Mother Nature

“While in the midst of nature, keep your eyes, ears and most importantly, your soul open.” This is something that I always tell and always make a point to practice as well. My wife and my friends often ask me, “How is it that you stay awake throughout the journey?” I often shoot back a question to them, “How can you doze off?”
I for one feel that Mother Nature has so much to offer, in terms of resources and pleasures as well. Shut down your computers, shut down your troubles, shut down those deadlines, shutdown those pending bills and come to Mother Nature and just see how She will embrace you!
Ever seen a bird in flight? You might feel it is a stupid question. Of course everyone has. But have you seen a bird in flight when you too were traveling with it? Well, I have been fortunate enough to witness one of those rare flights. On a train journey, when every other companion of mine had gone to Sleepsville, I stood at the door gazing out at Her. The train was slowing down and a few meters away from the train a stork took off in flight. For one moment I did not realize what was happening. The bird was flapping its wings, but it was going nowhere. It was like a man on a treadmill, running but reaching nowhere. The white bird contrasted against the dark green grass, the graceful wing movements, the strong yet subtle flapping of the wings, the outstretched neck pointing towards its nest, WOW, for one moment there was nothing else around me. It was just me, the bird, grass and that someone else whose presence was not to be forgotten. It was Her way of rewarding me for staying awake. It was Her gift to me for having kept the appointment with Her. The train slowed down further and the bird took off. The train’s whistle brought me back to this world.
I have seen the same thing many times again, on television, but believe me it was nothing like the original. I always try to describe what I felt that day, but unfortunately, words always fail me. Guys try to keep your appointment with Her, for She is the most soothing person you would have ever met!

Paradise lost

Whenever I move around the city now-a-days, it is the same feeling, what has transpired in this once beautiful city. This may strictly sound like something for Bangalore fans, but it isn't. Though it might seem like I am dwelling in the past, like all Sachin fans, it is more of an obituary to the once peaceful city.
Yes people, the city is dead. It was once the proud Air conditioned city, it still is, cause you can't survive without one now. The morning mist and fog was a sight. I always keep telling people, you couldn't spot the morning newspaper on the perch till you were two feet from it. The fog used to be soooooooo good. Bangalore's rain was something which one would relish. You could play in it and never worry about catching a ccold. The weather was pristine and untouched by the sulphur di oxide and carbonmonoxide billowing monsters.
As a child, I remember walking to school, which was a good five kilometers from home. The park on the way, the huge empty ground (which is currently occupied by an apartment complex and a shopping complex housing a multiplex, on hosur road), the silent eerie graveyard (it is now almost unnoticed in the midst of a concrete jungle), and scores of other things which made me walk inspite of a good and not so crowded public transport available those days.
Tell me I am an oldtimer, I dont care. I am 28, but I know when I write this I sound 82. All you people who are new to this place should have been here 10 years ago.
How I miss it, ten years ago, the M.G's, the brigade's, chit o chat, cubbon park, lalbagh, drive in theater, jayanagar shopping complex, ulsoor lake, sankey tank, M.T.R, B.T.S, bicycles, the roads which looked wide, the people who were so calm, no hurries, no hustle-bustle, no angry honking at signals, no swearing at one other(nor in traffic, nor in queues), peaceful smiling faces, give me back my bangalore, give us back our BANGALORE, GIVE US BACK OUR BANGALORE, GGIIVVEE UUSS BBAACCK...........

Me, myself and Arun

It was on a Sunday morning, and as usual, I had no mood whatsoever to get up, let alone expect the things that would turn out to be. My widening mid riff had prompted me to go on a jog and this was supposed to be the first day in my quest for slimmer days. The alarm was a big trouble, the snooze buttom seemed to be running very fast and as soon as I had hit it, the alarm would go off again.
The determined alarm set me going and before I knew it, I was in the jogger's park. It was unusually dark and I was surprised to find that I was all alone in the park. As I started my jog, I came to the corner of the park which had a small pool. A stray mongrel was pulling at a sack half immersed in the water. The water around the sack was red and after watching and reading loads of thrillers, the sherlock in me awakened. I thought, I should investigate what it was. But the real me was less enthusiastic. I ran back to the gate and told the gate keeper what I had seen. I told him that it might be the body of someone chopped up. It might be an attempt by someone to cover up the murder they had committed. The underworld might be involved.
The gate keeper came across with me to the spot, cursing his ill luck and me under his breath. What he saw made him stop cursing and start praying. He like me was in no mood to see what was in the sack. By this time a crowd had collected and it was ever so slightly growing. I was at my best, like an experienced tour guide explaining to the people how I was the first one to spot it. The gate keeper had gone to the phone to call in the cops. Surprisingly, they were fast to the scene. Mentally, I was preparing the description I would give to the police. The police asked the gate keeper to pull out the sack. As they were opening the sack, there was a very familiar smell in the air, no not blood. It was paint. The sack had contained tins of paint cans which someone had thrown over the fence. I quietly exit the scene when the people were busy looking at the paint cans and rushed home. That was the beginning and end of my slimming programme.
Sherlock laughed at me and said, "You should listen to me once in a while. "

Hello

A new blogger is in town! Await the wonderful things you people are going to see in the future.