Diwali time

Howdy people! It has been a while since I wrote something. Good new is my nightmares have gone and I am back to dreamless nights. Not sure what changed but I am not complaining.J

This is a little late, but I hope you all had a bombastic Diwali. Diwali is such a special time. I mean, even being in this far off land where nothing is as it would be at Ma-Papa’s place, this time of the year brings out the grandiosity of existence. It is the most spectacular time of the year for me. It is not just about the sweets and the nice food and all the hard work for prepping the house. Just the whole extravaganza that goes with it makes it the larger than life occasion that it is.

Meri life sahi hai yaar. This year was a very special Diwali. Infact, it was one of the best ever! I have this great friend who has been my friend since 6^th grade. And after all these years I came to know what a wonderful cook she is. She invited about 25 people for lunch and the menu was nothing less than a restaurant menu. From shahi paneer to palak paneer to dal makhni, the main course was fingerlickicious. Infact, I noticed that I don’t have any fingers left in my right hand now! I licked and licked ‘em all! And the desserts were even more special – gulab jamun, kheer, aate ka halwa. All home made! And you should have seen the patience with which she went about cooking. I have had the luck of knowing some real amazing cooks. Ila just made that list longer! My friends are such an inspiration.

Click here to view Diwali photos

And as usual I didn’t want to come back. The week after that was hectic, yet, I went down the memory lane – not just this Diwali but all those I remembered from the past. Some were good, some were ok and some were nasty. But, Diwali was something when ma-papa slogged like anything. I think it is time for my generation to take over. No one could have done it better than you Ila! You just rock!J

I am back to living life. You all, take care people.

I have a dream

You know what is the most difficult task I had as a kid? Ma-papa ka naam roshan karna. It is not an easy task, especially when you hail from a middle class family in India. And ma-papa na naam roshan karna by default means to do well in studies. Think like Einstien, work like an IT engineer and get ranks like Puloma and Ila etc, no pressure otherwise! We all have to go through it. When it was my turn, I was more like a tubelight with black ends and with a major starter problem. I barely managed to make their names barely visible, forget doing the roshan thing.

Mom-dad never complained. They had accepted their fate and were pretty OK with it. My teachers never knew my name except when the question was who did the last prank on poor XYZ or who stole that stupid test tube from the Chemistry lab. Padhai maine ki nahi kabhi, I always had something better to do. Sleeping, eating, recording music tapes and just about general time passing were always way more important. The most important thing in this whole situation is that, never for a day I had any guilt of not studying. I used to see the helpless expressions on my parents face whenever any exam result would come and I would have just a prayer for them.

But I guess things do catch up. Lately, I have been getting this recurrent dream where I am failing an examination. More specifically, it is a Hindi exam which somehow is very critical. A point to be noted here is that I studied Hindi only till 8^th standard and it had no bearing on my career except the fact that I did worse in the subject I chose instead. When I dream that dream, I know that if I do not clear it, something real bad would happen, I just don’t seem to remember what. I would remember that I am way past 8^th standard and I should not really be writing that exam, but I still have to take it. It is getting more vivid and I have even started sweating now, in the dream of course! And then I get up suddenly and then remind myself where I am and what I actually do in the weekdays and that this Hindi exam really is not for real and that I have actually completed my academic education and I don’t have to go back to school. And then I check the time and it always is quarter to 5. Spooky, I say!

Later in the day I find the whole thing very funny. Out of sheer curiosity, I did some research on what this dream might actually mean. Some suggest that I might be having a very low self esteem. LOL, not at all! I don’t have esteem; I have absolute pride in what I am! With all humility and modesty, I know I am the best – super duper bumper best. People around me agree that I am the best in what I do. And you know what I do. Others suggest that I might have a lot of pending work at work which is causing me all worked up in my dreams. But this is nothing new. I always have pending work. I mean that is how I work – aaj kare so kaal kar, kaal kare so parso, itni jaldi kya hai bhaiya jab jeena hai barso. This is my work motto. Nothing has changed at my work place or my relations. I am lagging behind everything – business as usual. Some also suggested that I might be having very high expectations from myself. Really? The biggest expectation I have from myself is to get up at 8:30 AM. Is that too much? Am I being too harsh on myself? :P

So I am curious to know what might be causing this dream. If you know me, any pointers to my situation are welcome. If you don’t know me, then too you can comment on my situation because, you know, I love comments!

Sri Krishna (SRK) Mahima

I thought, I had seen it all on the internet. I mean, I have been a voracious reader in the past. I have been (and still am) an edacious youtuber who watched everything from String Theory (given my scientific bent, I still do not have a clue about it) to watching magic tricks to learning how to moon walk (yeah even with my dancing skills) and whistling with fingers (I still cannot do it) to songs like ischool ke tame pe aana gori dem pe. I will even confess that out of curiosity I watched things which I should not have really watched (but at least I now know what I should not watch). I maintain a couple of blogs myself and after that I am convinced that all kinds of trash is allowed on the internet. Sab chalta hai.

So even though the internet is such a huge source of information, entertainment and crap, in a certain way I thought I have seen all kinds of things there are to see. Sometimes, I do get bored of internet too. But every once a while, I come across something which blows my mind off. This is a gem that I came across on Great Bong's blog. Great Bong is a wonderful writer. His blog is one of the most popular blogs on the internet. And that is why he is on my blogroll. But what suddenly caught my attention was the comments section on one of the old posts I happened to read. This comment was by a certain Mr. Rajib (I bet that is not his real name) who is a big Shahrukh Khan fan. And at the same time, he is a big devotee of Lord Krishna. And has found a way of relating his love for the King of Bollywood with the King of the Universe. I am posting just one comment. Do read all the logic he has presented here in the comments section.

Here it goes..

Rajib Roy

September 13, 2006 at 3:36 pm

EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN IN KNOWN

SHAHRUKH IS LORD KRISHNA IN DISGUISE

Its about almost 16 years ago when I first saw him I don’t know why a wave passed through my body suddenly I don’t know where from in a second it was in my mind this boy is no one but Lord Krishna, the first thing that strike me was his looks and the way he was talking never seen in anyone taking like this. He has is so different than other human beings (male or female), I have seen so much full of life in his eyes, a amazing brightness in those eyes and his overall looks. Whatever he was saying, it was like the boy was oozing wave of energy from him, at that time he was not a star but I was definite that very soon he is going to emerge as someone very big and soon my predictions came true as very fast he emerged as the box office king of the word’s biggest film industry Bollywood. The boy has such level of magnetic attraction that hasn’t been seen in anyone before, attraction that could dissolve anyone. I was getting more certain that the beauty he possesses couldn’t be anyone’s but lords own. Before that I was a strong follower of lord Krishna.

My belief was so much strong that it forced me to find out why I am feeling such and who is he. It was the year1993/94, but at that time I didn’t have proper evidences to prove that. Moreover, if that time I am going to tell anyone, everybody will misread me and think it’s just a another case of infatuation that every youngster feels with the glamorous stars and when he is SHAH RUKH KHAN so chances were even higher but I was desperate to seek the reality. Day by day I observed him closely, read books, read articles whatever source available I just started to grab from everywhere possible to know him. That’s not the end there was also problems because I have to do it in the two ways first to know about SHAH RUKH and second to know about LORD KRISHNA and his incarnations vastly and than have to relate SRK with LORD KRISHNA and after long search I was able to find few evidences that I have collected which I can present and now here I am with those links. It’s not about claiming or forcing others to believe but its all my raw faith in the word ‘Sachee dil se dhundo to bhagbaan bhi mil jayenge’ what someone has told me. Yea I don’t have the ability to explore God but yes at least I can share my feeling at least and that what makes me to write this article, hope u all will like this.

Demonstrating SHAH RUKH is no one but LORD KRISHNA:

Demonstrating SHAH RUKH is no one but LORD KRISHNA:

1. Born in Delhi, both Krishna &Ram took birth in north India, which is near Delhi.

2. Took birth in a Muslim family more over an Aryan high born Pathan but married to a Hindu girl just to show God has no boundaries according to religion. All these are men made customs. Even Lord Narayana appeared as a Muslim fakir, when he appeared as Satya-Narayana. Also Krishna-avatar Shyama Baba was also Muslim. So we can assume that there might be some unknown reason that he has took birth in a Muslim family.

3. He reached to top in a very unconventional way from TV star to a top most movie star facing all the adverse situations, just to show any body can do any thing all that needs is pure hard work and dedication. Sacrificed his parents because many persons in the world are parentless and to show if dedication and commitment is there whatever the situation any goal is reachable.

4. Lord Krishna used to keep peacock feather in his crown that’s as peacock is related to lord Krishna. Shah Rukh has linked his name with MAYUR and famously known as Shah Rukh Mayur Khan.

5. Lord Brahma (symbol of fire) resides in the naval lotus of Lord Vishnu that’s why SHAH RUKH smokes in order to keep Brahma or fire in his body. Also in the purans it has been written that the last incarnation will hold a fire substance in his body.

6. Reason behind an actor?

a. It is written in purans that he reincarnates himself again and again in different forms that are appropriate corresponding to the time he is taking birth. This time being an actor is one of the best options in terms of popularity or to influence people.

b. Films are the mirror of real life .So, in this modern age its easier for him to inspire people as an actor it is also the best way to hide or utilize his divine beauty. Amazingly he started acting in his childhood by doing Ramleela.

c. When he came has RAM many expressed to marry RAM or even when wanted to be companion and Lord said he will to fulfill their desires in his future incarnations so when he came as Krishna they became as GOPIs and by an Actor he now as is it impossible that some of his costars are may be GOPIS who also has incarnated to accompany him as well.

7. The word SRK can be used as the short name of both SHREE KRISHNA as well as SHAH RUKH.

8. If Shah Rukh is God his name must have some meaning. Yes the word ‘SHAH RUKH’ means prince-like face but the word “SHAH” also means Master or Emperor, and “RUKH” means way or direction, jointly or the word “SHAH RUKH” means ‘MASTER OF ALL DIRECTIONS’ and should I have to tell, master of all direction is God or lord Krishna himself. As being Rukhmini’s (Wife of Lord Krishna) master or husband also his name is such.

9. In spite of being God himself toils very hard ‘KARMA IS DHARMA’.

10. Color black symbolizes mixture of every color or every color of life, it is also symbolic to lord Krishna, and Shah Rukh’s favorite color is black.

11. Shah Rukh’s wife Gauri, Gauri is the other name Narayani or Durga, no surprise Narayana and Narayani can be together. Lord Vishnu rides on GORUR. So GORUR=GOURI, sounds similar doesn’t it.

12. Produced unconventional films like “Phir bhi….”(To show what happening to our country now a days, how moral value of life has decreased) and made ”Ashoka the great” (Lord Buddha was 9th incarnation of lord Krishna and it was Ashoka who published Buddhism so SRK has repaid the dept by producing “Ashoka’ the film also has a message to the world that peace is greater than violence. It is said that the last incarnation of lord Krishna (Kalki Avatar) should ride on a white horse Devadutta, ironically in the film Ashoka Shah Rukh rode on a white horse.

12. Talibani’s has destroyed the Buddha statue in Bamiyaam Pradesh. Afghanistan thinking of God is frail, unaware of the might of God. Now see how the supreme has showed them the lesion, Talibans has been removed by America from there land. First they linked with World Trade Center bombing and then back action USA did the reverse act by throwing them from their own land and thus God has taken revenge indirectly through America by remove them from their soil. Incidentally Buddha is the 9th incarnation of Vishnu and Shah Rukh was also eyewitness of 11th September.

13. I suspect his friend Karan Johar knows the truth. NAR and NARAYAN always reside together, RAM had Laxman, Krishna had Arjun likewise SHAH RUKH has KARAN, got it!! Remember (KKHH, K3G) he’s compared Shah Rukh with Lord Krishna in all his films Remember those scenes of “Kuch Kuch” where RANI MUKERJI is singing” OM JAI JAGADISH HARE” in front of Shah Rukh in the college campus ironically indicating it is Shah Rukh who is JAGADISH or Lord Krishna, another time when SRK is going to meet his daughter background “RAGHUPATI RAGHAV RAJA RAM” was being played.

a. In K3G remember in the last part Hritikh & Kareena went to SRK to meet in front of the statue of Krishna and Hritikh said that (in the film it was JAYA BACHCHAN) mother always sees misses him sees in the idol of Sri Krishna after Shah Rukh has left home.

b. Remember the song “Krishna kare Raas Radha k Saang.” from Devdaas, Remember the film “Hum Tumhare hai Sanam” where Shah Rukh’s name is Gopal Krishna. Films like GUDDU, TRIMURTI, ONE TWO KA FOUR, PARDESH, somewhere again in the film again compared with Krishna. There are uncountable occasions where Shah Rukh has been compared with lord Krishna if I start explaining there won’t be enough space left here so cutting it short. No other Star is being so desperately compared with Lord Krishna like Shah Rukh, Are all these co-incidents? This is all because somehow the wave is there which comes in the mind of the directors that they somehow takes the name of Lord Krishna when Shah Rukh is around without properly knowing the reason, but in the dept there is the other story.

14. Even the wall color of his mansion MANNAT and in Mathura where birthplace is located is same.

15. Every 2500 years his major incarnation happens 7500 years ago he came as RAM, 5000 years ago as Krishna, 2500 years ago as Buddha and now as SHAH RUKH KHAN.

16. RAM was King, so as Krishna so how can its possible he will not be termed as KING KHAN.

17. The word ‘K’ identifies Lord KRISHNA, K or KANSHA, KANIYA, k for his enemy KOURAB, also as Khurukshetra, Kaliya Nag, Kunti, Kaanhaa, so many as well ‘K’ as usual links with SHAH RUKH as his famous dialog KKKKiran, his best co-star KAJOL, friend KARAN JOHAR, with all his ‘K-titled films’, and KING KHAN also of K ha ha. God is fun as well. Its needs not the logic but the believe to know GOD. My last part is most important so wait still I am sending the next one, God bless u all, Om Hari.

18. Lastly in his latest films ‘MAI HOON NA’, ‘SWADESH’, and ‘PEHLI’ the characters he played are RAM, MOHAN and KISHAAN, want more. Hare Krishna.

No offences to anyone. But well I am speechless! Internet rocks!!

Tujhme rab dikhta hai, yaara main kya karun..

Freedom Day!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! So this is that time of the year when you wear your whitest white, sing the National Anthem with head held high, grab laddus with both the hands and just wonder about the whole day and its significance. We all have done this at some point of time or the other, even if we don’t do it now. Some of us may have become indifferent towards it, some might have completely given up. For quite a few it may not be that great a day this year since it is on Saturday (damn!). It is all OK. I am sure we all have the greatest interests of our wonderful Bharat deep down our hearts.

There will be a lot of pledges this year like every year. The Tiranga will be hoisted everywhere in India. The politicians will repeat the speech they are so used to already. It will be a dry day (and a wasted weekend for a few because they may not get to drink and get wasted). TV channels will have the usual tri color theme in all their programs. The reality music shows will make the participants sing all the desh bhakti geet that have ever been penned – from Vande Mataram Anand Math to Mera Rang de Basanti Chola Bhagat Singh. People like me who are not in India will miss all the hoopla and end up writing a blog. It’s all business as usual.

I am a common (wo)man. I am routine, mundane, average personified. I see greatness in small things. While I would really like Bharatvarsh to become the super nation of the world again, but thinking in terms of nuke power, arms, economic progress etc is something I would leave for the experts to do. My life as the citizen of India is affected by the small things. Let’s see what came to my mind right away. They are in no particular order and I have a big list of what I would really like to be changed.

Queues and Traffic Sense

We, the citizens of India, take so much pride in orderliness in our culture. We eat in particular order, the food is served in a sequence, and you don’t eat your roti before rice or curd rice before rasam. We are the pioneers of Yoga which inculcates sequences. Heck! We won’t allow the younger sister to marry unless the elder one gets married! Why the hell we lose complete sense of all this knowledge when it comes to maintaining a queue. You ever saw people breaking ration lines, cinema ticket lines, train ticket lines and every other line you can think of. I am sure you have. It is our mark!

Same goes with traffic. What is with India and traffic? I mean, what is it? Yeh cut maara motorcycle ne, ye signal toda car wale ne and buses and truck – Bhagwan hi malik hai. We follow the signals in the reverse order. Red is for driving through it in full speed. The moment it turns green, you better stop where you are because it is red for all others! And yellow, well do we even know what it means? When it comes to rule breaking on the road, I don’t think any other country can even claim to come close to the extremely high standards we have set for ourselves.

I wish this would change! Follow the signals people. Be comfortable and free on the road and let the people waiting for you wait in anticipation to see you and not worry when you are on road. It is part of being free. Trust me!

Customer Service

If breaking traffic signals is the cake, the famous Customer Service of all these private companies is the cherry on top of it. I have not had a single customer care call where the dude did not end up arguing with me. I mean, my phone bill is over charged, I don’t get signal where I absolutely want it, but the dude over the customer care has absolutely no clue about what the problem is. I can easily accept the fact when someone says that I am sorry I don’t know what to do, I will ask for help. But when you have to explain the most basic things to the dude which are written in the manual itself, then it is a problem. And then the tone of the caller is masha allah! I understand we are too many and we have lot of love in our hearts. But if we could show a part of it when we are talking on the phone, it would be jannat.

Why just the customer care, go to any retail store these days. It is all so mechanic and robotic. I miss the warmth of Jagdish uncle in the local store. He would suck the money from the common man but he would do it sweetly!

We all interact with so many people in our day. Let’s start talking to them with a smile first. At your workplace, use this brahmastra and then start asking people to do their job. When you take the rickshaw, give the poor man a smile. He will ensure that you don’t bump hard on the road at the very least.

Be the change you want to see in the world. It is also a part of being free.

Online Billing

Well, this is something which will make the lives of everyone easy. The more online services we have, the more easy it will be for people with internet at home/work place. Things will be smoother, we will have more time at hand! It would also benefit people without internet. The lines will be shorter and the person on the counter could smile more easily – better customer care! A lot is being done already. I wish it becomes a norm rather than an exception.

Bollywood

Bollywood vs Hollywood is Mera Gaon mera desh vs Slumdog Millionaire. I had tears in my eyes when I watched Slumdog Millionaire. I felt Oh My God! This is all so wrong! We are much more than this and the only thing that this movie has shown is how pathetically we are living. Slumdog Millionaire, unfortunately, became the face of India on the world stage. And I cannot tell how much prejudice it has caused. I am not saying we show what we are not or not accept what we are. But don’t let one aspect become our entire face. SM was a wonderfully made movie – cast, direction and music of course. We need that high quality stuff from our directors. Unfortunately, big banners are busy making movies like Kal Ho na Ho and stuff like that. And small banners cannot get that high quality stuff in our movies.

Having said that, I would not like to see Indian movies drop the emotional aspect (often melodramatic) entirely. If Spiderman can come under realistically accepted movie, then why is it so difficult to accept the emotions of Vivek Babu and Prem Babu in Hum Saath Saath Hain. Keep them coming!!

Long Weekend

Ah yes! This is something I really want to see happening. We are a land of religions and festivals. Every month has atleast one festival and a holiday. Since our holidays are mostly based on moons and stars, we cannot control what day they would fall on. A holiday on Friday or Monday is so much better than one on Wednesday. One of the good things I liked in US is their concept of having holidays over a weekend. You get three days at a stretch! Even if July 4th is a Saturday, they would make July 3rd off! Can we have something like this in India? At least for national holidays – 15th August, 26th January and 2nd October.

And the list will go on.

A very warm, wonderful and inspiring August 15th to all of you. Have a wonderful time people! Take some time for our great nation as well and do sing the National Anthem!!

P.S : It is all in good humor. Let’s not question each others sensibilities and patriotism by this blog.

Oui Oui Oui!

Sometimes people, I think that my life is made for this blog. Those tidbits happen just so that I could have a post on my blog. You know, the things that happen, the way they happen, each day could be a post here. Thank God! I am lazy.

Consider the last weekend for example. It has been one of the most amazing, action-packed weekends I have had so far. It was a very special occasion. It was my best friend’s birthday. Varsha was turning 20 (she is err, ahem, 1.5 years younger to me) on the 20th (yeah T20 :P) and we decided to make it a special occasion, together, getting away from this zalim world to sea world, San Antonio. I was as usual super excited. So there I was all excited, planning things, buying lot of goodie snacks the entire week and as usual, not working.

Friday came and so did Varsha. And there were customary greetings on seeing each other - “HEY, HI!!”, “Kaisi ho!!”, “Tum dubli ho gayi”, “Haan tum bhi!” etc etc. We went to Walmart to get those last minute things. We were supposed to leave very early morning on Saturday. Yippee, we were super excited for this 5 hour drive and the prospects of seeing Shamu!

So we came home from Walmart and had the modest dinner I prepared. As was expected, I had not packed any of my stuff. My clothes were in the closet, my toothbrush was in the bathroom and my bag was no where to be found. And before I could even start to think where to begin my packing, it happened. Mother Nature called Varsha, a call she could not refuse and when she came out she turned the door knob the other way, the wrong way. And the door got locked! We looked at each other, then the knob, not knowing what to do or what to say or what to think. We were trapped outside! My toothbrush was inside, so was my perfume, my cream, my everything! We had to find a way out, rather way in.

You see, when two engineers are together, all they can do is screw up things and think of screwdrivers! So we felt that removing the knob itself from the outside would help us open the lock. And we drove the driver hard and all the screws were removed and before we could stop it the knob on the inside fell inside and the outer one outside. And in the middle was a nasty hole from which I could see my toothbrush, my perfume, my cream and my everything! With no other option, we decided that we would get up early, go to Walmart (thankfully it remains open 24 hours), get a toothbrush and paste and cream and perfume from there, use it there itself and then drive. So we get up at 4 AM and find ourselves being stared by all the Walmart employees. Never ever in my life have I realized the worth of a bathroom so much!

Finally we get on the road and forget about that entire ordeal! We were on our way to San Antonio. And we reached there on time – 10:30 AM! We had already booked a hotel there and were really looking forward to go to the bathroom. We go in very confidently and ask for our room keys. The front desk was a very kind lady. She looked at us and then the reservation and said almost apologetically that she cannot give us the keys. We were shocked and she explained that the checkin time is 3:00 PM and there was no other room available. We looked at each other and laughed!

Anyway, we used the hotel lobby rest room, got ready there and went to Sea World. It was so hot that day. I would have almost evaporated and after a few hours we decided to go to Riverwalk and see the rest of Sea World the next day. So we come back and go to our rooms and sleep! We were finally happy to have a bathroom and a bed! Aur kuch nahi chahiye tha life mein. We went to Riverwalk in the evening, took the cruise there, talked a lot and came back. I had some office work to do at midnight so I worked for a while and slept.

Only to be rudely awakened by a support issue at 6:00 AM. I worked for another couple of hours, had our breakfast and we were off to San Antonio. Sea World as usual was fantastic. Shamu soaked us, Viva wowed us, Sea Lion amazed us. After that great experience we came back to Dallas that night. The bathroom door was still locked and the maintenance would be available only in the morning. It was Varsha’s birthday on Monday so we thought we would stay at Veethi’s place that night! Veethi and family had gone to LA that weekend. And surely, she called up and said that they missed their flights and would be coming back late Monday night. So we had another bathroomless night in store for us. We came back to my place and used the apartment gym restroom. And thankfully next day morning the door was opened in 2 minutes by the maintenance guy who claimed he can do something about everything!

I had planned a couple of surprises for Varsha. Not surprisingly, none of it came to her as a surprise. One of the side effects of having a friend as great as Varsha is that there is no way you can surprise her anymore. She just knows me that well. While I can only thank God for giving me a friend like her, I also wonder what to do to make her special day a special one. It becomes tougher over a period of time. It is almost impossible for me now. Anyway, her other friends still managed to surprise her. She got a brand new phone, a wonderful dedication video, flowers and infinite phone calls.

We saw Ice age 3 that evening. A really amazing movie which finally got me over the Harry Potter shock! We came back home, more or less contended, very tired and we slept almost instantaneously.

And in the morning it was time for Varsha to pack stuff. She came, she locked the door and she was going back. Parting is never easy. It became more difficult for her because she was left stranded at the airport because of a delay. Varsha later told me that the airport staff joked something about the bathroom not working in the aircraft!!

Hey Varsha! Thank you for making this trip when you could definitely be having more fun with a lot of friends back in Iowa. And thank you for locking the bathroom door. I have a wonderful memory for the lifetime!!

God bless you and a very happy birthday!

Harry Potter and the Half Baked Evince!

Once upon a time in India, on the 23rd day of the 7th month of year 2007, I did something which reinforced people's belief in my insanity. I did something which nobody thought I would ever do. I took a day off to finish reading Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows. It was released two days earlier, I had advanced booked it, waited till Sunday evening to start reading it and there was no way I could do anything else before finishing it!

Such is my love for Harry Potter! So with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince released today, I had to do everything to watch it the first day! And off I go and come back and end up writing this post. I could not stop this too.

Half Blood Prince is my favorite book of the series. It has so many answers, so much action and so much teenage romance in it that I still wonder how JKR managed everything in one book.

I don't believe there ever has been a movie which was as good as the book. Harry Potter movies are hardly an exception (Namesake is an exception). I also understand the problem with this because there is so much, so so much that JKR has written that I honestly think that each book would need atleast 2 movies to cover everything.

Honestly speaking, the Harry Potter movies had started getting better. When the Order Of the Phoenix was released, I thought the magic finally began! I was so much hoping that Half Blood Prince took the next step. But I was royally disappointed. I could not believe what I was seeing, rather not seeing. The events of the book were only referenced and never built up to cause any emotion. I had to remember what I had felt when I read the book. There was so much back story on Voldemort and Snape. They hardly showed anything. This book is about Tom Riddle and Snape. Tom Riddle got some screen space, Snape hardly any. The movie title just appeared to be a lame name for the contents of the movie.

This movie, in my opinion, is not even the most visually stimulating one as it has been claimed to be. Looking back, I now think that The Goblet of Fire was so very well filmed. The tasks of Triwazard Competition were filmed almost the way I had imagined them. The OOP rocked specially showing Harry as Nagini and the last confrontation of Dumbledore and Voldemort. I think HBP had much more scope of visuals in the entire series of Harry Potter. Sadly, except for the army of inferi and a few scenes like Katie getting cursed, nothing really matched to what was shown in the previous movies.

A secret I can tell you though. I liked the teenage romance shown in the movie, at least in a few places. I specially liked Emma and Rupert. But why devote so much screen time to it and end up forcing the characters to fall in love. The subtle emotions and connections shown in the previous movies were way better. They lost the plot completely when it was time to show the obvious.

In favor of the movie, I do not think I was bored in the movie. But I think there were completely misplaced priorities at the time of filming it. They gave much more importance to the romance of the characters and completely disregarded the importance of Snape and the Tom Riddle's childhood in the whole scheme of events.

Do I recommend the movie? Well you gotta watch it because you really do not have a choice. If you are a Harry Potter fan and if you have read the novels, you know you would go. If you are a Harry Potter fan and if you have not read the novels, well, you need to watch it to follow the series. Go watch it and curse it! I would not mind using Sectumsempra to curse it!!

Do not go and watch this movie if you have no interest in it or if you are just starting to read or watch the movies. Don't go just to give company to a friend! Honestly people, you need to be able to separate your veritaserums with felix felicis and dementors with patronuses to understand what the whole thing is about. Don't go with a friend who is a big HP fan and expect him/her to explain you things in the middle of the movie. It is very annoying!!

And I highly recommend reading the entire series. Nothing matches the magic of reading the books themselves. I am so glad I was so crazy about it. I had some of my best moments of joy reading it! And I am going back to reading HBP again!

P.S : All said and done, I don't think I will be able to resist myself from watching HBP in 3D. :D

Oh Yeah! I got lucky!

Hello World! I hope you all are doing as great as I am!

Since I came back from Chicago, I have been telling anyone and everyone within earshot about the so so so very amazing time I had in Chicago over this Guru Purnima. I had heard so many Guru and Guru Purnima stories over these last few days in Satsangs, long Kriya sessions and blogs that I was very curious to see what actually happens. You know, Guruji says in Ashtavakra Gita that there is nothing much you gain out of curiosity. It is just the first stage of gaining knowledge. Even monkeys get curious! :P. Nonetheless, I was curious ki yeh kya bolte rehte hain log!?! And is there any chance it could happen to me too!?! The whole thing to me was something similar to playing Housie/Tambola or entering a lucky draw. You just never get it right! I play the game but can never seem to win it. :-)

So the day comes for me to leave. And I see how things start falling in place amidst complete chaos. Looking back I feel that just the fact that I was able to catch the flight was a big miracle in itself for I had lost all hopes of making it because of that issue going on for 6 weeks at work and which decided to bomb itself exactly the same day I was supposed to leave. But then this is something that happens all the time with all the people in all those IT companies. I did manage to reach Hilton@Chicago just in time to see Him.

Everything that happened after that was for me to see how grace flows. I was doing the Advance course and was in silence for most part of my stay there. But I am amazed how beautifully the desires were taken care of without me saying anything. Not one, not two but every desire that I had and even the ones I could have had. I would want to eat something and it would be present in the next menu, I would want to see someone and the person would be right in front of me in minutes, I would want to hear something and it would be said, I would want to say something and it would become obvious. Well, miracles are coincidences which happen when you want them to! And it all seemed business as usual. Tell me, how often does that happen to you?

But that is not all. I had moments of intense physical pain and euphoria at the same time. I had those moments when I was able to see my life in its entirety and not as a subset of my good and bad times. I was able to see that my life is not one event after another but the experience that those events bring. I was given the assurance from Someone who has the authority to assure. I have never been more relieved in life.

Miracle is not just getting what you like. The bigger miracle is to see your dislikes becoming your likes. I am fortunate I experienced that too. But for me the biggest miracle happened when I saw gratitude flowing out of my eyes when I saw how much I have been blessed with. Gratitude for those who brought me to this world, for those who did everything to make my life what it is and especially for those who contributed in me being there at that moment. All those years of worring and complaining vanished as if they were all lies and never existed. I just wanted to thank the world for just being. Infact, I almost crushed my friend (without who I would never have had taken this path) with my display of gratitude. In this world where there is so much pain, where the majority chooses to suffer, where it is so difficult for people to see the good in me and vice versa, I cannot think of a bigger miracle than seeing gratefulness and contentment oozing out from everywhere.

I had my moments of doubt before going to Chicago. I am so fortunate that I was able to see things beyond my doubts! Afterall, that is what adventure is! To go beyond the doubts and see for yourself. I am so glad I went for this adventure.

And yeah, I got that one look from Him which I had not even dared hope for!

Guru Purnima 2009

It was September of 2008 in Dallas. I stepped into the banquet hall of Holiday Inn for my very first Art of Living Part 1 course. It was a very strange feeling. Sitting there waiting for the course to start, I suddenly remembered the crystal merchant in The Alchemist. The crystal merchant had a dream of going to a pilgrimage. But he never sets off because he feels that having the dream is more important than fulfilling it.

And slowly I thought about those last 6 years when I had thought of doing this course. In a certain way, I was doing what the crystal merchant did. I kept on postponing registering for the course. Over these years I had transformed from a happy go lucky, totally carefree (sometimes even careless) engineering student to a very hard(ly) working, utterly frustrated, disillusioned software engineer. The transformation was not sudden but very rapid. And I had no reason to be unhappy. There was no event which was causing me this unhappiness. But everything seemed stressed and the mostly smiling and joking around Anusha had given way to smiling wryly and joking sarcastically Anusha. Anusha was not happy about it at all.

Life after college usually makes you alone, specially if you are at work. You do not have friends with you to joke with. You have to be careful about what you say in office. Your personal life involves going to malls and multiplexes every weekend and cursing inflation and Bollywood, eating out at every opportunity and realizing how much you miss a decent meal, networking a lot in office to climb the corporate ladder and missing those cool college friends. All this was making me wonder, what makes us happy? I was happier with a lot less money and more physically challenged life in college. Trust me people, the result of all this thinking was some strain in every relationship I had. Not that this was the only thing happening to me. Luckily, I had Varsha with me and a few good friends still in touch. And that made every stress worth it. I could just live through. And I can never thank those precious few enough. They were the reason for some of the very good times I had in Pune. Now, I had heard about the AOL course in college. I wanted to do it for I had a curiosity to see what was in it. But for some reason (excuses really) or the other I was not able to. Sometimes I did not have a ride, sometimes I did not have time. By the time I was in Pune, I felt it had become a need for me to do it. And not doing it was causing even more frustration.

But strange are the ways of life. I could finally register for it here in USA when I had just left the thing to fate. Sitting in the banquet hall, I was looking back at those 6 years and wondering if I am dreaming. When Ram officially started the course, I remember saying it to myself. "So Anusha, finally!". And the rest, as they say in AOL, is all mystery.

It has not been a very long time. I am still taking small baby steps in this great path. But I know how much my life has changed. Trust me, I am more alone than I ever was. But I don't feel lonely. I have more work than ever, but I don't feel stressed as I used to, and every week I have a way to revive myself. I sleep less than I used to back in Pune, but my energy levels are much higher. I don't meet as many people as I used to, but I look forward to every human interaction and I smile like I used to as a teenager. And then those small things which just start happening. Miracles, magics, coincidences - call them whatever you want, but they start happening more frequently. Things are just taken care of.

I was bearing life (on second thoughts, it was not that bad) I was going through the motions of life, I am living it now. And you really need to experience that to know what I am saying. Really!

All this because of the grace of Guru. And all I want to do is thank the source and cause of all these changes. Fortunately for me, I can do it on this Guru Purnima. (Thanks RR for helping me overcome my small mind gymnastics). If you can make it to Chicago, please come. If you cannot, wherever you are, thank your Guru. They are just too good. If you think you are yet to find your Guru, keep praying and keep looking. It is just a matter of time.

Trends!

All right. So the voting is on, though the turnout is something like we had in the general elections earlier this year. Or are there only 13 readers of this blog? 13, wow, nice. Though, I came to know about some miscreants who tried to booth capture and have multiple votes. And were brave enough to tell me that! :D

You had such wonderful options for answering why you read this blog. The voting trend so far has been nothing what I thought it would be. The option “Others” got the maximum votes. Except Megha, no one specified what their other reasons are, which makes me wonder even more. If you think by not giving the reason you have given me sleepless nights, then I would say my dear, you are absolutely right! Why not when you have the option? :-O

One might think, based on these votes, that the majority has some other reason to read this blog. But I don’t think majority thinks that. If you group in a slightly different way, you would see that the majority has one of the known reasons to come here. 8 Votes have been for one of the reasons I gave. But the interesting factor comes now. I am seeing that blogger poll gives the vote percentages as well (so kind of them considering my Mathematics abilities) and I will use those. 41% think they have a better reason to come to the blog. 16% think that they visit this blog because they have a bad habit of reading it, 16% think were bribed, 16% think that they were blackmailed and another 16% swear they do not visit at all. Now if we have “Others” in one group (41%) and the “remaining others” (16 + 16 + 16 + 16 = 64%) in another, then, wait, lo and behold, I have had a voter turnout of 64 + 41 = 105%!! :D

Did I complain of a low turnout?? :P

Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hota rehta hain, Senorita! :-)

Poll

Salaam Namaste!

I was wondering what to write. I thought I would write about the San Antonio trip. But there was nothing funny to write about that trip. Except the fact that we spent a lot of time on road waiting for the traffic to clear (it was a long weekend). Also the fact that I saw Nature in action at the Natural Bridge Caverns. Or even the fact that I sat on the Great White ride at Sea World for like infinite times. Jisha (my school friend) was sure that I was doing that deliberately to insult the authorities there. It was supposed to be their most awesome ride..

I also thought I could ride something about the most tiring experience I had in USA. I moved. Moved as in, shifted my apartment. I wish there was a Ctrl + X and Ctrl + V in life! Shifting would have been so easy. But there was nothing really to it. I just made infinite rounds from one apt to another and dumped stuff in my new apt. I was missing Shalabh and Nitin so much for reasons described here.

So I thought I will start a poll. I have been doing some thinking about the existance of this blog. I want to see why people come here (if at all they do). So people, here is your chance to speak against the tortures in life. You should see a teeny-weeny poll on the left side of your screen. If your reason is not listed, please select other and you can give your reason as a comment!

We may consider changes here. This is your chance of saving yourselves. Voting is your fundamental right!! :-)

Korbo Lorbo Harbo Re!!

Ui Ma! What a terrible time KKR had this IPL. I am not a big Dild.. err SRK fan. Nor were my loyalties ever with Lordie err you-know-who. But I am almost sympathizing with them, much more than what I did for Deewar and Bevadaas last year. KKR, after all, are the biggest entertainers (mostly because of this dude..).

Marked by controversies throughout, this last over in today's match vs Deccan Chargers kind of says it all.

21 needed off the last over. Kolkata have the clear advantage here. Mashrafe to bowl

19.1

Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, (no ball) FOUR, Rohit's taken four of those, full toss on middle, pulled away to the deep square-leg boundary, called a no-ball by the leg umpire as there are only three fielders in the ring, what a slip up, drama right at the death. McCullum isn't happy, but if there were just three inside the circle, the call is a right one. The Kolkata captain is disputing the decision, and continues arguing with the umpire, but the decision's been made. It's a no-ball, that's final. An extra ball conceded. How costly will it prove?

19.1	Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, 1 leg bye, misses out, full just a fraction outside off, moves across to paddle it fine, is it on the pads, just a run

19.2	Mashrafe Mortaza to Venugopal Rao, 1 run, a scare there, full and wide, made room to cream that through the covers, got a thick outside edge that landed on the bounce to third man, just a single

14 off 4

19.3	Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, SIX, meaty, juicy full toss on middle, the worst ball you can bowl under the circumstances, heaved away over midwicket for a massive six, what a timely blow, 8 off 3 now, 115 metres that, one of the biggest of the tournament

8 needed off 3. Doable, what a slip-up. The ball's lost, and they're getting a replacement. Nice, hard thump that. All's sorted. Here it comes. Rohit's ready to face.

19.4	Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, 1 wide, wide, Mashrafe, what the hell are you doing? Hurls it well wide of the offstump, Rohit lets it go wisely and the umpire frees his arms

7 off 3

19.4	Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, 2 runs, full and wide, swatted down to long-on, scampers back for the second, Rao runs well to finish the run

5 off 2

19.5	Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, FOUR, four, four, four, Mashrafe has spoilt it for Kolkata, full and wide, makes room and carts it wide of a diving cover to beat long-off to the boundary

1 needed off the last ball. Scores level. Can Kolkata salvage a super over here? Here it comes. Hold your seats. A short cover, a short fine

19.6	Mashrafe Mortaza to Sharma, SIX, it's all over, short on middle, pulls it away well over the fine-leg boundary to seal a thrilling victory, can Kolkata ever win?

Next year KKR, thoda extra Korbo, bilkul nahi Lorbo aapas mein and thoda to jeetbo re!!

P.S : Last over commentry courtesy Cricinfo.com

Get Inspired!

What is the best way to spend a weekend? For me, it is having your greatest friend at your place, eating as if we are from Somalia, sleeping as if we are small babies and smiling as if we shared some of our biggest secrets without much talking! Yeah I just had a wonderful weekend. :-)

There is another way to spend a nice Saturday evening if you are in Bangalore on 30th May. There is this new thing in town called “Talk Instead” where there are going to be some real life people from our own community who have made it big for themselves and the world around them. They are no stars but they are achievers. The kind of people you look up to when you are really down specially if you have just been disappointed by your manager and you wonder what the heck you are doing in your office! Just see if you can make it to this event. There is lot of inspiration waiting for you. :-)

Get inspired, talk instead! :-)

Register yourselves at www.talkinstead.com

Kuch Khas Nahi..

Howdy people! 

I have nothing much to post about, really..

Except the fact that I am smiling a little more than usual for the last few days. Life looks good and I see a lot of hope around. One of that time when everything seems so crystal clear. You just know that the world out there is looking at you and smiling, the sky's laughing out loud with you and you just know that you belong. 

Yeah its spring. Aur main khush hun khamakha yaaron!! 

Cheers!!

Raat Baaki...

What is worse than getting up at 5:00 AM on a Sunday morning? Well getting up and get to work. And this work does not involve any heavy coding for an unachievable deadline. Nor is it working on a real nasty support issue which needs the mind of Mr. Byomkesh Bakshi to figure out the microscopic bug hidden beneath several layers of complex code. This work at this unearthly hour is waiting on call for 2 hours just to begin testing which would actually take only 10 minutes to complete but which cannot be started unless those people on call tell you to start. Sleepless nights, test of patience and a nasty sense of humor is all IT is about and I am li(o)ving IT!

Kaahe ka loving ji. You know during these moments, I feel the need to go back to my school days. It was the time when sleepless nights meant drinking tea at midnight and going to sleep right after that, with a sense of accomplishment. My tea making skills were developed in those days and at the risk of sounding arrogant I can say that a cup of tea made by yours truly today can keep you tarotaaza for very long hours. During this time I also learned how to overcome every obstacle that would come between me and my sleep. A kilometer long syllabus, an exam deadline and even a strong caffeine shot would not come between me and the love of my life. My mom would be very upset with me. These kitchen sojourns at night were disturbing her annual budget for tea leaves, milk and sugar and were doing no good to my grades which never were of any good anyway, not to mention the disturbances to her sleep and those of our neighbors who would be rudely awakened because of some tea making tools slipping out of my hands and creating havoc!

2 hours 20 minutes and 33 seconds: Still no sign of the green signal to start testing. Which means I am going to continue writing some more.

Hmm. So after some sleepless nights which my folks had to endure because of my preparation for engineering entrance exams, they were very happy to see me off to Indore, supposedly for engineering. Now, the sleepless nights I had during this phase of my life and in this city are the kind of stuff dreams are made of. You know how life in hostel is, right? You might have lived one yourself and felt that you have become a much better person after all those years or you must have seen some of your friends getting brain-damaged irreversibly living one. Essentially depends on the perspective. Now I do not ever remember my hostel sleeping ever. An early sleeper would go to sleep at 1:00 AM. The late sleeper would crash at 3:00-4:00 AM. And if you think that these late nights had anything to do with engineering, then you are mistaken my friend. These nights were filled with loads of cooking on an electric coil heater, reading novels, watching movies, playing computer games on PCs borrowed from friends and seniors, having late night talks with people who used to matter the most, climbing on top of the water tank to feel on top of the world and etc etc. I was charmed by the charm of night.

2 hours 50 minutes and 57 seconds: No testing yet. And yes it took me 30 minutes and 24 seconds to finish the last paragraph.

Those great and awesome nights finally got over. We all, including and specially my parents, were more surprised than happy when I finally got a job. And once at work, I realized the value of a good night’s sleep. Maan! These companies make you sweat! Ok, I did not sweat because my office was air conditioned (which by the way was a great change in the status of my life after bearing scorching Indore heat). I drank coffee like the talli of your mohalla drinks desi tharra. A coffee vending machine right behind my desk did not help much and I had so much coffee in the last few years that my circulatory system was pumping coffee to every nook and corner of my body, my blood tests were tested for the presence of chicory which came negative because I was having pure coffee. There was no sugar present in the system because I like my coffee bitter and strong. And I guess that was what I was turning into as well – bitter and strong, strong yet bitter, better but bitter. (Something like Betty bought some butter…LOL)

A few good things happened which you all are aware of if you read the last few posts. My bitterness has definitely reduced, my coffee intake is miniscule (I am an occasional drinker now :P ) but work still keeps me up. The Saturday night sleep is one of the most crucial elements for having a reasonable working week. This Saturday night has been fried to this long awaiting call. So beware my colleagues, clients, customers and managers! We are going to have a hell of a time together. :-)

3 hours 0 minutes 10 seconds: I just dialed in again and there is no sight of testing starting anytime soon. Life, I tell you!! 

Q & A

I am back people! Actually I am not back, I am front. You see, I am in front of you, on your computer screen, so technically, I cannot be back. Ok, before you decide to not read further, let me get back (?) to the post.

Well these are some of the questions I have been seeking an answer for. You know, in the loads of free time I get I dare think about these. Why? Well avain. I like to do things which are free of cost. Thinking is free and that is my idea of free thinking. I am convinced of the answers for a few of these questions, I am still seeking answers for a few. You might find them a little silly and you will be right because a lot of people think I am silly. You might find them confusing and you won’t be wrong because heck! I am confused about life. These are not pearls of wisdom because this is no place to seek wisdom. But this works for my life. These are in no particular order. Well, actually they are. They are in the order as they appeared as flashes of light in the tiny space of my small monkey mind.

So go on, read it and be happy!

What is height of confidence?

- Me participating in a handwriting competition and dreaming of winning it.

How to be popular?

- I don’t know. If you are me, you can try cracking jokes or sing or even dance. Notoriety is a type of popularity.

How to kill time? 

- Blog. Hey! That was simple.

How to deal with difficult people?

- Just the way you deal with yourself! :-). But that is very difficult!!

Does love exist? (Can you believe I actually thought of this!!)

- Stupid questions deserve no answer. But for the records, the answer is yes. However hard it may seem to believe at times, it does exist.

How to fall in love?

- Ah! You cannot fall in love. I have fallen enough and I am not in love. Not even close.. :-)

One of the biggest paradoxes I heard lately?

- Virtual reality. Or is it an oxymoron (like deafening silence) to stress that reality, as we perceive it, is virtual?

Who is more important - you or me?

- We are important. I strongly believe in it.

How does it feel to be living an unpredictable life?

- Business as usual.

What is the purpose of life?

- You lose the purpose when you seek the purpose. (Err, what did I just say?)

One of the biggest discoveries I made about life?

- To know something is one thing but to understand it is another. And I have no idea what that means.

One of the worst nightmares I ever had?

- Losing friends. And I lost too many of them lately. I wish I could go back and say sorry to them. But I need to move on. Hopefully, our paths will cross again.

One of the biggest joys of life?

- There are many big joys like a great AOL course, good food, nice vacation, time with family and friends. But I realized one more joy. It is the joy of honesty. To be wrong and yet have it in you to accept that as a fact. The terrible pangs can actually give you some pleasure. And I don’t call myself a masochist, I just call myself honest.

Do you get a second chance in life?

- Yes you do. And you keep on getting second chances until you are able to get out of it. Life is not a test. You are not being judged. You are being loved. Someone told me this once upon a time in life and it has been true for me.

How has my life been so far?

- A bed of roses with long stems and thorns intact.

The Golden Bird

INDIA - 

one of the most beautiful places in the world. 

and one of the dirtiest in the pool..

where hungry stomachs know the joy!

but there are hungry girls and hungry boys...

where love reigned since time immemorial..

yet terror casts some nasty spells..

where music is worshipped, its in our roots..

still no dearth of a few copycats or two..

where divine and divinity daily meet

but somehow disgrace God with our feet...

oh watch those movies that inspire..

and there are a few that make you perspire..

the land of Cricket and World Cup wins..

of Master Blaster, Prince and Jumbo spins..

where people are traditionally traditional.

and know how to co-exist in the modern world..

where traffic congestion is a modern art..

but there is lot of space in the Indian heart!

Love it or hate it dude,

This land truly rules!!

(* All pics courtesy internet and Google image search..)