The bullet and the rosary – would that not make a good name for a book?
(Apparently Google doesn’t think anyone has written that book yet. Maybe I should.)
The Royal Enfield bullet has been a motorbike of every young Indian man’s dreams – me included. The chrome, the thump, and the no-nonsense build. As a kid, I used to be so in awe of the loud machines that rode past my house. Now in a city that is louder, the glint of steel, and the steady deep noise of an approaching bullet still makes me turn. And watch.
I’m buying one. That’s on top of my to-do list right now.
Diwali is here. And here’s my own hand crafted card and message to all you good folks.
Cheers to everyone!
[I made that card at a 15 min make-a-card competition at work. :) The card was later presented to my all-boys lunch group. By the way, that won the second place. ]
PS: For the less informed, Wiki sez: "..The festival marks the victory of good over evil, and uplifting of spiritual darkness. Symbolically it marks the homecoming of goodwill and faith after an absence.."
..And when it is time to die, I will die in style.
From burning orange to an eerie purple all the way till darkness starts creeping in from the corners - I cant think of a death as grand as the death of the day.
Good times are back - And I'm having a lazy week away from work, doing what I love doing : watching it rain.
It is November (well, almost) and it is pouring as if it were June.
With the moss on the walls, and the color of the grass, it even feels like June - and I am loving it.
If I get one clear day though, I'm heading out to the jungle.
Contravening instincts bred into him by millions of years of evolution, you see Spark doing another one of his water catching performances here. (And you, like an idiot thought all dogs run away from water.)
And he goes: “Yo, check it out, Gs, Damn. I be attendin' to bidness 24/7, and I almost forgot about evolushan! “
Spark says he’s working on his other ‘bad habits’ like sniffing feces on the sidewalk, licking his own groin, and wolfing down his food.
When he has all the hot-dog ingredients, it should be ok for him to take a few exceptions, don’t you think? (“Unless you wants every hole in yo' body stapled shut, y'all best not make no wisecracks.”)
Spark is a good dog.
:)
[he was a few days old here. ] There is something exquisitely romantic about love by the sea-side, something far more poetic than by the park bench – especially so on this day when rain clouds covered the sky, and sunshine, trickling through the clouds painted a picture of gold.
I have been obsessed with tight frames for a while now.
This time I wanted to shake off the fixation, and try and experiment at a wider angle - and get a little more of the world in perspective.
The sun shining through these clouds (these were the same clouds that would in a couple of hours go on to ruin the India-Australia match that was happening just a few blocks away) lit the scene just right, and gave the sky that great blue hue – I could finally shoot at ISO 100.
“As for clothes, the newer the better; as for friends, the older the better.”
Oh, really? I thought that was only wine, said the wise man.
Wise enough, wise man?
And so we drank beer through the happy hours,
and the boys rode motorbikes after many years.
[Now these two old friends from college decided to visit me over the weekend. This is the first picture here that is not my work, but the mood is such, I cant really post anything else. ]
It had been raining for the most part of the week, and I was meeting these couple of blogger friends from the other side of the city on Saturday.
Off –season sun is a good thing, and when daddy’s not watching, what is a better place to be with friends than a puddle in the park!
No break fast, two movies (not counting the DVDs), a lot of getting wet, a lot of riding around, a lot of friends, a minor accident involving a swollen upper arm, and a knee that hurts, a new pair of shoes, dinner, coffee, and a lot of catching up.
It has been a busy weekend. :)
And the thinker just sat there in the comforting warmth of a clear day.. refreshed by the winds from the sea, by the breeze which might have risen in a valley of snow.
The sky, the beach, and the river that met the ocean fashioned beauty beyond compare – solemn, and deeply colored.
What is a better place to think than by a sea without limit – which was as blue as its sky?
For that was all he ever did – Think. Except on those particularly rough days when the sea was black, he would offer to take the helm.
But today was not one of those days.
He watched the last group of ducks paddle their way home to the village by the sea. It would be another hour before sun set, and it wasn’t going to rain.
I'm off on yet another weekend trip - and this time to a friend's wedding in Trivandrum.
It's a festival that has everything to do with the spirit, they say.
Perhaps that's why a couple of celebrated citizens attained nirvana this time around too - from excessive drinking.
Anyway, this time I had a camera slung around my neck while I was stirring the payasam, and the kids were making their pookkalams
I'm back, and now I'll need some sleep.
Onam was good. :)
The wind is whistling in my ear, and playing with my hair.
And I'm soakin it all up at the beach.
I'm on a week-long vacation. :)
It looks the flu’s got me.
And I’ve had too much cough syrup and I feel funny.
Do you think that is why this picture looks funny to me?
[In the picture: Mannequins bare it all at the Levi’s store warehouse]
We are a land of contradictions, of contrast, and changing hues – a land that has come a long way in it’s newest rebirth, and yet in so many ways not moved an inch from where it started.
A people’s nation – the people being its biggest liability, and its greatest strength as well.
And it’s greatest weakness? A defiant people. We work around rules, and we push our way through.
Doesn’t independence from an external force mean dependence on oneself? Doesn’t it mean accountability?
It’s time we made that choice:
The choice that you make to sit on a reclining chair 30 years from now, and tell your grand-child about that zero that India gave the world centuries ago - Or to tell him about what YOU gave India, what you gave the world.
It is fairly simple – you only have to be good in what you do. And make the rather tough choice in doing what you love to do. We are a country with immense potential. Even if we were only mediocre intellectually (which I don’t believe is the case) , we balance it in numbers.
The need of the hour, if you ask me are:
1. A strong police force – Perhaps not in numbers, but definitely in values – better equipped, and better paid. Let us face it – we are used to being an unruly lot. We could use some discipline. If what it takes are tickets, so be it.
2. A responsible electorate that realizes the gravity of the power of vote.
3. A merit oriented structure in the bureaucratic system – right from the base.
4. Planned growth – even if it means slowing down.
5. taxation at the source is not the best policy any more. Instead, tax the sales, and cash in on the volumes. We have the numbers – we could bring down prices without compromising quality – it’s a small world out there and India could make a global shopping hub
6. Gather public good-will to make sense with Kashmir – to take bold decisions. We have shed too much blood in vain.
7. Far sighted infrastructure projects to the North-East.
8. Most of all, the nation to realize the need to look ahead, as opposed to looking behind, as we are given to do, as we have been taught to do - Look ahead, and teach our children to look ahead.
We have made mistakes, we have innovated, we have excelled, we have fought, we have got back together – time and again. We will continue to make mistakes, and we will continue to learn, and I will continue to be proud - and watch this country with respect, and affection.
Happy Independence day, folks!
I just got out of watching Chak de India, and I liked it. Brilliantly shot, brilliantly edited, and the songs have purpose.
I liked it because:
1. It did not look like Ta-ra-rum-pum. This one is a REAL sports movie.
2. I love cricket-bashers.
3. Less glamour, more substance – and the girls looked like they played hockey for real.
4. No cheesy romance, or diversions from the central plot.
5. It made gully hockey look cool. (I’ve never seen street hockey for real so far)
6. I watched it on the first day, and it wasn’t a waste of money.
My rating: You go watch it too.
Now let me tell you a little secret of mine: I love elephants.
It is possible that this has a lot to do with me being Malayalee, because back home, an elephant is not just some big animal, it is a way of life.
The Anakkaran (elephant handler) was someone every kid looked up to in awe and admiration. And I’ve grown up with that reverence.
A mahout sleeping underneath a huge elephant to me is a relationship rooted in trust. I’ve heard of mahouts being killed in fits of fury by the elephant, but a sleeping mahout being stamped on, I have never.
Every time I have touched the coarse hairy trunk of the huge animal - awful, powerful, monstrous, dreadful, mighty, and intelligent - I have known what the great Alexander could have been up against at a dramatic battle, with as inconceivable an end.
It is a first time for me every time.
I have wondered more than once, how then was it that the phrase “White elephant” came into being. An albino (hence white) elephant is supposed to be in most of south east Asia, sacred, and a sign of prosperity. For the same reason, there were laws protecting them from labor. So if you received a gift of a white elephant from a King, it would be a blessing and a curse - A valuable possession whose upkeep exceeded it’s usefulness. The buses of the state owned KSRTC in God’s own country are locally called elephants. No prizes then for guessing the color.
Children playing, brown women laughing and water gushing down the rocks.
The world moved on as he inhaled the thin spray of water during his mid-noon siesta.
He liked to sleep, you could tell. He liked to sleep, and he was wrathful at men, and their world.
He was free – unlike them - to do as he liked.
