trapped!!!!!

hi frnds,

once again i just wanted to rub it to u ppl telling u that i m just having a bit too much of time at hand. this is what i came up in the weekend.

now that Plagiarism is the buzz word here, i will do well to site my source :)

so i happened to come across this drawing in one of the you tube videos. i liked it and i had time to try it out so it is here.

i couldnt come up with a suitable title - big brother is watching u- could be one. or' trapped ', i liked 'trapped' more because it seems the guy is trying to tear off the paper n get out of the trap.

tell me how do u like it :)

seems i have tons of time :)

hi frnds,

havent blogged for so long.

reason being simple. i just wanted to cook up something good before putting it on a platter. n the masterpiece just wont occur.

its only when i m here in US for a course and i have a lot of time at my hands that i started with a new hobby to fill up my time. now dont go on a laughing spree when i tell u that i have started doing pencil sketches.

n its only then i realised that the fun is not in producing masterpiece. the fun is in the process.

while i wont turn u ppl green with giving you details as to how do i have plenty of time.

i would rather leave u with some of my masterpieces( well as i told u the product doesnt matter, i enjoyed the procces)

hi friends,
its irony that such alazy bum as me is writing on spirit of olympics, u can see it for yourself that this post is coming months after the olympics are over n may be the trials for next olympics have also started.......... who knows :)
but then all of this is not as it seems. there are two things.
one is that i have strong motivation to be shaken off my lethargy
n second is that being disorganised has certain advantages like finding a note like this from a long forgotten trouser's pocket. so here it is ....

the spirit of olympics

its almost a monthsince i put on my running shoes. it took almost 07 days of cumulative effort of all the top athletes from across the planet to spur me into action,shaking off my lethargy. if one gold and two bronze, the medal tally of entire indian contingent( incidently the highest ever) had a large role to play in it, i cant say that.

as i was puttin on my joggers, a thought brushed past my mind, " what sould it be like to put on these shoes every waking day of life, come sun, rain or storm and slog it out in the middle, with the knowledge that next day gonna be the same and the next day and all the coming days." i saluted thm all for making a beginning everyday with the sun rising on the horizon or may be before that.

i broke into a jog. its a lovely feeling, i tell you. nothing beats this experience, if you have got into those running shoes of your will and just started warming up with light breeze blowing across your face. the body gets into rhythm, the joints are moving smoothly now. you can feel not blood but spirit of life flowing into your veins. isnt life all about taking a step forward. life is all about taking a step forward, in your destined path. its not about thinking when do i stop. its not about thinking of distance travelled and the distance yet to be clocked. its just about putting the next step ahead. i learnt a very simple formulafor running. its just putting one leg ahead of anotherand the other leg trying to better it. thats what life is all about. you run the best when you are not thinking of what you have covered and what is yet to be, not when you compete with the fellow runner in the race. its when your legs are competing against each other and try to be ahead in the race that you are at your best. life is no race against anyone but your own self. its this spirit of conquering that i salute. else, what is the motivation behind Usain Bolt battling his own world record. what drives michael phelps into breaking his own marks once, twice and ...... ohh i loose the count. its the spirit of conquering your own self. its thes self we are fighting against. i salute all these world beaters. hey... but i hail them all in the same breath who tried and failed. when saina nehwal reached the distance no suttler had reached, when akhil kumar beat the world champion and yet finished without a medal, when khadke broke the national mark, yet failed to qualify,this is all to be proud of. its all about breaking the barriers and about self belief.

as i do my distance and my breathing gets heavier and thoughts of halting come more often than i want them to, i take yet another step spurred by the dogged determination of all these competitors. the logic says that i have done enough for the day and then i take yet another step spurred by those who by their performance have defied gravity, friction and above all logic.

as i come to a halt eventually, i feel like a winner, a champion. hey dont be fooled i have run nothing more than 5 kms call it 5000 meters in olympics lingo and of course i wont tell you my timing and put off all my readers at once who have grown so used to seeing world record timings. but yes, i have won the battle against my lethargy, my tiredness, my own fears, apprehension and my own self doubt, yeah, when in doubt i put forward that extra step.


cheers to the spirit of running.
cheers to the spirit of olypmpics.
cheers to you.
:)

varun gandhi : a threat to hinduism

hi all,

a long time since i have put pen to paper electronically that is..

limited access to this beautiful media called as internet is one of the reasons rather an excuse, however i will put the blame squarely on my lethargy.

yeah the issue that shook me up from lethargy is very dear to my heart.

for the few of you who will go through my post would have been caught by surprise when i say that varun gandhi is a threat to the Hinduism. many wont agree but before i take up this issue i must make it clear that i am a hindu and am as much proud of being one as Varun gandhi can possibly think of. but what  mr varun gandhi has done is that he has hurt my pride in being an hindu and the pride of all those who are proud hindus.

his statements while may increase his vote bank by way of misleading the innocent voters who have thier own ideas of hinduism and he may establish himself as the frontrunner in the league of bal thakre and raj thakre, he has caused irreparable damage to the notion of hinnduism. 

he hurts the very essence of hinduism when he says nobody other than hindus are welcome in this country. the hinduism  prides itself in being an all encompassing all inclusive religion and over the centuries we have accepted all with open arms in true spirit of ' vasudhaiv kutumbakam'. how dare he say on behalf of all hindus who till now had no problem buying flowers for puja from a muslim vendor. 

for those who cant see what damage he is causing to us the Hindus, you only have to look around and see what the muslim hardliners and people of the ilk of taliban have done to the Islam. an average muslim is seen with an eye of suspesion for no fault of his in all western countries and wherever he is in minority thanks to these hardliners. does varun gandhi want that we hindus are also looked as potential threat to the humanity in the days to come. well thats what he is doing.

it may not be pallatable to a hindus who want a rightful place for hindus and hinduism. well if u are a non marathi hindu then try and draw a parallel to what do u feel when raj thakre gives a call to evict all non marathis from mumbai. his concept of 'apla manoos' does not include u and u dont feel any better. hope u get the argument.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Child is the father of man n the world's view is much clear seen through a child's eyes. Anything that defies a child's logic is illogical for sure. so here u see the prejudice against coloured folks in Alabama in 1930's through a nine yr oldies eyes, but the same is true for every society in every era of civilization.

its a beautiful story where a lawyer stands up against the conventions of society to uphold what is correct. Atticus the lawyer, initially passes as the run of the mill folk who does nothing but reads newspaper. Even her daughter rues the fact that her father is good for nothing. but as u turn the pages he almost appears a superman. Atticus is an upright whose determination for upholding justice is complimented by his being a responsible father who sets right examples for his kids. he does no jaw dropping stunts but his presence is as reassuring as James Bond........ its not time to worry yet.

as for scout, the narrator, well..... i fell in love straightway. holy Christ !!! she is nothing more than a 9 yr old gal. but then i can wait for her to grow up. she is intelligent beyond her years, has innocence befitting her age, courageous n fiercely proud. n she poses questions which makes grown up ppl think.

other characters are equally well painted. you get your share of humour also that makes it a happy reading.

the city of joy

There is a famous temple just across the road where I live. There are a few thelawalas who put their stalls next to the mandir selling flowers, garland and other pooja like stuff. They sleep, eat and live on their thela only or on the road if the thela cannot accommodate them.

One night while I was returning from a late night movie, I crossed them. Then I just thought to myself how do they live and turned my bike to have a look at them. They were all stretched on the rd; there were a few utensils and a stove to make for all their household stuff. That’s all I did, I looked at them and turned back.

The story is not remarkable in any sense except for the fact that for once I realized that they are not the pariahs or even worse ‘objects’, but they are living human beings in blood and flesh like u and me are. I owe this realization to this remarkable book “the city of joy” by Dominique Lapiere.

There couldn’t have been better blend of misery with riches, the hellish condition where ppl are destined only to filth, poverty, sickness, heaven couldn’t be found at a better place. The utterly hopeless sit where all that ppl can cling on to is their hope.

For starters, the city of joy is the description of life in Anand Nagar, a slum in Calcutta, the erstwhile Paris of the East. Here comes a Pole father in service of God. While he affects the life in slum in more ways than one, there are a few lessons which he himself couldn’t learn anywhere else.

The ppl in the city of joy are remarkable because while the resources are scarce, love flows in abundance. They are the forgotten sons of god but god has never been out of their minds. God snatches from them all their means of livelihood but they cling onto him all the more.

They are the ppl the Pole father goes to heal, to bring comfort to them and he finds the serenity n calm in their eyes. The zest for life is remarkable, life goes on unabated hail comes or storm.

A few books leave their permanent mark on the readers mind, this book certainly counts among them. Reading this book certainly makes me a better person at least more human than I was. When next time I see a rickshaw puller or a beggar the least I can do is not to treat him like an object. I am not extolling poverty, its not a virtue but nevertheless lets not make it a crime.

THINK BIG

oh , the thinking stuff again. but dont worry , this one wont stress your brain the way it did in earlier posts. i only aim to drive home the point that opportunities knock at the doors of all of us. the lucky ones are actually those who can think big when the situation presents itself. chalo, enough of lecture baazi , i will get on with my story.

but for the benefit of those not well versed with hindu mythology, there are our evil frnds who always pray the hardest to appease our Gods. then the first thing they want to do is to dethrone the God himself. and traditionally our Gods have always been the most gullible of the lot. they always get pleased and concede to all demands made by the evil frnd.

so there was our evil frnd again praying for years long doing all sorts of things that ramanand sagar had shown you, like hanging upside down on the trees for days, standing on one leg for weeks, going without food for months n all that. but he had designs as evil as he was. like all our evil frnds he wanted to rule the universe, and enslave the god himself. our good old gullible god knew of it all, but was in a fix now.

the crisis emerged and as always god had to outthink the evil.

so he gives audience to the evil frnd.

" son, i m so pleased with you . say what do you want of me."

" god i want to ......... oh god some one help me with this itching on my backside."

" son , as you wish. your itching will stop immediately."

so the god conceded to his wish and left to enjoy the company of rambha and urvashi, putting back the itching powder in his pocket.

the evil frnd was thinking ," just when i had to think of owning the universe, all i could think was this itching."

THINK BIG