సశేషం...

ఒక సెకను ఇష్టం
మరు సెకను కోపం...
ఒక సెకను ప్రేమ
మరు సెకను పంతం...
ఒక సెకను బాధ
మరు సెకను బంధం...
ఒక సెకను బెంగ
మరు సెకను భయం...
ఒక సెకను ఉక్రోషం
మరు సెకను ఉడుకుతనం...
ఒక సెకను అమాయకత్వం
మరు సెకను అల్లరితనం...
ఒకే సెకను లో ఇన్ని భావాలూ రుచి చూపించి పిచేక్కించేనువ్వే,  నా నువ్వై, నాలో నువ్వై, నేనే నువ్వైనందుకు...




P.S.:తెలుగు చదవడం రాని నా మిత్రులందరికి అంకితం...
     తెలుగు చదవడం వచ్చిన మిత్రులందరికి, ఇలాంటి వ్యక్తులు మీ జీవితంలో ఉంటే గర్వించమని..
-నిగర్వి

God in Six Minutes

        Last week, one of my friends asked me, "you read so many books, what do you think of GOD is? Do you think GOD exists?" and couple of other quick questions in succession. As I was indecisive of which article to share this month, grabbed the opportunity and said “give me five minutes, will ping you, whatever comes to mind instantaneously”. The following lines are the draft that I shared with my friend, (Italics are added to the initial draft to make readers’ life easier).

               Most of the human beings are not confident (lack of self belief)...early human beings (Homo-erectus equivalent or older human beings) realized that they can’t control everything in life...like nature, death, disasters (calamities)...they tried to find answers to most of the world's tricky questions (evolution theories), but they couldn’t (satisfied with their findings)...so they thought, there might be some super power who is doing all these (creation of the universe and life) things...in adverse conditions (helpless situations like a simple fever to natural calamities) , they started looking for help from others(but rest of the living being are equally helpless, they hoped for the same super power to help them out from those adversities)...as human beings live with hope(faith)...they hoped(urged) for someone or something to help them out from (those) adverse conditions...

               Sometimes miracles do happen...they (early human beings) might have been saved from those adverse conditions (sometimes)...the miracles that helped them out, which were humanly impossible...they thought...were done by some (the same) super power (that created universe)…they named it GOD...they found this super power in many forms...EARTH, WATER, FIRE, SUN, FOREST, SNAKES, LIONS, and MONKEYS etc...name anything...the more miracles early man experienced, the more GODS he defined...

               So I feel GOD is some super power, which helps us when THINGS are not possible to control by HUMANS…these ideas may vary, as I grow older...it’s an instant answer I can give as of now...bottom line in a word I can say is BELIEF/FAITH (on someone or something) is GOD...

               There are so many loose ends for the above draft, but I wanted to publish it, as it was conceive. I wanted to read these raw thoughts, down the line probably twenty years and give it a thought/laugh again.

Rahul Dravid: Role model for a 19yr old me

             My Dad used to say, Test cricket is epitome of all formats of the game. One has to prove his mettle in Test cricket to set apart himself from a bunch of good cricketers to a great cricketer. Those were the days Indian Test batting was rock solid with the Fantastic Four...

            Rahul Dravid’s comeback to ODI format and his unparalleled commitment, dedication made him a Role Model for a 19yr old me. I used to tell great stories to my friends about how Dravid used to play ODIs earlier and how he improved his technique and adjusted his style according to the merit of the game. For a 19yr old studious, these qualities seemed very fascinating. Since then I believed in commitment, hard work, and excellence. I learnt that if one has these qualities, success will automatically hop in, irrespective of whatever the field one is in.

Umpteen times I told my friends, if you want to document a cover-drive or a pull-shot in text book, take Dravid’s shots and keep it in the book. There were so many innings of Dravid, that constantly emphasized his commitment, dedication and excellence; take any from Following-on innings with Oz in Calcutta, Rawalpindi match with Pak, last day innings with WI, 190+ with NZ, to latest Eng series and many more.

            I witnessed a great cricketer’s last international performance and farewell on 6^th Jan 2004. Back then I didn’t think about today. The feeling was immense, deep and emotional. Realizing you can’t see your favourite cricketer playing international cricket again, is speechless, back then I was just 20.

Thursday 8^th Feb 2012, I happened to read that Dravid has invited media for an important announcement. Since then the feeling that was lost somewhere deep down, rushed all of a sudden and amplified exponentially. Lucky 28yr old me, who was in office, during the retirement announcement, couldn’t witness it. But media is so cruel these days; they documented each and every word of Dravid, with colourful snaps of this black and white event. The turmoil may continue for couple of days in the brain and eventually settle down, will be buried somewhere deep down, but I am sure it’s gonna come back pretty soon in a heavier dose.

             As said by another great cricketer, “There is only one Rahul Dravid”. Indian cricket team never had a player like him in the past and undoubtedly can never produce a player of his quality in future. Thanks to “The Wall” for getting better for each innings and motivating many sports-persons to common-man (like me) in many aspects of life.

            I want to rest the topic by one of my favourite dialogues (I feel it’s apt for the situation) from POTC: At World’s End.

Barbossa: The world used to be a bigger place.

Jack Sparrow: World’s still the same. There’s just less in it.

It’s been an Year…

It’s been almost an year since my last post, being busy with important happenings in real-life, the longevity of no internet days are the reasons for this paucity. Though didn’t write anything throughout the year, my mind never stopped thinking about writing, out of those hundreds of ideas/incidents only few are worth sharing like “My Encounter with Talking Dog”, “The Night I Traveled with Super Woman”, “The Alluring Dreams” and “An Untitled Thriller”. I definitely share these incidents with blogger world sooner.

Meanwhile, I kept myself busy with reading books, learning new technologies in professional life, enjoying sitcoms like never before, and as usual balancing my diet and work-outs. 

Reading Books: Throughout the year couple of my friends’ suggested me wide variety of readings. These guys influenced me so strong that I wanted to read 1000 books. Current book shelf score is 60/1000 hope one day I reach the mark. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” and Sigmund Freud’s “Interpretation of Dreams” are among the best readings of the year.

Enjoying Sitcoms: I used to watch over 200 movies per year during the salad days of MUMBAI life. But due to the catchy phrases, mind-boggling comedy timings, and short and sweet length of the episodes made me watch sitcoms almost daily. Now I am a regular follower of CBS comedies “HIMYM”, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men”. Thanks to STAR WORLD for acting as INDIA’s CBS. Apart from these sitcoms I got the privilege to watch Stan Lee’s Spider-Man and The HULK. These anime gave lot of insights on many things that I barely knew in childhood.

Diet and work-outs: Completely kept myself away from gym throughout the year. But sporadically pushed myself in skipping and jogging. Cycling is something I want to try very fondly, waiting for better time and place. Coming to diet, increased the intake of Carb’s, gradually reduced the intake of Milk from 3/4ltrs per day to NILL and replaced it with Coconut water and Chaas.

Anticipate on tenterhooks for next post. Hakuna Matata.

Travelogue: Janjira Fort and Kashid Beach

As monsoon season began in Mumbai, my friends suggested for a trip to one and only impregnable fort of Maharashtra, i.e., Janjira fort and a beach near by the town called Kashid. And we have been to the place last weekend. I wanted to share my experiences of the trip with the blogger world.

My Turn-Ons of the tour:
              My Gang
              Long journey in cab and boat
              Videos captured with my N97 mini
               and Below snaps

My Turn-Offs of the tour:

               Humidity through out the tour
               and Sun burns

P.S.: Bridget is the trigger for this article.

Feeling-->Interest-->Hobby-->???

It starts out as a feeling, then it grows into an interest,

It starts out as an interest, and then it grows into a hobby.

Yes, I wanted to share about my hobbies and interests with the blogger world. I have always been inquisitive to learn the unknown through out my life. That zeal is the genesis for lots of my interests, which eventually grow into hobbies.

Coin collection,

Drawing,

Reading,

Traveling,

Social networking,

and Blogging almost all of them, started as interests and turned out as hobbies.

            Now if I retrospect, the memories of how I used to save my pocket money to purchase GLUE to stick all the cricketer’s stills in a notebook (It was my first hobby), are like patterns seen through a teleidoscope and there are many more memories I can cherish for lifetime. I am glad that I met the most enthusiastic and empathetic people, who also share hobbies and interests as that of mine. : )

P.S.: Poem in the beginning of the article is inspired by Regina Specktor’s “No need to say Goodbye”.

Travelogue:Tour De Aurangabad....

Traveling is one of my interests. From long time I am planning to post an article about a travelogue. Off late I have been to Aurangabad, to cover Bibi Ka Maqbara (aka Replica of Taj), Ajanta, and Ellora Caves. With this tour I have covered all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Maharashtra.


Ajanta Caves are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the second century BCE, containing paintings and sculpture considered to be masterpieces of both "Buddhist religious art" and "universal pictorial art". My friend tried to capture beauty of Ajanta and Ellora in the below clips.

Clip1: @Ajanta

Clip2:@Ajanta

At Ellora Caves temples and monasteries were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Budhist (caves 1-12), 17 Hindu (caves 13-29) and 5 jain (caev 30-34) caves, bulit in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian History.

Clip3:@Ellora

P.S.: Uploading the videos to blogger is a nice learning experience. And its funny to watch myself from behind.

Weekend Buzz....

I have been to Ind-SL third test match(day-4) at Breborne last weekend. I would like to share the trivia here.

Sad: Sachin fielded at deep cover point/backward (who was farthest from our stands :( )

Happy: Where as Sehwag/Sreesanth fielded in deep mid wicket/square leg (who was closest to our stands :) )

Boost:  Sreesanth was interactive with audience (waving at them, giving thumbs up to them)

Dismay: Where as Sehwag was very dissociated with audience.

Observation: Sreesanth’s run-up was almost equal to the radius of the stadium, where as Zaheer’s was around 50% of that of Sreesanth's.

Deny: Almost 20,000 audiences appealed for an lbw to Harper whose response was a negative.

Phenomenon: SL lost five wickets on day-4. Out of which, one was before we stepped in the stadium, and one was after we stepped out of the stadium.

Comfort: Indian team was much disciplined in the ground. And eventually won the match :) :) :)

Mis(s)take...

OK, yes it's a mistake. I know it’s a mistake, but there are certain things in life where you know it’s a mistake but you don’t really know its mistake because the only way to really know it’s a mistake is to make the mistake and look back and say ‘yep, that was a mistake.’ So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you’d go your whole life not really knowing if something is a mistake or not. And damn it, I made no mistakes! I’ve done all of this; my life, my relationship, my career, mistake-free. Does any of this make sense to you?

It's Awesome Times Awesome...Awesome Square...

                  Ever since I was a kid, I have been passionate towards English language. I still can’t figure out the instinct that ignited impetuosity towards English language in me, and which made me a logophile!! There are umpteen people, movies and friends I adore; for their profound way of speech/dialogues and for their (creators) commanding knowledge on English language.

Till the first week of Oct’09, this movie stood right on top of my favorites list because of this character’s dialogues. But (I wonder why there is a BUT for everything in life?) in the first week of Oct’09 I met “How I Met Your Mother” aka “HIMYM” and it reached the top of the chart because of this character’s dialogues.

        It’s a sitcom aired by CBS. The plot is about the main character Ted Mosby; in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting their mother (which explains the title), about his friends and the stuff they did in NY.I give two reasons why this TV series has reached the top of my favorites chart and why it has taken a place in my blog.

 1) Few dialogues, metaphors, and clichés used in this program are lame but the way they presented them are awesome and rib tickling.

2) Characterization; the characters Ted, Lily, and Marshall are loosely based on the characters of the show creators, which gave them, ease in chalking out the characters very natural and realistic.

Being a logophile, I asked many people “what could be the most beautiful word in English?” Finally this show answered me. It’s AWESOME.

Random thoughts about land contentions....

During my journey towards Hyderabad last week, I saw “హైదరాబాద్ మాది రా, ఫ్రీ జోన్ ఎక్కడిది రా” (Hyderabad is ours, its not a freezone), a red and bold sentence on a wall. That reminded me few incidents about contentions for land and my thoughts in regard. viz.,

1) In my childhood, my teacher told me that "Andhra Pradesh (AP) consists of three regions namely Telangana, Rayalaseema and Kostha Andhra". I didn’t ask “Why there are three regions within a single state?” (This was one of those thousands of questions that bugged my brain for longtime in childhood). In the intervening years, new parties germinated in AP with the Separate Telangana concept and made news all over the world. But teachers are still teaching that "AP consists of three regions". :). I deem, People, who knew the story about Berlin-Wall, may not encourage the segmentation of a state into multiple states and erect barriers.

2) Years passed and I joined in an IT company, in Mumbai. One day a friend of mine told me that a local party members created rampage in Shiridi against the people from AP, because those people were migrants. That incident reminded me the strifes about,

(*) MUMBAI name: formerly Mumbai was called as Bombay ( few months back a local party threw stones on BombayDyeing show room for not changing its name to MumabiDyeing...yet!!!),

(*) And the turmoil of migrants from UP, Bihar and southern parts of INDIA to Mumbai.

I want to torch light on one thing here; “The Likes of Gandhiji, Nethaji, and Alluri faught for the freedom of INDIA, not for the freedom of Gujarat, Orissa or AP”. Then in independent INDIA what these local parties are fighting for? And what they did when NSG (includes guards from different states of INDIA, not only Maharashtra) rescuing TAJ victims on 11/26?

3) Globalization happened (and is happening) in every field, so is in my observation. When I was watching “RAW is WAR” in my adolescent age (a famous wrestling program) I didn’t realize why people in that Madison Square Garden booing a wrestler, carrying a Canadian Flag. And in the recent past I saw a sitcom where a New Yorker disparaging a Canadian, Canada and even New Jersy!!!. I realized that America is also not saved from the contentions for land. (I need not mention anything about Jerusalem, NY-NJ conflicts exclusively here.)

The response of Saladin in conversation with Balian from the film Kingdome Of Heaven, “Nothing. [walks away, then turns around with a pained look] Everything!” soothes me whenever I think about these contestations.

P.S.: I know my HK friend has his say about this article.

Google Street View

Of late two of my friends have been to US. One has been to Philadelphia \fi-lə-ˈdel-fyə, -fē-ə\ (derived from Greek philein, to love, plus Greek adelphos, brother, i.e., the city of “Brotherly Love”). And the other one has been to Phoenix \fē'nĭks\ (A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes).

Being inquisitive, I checked, how their respective flats/apartments looks like, in Google street view (GSV). GSV gives the omniscient feeling of any place in US, UK, NZ etc; especially if you are anticipated to visit the place. Though Google has launched this feature long time ago, this article is intended to let you know how to use GSV (if you are not familiar beforehand) and to show my friends’ apartments in U.S. :)

How to Use:

Step 1: Login to your Google account and click on "Maps" tab. If you don’t have Google account, you can use GSV from here. Give your desired address in the textbox displayed. Then it gives the destined location with a balloon mark (approximate location) as shown in the below screen shot.

Step 2: Double clicking on the navigation lines (white/green/yellow in color) leads you to the street view of that particular location as shown below screen shot.

Step 3: Drag and drop the stickman in the bird eye view map given at the extreme right hand corner, to navigate directly.GSV allows you to have 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along the street, and 2X to 4X zoom of the ambience depending on the availability.

There are many buttons and tabs, privileged to be reconnoitered by you. Enjoy the panorama of the streets.

NOTE: Street View is not available in INDIA and many other countries till date.

Courage: The joy of living dangerously

Prologue:
Frank Lucas a drug lord from America, Frank Abagnale Jr an American security consultant and former check forger, and Osho a spiritual guru, are the people whose way if thinking was utterly out of the box.
Usually I don’t follow the spiritual lectures and practices, but on 10th July, I saw this book, titled "Courage" written by Osho, in our office library. I thought of giving it a try and see what’s in it. 

After couple of days, a friend of mine showed me a vedio of Osho’s addressing to his disciples. It was first time that I heard a speech about a particular English word by a spiritual guru, which left me stupefied.

About the book:
“Life is uncertain and insecure” this is what I heard from many people, but Osho addresses it in the other way. He says “Don’t call it uncertainty - call it WONDER”, “Don’t call it insecurity – call it FREEDOM”. He elucidates about courage and how to live life courageously/dangerously. He discusses about the importance of love, meditation, morals, ethics, dos and don’ts of human life. He addresses about the life before one’s birth, and the views of different communities/religions on how life will be after one’s death, with dainty examples. He also tells us (as in most of the other self-help books) to always get ready to accept the change when it knocks on your door, even if it leads you from bad to worse, you should be ready to accept and embrace the change (read book to know why).

I liked the following example regarding how we need to embrace the change. “When a human being is in mother’s womb, he/she gets everything from mother - food, breath and warmth. It is the best place in the world that a human being can ever live with out toiling much. But we can’t stay there for our lifetime, we have to accept the change and come out of the womb to face this world, where he/she has to strive for their endurance”.
There are few titillating stories like how George Bernard Shaw sold his books, how danger it is to ask time to a Punjabi at 12’o clock.

Few Lines from the book:
A boy was constantly scratching his head. His father looked at him one day and said, “Son why are you always scratching your head?”
“Well,” the boy responded. “I guess because I am the only one who knows it itches.”
The above four lines are enough to depict Osho’s wit and astuteness.

Epilogue:
On the whole I enjoyed the book.