Time - Need heaps of it to type what's in the head

And so I've learnt

Restarting anything is a decadence to be enacted only once in any decade. And like most of the things to be learnt, you learn it only as you grow older and not necessarily wiser. That is a clear distinction btw. So hopefully I wont do a start, stop, start, stop again. I do plan to start a fresh blog soon - hint to the decadence comment :-). I cant believe six years have passed since I started teasing some words to life. I can't believe I have stopped smoking either. I do like the taste of my own mouth now and not being a menth addict. If I do kiss a girl now who smokes, I will probably learn endurance. And yup, one good thingie is I've moved forward from procrastination to easy contemplation. I can't believe I wasted so much time before doing something. Mainly, I am going easy on myself. It does kill me especially in professional life but that's a challenge I am willing to battle for the bigger picture.

 

Another bittersweet truth I've learnt is you can live without anyone - I stand corrected. Its not living but you know what I mean. Almost everyone I know does cause that's how life is. Its not by choice or design but a safeguard inbuilt by nature for survival. Sure there will be times when the desire or thought of someone not being with you or memories will kill you in that moment but like everything it will pass too. You get into a mess only when you do something in that moment which usually is silly. Else, you go go go - just do it in your sanity while you still can and don't let that nadiring moment take birth.

 

London is a hip place but it does take something different to meet some intelligentsia here. The US is a block easier to thaw than the Brit formality. HOWEVER, once the ice breaks, some of these folks are plain nuts. And EXTREME. I just wish I was here ten years back or at least lived here for a couple of years in my teens. That would have been so cool. And it made me think what is it that I would like to do NOW? I sure as hell dont want to have this 'I wish I had done this etc' thought ten years down the line. And so these are some of the places I would like to visit soooon:

Beachy head, East Sussex UK - This I have visited already and what a splendid moment it was to sit with a drink. Or even without it as I learnt the next morning.

Hidden beach on Marieta Islands, off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - I do have that something special for water bodies and this looks out of the world. Would loveeee to skinny dip here.

 

Magic Hole - Ik Kil is a well known cenote outside Piste in the municipality of Tinum, Yucatan, Mexico again. It is located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula and is part of the Ik Kil Archeological Park near Chichen Itza. It is open to the public for swimming. Ah water again

 

Moon Mountain, Yangshuo, Guangxi, China - This looks so gorgeous I would commit to all my sins in a heartbeat

 



Northern Lights, Iceland - This shall happen soon

To be continued..

Current music: Yeh waada raha - Ishq mera bandagi hain - Love this one to bits

Life goes on

I never liked Dev Anand but that could be a personal deficiency and its also true that I light up late. As an example, I have recently started appreciating Lata Mangeshkar in the right way. I am thankful that I did while she is still alive unlike the many I did after they are no longer with us e.g. Ustaad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan saab, Ustadon ke ustaad and a personal god (the g is humbly in low for him) Ali Akbar Khan and many more. Discovering something new is almost like an aphorism and I can't keep thanking for it to still continue happening with me. I only wish someday before I go that I know to love. God knows I never have had to struggle for anything ever in life - love, money, friends or anything else and I have had never done anything to be blessed with this. And if this is called detachment which the wise say is to yearn for, its no fun really. But at least that's something which I have to yearn for every minute I breathe.

Current music: Prem Pujari - Phoolon ke rang se (This one is specially for someone whose wrong I could right hopefully someday in life before its too late and who still reads me at least once in a while) 

A little lighter now

Vaise thoda satire non-veg mein bhi hain

Kathorta apne hriday mein nahin
Bulli mein rakhiye
kaam aayegi ;)

Current music - Bodycount - Evil dick

Fir ek

Aaj mood hain to fir kyun roke khud ko..

Raaste kahan khatam hote hain zindagi ke safar mein
Manzil to wahi hain jahan khwaishein tham jaayein

Current music: Farida Khanum - Aaj jaane ki zid na karo

<--- Easy to say --->

Vaise zindagi sukun se jeene ke do raaste hain:

Bhool jao unhe jinhe maaf nahin kar sakte;aur
Maaf kar do unhe jinhe bhula nahin sakte

Current music: Nelly Furtado: Say it right

Sometimes everything is not enough too

Khairaat mein mili khushi hamein acchi nahin lagti
Kyunki
Hum apne gamo mein bhi nawabo ki tarah jeete hain

Current music - Bemisaal:Ae re pawan

Bas yun hi

Badi ajeeb si bandish hain uske pyar mein
Na usne kabhi 'qaid' me rakha; na hum kabhi 'azaad' ho paaye

Current music: Saraswatichandra - Chhod de sari duniya kisi ke liye

Krishna - Radha

Krishna ne Radha se pucha - 'Aisi ek jagah batao jaha mai nahi hu?'
Radha ne muskurake kaha - ' Bas mere naseeb mein":)
Phir Radha ne Krishna se pucha - Hamara vivah kyon nahi hua?
Krishna ne muskurate hue kaha - Radhe vivah ke liye do logo ka hona jaruri hai.... Aur hum dono me se doosra kaun hai?

Current music: Satyam Shivam Sundaram

Ye dosti...

Some of the Krishna interactions are quite deep. I don't know where they are sourced from or whether they are true but the meaning sure is;

SUDAMA Ne Shri Krishna Se Pucha Ki - "Dosti Ka Asli Matlab Kya Hota Hai?
Krishna ne Hans Kar Kaha - Jaha Matlab hota hai wahan Dosti Kahan Hoti Hai..

Current music: Zanjeer: Yaari hain

Just be for now

Current music: Pink Floyd - Brain Damage / Eclipse

10%

A presentiment is also like a dream which we dream. Its an old Bushman saying. Some quotes just literally hang on to the edges of our mind, perch delicately - a whiff can blow them away but they just bend and refuse to go away.

I've been travelling incessantly now over the last two months. One of the reasons I love travel so much is that it gives me time to contemplate. It gives me time to empty everything that has been pushed to the back of the mind. Happiness, sorrow, regret, glee - almost everything. I miss friendship more than love, sex, lust, companionship or even a dog. Blogs are just like booze - you can purge whatever is at the back of your mind without a second thought. And so this thought of friends keeps threatening to come fore again and again. So finally I decided to give it some space here.

I started writing here without intending to form any friendships or relations but just as an outlet to let it out anonymously. To be continued..

Alan Parsons Project - A dream within a dream

Point n shoot

A bit of shutter bug with an hour to kill.

She holds it high

Look at her from any angle, she still stirs.

Late night coffee

It's the last night of my trip to New York. Like many of those earlier, this one turned out to be memorable. I try not to visit the East coast but when destiny shows a full house, you pack up. I have been wanting to visit other parts of the US, those which I have not visited for such a long time and the memories of which still bring sunshine to my face - places like Denver, Orange county etc. But it was not to be and I am in the big Apple trying to pen my thoughts - after a long time I must admit. The keyboard seems unfamiliar to my fingers. Perhaps the thoughts are the ones fumbling actually. I was scrolling through my earlier posts and noticed I hadn't really written in the last one year. The plan is to write regularly now and let it just flow without bothering about correctness. For now.

Too bored to continue right now. I'm more interested in catching up on the songs, movies, videos online which I haven't been able to do justice to in the daily rut. The current music running through the mind is this one. Why? I was introduced to it in the recent trip and can't get it out of my head. More of that in the next post. Whenever, wherever.

Run!!

These days fitness reigns heavy. At times when the body refuses to move forward, this helps. It adds that extra mile, the much needed adrenalin which in the end makes you feel much better as a man. Re-enforced the sublime thought that whatever is needed to repair you is within yourself. No need to look outside.

Current music: CCR - Run through the jungle

Dreams!!

That..that one shining through the midst is the planet called 'Dream' and not 'hope'..Don't ever lose sight of it cause this one we see with eyes wide open.

Current music: Molly Hatchet: Dreams I'll never see

Mind over matter

Last week, one of my client meetings took an unusual turn. I was meeting one of the biggest legal firms in UK. In the midst of discussions, my counterpart who was approximately my age or bigger asked if we could go down and discuss in a more informal way. And he took me to this:

We played two quick games of rapidfire chess and tied the scores at 1-1. It made me wonder if there was something else to it but I had a great time. I plan to make more visits to Primrose street. It's great fun to play chess with strangers. Social networking at a different level unaided by technology.

Current music: Erasure: Always

The Apple store in the Big Apple

Although I am a user of Samsung, I follow Apple's marketing strategy quite avidly. So a trip to their largest store globally was on agenda during this trip. In one word, the impact on the raw mind would be overwhelming was my first thought. It reminded me of the fish market back home in a slightly upmarket sense. El superbo!! I love their strategy but not the product. So I clicked the below with my Samsung SII and moved on ;)

Current music: Aerosmith: Pink

The Big Apple again

I am here again after a year. Seems like I visit this part of the world only in the summers. Not complaining mind you. A pity I am not in touch with many from NY who visit my blog. Anyway, everytime I am here I end up making a new pal. Let's see whats up till Sunday.

Current music - The Eagles - New York Minute

This morning was scary. I woke up and couldn't remember my blog url. I lost interest in posting after I remembered it.

Anyway, I am dead tired for no reason.

Current music: Ekla Cholo Re

Sometimes Mumma Nature does the talking for you

It's a good thing there are lies
Lord help us
if everything that was said
was true

Current music - *********

Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (This Night Has No Morning)

Darkness has a peace of its own. London had its first taste of snow this evening. And the Cindrella hour turned out to be 'Silent Night'. A perfect time to put those hanged boots on and trudge through the white landscape with the wind sounding strange whistles in the air. You could sense the silence or perhaps it was the lack of activity on the path. I have been waiting for the snow for a long time now. Last year was my first experience with it and I fell in love. For me snow is a state of being 'undisturbed'. You see people out only cause its necessary and with a purpose - whether its kids building a snowman or someone rushing to the grocery store.

Tonight turned out to be worth the wait. After spending the evening viewing Foxy's 50 Ultimate Slow Dance collection and reviving the yesteryears joined by Uncle Jack Daniels, I stepped out after judging it had inched enough. It was beautiful. I can imagine how Alaska must be in its glory. It was icy all around but not cold - if it makes any sense. The usual ten minutes around the area took almost 25 with a couple of missteps thrown in. I realised I had never sat on the park bench at midnight before and certainly never in the snow. Lighting the Benson, leaning back against the snow filled bench and Pink Floyd's 'Wish you were here' filtering through the pods, it was pure bliss.

Current music - Jann Arden - Insensitive

They will tell you you can't sleep alone in a strange place
Then they'll tell you can't sleep with somebody else
Ah but sooner or later you sleep in your own space
Either way it's O.K. you wake up with yourself

And so...

Touched the song after more than 365 days..Is it the route back again to self discovery?

Ya Allah..aise hi ho

The Other side of God