My psychedelic mix....

The free online dictionary defines 'psychedelic' as : of, characterized by, or generating hallucinations, distortions of perception, altered states of awareness, and occasionally states resembling psychosis.

You can get more info in this link : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic

I just define it as nice feeling of peace, coupled with the quiet of the night. With the following playing on my mp3 player :
Pink Floyd (comfortably numb, coming back to life)
Mehndi hasan (mujhe tum nazar se, ranjish hi sahi)
Jagjit Singh (aah, many)
Ghulam Ali (hungama, aawargi)
Talat Aziz (aaina mujhse)
Nirvana (about a girl)
Bon Jovi (always)
Bryan adams (heaven)
Eric clapton (tears in heaven)
Chitra Singh (raa bhi neend bhi, khuda humko)
Abida parveen (main naraya mastana) Indian Ocean (jogia)
Midival Punditz

Quite a mix. Covering over 50 years or music crossing across cultures and geographies. (Arent you glad you live in today's world rather than in 50s, when access to world music was limited to poor souls?)

Anyway, need to sleep. Wait.....Jimi Hendrix is here..... Smoke on the water, fire in sky!!!!

One for the label 'Random'.....

So, i left for office today morning. And walked down to auto stand, with the auto standing right outside the Hanuman Temple. The auto guys know me, so i just get into the first ric.

This another guy came from the opposite direction. Like many Indians, he has this habit of spitting. And he did just that. Right in the space between the auto and the temple parapet. The auto guy was livid about the fact that how can one spit in front of a temple. (though i think he was more upset about the other guy spitting so close to the auto). Got out and started yelling

"arey tumko dikhta nahi kya, bhagwaan hai idhar..... Blah blah....."
"arey dada nighuya kai, ushir hotoy"
"arey saaheb asa kasa ha vaagtoy, thobadit dyachi hyaala"
The other auto guys converge.
"arey ka yevda arda orda. Dev kuthe nahi aahe saanga maala??"

Silence.

Then one of the older auto guys told this young man to get on with his job and the spitter walked away.

"Tumhi hota saaheb, mhanun to vachla. Shikshe cha parinaam aahe ha, mhanun mhantaat, shikshit lokkanchya ayushyat aaram asto, vichar karun vaaghtaat"

"Hmmmm. Jau dya aata, tension gheu naka, yeda hota to."

(This thing did not happen. As in, the spitting bit happened, It irritated me a bit and the auto just moved on. But i was just wondering, what would have happened if an alternate future existed from that point. Can i spin a yarn around a theme? What if the spitter was muslim? And so on. Not a successful attempt. Will make another one, like Run Lola Run. Needs imagination.)

Its been 10 years......

Its 2 a.m, on 12/9/2011 in Mumbai (ok, Navi Mumbai, fine?) In some parts of the world, its still 9/11. Its been exactly 10 years since THAT 9/11 and people across the world are, in one way or the other, talking about it - tributes, felicitation, editorials, analysis, memories, photos, videos and how the world has changed since then.

Well, one thing hasnt changed, I was an insomniac then, I am one now. And then, as a curious 19 year old, i was introduced to the world of internet properly. And also my interest in international polictics, which till that point was limited to history chapters, the few Hollywood movies i may hav seen till that point and Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Before 2000,my only connection with computers or internet was a stray game here and there or a some story stuff people do oon internet. I had heard about Y2K bug, and worms and viruses, floppy disks and emails. It was only in sometime around Sept 2000 that we got a PC at home and i started using it and learning all i can. (The PC guy installed the thing at my place and left and i had no clue how to shut it down! Just put out the power once and windows helped me next time round. Still cant claim to be expert, Sankatmochan Doc Cardozo and Doc Ingle live in the perennial fear of when i would call them for some PC related problem!). Some days later net was activated and our was a tech savvy family!

Well, so I started and was primarily limited to email, learning MS Office and watching movies, listening to songs etc. Ofcourse, there was some 'unmentionables' checked out as well. But thats about it.

Then, 9/11 happenend. Was alone at home when I saw the news on TV, fairly detached with the whole thing. When mom came home, i very casually told her 2 planes have crashed into 2 buildings in New York, could be a terrorist strike. And then went on downstairs for a walk around the colony.

By the time I came back, it was clear what had happened. A co-ordianated terrorist attack.

DD news was still the most credible news agency then and i am not sure if Aaj Tak/NDTV etc. had all details. Morever, in the absence of information and knowledge, i was wondering whats the big deal, we have bomb blasts, they had a hijacked plane hitting them. So naturally, i turned to the Internet for info. I spent the night reading up news, updates and analysis. What happened, whats happening now, reactions, condemnations, suspects, what it means to India, and to Asian politics (funny no one thought of economic aspects then, read the STOI editorial by Mr.Aiyar or Swapan Dasgupta's blog).

More importantly, i learnt things about New York, about WTC (30K people worked there, had 2 zip codes, architectural marvel of its time and so on),about Pentagon (is it really 8 storeys underground?), about the shock in the US people, about Osama Bin Laden (was friend, now foe, till that point he would get just about a small space in the middle pages of TOI), about Taliban and so on.

And since that day i have relied on the internet for information so much, its practically a career for me!

Anyway, its 3.AM now, i am supposed to reach office by 9.30......

Sleepless in Pattaya.....

No no, sleepless here only. No more Thailand stories....

It seems i have bored most of the world in the last few weeks with my Thailand stories. Can't help. I have told everyone who cared to listen about my adventures in Hyderabad, so you can very well understand the excitement in telling and retelling the stories of Thailand trip...

But i guess now is the time to close that story (and hope a new one starts soon!)

Most of you must have seen the snaps. But they dont tell you the full story! And if you want to hear the full story, meet me over a drink! (hot or cold, take your pick)

In the meantime,i'll try and keep myself busy with job hunt (top priority), dental procedures (its reaching that stage where it HAS to be done), gymming and jogging ( guys, dont laff) and so on.

TA also just had a nice little vacation. Next such thing may possibly happen in December, because as usual with TA things did not go as per plan (the whole world conspires for that!). Actually, if you believe that " Is shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hain, ki poorani kaynat ne hame milane ki saazish ki hai" logic, then maybe TA is getting what they wanted? Hmmmm..... Concerned people may introspect and confirm....

My Punto has reached 3300 kms. In the 3 TA cars purchased in the last few months, i think i am second highest user, close to Silky and faar faar away from Clinton's 700 kms! But then he will make one road trip and......

Chamak Challo is good! Despite Kareena....

Why do i seem to be the only one who thinks 'Mausam' will be a good movie..... And thats a sad sign cos i had thought 'That girl in Yellow Boots' will also be good.... It isnt. But having made half hearted attempts and made lousy presentations myself, i understand. Better luck next time.

Bored of typing.