What does freedom mean to me???


We recently celebrated our independence day, august 15th came and went just like every year and a lot of official functions were held a lot of buildings hoisted the tricolor and a lot of little toddlers were very happy as they got lots of sweets to eat and got a holiday from school. The significance of independence for most adult Indians has decreased. The generations that fought the colonial powers to over throw their yoke have long gone into the mists of time and those who saw people dying to secure their freedom are in their twilight of their lives. The current generations were born into a free India and breathed free air. They grew up getting used to having every thing their way. But they also grew up in a socialist environment, in an environment were the government decided what they will wear, what they will eat and what they will see on the television. Don’t get me wrong, Nehru’s conservative policy gave nascent India a lot. Majority of our infrastructure set up was due to that policy but it also limited human choice, but the most harm that policy caused was in the fact general Indian citizens looked at the two national holidays of most significance as a sort of official holiday not something that was to be celebrated by the common man. For people these became just two more days were a person could take a break from work and stay at home.

Freedom for me means a freedom to err, freedom to make mistakes and learn from my errors. In today’s environment of terror and stringent security the values of freedom and most important the right to make mistakes has been the most compromised. Today we cannot sneeze in the vicinity of a sensitive installation without being jumped upon by nervous security who thinks you are a terrorist with a new weapon. Today mothers cannot carry liquids on board aircrafts for their babies without tasting it in front of the security in the airport. The President came to visit our campus and we couldn’t carry our room keys in our pockets. We couldn’t have pens in our pockets and could not shake hands with him. Is this the kind of freedom that our fore fathers thought of us to have, one that we aren’t considered of any significance and one that does not give us the freedom of committing error?, where every human being, every citizen is guilty and looked at as a potential threat till proven innocent through means off a very demeaning body search. The world we live in today is fraught with dangers, it has become intolerant, it is starting to loose its patience. A country that was a welcome haven to any one wanting to make it their home today looks at fear at any gathering of minority communities. Our tolerances to the fallacies of our friends, neighbors and our fellow citizens have gone down. A minor spat on a railway station leads to a burnt railway carriage, and wide scale riots in one of the most progressive states of the country. One statement in favor of an anti-dam movement leads to the banning of a movie starring that actor. In today’s time women cannot roam free in our countries capital, in another metro, girls and boys standing together or just talking to each other are frowned upon. We live in a world where Hitler’s fundamentalism seems like child’s play. Young men and women are ready to go to war for some imagined utopia and kill innocent bystanders for a higher cause. They are ready to blow them selves up just to prove a point and hijack planes and crash them into buildings to make a statement.

Leaders fear to reach out to their followers for fear of being shot at or being blown away. People getting on trains and planes give up prayers for a safe journey. People from certain geographical areas or following a particular faith are strip searched in the name of security. One of the most monitored as well as liberal countries had to face the wrath of fundamentalists when its heavily crowded public transport system was bombed last year.

This might sound as a rhetorical question, but what has our world come too? Why have we become no intolerant to each other? when the world is facing other dangers has highly temperamental weather patterns, the uncontrolled growth of diseases like cancer and HIV AIDS we are creating problems that we all could do without. Intolerance leading to fear which in turn leads to paranoia which leads to mistrust, and violence against fellow human beings, all engineered to further some petty human interests.

We have reached a place and time in our history where the threat of big brother is very real and very omnipresent. We have involuntarily given up civil liberties, the freedom of speech and movement and other such assorted rights that our freedom fighters from Washington, to Jefferson, to Nehru, to Gandhi, to Nelson Mandela all fought very hard and long to secure just so that we can protect the same rights. Is this the world we want to live? What kind off legacy are we going to leave our children? Are we going to teach them that hope and dreams and free enterprise were utopian subjects that they were to high objectives and us humans to lowly to keep them so we took them away from our selves?

I agree the choice is very difficult, keep living life as we are used to and let others keep hurting our children, keep blowing buildings, cars and let anarchy have a shot of taking a place in our lives, or we give up all the freedoms and rights that we hold dear and allow some one of debatable authority to tell us how to live our lives, and dictate history and time. In the first case how long can morality and decency hold out before anarchy and chaos descend on us and ruin all these years of hard work. But the alternative isn’t that pretty too, let the governments take total control of our lives, let security agencies go over our private lives with fine tooth comb with softwares like the fabled “carnivore” from FBI. Evolve into a world where human beings lack free will and free speech. Develop into a species that has two distinct classes one which tells us what to do and the others what to do and when to do, what to eat where to go.

How did we get to such a point in history? And are these the only choices that are available to us. I really hope not, with them life just doesn’t seem worth all that pain and heartaches. There has to be an alternative to these and we have to find them soon or we will end up being something that we dare not contemplate. I leave u with a song from Green day

"Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I walk alone
I walk a...

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone...

The world is slowly spiraling out of control and it is up to us to decide what freedoom means to us do we really think that the world is worth living as a free citizen or as Greenday sang we become Jesus of suburbia with no one worth trusting and no one able to trust another human being.

So can you answer me now as what does freedom means to you????

cycle of life

this not some thing i wrote ........................... but love it so here goes and hats off to the author

Wouldn’t it be great if the whole circle of life was reversed? I mean, look at the way we live our lives – we have the best of times in our childhood and great times at the threshold of entering the world of adults. The remaining part of our dutiful lives is spent toiling at some place earning loads of money to buy expensive clothes and splurge in exotic foods and other such nefarious worldly pleasures but never as happy as when we were during the innocence of our younger days.

I read a comment of a comedian some time back and this inspired me to muse that all is not right with the way we age. In fact, it would be much more fraught with meaning and significance, not to mention enjoyable and gratifying, if only the whole circle of life was turned on its heels.

Here’s the right way to do it. You enter this lovely world as an octogenarian or a nonagenarian or if you have enough good karma from your previous births, you could even be a centurian. Straight into an old-age home. You can hardly walk, talk or involve in other such human interactions. At best you can successfully remove your dentures just before you go to sleep.

As the years move on, you begin to feel rejuvenated as your health improves dramatically. And when you’re all hale and healthy, you’re unceremoniously kicked out of the old-age home. It’s not yet time to celebrate, for with the newly found vigor and fitness is associated the despicable concept of earning one’s living. Now is the time for work and office and all that jazz. You’re around 60 by now.

At work slowly the responsibilities dwindle, which is an amazing concept in stark contrast to the existing norms. You begin to climb the ladder, downwards and there is no pressure on you to perform. Whatever you do, you’re going down.
Somewhere along the way, you meet a nice homely woman of your age and marry her. You may even have children… I mean adults.(Unfortunately, not all aspects of this brilliant plan have been worked out but I am sure that given the mysterious way the miracles of Nature work, stranger things have happened. For example, President Bush was reelected) Fifty is somewhere around the corner or perhaps you just passed it. The usual razzmatazz of midlife crisis hits you and you are seen philandering with older women.

See, now, when you leave for work daily, with that perfectly knotted tie and that charming blue shirt, you know that somewhere down the line you will be fired from the office for being too young to continue working. Which is awesome because that is like the worst thing that can happen. By then it’s time for college. You get to choose whichever college you want to go to because ultimately it really doesn’t matter what you learn at college anyway. So basically this means partying and sleeping. “Karmanyevaadi kaaryasthu maa phaleshu kadachane”. Your actions must not be done so as to expect the fruits in return. Yeah right. There are things which are said and there are things which are done. Proverbially we know which is easier.

College is a blast and before you know it, you hit 18! High school! Young love. Maths! Hmm, yeah. Young love! Its brilliant. You grow through the awkward phase of adolescence as you unmature from giggling hirsute masses of body odour into cute cuddly unsuspecting bundles of naivette and innocence. Absolutely no responsibilities. Which is the most you can ask for as you live the rest of your joyous life pampered by everyone around you.

The last 2 years would be quite a hoot albeit it is debatable whether you actually know what is going on by this time, having lost the ability to make meaningful conversation or even comprehend language. Sign language is the best forms of communication. 9 months remaining, you are given the comfort of a heated room with room service and a lot of attention. Many people have killed for much less.
Finally after all this fuss, you fade away. Not into nothingness. Nay, it would be far too demoralizing for someone to lead his whole life just to disintegrate into oblivion. And it would just be plain wrong. So finally, finally, you become the quintessential orgasm that should have started it all.

Amen.

amen brother


59 years and counting...............................

Let me tell u about my self, I'm an Indian. Ok I know what u are thinking hyperbole, and its attendant extremities are going to land now. But it’s true, I think of my self of as an Indian first and last, and I feel proud about it too. We did a lot of things wrong since the first steps taken on that fateful night in 1947, but we must have got at least one thing right that we got so far. You’ll agree I hope(if not, who cares). We stumbled, we tripped, we fell, but every time we got back on our feet with a promise to make it right, when the whole world waited with baited breath for us to stumble and fall and stay there. I mean this mish mash of geographical, religious, ethnic, caste aggregate should have ended as a collection of homogenous and independent entities, not the existing melting pot which maintains a love hate relationship amongst itself.

We went off in to space, (at least two of us did, though a lot of us are high at most times), we conquered the mighty atom (oops........ I didn’t know it could do that) built the worlds most efficient rail network (it goes where?), created a postal system that even though it mails letters to wrong addresses with a scary consistency or misplaces them altogether, will deliver a letter addressed to Darkness, Bombay, India to Andheri in Mumbai (not kidding), and the amazing thing is we show flashes of brilliances and a mind boggling range of idiocies at the same time. And we still manage to overcome all expectations and hurdles laid in our way. We borrow technology to make commercial grade automobile steel from other nations but we have managed to build a mach three capable cruise missile, Bhramos(the tomahawk's history) get the gawky and laughably light 4th generation fighter Tejas off the ground. Built a satellite launch system that even the Chinese can’t beat for price, and oh least I forget the world’s largest shanty town that even the Brazilians can only look at and envy. We try to scam on the coffins we buy for our soldiers, but we still have cab drivers who return bags full of money to their rightful owners.

we quibble about quotas in higher education, but still have the highest rate of school dropouts, but still manage to educate so many people that the world comes to us for managers, doctors and engineers. the best brains in the world in research, the best surgeons, the best scamsters too, amongst the countries with the largest growth with the most untapped potential too, we quibble, and quarrel amongst our selves about who sits in a stupid chair, but still the world sits up to take notice when we tend to even whisper some thing. with cities that have a history and a past older than the combined history of the Americas, we have developed welcoming guests and hospitality to such a fine art that even though we turn from grateful hosts to hooligans or plain criminal (cricket in Eden gardens any one or how about touts in Agra, or coolies of Delhi), people come here and fall in love and remain here for ever. we look upon sex and any and every discussion concerned with it with wide eyed disbelief, but procreate with amazing consistency and what’s more a country that holds some thing in such a taboo we breed like rabbits(you heard me right). But we take care of each of our brood with the same affection. The great Indian joint family has become an institution the world over and a savior for parents who both work at the same time. The support system it provides pulls people thru the direst of disasters. Yet some thing is always never right (did some one say female feticide?)

We specialize in beating the world in obscure games (cricket, chess), but can’t manage a gold at the showcase Olympic events. 1 sixth of the worlds population and we still can’t kick a round leather bladder efficiently enough to go to the world cup. at times we generate so much hatred in our selves that we are ready to kill former friends and neighbors (Godhra, Ayodhya riots etc) and brothers (Praveen Mahajan) and at others we give every thing we have and more just to rescue another soul in distress (Mumbai floods, blasts, Gujarat earthquake, tsunami) the entire gamut of human emotions course thru us within the blink of an eye.

We are good, we are bad and most important we are every thing in between because we are human beings, and in spite of our fallacies we built a nation, of greats. Sure we have a large number of impoverished people in our country, sure some of us look at the females of our country as secondary, sure villages are rampant with the evils of casteism and communalism, sure we haven’t been able to feed all our citizens even after record grain production, sure even after 15 years of reforms our system has more red tape than used in all the gifts they pack for Christmas and sure the levels of corruption we see in our system is mind boggling.

But you know what it really doesn’t matter and the reason is no matter what the status of woman in our country we were I fact the second country to choose a female Prime Minister, we were also ones to have instituted a program to fast track food grain production, as well as milk production. and what ever the evils of caste and religion we are still the worlds largest functioning democracy, our army has always stayed staunchly apolitical and our soldiers so good that they some times border on superhuman. We have defied aggressor after aggressor internal and external. We have given the world so much, CV Raman, Amartya Sen, Gandhi, kautilya, chess (there's that game again) Buddhism, Geetanjali and Zero (0, zilch, nada, naught)

The most important reason of all no matter what is wrong with her India has always stood firm, Gia, mother, Mata call her what u want she has always been close to perfect for me and given me my hearts desire, sure there are lots of things to be done, but then if things were perfect, wont you and I get bored living perfection.

raving

ravings now tht looked and sounded like ravings, didnt they
well the dipict my mental state exactly, wht to say i think i m slowly but sure ly loosing it.

confused soul

i dotn knw wht and why of my existance but the day i find out surely u will the first to knw, i do not for get people its the world that forgets me. i go around looking for love but its only misery that finds me

Get away from me, this isn’t gonna be easy. But I don't need you, believe me

dont ask me any thing tht i wont be able to give answers to??? i stubble from one blind alley to another trailing my troubles behind life for me is a incompetent mugger who none the less still manages to mug me with outh taking any thing with him

Heroes

"He knows a hero when he sees one. Too few characters out there, flying around like that, saving old girls like me. And Lord knows, kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people. Setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams."

aunt may to peter parker spider man 2

Ever wondered why children always wish to become some thing heroic. When ever you ask a small child what he or she wishes to become when they grow up the answers are always from a small list of very elite careers. The answer always varies from doctors, soldiers, astronauts, sailors, pilots or some thing else similarly glamorous. No child ever expresses the wish to be a dentist or an accountant. Why is that???? What is that makes them choose professions that are so different from the other fields of human Endeavour? I think the main reason for this kind off infatuation lies in the human need for an icon or a hero or simply something or someone larger than life. A life that is much more different than what they see their parents neighbors around them lead.

I was watching Spiderman 2 yesterday and in that movie aunt May tells peter parker that the neighborhood children were very sad that Spiderman wasn’t around any more when asked an explanation about her statement aunt may says this is so because people need some one to look up to, they need heroes that they will line the streets to welcome and march behind to fight all that they perceive as wrong. They need someone that they can tell about to their grand children that they were their when so and so did such and such.

this need stems from the fact that almost all of us are made different from each other though we may not lack any thing compared to other people physically emotionally we all differ and that emotional difference creates heroes or cowards among us . I believe that the only difference between heroes and normal people, between people like Gandhi, Churchill and Kennedy and the people who followed them was the amount of time they could stand under a constant barrage of unmanageable odds. They stood and stared down people like Hitler, the British Empire and Kruchev for what they beli8eved to be right. Even though many other people believed in the same things as they did only they had the strength to face down a far superior enemy. To stand behind their convictions and hang on with whatever it takes or no matter how long it takes. Their undying belief in what they thought was right in turn inspired many more to stand up and take their rightful place in history to make things right. But they are not the only heroes out their are far more numerous people out their who perform outstandingly, do heroic deeds create minor miracles out of totally hopeless situation. He exists in a nurse who serves others with total disregard for her own health. This hero exists in the street side worker who sweeps the streets day in and day out for a meager income without any thanks or any other expectations from the rest of the human populace. he exists in the teacher who teaches his students about the immense knowledge out their waiting to be gathered who instill faith strength and character in his or young charges. Mother Teresa was a heroine in the truest sense but so were the others who served with her the other sisters of missionaries of charity.

captain Vikram Batra was a hero but so were the other soldiers who fought by his side some who fought by his side and died or others who had the good fortune to not to become the victims of the enemy bullets. Dr Kalam the president of India is a hero for the younger generation, but so is the father who works 18 hours a day so that his children can have the best of education and future that he can provide.

We all have the potential to be heroes all we need to achieve is face our worst enemies that is our selves and our worst fears which is our own downfall. The day we learn to hang on just a little longer and be a little braver the we learn to see beyond our selves and our miniature little existence we have the potential to out do our selves and more over be heroes.

my country

The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad.


Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing
success
stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such
achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and
disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was
the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place.
The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture
of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an
orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory
details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried
among other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are
we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with
foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want
foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her
what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed
India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must
proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly
developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice
is yours. YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their
destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute
pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give
him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your
International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat
in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.
You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of
Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the
parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a
restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity...
In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in
public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without
your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the
telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to
it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not
dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic
cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's
son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut
shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia
and New Zealand.
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use
examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still
talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign
system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw
papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you
can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot
you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay,
Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the
streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said.
'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect
the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the
pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the
job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go
to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all
responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do
everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We
expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking
garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece
of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean
bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and
toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least
opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service
to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related
to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room
protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's
the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego
my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of
our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the
government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually
making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along
with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries
far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with
a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in
their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to
England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight
out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and
rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is
mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a
great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing
J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

lunatic mumbo jumbo

All of us............. every one of us are humans arent we. and as usuall i belive we are all fallible. we make mistakes. some big some small some of them noticeable others too insignificant. some affect the lives of others some not even ures. but the important thing is that we live on. but some times we live witht he burden of past mistakes that seem so insignificant when recited but seem to turn ure life upside down with uilt hurt and every thing else. why is it that people who love u the most can overlook ure largest discreation but become apopletic about tyhe smalest of things. why is it that the people closest to you will keep reminding of your mistakes day inday out till ure ready to give it all up and jst walk away or u become imune to wht ever they say.

any way to better ttimes and stuff.

yeaterday was Easter when "Christ the lord rose fromt he dead. we celebrated it by having our relatives over and talking havingh good food and stuff i had one of my closest friends over and and he had rought lots of movies from the campus. and we chatted dozed alzed around listend to music. in short we lazed around after a long time. any way we had loads of fun. then in the evening we went to the train station to see of a very good friend from campus who was leaving for home. we fooled around on the station took picture and the fooled around some more. on the station we met an old acquaintance from school who was a pain in the neck then too and he hadnt changed even after all these years. he is woking wiht some bombay firm and had that fake american accent and all. showing off as usual. well anyway we came back and then went shopping with my brother to buy cargos for him

all in all i had a fun day,.

gadgets

although i dont go in for changing my gadgets every day. i am a total gadget o freak. like ive got every thing ive brought.
my first phone was a sony t100 that i used for the last three years. and i loed it cause it was tough, not obnoxious like other fat cell phones and was sutied to my uses.
then ive got 2 computer at home one is a compaq desktop with an amd 64bit processor and 120 gb hardisk, a 500mb ram and a new recently added dvd writer (sony) and a "29 inch flat plasma screen". its three yrs old so i took the liberty of modifying it this jan.
now all i need is a home theater jbl sound system and to install my tv tuner card into the system (havent found time yet) and that will be my home theater come entertainment cum tv come webportal
ive got another acer system which i have used as my server since ive also recently made my house a bluetooth hot zone. n since i got my whole house bluetooth enabled and since i my old phone was getting a little too long in the tooth ive treated my self to a new motorola L6 so that i can shoot pics edit and surf net thru as my house and campus are both wi fi now
i used to cart around my old desktop (compaq) when i lived on campus but from next sem onwards i think i would like a lap top amd turion 2 ghz 64 bit wide screen dvd writer 500mb ram
carssssssss toooooo
i would really realy like to have a porsche 911 turbo any genaration would do. or if its got to be one of the latest then its got to be a the new mustang gt or a ford gt(x) preferably in white with blue stripes. these cars look absolutely gorgeous dont they and as far as bike go it has to be a mv agusta f4 senna or a zx10rr ninza would be fine too
although my current bike also a kawasaki but only 115 ccs is great too

i pods :P
and as far as i pods go i think some body has lost it. id rather buy a sony walkman phone which
was way beyond my budget incedently with all the mods that i made to the home network and my box of wonders coming from my savings which by the way are now zero.
but they are way better that ipods any day. secondly although i idolise apple products i think i pod was a waste of genius and their produts are way too highly priced in india with too low service back up, hence dreaming of the day i can have a mac of my own

come ride with me :P

ohhhhhh where were we???????
ah yes i was telling u a story.........................
but for today i will take u on a trip through jodhpur, i will tell u about some of the best roads in jodhpur, and they are the best because they are twisty, smooth for most part, have a great view, are in decent shape have minimal traffic. due toa ll of the afore mentioned conditions these roads enable me to indulge me in my favourite passion. that is ride my bike to its and my limit and beyond. on these roads i can race my self test my courage on lean ins and on most of them, even if i make a mistake i can avoid the gruesome fate of being run over by traffic coming up from behind as they are very rarely travelled. so i can make mistakes with my peace of my mind.

1. this road snakes thru the out skirts of the town behind the majestic fort. it starts from mandore and takes me thru the stone quarries to a outlying village to the kayalana lake. this road is smooth for most of the part. with minimal traffic , especially during and after the brief moonsoons as during that period the the quarries are filled with water, dotting the land scape with inumerable lakes, and stoping all mining work too. this also gives the terrain innumerable small streams making it beautifull. there are old aquaducts dotting the terrain here and there, also some very beautifull sceneary. and except for the portion where the road smakes thru the village behind the city I can carry really good pace and speed on my bike.
2. the second best road is the NH 65 that snakes thru Jodhpur. i like it because although its congested and has heavy traffic most of the time it is really smooth and a four lane road in most places. the road also has real long straight streaches and hence u can travel at really insane speeds. and out side the city especially to the north the road has some really amazing landscape.

3 the third road would be the one that goes from kayalana lake to chopasnay housing scheme. this road because for most parts it hugs the lake and hence gives a great view. although this road is narrow and dusty for most part. as it is very very rarely used so u are always riding in the ever present danger of loosing grip and skiding into the rocks. but it is real twisty and hence great fun especially if u have friends along who enjoy the same thrills. i mention company here because of two factors
a. the road is very lonely and issolated so u should have help at hand incase some thing goes wrong
b. secondly due to the very nature of the road carrying high speeds is not recomended so u need some one to scramble with, at least i do.

4. the road that winds up to the fort is fourth on my list. its is smooth, twisty has a great view. but it also has a lot of blind corners that are made more dangerous by the fact that there is constant heavy vehicle trafic to the fort. but it has a great view and is really fun with a pillon sitting behind you. going fast thru here not only is dangerous, but if u go fast you will miss most of the view too.

me my city my home my world

the city spread out beneath the fort like ball gown of a matron, the old part of the city was mostly blue with the houses painted with lime mixed with a blue dye to keep out the searing heat of the indian summer. the fort stood over the city like a ages old sentinel protecting its territory over looking all that passed beneath without expression. right next to the fort stands the masouleom of a dead king from ages past. built in marbel, right outside the gates from the kings grave stands a platform made of red sandstone which provides an excelent view of the city of jodhpur. the city, almost five hundred years old with a population that hardly counts in the larger scheme of things the city of jodhpur stands at the edge of the great thar desert, is my home ive spent all my life here with the exeption of a few months here and there spent chasing, dreams mirages vacations etc etc. i love coming to this platform and sit when ever i wnat to be alone or just sit and think. the peace i fingd here is something unparalled. from here i will tell u a short story, a story that has no heroes only ordinary people, people who make mistakes, find god in simple mercies, people who are falliable yet perfect. people who live each day thinking that they can conquer the world. every day live with the help of thier hopes, aspirations and simple gestures of other human beings. people that they call by the name of friends, family relatives or simply strangers.

heart broken nomad

hey there every body this me shanu s john many of u might or might not know me but one thing is for sure, once u do get to me knw u will have the unanimous opinion that im stark raving mad. i belive in living one day at a time, irrespective of the consequences as my friends will testify. i also love to ride fast live on the edge and lean far out into the abyss. saying that pain is my constant companion i would be an understatement. i live by twisted priorities and most of the time make a complete mess of them. thats about me. on this blog u will read alot of stuff
my amaturish attepts at poetry,
the ravings of my stark raving and throughly bonkers mind
and wht my friends will write back so enjoy and hang in for the ride

heres the first instalment
something i wrote


"do u see that"
do u see that ?
do u see the hole in my chest where my heart used to be,
it feels wierd, hurts a lot.......................
to walk around knowing that the world sees thru u
are u the one
the one who will fill the empty space inside me


shanu