My Backpacker's Diary... Part III

(This was posted on 26th December 2006)

Earlier parts:
My Backpacker's Diary.. Part I
My Backpacker's Diary.. Part II

A screeching halt, a coarse voice announcing that we are halting for food and commotions among the co-passengers brought me back from my reverie. Not feeling hungry because of the heavy breakfast, I was slowly coming to my senses when my eyes suddenly popped up. I saw a cutie-pie standing up two rows behind mine on the other side. My first instinct was to check whether I was still in a trance. I couldn’t believe that I failed in finding her out in the first time itself. I mean, how could I…

Anyway, not wanting to waste more time, I first checked who were accompanying her - a bespectacled boy, a middle-aged uncle and of-course, a middle-aged aunty. They were going to the restaurant out-side and naturally, I followed them. A few glances and a few tricks, and I could start a conversation with the boy with the glasses. A few more niceties later, and a few furtive glances afterwards, I decided to talk to them as soon as we reached the destination. Finally, after almost five hours of bitter sweet journey, we reached PuttaParthi.

After alighting, I started talking to the middle-aged uncle, asking for his help in going about the Darshan. But to my bewilderment, they were not going for Darshan, or so it seemed. They headed straight to a hotel. I could see the cutie-pie exchanging smiles with her brother, well aware that I have failed, failed again.

I was feeling disappointed, ruing all the missed chances that life offered me. They flashed by as life supposedly flashes back before the eyes of a dying man. As Yogi Berra would have said - Its déjà vu all over again. You know it, another chance gone awry… chances, that come few and far in between.

But, Hey! As Yogi would have said – Its aint over till it’s over. You know chances will come. Just be more alert next time around… you never know... As the cliché goes... Buses and girls keep coming. Just be ready for it…

I joined the queue of the devotees waiting to get a glimpse of the BABA. I talked to a few people, from India and abroad. I was impressed at the numbers of followers the BABA has, gathered a lot of information about BABA’s miracles, his charitable works and lots of other things. After a long wait, saw the smiling BABA for whom I had traveled for five hours from Bangalore, and I along with others bowed before Him.

Followed it with a visit to other places of interests such as the Ashram canteen, the numerous educational institutions, the super-specialty hospital, the Gokulam or the cow shed of the Ashram and after shopping for a few souvenirs, it was time for me to board the return bus. Everybody inside was agog with his or her own account of the BABA.

Slowly, the tiredness of the journey gripped them and almost all of them were sleeping. I also thanked God for a fruitful journey, praying for a better life and luck next time around.

We reached Bangalore around mid-night, tired but satisfied… just almost the way one feels after a spontaneous, passionate round of love making.

Spent… yes, but you know it’s well spent...

Wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2006.

My Backpacker's Diary... Part II

(This was posted on 26th December 2005)

Also:
My Backpacker's Diary... (Part I)

The next thing one generally does is to give a look at the co-passengers and exchange a few half smiles. I also try to study their profile; and unmistakably, journey after journey, year after year, their types always remain similar. An old retired couple in the front seats; one or two small groups of friends; a couple of family groups with small or grown-up kids; a few individual passengers, two of them would be furiously devouring the newspaper as if their lives depended on it; and of-course, a newly-wed couple to complete the list. Of all the places, why do honeymooners choose PuttaParthi is beyond my comprehension. It might be God’s way of maintaining the normal distribution; or may be they wanted to take divine blessings before starting on the act… a little bit of extra help, you never know.

The bus maneuvered through the streets and traffic to reach the Hyderabad highway, also known as the Bellary highway, passing by the Golf club, Palace grounds, Hebbal and Yelahanka in between and the splendid air force station afterwards. In the mean time I was enjoying the beauty of an idyllic Saturday morning Bangalore.

The cold December weather was already working its magic on the newly-weds. By virtue of being strategically seated, I was able to see all the coochi-cooing they were involved in. The resulting effect was almost unbearable. There is no better way to remind a person about the uselessness of his life. Throw him on a long journey on a wintry morning without a suitable female companion and curse him to watch all these with furtive glances. Probably, the closest competitor would be the plight of a full grown young man in a harem, watching the inhabitants busy in work, with his hands and legs tied to two poles far apart. Oh merciful God, where art Thee? Curse me to a life of loneliness and solitude. I shall gladly accept that; at least porn is freely available in the corner CDs shop and I have a running account with them.

Instead of reminding myself of my incompetence in overcoming forced celibacy, I decided to do something positive and turned towards the person on the side seat. This gentleman, about forty, had his forehead smeared with 3 lines of ash and a round vermilion spot in the middle. My sudden directional shift startled him… gotcha… he was of course using his height to see the spectacle. After the first minute of awkwardness and discussion on a few desultory topics, the talk veered towards God and His miracles… aaahhhh… I felt like caught between the devil and the deep sea. After almost rudely avoiding him, I spared myself of further boredom.

Two people in the front seats were talking loudly to each other; may be with a desire to make others privy about the affairs of their office, interjected, of course, with subtle Hindi invectives suitable for the person concerned, depending upon whether that is the boss they are talking about, or one from the same department, or from a different department; and, a few loud mobile calls in between. The retired couple, after a few rounds of bhajans, was deep in sleep, troubling none afterwards. The small kids were busy among themselves, sometimes fighting, sometimes laughing for no apparent reason; in short being very much like kids and their parents, well, very much like parents.

Having nothing better to do, I decided to indulge myself with the favourite pass time of the intellectuals. The morning haziness was slowly getting cleared; the sun was slowly coming to its full force. I could see a hill near Yelahanka losing its greenery for the builders’ trucks were busy carrying the crushed stones from the hill. I could also see small children working as hawkers and selling their stuffs to the passersby for a few rupees daily. I analyzed that politicians are the reason behind all these; of course the prevailing corruption is a major factor, but that also could be attributed to the politicians. Satisfied with my efforts at finding the root cause to the problems of the country, I slowly plunged into a reverie…

Next: My Backpacker's Diary... (Part III)

My Backpackers Diary.... (Part I)

(This was posted on 26th December 2005)

Going on a journey is like having sex; spontaneity brings out the best. And, the less elaborate the plan, the better it is. Once into the mood, it makes you feel restless till its over. True, there are moments of awkwardness, but these moments enhance the whole experience – like, so to say, the black spots enhancing the beauty of the moon. It’s especially so when one charters into an unknown territory. The adventure and accompanying experience stays memorable for a long-time to come.

This Christmas eve the first thing I decided on the morning was to go on a trip to PuttaParthi in Andhra Pradesh, the abode of SAI BABA. Now, why I decided on this, I do not know; especially when it’s so un-cool to go to religious places when there are lots of happening places around. But, as I told you earlier, once decided, it’s tough to come out of the mood. So, lots of sniggers, curious looks and snide remarks later, I decided to embark on the journey, solo.

Knowing not how to go, the first thing I did was to reach the central bus-stand called Majestic. The Saturday morning Bangalore traffic was uncharacteristically fast, fortunately. After the inquiry and ticket reservation was done, the next task was to go for a nice heavy breakfast, which I did knowing fully well that the bus would stop only at a place where the best combo of high price and bad food would be available. In no time afterwards, I proceeded in a bus to PuttaParthi, with thirty odd passengers for company, almost all of them busy in adjusting their luggage.

Now, luggage adjustment has a curious characteristic; the strategically found places are designed to help you reach your bag and simultaneously cause inconveniences to your co-passengers (the latter more than the former, I suspect), who return the complements by merrily walking all over your bags and forgetting to apologize. The bus staff do ask to keep only the essential bags near the seats and rest in the boot, but well, Jesus wont proclaim you a sinner for considering all your luggage as essential and worthy of being needed during the journey.

Next:
My Backpacker's Diary... (Part II)
My Backpacker's Diary... (Part III)

Letter To a Friend

This is the transcript of a letter I wrote to a friend of mine.... thought I shud publish this.. as it aptly described a particular time in my life...

I hope.. that friend forgives me for the liberty that I have taken... e-njoy

Well... well... well...

Ummm... everything is well...

before all, BEST OF LUCK for ur exams..

I am having the best time of my life since the engineering days.. what with all the time to do everything that I wanted (though I m not going to do it... same old excuses)

Going heavy on the tomes that have lied since long in my rack... all that decorated my room and gave it a menacing look... helping to scare the hell outta visitors to my room.. from Hitler to Nehru to Charles Darwin to the Old Testament... Boy, it helps to maintain that aura around u when u find the right tricks....

All (at least some) needs to be flipped thru.. I paid for them u see... though i have recovered the investment many times over when i get that fear stricken (muuummmmmyy...)look from all those who come at the nick of time when u wanna catch some sleep... I scare them all with my ol trick. Helps me take revenge...

But u know, the puncture comes at the most unusual places n times.

Only the other day, was breezing thru "Five point someone" - by Chetan Bhagat- when the protagonists were in a romantic setting and... boy, u expect something to happen.... "Pricing class guys.. in 5 minutes." ....a misanthrope hoots in the corridor.

My... my.. my... the Profs never fail to disappoint u.

Look at the irony... u come here to study internatioanl business.. specialise in marketing.. get into a job remotely connected.. and u make ur life miserable with all the finance papers.. where they fail u as if repeated baths in the financial Ganges cleanses u from all the muds n sins u have gathered in ur earlier incarnation as a "marketophile"...

Keep writing when u finish ur exams n al

Ciao n Cheers

The Crazy New Year

This is what I got after a search for my craziest new year resolution....


In the year 2005 I resolve to:
Getting myself admitted to a mental institution.

Get your resolution here

Its interesting to know about people's resolutions.. new year or otherwise. An unnamed (euphemism for 'I can't remember') survey found out that a majority of people resolve to loose weight and keep fit in the new year.. it would be interesting to know how many kept their promises...

But, the common knowledge (again, an euphemism for 'I can't prove it') is that hardly any, if ever, try to keep their promise, let alone really keep it.

So, why do people do the same thing, year in and year out.... or to be more precise, happy new year in and old year out..... Don't they know that its an open secret that they can't keep up what they have promised in the heady time with the booze in their hands... or at least, before the effect wears out?????

Well, in a way, it acts as a solace for them when they come back everytime and promise to start afresh, it purges them of all the guilt feelings that they have, due to the unkept promises in the year before..... to others.... to friends... to colleagues... and more importantly, to self....

When are we going to get rid ourselves of this guilt feeling....

Well.... as they say, HE rewards those, who show perseverance... n most importantly, honesty...

Happy new year 2005.

Ciao n Cheers....

The Age of Excuses or In Defence of the Most Creative Art... (Part II)

Nor would have the budding Romeos thrived...

Sample this…

Juliet: (furiously) You are late again… What happened???

Romeo: I am so sorry, darling. I was on my way, but I was so busy dreaming about you that I caught the wrong bus.

Juliet: Oh, is that so?... Well, don’t get late next time... By the way, what is that in your hand?

Snip… snip… snip…

And, the love quotient increases.

Or, sample this one…

Juliet: You are late again… all men are like this only (sob… sob…)

Romeo: No darling, I was searching for the most beautiful rose that I could give to you. You see I just can’t give you any ordinary one. After all, you are so special…

Juliet: You liar… I never believe you... By the way... do you really feel so…

Snip… snip… snip…

And, the love quotient increases, again.

Salute comrade, I reaffirm my belief…

Long ago, when the king ruled the land, life was a lot easier. When the postman took the letter, there was really no scope for any proof that you really sent the said letter and it was such an easy task for people to deny the receipt of it. (Note: I don’t deny the existence of some complicated mechanism, but for the sake of argument, let’s keep it simple… anyway, a romantic card in a registered parcel would look more like a court summon than anything else)

Sigh… gone are those days.

Some wisecrack misanthrope thought of getting his 15 minutes of fame and devised the e-mail system with a sent box, storing all copies for future reference, and thought he has a winner in his hand. But, he underestimated men’s (and women’s) potential… he couldn’t hide his back from the onslaught of Server down / PC not working / Net not connecting, etc., etc…

Wretched duffer… overestimated himself... learnt a lesson at his own expenses.

It would have been such a pity had people stopped making excuses.

Aha, those were the days, when I could sneak from the school for that all-important gilli-danda (for all those uninitiated… it’s a primitive form of baseball / cricket, played with 2 sticks, one long, other small… almost extinct nowadays) by just feigning an ache in the stomach…

But, I became complacent and got caught as I relied on the same excuse over and over again… till a chance discovery taught me that you could also stay away from school when your granny was hospitalized… eureka… I reaped a lot from this latest discovery till one proud (and greedy) moment I confided it to a friend for a few lollypops and… the next day, at least 5 of us had their grannies hospitalized for the same reason…

A very important lesson for our tribe… whether you have chanced upon an excuse, or for that matter any trade secret… even MMS… don’t sell it for nuts. The IIT lad landed in jail and I still remember the crackling canes…

From the wannabe heroine who is ready to expose because the scene demands it… (Well, what excuse the porn stars have??? You guessed it right… the scene demands it)... to the item “Kantaa Lagaa” girls on a mission to cleanse the society of age-old barbarian practices, to the new kid in the office who would sneak an evening with his newly wed, to the balding officer who would rather stay with the beautiful secretary than his nagging wife, excuses have always helped mankind stay hale and hearty.

Let’s look at some more benefits… the student gets reduced punishments or at least, extra time for homework, if s/he can come up with a believable excuse... the employee can goof up and still please his boss with a more creative one... and the bespectacled government clerk can get more boxes of sweets for his children if he can come up with some real smart ones laced with subtle hints to the petitioner.

Of all the excuses given by anyone in earth, the ones by the politicians would rank amongst the best… same issues, same excuses… year after year... elections after elections… such priceless gems… you couldn’t become more consistent. They, with their consistency vow, have saved countless brain-hours & the exchequer millions of rupees by not wasting time and money in futile hunts for newer issues.

Cheers… the time and money could be used for better purposes… hic…

The list is endless. And, I am not counting the mother of all excuses… WMD…

Mr. President (in his Texan drawl): Pardner… you justa can’t ruin that goddamn country to ashes with no other method.

To support the cause of the tribe in general, here you are reminded of an incident concerning the almighty. When asked, why there are so much of imperfections in this world, HE, the almighty, resorted to the men’s patented art and proffered the excuse that it is part of a strategy to balance his creation…

Look, we are in good company.

P.S. The creatively challenged can still hope to match their more fortunate brethren with the help of this most wonderful invention since the wheel.. The Random Excuse Machine

Till next time... Ciao.

The Age of Excuses or In Defence of the Most Creative Art... (Part I)

I shudder from the thought of a world without excuses.

Not convinced? All right, let’s see why it is so.

We start with the basics... the definition... though a very bland one for something that brings out the creative best in people. An Excuse is defined as "An act to explain (a fault or an offense) in the hope of being forgiven or understood." (Reference: Dictionary.com).

Great people have condemned this act and its (supposed) absurdity. Excuses are considered as the example of utter incompetence… But, they have preferred to overlook its virtues. Let's give it it's due and view it in a more positive light.

I consider an act of making excuses as the biggest phenomenon in earth. When the need arises, even the most autistic deadwood, also, can come up with lots of good excuses that one has never heard before. Hence, the first lesson... Life would be less interesting without this biggest (I repeat... biggest) phenomenon on earth.

Stay put, my dear friend, we are going to come across lots more as we progress along...

Despite all concerted efforts to denounce this phenomenon, this has thrived, and is thriving well. The most pertinent example for this is the fact that, we still make it... and we are getting better at that everyday. Shows the tenacity of men (and women) in the face of savage onslaught...

Before the anti-modernist come out, and start making all those noises, let me assure you, this is not a modern media creation. This is an age-old art, which has inspired many interesting episodes since long... and helped in mending many a broken heart.

The Holy Bible lists many instances where excuses were given. Let's start with the primary one...

(Genesis 2:16-17) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

When confronted with their sin Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent slinked away.

(Genesis 3:12-13) And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Look at the positives. If Adam and Eve would not have come out with such a beautiful excuse, the whole human race would have become so boring… so utterly plain… and we all would have certainly missed those Bangaru-sque lines from our daily newspapers (“Oh, I was just taking money for the party’s cause...”).

Next is The Age of Excuses or In Defence of the Most Creative Art... (Part II)

The Hero Worship

This comes from an ardent fan of cricket.. and especially the Indian cricket team... The problem is in the degeneration of Indian cricket into what I call "Hero worshipping".. There is no systematic process to develop an aura of invincibility around the team.. rather than the individuals themselves.. Sachin is good... so also is Saurav, Sehwag and a few others.. but, where is the system where all the players are working as a cohesive unit.

A few days ago, I was discussing the concept of modularity... the modules need to be fitted to make the system and they need to be replicable... replaceable with ease.. which is currently lacking...

I do not want be in the tribe of those cynics who despise everything that is indian.. and love everything that is foreign... But, look at the Australian system.. that is what I call a perfect modular system... a well designed cohesive unit.. where the team is more than the sum of the individual parts. Everybody is replaceable with a modular part which can make the bike run without too much of early pangs...

Today in Kolkata ODI.. India might win due to Yuvraj Singh's heroics.. He was a treat to watch.. but that is itself a sign of the looming danger... the perception that the individual is bigger than the team.

I am a big fan of Jim Collins... read the book "Built to Last".. it says Don't be a time teller. Build a clock. Where are our clock builders... is the BCCI listening.....????

And more importantly... Are we listening????????? This is direct comment on our psyche of Hero worship.

Food For Thought... Any takers??

Look at the way Asian Paints revolutionized the paints market in India. The introduction of the merawala shade gave consumers the option to get their customized colour paints at very low cost.

Now, to be fair, this is not a new idea at all... in the web, you get your customized web page, Dell supplies you customized PCs, but customized paints.... wow.... thats good....

So, do we expect customized cement, steel rod, PC monitor now.... WHY NOT???????

Look at the basic idea in which Asian Paints worked. They came out with this solution where there is this basic paint, add the colour granules with digital control.. and bingo.. you have paint of your colour choice.... Why not some thing on that line... You have this basic CRT, add modular components whose colours could be changed by some digitally controlled chemical reactions, and the little Johney has his own monitor....

Any comments folks..Till next time...Ciao

An Excruciating Time

It has been a really long time... a good 6 days before I am publishing my thoughts again...In between, I was busy attending to mundane matters.. and some classes in my institute... some really lousy classes... One of them was for "advertising"... the pretty faculty was intent upon killing whatever interests I have in such creative things... and GOD.... she succeeded... I haven't attended a lousier class before.... God... that 2 hrs were a real excruciating time for me..

The previous night I watched the classic "Les miserables". After the class I felt like the character, who suffered the most..... which interestingly Victor Hugo may have missed.

Of course, there were a few interesting ones in between as well... but none could compensate the earlier infliction..

Till next time...Ciao

No Disprespect to Others

Someone really knows(or thinks so...) how to attain "Nirvana".... or atleast one of the ways in which you can't attain the ultmate N.. But hey, who says this won't work for me. It might not have worked for you, but you never know.. the good gracious Lord is always fickle.... at any time HE could command the lady Luck to smile a bit on me.... the selfish me... you never know... do you????

Or is it re-inventing the wheel again......???

Comments please......

Till next time.... Ciao...

A New Beginning

This is the latest of the blog writing sprees that I have engaged myself in, in the last few months. Everytime I am trying to do something really meaningful to get into the high n mighty world of the cyber bloggers, I am not getting enough energy in me to continue that. I am either not getting some really good thoughts to put-in or its plain and simple boredom n laziness combined into one which is creating the havoc. But you never know, atleast the urge is there to do something on this front...

So I am hopeful that this latest of my endeavours would produce fruit... I just hope that it becomes a long lasting one.

Till next time.... Ciao...