One before the decade...

As a fading note from one of Hans Zimmer's works plays in the background...fireworks light up the end of a new decade and Im staring at my laptop screen...with everyone snoring at the home, I refuse to look out the window to what people believe is the end of a journey and the beginning of another. I look back at the decade thats gone by than just the year thats gone by and I feel...thats quite a lot for about a little more than 2 and a half decades!

I flip through my phonebook trying to call someone desperately and that 'someone' is either not there on that list or names that can wait for the sun to rise...there is no name that can be called now at this dire hour...the turn of a new decade. The only ones I actually call are my best friends and a few cousins. Most friends and acquaintances are either partying or out of their homes...as ever and boring...Im at home as usual (not being the party types). Sigh!

But at that given moment, a sign of emptiness and a little void I must admit. A vacuum that makes me reach out to memories of my past and long for a better future. The present is good but not as better as what it was before...guess at that moment, it feels the same when I was in my past. As one can notice by now, Im mumbling and trying to convey something like Im on a high or partially stoned.

New Year resolutions still had a few minutes for sure, but certain things were already on my mind. 2010 would mark my comeback to writing poetry after more than a year and a half's break. It also marks my venture into the wonderful landscape of Bass Guitaring! Well, all of this looks intimidating but worth locking horns with. What is also looking promising is my fitness rigour and my run at cricket tournaments. Looks exciting for sure.

What looks better I guess is a little soul searching and soul-mate searching in the coming months. My battles with my preferences versus what my folks want and all those family fueds that may arise at the event. Looks like a big family soap opera the way things are coming up...

The advent of such nationalistic politics and aggression has certainly fired up my brains...I see myself certainly going towards the angry-youth-burn-the-town form which is like an avatar of 'Incredible Hulk'. Boy! If things were really like that...imagine what all would be possible! My brain is now ticking...a comic strip coming soon...what say?

I was looking back as to how Ive survived in my life...Ive had say 2 lives...and Im damn lucky to still be alive. There is a birthmark on my neck which signifies my second life...where some sort of Umbilical Chord (correct me if Im wrong here) got wound up my neck when I was being delivered. I did lose my pulse but came back to life in a few moments. The scars that will remind me of how lucky I really am.

Ive been rescued from drowning too! I was at sea in Kuwait when a friend and I had been on this swimming competition and we swam a tad too far. I remember hitting a rock and injuring my toe and in that pain, I lost breath and tempo of my swimming and I gasped for life. A few hand signals to the shore and I see a gentleman swim feverishly to my direction...the next thing I remember was being resuscitated and brought back to life...puking all the sea water out. A relieved but upset mom and dad...not knowing whether to scold me or hold me close. Third time lucky...I survived to see the light of day for the next few decades.

Accidents aplenty...bicycle, scooter, bike, auto-rickshaw...its been a crazy life for sure! my elbows knees are decorated with scars, stitches, cuts and bruises. Ive always been fascinated with glory of war and only then did I realize that most scars aren't memorable especially the ones of war. But being a non-soldier entity, I dint take that very seriously. Macho and muscle was in the air and showing off was all a part of the game...childhood fantasies I say!

The first Gulf War was a strong influence in my life on how I viewed the world on the whole and my beliefs about life in general. Seeing an ugly side of life does influence ones actions and thinking to a great extent and it did so to me for sure. Being an evacuvee in dire circumstances, has certainly prompted me to write a book about this...hopefully make a true story movie for sure...lets see how this one goes...

Been in and out of love so many times that each time I narrate a tale, it sounds like that of a loser and Ive always been a laughing stock or a sorry figure who is still in pursuit of his muse. Much I have learnt relentlessly like a movie is each script. Another movie in the making...hopefully life should come full circle soon!

As one can figure out by now...this being a scrambled article before the decade ends, there is no theme, subject or any direction. I must begin on random scribblings to reduce the burden on my heart, mind and soul to come up with something quick...but figured out, what would the purpose be? A reader must be touched at at least one point...mind, heart, soul or skin. If that has been achieved, then Im not that bad a writer (this would include being a poet or an author).

I look back at the leviathan father time and never ending ticking clock that creeps like a sloth in the dark...realize that its almost 2am...and Im wide awake. The bed is yet to be laid and my dreams are yet to begin and take shape. The last note of Hans Zimmer's work echoes and fades out and I almost crash with a fistful of hopes and handful of dreams. God knows where I am heading...please take me home...


(Note - The painting is by Gustave Caillebotte: "Young Man at His Window" 1875 Oil on canvas 117 x 82 cm Private collection)

Random Questions - 10th Edition Special!

It might interest some as to how this section actually evolved...well, it wasnt by design but by accident. When I began my blog say almost a year back, there were too many things in my head to pen down but with no direction or a clue to begin where and how. So one fine day, I began posting these questions on notepads and even created sub-sections as a sub-blog and categorised them...until I realized, why not group them all under one solid section called 'Random' and keep them as questions...hence the title - Random Questions! The objective was not primarily to get answers but just to provide food for thought to those who breezed through them at a glance...and most questions were about anything and everything to even something to nothing.

On that note, I present to you the 10th dose of chaotic quick-fires with this edition of 'Random Questions!'

• Do certain things find you or do you need to find them?
• When human beings are not perfect, how can we practice to become perfect?
• Are people running out of ideas for reality shows by manipulating the concept of 'Truth'?
• When shit happens with us, do we flush it off or do we mumble about the sheer presence and filth it spreads?
• Why do people at the top have the least time to talk to when people below them have the most?
• Does the sky really have no line at the horizon?
• Does happiness lie in us or do we find it in others?
• Why does an act of terror take ages to even pass a conviction?
• How many phone numbers can exist when the population is increasing at a monumental rate?
• Why do we at times lose or win 'big'?
• If love happens at first sight, what happens on the second?
• Is it possible to be a legend when one is alive and even after one is dead?
• Do you believe that its never too late to do anything in life?
• Is there a hole in the sky?
• What is present at the end of all outer space?
• Do we have more than we deserve or do we desire for more than what we deserve?

Thats all for this edition's dose of frantic firing of fretting and flaming frivolous flag-posting fortunate feverish following questions! Till the next cut is delivered...be with the motion and be a little chaotic for a change...it might work!

Random Questions IX

Its been a while and here is my 9th edition of Randomness...questions unanswered and unavoidable. Food for thought till the last dot and dash...

• Does a king really die or his legend / legacy live forever?
• Do changes in life bring about predictable consequences?
• Dont the ODIs look like tests after the spur of T20s?
• Do the best things in life come in small packages?
• How good does love in first sight still hold good?
• Does the Mayan calendar really end in 2012 or did the printer pass out?
• Why do people call rock music 'noise' without listening to it?
• If batteries run electronics, what do electronics run?
• Why do the good die young?
• How many hungry children cry for food when we cry about the food we eat?
• How can we be the change we want to see when change is the only constant?
• When early man was a non-vegetarian, why do we divide ourselves to be called vegetarians as well?
• When we consume grapes, why is it a taboo in having wine?
  
• If it wasn't for the internet, how many walls would have fallen?
• Why does eating chocolate equal sinning when it is symbolic for bliss?
• How many sequels does it take to complete a chain of movie theme?
• How would it be if there was no religion?
  
• Will I ever be a rockstar?

This is some of the ramblings of this month...more to come after a spell of constant ravaging and persisting pursuit to nomadic landscapes in a world of organized chaos we call Life...till the next cut is delivered.

Random Questions VIII

Just in the nick of time for the month of May...here we go without much ado...

• Does this elected government prove that constant is the only change?
• Will the summer heat ever have mercy on those they call merciful?
• How much more music can be made with just 7 notes and 72 ragas?
• Do too many lies ultimately lead to the truth?
• How do kids born into this commoditised world know better about malls than their parents?
• Did the Illuminati really play Angels and Demons with the Vatican?
• Are our history books really accurate?
• Is it normal for underdogs to always emerge victorious in a tournament with high stakes?
  
• Is the need for speed an innate quality for any human being?
• If wine is made of grapes, why is it condoned when people get drunk?
• Is magic for real or just a veil to our eyes to blind us to what happens behind the scenes?
• Why do we find it strange or hesitate to tell when people ask us the damn truth?
  
• In the corporates don't we sometimes feel that we are treated like the pied piper of Hamelin?
  
• Why are my questions so random?

So much so for this month. Hopefully this month wasnt as random as I expected but what the hell! More the chaos, more the friction, more the friction, more the smoke...till the next cut of randomness is delivered...

Random Questions VII

After a lot of contemplation, introspection, speculation, revelation, jubilation, desecration, contraction, construction, destruction, imagination, traction, fraction, action and education, I bring to you the 7th edition of Random Questions...here we go:

• Isn't the IPL an overdose and excess of the mix of entertainment and sport?
• Hasn't the war in Sri Lanka been used as propaganda in the current election campaigns?
• Is there any respite to the summer heat since the evolution of mankind?
• Has anyone assessed need and necessity vs luxury?
• How much wood is required to print a currency note?
• Will the rising number of skyscrapers make the planet earth appear like it has spikes?
• Why do kids talk about the English Premiere League like they coach them or own them?
• Has the election become a stage to hate speeches and exercise ones throwing skills?
• Does killing ones family or themselves bring back lost jobs?
• How fair is it for IPL to have made Bollywood actors as owners, who don't know the game or talk on the game?
• Do rich candidates stand in campaigning parties stand to earn people's respect or earn their savings?
• Why is it that people break the one way road policy when it is painted, written and announced? Who's uneducated now?
• With the Tata Nano hitting the roads soon, where will parking space come from? How much more will we pollute this planet?
• Do you know that every grain of food we waste or demand, is a grain of food begged for in another place on this earth?
• How can India be a developed nation when women are still being raped, ill-treated, ill-spoken, ridiculed, disrespected and disowned?
• Why are companies sacking those people who once generated revenues for monstrous MNCs?
• Shouldnt entreprenuership be the call of the economic downturn?
• How do we know that the water we drink is clean?
• Where does the wastes and rejects from renowned and established factories end up or get mixed into?
• Are there even pucca roads and rail connecting each village and town in this country?
• Are allotted budgets for any given government project fully utilised? Where does it get swallowed?
• Will law makers and law protectors ever mutually exist and care about the country and its people than fighting among themselves?
• Why is this terrorist, who infiltrated our country on a dinghy boat, carrying heavy weaponry, killing innocent citizens and people, still alive and well? What are we trying to prove what is already evident?
  
• Does it take an election promise 5 years to be fulfilled, provided they survive that long?
• Who decides the fate of the nation when it has been a democratic choice for so long? Where have we gone wrong? Can we get it right this time?

I feel better, now that I have expressed my views on what is happennig in my (sorry, our) country. I hope this series has brought about a fire, more than a food for thought as we near the day we decide the fate of this nation. This is our only chance and it will take another 5 years to rectify if we dont get this right.

Please cast your vote and do not ignore your power to decide who is to run this nation and do keep in mind the Tata Tea 'Jaago Re' Ad. Till the next cut is delivered...Jaago Re!

Random Questions VI

After observing the world for a month...here is a rapid-fire round of questions that may not need answers...but may give food not for hunger but for thought...

• Why Is the word 'Love' abused to such incesteous extents?
• Will politicians ever stop running their mouths wherever there is a camera running?
• Does getting to power mean aligning or de-aligning with friends?
• Why do people in South India dance to celebrate birth...and death?
• Are movies meant to spend people earnings or earn people's spendings?
• Why is that some countries want to be known as the best for the worst reasons?
  
• If elders view metal music to mental madness do youngsters view carnatic music to cardiac arrests?
• Does the success of the movie Slumdog Millionaire mean the success or the failure of India?
• Is it worth living with what you have or to live with what one wants?
• Does one man's fame reflect the teams effort of just his own?
• What if all the Indians working everywhere in the world are told to go back home?
• Is the amount of e-waste going to exceed the amount of bio-waste in the future?
• Will there ever be a last song because how many songs can human beings ultimately create?
• Is The Matrix based on a concept that can be true?
• How will the aliens view our planet and the way we lead our lives?
• Does help from within come without expectations?
• Are melting glaciers and erupting volcanoes a sign of the end?

So much so for the end of the financial year and a hopeful start to another one...so pay your taxes and save your souls! Till the next cut of questions arise...

Random Questions V

In the shortest month of the year, I present to you a list of the longest standing issues that have been hovering over my head in February...

• Who draws the line between decency and indecency?
• Did the gods never drink and laugh in merry?
• Does one go to court to hire lawyers anymore?
• In god we trust, in hooligans do we rely?
• After the change in the Bush Presidency, has Obama begun 'The Change' he had promised?
• Will aging and dying politicians ever retire?
• Dont we need more people to work to save the world from this recession?
• What will it take a wanting heart to express what matters most?
• Will the Grammy Awards ever go to the ones deserving in the right category?
• Will more Rock Bands come to perform India this year?
• Will weddings be a goldless affair with the soaring prices?
• Who dictates the outcomes of the prices of oil and fuel?
• Are the wicked driven by misplaced desires and infatuated possibilities?
• Does the celebration of Love need to be thwarted with the wings of hate?
• Why do bosses preach values to the outside when they dictate madness from within?
• Do we still e-mail even when sit acorss our cubicles?
• Do you know how much 'speaking it out' helps when one is troubled?
• Does the world know what 'Jai Ho' means to us?

Hope this edition is as edible and digestible like the month that has passed by without a trace. Till the next cut is delivered, rest in peace with the well deserved award Heath...you will never be forgotten!!!

Colour Me Red!

In the entire solar system's milky way galaxy, the only planet that is colored red is Mars, named after the Roman God of War. Most explanations deem that it is the soil that gets its color by the presence of Iron Oxide on its surface. Planet Earth on the other hand is the most distinct and colorful planet in our solar system that any alien that whizzes past through might think of paying it a little visit or invade like no ones business (ala hollywood flicks). It is also said that through satellite images, the lights in the night in each major city are at times visible from outer space. You must be wondering why am I talking about Astronomy and where am I heading at. Let me get to the core of this...

In Africa, they say that the color of the soil has actually emerged from the sufferings of the local people and tribes that have lived over centuries. The color of the soil what defines them as people and their history...wonder why they call it the Dark Continent. There has been no shortage of intent from mankind of even settling down in peace. Some even think peace is more costly and is harder to maintain, hence the need to battle it out for supremacy and to think what is right for oneself and the others subsequently...darker the soil, the bloodier the history.

In war and conflict stricken nations, so many children and youth have halted their schooling and in that frustration have turned to extreme measures to support themselves and their families. Some are still shrouded and shocked with all that has happened and still measuring the loss incurred...some have moved on. The physical and emotional damage has been irreversible to some and has been permanent to many...most of us as witnesses and more of the victims have not been able to forget and forgive certain atrocities that have been committed over the last few centuries...in fact ever since mankind started penning down its past. In fact, I was finding it difficult to imagine the number of lives lost in the last century. I do not want to go before that era because the last century has been well documented. I intend to count from World War I to the current situation in the Middle East and in the Sub Continent.

Looking at the world now, the wave of hatred that has been spread and the flood of blood that has been shed has certainly put this thought in my mind. At this rate, we are soon bound to color this planet red...yes with our own blood. Most of the violence that has stemmed from religion, people and places, has continuously marred so many lives and must have stalled this world's progress and possibilities at least by about a century. If only we had channelised that anger and fury in a more constructive way!

Arent we bleeding this planet to death...to our own ends? Arent we killing what is giving life? Are we bulleting this planet to the dephts? Will this all see an ending? Will this bring upon peace or will the wars wage on till there is no left to kill? Will the only color we see or our next generations will know be Red?

Will the pen be ever mightier than the sword?

Random Questions IV

Here is the 4th edition but the first set of 2009's randomness amidst all the mayhem in our minds; something worth pondering over in the coming times...

• Is there a license to hooliganism in the name of religion?
• What for a Padma Shri Award for Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar?
• India's real and only friend is the US?
• Is the greed for zeroes driving the path of 'Truth'?
• Where can one hide when the earths a sphere?
• Isn't the belief in good because of the existence of evil?
• Is the hype-overdose to any given event or situation sensational enough?
• Has invincibility finally evaded Australian cricket?
• Has safety for women gone to the dogs even after 59 years being a republic?
  
• Will we ever execute the perpetrators of 26/11?
• Do government office forms still need the peon's nod to pass a recommendation?
• Does first love ever cease to exist?
• Will the earth ever stand still?
  
• Can we spare a thought to the children in the war stricken far East?
  
• Will we be diseased of technological virus than the biological one?
• Will there be a reincarnation as mentioned in the holy books to rid this world of its evil?
  
• Can we as common people, question and stand for what is right and what is wrong?
• Can we edit our past, sketch our future and script our present?
• How many more trees do we cut to create the paper to read for our entire lives?
• Will there be a WWIII in reality than in Video Games?
• Isn't sanity defined by those who are aware of the insane?
  
• Do we make the law to break the law?
  

Do ponder and mull over this dose till the next cut of random mind missiles are delivered soon...

Random Questions - III

Dodge this edition of chaos...Random Questions III...

• Was 2008 eventful or forgetful?
• Will Obama catch Osama?
• Will there be another Indo-Pak war?
• Isn't terror, the weapon of mass destruction?
• Is the Recessiona beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
  
• Economy Downturn in India - bad for us and good for the boss?
• Is the economic bailout package plan out only for the big boys like an excuse?
• Are political parties wrapping up their mess for the sake of the next election?
• Will we ever breathe oxygen in the free world?
• Do we still buy water to drink when its a natures free gift?
• Will paper money still rule our minds in the times to come?
• Will going to work every morning ever end?
• Do we work to earn, learn or enjoy in life?
• Will we spend the rest of our lives in front of a PC or a laptop?
• Have we forgotten to write and learned to type?
• Will there be a day the earth will stand still?
  
• Is extinction another word in the dictionary?
• Will music be the same 10 years from now?
• How much more new music can we create?
• Have we ever danced like no one is watching?
• Are we spending more than what we are earning?
• Isn't music the only common religion across the world?
• Are NBA players genetically modified?
• When Bollywood can have Item Numbers, why are people protesting in IPL?
• Is sex an art or a practice?
• Will the sun ever run out of fuel?
  
• Is there another universe beyond our solar system?
• Will we ever get to meet an alien or will it be US's best kept secret?
• Will India ever play in a Football World Cup finals?
• Will our national sport (which is Hockey for those who might not know) ever be revived?
• Will law colleges be a place to make the lawyer or break the law?
• Will technology makes things so small that they may vanish into thin air?
• Will the concept of winning become so boring that losing will become more dramatic?
• Why so serious???
  

Random Questions II

• Will our country ever rid of itself the disease of terror?
• Will politics ever be a matter of nation or personal vested interests?
• Will Black ever turn to White?
• Will floods that go to the sea return sometime later?
• Does one have the right to anothers life?
• Does it take more than skill to prove a better team?
• Are marriages made in heaven or in websites?
• Are sanskrit priests and pundits paid better than programmers?
• Will the inflation lead to deflation ore reflation?
• Why do we gather so much when we are going to return empty handed?
• Does anger help prove ones point?
• Why is money immortal when paper is mortal?
• Why doesnt time wait for anyone?
• Why do the worthy good die young and the unworthy evil last forever?
• How much wood has been used to publish books in this century alone?
• Do we know the amount of electronic waste we will have in another 10 years?
• Are movie villain motives for real?
• Why do we cry after a good laugh and laugh after a bad cry?
• Will poverty ever be put on hold?
• Will old age homes see more enrolments?
• Will we have kids of our own (the tough way) or with donor sperms (the easy way)?
• Why is love a mortal feeling with immortal stories?
• How many gods and religions do we have?
• How old is this universe?
• Will we ever see aliens on this planet?
• How many more songs can we compose?
• What if life went backwards?
• What if we communicated in numbers than language?
• Will there be another Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath record in the near future?
• Has metal ever pierced the human spirit in trying times?

Enough of chaos and back to sanity...more randomness to come soon...

Random Questions...

Some random questions to ponder over...

• Do we need to create robots when we are ourselves turning into one?
• When the wildlife is on the brink of extinction...have we gone into wiping out mankind?
• Why are the innocent targetted in the bomb blasts?
• Do we break traffic rules which are meant for our safety?
• Why are the front pages of the newspaper all about murders, rapes and extortions?
• How is India's 80% of the wealth with the top 20% of the population?
• Are we waging a war in the name of god?
• Is outsourcing like filtering the low end jobs to an intellectual country like India?
• Will Nano increase the existing traffic problems and create more parking issues?
• Will the worlds garbage be dumped in outer space?
• Will the Tiger don the museum for our next generation?
• Will we ever have a proactive Government in our lifetime?
• Are we losing our clothes in the name of fashion?
• Will humanity be wiped out with the emergence of Homosexuals?
• Will we ever land on the moon again?
• Will the villages ever get water and electricity throughout the day?
• Will the machines take over in the future?
• Will music ever be original?
• Is the west moving to the east and is the east moving to the west?
• Are men becoming women and women becoming men?
• Have we forgotten to write when we know only to type?
• Will the Board Exams still continue to build the pressure on young and innocent lives?
• Are cross cultural marriages diluting the root of our culture?
• Do we vouch for love or arranged marriage?
• Will corruption ever end?
• Is it all for the money?
• Why are kids being raped nowadays?
• When are we going to host the olympics?
• Will the Indian Hockey scene ever regain its lost glory?
• Will this planet explode with the growing population?
• Will we ever breathe oxygen?
• Will we boil or drown in the increasing phenomenon of Global Warming?
• Has the mistakes of our past determined our Karma?
• Will there be one religion or will there be none or many?
• Will there be peace or will there be war?
• Will the UN ever be more powerful?
• Will we be able to walk our streets without being able to worry?
• Will there be life after death?
• Will the aliens ever visit or invade the earth?
• How many of us stay with our parents?
• Will we be able to sleep in peace?
• Why do youngsters get heart attacks?
• Will there be a cure to AIDS?
• Will there be another Big Bang?

Thats as much randomness I can present at this moment...will be back with more next time...

Cheers

DarkKnight