Some things never change.....

The sunbathed school yard is filled with neatly arranged rows of students waiting for the national anthem to begin. Kids trickle in before the gates are closed and fill up their respective queues. At the very end of the Grade 1 queue a small boy is trying hard to maintain his last position. Pushing and trudging the kids coming after him to take his place. The national anthem starts blaring on the public address system. Everything suddenly comes to a standstill. In stark contrast to what will be an epitome of chaos during recess, the yard is very quiescent.
The kid glances at the gates ever so often. As the national anthem ends the queue inches towards the school entrance. He, successful in holding on to the coveted last position continues to look back over his shoulders towards the gates. But now with tear stained eyes. All efforts concentrated towards getting a glimpse of his mother waiting across the school gates

.. and now 22 years later, he still pushes on his toes to get one more glimpse across the security check-in barricades at the airport.... although standing on the other side of the gate this time.... nothing else has changed....

Looking in from outside

A must read article..
make your own judgement, I for one could not agree more..

US daily finds fault with Indian leaders over terror attacks

Mumbai meri Jaan

Not a very good time to return to blogging.

Its tough to see the city of dreams facing it worst nightmare. The city that I love the most has been hit in the past.. but nothing like this. I hope the city responds the only way it has know..with defiance and solidarity.

BUT, the way our nation responds HAS to change..
3 of the best police officers lost in encounter... its hard to believe its a coincidence...
and why did it take the permission of the Home Ministry to call Black cat commandos from NSG, and why did it take too long..

Its high time we need, sorry demand an anti-terrorism agency that's answerable only to the supreme court/prime minister, capable of taking decisions on their own.

MOM DAD HERE WITH ME :)

Son of a Gun

Anni and Shamit (NY boys) and Abhinav (recently NYorker) had come over to see the countryside, so we had gone to a Winery. Later in the day decided to try our hands at shooting. Set the address for French Creek in the GPS. It took us to a shopping mall. Yeah, the shooting range was inside a shopping mall, go figure. It was actually at the back of a mountaineering store.

Signed the consent forms and picked up guns that were on display. Murali had been to a shooting range before, so the instructor teamed me up with him. The instructor gave us 50 9mm bullets. I made the mistake of going inside without wearing my earmuffs. The moment I step inside the sound of gunshot scared the living hell out of me. Saying that I flinched would be grossly understating it. Almost jumped.

Loaded the magazine with 15 9mms, locked it in the stock, pressed the glide stop. Took my position. An now the moment of truth.....(drum rolls........slowly fading drum rolls...)

click......click,click....(more clicks)

I know what you are thinking, guns don't go click click... they go BANG!!! BANG!!! (or dishkaun!!! dishkaun!!! as in hindi movies). But it did click.. :( Your guess is as good as mine, the safety lock was on. Called in the instructor to fix it for me didn't want to fool around with a loaded gun.

Held the gun, aimed at the target..Drum rolls.... (again please) and
BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The bullet shot through the barrel and pierced the target, the gun recolied, shooting a pulse of adrenalin originating at finger tips and radiating throughout the body. Stood there stationary enjoying the moment. I had fired my first shot. 14 more shots followed, some hit the target most didnt, but who cares. With each shot all the bullet metaphors made more sense.

A few rounds later got a hang of it. Hit the bullseye Thrice, the bullseye and I am not talking about hitting the edge of the bullseye or near the bullseye.. hit it dead center. Let me paint the picture for you, if I have a gun (and licenced to kill) and you really piss me off. I could shoot you in the head 18 times and 3 of those would be right between your eyes*.

On the last round hit 5/8 shots in and around the red mark. Lo and Behold! the Son of Gun has arrived.




Videos -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTFKwCBJQJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLoqX8x1FM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlnAYrmV8G0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KJyguBz2JY

Conditions apply - For this you have to stand/sit real steady for about an hour. Looking straight at me and no flinching please when the gun fires. ;)

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

It is not very often I suggest a movie to my friends, but will make an exception this time. I was not aware of this movie until I accidentally stumbled on it. Which does says something about my movie literacy; however that is not the point. It's more of a 'movie finding the viewer' kinda thing. I copied over a bunch movies from my friend. Yeah, yeah, i know its digital piracy and its not right.. and the whole nine yards. If there is a movie that I intent to watch, I do take the efforts to watch it legally. But, if not for piracy I (and many of us) would have been deprived of some many great movies...that is not to say it right.. but its one of those issues I am on the fence about. But, I will do my bit and buy a original DVD of this movie.

No words I say or write (or copy from other reviews) would ever come remotely close to capturing the essence of this movie. Its movies like this that make me love movies so much. The only thing I would like to say is set aside 155 minutes... dim the lights (you pervs, that's how you enjoy good movies), take you seat and the movie will do the rest. Take my word for it, it will be worth your while. Please leave a comment once you have seen it.


Living here day by day, you think it's the center of the world.
You believe nothing will ever change. Then you leave:
a year, two years.
When you come back, everything's changed.
The thread's broken. What you came to find isn't there. What was yours is gone.
You have to go away for a long time... many years... before you can come back and find your people. The land where you were born.
But now, no. It's not possible. Right now you're blinder than I am.

Seeing Nelson

What started as an interesting observation is now becoming kinda annoying. 7/10 times I check the watch , i see a Nelson. Ok Ok, its an approximation, i've not really counted it, I have a Life!, jeez.... But, that is besides the point, the point being; about 70 % of the times I read time I pick up a Nelson. Some or the other form of it 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, 11:11...

I just did some googling, but was not able to find the average number of times people read time. I was planning to find the odds of this happening (I still stand by my statement, I do have a Life). If the cosmos is trying to send a message, a little more directness would help, please. I am not not good at taking hints, i have friends who can vouch for it. @ Cosmos, I really feel touched and honored for being picked up as a recipient, but i think yo've got the wrong Number :)

'Food' for thought.. lilterally

Every time you'd pass a cake display window, haven't you always wondered. How great it would be to gorge on that piece of art all by yourself... Well, i no longer have to.. ;)

....just stating the obvious.... if heaven would feel half as good, i'd kill to get in...... :|

Journey is the Destination

Drove to Chicago (from Boston) over the weekend. You read it right, DROVE. Well the intent was never to reach Chicago.. All we (me and 3 other driveoholic ) wanted to do was drive for 3 days... to those who think this is a crazy thing to do, i would say; I agree. The only condition was no red eye drive. So after lot of calculations, yes, calculations; its not always you get to use your brains, so when you do grab the opportunity by both hands. After a lot calculations we concluded that we should be able to cover 2000 miles in 3 days. Chicago just happened to fall in the circle. Plus, Atlantic occupying half of it, didn't really leave us with many options.

Things we saw en route..

mamu's diwali - in the rear view mirror, when i was not driving... ;) hehehe.
Road signs..
indicating switching of time zone - Yes there is actually a point. All it takes is 1 step to get 1 hour of your life back.
Welcome signs for the Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois.
farms, endless farms - There are farms on both side of the interstate.. for miles..... and then there are more farms when you take an exit....again for miles....maybe the concept of cities have not reached these palace, which is actually a good thing. However since it was winter all we could see was vast expanses... barren..still beautiful..at sunset, you could see the sun at eye level.
121 mph - the speedometer needle touching 121 mph,
125 mph - this time didn't see it, however the GPS recorded the exploits of someone. This was night time..crazy bugger..


A building about 20ft barbed wire fence.... just googled it, its the NY Fishkill Correctional facility.... that justifies the fence.... still so near to the interstate, all you have to clear the fence, your life the, will literally be on the highway.
Winny trying and failing miserably to finish up blueberry country pan cake at Ihop, think that's what it was called.
Chicago - Of course :)

.... that's all i can remember now, will keep on adding to the list.

The Road goes ever on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.