our foes, the vikings, had tamed the sea,
had landed on the shores, forbidden..
for fear, something they knew no more,
in hatred they believed..

Unprecedented, scary, evil.. Mumbai has been torn apart. The country is shocked. In such a tumultuous time, heroes have emerged, some unfortunately achieving martyrdom. I salute the brave policemen who are no more. The deceased who may have killed in the process of voicing their opposition against the evil. I salute the commandos of the NSG who have limited the damage exceptionally.

I digress to ask these questions.
Amidst all this furor of the uptown Taj and The Oberoi, has anyone of us given a damn about the so called 'low-profile' blasts and shootings at the Vile Parle flyover and the CST station?
Does the severity of a hideous come with its price and a monetary baggage?
Is the taxi driver's death in the Vile Parle blast almost a non-issue compared to the dramatic evacuation of a British hotshot??
Are issues like the suspension of the India England test series more relevant for discussion than paying due condolences to the Muslim hawker who lost his life at the CST shootout??

I have no problem with the media being heavily empowered. But nothing fails in this context more than that old cliche 'With great Power, comes great Responsibility'.

We sure would remember the incident, the terrorists as well as the 'high-profile' casualties but let us make it a point to remember the brave martyrs as well as the 'low-profile' casualties..

Update - this and this

2 days, 2 giants of the big screen silenced.. Ingmar Bergman(July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007) and Michelangelo Antonioni (September 29, 1912 – July 30, 2007). The banal question running around in bloggers' circles: "Would people watch their movies and appreciate them now?" Also running around are the huge accolades and testimonials pouring in honour of these men. And even a brief pseudo-sophisticated analysis of the works by pundits. And, so to speak, a temporary 'pompous' commemoration. All too temporary.

"Am I born in an age hardly conducive to grab the true essence of these maestros' movies? Is there a paradigm-shift, causing an inevitable change in the movie-watcher's mentality to being more practical, street-smart, unimaginative and precise? Is this unequivocal approach playing villain in this whole process of an avant-garde experience? Or is this whole approach itself a new-wave which is eclipsing over the old school of thoughts which I'm so comfortable with. Either way, I'm a misfit failing to adapt.. or incapable of!"

Suits me!

A tribute to an artist, who made me love pain, and accept it... quite effortlessly

RIP,
Shine on!

"...it seems to me that the individual today stands at a crossroad, faced with the choice of whether to pursue the new technology and the endless multiplication of material goods, or to seek out a way that will lead to spiritual responsibility, a way that ultimately might mean not only his personal salvation but also the saving of society at large; in other words, turn to God."

- Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986

Quite ironical that what the individual sees in front of him is not really a crossroad, it is just a multi way mirage meant to confuse the individual with tempting alternatives. Whatever choice the mind wants to make, in reality there is only a single path of materialistic glory that the individual (is forced to) takes, the alternatives are just thorns which prick the individual on grounds of emptiness and guilt. The thorns are meant only to constantly haunt the individual, posing questions like "if only?" and "what if?" I dont see any other destination that the other paths lead to.

Everyone wants to do good.
Everyone wants to be good.
Few are good.

Inevitability is a stronger crusader than dreams.

We believe, we'll catch the rainbow..

As far as my eyes can see
There are Shadows approaching me
And to those I left behind
I wanted you to Know
You've always shared my deepest thoughts
You follow where I go

And oh when I'm old and wise
Bitter words mean little to me
Autumn Winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine
And the sadness would be Lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

As far as my Eyes can see
There are shadows surrounding me
And to those I leave behind
I want you all to know
You've always Shared my darkest hours
I'll miss you when I go

And oh, when I'm old and wise
Heavy words that tossed and blew me
Like Autumn winds that will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they ask you if you knew me
Remember that You were a frined of mine
As the final curtain falls before my eyes
Oh when I'm Old and wise

As far as my eyes can see

-Old and Wise (Alan Parsons' project)

Well once upon a time in 1776 Thomas Jefferson signed his name on a piece of marijuana, and this document was a symbol of freedom and of liberty, at least for the rich, white, gentry. And time marched along, this plant that I referred to has been used for everything from medicine to the American flag. And now it seems to me that somewhere along the way things got messed up, yeah, messed up, for marijuana.

A gift of God to my brothers and me. Oh marijuana the government wants to test me when I pee.

Well some say a conspiracy, ? chemical and ? paper industries combined to kill the competition, government hysteria, monopoly, and conflict of interest, with total impunity. Yeah, so, if you don't buy the conspiracy, just look at the reality that your tax dollars go to spray poison on the fields of a farmer in South America. And as an added bonus, your neighbor might be the proud recipient of that poison weed.

Oh marijuana the government wants to test me when I pee. Oh marijuana gift of God to my brothers and me. Oh marijuana you cant legislate your own morality. Oh marijuana the government wants to test me when I pee.

Free from madness, chronic sadness, what is the half-life of bad propaganda? The policies fail, denied bail, you made him a demon now pay for his trip to prison. Hard to promote the status quote, but what is the shelf life of bad legislation? The hypocrite smirks, its a moral disgrace as he reads from the law that was written about the same time that he had his last original thoughts. Men said he was dying and the nausea and the pain left him wasting away and unable to keep a meal down. So he tried everything prescription could obtain but to no avail. The side effects were worse than the pain. So now he breaks the law to use the one thing that seems to help him out. But the people say, Oh hes just getting high. Not to change the subject but, didn't you ever wonder why getting highs a crime. Yeah a crime.

Oh marijuana gift of God to my brothers and me. Oh marijuana now the government wants to test me when I pee. Oh marijuana the government wants to test me when I pee. Oh marijuana the government wants to test me when I pee. Oh marijuana the government wants to test me when I pee. Oh marijuana(this is the part where everybody would sing along) when I pee.

-Terry Anastasio (Phish)

When people win the Tour-de France, they don't celebrate..
They ask themselves, Why did they have to do it?
-Lance Armstrong

All I did when I read this quote in 'It is not all about the bike' (Armstrong's autobiography) was comprehend it to be an arbit, just another glam quote.. the kind of quotes which ppl write in their book to make it sell.. the 'sensation' creating kind...

Destination: Mullainagiri.. (Chikmagalur district, around 251 kms from Bangalore).
Date: 9th Feb
A sudden rush of blood to get out of bangalore for the weekend.. No plans made.. Quick decisions taken and there we were amidst the beautiful hills at seethalangiri.. The starting point of the trek... The trek to mullainagiri was awesome.. 3-4 kms of moderately challenging terrain although the enthusiasts could carve out their own route instead of the one already existing.. That said, we were there on the top of the best that karnataka could offer and it was an amazing feeling.. Little did we know wat we had in store for us a bit later.. next stop we thought should be another moderate trek to tower that we could see from mullainagiri.. It looked pretty close from where we were standing.. but so did the sun..we had estimated it to be around 3-4 kms away.. 5 kms max.. the journey began post lunch...lots of energy during the initial part of the trek.. we decided to do it in record time and set ourselves a deadline of 2 hours to do so..plus we had this idea of not touching the road at all cos we felt that the 'real' men wouldn't care to walk on the road.. 'Only Mountains it shall be!!!' was what was decided...the terrain was slightly harder but on the whole was manageable..a pal was repeatedly telling us as we crossed one hill at a time that the tower was not getting any closer.. in fact he had a feeling that it was being pushed farther and farther.. seemed like god was playing a game with three loners just like how he derived sadistic pleasure in teasing weary travelers in the sahara with the bait of a beautiful mirage.. nevertheless, we continued on our journey knowing that we were almost there and it is quite natural to crib about the target in the course of approaching it.. that was the motivation for us.. we went on and on.. and suddenly over we were there down a cliff when we noticed that the tower had gone missing.. the mirage had gone... :) or was it there in the first place? or had we come on a wrong path..there was no path quite frankly and all we did was use our common sense and some basic skills of directions ..but then the tower had gone.. we then decided to move on and not fret cos the tower was just behind the cliff that we were about to climb now..that gave us new hope.. we were almost there.. which made us climb the cliff all the more quicker.. but then once we had scaled the peak.. we were both happy and sad.. happy because the tower had reappeared.. sad because it seemed to be the same distance from us as it was when we started the trek.. though we were all mentally strong, our legs were giving up and we had to summon our last ounces of energy..the irony was.. the road that we had disrespected till now was now way behind us and was mocking at us, calling us losers.. no way of turning behind, even if we wanted to.. Ha ha.. we felt like conned maggots.. no other way other than move forward.. suddenly the pain started showing.. the heads began to drop.. the happy trip was suddenly turning sour... it seemed like an ordeal, an endurance test now.. we trudged on only to be bothered by countless cramps, tiredness, torturous uphills and all the possible things which could pull us down.. After numerous breaks, we did manage it to the tower and yeah.... that quote above did seem true.. very true...