Chaas

As usual I'd woken up, just in time to brush, bath and have milk before I had to go. It was a tuesday! [19th Dec... & ya i ve become a baby again... have milk in the morning and evening :D]

Before I get out of the house everyday, I convince myself that I am living this day because there is some work expected of me. If not, then life would probably be over. Its a good positive thought to think making whatever we do seem worthwhile. Its not everyday that we do great feats but the thought prepares you for them without making you expect them. I also keep just enough time at hands so as to be able to do most jobs but not get lost in thoughts that I wanna keep away from.

The village was Wada, in the Khed Taluka.

So I got out and finished work like arranging things, loading the car, checking my list of things before I go etc. and got on the way. This time the route was not the same as the one I ve been taking every tuesday for the last few months. So I somehow was apprehensive about it. But it seemed that the road was better and there were equally nice village scenes on this route. Only the IUCAA telescope wasn't visible so it was kinda not in our present propaganda to go to this village. Well I myself was interested only in sharing my knowledge with the kids. But I look out for our purpose too.

This day was no different... and the perk I got for doing my work properly was that I got to see a water reservior created by the Chaas Kaman dam. It is in the same taluka that I was going to. It was an amazing sight. Like one of those pictures of lakes/loches in europe... only closer [~60km]. & it was a bright early morning sunshine. The colours and atmosphere was just there to behold and absorb. I have taken some fotos with another guy's mobile camera [links coming soon]... but they cannot capture what the minds eye keeps.

In contrast to the quaint maharastrian villages that we were passing through, we were Suddenly on the side of a sort of a valley. There were yellow and green fields growing right upto the water's edge. The village huts with their roofs & courtyards, gave a nice contrast. The simple people around were busy feeding their cows, tending to their daily washing, bathing, basking in the sun etc. :) it was so tempting to just get down there and go sit by the water's edge.

But no I had to go on. I reached the village early and the school was yet to start. unlike the casual city people here, the villagers always treat a guest very specially. more often than not, I get to share the stage with the Principal at the daily assembly. This is a special event and I dont know if its done in other countries. Everyday, kids stand in queues in the ground in front of the school. Its nice to get in the Sun these chilly days :) Everybody has to strictly stand in a line at attention position. Then at one go they all start the one song that is dear to every Indian heart... jana gana mana - the national anthem. Without inhibitions everyone just sings out loud & its a high feeling to have it echoing from all directions in such magnitude. This is followed by the loud reiteration of an oath to the school and the nation and then a prayer. This again I welcome as its not just moral education but also a great breathing exercise for everyone!

This school also had a 15 minute special programme in which everyday 6 chosen children prepare small informative material to read out to the assembly... Things like - details of the day including sunrise & set times, moon phase etc., news headlines of the day, general knowledge questions of the day, thought for the day, a short story of the day etc. I can see how inhibited they are to go on stage and how they go through their collected material hurriedly. But its fun to realise how hard the kid's heart must be beating at such a public appearance & due to his responsibilty. I was lucky to be at this school where kids are taught self-confidence and pride for the nation before starting their routines.

But i never realised that all the 400-500 kids who were sitting there on the ground before me, [as I spoke my words of the guest of honour :D] would soon be packed into the nearby hall. I had to show them a glimpse of the universe and how astronomy & science as a whole is simply learning through observations of nature. Well its now almost in my veins how to do it & I fumble much less with the local Marathi. I probably tortured the kids with my science jokes in the next 2-3 hours but some faces said I'd done my job well. :)

And then we left tired and hungry. around the hill & the lake was back at the turn! [I'm making it seem so important coz it was an imprssive sight] In the afternoon, all was quiet and there was a small farm by its side. I walked past it, through a field and got to the shore and plomped down. There were some migratory birds there already! I cant express it but there was something very relaxing abt the place.

Your mind's voice lost focus to the sound of the waves and the birds.
The Sun was gently caressing my back with its warm hands.
My hair flowed as if the wind had fingers.
There was a certain tingle in my backbone as if the Earth was reaching up into my brain.
The water poured into my ears with its lapping sound.
The hunger, the pain in my throat just disappeared.
If i'd died at that moment i would have been very unhappy.
It was filling me with Life.

Bored minds & shades of Gray

What do you think when u see two guys in black, running around odd places with black bags and peering through something while contorting into queer positions? Well stop your dirty mind right now. & if you have time to pause and notice them then you shouldnt think, just join them. They would be Me and Sumit [or Amit if I'm lucky] doing some photography.

Last 2 Sundays we have been out to kill the boredom on our mind. The first sunday was a gray mood. It was interesting coz the noon did seem to be of a sepia flavour. It was so lazy one could almost touch the rust on the air. See I am still confusing what senses I was using! So we went to the railway lines besides Koregaon park. & clicked various shades of gray.

The rails were gray, the wood was brown, the trains was rusty, the grass was ochre, the pigeons were ash and the ravens were Black! Check below for pics I could catch and explore my mind for those I didnt. Sumit came up with some of them. We still have some BW film at our disposal... lets see what lies in its future.

Somehow gray always reminds me of Jim and Della & the The Gift of the Magi by O'Henry.

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present.

And so does christmas. Here's wishing you all who can afford to have a good one, a good one!

More Pics:
gray01 >> gray02 >> gray03 >> gray04 >> gray05 >> gray06

Update: Sumit too likes to endorse his world through the lens of a camera!
Visit his Flickr page.

My Sun

I see the Sun go down. Those monotonous hues crowd the sky again in a last ditch effort to mask its real darkness. But, how long? The millions of distant Suns can't be kept back. Neither can I. I am close to the Sun.

This is My place. I can be high or low here. Here I depend only on Myself. I know the window gives me an exaggerated view, but, it makes me feel great. They can't come in here and mess it up. They think They are diminutive, trivial, Their deeds insignificant. I've done my part amongst Them. They need to learn, but Their chance is almost gone. I lean back as I am close to the Sun.

She will not have to cry anymore. She will no longer have to defend me. She will not love me, nor will She hate me. She will not entice me. She will not break my heart. She will not ignore me. She will not mock me. She won't whisper softly to me, nor will She call out my name. She will no longer run Her hands through my hair. She will not find me funny anymore. She will stop waiting for Her wedding ring. She will never again hug me. How will She Punish me? She will cease to remember me. I am closer to the Sun.

He will not share my joys and sorrows. He will not borrow from me my possesions, my moments, my knowledge. He already can't inspire me, but, He will also not drive me jealous. I will no longer fear Him. He will not always be right. I will not sacrifice for Him. No longer will He be excused for shattering the best of my dreams. He won't break His promises anymore. He will not remain the Manlier one. He will not crave for Fame & Fortune. He will no longer need to grow a Brain or a Backbone. The Sun is closer than ever.

I hear Them say - "Unidentified aircraft...Your approach to the Fusion Facility is unauthorized. You may be treated as a threat." I depress the glowing switch that says 'Armed'. On its course, the silver sliver slices the night as perfectly as I prefer. I head West. I see their Sun again. But, behind me, My Sun rises on the obliteration of obnoxious oblivion. Soon, I exist alone and I alone exist!

This is an old piece I'd written and it somehow still has the same feelings involved in it. Today I made a different Sun for Myself. The pic above is not the real Sun but something I made in Photoshop [PS]!!! PS is an amazing tool for which I have to keep coming back to M$Windows. I was wondering how difficult it is to make the images that an illustrator I'm working with, is making. And I could do it in 7 steps only!!! And I convinced someone who knows the Sun very well, to believe that it was a photograph!! I consider that a feat. :)

The second reason for this post is that I have just become a part of the outreach program for The International Heliophysical Year. The year 2007 is slated as the year to build up public knowledge about how Solar physics interacts with Geophysics. [In simple words... how the Sun affects us in important ways we are not aware of!]

I've SINned

...Many times... ;) But meet my latest SIN...


It was a long (thought) process before I arrived at a perfect name for her. Ignis Noctiva. Its a fabrication which hints to her being "one who sets the Night afire". [Also rhymes with her make - Honda Activa!] But latin is wasted on most around me. So I shortened Sam's Ignis Noctiva to a more comprehensible & in-your-face - SIN.


SIN has the colour of the Night & not the geny-Grey as I'd planned to buy her in. Black looked ooooh so Swank... cudn't go for the classless grey! & people will always underestimate my 'Black' fixation ;) The wait was so long that I bought riding glasses & gloves even before I got her!

On our first long ride, the night was dark, slow & lovely... and the crisp, romantic chill had stepped into the fragrant evenings here. Took my guitar along too but didn't find a place where people wouldnt kill me for the noise!

The second ride was a pain-in-the-neck [literally] coz of our Roads in Pune. But even at less that 50kmph, I can declare that its more fun than watching Dhoom 2! :D On holidays its great to ride around Pune and to places nearby... & at night SIN rules the roads. She is over the 1000 Km mark now having given me a good pleasurage. :)

SIN is also being dubbed as my first materialistic indulgence after I got employment! Well... I dont see a need to prove anyone right or wrong... But I do hope I get to fulfil all that I have vaguely imagined doing with her some time or the other. ;)

PS: Sonali, Thanks for being there at the 1000 mark :) [& the 2000 mark too!]

More Pics:
sin01 >> sin02 >> sin03 >> sin04

Classy Dogs

One who has a wife and still goes around sniffing other cunts is a dog!
Furthermore, the ones who can afford their game, are good at it, have loads of experience - enough to have attractive traits of lowliness, are Classy Dogs. Though Numb to their roots, they are nowhere near Dumb. They are progressive, open-minded, mature!

I cannot accept any argument of their wife not being fun enough. Or of the working wife not having time. Either one is comfortable with it or is out of it. Its You who chose her. Can a fling ever increase her attraction quotient? If you are bored of her - break the marriage... or go give some business to the whores!

Its very convenient to cheat on the wife & profess the importance of marriage. What purpose is served by showing off a happy marriage when you dont have one? Oh yes... It attracts other nubile girls leaving the worthy immature guys horny... that is until these guys too succumb to pressure and get into such an arrangement... or go do some stupid act of lust or love.

I support the growing number of 'live-in'ers than these two-faced skirt chasers. Just like the blood-mongering generals, they are very hard to uproot from the society. This growing force of wanton antediluvian Cowards hides not behind walls but behind relationships and reasoning... & they live to get medals!

To top it all, they make MY life difficult. Call it sour grapes, but they and the society they make up - SUCK. I'm happy being a kiddish flirty bachelor... period.

PS: All this applies to the Classy Bitches too.
And I mean no insult to those animals that are fed and loved more than the humans they sometimes share the pavement with.

"Love it or Leave it!"

Thats the graffiti on the wall of my bachelor's pad
The same applies for this place! This is my uninhibited SHOW OFF blog. I take pains for this and I'm sure you will like the stuff here. But if you dont, then ciao... you belong to another world.

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.
Bob Dylan

But when I reappear, its gonna be in style ... So people keep watching out for all the swanky things here.

By the way... I usually pretend to know what I'm talking about so people will think better of me. Dont make too much of it all... Go do anything better with your Life that you might be keeping aside.