My "Times of India"

My permanent seat. Ain't no morning newspaper for me but a ticket to see India. I dont know why, may be I get a too nostalgic after a few beers or I genuinely miss my days. Why do I call it "My permanent Seat", "my ticket to see India"... Read on folks.
My plans are instant. My instincts dont have to wait for the damn Waiting List of Indian Railways and I will never pay that TC an extra dime for a berth! Solution: Pack a bunch of news papers, find a corner near the toilets, spread 'em there and sit! That was my favourite seat with my legs hangin out of the doorway watching each and every paddy fields go by, judging which state are we in by the color of the soil :-). Listening to the rattle of the iron wheels striking a symphony with the rails, trying to hypnotize myself by constantly looking at the rails below, moving fast. Those were certainly fast... I have come very far.
Nights were cool, but the worst was the morning time when people jump over you, under pressue to do their early morning duties. Sometimes it amazes me when I see how much people are scared to doo in the tiolet of an Indian Rail. Ladies bring along their husbands, who stand guard outside... giving a glare to anyone passing by.. as if to say "Be careful... my wife is shitting.. huh!". May be he is trying to warn us of her farts!... ha ha that is how I interepret things :P
And parents, they come runing after their nearly grown up kids, they don't wanna let 'em go inside and doo alone, scared kid might fall off the train through the hole, I can't understand how! Poor kid... under pressure has to do it in front of the parent. Funny!!! Always! Water used to start tricklin from the toilets to my paper! There goes my seat. Tragedy! Me again need to somehow spend the morning hangin from the doors.
Come afternoon and... Wait wait!... I hear something... the most scary sound on a train. That of a "clap" That sound means "You can run, you can hide, but u can't esacpe my goat!" Yea those are the chakkas (eunuchs). In my early days I used to get nervous when they used to come. But then I learnt a trick (out of experience ofcourse :-)). Trick was. act dead, numb, as if you are done with life and ... thats it. They'll leave u alone. As people do with all dying people.
"Travel a mile and you will learn more than you learn by reading an entire book". A rule I should say. I certainly beleive in it. I dont know what all I learnt, may be it is a kind of learning you cant account for, but you apply that in your day to day life.
To end on a gyani note. "People who change places, Change their fate". So guys, next time you are going somewhere. You are not just going, you are going to change your fate. :-)

P.S. I know ... overdose :P

Meaningless

Ooo i feel so down,
Sometimes I think,
I'd better have been a clown.
Life seems still,
To get it moving,
There ain't no pill.
There ain't no more fun,
While smoking I say to myself,
Mann you are gonna die young.
Hope I was lying to myself,
But The face in the smoke said,
You are killin' yourself.

TeeVee

Read this, this is funny... lest for me; thought about it while sitting in front of the TV after a long working day at office. Not that the television was switched on, well i was wondering about the evolution of TV.

Remembered the old days. When my grandpa used to say, "Son! Ours was one of the few houses in town that had a color Tv at that time!". It was a sonodyne by the way and the whole family used to get involved while switching on the TV. There used to be only one channel, the doordarshan and all the people trying to hook on to it, the signal used to be weak. Biggest and the highest antennae was a status symbol at that time.

Sunday morning 7am. Grandpa fully pumped up to see the news on DD. Now see the drama. Dadu switches on the TV, sees all pixated. Yells and calls my dad. My dad, very talented in making the TV work; he can smell the signal out of thin air :P, scratches his beard and says... "Hmm feels like we have to rotate the antennae in the correct direction, can you see the hill in the north, the Tv tower is right on that, the antennae has to face that". Look at Dad's research, he even knows wherethe TV towers are!!! Now you need to look at the Tv and at the same time turn the antennae to stop at the point where it starts catching signal. You need 3 people here, Dadu and Dad are already there, one more required, I am called in only to run up stairs and rotate the antennae, while my dad standing in the courtyard giving directions and my dadu twisting the TVs ears as if punishing him for not showing up the stuff! Start working beeetch!! Grandpa yells in punjabi... and whoa.. the very next moment, dad says stoooop, and I hold it right there. I listen a bit more carefully and I hear the old DD news jingle; it still lingers in my ears fellas!

And now, there are so many channels and there is a new term coined to have a look at all of 'em.. 'channel surfing!' And the remote, I think it is the biggest vice for mankind today. It kills a human, makes him handicapped :P. You do not beleive me, take the following example and I am sure all of us have done this. Sitting on the lazy couch, you are watching your faourite TV serial and suddenly you remember, OH! What is the score... you look out for the remote to change the channel and you find it lying 3 feet away from you on the table. Goddam hell... how lazy we become... picking that remote is just like climbing up a steep hill and we wait for someone passing by to pass on the remote to us, we we won't damn get up! See the laziness! :P

Well now, coming back... I am feeling lazy to remove my clothes fellas.... brrrrr... wanna keep on musing.

Rebello...

Same shit different day, and it was Thursday. Mrs. Osbourne (yea may be Ozzy's Mom, she is as scary as him) drops in an Email, "You have a parcel". I knew, It was none other than my Rebello :-). In a flash, got the goody to my desk. Went runnin' around desks, got a pair of scissors and set it loose.
She is black, She is sexy, there you go, she is Manny's new WIFE (Wonderful Instrument For Entertainment :P), my Canon Rebel DSLR cam. In eagerness to turn it on, I get online to find my beetch Mysore... my inspiration...and he guides me how to get the cam ready to click
(Colleagues: Mohsin, Balaji (my Client, a veteran) and Rajesh)

Mohsin: (In his Hyderabadi accent) Kya ree tu, kitne ka leeya be yeh?

I: (I say some price)

Mohsin: (Fishes his mobile out and looking at it) Kaisi baatan kar rah... mera yeh mobile ka kamera dekh ree tuu.. free ka hai baba... masttah photu kheechta ... Chal pose de... ek kheechta teri!

I: Chal ree...

Then I send an IM to Balaji sayin' the cam is here. Balaji comes runnin'. He is a typical old school photographer, still uses a film SLR cam. Always up with his tips for me.

Balaji: Wow man! Welcome to the SLR club. Lemme bless your cam. (Takes the cam in his hand, makes a few clicks and says). First thing, get a UV filter!

Rajesh (With his usual face devoid of expressios, no matter wht happens): It is like..
Example.
(Balaji: Rajesh! The production Intelligence Server has crashed!!!

Rajesh: Oh is it.. Okay... I ll see... excuse me .. I am talkin to my wife..

Balaji: Production server is down!!! (Shrugging his shoulders, he turns to me). Look at this guy man... users are up my ass and he is after his wive's :P

Mohsin: Relax balaji, abhi bas 2 mahine hue hai potti ke saath shadi banaye hue.)

Rajesh: Manny, can I take ur new cam to my DC trip.

I: Yea sure, and leave your wife with me!

Rajesh: Hmmmmmm (No expressions again!)

He did not ask after that.

Whole day, keepin' the cam beside me, savouring every sight of it and finally it was time to go home. Now.. the packing was ripped... and I did not have a cam bag. Now what to do? Hmm... It was time to sacrifce the skull cap for my cam; did not care about cold. Slid it in that cap and brought it home.
Whole night long we made love, me reading her favourite book and clickin all her controls. it was not long before I figured 'em out. Soon she was moaning in my hands, making those sweet sounds that get things in focus :-).
That very weekend I set myself out on a photo shoot to the Great Smoky Mountains and this is what I captured: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redninam_eye/sets
My first baby :P.

Diwali...

Ever seen Diwali through an eye of a poor man's kid? I remember his festive days, the days that taught him the difference between rich and poor.
On a diwali night, sitting on the terrace he'd be spotting crackers go off in the distant horizon. Pointing them to his mommy... See Mommy... that was a Parachute! Then next moment he'll ask... Mommy... Can I have one like that? Now what!
Did mommy get him one? No!... But she gave an explaination that still lingers in his ears.
She said...
Son, bursting crackers is just like making a pile of money and setting 'em on fire. This was good enough... He understood. At that tender age, life had taught him the value of money. He never asked again, but... why did only that poor kid have to sacrifice? Why don't all moms give the same lesson to their kids. Why can't all kids have fun?

This Diwali, get him some crackers, may be pair of new clothes. Do your bit friends, make him feel happy.

Why?

He'll ask... why? This word had been on his tongue ever since he started talking. You say... sky is blue.. he'll say why! This small 3 letter word is the source of what all he knows today, still... he doesn't stop askin'... Why? He doen't want to know what... he wants to know why! I remember an incident... He goes to the bank puts in a withdrawal slip through a small hole to the teller and so it all starts..

Teller: Sir, you cannot withdraw your money now...

He: Why?

Teller: Because it is not yet 11am.

He: Why?

Now who the hell in this world can explain it to him... Why is it not 11 am!!!
Even today, when he looks at his compuer screen, seeing his programs running like a dream... he doesn't feel happy... insted he scratches his head and asks himself... Why?

I am...

I am...
The missing link. A complex algorithm waiting to be understood
I wish...
To travel all the places in India that dont find a place on the map. That dont even qualify for a humble milestone.
I hear...
The froggy cacophony after the first monsoon rain. The consistency check chime. The howls of homeless dogs on a winter night.
I wonder...
What I'd have been if I'd opted for plan B. Unfortunatey plan A worked.
I want...
Some grey hair... atleast people will feel I talk sense.
I wish...
That I be myself always.
I sing...
When i walk alone.
I cry...
When I miss the one I've lost... When I see an animal in pain.
I write...
When i feel lonely. To remind myself what I was and what I am now; With a fountain pen when I want to feel like a kid again.
I confuse
When i get those messages... from where even i dont know. Someone who wants to talk to me... but in riddles.
I miss...
Someone damn neat. The organized chaos, Bangalore

Freebird Chained

With a broken wing, chained to the ceiling,
I have to think 50 times, to do things I am willing.

...........TBD :)

Train to India...

Arre bhai... Bangalore ke liye agli gaadi kab hai :P. Well, if I could catch a train to India... he he.
This is Fishers, my US village so to say.

Cold...

A winter view from my window, sent a chill down my spine. Thats the Indianapolis winter.
But the picture has something warm about it, you can feel it in the rays of light coming out of that window.

Breaking Through

Seems like some dead meat tring to make its way to life. Or is it some tree dying? ... Think about it folks!

Picture Perfect

The reflections amazed me. A nice scenic setting at the state park in the laid back Indiana. Missed the pole on the right though.... huh!

Dunno what to say. Actually this pic gives me a rustic feeling. Nice reminder of the reunion.

The Beach!

Office sometimes feels like a jail where I occupy cell no D1 - c32. Sometimes it feels like life for me is a mere 14.5 inch computer screen (a 17 inch one would make it better... :P scratch, scratch ... Hic!); my window to the world. Can't let this go on! What do I do? I jump outside the window :).
Port Hueneme, Caliphorniaaaaaaaaaa, a get away from work, to grab some whiff of pure oceanic wind. Felt free here, got close to life, close to mother nature and captured it in my cam in all its beauty.

Child in Time

The child in me, chasing a sea gull. I know it is gonna fly away, I'd still goddam chase it! Guy clickin' feels funny, yea yea thats Mac for ya! Life is a race, when we are kids we chase birds, kites; we grow up... we start chasing our dreams which sometimes seem like a distant hrorizon... the more u follow it, it keeps on widening and our dreams get bigger and bigggggger aaand biggggggggerrrrr... Will this Chase ever end?

What are you Waiting for?

I am the captain of my ship. Gonna steer it wherever. I use google maps insted of a navigator and a GPS instead of a compass. What the heck!... that is the only difference, it is still like the good old Columbus days. I love travelling. I dont remember the exact lines, but someone has truly said that travelling a mile gives you more knowledge than reading an entire book.
Well, here I look lost or am I circumspect? There is no more fun in journey alone. I see a sunset, I feel like discussing it. I see a dolphin jump out... no one to point it to... hmm. Cut the crap! Mac is gettin' mentisental. Remember the chase :), lets get back to it. What are we waiting for, lets get movin'!

Divinity

Her love is like an island
In life's ocean, vast and wide
A peaceful, quiet shelter
From the wind, the rain, the tide.
'Tis bound on the north by Hope,
By Patience on the West,
By tender Counsel on the South
And on the East by Rest.
Above it like a beacon light
Shine Faith, and Truth, and Prayer;
And thro' the changing scenes of life
I find a heaven there.
----------Love u Mommy!

Flights of Fantasy

I wish I could fly. Wanna fly back home visit my near and dear ones... meet my mommy (yea... so what! I am mumma's boyeee!)... na na actually, I wanna sit on that tallest tower... see see :); Will get a better shot of the setting sun from there :P.
Sometimes I wonder where our mind can take us. It is just like programming ourselves.

The Holy Light

Gotcha!... Waited patiently for that wave to form a heavenly combination with the sun :).
One of my prized catch. Yea... photography has made this salivating maniac (who else..!) to be patient. Mann... I need a DSLR now!