A Picnic!

The Beginning of the End

The Lords of Football!

Love, Hope, Hate and Faith

At one time, I used to be a great believer in Love and Hope. But then Life taught me a few good lessons.

Made me realise all these good emotions are not really good. They always make us more dependent on external factors and circumstances. The main reason is because we humanise these emotions. Pure Love becomes Conditional Love. Hope becomes Expectation.
Very few people are capable of Pure, Unconditional Love or Hope without Expectations. It takes a lot of experience to achieve this.

There is one emotion that we are very good at adapting in the purest form. That is Hate. We tend to keep Hate in our hearts and bring it out without reason or external influences. Hate gives us the warm feeling in our heart. When our insides start burning and we direct our thoughts in the purest form of hate towards ourselves and our surroundings. This emotion doesn't make us dependent on external factors. We can express hate in most situations easily.

Then comes Faith. Faith is the one thing that doesn't need dependence on anything external. You can have Faith in yourself, in God or in Luck. These things don't have an external manifestation. They do not depend on thoughts or actions of others.

What is the resultant of this post? Are we never to Love or Hope and only to Hate and Keep the Faith?
In my opinion, Love and Hope in their humanised forms are VERY dangerous. Conditional Love and Expectations make us do so many things. Then one day when the Condition is gone and Expectations have been shattered we feel as if Life has taken a Left turn. But since most people would find it difficult to have unconditional love and hope, I guess hurt and pain is the price we must always be prepared to pay to be able to love and hope. Therefore love and hope hide a negative aspect under their positive shell.

Hate is one of my favourite emotions to study. There is something powerful about it. Hate can motivate people in ways that Love cannot. Hate hides a positive aspect in its negative shell. Hate is good as long as it is harnessed. The same way burning fuel is good if its energy is harnessed.
A side effect of hate is purification. When you emerge from the flames of hate many unnecessary things have been burnt away making you feel lighter. Hate always starts with an external source. You hate someone, you hate something. But then if it is allowed to grow. It quickly takes over everything. Slowly, hate is the one thing that you feel.

At its purest there is perfect Hate for yourself. Where no external source or target is needed. You just hate yourself. That is when the true emergence takes place. IF and ONLY IF, you think at that point of time 'why do I hate myself'. In the light of hate are your smallest flaws revealed. Once revealed they can be removed.

Faith is something one should always have. It is one thing that the person has control on. Faith comes from within. It doesn't need an external source. God doesn't advertise, yet people have faith in God. Whatever comes from within you, you can control.

I am sure many people will not like me posting such a post, but this is what life has taught me. If you were lucky enough to get a different lesson, then please do share with me.
:)

And Life Takes a Left Turn....

Sometimes life can feel like an endless drive down a highway. Things keep happening with clockwork regularity. You get up, you go to work, come back, eat, sleep etc. Just like on highway you encounter certain signs on a regular basis. Signs for rest-stops, traffic signs and signs giving directions. You know where you are headed and you know how to get there.

But ever so often you come across a blockage on the road or some other problem that compels you to take a left turn. That is what I mean by 'Life takes a left turn'. In such a situation you are sure of where you want to go but not about how you will get there. That is when all our plans shatter and one feels like one has gone off the map. That is when the regularity of things is broken and luck/destiny/fate slips into the situation.

When you encounter such periods in life. Where it feels as if you have driven off the map and there is nothing to guide you. Just relax. Remember this quote:

"...with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart."
- The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross

You always have a guide with you. That is the light that burns in your heart. This is not the light of love. This is not the light of hope. Those things make you dependent on external factors.

This is the light of faith. Faith in yourself and your luck/fate/destiny/God. That wherever you end up that is where you were meant to be. That your guiding light is never wrong.

Keep the faith... remember.

A Question of Love

The other day a question came to my mind.

Is it possible to fall in love with someone whom you have never met?

Of course humans are very good at fooling themselves so you may (on the surface) fall in love with someone who you have never met. Two questions arise from this:

- Can you actually call it love in the traditional sense?

- What kind of a foundation does this love give the people involved to build a relationship on?

What I think is, that it is possible to fall in love with a persons mind and soul without meeting them. But it never does provide a stable platform for a serious relationship. It is the physical side that rules everything. Much more than mind and soul. It is the physical stuff that nag us. It is that which may become a point to fight on.


Ideally, in love, there should be a balance of the mental with the physical. To complete the trinity of love one must fall for the person's mind, body and soul! Therefore to build towards a relation and to fall in love completely with a person, you need to match the mental with the physical. Only when you completely love a person, can you say you are in true love.

If you love a person's mind and soul only, then they can be your soul-mate but may not be able to be your life-partner because life is very much physical.

Life-partner is not only a person who you want to talk to everyday, but is the person you want to sleep and get-up with, eat and drink with, live and die with for the rest of this life.

A non-physical (in other words purely long distance) relationship has one big big advantage. It has the same effect as the setting of the Sun. Just as when the Sun sets the stars and the universe around us is revealed the same way when the physical is taken away or hidden from us, that is when the person's nature and thoughts are revealed.

The stars are always there just that the sun outshines them, making them difficult to see. The same way sometimes the physical side of things (looks etc.) makes us loose focus of the things that usually don't change a lot with age, like nature, mind and soul of the person. A purely long distance relation doesn't allow us to focus on the physical side of things for too long and makes us
look into the person within the body. This is both a good thing as well as bad, as I have already discussed.


The original question shall, therefore, remain unanswered because there is no single right or wrong answer for this question. I feel the answer depends on the people involved and the circumstances surrounding them.

Chak De India - We like to dream!

While watching this movie, I too go caught up in the story and the fantasy of India winning the Women's Hockey World Cup (!). But as the movie ended my brain started screaming 'wake up!'

The girls are cute and the casting was done really well. A mainstream movie, for once, highlights real life issues like the hypocrisy of people, the segregation based on States and the problems faced by people from the North-East. It tries to show achievement of great things by a diverse group of people. Addresses the neglect of all sports in India except Cricket especially the women's teams.
But most of the issues seem to be inserted for the heck of it. One doesn't see or hear of them ever again (for example women in sports and the problems faced by people from North-East). These seem to be inserted to appeal to the people and to try and ground this movie in reality.

They also used some real hockey players (State and National Teams) in this movie. Komal Chautala is a state and national level player (real name: Chitrashi Rawat). But no where in the movie do they acknowledge the fact. Many people I am sure would have been un-aware of this fact. They could have shown it along with the titles.

The movies tries to be about overcoming odds and success over difficult circumstances/fighting the system. But in the end it is about Shah-rukh Khan getting his respect back. The movie ends and begins with Shah-rukh Khan. After winning the 'Women's World Cup' the last we see of the Indian team is their arrival at the airport! We don't even see how their families react or what happens to their problems!

The movie also zips through certain places without actually making any sense. For example the issue with 'man to man marking' seems to have been added in just to allow the girl with the ego to re-enter the team. The entire scene is just about 1min 10sec long and the main tactic for beating man-to-man marking seems to be few hand signals.

As a friend pointed out, the real players are overshadowed by the professional actors who were cast for the role. Furthermore all the major roles have gone to professional actors.

To conclude this, I think this movie tried to show everything. The scope was just too big. There have been many successful 'sports' movies with much smaller scope. For example: Hip Hip Hurray, Lagaan and Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar. This tells us that to prove a point one need not show the team winning a World Cup. One can base it much closer to reality rather than make the movie into one long dream!

But in the end I hope the people don't think of it as a dream and once the movie is over, go back to their lives and narrow world views. Hope this does bring a change in people. Change is one thing that we need, as a nation, as a people, as a race.

Change in the way we dream, the change in the way we think about certain things and a change in what we believe.

My Perfect Two Week Wedding!

My perfect wedding should have lots of mystery.
It should have a duality about it. One side for the public, one side for the families and close friends.
So have three functions:

1) Cocktails / Dancing - for my alcohol loving friends! And family members and general public! The best booze, the best music and the best food!

2) Marriage - for everyone. Night muhurat (I wish!) because I feel night weddings are amazing and mysterious. As the new day breaks you also enter into a new life!

3) Reception - the rocking grand finale. In a VERY VERY posh place. Formal and informal both. So that my friends get a chance to dress up in their best clothes!


The key is not to have these functions in one go. But to space them out! So one weekend have the cocktails then next weekend have the marriage and the weekend after that have the reception.
That will give everyone time to recover and will allow having small gatherings in between. Therefore by the end of the 2 week wedding my friends and family will know my wife-to-be through and through and hopefully I will know the people on my wife's side as well!

It might pose certain problems because out of station visitors may not be able to get away for so long. But well, 2 functions can be combined I guess.. or spaced across a weekend.

Of course in all this one has to take the girl's opinion into mind as well!

Talking about weddings.. here is what a friend suggested:

PK: c u can try something like getting married on moon

or may be in a space ship

me: :D

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

u mean to say

PK: :) hahahhaha

me: next 40-50 year i am not gonna get married?

:D coz i am sure all this wont be possible any time soon... even if it becomes possible in the next 10 years it will be expensive n i will have to wait to EARN that much money! ;)

Air of Triumph!

Title: Air of Triumph

An inspirational picture. The background of this picture may not be clear to someone who has not played this game. What you see is a human knight in armour standing on a rock. What you don't see is that in front of him is a vast Orc army waiting to attack. Behind him is the equally big Human army.

Whenever I am sad, depressed due to some big problem that has just landed in my lap, I look at this picture and put myself in the shoes (or armour!) of the knight. Looking through the helmet, above the shield, at the vast army ahead of me. Each one waiting to take me down. The heat. The sweat. The blazing sun. I always imagine the air of triumph. To motivate me. To make me fight on. However bleak the odds might be. However tough things might seem.

Also it reminds me. I have my own army. People who care about me, my intelligence, my experience, my luck, my good deeds. These are my army. They will back me up.

God willing, I shall triumph over my problems and live to fight another day.

It is from the game WarCraft III. More desktop art from the game (including this picture) can be found here.

AC-130H 'Spectre' gunship

The AC-130H Spectre gunship is one of my favourite military aircraft. I just love the concept! Combination of artillery and aircraft!

First some data:

Primary

Function: Close air support, air interdiction and force protection
Builder: Lockheed/Boeing Corp.
Power Plant: Four Allison T56-A-15 turboprop engines
Thrust: 4,910 shaft horsepower each engine
Length: 97 feet, 9 inches (29.8 meters)
Height: 38 feet, 6 inches (11.7 meters)
Wingspan: 132 feet, 7 inches (40.4 meters)
Speed: 300 mph (Mach .4) (at sea level)
Range: Approximately 1,300 nautical miles; unlimited with air refueling.
Ceiling: 25,000 feet (7,576 meters
Maximum Take-off Weight: 155,000 pounds (69,750 kilograms)
Armament: AC-130H: 40mm and 105mm cannons; AC-130U: 40mm and 105mm cannons and 25mm Gatling gun. AC-130Us are being retrofitted with 30mm Mk-44 single barrel cannons in place of the 40mm cannon and the 25mm Gatling gun.
Crew: AC-130U - Five officers (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer) and eight enlisted (flight engineer, TV operator, infrared detection set operator, loadmaster, four aerial gunners)
Deployment Date: AC-130H, 1972; AC-130U, 1995
Unit Cost: AC-130H, $132.4 million; AC-130U, $190 million (fiscal 2001 constant dollars)
Inventory: Active duty: AC-130H, 8; AC-130U, 17; Reserve, 0; ANG, 0

Here is a picture:
Here is a video:

This is the kind of firepower you would want to call in, if you have irritating neighbours. This baby can flatten stuff from miles away in the air, that too quite neatly. No messy bombs required. Its 105 mm canon firing from such height gives the round large amounts of kinetic energy. If more precise targeting is required then one can always use the Gatling guns (firing about 600 rounds a minute) with its 25mm calibre or the 40mm canon.

Brings water to my mouth! :D

Check out the video for a demonstration of its fire-power.

Life is a Game of Numbers

1195551 represents many things.

All added together it equals 9.

Taken individually it covers 3 out of the 10 basic digits (1, 5 and 9)

How funny can numbers be. They define our identity. They make us what we are!
I have always appreciated the role these numbers play in our life. How they make us feel more confidant. How they make us believe in who we are.
When one writes down their passport number, on a form for example, don't we feel satisfied that we have a proof of identity as solid as a valid passport! That whoever challenges our identity we can confidently hand out our passport and prove who we are.

Then comes the second important number. The credit/debit card number. You are surely doomed without it. As cheques are increasingly frowned upon, only a credit or debit card can allow you to make most purchases. Otherwise carry a wad of cash around with you (which is quite risky!). If you want to shop on-line, well then you really are sunk without a credit/debit card number!

Each of these numbers represents a different side of us. Each is associated with different sets of information. From financial to personal, from health to wealth. These numbers guard and reveal all our information.

Let us see how many numbers does an average person need to be completely defined:
1) Passport/Social Security/Income Tax number - for proof of identity.
2) Credit/Debit/Account number - for financial transactions.
3) Phone number - for social transactions.
4) Driving Licence number - for transportation, alternate proof of identity.

So an average person who drives a car is defined by four numbers and an average person without a car is defined by three numbers.

If we loose even one of these numbers our world is shaken and we feel 'lost'.
Such is the power of numbers.

:)

Karishma Tanna

Karishma Tanna is one of the small screen actresses that I really like! She is tall and has a great smile!

Currently she is working in 2-3 soaps and is a contestant in the 'Comedy Circus' show on Sony TV.
What is also quite unusual about her is her surname: Tanna.

I was not sure which community she belonged to. So I did a bit of Googling and here is what I came up with:
Wikipedia informs us that 'Tanna' is a last name common among Lohanas who are basically a Gujurati - Hindu trading community.

Here are two pics of this cutie (if you want more just Google her name or click here):

51/50 Day

A 51/50 day is the kind of day when everything seems to be falling into place. You feel in complete control as if God had revealed your future for that day.

This comes from an incident which happened to me few years ago. Me and my friends were giving an exam. It was a Master's level module on System Failure that we were being examined on. In that exam we had a Critical Path Method question. The answer to which was 51/50.

The moment, the exam ended, I knew my answer was correct. I just knew it. A gut instinct. Was feeling supremely confidant. So I turned to my friend, who was looking a bit nervous, and said '51/50'. He gave me a big smile and I knew that it was a perfect day for me!

For D

Well Mr. D. Didn't know you or anything about you except that you were 95 years old.
We shared something.

You again reminded me that life doesn't stop for anyone or anything. It keeps on going.

It was my date with death. Thank you for it. It will be remembered.

I hope you are happier where you are now.

Independence Day

I shall never forget this day. 15th August 2007 I gained my freedom. I gained my freedom just like India did 60 years ago.
India was anything but the confidant and strong nation that it is today. It was born crippled with communal tensions and aggressive neighbours. It survived. The nation survived. It went on to make something of itself.

True steel is tested not at time of war but at time of peace. How does it weather the peace? Will it rust into a powder? Will it shine again in times of war? War is but a blink of an eye between two intervals of peace. A mere interlude.

It is in peacetime when future wars are won and lost. As a famous quote tells us:

"At times of peace prepare for war".

War doesn't come upon you after lengthy debates every time. Often it creeps up on cat's paws as you sleep the sweet sleep of life. It stands upon your bed. Looking down upon your face. Relishing in its black heart the pain and shock it is going to cause you. The twist it is going to give your life.

Coming back to India. We find ourselves again in a time of peace. But the next war is always around the corner. The next period of struggle is just over the horizon. Are we prepared? Do the shopping malls and the presence of luxury brands indicate preparation for future struggles or do they indicate the removal of stones from the protective wall to build buildings of pleasure?

Do we, as humans, deserve any peace in our lives? Or are we cursed forever to look out for what is around the bend and best prepare ourselves for it, keeping in mind, that most probably, we will be overwhelmed? There will have to be a certain non-zero percentage of 'acceptable loss'?

This 'acceptable loss' is the price of freedom. It is what allows us to sleep at night as soldiers and civilians alike are killed across India. We know, others die so that we can live, we can buy our cars and our watches and our televisions. But what we don't realise is the fact that as the acceptable losses start eating away at our base, without preparation one day soon, we shall find ourselves being counted in that percentage.

On an unrelated note, I wonder how big a percentage loss is 1cm diameter piece of our body?
Is it an 'acceptable loss'? Strangely enough the 9mm bullet (one of the common calibres) is about 1cm in diameter (since 1cm = 10mm).

Raste ka maal saste mein

Me: coz very few girls think im a normal guy, u see, i dont have a wide choice

lagta hai mujhe apni neelami karwani padegi 'raste ka maal saste mein',

'arre koi to le jao, token amount hi de jaao'

A: this is an interesting thot process being shared with a gal,

if u l ytell this to ne gal other than me, i doubt tht they l call u normal.

Crazy.. Me?

azahar*it is always gud to be a bit crazy for people u care...try it u will understand what m saying

This was a comment from someone.

:D

They want me to be crazier than I am now. Its a first!

But I don't think the world is ready for that yet.

Maybe after I get MARRIED I'll be crazy enough to please 'you'?

;)

The Year of Death

The year was 2002.

The one year of my life when I lost four people I really respected. Four people I really liked.

1 Friend
1 Grandmother
2 Uncles

Someone once told me that I am a very cold person. I think in 2002 I hit absolute zero.
In theoretical physics at absolute zero temperature a system neither emits nor absorbs energy.
My emotional temperature was just that. I was neither absorbing nor emitting emotions within me.

That was, I feel the completion of my education in Death.
But , then again, when your doing a degree in Death, you only graduate when you die. You always keep learning. See it in new forms around you.

Why did I write this post? Well because today I was struck with a thought: why do we worry so much when we are all going to die one day? What is the source of continuous human progress when human themselves are not permanent.

I remember having this discussion with a friend few months ago. I think it is because we spend so little time alive, we want to leave our mark. Then some people are too intoxicated with life that they don't see death.

Plus there are the social rules that one has to follow which makes us live. From the moment we are born, we don't comprehend the shortness of life. Normally by the time we reach that level of maturity our childhood is over (if you are lucky) and we are caught up in the day to day struggles of adult life. That is what keeps us surging ahead. I wonder do we ever live for ourselves? Especially when we reach adulthood? Or is it always about other people?

I think most of us live because we were born.

Its like we are serving out a prison sentence. The same way prisoners don't have a choice about their daily routine; they get up, shower, eat and sleep at fixed times. Similarly life seems to have a routine. Grow up, prepare for life, get a job, get married, produce kids, take care of kids, prepare them for life, get them settled, grow old and die.


A cynical view but then it is just that, a point of view. One of many that I have on this subject.

:)

The Crow

People once believed that when someone dies, a Crow carries their soul to the land of the dead, but sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring the soul back and put the wrong things right.

From: 'The Crow' comic book.

I hope when I die, I do meet this mythical Crow and convince him to bring my soul back. So that I can set the wrong things right. I know a terrible sadness shall be carried with my soul. Therefore my chances of convincing the Crow are quite high!

My question to you is, what price would you pay to set wrong things right? Would you sacrifice your essence, your soul? What is the price of your life? What is the price of your soul?

Is your price end of world hunger? Is your price end of war? Is your price the birth of an idea (like Shaheed Bhagat Singh) that brings change?

Would you give up life and soul if the above price was offered to you? Would you really? Or would you prefer to turn your back and continue living?

Die Hard 4: YAAAAAAAAAAAAWN HARDER

Die Hard 4 was not as good as I thought it would be.
In my opinion it is the worst of the series. Before this I thought the second one was the worst but now I can say with confidence, this latest one is the worst.

I think, besides the unrealistic plot (most movies about hacking are SO far removed from reality that you end up laughing!) the whole movie stank of repetition.
Few minutes into the movie Bruce Willis has been shot at, bloodied and bruised!

Die Hard 1 was about few floors in a high-rise building.
Die Hard 2 was about a large airport (say couple of square kilometeres?).
Die Hard 3 was about a city (New York)
Die Hard 4 is about half the US East Coast!
Logically extrapolating...
Die Hard 5 is going to about saving the world perhaps?

All in all the action sequences are good. But the dialogs, situations and acting seems bit repetitive. There is no real 'twist' in the story like there was in Die Hard 1, 2 AND 3.

One thing that is good about the movie is the fact that you see lots of things blowing up. From power plants to aircrafts!

Go watch it 'coz its there in the theatres! But don't expect anything special.

Diamonds! A Girls best friend!

Showing girls best friend... so that I can make a few 'girl type' best friends. ;)

LADIES! Please comment on the designs (they are from Tiffany's). Lets see what kind of stuff girls like these days.

Have been requested to explain what does 'girl type' friends means:

It means human beings who can be categorised as 'females' by anatomical analysis even if in their behavior they are not 'girl like'.

I ain't Alcoholic!

Talking about an old picture with a friend:

Me: that picture was taken in 2003

T: aain u have some drink in ur hand.. so thats one thing that hasnt changed hehehe

Me: :D

n till my liver is working and pocket has money, shall never change,

Machwe will be seen with a drink in hand and smile on face.

Talking about marriage, wishing a friend well:

Me: Hope you find the woman of your dreams this year.

M: tere mu mein teri manpasand daru... (may you get your favourite alcohol to drink*).


*Back home we have this saying for whenever someone predicts / wishes something nice for you. It goes something like 'tere mu mein ghee shakkar' - basically meaning may you get to eat what you enjoy the most (coz you said good words through your mouth.


So people don't think of me as an alcoholic! I just love to drink!