God Knows!!

"Vinaa Venkatesam nanatho nanatha: Sadaa Venkatesam smarami smarami Hare Venkatesa Praseeda Praseeda Priyam Venkatesa Prayachha Prayachha" sometimes resonates in my mind. These lines have been etched in my brain by MS Subhalakshm, who sings ventakesha subprabatham. She might be mortal, her voice is immortal. Being a vaishnavate, knowing the above was not a big deal. What it means is that, O Narayanana, I will pray to you always.


( This snap I have taken from Flickr.com, courtesy)

Yeah, I do believe in god, but sometimes my mind makes me think that there is no god, it is all just a blind faith. One of my friends read a book called "God delusion", after which he turned atheist. The trouble is we cannot prove that God exists, even if we prove, it would not be fool-proof. One might ask, is that blind faith then. I would say, why cannot we have faith on something with cannot be proved. We do have somethings, that cannot be explained by either science or common sense. History could have been changed by anyone to have told in the way he wanted it to be said.

Puranas and vedas, can anyone have tampered with them, God knows. Does God know his story has been changed, God knows. The search for God has been there for centuries now. There are many miracles, that cannot be proved. Some call it luck, some call it plain mere coincidence. You might say, where is the role of God, if you are responsible for everything you do. I might say, well, God exists in miracles. He exists in plain luck. He exists in mere coincidence.

The Atheists will always find a way not to believe in god, as they are what they are. They can easily prove something which they don't believe in. Believe me, there are atheists who can turn a believer into an atheist in seconds. As it really seems visibly impossible to show the existence of God, no wonder they have a higher hand.

This debate can go on and on and on, without any conclusion. But I conclude it by saying, I see God in the hearts of good people. Some one who feel guilty of their own actions, people who are willing to take responsibility in the misdeeds. Recently, I had parked my bike at my office premises. Some guy hit my bike and shook it. As it feel, the leg holder on the left broke. Without that I cannot place my leg on while driving to change gears. The guy who broke it, took full responsibility of the broken part and reimbursed me the money for the broken part. It could have easily gone the other way. I see God in his heart.

As I started with a vishnu verse, I thought ending it with something relative would be precise. I had been to a Balaji temple in Nerul; last weekend. It is a replica of temple as in Tripathi. The tulsi smell and the smell of thirtha, the holy water made out of tulsi and other juices were very refreshing. MS Subhalakshmi's devotional songs on Lord Vishnu were just touching ears through the loudspeakers.(public announcement system) Here are some of the snaps to relive that moment of ecstasy.

A Random Stroll

Gone with a wind, swept by a tornado, walloped by a cyclone. Well that is what happens to my brain during the weekends. (I have named a very important guy, who can change things around for me with one of the above natural phenomena, ;) that's between you and me). So I got to places and found things that are very small in the context of the things. I found a majestic fish tank, bang in the middle of no where at InOrbitMall. See my java naming skills work EveryWhereIsnt?

So many rare fishes in the tank. Yeah back to the fish tank, I was saying about after the random blah blah. There were as many as 12 different fresh water fishes. InOrbitMall(java again, my TL will be proud of me ;)) is huge, very huge. We need a complete day to get a hang of all the stores there. There was a specific reason for my InOrbitMall visit this time around. I was in look out for a sleek Ferrari Puma shoes. Had been to many places just to taste a phrase called "No stock". Somebody told me that INORbitMall (yeah i know that is not java) had it.

So packed my bags (nothing in my bag though) and called a friend who lives around there. He came along, an amazing gem of a guy. I did make him wait though, man traffic in mumbai has reached such a situation that either I should leave mumbai, or traffic should leave mumbai, but both are not possible. So where was I , yeah I made him wait for sometime, then straight to puma outlet there. Bravo the shoe was there, and there was a 30% discount on it. What else do I need.

I was just wondering look at the sea of people (not the book sea of poppies, don't get confused), in so many people, I don't even know a single person. I should say, my friends circle is for that matter vast, or atleast I know a lot of people. This sea of people is so huge that, I cannot find a person whom I have influenced in the past, or who has influenced me. Yeah, i know I did not meet each and every person in the mall, but still such a huge Sunday crowd, and not one familiar face. Just applying this theory, how many people would be like me. Like not knowing a single guy in the whole mall.

Say I see 'n' people and there are 'm' guys like me, who have not seen a single familiar face. So using my mambo jumbo calculation, it comes out to be 'n*m'. Man the population of India is no wonder so huge. My friend told me that, the population of mumbai is as good as the population of Australia. And I tell you, Israel as a country as a whole, will not as many people as seen in mumbai. They say Kolkatta is more densely populated than Mumbai. Man I give up. I have heard of a term called population explosion. This is population nuclear explosion. (neat term na).

Sorry coming back to the fish tank, I would like to name each and everyone of them. But you see, I cannot take their names. It is forbidden to take their names. Have you seen the movie, the forbidden kingdom, well you will not believe it, these fishes were not at all a part of the whole movie. That my CPJ guys. ( I coined the name creative PJ). Check out the snaps of my new shoe!!

Yeah that is size 11, so please bear with the size of the box!!

Flipping it....may be the colour is too reddish; but when I wear it, it will look sleek!!

Birthday treats!!

I guess giving a birthday treat weighs heavy on your pocket. But the people you are giving the treat, makes the money look minuscule. Considering this time I was on the receiving side, I had fun; a lot of fun. My birthday is just round the corner. Hence, the tide of receiving will just revert. Just kidding!!

Awesome thing; when old friends unite. Talking about their present life; their developments at their front. Especially if it a cool place to hang out, the evening feels amazing. My stylish friend Kat gave a birthday treat, to her close friends. Sleekly dressed, with her ever expressive face, she was looking dressed to kill all the eyes that popped to see her smile. Clearly an eye turner on that given day.

We had been to 5 spice, a restaurant that is well know for its Chinese cuisines at Bandra. Utk also joined us. Even though she was late, the waiting time to get into the restaurant made sure that she reached on time, not to miss anything. She was again too cute to handle. The quantity of food that 5 spice provides in each of its dishes is really mouth watering. Amazing to see value for money in all its dishes. My friends Asad and Shyam, never to forget them. Being Masters in Baaji Boonda Association (MBA), he bulids his own theories. Shyam, my drums partner plays the role of good guy in the whole scheme of things. Both were doing great that day.

Here are some snaps, which shows how cool my small gang is. :) No prizes for guessing who kat is, the girl in the center of attraction, flanked by asad and utk.



The guy on the right is none other than shyam himself. The divine mortal form of modesty!!


"Saichen" vileparle is the next stop, this time it was the bus gang. I mean the x-bus gang. I am still in contact with most of them. They are just such a great people, that each and every one has a golden heart. Yeah I know gold prices are rocketing. :) We do have birthday treats very often, but this one was different. We played quiet a few games just to interact everyone; otherwise it is just a eating session. The credit goes to Nainesh and possibly Amol, I am not sure!! :):) I know she is a live wire in these activities.

Quiet an experience to play dumbsharads after a long time. Everyone guessing random names, but finally they arrive at the one given to them, just like cracking some code. The gang and its members are so big that I need a separate blog to explain each and everyone. One of them donned a cool gown, an was looking especially very cute!! I should say, she stole the show. Her name is Deepa, a great girl and a good friend of mine.

I got to say, the amount of smile and laughter in this room that came out on that day, could never be contained by any forces of nature. So much fun, really seeing so many people smile and laugh, tears rolled down my eyes out of joy. I just asked God, let this moment of joy stay forever. Now the snaps.

Again, no prizes for guessing who the cute girl in the gown is. :) She is on the left. The live wire girl is just beside me. I can never get that spirit that she exhibits.


Thats Peter, upto his pranks again. Picture perfect!! So many smiles!!

The guy who was host for the day!! :) Nainesh and Paaawaskarji the Bus coordinator the live pulse behind our gang and bus.

Life on the other side of the counter

Have you ever been in a long queue? Have line moved very slowly? Sometimes there is this odd lunch time. Sometimes there are these odd breaks, wherein the guy who gives the form or tickets goes on a stroll, just for a minute or two. The whole crowd and the people in the line go berserk. How many of you work in a demanding job?

I mean really demanding like a call center, wherein you are just given 3 breaks. One half an hour break and 2 fifteen minutes. I have worked in a call center in the initial part of my career and I know running behind targets for the day, we would never even think of taking all the breaks. It was so hectic. So most of the days, I made sure that I took breaks, all of them. If I don't meet the targets by a mere number, it was okay, as the sky was not going to fall.

In railway ticket counters, people who give tickets, do you know how many times they can get out of their chairs. How many breaks they get? When they take a break, the crowd starts going berserk, as if the guy who gives the forms or tickets are some kind of a robot. Have we ever considered it as a job? Every job has its advantages and disadvantages. If we take on this job may be we can perform for a while, we will not feel the pinch. Then after some days, being at constant pressure, of distributing tickets, we would eventually fade and get bored.

I really salute the spirit of these guys. They being under such constant turmoil, live the day to fight another. After all they are also humans. They also get bored, they also have the right to take breaks. The guy standing in the line, things only about his welfare of getting the tickets or forms and get the hell out of there. He is not concerned about the guy on the other side of the counter.

There was this receptionist, I was on the line waiting for a room in the hotel. The guy before me in the line was so unhappy with the service that he was yelling at her. So badly that, she could have started crying. Somehow, she made sure that his unhappiness was met with some action from her side. The next thing i know, she had a bright smile on her face and greeted me as if nothing at all had happened. I asked her after room was allocated. How do u handle such mood swings, don't you get irritated. She replied, she had got used to such things.

I was surprised by her answer, not that I did not expect it. I just marveled at the nature of the job. Whatever be your feelings, but you got to sell the best of your smile for your job. Many may argue, that is it not the same at every job. I do agree to some extent, in our job sometimes we have to be smiling, even though our personal tragedies galore upon us. But not to this extent that, our smiles should keep the customers pleasant. And I thought my job was tough.



Air-hostess, cabin crew, some of them are a little rude, especially when you travel by international flights or connecting flights. But taking into consideration the nature of their job. How often you are greeted by a pleasant smile when you enter the airlines, whatever it might be. They have to smile, come what may. They have to be dressed in their cool uniform, look good, take care of the customers. Not that all the customers are very happy natured and cool.

I traveled on a flight to Trivandrum on some airways. Some of the guys were playing around with the digicam, snapping very randomly. The time for food had come. The air hostess was giving away take away food. This incidence coincided with the random snaps of those guys. The air hostess lost her temperament, and I would say every one at that moment would have lost. She felt as if they have taken a snap of her back. Quiet embarrassing scenario. It turned ugly when she snapped the camera from the hands of one of those guys and asked them to delete the snaps. As the guy was not at fault, he went to flight supervisor and talked to him in his broken English.

Somehow the air hostess girl asked sorry to the guy. They have to give way, even though they are not at fault. Nobody thinks they are human beings. God knows how many such harassments air hostesses have to face on a daily basis. They just feel as if they are just beautiful dolls who work for them. Their smiles just say a thousand stories of which we can understand only one. Ofcourse there are exceptions in all jobs. There are people who do not take their jobs sincerely. But put all in all, next time you look at a smile of these people first consider them human beings, then show respect not for their job, but for their humanness. Hats off, I take a bow.

( Please note that, all the snaps in this article are taken from Google search)

Photo"neat"shop

For the past some days, I am trying to learn something or the other daily. Just to add on to what I have done all these years. Yesterday out of a stroke, I opened up a e-book, which I had on German. I learnt some words in German.

The language German, is not as difficult as it looks. It is similar to English. Learnt some German greetings :) :), check out...

Guten Morgan : Good morning!!
Guten Tag: Good day!!
Guten Abend: Good Evening!!
Tschuss: bye!!
Bis Spater: Later!!
Gute Nacht: Good night!!

Now we know some German, :):) today I installed this software Adobe Photoshop CS2, very easy to use. I just took some of my not so good snaps and made something very nice. Check these following snaps.......awesome ain't it??

Statutory warning: If you try this at home, you will feel very happy!! :) :)

Original:


Check out these......
Original:


Original: Yeah okay, thats one of my okay snaps!! :)

Ambulance and Wheelie

Have you ever done a wheelie on your bike? I mean lifting your front wheel of the bike and going for a distance. Sometimes, you even go for a front wheel wheelie, that is lifting your back wheel. It seems easy when it is a bike. Okay now can you a big ambulance doing it?

A full fledged ambulance lift the front tyres both of them up, totally mind boggling. Well, I was watching Monster Garage the other day. Searched for some videos, so that I can show you something. These guys remodel any damn thing into a mean machine. They also have a video game named after their television series "Monster Garage". I have never heard about the Monster Garage crew. I was completely taken aback. Here is their site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Garage

One complete week, 5 men, turn one old modelled ambulance into a fire vomiting monster. Check out these videos, you will also be impressed. Ambulance and wheelie, possible. :) :)

Home Alone

When was the last time we went on a trek? When was the last time we had some fun with our school/college buddies? Do we really have fun with the people around everyday? Is it just that we are compelled to live a life with people who do not bring lot of joy? Are you singled out? Are you alone? Well this is a feeling you get when you don't have people you know around you. Does it really matter?

Some say the care and affection you need is just a phone call away. Some say you should make your environment around you feasible and people around you to understand, so that you can have fun with them. The facet of the fact, which we seldom imagine is not alarming heavy when someone is around, who knows you better. When he or she is not around and you have to deal with all these Homo sapiens mung bean headed people, some who don't even understand the tenacity of your reverberating thoughts and though process.

Living life is a hardship when there are multifarious problems. When you think all is well and start to ease a little, smack, some-other bangs your jaw so hard that you will feel a pain like you have had a root canal done on 6 tooth simultaneously. That's what keeps your bum up and functioning. The problems awakes us to stand by the decorum. But what if the world with a sticker named problem, collides with another called homo sapiens sapiens.

In lot of situations you find yourself being alone as intermingling is next to impossible, because you don't have someone with similar interest or hobbies as you do. What you consider to be awesome, would be just an another thing for someone who does not know what it is all about. Like minded people are very difficult to get when you are a little different from the crowd. I am not very learned nor am I a very good at recollecting things that I have read in the past. I certainly believe that each individual has his own set of principles and keeps on scanning those with other individuals. When some of the principles match, there is a union of thoughts. That's why we say like minded people gel well. Again there can be differences, the principles are totally two different disjoint sets. That's the reason like minded people click together very easily, not a lot of effort required.

These principles can sometimes leave you alone. The very principles that you have put up as your individuality can turn upside when there is no like mindedness. Then the principles tend to dilute, you start mingling with people, whom you would rather stay away from. Sometimes you will find a lot of positives in them, which you would not have noted if you would have maintained your commandments. Still your heart will keep pinging you about your real urges, and it will keep you stubborn after certain level of dilution. Or may be something from the past will keep your level of dilution on check. Some bad experiences of the past dilution rates will dictate your present conditions and keep you heavily stricken to your values. Many call these kind of people totally different. "He has a different world", that is what many say.

Turning the coin downside, some individuals do not maintain any principle conundrums. They can mingle very easily as they don't require much, in other words they don't ask for much in some one, they just treat them as homo sapiens sapiens. This my friends is the very rare brand of individuals. There are not a lot of them around now a days. Opening up, requires some amount of exposure with people. When we open ourselves too early, it might back fire and if we do it late, the cloud might have passed. What if we don't open up at all?

Accepting people as they are, should solve the problem? doesn't it? To an extent it helps. But does not go far enough. Sometimes these things end in adjustment, dilution. Some times you give up the urge within you, just because you don't have people to share with. So next time you are home alone, think are you stubborn at your principles. I have not considered lot of factors like, love, hatred and the cause of all homo sapies downfall ego. Even without applying these factors, the human brain is very complex. Ain't it?

Hell met!!

They say if you don't use a helmet while riding a bike, then you will meet hell just round the corner. Hence the name "Helmet". Interesting as it looks, helmets does play a vital role now a days, as the police wala will fine you if you don't wear one.

I had a old helmet that was due for a change. More than 2 years, I have been with this helmet. It was high time I changed it. I got a new helmet 'Studds', very funky, neat finish, something similar to a dirt racing experience.

Seeing today's roads, I think dirt biking helmet goes well with it. The tracks of dirt biking they say is very unpredictable. I say, roads today are unpredictable. Here are some snaps, just to relive the new helmet moments!! :) :)

This is the old one!!


This is the new one!! :) :)

Going down country side!!

Recently, I had been to a place in Andhra Pradesh. It is almost in between the two states, Karnataka and AP. It is a beautiful village called Mantralayam, in the bank of the river Tungabadhra. It is not fertile land, a completely rocky terrain. To reach this place, you need to catch a train from Mumbai down south. Any train that goes to Coimbatore, Chennai or Banglore will go via this town.

The station is a little away from the village. To reach the village from Mantralayam Station you need to take a bus and travel 16 kms. There are lot of villages in and around this place famous for its temples. Mantralayam is famous for a saint. Sri Raghavendra swamy. He is a reincarnation of Sri Prahalada. If you remember, Sri Prahalada is the son of Demon king, Hiranyakasipu, who was killed by Lord Vishnu in his Narasimha avatar. So much for the mumbo-jumbo of hindu mytology.

I just wanted a off from the normal weekend and break the normality pattern. So here goes, I have complied the trip in a video, which can be very interactive. Check out the video and you too will like the place and want to visit country side somewhere soon. :) :) :)

Catch the Eye!!

Atlast after one year of search for a good car, finally my dad ended up deciding this one!! Quite a choice to make from so many cars available and out for show. So finally it is Hyundai i10.
The range of colours and features truly makes it catch everybody's eye.