time out

Rishikesh circa 2009

2009-10-20T00:17:00.006+05:30

Earthworms wiggled on the gleaming beach as waves pushed it away from itself, and devouring some more sand on its way back. Algae glistened on rocks as insects leached on lush green sunlight-topped breakfast. The river roared endlessly, like an exodus. Butterflies taunted lizards and flitted about playfully. I felt blessed here. Once in a while, the peace would be ruined by far-removed, holidaying rafters cheering and drifting along the Ganges. My sketches can barely imitate this natural extravaganza I was in. I could see it all in my head- this paradise is short lived. Will this river keep flowing like this through my lifetime? The foam splashed violently on the waves ahead of it, like a mob in a narrow lane, screaming, helplessly pulling away from the abode and disappearing into the other end of the page.

On our way back, we saw more signs of d-day; drilling machines, land slides and earth movers. I felt sad on a holiday. If Gaia retaliates, it will be like a giant mirror in response to our exploits.

Save a tree. Go digi.

2009-08-20T03:49:00.015+05:30

Alrighty, its 3:40 am and serious angst time. I'm getting this out of my system right now so I can go back and sleep. This time, its about how we publish our information and that self-destructive, unsustainable devouring needs to be curbed.
We have to stop hacking down trees to print daily publications. All publications, newspapers, reports, magazines need to be digitized, uploaded and viewed on portable e-reader devices like Kindle, iphones, phones, televisions or whatever portable technology can do this in the near future- maybe a phone that can project on a portable 2'x1' roll-up screen. This way you can carry your e-paper with you. Dailies like newspapers can be subscribed for through your cable tv. So you turn on your tv, select your morning paper on a menu, and read it on your tv. If you want to see a clip, run movie clips or sound files, or just get on websites of news companies.

Trees are precious life-support organisms. They will be protected like God-sent extinct animals soon. And we brutally bring them down so we can print supplements that carry banal, pointless, stupid, inane, articles on mood swings of asinine, pig-headed, dumbf**k, bane-on-the-earth celebrities and then? Toss that pulp away in a few minutes. This is a sinful, criminal waste. Imagine if I wrote about my angst and had that printed on your hide, had it read by a few people and then, sold it for 5 bucks a kilo. Felt something? On your skin? Am I getting under your skin now, huh?

I don't have kids. But if you do, and if you want your children to inherit a beautiful world tomorrow, stop taking initiatives to print. Really, ask yourself. When was the last time you actually read that printed article or report YOU wrote? And was it really worth killing a tree for? Kid me not. Start reducing today. Go digital so you don't have to explain with gestures to your children what a tree used to be.

Devolve

2009-08-16T15:41:00.012+05:30

The green of the trees was only becoming eerier and more dense as we struggled with every step on the glazed rocks.

"I'm not going with you," the hairless monkey snapped. It's getting colder and I've had enough of this so-called trek." He mumbled angrily. His speech was only getting more unintelligible through the day, and sometimes he would screech in disagreement. I turned with a betrayed look on my face. Moving my head was becoming a pain now since the horns on my head were growing faster. I could now feel the weight of it every time I turned, so I would need to turn more gently now, else I would gravely injure someone walking around me. His colleague, now almost half wolf, agreed with him with a low growl and glared at me with a stare that surely did not mean well. Did he just grow another set of fangs there? I swallowed in fright and looked away as a shiver ran down my spine. I stretched my neck upwards towards the trees. The sun was nowhere in sight, it was cloudy and getting colder. All I heard was the stream nearby and the cribbing of the circus that we have morphed into. "Look, I saw a light in that hill ahead. It has to be someone's house, and not another shed. Can we try for that, before we are totally unable to communicate like humans?" The monkey sulked even more now. I could barely tell who he was in the original human form.

Twenty days back, our group of four had wandered off into a banned area called White Hill, which was cordoned off by a pharmaceutical company, for testing. How it got clearance in the mountains was news for a long time in the media. The public relations wing of this drug company later came out with a press release claiming to be an environment benefit crusader with a green vision, and got itself a stay order. We joked about the 'greens' it had to have that work for them. The factory was nested in the mountains beyond the national park where we were supposed to stay in.

The big metal and wood signs behind the barbed wires were clearly screaming danger, but could not hold back the wannabe, adventure-seeking Rambos we were. What started as a dare had now turned into a living nightmare for us. Much to our horror, we have transformed physically in the last ten days. I could only keep track of time with the scratches on my new grown hoof- a self-inflicted scar for every sunrise to keep track of the days. We had lost all our phones and gadgets, mainly because we were unable to hold them anymore, leave alone punch numbers into those keys which were too tiny for our hoofs and claws. The fruits and streams kept us alive, and transforming more. The natural conditions only seemed natural, but were not. Everything around us was laced with something that spiked more hormonal changes within us. In the maze like, never-ending forest, each of us was going through the growth stages that an animal would go through, and each of us was turning into a different animal. But the transformation seemed to have pickup up faster in the last 4 days. Our speech was turning incoherent and incomprehensible. We were responding to body language and smells more than the words we spoke. Our spines bent more towards the earth. We had been walking the mountains for nearly a week now, in one direction- east, and looking for any signs of hope.

------------------------------*********------------------------------

We were all completely human then. For a change, All four of us planned out our work related schedules and other priorities so we would go on a trek- maybe the last one. We were all getting older and the thought of walking with backpacks only exhausted us. It was time then, to do one last walk into the wild. City life has its dangers and wild sides too, but we were urban animals anyway. We wanted to climb a mountain, scramble up trees and rocks and be with the wilderness and the natural.
Little did we know, that it would be all we could be capable of.

10 things to do to your phone while its ringing

2009-08-07T11:32:00.014+05:30

...also 10 interesting ways to get rid of your phone.

Here are a few interesting things you can do with your phone when it rings- just to see what happens.

1. Keep ready a slurry mixture of salami, sausages and butter chicken. The moment the phone rings, toss it in the mixture, swirl it all, and gently place the bowl in the middle of a pack of mongrels sleeping nearby.

2. Get a tennis racquet. Walk up to the centre of an open ground, or a beach and face the ocean, or the edge of a cliff edge. Keep the phone in full volume. Select a very irritating ring tone for a very annoying person. Call that person and ask to be called back (create the situation will you). The moment the phone rings, toss that phone in the air, give it the hardest, pumpiest, thumpiest, full blown, socking whack with your tennis racquet... and don't miss. Missing will really piss you off.

3. Go to the top-most floor of a very tall building. Call someone or, if the phone rings, answer it and tell the person to record the conversation. Dead drop the phone to the earth. Ask the person to mail you the sound file. Play it in an endless loop, or as a separator to all the songs in your playlist. Whooooooo... BangaCrashaKlackityCrunch... Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane, but the memory remains...

4. Give the phone to a 2-year-old for the day. It should be the only thing to play with.

5. Drop your phone on a busy road. Park close by. See how long it lasts.

6. Get a bonnfire ready and roaring. Toss the phone in a mug of petrol. Toss all contents of the mug in the fire. Whoosshhhhhh... Record and play as given in point 3.

7. Walk up to a road-paving bulldozer. Ask the driver if you can have your phone permanently embedded in the road. If they are life-loving, free spirited people, you can have your phone rest in peace in the road (and the road becomes my bride...)

8. Tie the phone to fireworks- maybe a big rocket. Start the video recording on the camera. Light 'em up. If you can find your phone, see if you can salvage the video from the memory card. Now that I figure should be one hell of a sight.

9. Go to a remote hilly area, away from all this crap. Give the phone away to a local villager on one condition based on sheer trust- he clicks pictures every day of the natural surroundings and emails it to you and the end of the month.

10. One more... I need one more...

Sunday Mumbai, awesome weather!

2009-07-07T00:30:00.008+05:30

Spanking new sealink. Managed to check it out early Sunday morning as we landed in.
and of course, a panorama dedicated to a great city-

Worli mutt, empty streets.

Empty trains.
Empty stations.

Birds eye view

2009-06-28T10:25:00.011+05:30

The hot arid desert shone like gold in the burning afternoon. The heavily chromed, metallic vultures swooped down on the bubbling tarmac for a spontaneous conference. Their claws stuck to the tar like spoons in hot caramel. Although they despised each other, they were similar. So any hint amongst themselves for a meeting would be taken seriously. And they would gather once in a while.
"Think this party will last longer?" asked Sukuzi, hoping for approval and an aye from his LED-blinking-eyed buddies. "It's just a matter of time, and the last tree will be gone. Then it's for us to take a call on what stays and not." said Donha optimistically, and happy with his recent offering in the desert-named after a musical muse for the humans. Fita did not respond. He sulked and always looked miserable. Dhunyai, the side kick and survivor from the last onslaught from Sukuzi, straightened his neck out to spot something afar. He flapped his wings in glee as another tree vaporised in the horizon. "It's a dead give away," he cackled, "how humans love us and watch us eat them from the inside. Pity MG is not around to see this. After decades of squabbling with Earth lovers, he's given in. Now the party is all ours, I figure."
"But we need to keep it down, least they wake up." They looked upward to see where that came from. It was Yotoya, the largest of the birds, as he thundered in from the sky. His incredibly large feet burrowed into the melting road till its gigantic talons sunk into the black goo as he weighed in to relax. Towering over the others, his shadow intimidated the other wannabees. "Release a hybrid now and then, till the earth's liquid lasts. Then we'll go all electric." He preached as though to benefit the rest, only to hatch his own plans behind his diabolical beak. "But be wary of a local bird about to lay a nestful."
"What local pigeon encroaches upon our wingspan here?" Asked Dorf, another big, arrogant and aging vulture. He hated Yotoya, but kept his tone down in his presence. Yotoya spoke. "It may not be a big threat now, but it is getting some serious attention. And you know how precious attention is, right?" He turned to Fita with that, wanting to taunt him more with subtle undertones. Fita hated that look. "This is a growing playground. It's big, and the humans do not seem to fight us with norms for Earth's sake. Everything goes. Keep the gold dust ready. They sell out easily."

Donha and Sukuzi hopped about unfazed by the conversation. They had their own schemes to hatch. Dhunyai scanned the ground for bits to nibble. Dorf and Yotoya faced opposite directions. Secretly, they all wondered about Taat, the local, and what its new feathers would look like.

Zoey Thea Kariyal

2009-06-21T23:50:00.000+05:30

A new addition in our family!

Traveloged

2009-05-10T22:18:00.006+05:30

I really cherish having had timeout to drive out of town. Clean mountain air, Drawing and taking pictures, curious kids peeking into your drawings, natural home cooked food with local families, their dogs walking with you alongside a river and through forests, hiring an old bike and exploring the place, the intense pleasure of writing about all this- are now luxuries. In fact this is the real luxury, not things anymore. One can always have stuff which will always be mass produced. Its timeout to places that will really matter now. And I have great friends I can do this with. As environment degradation chomps into natural heavens, these beautiful locations will become even more scarce. Archived here are some travelogs in the past-
http://archive.arjunkariyal.com/self/getthehellout/index.html
Sunderdhunga being the jewel of this crown-
http://archive.arjunkariyal.com/self/getthehellout/sunderdhunga.html

This is one of those moments when I am looking back. Ouch, this hurts.

Pushkar Panoramas

2009-04-15T13:22:00.009+05:30

View of the street below from our room window from Baba hotel. The hotels here in Pushkar are basically people's homes converted to hotels. Of 29 panoramas, this is my first top down view!

View of Brahm ghat under construction from the Pushkar Palace side.

One comic coming up on this trip!

Kids in Pushkar- what a hug!

These kids saw me clicking around and wanted me to take their picture. As I aimed the cam at them, next was this instant pose- all arms and smiles!

Pushkar 2009

2009-04-13T22:34:00.020+05:30

Again, but this time with Anand and Ani. We left Delhi at 5 15 am and took 12 hours to reach. Talking, listening to music and stopping at Jaipur stretched our trip. On reaching Pushkar, we checked out Pink Floyd hotel which has a monarch-of-all-I-survey view from the terrace (3rd from top right) but log into multi-colored Baba lodge (top right corner) in 2 rooms for 2 days. The lake is being dug up these days and looks like it will get a cleaner look in a years time. On walking down the lane to Brahma mandir, I met the same sadhu I met 2 years back (2nd from top left). I recalled him because I had taken his picture last time also. As usual he wanted Rs. 10. Obviously he didn't recognise me.

At 40 degrees by 11 am, this is clearly off-season. The incredible heat kept us snoozing indoors most of the time- just like the dogs at the temple steps (the animals in Pushkar seem to be the life of this place). Our food through the next 2 days was pasta, Rajasthani thali, Israeli thali, pizza, 'Healthy' breakfast made of chai, meusli, juice and toast. My target of 1000 pictures in one day in Pushkar was beaten by the heat... aargh!

On day 3, we left heaven and stayed a night at the very clean hotel Khadim RTDC- a government run hotel in Ajmer. After a quick thali at Mango Masala- a local and very famous restaurant, we ended up snoozing again through the day. We took off on Monday morning at 9 and reached Delhi at 3pm. The way back is always quicker.

change up gears now!

2009-03-31T15:15:00.003+05:30

Spotted a Bentley Continental GT on the way to work today. As it overtook me (obviously) I noticed something about it, which I just had to get a second look of. Thanks to the traffic ahead, it couldn't go too far, so I caught up with it and had a good look at this work of art. What caught my fancy was the backside of the car. The surface has nothing but the sexy metal swooping down with the very subtle light cluster and the logo. The paint job was obviously hand done, with every speckle rubbed and polished like it was the only mission given to the polisher. About the light cluster, it was free of glittering plastic- Just on color in one simple shape, unlike the whites or the yellows and reds like in the other cars. The solitary Bentley emblem in the centre said it all, with no names or any other words screaming at you in italics.
Now here's the point. Compare this to the hazaar things other cars have plastered on their backsides- three parts of the brand- the logo and symbol, the local company's logo, the model of the car, angles and cuts in the metal, protrusions, bulges in the lights, oversized bumpers, multi-color light clusters that looks like a mini discotheque... aargh. Why can't we keep it simple and clean, bereft of these unnecessary frills? Or maybe that's industry standard which accepts the dumbing down of a people and continues to deliver sub-standard product designs.

this way

2009-03-28T12:57:00.003+05:30

my best on acrylic yet. starting 1am and finishing at 5 am-

bird of prey

2009-03-19T18:12:00.002+05:30

soar my flaps and go wohoho
jump off that ledge and go so low
open those feathers and let the wind through
turn my sides so can encircle you

the sun is nice, lets ride this breeze
snatch a kids sandwich, that bite's a tease
A pigeon's in my radar, shall I spare it today?
these pesky flying rats will always stray
Another eagle in the clouds, now thats a challenge
Need some work for my ricketing talons
I'm sick of sparrows and sometimes a crow
Time for an airfight so lets go go go

I can see that frisky rabbit in the grass down there
looks fat and chubby unlike that bony little mare
Do I need a big meal? No just a snacky little bite
the hare will writhe a bit but wont throw a fight
that furry hide will hold really well
in the sky when I soar, vertigo will give it hell

Cut the clouds like a bullet, like a blade
the horizon swallows the sun, the day will fade
with my 6 foot wingspan I can soar for a mile
reaching my nest with a carcass and a pile
of other things I tore and parts and more

I'd rather be a bird of prey
than a man down there with so little to say
need I say anything else, need I say more
soar my flaps and go wohoho

Conserve resources now godamit!!

2009-03-02T00:25:00.004+05:30

Consumption is natural. It's part of the whole cycle we live in. We are cogs in this giant machinery and its only natural to exist in this cycle by consuming. But what if this consumption reaches a level when we are consuming to sustain egos? This is when we start consuming beyond required, organic needs. Changing our cell phone every six months, computers and monitors every 2 years, cars every 3-4 years, increases stress on natural resources with irrevocable damages. Imagine the landfills. Since nearly 55% of waste is buried in landfills, Imagine trees not being able to hold ground anymore, or the very realization that the earth we walk upon is now a cake layered with glass and plastic. Maybe this linear, resource-depleting flow is irreversible, but it can be slowed down. Else we will experience the aftermath in our own lifetime.

Now just in case you are one hard-assed %@&#er and genuinely don't give a rat's ass to environmental rape, the fact is that Gaia reciprocates to an individual likewise. So be aware of your actions; when it comes to throwing waste in any irresponsible way, else the natural elements will descend upon you with all its wrath in ways you will fail to fathom, you miserable little %@&#ing pest of a %@&#ing burden on the planet.

C'mon now. Find happiness in other things than technology. Spend time with family and friends and less with twittering on your stupid phone and blogging on your computer. Think not that gadgets glorify your existence or can proxy for love and affection- which clearly need to be prioritized over inanimate circuit boards. If that is the case, then you really need a life. My cell phone is four years old and my car is nearly six. Would that have any bearings on my levels of decency in general or how I come across? Now if it does change things, then that would make me one shallow loser of an asshole. But if I am an asshole and a real dickhead of a person, which would make me one despicable prick to have a conversation with, I'll be that way irrespective of what I drive- be it a maruti 800 or a 1000 horse-powered Bugatti Veyron with a top speed of a mind-%@&#ing, blistering 400 kph. So no point in turning to technology to enhance my personal worth.
But then, maybe spending over-the-top would reflect on my concern to be more sociable, right? Hell you're right! Oh jeez man I change my mind. I just cannot, categorically can NOT wait to pick up the next touch-sensitive (and Gaia insensitive) phone that's around the corner. I'll probably keep that shit for a few months and change over to the next phone that probably has a robotic arm projecting outward to stroke my eyebrows while I check myself out in the OLED screen-turned vanity mirror, you dumbass pest. And my car- that is so not my ride anymore. Gotto get myself that latest 200+ kph, 120 bhp babe magnet, neighbours-ball-wrenching, set of wheels; least the potential child-bearing hot females drooling at me think I am one loser not worth a few minutes of shit-chat.

All right, I'm done. Have a nice Monday morning, me homies. Hell, I have issues.

Stuff it!

2009-02-24T19:49:00.001+05:30

Must we really change our phones every six months? Or buy bigger cars just because we can? Here are people who are thinking about this-

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

http://www.freerangestudios.com/

Give it a thought. Give the planet a break- else it will!

A little less conversation, little more action please

2009-02-08T21:08:00.004+05:30

Does this current era represent anything- in terms of art, business, music, technology, people? Example, the 1950-70s had brilliant minds emerging and becoming the catalysts to change today- like Apple and Microsoft and countless other things to name a few. The era before that nurtured the saplings in the fields of art and music- giving rise to film, jazz and political or business leaders of the 70's. So every time period had seeds being sown for the next.
Ok... it's probably not fair to ask this when you are still in that era since it takes time to consolidate all happenings to see where it all was going. Maybe through the strife the world is going through now, creativity will emerge; since creative sparks typically when the chips are down, to become the flames that rage the forest.

What brings about this thought? Well, this may sound irrelevant or out of context but it struck me when I ran into this video... I mean, here's the right guy who was born to do his thing, at the right time-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhLsU1m1sOs&feature=related

8-18 till I die

2009-01-20T19:30:00.004+05:30

One thing that I have never been able to align with are pre-conceived notions of how we must live our lives if we are in certain age brackets. Here's how it goes- If you're in your teens, you ought to study hard till someone acknowledges it, when you hit your 20's you ought to be looking for a job and slaving it out till your boss acknowledges it. If it's the 30s, you ought to be looking forward to getting married. When you land in your 40's you ought to be worrying about your children's future. Come 50, you ought to tear your hair out worrying about their marriage. when 60 hits you, you ought to take it easy, calm down, not run around too much, read the papers and watch tv till you die.

F#%*. F!@#. F!@%. Son of a f#$%ing bitch, I hate these pre-designed patterns and how diktats are announced subtly into our primary mindsets if we want to gain social acceptance, else we are outlawed as pathetic creatures on the other side of the fence that aren't worth eating with on the same table. Why should I do any of this- for which reasons written our there in the cosmos? Is it written? Then where? I refuse to grovel on these food trails that lead to particularly nowhere- or should I say, quicksand graves.

What particularly bugs me are concocted notions for our senior citizens- that one must rest and not move around too much if you are over 60 and 'retire'. What the @#$% does 'retire' mean? Whoever came up with this @#$%ed up idea that once you go past 60, you should- here's the big word- r-e-t-i-r-e. Clint Eastwood and Rupert Murdoch are well in their mid-70's and are still active enough to give people half their age some serious butt-kicking. That's called living it up. We have a particularly nasty tradition of subjecting our senior people to some seriously f&*$ed up rules and disallow them to enjoy themselves. I hate it. F&@#. We then do it to ourselves. This makes us feel older when we reach 60 (remember that turning point age after which things are supposed to go downhill?), and psyche ourselves out into sickness and ill health. We aggravate problems with even more demeaning, fatalistic conclusions that are inevitable if we are wrinkled and slow.

Here's what I think. We 'retire', if you like that word so much, when we feel like. We keep doing with our lives what we feel like UNTILL we feel like. i don't know about you, but that's how I intend to live it out. So if you feel like filling coloring books 'meant' for 3 year olds, surrounded by toy cars 'targeted' for 10 year olds, while Mozart plays in the background in the same playlist as punk rock and Bhimsen Joshi and trance, while you devastate a 3-scoop all American Banana split, while browsing through spiritual or holiday and destination magazines, you go do that. nobody tells you what you should be doing if you are 'so' old. F%&# that. Just F&%# that.

McDonalds's happy meal has the Ninja turtles these days in it. I have two of them, two more to go. Here I come me hearties...

2009-01-19T01:33:00.001+05:30

Awarded by
Sophia
to Arjun Kariyal

New targets for a new year

2009-01-01T20:35:00.008+05:30

Just the tech I've been waiting for- I made these quick sketches on a 13" touchscreen laptop called HP Pavilion tx2009 and the biker on a HP Touchsmart PCwith my finger tip. We spotted these machines in 2 different digital shops. Both have bluetooth so moved the sketches to the phone. Everything is moving towards touch and gestures. Drawing directly on the surface beats the tablet for some reason. but you get more options with the tablet. I figure touch tech will get there quick- where you can choose brush types while drawing with your finger tip... pinch zoom in, finish it further. Maybe this tech is already out and I am just not aware of it yet. Jeez things are moving fast.
Got around to seeing Slumdog millionaire. Apparently this movie will not be released in India. Pity we are still so tight-assed about stuff that should matter less now. Also this year have resolved to see all Woody Allen movies. My other big target should finish this year. Will post up when it's done else I'm going to make a real ass of myself. Happy new year!

relink

2008-12-25T10:56:00.008+05:30

Another one-
http://fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/permalink?id=nlo1x3dkhmt75vh
Met my classmates from school at the reunion- some since we were 5. Vikas Nath, do let us know when you attain knighthood or something like that. Missed Puneet and Arvind this time.
Swapped movies with Emil yesterday. I got a few animation movies from him - Renaissance should be an interesting watch.
Way to go Vikas Arya. Lage raho!

Am I human anymore and do I feel anything at all? Yes, the sight of dead dogs makes me sad. Something needs to be done about that- like the animal behind the wheel should be breaking and honking for those poor things when they drift on the road sniffing for food. And quit using high beam please; since it blinds your other co-animals behind the wheel on the opposite side.

Do catch Madagascar 2. The penguins are total killers. Reminds me of art school days when we saw resemblence in certain human behaviour to specific animals. For examples some of us are hyenas- waiting to feed off what has happended, or cows- just languishing around and chewing the cud. But I wish we were all meerkats. We could learn so much from them- especially in today's environment.
I'm a buffalo. No doubt about that.

scratchobilitonsia

2008-12-19T17:56:00.003+05:30

Find of the week-
http://fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/permalink?id=sr9l6qk5lrzxwn9
http://fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/permalink?id=76ctvdemit12301
You have to make drawings with the given characters. 'smoking ideas' and 'ode to the joker' were mine. go take a shot yourself.

Other random thoughts of the week. Only efficient systems will survive now; be it cars or whatever. Maruti Astar's fuel eff is an official figure of 19+ kpl. If you dont see too many of them right now, its only because buying a car in december ages the car by a year on paper compared to buying in Jan. So this car is a winner in coming years. Honda's new city is another winner- 16kpl and belts out 118hp! All systems indulging in excesses will be looking into the deep end of the gorge.

Foodovich Glutosky

2008-12-17T19:45:00.004+05:30

Here's why cooking makes a man a better man. Food is organic substance. Now you mix all this up (appropriately) on a controlled flame for a specific duration and what emerges is this... this work of art (at times) which doesn't take any sophistication to appreciate. this act of being able to convert this raw material; putting it through a process over a catalyst (flame), till it simmers, fries, roasts, boils and cooks and emerges, transforms, blossoms, evolves into something edible, enjoyable, energising, gives one the understanding of what it takes to add and understand the fuel of life.
Why food? well, its organic and makes it all the more interesting to understand; not a machine, process or a program that was man-made anyways so you grab a manual and figure things out in a minute. Its the same reason why raising children is considered more challenging than managing colleagues at work or mastering watercolors is more difficult than learning photoshop or taming a horse more daunting than getting the hang of a motorbike.

So come on now... put on that apron, and light up that flame.

life in technicolor

2008-12-14T11:57:00.003+05:30

I see hope only in music now. If there is a harbinger of hope, a whisper at the end of this rat infested, mucky, fucked up tunnel, this is it; if it can bring any relief to my f**ked up state of mind and the larger clusterf**k we live in and irrelevant priorities.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ4QBrh_nR0&feature=related

Do watch 'The day the earth stood still'. It's what should happen now- give up to an authority that can handle things better, if we are so hell bent on screwing things up- or just not able to work towards environment sustainability in an effective way.

My movies list since jan 08- http://flickbuddy.blogspot.com/
Target was 100 through the year. Don't think I'll make it!

man in the mirror

2008-12-08T01:30:00.006+05:30

We blame politicians and journalists for their behaviour when a catastrophe lands on us. But are they the only ones at fault? The fault is ours - collectively. Where is the sense of ownership for our country? Here's an example that doesn't need much searching or verification- we don't bother to keep our streets clean. Look at the street carefully next time. Is it clean? Do you see pieces of paper, plastic, cigarette butts or thrown gutka pouches? If so, then the garbage is being created by us- regular office-goers and janta. This is just the tip of the iceberg (garbage pile?) of the mess we create on a daily basis. When you step out on the street and see this mess with everyone else, no one wants to call it our own, and in time, start disowning it. Then, we start milking the place like leeches for our own disoriented, bland, blurry, f**ked up existence.

We are no different from anybody else. So next time you blame a politician or a news channel for anything, or come up with any smart-ass ideas on what should be done, do reflect on your own behaviour and ask yourself this simple question-

What good have I done lately and who the F**K am I really to point a finger at anyone?

And just in case you are wondering, no I don't have a close loved one in politics or journalism. So F**K YOU and keep your f**ked up holier-than-f**king-thou persona and lofty ideals to your own f**king self, f**khead.

Ok, this is the least you can do. Next time security in your building takes more time to check your car, stop blasting him off and co-operate. And thank him when he's done. It's keeping you safe. And please keep your waste to yourself and dispose it properly, you f**king parasite.

love love love

2008-11-30T03:58:00.003+05:30

The loss is irreplaceable and damage deep. We could get back to our lives like it did not happen. But it DID. This will change us. We will now morph into another kind of people. Or animal. You will know you are changing when you go into limbo for a while; contemplating. You tend to stare at nothing in particular, restrict your movements and restrain from expressing freely. You may see futility in a whole lot of things and feel despondent over more. Of course, you will get back to life. But not the same way as you did in those wonder years. That era is gone and that paradise lost. Don't like it? Well, we did this to ourselves. So what's the way out of this orbit? There is no way. It will only intensify. There is a better way to take things ahead.

Love all you can. Nothing else is worth it.