Back from exile..............

Wow!!......... I cant believe that my last post was a month and a half back.......Time sure does fly... I realised that i havent written for so long when my friend called me and threatned yet again that she will have me for breakfast, lunch and dinner (yes yes ....... same best buddy......same threat ...... only this time i think she meant it .............. n thats really scaring me). Thats the thing about girls......... if guys wanna threaten someone then we show some kind of intimidating action -- raised voice, fist show, stuff like that......... but gals can threaten you in the softest possible tone too.....amazing how they do it. Anyways back to me, yes i have returned from exile and things have been happening to me in a faster pace. I am regaining contacts with people i lost touch with.

I have been getting lesser sleep off late (work has made its mind to screw my biological sleep cycle). Life on the whole is pretty much screwed up in the same way it was a few months earlier .... nothing new there i guess. One of the best things i think happenin right now to me is the new gat that i got.... now i can play and sing all those great songs (ok ok........ i can try.......). Well its the begining of another weekend....... and im jus getting up..... my hair is standing in all possible direction and more .......like i slept on an electric bed..... and i have to go about my business now ...... I will write more (promise!!). will catch y'all later then.

Hastalavista

It's not over..........................

Every once in a while comes a song that has this tune that you cant get outta your head, has some great meaning ful lyrics which you can totally relate to. the latest in the genre of such songs for me is Chris Daughtry's 'Its not over'.... It is in all essence following the rock genre........ guitars & drums if you will ........ but also sends across a message, A message for survival, a message to stand your ground, a message that says never give up. It is one of those rare songs that I feel is a pleasure to listen to........ read on the lyrics to understand what I'm talkin about-------

I was blown away.

What could I say?

It all seemed to make sense.

You've taken away everything,

And I can't deal with that.

I try to see the good in life,

But good things in life are hard to find.

We'll blow it away, blow it away.

Can we make this something good?

Well, I'll try to do it right this time around.

Let's start over.

I'll try to do it right this time around.

It's not over.

'Cause a part of me is dead and in the ground.

This love is killing me,

But you're the only one.

It's not over.

Taken all I could take,

And I cannot wait.

We're wasting too much time

Being strong, holding on.

Can't let it bring us down.

My life with you means everything,

So I won't give up that easily.

I'll blow it away, blow it away.

Can we make this something good?

'Cause it's all misunderstood.

Well, I'll try to do it right this time around.

Let's start over.

I'll try to do it right this time around.

It's not over.

'Cause a part of me is dead and in the ground.

This love is killing me,

But you're the only one.

It's not over.

We can't let this get away.

Let it out, let it out.

Don't get caught up in yourself.

Let it out.

Let's start over.

I'll try to do it right this time around.

It's not over.

'Cause a part of me is dead and in the ground.

This love is killing me,

But you're the only one.

It's not over.

Let's start over.

It's not over, yeah...

This love is killing me,

But you're the only one.

It's not over.

It does send across the pain and the torment ......... but as it says...... Its not over. Nothing is over till we can still fight back and make it all worth living for. Life itself would be meaningless if we couldnt fight for ourselves and stand for what we believe in. So take a cue from the song 'cos it is really beautiful and always keep that survival instincts burning......... remember .............Its not over...................

Drawing a blank

I have been up too early in the morning and i have spent about an hour thinking about what to write in the blog (I have nothing better to do in the morning if I'm up on my own ........ I'm up since 4 a.m.). Finally I have come to the point where I know for sure that I positively, certainly, absolutely cannot write a blog so early in the morning. Why? ....... Cos my brains are still asleep I guess and my body is waaaaaay too lazy to wake it. And now I possibly cant return to sleep cos I just cant do that ........ So all in all this whole situation is weird and confusing. Why did I get up so early anyway? ...... that too on my own. Ahh!!! music!! ............ thats always there to rescue me. kinda weird feeling when your brains dont work but the body seems raring to go .......... dunno where ..... but somewhere I guess. So off I go ....... will write in with more sanity once my brains wake up ...........

In Pursuit Of Moksh

The previous entry talked more about the crazier part ........ I'm hoping that this blog entry will balance the karma thing, you know ...... yin and yang....... equilibrium and all that. The craziness in the world around me has consumed me to an extent that I have taken up the thought of Moksh pretty seriously (yeah! right!). I'm still searching for the Bodhi tree though. At this critical time I turn to the one thing that gives me immense peace and a higher level of tranquility, which is music. Rock music isn't considered exactly to be the kind that people would listen to and meditate, but hey!! This is my way of finding Moksh. Its more like the Mick Jagger song-------

And I drove across the desert

I was in my four wheel drive

I was looking for the Buddha

And I saw Jesus Christ

He smiled and shrugged his shoulder

And lit a cigarette

Said jump for joy

Make some noise

Remember what I said

Hey joy

Love you bring

Oh joy

Make my heart sing

Oh joy

Joy in everything

Joy joy joy oh joy

Joy joy joy oh joy

So here's hoping that I find true Joy ........... more updates later .......... till then let me meditate

(P.S. I guess the Buddha haircut will enhance my image too ......... hmmmm....... maybe i should go and get one :))

Realm of the crazed.......

Well I have been writing here after a pretty long time....... and the fact of the matter is tht I have been busy off late (yes i am!! ....... dont u dare snicker)... My best friend just threatned to kill me and drink my blood if I didnt write a blog (Kidding!...... She is a real sweetheart). But things aint working for the best in my little crazed paradise that is my world....... I have to resort to writing blogs thru some stupid software cos the antivirus blocked my access and this really is a very lame way to get around the problem .......... I cant even press the 'Enter' button on the keyboard cos nothing really happens on the screen....... this really sucks ......... but im looking at the brighter side and am trying to create a record of writing a blog with no paragraphs (can anyone contact the Guiness Book people please? ........ genius working here) ....... By now you would have realized that the sunny side of my life is as bright as a fused torchlight in a pitch dark cave ......... and my complexion doesnt really help me in any way..... the Title pretty much gives a very brief n clear idea of what my mind is like ........ this is what goes on in the mind of a real genius i guess ........... self-boasting and ego-pumping must be a sure-shot sign or proof that i really am crazed ........ well not the lunatic kinda crazed ........ the run-of-the-mill crazed types rather ........ and i have even started getting projects that relate totally to it .......... i guess the next step for me is to find a bodhivruksha and sit and meditate beneath that ........ maybe im the next Buddha around ........ the rains are still hanging around & the weather doesnt help lighten my mood either ....... isnt October supposed to be a hot season??? ........ we are nearing October and the clouds seem darker than ever. That just about justifies my idea the someone is out there conspiring against me (hey!! im weird n crazy remember? ....... what kinda statements did you expect me to make). Sheesh the rains arent even letting up for a second ........ and all this is because im not carrying an umbrella. By the time I reach home i have to shake the water off like a drenched cat ........ thank goodness i dont have so much of hair on my body ........ the very thought of it scares the living daylights outta me ........ On a more generic note, the city bid farewell to one of the favored deities of the city. The Elephant God has left the building. And yes India did win the 20-20 world cup after all (This was jus an update on those who are lazy like me & dont read the newspapers ....... dont worry ...... i didnt either ...... Mom told me all this). Anyways I will write more blogs today when i get the time ......... till then like Bon Jovi says 'Have a nice day!"

Touching base..........

This has been an eventful week. Work has kept me busy and music has kept me going. This is probably as close as i can get to a feeling of being normal. Life has been looking good recently. My parents are happy and they let me be (which I like). Work has been of the stimulating kind. I recently got in touch with a couple of my best friends. One from Oz n the other from closer here at home. It has been a good feeling to be able to touch base with them. The one from around here is a very special friend of mine. She is one amazing person who is recuperating at the moment. It has always been a pleasure to have friends like her, the kind that you are sure will have immense goodwill going for you. It kinda makes everything fall in place if not anything else. Its such friends who will help you outta tight situation. I can safely say that such friends form a very integral part of me n they are indeed my support system, my contingency plan. Its their love and affection that I thrive on............. I have been very picky about the friends I have but im glad that i did not miss out on the ones I have. Amen to that!!
Life in a way has been quite fufilling in the past week. I have had my dose of work with that pinch of entertainment thrown in for good measure. I have interacted quiet a lot with the people I love so i have no complaints. I dont know how long this is going to last but I sure am gonna enjoy all the while it does. as for the friends i talked about just one thing to say, "You guys rock my world ........ love you guys!!"

Design is everything.............

After spending about 5years in architectural school, design seems to have caught up with me. All this while that I have been working here, Ihave worked on volumetric spatial visualisations and conceptual planning in healthcare facilities. It has been quiet a journey throughout. Whether i will continue this specialization or whether I diversify is as good a guess as anybody's. But the fact remain in the truth that i enjoy what I do to the hilt. There has been a bit is discontent in that area. I had read an article recently that 'design is everybody's'....... how true!! Everyone can design....... what we do as architects are simply implementing a vague idea of how a client would want his space to be. Thats where our creativity kicks in. But at the end of the day, all of us are on the same page.
I will probably put forth my views on this in future blogs. But for the moment here is some food for thought.............. We are all designers, in every sense of the word.

A Beautiful Day

Its the most dreaded day of the week ,,,,,, Monday!!! Most people claim that this day is almost at par with the judgement day and its sort. Reviews n Discussions n even presentations are scheduled on this day, moreso that you can actually slog through the wekend and still have half the mind to come to work on monday. Many people even blame it on the hangover from the party last night. I havent had any reservations as such for this day, maybe the reason lies in the fact that i work for a very uber-cool design firm where work is really fun. So quite contrary to the belief Mondays are usually fun, quite like the rest of the days of the week. Working in a design firm has this definitive advantage that work never tends to be monotonous. Tackling design issues have always brought about a very good change, both work and otherwise. It has built relationships that are very difficult to fathom.
I can safely say that my firm has evolved to be my second home. I love the people here..... i really do!!! Its become a place i can escape to ......... rather than escape from. This i say b'cos even though it was monday my day was pretty much good n beautiful. Helped design a floor and listened to some great songs. This has been all in all a beautiful day. I work with the best minds in the best place ever. Amen to that!!

See the world in green and blue

See China right in front of you

See the canyons broken by cloud

See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out

See the Bedouin fires at night

See the oil fields at first light

And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth

After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

Beautiful day

Touch me

Take me to that other place

Reach me

I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now

What you don't know you can feel it somehow

What you don't have you don't need it now

Don't need it now

Was a beautiful day

-U2 'A Beautiful Day'

It's finally here

Finally its here .......... yup its the weekend. Nothing totally different abt the day, but it does feel good to know that you can sleep real late tomorrow n party well today. Infact you can just sleep the whole day away. The only glitch there is that you would have to spend all the moments that you are awake listening to the cribbing courtesy family. My family has a very weird description of weekends and holidays. According to them, I shuld be spending all that time cleaning my room n doing chores like that. More like spring cleaning, only that you have to do it every seventh day. Biblically its the day of Sabbath or rest. God had this day for rest. so the next time you are told to clean the room you could bring your case to the higer authorities (the Highest infact ....... literally). Who wuld want to work on a HOLIDAY???? Especially whn you can actually laze around.
The whole point of getting a weekend is to get a break from work.......... no work at home. So go ahead n grab your poison. Like the Smirnoff Ad says 'The world is waiting ........ where are you?'. So hoping that you all hv agr8 weekend (and praying ever so hard that no last minute work pops up). enjoy the weekend and like Bon Jovi sings..............

Oh,if there is one thing I hang onto,

That gets me through the night.

I ain't gonna do what I don't want to,

I'm gonna live my life.

Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,

Standing on the ledge andshow the wind how to fly.

When the world gets in my FACE,

I say, Have A Nice Day

Do What You Want .........

So you were born in an electrical storm
took a bite out the sun
saw your future in a machine built for two
now your rays, make me kind of go crazy,
shocked and awe and amaze me
just a ticker tape parade and me
but something was wrong
till you tap danced on the air in the night
screaming at the top of your lungs, you said

Come on, come on
Do what you want
What could go wrong?
Oh come on come on come on, come on, do what you want
Oh come on come on
What could go wrong? Do do do do what you want
Come on

These are the lines from the song 'Do what you want' by a new band called 'OK Go'. a song that was introduced to me by my best buddy, now i just cant stop listening to it. It does have that catchy tune, very much like the song that you cant ever get outta your head. One of the best things about this song is the chorus. Very meaningful indeed. I mean........ just read those lines .......... its pretty much simple but the attitude of breaking free is overwhelming. Its not at all rebellious, but it still urges you to 'do what you want' very subtly enough.
I strongly feel that we are all slaves to our own devils. To hear a song like this at such a point in time surely is a very pleasant and warming change. For everyone who cribs against the system this is a real good song. Just do what you want and the change will occur on its own. For the real rebels at heart., turn into VH1 n do try to catch the song . till then ........ Do what you want.

The Rainman

It is quite an unpredictable weather, these rains. A moment ago it was perfectly sunny a day and then started a drizzle followed by a downpour. Not even a warning as such. And another amazing observation is that by the time you fidget in your bag and get the umbrella out the rain-shower stops. Just about enough rain to get you wet but keep your umbrella dry, it kinda defeats the purpose of having an umbrella doesnt it? (Its a divine conspiracy i tell you ........ someone is out to get us). Now if you even begin to think that this was bad, think again. What are we left with after the rains?? ........ The muck ofcourse. I love the weather, its just the muck and getting myself wet (especially if a meeting is due) that gets to me. The roads, the potholes and the open sewers are covered alike with murky waters, enticing unsuspecting pedestrians to step into it and get sucked into oblivion. And ofcourse the distant side-effect of the rains are the colds & flus that you get (courtesy the wet weather) that seems to take an eternity to get over with. They say that if the body catches a disease then our responsive WBC's try to create an antidote that will disarm the pathogens the next time they attack. Yet we somehow manage to catch the common cold everytime.
The only time I love the rains to the hilt is when im chilling at home with a cuppa coffee and watching some good flicks or listening to some great concert in the sweet and warm confines of my home .......... and yes bone-dry ofcourse. I shudder at the very thought of catching a local train in the morning, that too with a repentless shower of water droplets.
By now you must have realized that the title in no way compares me to the rainman or even me having a 'rainman syndrome'. For the uninitiated, the rainman syndrome or savants syndrome is an autistic condition with the slight difference that the person having this syndrome ends up with a very good memory, doing complex mathematical formulations within seconds or remembering the whole directory or even performing a whole piano concerto perfectly after hearing it being played only once.
That sets me thinking 'What is it like to have a photographic memory'. And almost instantly the answer comes to me in the form of a one-liner i read somewhere 'Everyone has a photographic memory, some just dont have the film.'
Its still raining out and it's mighty high time i got back to work ........ so enjoy the rains the way i do ........ staying indoors. On this note i sign off only to return later with some other piece of information that you would probably be better off without.

Page One

Well ....... here I start off with my first blog i guess. The reason aint much ....... just wanted to write a blog (thats it ...... really!!). now that I have taken up the step of writing a blog ...... the next step inevitably means writing some meaningful content (and that my friend is a difficult predicament). Where do i start from?? ....... maybe from ground zero (a.k.a real-time). There is a lot going through my head at the moment though ........ work, music, creative arts and so on and so forth. Maybe the only part that is constant throughout from all this is probably music. For me music is not knowing one particular genre ...... or even expressing loyalty to one particular group, band or singer. its all about the feeling created within you thru the kind of music you hear. If you have to ask my kinda music then most probably the answer would be 'Rock'. Although that doesnt mean that im blissfully ignorant about the other genres of music. But there is something about this specific genre that just demands my attention.
Loathe me if you want to but there really is a very true sense of 'oneness' in Rock music. if you dont trust me on that ....... then watch any live Rock Concert......... the energy ....... the crowd chant ....... the wave ......... the rides ........ the effects .......... the madness. right from the point where the intro of a gig starts to the very end, all minds are focussed as one. Every single person in that arena, irrespective of their personal ability to sing or even perform, gets united in one voice, one spirit ...... and yes one mind (perhaps thats the closest you will ever get to the very definition of unity). But then you would probably argue that its the same with any other genre ....... but then again the energy that is seen in a rock concert is seen nowhere else. The lead may be dead tired and damn exhausted...... but when he hears the crowd chant the lyrics of the song ........ his energy is doubled ....... thats something you wont probably see anywhere else.
Why did I start talking about this you might ask ......... well the answer is pretty simple. music is an inevitable part of us .... it drowns your sorrows and expresses your feelings ........ what better depiction of emotions........ Music is one of the strongest weapons these days too. Look at the global messages sent across by the Live8 concert and more recently the Live Earth concert (and those were the biggest gigs on the planet mind you). This may be the first post on this topic, but surely not the last one by me. more comming up on this front. Till then i leave you with these lines of Nickelback................

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars

And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars

The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap

We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat

And we'll hang out in the coolest bars

In the VIP with the movie stars

Every good gold digger's

Gonna wind up there

Every Playboy bunny

With her bleach blond hair

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar