to Madness (MtM) variety..  then there are the kinds who find themselves into trouble.. from time to time..

and THEN! there's me... who can take a normal... every-day situation... and find a way... on how to make it this convoluted... out of control almost kind of BIG PHAT mess!

doing the things.. most ppl do.. most of the times... i find ways... to complicate and make things messy! 

right from trying to catch everyday flights.. on 1 of those tours... to even resigning and switching jobs...

but then.. like she did .. point out..  we didn't expect any different from you... or any less... now... did we?

 :)

might finally leave kolkata... wonder if that's a happy thgt or a sad-one... these things are such hard to tell.. these days... good and bad have sorta kinda mixed themselves up lately...

maybe this is what happens.. when the good ones let you down.. or maybe this is the cynicism of a man on the wrong side of 25 ;)

making things real....

http://tinyurl.com/djhjmj

so... he sent me this link... this morning... 

my first reaction.. i was fascinated... almost thrilled... that ANY1 cud fly... i mean since 3 months i've been talking about going and sky-diving... and here.. this guy could get into a DOG-FIGHT instead? 

who's cooler now? yada.. yada.. you get on with life.. stop feeling jealous.. abt how the promised land.. is still marketing itself so much better.. and reaping the benefits.. another gentle reminder of how much the packaging really is... worth!

anyway... then i got thinking.. what is the real beauty of doing this.. anyway.. once i do.. move beyond the obvious joy of being a pilot without being one... 

so... step 1... the army generates revenues... whatever they may be... say.. this costs 1400$.. that's not exactly short-change.. even if it'll only be a .??% of the flight cost... but even if it pays for one wash... that's a little less.. the tax payers pay?

step 2... the people feel closer to the army..  army seems more of a reality.. where actual ppl go.. and face honest hardships.. and it isn't just a set of scams.. .from bofors to coffins! suddenly.. you feel good or bad for these ppl cos u related a tad more?

step 3... the general interest and excitement it develops in these fence-sitting individuals... about joining the army... and serving their nation!

now if only... our country thgt of such things... or promoted them in the right light?

wouldn't we be... proud indians fighting fake-battles for our country!

you know what baga said?

A beach bathed in moon light..
As we sit around the bonfire of memories
Each passing memory burns as the log fueling this fire..

There's cheers and muted conversations in the background
The world as usual passing us by..
The waves rumbling on the beach front
A gentle reminder we're still alive

They're all missing her..
Her.. The elusive perfection
That feeds on her own absence

But in the siluhettes that dance
The mood around all romance
Her lips waiting that perfect chance!

This is... A moment of a perfection
A guitar chord struck right!
The note & pitch of his voice.. Just right
All that's missing is the moonlight twinkling in her eye

things that make me go .... HMMMM

it's a borrowed title from her... but its so beauitful.... so complete....

let's us... now... make a list!

- when sachin tendulkar comes out to bat.. and inches towards his century!

- it's 2 am... and i'm on the wheel... somewhere btwn bandra and mahim...

- whence... @ someplacelse.... they start playing something by floyd

- when... she smiles! (you sucker.... you... you prick!)

- when ther's gobi ka paratha... and lasoon ki chutney for lunch!

- when it starts raining... and my life's sins... feel washed up...

- when they look @ me disapprovingly.. for i pulled another "vbv"

:)

SEP redux...

so so so... sunday evenin philosophers are back!

the new charachter this time is ... gold-mine!

the man with all the wonderful ideas in this world....

the problem with gold-mine is... he's too positive and ambitious to actually be a part of SEP and can easily be confused for your regular hi-flier!

but deep down... he feels lost n disillusioned abt what he does.. and why.... thus.. he's a SEP with a exo-skeleton of a PHP (potential high performer)

here goes gold mine's theme song...

 

 

Gold Mine… Gold Mine!

The champion against corporate crime

 

Gold Mine… Gold Mine!

Burning the midnight oil

 

There’s no bottle neck imaginable

With his idea generating gold-mind

 

He's about rushing against deadlines!
He'll even fight intellectual crime…

An extra hour in office. . .

Another working weekend!
Let's just surround ourselves with piles of files
It's a fight till the very end

With a burning sense of humor

Eclipsing his sense of style...
He's a silent killer

With a violent smile

Top line bottom line stock out or dad
Gold mine is so effective! He drove them all mad!

March to April as the calendar rolls...
He's lost count... Too busy exceeding his goals!

 

Gold Mine… Gold Mine!

The champion against corporate crime

 

Gold Mine… Gold Mine!

Burning the midnight oil

 

Condemned Dreams

Wind hits my face…
Swifting past in a metro…
It's no longer a cold wave…
There's too much burning inside!

She strapped on her heels
Biker babes don't have it easy...
The road has always been home to
Guns... Germs and Steel!

We used to speak in silhouettes
when whispers seemed too loud
we said forever would mean too less
we couldn't part that young ;)

Cream crayons and dirty dreams
my tattoo was your wedding ring
of folded sleeves and open collars
there was no envy in her dollar dreams

now its empty cobbled streets
the same old songs on repeat
Reminiscing and living in pictures
of high heels, off orange peels

Right-Sized

Of.. Mice and men.. In this rat race they ran..
The winner stood wondering.. What now??

Of luck and such.. She warned them
It's not what can you do.. But can't?

The running is consistent.. The force is full..
The direction keeps changing.. It's a zero sum game..

I used to have dreams once.. Of glory and greatness..
Now I wonder :)

Madam Manic

You're pretty pretty on most of the days
Very pretty on rest of the days..
I wonder how good you look today.

You're a girl every man wud need
You're a girl.. No man can afford to keep
At 3 am.. Can I watch you sleep??

Words loose meaning.. just your lips part
Worlds collide.. As your limbs part
Melted hot chocolate & a sizzling heart!

Shimmer & shine of your painted lips
The self assured touch of your finger tips..

You're an intoxication best enjoyed.. In small.. little sips

Atlast.... Shrugged!

it was sometime.... in 05-06... when i had picked up atlas shrugged for the second time.... to read... after-all... how could i have left behind sucha important book on my way anyway...

and then... well... i quit... after 4oo pgs... but like... most hindi movies... this one has a happy ending...

this... starts with... sometime in 08... when i re-visited.. .the paperback i had purchased on the streets of kolkata.. in 07... cos it had the OLD art-work on the cover... 

me n my love for the old art-work on books... :)

after going through abt 25 pgs.. .the book started to fall apart... we can hardly blame the thing... it held it together for 25 odd yrs :)

so... we went to the corner-store and got a shiny new atlas shrugged... with the white color cover n all that...

for the next few months... we read 20 pgs a day... abt twice a week.. on the ride to work... when we weren't on the phone... and other such...

we took it with us... to abt half a dozen states... and alll such!

ppl mocked us all around... for nvr ever finishing it.. and it being the book of my life and what not!!

then there was the holiday to singapore.. .when i carried the thing with me.. . in hope that .. .thru the various flights and other such.. i'll read the damn thing...

as luck would have it..forgot it in the hotel in singapore....

thus ended the second copy of atlas shrugged... in my trivial pursuit!

then... on one of my trips to mumbai.... i pulled out another copy of atlas shrugged.. .that we had borrowed from her... in 05... that's after-all how we'd decided to start reading it... though i am not very sure.. if it was him or her... 

and over the next few weeks and a couple of months... finally finished the book....

after having managed to run thru the 1100 something pages... she tells me... vbv... over the lst yr... u must've... even forgotten... wht dagny's charachter had started as.....

she maybe right.... but i had... atlast shrugged :)

Breeze...

The conversations that happened.. 

Between the sheets on a Sunday morning .

The things that were left unsaid 

on a late Saturday night..

She called to say she wasn't ready for this.. 

He had been planing to pull the plug on her instead..

Cream color dreams in black & white
Seem vaguely familiar the morning after..

When the blue curtains of the morning sun parted..
The black sky and his hopes had vanished

Curling on empty air plane seats
He wishes his life away

finest way to start a day!

so... i woke up this morning... to read this story in the news!

and i must say... there are all sorts of things... life prepares one for... but not some brilliant surprises of this kind :)

after reading this... someone told me... how kids have the absolut clarity and over the yrs and our complications... we end up losing sight of things we really want.. and would cherish!

not sure... if we were better decision makers then or now... but this surely... is a good read!

State of mind...

so... tmrw... i will visit... the 20th state of India... in my 26 yrs... so fascinating! sucha mile-stonE!

it'll be the first new state i will visit in 2009.... 

we happend to visit.... 6 new states in 2007 & 5 new ones in 2008.... its clearly been a good-couple of yrs! ;)

i've always been fascinated about travelling within India... exploring the various states and other such... which is why... i decided to keep a tab on how many of them are there... and how many v've covered... turns out... 28 states & 7 ut's.... so out of this list of 35... we're on 20 already :)

maybe... it surprises you.. to find this... so fascinating... but for a boy... brought up in mumbai.. .with a bi-annual vacation to north-india... suddenly going out... and seeing the rest of india suddenly is just.... sucha RUSH!

it is just... something which gives me sucha high... to be a person... who's atleast visited these places... for a short-while even... maybe just one city... maybe just one night? but... still i have seen.. more than half of our states... :)

i feel great pride about the whole deal! 

in the 15 odd which are still left... 6 of them are very important... which will be planned for .... in the coming yr.... after-all... how else can we discover ourselves... but thru travel :)

cheers to another train ride!

Jharkhand calling!

all's well... that ends well!

so... the year that was .. 2008...



one too many count-downs and recollections have already obviously been done... since we're already in 2009...



but i think.. we can start with.. diwali of 2007... when we crashed our car and survived...

that.. was quite the turning point... cos i got out scratch-less... and it meant i never bought that car in kolkata which i was supposed to... then came the new yr in delhi...

the impulsive surprise @ roxy!

the long, dreary baroda....

another change of guard... the launch of chad valley... and the possibilities.. which still remain un-utilized! so... actually.. with chad valley... this was one of my biggest years in sometime!

then... the first formula 1... and the lap of luxury holiday that followed!

the diwali surprise... that was SO un-expected...

and then... well... not to forget... the first time we lived on our own... the maid... the house...

the first time in life.. i entertained my folks at *my home*

the first time i entertained my brother and lotsa friends also!

god i love my friends... what would i ever do without them?

and then... half-drunk knight! my most precious addition of 08! how much i shall miss him next yr... sigh!

and well... like the theme says.. all's well that end's well.. thru the most dramatic... most travelled... and i think most "lived" year of my life... the last 15 days were some bloody good parties... in amar sonar bangla!

the last 2 days ofcourse... were the best imaginable!

the 30th night... with those stupid boys.. after 5 bloody long yrs... 3... if u r from fukudus domain!

and then... the chilled out 31st at home... let us see... what tomorrow brings!

hung-over-knight : bio-sketch!

so.... hung-over-knight.. is not just any random guy...

he is actually a new phenomenon of today... i was mighty surprised to come across this one... but maybe i'm just lucky! to see all this... in a single-life-time!

mind you.. like the original knights! this is not just one guy... but its a group of men.. .who up-hold this strong... difficult set of values & never compromise! never let-go!

live strong i say!

so... what one may ask.. are the principles of h-o-k living?

- a man who loves only one woman...
there is only one true love... and everyone else who comes along the way.. are stray women! but he's a real-knight so.. he will not let them feel.. less than loved! so...

- a man who will be up-front about his lofe... for another...
i mean.. sure.. the knight.. is irresistible! who doesn't want a man, already committed to another? (and they think men have committment issues and tend to cheat... its the women who want to make them cheaters... to make their men seem cooler?)

- a man who is still NOT in-discriminate!
i mean sure.. he is a knight.. and there are all these women! but that in NO way means... he will be out and about with every1! while a personal sense of discrimination might be more of a common'er quality! but... what makes the knight extra special is... that he might... inter-act with a lot more... but he actually "gives up sex" and i quote a knight here!
any lesser man... could not have ever said this!

like the fabled knight's... i see no peace or satisfaction... come in the knight's life.. except through spreading joy and smile's... in the life of as many women... as he CAN fancy... so they all smile thinking... "they were worthy, to be had!"

merry christmas... or somethin

so... the big-christmas eve was some name-less-face-less party... followed by a couple of more such parties....

nice... none-the-less nothing worth remebering mentioning or whatever.. i mean it was nice.. but.. BAS!

so then on christmas day... we woke up around lunch... the made didn't come... so there was no food.. but the ever-thgtful "bhaiya" made maggi n scrambled eggs :) 

and we had a healthy-and-well-fed afternoon! followed by bumming rest of the day! 

then in the evening... hung-over-knight called and said let's catch up!

so we drove down to park street... and it was all so brilliantly lit-up and crowded! decked up like a princess! the best street of calcutta! all ppl well dressed in the way they knew best how to... walking around on a chilly winter evening... with their dear ones and sharing a laugh!

and then we went down to the god's favorite cafe... t3 - the tea table... sat down over there... after struggling 10 mins to find a table... one of those un-heard of things... t3 being too full :)

any-who.. then after much struggle.. we caught the attention of the waiter.. and placed an order.. then after about 3 reminders... we got them to clean our table.... and about 3 seperate set of reminders... got him to get us our complete order...

this.. somewhere is where the real charm of T3 lies... in their non-chalant approach to customer service.. how hard it is.. to un-ruffle them.. from their real-job.. which is to guard that monument.. 

and somewhere in the brilliant food that they serve and the general festive ambience of the place... the cool of the waiters... and the long lovely conversation... reminscing the past... shared experiences... recent and beyond... somewhere i was reminded... THIS is the spirit of christmas and holiday!

this.. is what we all make a big-deal about... try and meet our dear friends... catch up with them and well this is what makes christmas merry!

so... it may not have been perfect... but i hope your christmas and holidays go merry as well!

for now.. i love my life.. and hung-over-knight.. for being a part of it :)