astrosunilnomy

Missing home

2011-10-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

This post is a 55 fiction - 55 Fiction is a form of micro-fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words.

Missing home

He was too ambitious, aspired to pursue higher education in US & then become an entrepreneur, this was the first time he left his home, small village in Karnataka. His journey took him to many countries, but he missed his home everywhere. Sometimes felt seriously to give up everything & return back home. He wanted to make his parents pround & this was the only choice. All talking with his sister & parents were through internet & phone calls, but never it was the same as hanging out with your family.

Sometimes the longest journey is the distance back home.

Note: The pic is taken from http://www.newphotosgalleries.com/contemporary-design-of-home-ideas-for-life/

Moments to memories

2011-10-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

This post is a 55 fiction - 55 Fiction is a form of micro-fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words.

For a moment the whole world meant nothing, they did not speak anything. They recalled the hundreds of moments that made their lives together so wonderful. Like the waves on the shore wash away the footsteps, time makes you forgets the steps taken together, the millions of moments you spent together. The beauty of the moment is that it passes by. Their last one was in which they aspired to that they would be together in next lifetime. This was the closure to their lifetime of relationship.

Dedicated to my wife Neha on her birthday 23rd October '11 !

Why So Serious ?

2011-10-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Why So Serious ? ...........Coz I am not a clown in the zoo of life, middle class life.

There was an article in the recent Sunday times, 'Life' supplement that why is that sometimes guilt component involved in having fun. We offer for extra working hours to our bosses before requesting for leave. Finally the article concluded that work life balance is important & we should give time to fun, apart from work. Thus the overview was to have a healthier work life balance in life.
Very true, going further the thing behind us being so serious always is probably in the way we are brought up by our parents. In Indian society where middle class forms the major chunk of working population, work is considered very important as they say work is worship. Myself & most of my friends come from middle class life style & everyone seems to be having a conservative mindset where the terms like leisure, vacation, holiday time quality time with family are underrated. The term smart work is pretty new to us all. What our parents taught us as success mantra was hard work & over hard work. Basically some families emerge out of poverty into middle class & they are too afraid to look back. Hence the emphasis is on working harder, hard work being directly proportional to the financial status. The whole idea of work is centered around financial security. Parents do hard work & really worry a lot about saving not only for themselves but also their kids. Unlike in some cultures where kids get separated from their parents & find their own passion profession etc in their life, Well in Indian family the mindset is not to help children find their own passion, profession but to make them get into good stable secure job so as to ensure a stable future, which may often be family business etc. Doctors kids become doctors mostly coz there is no one else to take care of the establishment, the nursing home or hospital, the hard work, they already have done. Most of our parents spend all their life in hard work & never take time to relax or spend leisure time. My parents dream was to have a good houses in which they can spend their old age, something of their own. With limited income their philosophy was to save as much as possible. Well with this all mentality in family a child naturally learns to have a conservative mindset. Why simply take risk when you can be reasonably happy with little or no risk. well we can pretend to be hay as well, although we may be not. I hate this concept -Why take the risk & become achiever in long run after lot of hard work when you can lay safely become instantly ordinary person & as well pretend to be happy. Well we can always think that you can earn more money instead of spending leisure time on holidays or something. In software profession meeting project deadlines are more important than taking a break for personal reasons.

The last glimpse

2011-10-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

This post is a 55 fiction - 55 Fiction is a form of micro-fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words.

Wake up, Keep breathing, you are gonna be just fine - exclaimed the doctor

I know doctor, I feel better, I have lived a plentiful life, I can see my village, the door of my house, my wife waiting, welcoming me. I want to go to her & tell her at last she proved that she loves me more than I loved her. Life is too many small struggles, its surprising that I don't remember most of them now. I feel better now.

- closed the eyes of the man after being rushed from the old age center to the hospital.

Innovative ways of going green

2011-09-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

1) Education : Everything must begin at grass root level. We must include 'going green' as subject in primary schools, not like moral science, but something more serious. Kids must be taught the importance of environment & preservation. This subject must be made fun to learn basically, documentaries can be shown, models can be prepared explaining concepts like water cycle, underground water etc. So this brings about an education trend to bring more awareness in the coming young future generation.Kids can teach & warn parents when they do something against going green.

2) Recycle plastic bags : We must reduce the usage of plastic bags & use alternatives. Plastic bags take long time to decompose & is harmful for the environment. We use plastic bags from smallest item like vegetables, milk to large items like clothes. We must take jute or fibre bags or some other bags & avoid us of plastic bags. Nowadays at retail outlets people are charged with small amount for packing their articles after the bill. This is a good initiative which will discourage people from using plastic bags.

3) Garbage disposal : We must have a good garbage disposal system in place by the local municipality, not just dump the waste coming from big metro cities outskirts or rivers. Separate the items we dispose from our homes, hotels, industries. These must be Recycled or treated well to make other things for eg manure from organic waste etc. Reuse the items before just discarding it.

4) Plant more trees: Many trees are cut for road widening etc. Surprisingly even the big trees can be replanted. New saplings can be planted atleast in the outskirts of cities, low maintenance trees sideways on highways etc. Corporate or big companies must encourage their employees to participate in such activities.

5) Vegetable waste from houses can be used as manure for plants, potted plants.

6) There must be a massive campaign for cleaning up the rivers.

7) Diesel is inherently a bad fuel. It causes a lot of pollution. Its high time we should start research & development for rolling out new economical electric model vehicles. For heavy goods carrying there must be electric trucks with zero emission of harmful exhaust gases. Government should make policies which encourage people to buy electric cars. Just like gas stations there must be electric stations where cars can get recharged. Top research universities should focus on innovative ways of making electric energy easy to store & transport. This is the main problem with electric energy- storage & transport. There is a significant loss of electric energy when it transported from one place to another.

8) Use alternate sources of energy more, Solar power, wind power must be utilized more. If solar panels is fitted on top of a car parked in sunlight whole day, this can make enough energy in same batteries to charge your cell phone, play a song etc.

9) In metros, buildings take occupy more space. Buildings & campus must be designed in a way to allow rain water to be collected & used or effectively made to percolate to ground so as make it ground water.

10) There must be proper methods to dispose off the computer discarded wastes like batteries etc & wastes from ship breaking yards etc. e-waste or electronic wastes should be disposed seperately. use the dustbins provided at office to throw away electronic items like CD's, DVD's, batteries, printers, computer accessories. etc. lat but not the least, love the nature. As showcased is the movie Avataar, we must live

Lots of things said, blame passed on municipality, govt etc. Finally each & everyone should come together to make things happen. Ideas will be many, but what matters is the action taken out of these ideas in order to make earth a better & greener planet to live happily with perfect coexistence.

EkTitli.Org is a unique voluntary initiative where we showcase all the Positive and Constructive work happening in the ‘Green and Clean Space’.

[Know More, Follow Us]
Rustic Art is a brand of Organic, Natural & Handmade products in exotic fragrances. They are here to spread the ‘organic’ word.

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GingerChai an online magazine brewed by passionate writers. Join,Let’s sip thoughts!

[Know More]

Disclaimer : The Images are taken from below links. The ideas are mine & any resemblance to any material on internet is purely coincidental.

http://photobucket.com/images/go%20green/#!cpZZ2QQtppZZ20
http://firstteamrealestate.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/11-tips-for-going-green-in-2011/

Being with the nature

2011-09-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

As I was sitting at the top of Chamundi Hill, Mysore, these thoughts ran my mind looking at the coconut tree. This quote is from the movie - Into the Wild.

Main hoon Don

2011-09-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

This Pic is from my trip to Yedur Veerabhadreshwara temple, near Chikoddi, Karnataka, India. This massive tree was refusing to fit into my wide lens camera single pic. Anyway, I was amazed to see the size of the tree that I could correlate it to the Bollywood icon -Don who is so powerful, so massive ! As Don says 12 countries police are trying to catch him, this tree cannot be cut by 12 people :-)

Note: Preserve trees, its responsibility of each & everyone of us to come together to plant & maintain more trees around us in city areas as well. Apart from furniture demands, lots of trees are cut with reason to widen roads or for similar reasons. Lets hug a tree tightly & pledge to save it !

Simple things you can do to save trees
1) Plant more trees & maintain them. roadsides & highways make journey pleasurable, green canopy drive Just Wow !
2) Take print out if only essential.
3) Recycle anything & everything, even wood products.
4) Use alternate energy sources apart from firewood like solar energy Wind power etc.

Any other suggestions & ideas , please drop in a comment .

Lets hug a tree tightly & pledge to save it !

Moral science stories for kids 7: The one with overcoming past things

2011-08-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Further to this article on past grudges.

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/blogs/jaishvats/how-i-wonder-5716/

This article being very true, does not provide solution. There is a quote: Everyone in your life is gonna hurt you, you just have to decide to be ok with some of them. Indeed very true, our lives are complicated & driven by different passions, even making more money is one of them. With age & experience of dealing with the world, we should try to see the big picture always. Does any event have any importance say after 10 years, does this issue which hurt me so much now would be of any relevance after 5 years? I have made my wife cry over something but she knows I have also cried just for making her cry. As far as love is constant between two people, they can overcome past grudges specially with those with whom we have chosen to be ok with in our lives like spouse, siblings, parents uncle/aunty even friends etc. After two unknown people from different walks come together to become friends, they just dont mind what other one says, coz deep underneath there is friendship, love & care for each other, but be sure not to cross boundaries always whomever is the person, you never know when you may hurt them! Almost everyone has complaints about the way their parents brought them up. Some overadvised them caring them too much. some paid less attention to let their children drift away from them. life becomes easier if you pool people in the ok pool, you dont have to keep grudge with them & always see big picture in life, respond to a situation, dont react. by responding to a situation we essentially take time to see the big picture & analyse from all possible angles.

Free from guilt

2011-08-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 23; the twenty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is FREE.

This post is a 55 fiction - 55 Fiction is a form of micro-fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words.

Son, I have done nothing wrong, this is the best I could do.

Please forgive me if possible & let me be free from guilt.

Dad, past is past, some wounds cannot be healed.

I want to forgive you, but I am sorry I really can’t.

Some things are best left unsaid.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Happy Independence Day!

Common-man & his Superpower

2011-07-06T12:52:00.001-07:00

With so many superhero movies, He-man Superman Spiderman Hanu-man, ya these English channels pronounce Hanuman as Hunu-man, I kind of felt lonely, It made me wonder, who am I ? Is there a superpower I may posses unknowingly ? Can I describe myself completely when I say - I am common man. Does this definition encapsulate my personality completely? What is my character my personality in comparison to these heroes ? Yes I am a common-man, although it rhymes with all super hero names, common man is just yet any man, you see in a crowd & pick anyone & define him, this definition totally explains me, & yet I once discovered my super power too - Its adjustment in life. Especially Indians get adjusted to anything & everything, that probably comes in their blood or learnt from parents. So I wonder sometimes, Is this adjusting attitude a kind of superpower? On one hand it makes life easier & probably happier depending on the extent of enjoying the compromised things. A typical common man optimizes on everything, on every thing he purchases, he worries about inflation, savings etc, going green is added now. Indians adjust on anything & everything, arriving late at some meeting or so, & telling swalpa adjust maadi, which means adjust a little bit.

As far as I can think of I always wanted to be someone special, the monk who sold his Ferrari or the guy who purchased it. On the fantasy side, I don't know I always wanted to be Spider-man, just loved the pleasant & wonderful character in the movie.

The pic is from the movie- A Wednesday, amazing movie based on the concept of common man becoming furious & taking some action against terrorism.

Shah: Mene Kaha Naa I Am Just The Stupid Common Man

The Other Day

2011-06-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 21; the twenty-first edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

One night on the middle of road

From past two years in my office, I go out with 5 girls for lunch, you know what…they keep boring me by talking typical ladies stuff, kitty parties, what they did with their hair, nails, rangoli, mehandi, etc etc, I am more of a geek interested in electronics & physics, turning deaf ear towards them, but still they keep exaggerating & making nice stories out of more than ordinary life situations. One day I decided to bore them too with my story & here it goes :

Thank god, the traffic cop was not looking today, I was overtaking from left on a footpath, was in hurry to office. There are sophisticated cameras installed in Bangalore every traffic signal now, which send the number of vehicle to blackberry held by cops nearby. The other day a traffic police stopped me to check whether I was drunk. I was returning home late night, after a star party at Coorg & some sightseeing on the way back to Bangalore. It was about 1 am & I was driving at normal speeds. Since my helmet does not offer wide angle view as Sony camera’s lens, I was surprised when a traffic policeman appeared out of nowhere & asked me to stop. Since I was too afraid of traffic policeman, as they threaten to take your vehicle or ask you to pay fine for some or the other rule violated. I thought I should not stop, instead keep driving, but realized I can stop as I had not done anything wrong this time. I was so tired staying awake previous night, tried hard to remember if I had broken any traffic rule. The traffic policeman approached nearer, he had dark complexion & held a black berry in his hand just like a revolver. I was so sleepy & exhausted that I had a sort of near death experience – he was like modern Yamaraja – the god of death whose appraisal depends on the number of souls collected in the year. Well in this case the traffic cop’s appraisal depends on the number of violations he filed. Here in Bangalore it’s so easy to find one or the other person breaking traffic rule all the time, ‘Where are you coming from late this night ‘he asked in commanding tone. ‘From a trip Sir from Coorg Sir, & going to my house now Sir’ I replied bit scared. Why had you been to Coorg? & remove your helmet. I said ‘Star party Sir ‘I said adjusting my hair. That’s not the style but normal tendency after removing helmet. You tend to forget your style in such a situation. Probably he was angry with this & asked What kind of party is that ? Show me your license & have you taken drinks? No Sir, I don’t drink, & whispered that not lucky to be born to rich parents. Star party is one where sky watching enthusiasts hang out with telescopes etc watching the interesting things in sky. He returned the license & said “you don’t seem like rich dad’s spoilt kid, but why take the risk of returning alone late this night, we have so many complaints that people are robbed on road etc”. ‘Oh ok Sir, I will take care of your advice ’What do you do at a star party & what’s the deal about your parents ? Oh nothing Sir, I meant if my dad had more money I could enjoy luxury of drinking etc Sir, not that I want to, but just simply said. Look at you, driving a 220cc high end bike at this young age you can earn handful of money , you are tall & smart. You must earn money & fulfill your dreams Why blame your parents for this ? Would you be the same guy – nature & personality if your parents had a lot of money? I wondered, that’s what ! I don’t want to be this guy, I want to be rich, instead of driving a bike, I could drive a BMW or Audi. middle class sucks dude - I wanted to tell, but did not. “No Sir I meant if my parents had more money things would have easier achieve in life we aspired for, you know, you can enjoy life, not caring about optimizing on everything you spend. I am a software developer , the software I write goes into the Audi A4 car, controlling it’s engine, see the irony no way I can afford Audi A4 costing about 40 lakhs. So, star party is one in which you look at stars? Actually Sir, we look at everything except stars. Stars just act as guide to locate the interested objects. We look at objects through telescope like planets, galaxies, comets, nebula etc. its just people interested in photography , optics physics etc gettogether to look at objects we see in internet through hubble telescope or something. We are from club called Bangalore Astronomical Society. I held my BAS club ID card proudly as if it was ID card of Harvard or Princeton & showed him. So a star party is totally opposite of normal party, where people get drunk & loose their sense & fool around, we stay alert & strain our eyes all night long to look at some of the faint objects million of light years away through telescopes. He seemed fascinated by this & asked but why did you go to Coorg to sky watch? “Normally city’s light pollution is so severe that we can just see a couple of stars through naked eyes” - I replied . We need very dark skies to see very faint & very far objects”. We went to coffee estate far away from city lights. Strange isn’t it how come you can talk to a stranger that too cop about philosophy & astronomy, both unusual subjects.

Ya I succeeded in boring all girls, then they started, you know what…we went Wonderla this weekend & the new color plus summer shades look I am going with my hubby this weekend ! “Do they have in lavender & is it on discount” Seeing the surprised look on their faces I instantly said “Come on, Why should girls have all the fun? ”

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Moral science stories for kids 6: The one with life & living

2011-05-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is just a copy-paste of some of the best quotes I have come across.

Fishy ideas

2011-05-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

This discussion happened among a group of Five small fishes below the white round rock most popularly considered as pebble & is recorded as the most important discussion in the history of aquatic kingdom ever. Five small fishes were on way back home from school when Nemo probably the most intelligent among them started this discussion:

Nemo : Hey guys have you ever thought there could be multiple worlds out there...I mean I kind of get this weird feeling that we live in a small world called ocean, but there may be another world which we may not even know it exists.

Marvin: Yeah, we always hear that humans catch fish & in this way we loose some of our friends & relatives. They are taken to another world.

Nemo: Hey come on, this is not the world I am talking about. We know this world ...its present just right above ours & we can just see when we pop our heads up. I am talking about the world beyond our planet earth.

Tom: yeah, my grandpa was telling that earth is one of the rarest planet on which life is possible. There may be other earths which may support life.

Tim: Hey Tom I have got a question for you, did your grandpa mean there are fish on other planet similar to earth ?

Jerry: I guess so, he may have meant fish life only. Its very unlikely he may have got out from here & traveled in space & seen aquatic life there.

Ted: Also, I have heard that there are multiple stars which have planets like earth revolving around them....Ah I think ours is called solar system. I am sad about Pluto loosing its planet's status, these humans how can demote Pluto of its planet status. It's just cute.

Tim: yeah in fact this is part of our studies in next standard. My senior friend of mine was telling he went back to his class teacher to get an extra mark for his correct answer of 8 planets which was actually wrong but after humans proved that there were only 8 planets his wrong answer became right.

Nemo: hey guys!! Just imagine if we could land up in another planet's ocean.

Tom: So whats the big deal !! it would be the same .

Jerry: no it would be different ..there may be other species.... as well as other species of fish...might be bigger in size !!! Ah, I am scared now.

Nemo: My grandpa was telling there could be collection of stars called galaxies & many galaxies exist in this world. Humans call it Universe. They are not able to come up with the theory to explain the universe still. they just make up some shit like big bang theory etc, they don't even know what happened before big bang & how the entire thing would end.

Tim: So, why have they declared themselves most intelligent beings on this planet. If they live outside water that does not mean they can declare whatever they want.

Dorothy: yeah, the theory they have come up to explain the working of the the universe is called the big bang theory which states that there was a big explosion from which all this universe began. The galaxies formed & solar system & planets like earth which can support life forms like us

Tim: Why care about it anyways we cannot get out of this water anyway, chill folks, enjoy the water !

Tom: No, its not about caring its about finding the truth. I have even heard that there are complex objects in universe like black holes, worm holes, time machines in which we can travel through time & go into past or present.

Ted: Hey thats a good one, I have a brilliant idea, if I ever get a time machine, probably I can ask my dad to buy it as a birthday gift, I am going to go to my past & reappaear my exams so that i will come first to class.

Linny, no Ted Marvin you dont get it, when you go past in time you would not know the answers that time also. Its just like first time you appear for your exam

Nemo: Ahhhhh folks folks would you stop this discussion I miss playing after school in fact I would not be part of this discussion if it was not the storm prediction this evening. guys, dont you get it !! All these are FISHY IDEAS !! Who is up for Scrabble !

Dorothy: I have even heard that there a particular species of human being weird guy named Sunil who has authoring a book which contains ideas like this. Its an old book, but good to read though, Do you guys want to come over my home, I will read it ....you all can listen....

there is whispering heard: hope it will be as interesting & a little more complicated than our last year's nursery rhymes i suppose

As they dont have a choice all go to listen Dorthy reading the book which goes like this:

And there comes a star fish,
Star - Fish - sorry guys i couldn;t resist & overheard this conveersation, can anyone tell me if you have ever seen a star shaped like me ? I wonder why humans named me star fish anyway ?

Nemo: Oops Charles Darwin missed you, or apparently he never knew the reason while naming you !

......to be continued

Steady State theory survives

2011-05-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

This pic taken from net is a quote from the book : The Hitchhikers guide to galaxy, also a movie.

This is sort of a humorous novel about the universe, good to read in your leisure time.

Stephen Hawking says that he gets so many mails every week from people telling their theory about the universe, this is the way it works. In physics world a theory is just a proposition, putting forward an idea for explaining something. The theory goes through experimental phase. When a observation or finding can be reproduced with consistent results in lab on the basis of give theory, a theory is proved & remains correct until someone disproves it experimentally. That thing which cannot be proven in lab or observed in case of astronomy in not a scientific theory but a hokum. In astronomy as there is no lab experimental results, there are mechanisms like observations which confirm the predictions of a certain theory.

There are two widely accepted theories of the universe in the entire history of physics, the big bang theory & the steady state theory, It was not long back I was discussing with Naveen, Vice president of BAS - Bangalore Astronomical Society about the survival of steady stare theory which is kind of popular only second to the widely accepted Big bang theory.

Big bang theory states universe was created in a gigantic very massive explosion called the big bang, all the matter, energy & the time was created at that moment. That very moment is so bizarre & difficult to explain that it is considered as a singularity, A singularity in physics is something which cannot be explained by the known laws of physics, or may be we need a different set of laws to explain the same. On the other hand steady state theory states the opposite, there is no beginning of space & time, universe has always been & will continue to be for ever. there is no specific point in history where the universe began. Matter & energy are created continuously in the fabric of space-time.

There was this article link which was sent in BAS mailing list by someone which provides a evidence for proving the correctness & hence survival of steady state theory.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Scientists-gather-proof-against-Big-Bang-in-older-stars/756519/

It’s the nature of human mind & consciousness to seek for answers, to explore the mysteries of universe. The changing perceptions in the mind are also part of the ever changing universe, the mystery of which we are trying to understand, hence the changing understandings of the universe also implies a changing universe with respect to time.

For physicists may come and go,

but the mystery of universe rocks forever.

The world through your eyes

2011-05-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 20; the twentieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

   Bhaiya come here look there is a snail on window sill, Pooja said to her younger brother, the evening is so nice today, yellow color everywhere, orange setting sun in the mountains, slight rain, raindrops on our window, i can touch them & so cold, there are kids playing in the first rain of the season. They are trying to make a paper boat sail in the water flowing around the house. Definitely these papers must be form their recent books, holidays time after exams for them. You know what, just like you I can imagine so much more than I can see, some where lovers must be romancing in the rain celebrating their love. Some one must have reached home in the comforts of their spouse after getting drenched in rain.

   I know sweety, I can see that. I wish I could go out in rain so that you can never see my tears, I have always seen the world through your eyes, but have to learn to live without that after you get married & go to your new home. No doubt you are imagining yourself in those romantic moments you described about. Pooja was already blushing !

   Yes Sister is describing the scene to her blind brother to let him see the world through her eyes. Let this post be not yet another social cause awareness tagged one. but something more, to make you seriously aware of the eye donation, Ask your doctor the easiest way to register yourself for donating your eyes so that in case of your death or family members, those eyes can enlighten a blind person's life. Help others to see the world after you have gone. Nothing will happen if we just write a post & forget about it, it takes courage to go out & spare some time out of your precious busy lives to get that eye donation registration done or say hug a tree which is being cut down.

Just do it ! Register for eye donation today !

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits

Image - Window Rain Drops by Eric Alder
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

Journey

2011-04-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 19; the nineteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Life is a journey – Life’s actually a collection of smaller journeys,

Sometimes the destination matters, some times it’s the journey that matters at the destination point.

Anyways, all romantic things shown in movies seem so real & become alive in imaginations when love is in the air

Correction - love is arranged in the air – yes the saga of arranged marriage

Many of you must be already familiar with the TV series How I met your mother. This guy Ted, an architect, very nice guy, hopelessly romantic goes dating girls even after reaching 30, still his story continues, he tells his love story in reverse to his kids – the story of how he met their mom. In US people just pick up a girl at the bar for a date & see how it works out.

Contrary to this story, the story of typical Indian arranged marriage goes.

Sunil’s a geek, it took him 22 years to realize that he is just like any other handsome hulk girl, sensitive, hopelessly romantic, damm emotional person.

So it all started with Sunil getting scolding from the photographer at G K Wale, the most sought after photo studio especially for matrimony photos. First of all he was reluctant to get a photo specially made for matrimony purposes, when he could give any trip outing’s photo. The whole idea of appearing the best in first impression seemed lame & insane, it’s the worst part of you in looks or bad temper etc which has to be acceptable by your partner, the best of you is acceptable by any person anyway. Sunil wore his normal office formal shirt pant & sandals & with unshaven software engineer look, asked for a photo for matrimony. What 1500 for 6 snaps? Many of his friends are having SLR & are pretty good at photography & he would have got it done for free from them. The studio guy scolded him & asked him to get dresses in ironed shirt, trousers & black formal shoes etc. So he had to return to house, on the way brought new trousers & shaved & came back all shining! Its’s been years since he had that best look. Anyway the photo came surprisingly handsome, some enhancements were made although not told to do so, & circulated among his relatives just like advertisement pamphlets for a suitable match with a copy of bio data & horoscope.

The technique behind the fair & lovely advertisements was evident now, Ya boys applied fair & lovely before Fair & handsome. Why should girls have all the fairness?

After the home work of family background feedback or horoscope matching check, Sunil’s journey of searching for wife started. Seen some girls with their families discussing their family tree & origins etc & long boring conversations of both parties exaggerating the qualities of the boy & the girl, even missed a chance to talk exclusively with the girl in first round. Then there were many rounds & many girls, some rejected by him, some girls rejected him. One girl was so bold enough to cross legs & sit as if CEO of the company. One girl was afraid to talk & another started & never stopped. Weird questions, unusual silence are the norm. Feelings arouse & things need to move on when an alliance doesn’t materialize. The best part being you can start all over again.

In India a typical arranged marriage comprises essentially all the elders from girl staring at the boy like an antivirus software, as if they wanna know his full history, ofcourse the family background check etc would have been done beforehand.

In India, some people have assumptions & don’t think sensibly sometimes. One girl rejected Sunil, after he proposed his theory In DDLJ when Raj said that he closed his eyes while changing dress of Kajol, not only did kajol believe him but also the whole of India audience assumed this as true story & applauded at the concept, Oh come on, Raj was not gay & you know that still this movie runs in some theatre in Mumbai ! & bollywood hero can remain in the best of his senses even when he is drunk? Rajnikanth’s case is different. He just blinks even after taking a full bottle of sleeping pills.

Anyway, the bottom line for bollywood movie to become a hit - sleeping together before the marriage never works in Indian love romantic story.

Once he had to lie about his drinking habit. Upon being asked by girl whether you drink?

Sunil’s reply was obviously - No. but when the girl said she drinks occasionally, Sunil had to lie that he too drinks- obviously occasionally. How difficult it is to find soul mate? If I represent Sunil’s qualities by a circle in Venn diagram & typical Indian hindu girl’s by other circles, Sunil was a small circle at the corner of the diagram. Does the maximum intersection area of boy’s & girl’s circles imply soul mates? Likes attract, opposite attract who knows? I think soul mate is just overrated term used by matrimony advertisements. As the dialog in man from the earth goes, we can never be sure to prove a certain thing, no be certain to prove it otherwise, just go by the flow, just by the gut feeling. Or the new version of Aamir : “ All is well ”.

While the boy is asked for this job details, family assets, house property etc, girls may be asked to sing apart from the normal introduction owing to the fact that music was an essential education on south India. Seems like girls have eliminated cooking & singing from their hobby list intentionally nowadays!

How cool the horoscope matching thing is, this tells compatibility of boy & girl even before they engage in meaningful conversations. Certainly a big business here. People who are well educated, who never took astrology seriously in their lives earlier also insist on this, simply to play safer.

Anyway, hope this journey comes to an end soon, to mark the beginning of new journey of married life.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Moral science stories for kids 5: The one with moving on

2011-03-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Don’t get too much attached to things, Just move on in life, just go with the flow.

Well, there are many quotes on how to live life, how not to live life. Some on never missing an opportunity, some on creating your own way etc.You gotta agree that there are some thing under our control & some things totally not under our control. Can we always have a philosophy for leading life something as :

“Do your best, forget the rest or just leave it to god”

What if success is just one proactive step away? Is it that I am quitting trying just one step lower than success? You plan every minute detail about your journey towards your destination, like how to get to your dream job, what are the specific action points in your career path? Or that fantastic lake view apartment you have always planned with your hubby. You may work towards achieving them systematically, but still sometimes you may miss getting them. Well, if every small action determines your life’s path then you got to be extra cautious in getting those smallest actions done with precision. Even the smallest detour may have significant impact, sometimes in a positive way may be. Say for example if you apply for a job vacancy out of curiosity to just find out if you have a shot at it, & surprisingly you get the job & now you are in a confused state of mind as you were actually not prepared to quit the current one.

Well friends, things do come in life quite randomly, some anticipated & some others as a surprise. You got to go with the flow. There is no need to be too much emotionally or romantically attached to things, we have come with nothing in our hands & will go the same way, everything every possession, every person we loved is gonna be left behind in the end.

Only the things we experienced in life are to be enjoyed to the fullest in their moment, the beauty of the moment is that it passes by. Yesterday is a history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present, hence the name present. We may not have absolute full answers to all the questions we come across in life, but it happens that it’s not important to have the answers but it is relevant to know how to deal with those questions & this is what I think really matters.

Where will I be in 5 yrs? Whom I gonna be married? What are my expectations out of my partner?

How the hell to find out if I am the right or worthy guy for this girl? Questions will always be there, & then when you grow older, more questions, but the ability to handle them is what matters. You are more equipped to handle the bigger challenges as you grow older in life. Relatives & friends will always be there to guide you support you in you decisions etc. but they are not you, however closer they may be to you, they may not be able to guess your true desires & decide on your behalf on things you want in life. The ultimate decisions you take in your life should be by you alone considering the inputs from friends & relatives. You need to control the sail of your boat of life.

Life runs on law of averages, if something bad happens, something good is also lurking around the corner. In the end its all the averages, finding your moments in small daily pleasures of life is what matter at the end as you look the big picture behind.

Mysterious Life

2011-03-15T00:42:00.000-07:00

A guitar with the broken string
flying the kite of life with a loose string
working hard to make ends meet
life with its mysterious swing
enjoying the mystical flow
seeming that it will all make sense one fine day

As destiny unfurls
with its amazing twists & turns
and the slopes & steeps
trying to stay ahead in the race,
sometimes realizing the destination never matters
As time passes by
the self discovery never ends

In the end its the life that triumphs
assuming that I danced to the rhymes of life
only to realize, am puppet in the hands of someone (girl friend/ life, not god ofcourse)

For dreams may come & dreams may go
only to make you more stronger than ever
Some moments you wanna relive
some moments you never wanna pass so quickly

That loneliness in the crowd
that search for some one special
then you came along
made me realize that some can be
as weird as me

away from home in search of something
trying to be someone for everyone
That deep desire to return home
only to realize that the home is not the same

Flushing down the memory lane
thoughts that disturbed
holding onto the good ones so badly
only to realize that everything gets left behind
only thing is the experience which counts at the end
making the life worth of living

the happiness is only real when shared
I am glad that you came along
to become the music of my lyrics
danced to the rhyme of life
So much in love with you & our life

Your first flower will wither in my book
but the memory stays afresh
your cheeks were like the pink petal
you were just a thought away
never missed you anyway

being there for me always in my arms

just living by the moment
making the most of the things we got
yet another day passes by
without regretting the crazy life we sought

PS: Still not complete, this is just about the mystery component in life, love etc.

Before Sunset & Before Sunrise : Movie review

2011-03-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Before Sunrise (1995) & Before Sunset (2004)

Sometimes in the random walks of life, you meet some strangers with whom you really connect on an emotional level or intellectual level, totally agree to an opinion or statement, seems as of you are speaking to yourself. You tend to be amazed in the moment of resonance when your frequency matches with the frequency of the other person. Well if they happen to be of opposite sex, well this can be tagged soul mate, personally I believe the soul mate concept is overrated and oversold by the matrimony advertisements. But that moment shared has something special to last sometime if not for ever in your life. This movie is just about two strangers striking a pleasant conversation and when you will be expecting something more to be in the story you need to see the sequel Before Sunset. This American guy Jesse who is on a Europe trip on a train only because he does not want to get back home soon, meets a French girl Celine who takes the train too afraid to fly to her home. The fact that Jesse needs to fly back to US in day and seeing that they get along so well, dares to ask her out, in this sense ask her to come out to train, to just walk & talk on the streets of Vienna.They get along so well, they talk for the entire day and believe me the conversations are so interesting, refreshing kind of that it makes you feel its good sometime to take out that ipod or FM earphones and look for such a possibility in bus or train.

Here’s a quote from the movie - Into the Wild :

Christopher McCandless: The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences….

Extending this idea, I suppose this includes meeting new people, making new friends, sharing & exploring their personalities, appreciating their thought process etc.

Well, we meet so many people in life, most of them you do not stay in touch with, some come with a reason to change your life, and some come with a reason to change your life forever. Sometimes we share a special connection, similarity in thoughts, not necessarily similarity in thoughts but considering & respecting each other views & respecting boundaries.

Thanks to nowadays iPods, podcasts, FM etc. people just put them are like holding sign boards, don’t disturb me, I am least interested in you or a possible conversation between us.

There is so much diversity in nature, each one even though raised with same background two people have so much different assumptions, perceptions about life. Who has time for others these days. But sometimes when we are bored being with ourselves only, need a companion to share thoughts, consider what the other person is thinking, etc. They talk about all things under sky & beyond, just casual talk taking no where. Everyone is entitled to their opinions anyway.

You know this one kind of portrays as a light hearted story, unlike the heavy, intense ones like Shawshank Redemption or Forrest Gump movies which tell the story of a life time, this though is just a moment captured of lives of two random people, and some of the dialogs are very intense, leave you wondering about them.

We see life through our own mindset, through a small window of our perceptions and assumptions, The beauty of a moment is in its virtue that it passes by & this makes it worth living & enjoying it the most. So if you just take a moment to feel its passion, its glory, its importance, it becomes a memory and then life goes on …some memories you forget, some can never be forgotten.

Totally must watch for its calmness & serenity.

I love this poem in the movie, may be for its hidden dimensions, it says a lot though :

Daydream delusion, limousine eyelash

Oh baby with your pretty face

Drop a tear in my wineglass

Look at those big eyes

See what you mean to me

Sweet-cakes and milkshakes

I'm a delusion angel

I'm a fantasy parade

I want you to know what I think

Don't want you to guess anymore

You have no idea where I came from

We have no idea where we're going

Lodged in life

Like branches of a river

Flowing downstream

caught in the the current
I carry you

you carry me

That's how it could be

Don't you know me

Don't you know me by now ?

Rajnikanth quotes, jokes, sms

2011-03-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

The above two pics are from net, below quotes are mine :

========================================================================

Rajnikanth codes directly in the hex or executable file.

Rajnikanth does not get compiler errors, whatever he codes becomes the syntax.

Once Rajnikanth was denied onsite, all the onsite colleagues came offshore to work with him !

Which frame has highest priority on CAN, air bag signal ? Brk signal ? - No it's Rajnikanth's frame

All nodes back off when Rajnikanth wants to transmit a frame - even the bus monitoring signal - CSMA CD stuff.

Rajnikanth can put a breakpoint in the hex file & debug .

Rajnikanth can write a C program without main. He is the main

Rajnikanth has already #defined the #define to Rajnikanth

When Rajnikanth tries to send frame on CAN all nodes back off, permanently.

Rajnikanth once attended the skip level meeting, The CEO of company raised some genuine concerns to Rajnikanth.

Rajnikanth's just one soldier can beat everyone in chess, with just one move.

Once Rajnikanth ran Misra check for his files & gave Rajnikanth's warnings to Misra.

(Misra is coding guidelines to be followed by some automotive electronics embedded companies )

Every semicolon in c should be terminated by Rajnikanth, he is the end of all things

The Ansi C compiler has changed the null character \0 to Rajnikanth. He is the end of all things.

Intel has now agreed to change their punch line, " Rajnikanth inside, Logic outside"

Rajnikanth once keyed in high level language on 8085 & it ran.

Rajnikanth's car does not need MIL, he knows what error has occurred.

Rajnikanth by mistake typed the attributes twice value - this became xml.

Rajnikanth played scrabble & ran out of alphabets in first chance itself.

Once the MIL (malfunction indicator lamp) glowed y mistake, Rajnikanth was son angry that it never turns on now again, the headlights are always turned on in fear, indicators are just too confused.

The true name of Rajnikanth was Rajnican't, but there was nothing Rajni can't do. Hence it was renamed to Rajnikanth.

=======================================================================
Yet another copy paste from net

Keep Smiling !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Guys This is SERIOUS, Please Stop making Jokes on Rajnikant da .....or
else.He will Delete the INTERNET altogether daa MIND ITT!!!.."

1. Once upon a time Rajnikanth used a tooth powder to get strong teeth.
. .
today that powder is used as AMBUJA CEMENT

2* Once Rajnikanth was playing Cricket and Rain Stopped due to Heavy
Play.

3*Once Rajnikanth gone for a walk and after one hour police arrested him
u know why... He reached USA and having No Visa with him

4* Rajnikanth was practicing for spelling test. The rough sheet he used
is today known as the oxford dictionary!!

*Hrithik tried to participate in a dance competition with Rajnikanth.
Result: He is in a wheel chair in Gujarish.

6* Rajnikanth was once told to choose 3 subjects when he got admission
in Jr.college................ He chose science, arts and commerce!!!!!!!

7*Rajnikanth can make calls from his iPod to his iPad...!!!

8*One nite, while asleep, Rajnikanth was mumbling some random numbrs...
Thats how the Log table was invented.

9*One day Rajnikanth bunked school. Since then it is known as Sunday

10*Once Rajnikanth was on the hot seat of KBC....
And the computer needed lifeline to choose the question. Mind it!

11*Micheal Jordan to Rajini: I can spin a ball on my finger for over two
hours. Can you?
Rajni: Rascala, how do you think the earth spins!?

12* Roger Federer: I know everything about tennis. You can ask me
anything.

Rajnikanth: Ok. Tell me, how many holes are there in the NET??

13*All scientists failed to answer this but Rajnikant did...
Ques: Which liquid turns solid on heating?
Rajni: DOSA..

14. Once a big stone obstructed Rajani's way.
He kicked high in sky and now it is so called . . .The MOON

15. Once when shooting on a beach in Tamil Nadu, Rajanikant kicked a
stone..
Now that stone is known as . . . . SRI LANKA

16. Rajinikant participated in 100 meter race and obviously he came
first...
But Einstein died after watching that. . . bcoz . . . . LIGHT came
second

17.Once Rajinikant participated in Moto gp Bike race......Don't even try
to guess wat happened .
Rajinikant won d race on neutral gear!

18. Rajinikanth doesnt breathe. Air hides in his lungs for protection.

19. Once Rajinikant went to Bhopal for shooting and had a stomach
upset.....and the result was.. . . . BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

20. 1 day Rajinikant got angry on his sweeper boy., he kicked him so
hard that he went flying in the sky with is broom... 2day that boy is
famous as "HARRY POTTER".

21. Before Tom Cruise, Rajnikant was approached for the movie "Mission
Impossible" but he refused . . . . as he found the title insulting

22. Once Rajnikanth was asked how he felt about the jokes made on him
which were spreading through sms and internet.
To everyone surprise he started laughing and replied-Ennada Do you
really think they are jokes?

23. Rajni once taught a child how to play counter strike and that guy is
now called.............. "OSAMA BIN LADEN"

thats rajini mindit

24. Once Dinosaurs borrowed money from Rajnikanth and refused to payhim
back... . .......That was the last time anyone saw Dinosaurs

25. Rajinikanth once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are
today called giraffes.

26. As a kid Rajnikant maintained a diary of day to day activities,
today that diary called as.
. . . . . . . . Guinness Book Of World Records

27. Once a boy inserted A CD named Rajnikanth into his PC... Guess
wot...
. . . . .His PC started Rotating around the CD rom

28. Intel's new tag line for its processors ........... "Rajnikanth
Inside"

29. Once Rajnikant taught a boy how to kiss. Now that boy is known as '.
. . . Emran Hashmi'

30. When Rajinikant croses the Road, the cars have to look . . . . left
and right before moving.

31. If Rajnikant was born 100 years back, British would have fought to
get independence from India !! :

32. People who set CAT paper will have to pass RAT paper from this year
onwards.

Yes RAT paper.... : : Rajnikant Aptitude Test !!!

=======================================================

Rajanikanth Funny Joke "Mind It"

When Rajnikant was studying in 3rd std....someone stole his rough note....&
Now they call it as .............Wikipedia

When Rajnikant was a Student¦!!!
Teachers use to Bunk the classes!!!

Rajnikant started college. All students were confused while taking admission because name of college is

"Rajnikant's Medical College of Engineering for Commerce".

THE MOST NEGLECTED FACT OF THE ENTIRE DECADE!!!!
Sachin Tendulkar's mothers name is RAJNI Tendulkar
And his coach's name is ramaKANT
Is there a need to say anything beyond this???

Rajinikant got 150 questions in exam paper asking - "Solve any 100 questions"
He solved all 150 and wrote, " Rascalla!, CHECK ANY 100!"

One day Rajani thought to play cricket in monsoon and rain stopped due to play.

Rajnikanth's next project is the Titanic in Tamil. However, Rajni has twisted the climax. Both the lead actors survive. Rajni swims across the Atlantic Ocean with the heroine in one hand and... The Titanic in the other

"Who says the world will be destroyed in Dec 2012..Rajnikant just bought a Laptop with three years warranty"

Rajni can walk faster than light.
"Rajni cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another".

Law of Conservation of Rajni

All scientists failed to answer this but rajnikanth did...
Ques: Which liquid turns solid on heating?
Ans: Dosa... mind it!!!

Once a photo of Rajnikant was given for Xerox. Don't even try to guess what happened.

We got two copies of the Xerox machine.

One more:
Once upon a time Rajnikant used Tooth Powder to get strong teeth today that powder is known as
"AMBUJA CEMENT"

==============

Rajnikanth can observe all the messier objects, ......without the telescope  !

Rajnikanth does not adjust the focus for clear visibility, the object under observation moves back -forth in space so that Rajnikanth can observe it clearly. 

 Rajnikanth;s camera is not having exposure option, as all the photons come faster & for the image quickly when he is taking a pic.

 Rajnikanth does not use averted vision. the object of interest moves side wards to adjust the Rajnikanth's eye

 when Rajnikanth starts to observe, all clouds move to the other hemisphere ! 
 It was Rajnikanth who observed all the galaxies are moving away from each other, naked eye !   
 Once Akarsh & Rajnikanth went for DSO, Akarsh packed his big telescope, & lots of star charts.  Rajnikanth just brought his sunglasses !
 Rajnikanth sees color in eyepiece !  
 Rajnikanth has memorized all the star charts & does not need any now !    

First Amar was also having big telescope like Akarsh, but since he did the mistake of inviting Rajnikanth for Messier marathon, Rajni got angry & the effect :  Amar roams around with binoculars !    
Since marathon was insult for rajanikanth, since he could cover all of them in no time !

Moral science stories for kids 4: The one with parenting

2011-03-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

You know what kids, parents often bring up their children wrongly, rich parents gave them little too much, poor parents did not give them at all etc. So just realize you have it in your hands to shape your life in the way you want it to be, Your parents will compare with the brightest kid in the class, expect you to score high marks as him. Just think of this in this way : There is no single race - exams are not running race to score high marks. But consider this there are many races & you get to choose one before you can run in it, set goals for yourself & achieve them, practical short term & long term goals. If you are into sports, if thats what gonna turn into, if you are not having a great aptitude. Don't waste time improving your aptitude, try a hand at what you are good at. If not successful have a plan B to recover from that & get back on track in life. Always account for variable change. Always have a plan B in life, if plan A fails, Plan B should have damage control and set a new direction for you sail. you got to prove to you parents, that getting high marks is not my life, but achieve something & show that this is what you want in life, there can be only one first rank is class right ?

Small advice for parent's, let your child be what he wanna be, after all you want him to be happy right

Get ahead and become what you wanna be.

I had a strange revelation once while trekking, I rarely trek, in fact I do hardly any physical exercise, hence this was tough for me. We went down a waterfall, more of a valley hardly no one around, only five of us friends. Going down was easier but the journey backwards, an uphill climbing task, this was full of thorns & bushes, not much grip to hold on & climb, rest of my friends has already climbed up. One of my friend stayed with me ensuring that I made it up with him. initially i felt the climbing was much tougher than it seems & of course was very scared. But there was no other choice, somehow managed to climb it with help form my friend. later I realized - Walking the path was easier than it seemed. we have all these negative emotions & thoughts that its gonna be tough , impossible etc, but when you actually dare to do so, it may be a lot more easier than you imagined it to be.

Everything happen twice in your life, once in your mind and then in actuality or reality.

you are the architect of your destiny, also destruction.

Here is the quote from Matrix :

Don't think you are Be you are

Don't try to hit me and hit me

Hope this helped.

A simple revelation

2011-01-24T00:31:00.000-08:00

This is not spirituality, not astronomy, not philosophy, but just my interpretation of a phrase asked by my friend Guruprasad A M.

Airivide..
Arivina olavide.
Arivina Cheluvina Chellannu chelluvudakkintha modalu hididuko..!!

Arivu = knowledge
Olavu = passion
Cheluvu = beauty

I am having an awareness, a knowledge, sense of things of within me, a sense of divinity within me, god resides in me, I am aware of the good residing in me. I have an extreme passion for the knowledge which is my strength, my identity, my source of power, the thing which keeps me moving in life,
   Don't throw it - meaning don't flaunt it in front of others with ego behind that, don't show off. I know astronomy a bit more than layman, but this should not lead to show off, don't go & flaunt to other people, you can spread the knowledge but don't make to appear that I know astronomy a lot, you really really don't because learning is never complete. There are levels of knowledge..I am aware & appreciate the fact that there are higher levels of knowledge I have to achieve or gain...there are many unknown levels & paths I need to transcend.

   Don't showoff, with ego behind that you are the only one who possess it, spread it to the group who are not aware of this, preach it, practice it. Make the people appreciate the subject. Knowledge is meant to be shared, by sharing you learn more and gain more, just like love. What is important is by this thought process, you let go off your ego, & develop a humble, polite character, nature, & importantly a desire to keep learning continuously in life, & change ourselves for the better. You keep an open mind to learn new things & influence others with its implications, change our lives to make it better. By this character & attitude you learn to respect the value of learning from people around you, & from the literature archived since ages. You will get the knowledge to live life righteously, you will win the respect in your society.& be able to change it for the better.

   Thus this nice phrase or stanza sums up how to live life entirely for an individual & hence society. Is this a great message from god ? Well if isn't, Can you disprove it logically ? Well lets enjoy the essence, & try to interpret it in our own way. The ultimate truth is designed in a way that its discovery cannot be ascertained, may be it can be, you never know.

God works in mysterious ways !

Knowledge can mean anything, the lessons learnt in your life, either technical, spiritual, metaphysical or just any valuables learning. Einstein took 10 yrs to come up with general theory of relativity, the best scientific minds have acknowledged that if Einstein had not come up with that idea, no one ever would, this just changed the physics from the one we knew for ever. This has profound implications. Anything is possible in universe right ?   We thought our galaxy was the entire universe, now its so obvious that every point we see which is not a star is actually a galaxy comprising of hundred million stars or so. Does truth have to be such complicated always ? Why can't the truth be simple just able to explain the entire meaning of the universe in a sentence. Are we capable of grasping the source code behind the nature of universe. Does these thoughts keep revealing more things like these or have a closure ? Well, you never know !

   You know those Chinese boxes, one inside the other, one inside the other etc, We are like in the innermost box, there are multi levels of truth, your consciousness can take what it can ! At some point of time you have to stop following your tail chasing round the maple tree..you have to assume that your realization is truth. God has always spoken through men to make his word clearer. This is what Bhagavad Geeta, Quaran , Bible is all about I suppose . They teach the same things, but differently.

The pleasure of letter writing

2011-01-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

The pleasure of letter writing
....an insight into whether letter writing has lost it's sheen ?

I recently posted this on FB Wall of a good old buddy of mine

Me : What’s up bro, u look so f* up? How many beers last night?

Reply : WTF? I stopped drinking from last night J ROFL !

Me : Dude, seriously start drinking, look what have you become in a day.

Out of nowhere, a sudden thought ran across my mind – Why did the primary school teachers teach us letter writing at all, when we are not using it anyway. Probably it was 5^th standard or so when we had to write those stupid letters to pen friend etc. So polite official & humble, with formatting & all, as if he would receive it in whatever country he stayed & replied.

Image credit: The Motor Cycle Diaries.

A letter back home read :

Dear mom...Buenos Aires is behind us

Behind is as also the miserable life

The faculty, the exams and the dissertations that make you sleepy

Before us lies all of Latin America

From now on we will only trust in "La Poderosa"

……from The Motorcycle Diaries

Gone are the days when letters & postal service was main medium of communications. Apart form official mails, writing a letter to a friend, relative, or to a beloved person brought joy & had its own thrill in anticipating the probable thoughts of the reader. At the other end when the post man delivers the letter, the wonderment behind the question - Whose letter is it? fills up the mind. Excited reading of the letter like trying to read the mind of sender & replying back are yet other pleasurable aspects. You may have been on some college trip writing back home the things you liked the most, details about the places visited, or sent a post card back home - the ones which carry a picture of the place on one side. The Pankaj Udhaas song Chitti Aaye hai, Aaye hai Chitti Aaye hai, seemed so wonderful & relevant with this postal concept.

With the advent of instant communications using electronic media, internet has not without a doubt brought a revolution in the way we live our lives, the way we stay in touch. Optical fibers across oceans floors & satellites orbiting earth transfer information in almost real time i.e with slight or no delay at all – certainly the most effective one. Unlimited storage mails, social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, IM- instant messengers like Yahoo & Gtalk almost eliminate the need to write a letter & post it as mail at your nearest post office. The entire aim of social networking is to bring the entire social networking experience in electronic media accessible by just being plugged into the wall from the corner of your house, Thanks to those free Sms’es & now the latest trend - twitter where people can post silly things like: I missed brushing my teeth today LOL! etc, thereby keeping their friends updated about even most silliest thing happening in their lives. Software professionals hardly find the need to use a pen, leave the case of writing letter to someone. I don’t carry a pen around, work is mostly on office laptop & find it easy to write down any note in my Blackberry or Ipod. It's easier to maintain, paper gets misplaced every time. Apart from the Go Green campaign of printing only very essential items writing has become a passé in modern computer offices. More & more offices which used to function on paper records are now opting electronic media thus avoiding paper which is indeed environment friendly. Nobody has time these days to sit & write a letter an hour long to parents etc, even if they are not familiar with internet mailbox etc. As the Airtel advertise says truly states - Impatience has become the new life, even breakups happen over sms’es.

At 25 paisa, post card was the commodity which retained its price for longest duration. A 1 Rupee Inland letter served the purpose well for most of the personal communications. Thanks to postal department which still connects the remote parts of India, where there is still no internet connectivity or mobile towers have not come up yet. Many TV serials feature this – a son working in city sends money order & letter about his well being to his parents back home in village & the post man all senti n stuff reads it to his illiterate parents.

When it comes to romantic love letters in not-very distant past, the love letters exchanged could be treasured & read over again to feel the love again, to relive the moments of their love life. Nothing beats the touch & feel - the pleasure of reading a handwritten love note from person whom you love. Perhaps this delay in communication through mail creates a romantic void, desperation, missing of each other, making them realize the depth of love between two lovers, to hear from each other, meet each other. A letter sent from a Soldier to eagerly waiting parents back home, bringing a sigh of relief hearing about their son along with making them proud. Perhaps Pankaj Udhaas singing chitti aayi hai song appreciates & glorifies the feeling behind this letter writing paradigm. Although internet era brings its own advantage of effective & faster communication, letter writing though is not as popular as it used to be. I recall a couple of instances in my life when a letter brought me utmost joy, like a reply to my query about careers in Astronomy from a noted astrophysicist Prof Jayant Narlikar & was so excited & jumping with joy when my letter was read out on DD national TV serial, Surabhi.

I wish to fill in the ink in the old fountain pen, found in my old cupboard & write a letter once again, but wonder whom to send! don't have the addresses of any of my friends, only IP addresses are important in this era !

Absolute love

2010-12-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

where absolute means the usual way, complete pure, perfect, Complete & without restriction or qualification

Movie review : October sky

2010-12-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

This story is about a high school kid, from west Virginia who dares to dream big. This was the time when Russia launched the first satellite Sputnik and Americans were angry about that, but for this kid this sight of a satellite moving across sky came a big aspiration, a moment of connection with oneself when one realizes what exactly one is supposed to do in his life. The village was called coal wood owing to the main profession being mining coal and as the norm all kids were supposed to work as miners after their necessary schooling. As he watched the satellite streak across the sky, he had a dream of building a rocket which could take that satellite and put it in it's orbit. The aspiration was so profound that he made friendship with a nerd guy in his class with whom no one ever spoke or mingled. Thhey were a group of four friends, who managed to procure the material for their experimental rockets from unused rail tracks etc. They made numerous unsuccessful attempts. They used all lengths, all sorts of fuel etc. The rockets either flew to short distances or catch fire and burst. Failure are the stepping stones of success indeed. These experiments lead them to understand what makes a rocket actually fly. Apart from experimental failures, he had to abandon his rocket flying aspirations, as his dad got seriously injured while working in a coal mine and he had to work in coal mine for keeping his family financially well. Those innocent eyes always looked up the sky when going down in a coal mine elevator. In spite of all these hardships, due to the help and encouragement from his teacher he participated in a science fair, demonstrated his rocket building , flying fundamentals and won first prize too. This involved many schools and he came out in flying colors with that first prize and getting scholarship offers from various universities.
I was especially moved by the advice his teacher gave him- "you don't have to prove anything to anybody, Now, go launch yourself a rocket". This kid was Homer Hickam who went to become scientist at NASA. He dreamed big, worked hard towards it despite all hardships, faced the numerous failures in experimentation with his rockets and learnt how to fly rocket correctly.

So, a big dream needs lot of smart work, patience and recovering from failures too !
A must watch for those who often use the term rocket science to imply a tough thing or tough science. You will realize rocket science is just awesome !

Moral science stories for kids 3: The one with becoming something in life

2010-12-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Part 3 : On becoming something, someone in life
As kids we all have have all the creativity to imagine ourselves becoming pilot, doctor, engineer, scientist etc etc. As life progresses we become aware of the various educations processes, career paths, then the picture is bit more clearer to choose what you wanna be in life. As a dialog in the movie Lakshya goes, You may become something or someone in life, important thing is to become a good person first of all. Have some friends and relatives who respect you for whatever you are and who will be there for you when you need any kind of help. Being nice is very broad term, you can be nice to people around you, create an cheerful atmosphere wherever you go. There is already enough of poverty, hunger, terrorism, professional tension, sorrow in the world. Why do you want to add to it by carrying a sad face. Whatever is your state of mind always carry a pleasant smile. Well you don't have yo smile all the time even if you are sad, but most of the times so carry that smile, it does not reduce the intensity of the problem but gives us the strength to face the problem boldly. My teacher said about a term he phrased himself - hopeful-hope probably compared to hopeless-hope. hopeful-hope signifies the practical aspect of achieving things in life, career ambitions etc, where as hopeless-hope is merely false belief of achieving things which may be beyond your capability itself. We have belief on our doubts & doubt on our beliefs, rather it should be believe your beliefs & doubt your doubts. Everything happens twice - once in mind and second time in actuality. Hence imagine strongly with passion what you wanna become in life. Its not enough if you dream often & do nothing about it. Everything has to be done by you. As the quote says : Success is hard work meeting opportunity.

Do the best of what God gave you. Identify your strengths & weakness. American education system insists on building on your strengths, hence making you an achiever in your aspiring domain. Indian education system insists heavily on improving your weaknesses, hence making a normal person out of you. Well choose wisely & keep learning from mistakes.
Maintain a diary or journal to record your learnings from life. It may not be relevant in short term, but certainly useful in long term where you tend to forget the things and happenings in your life.

Moral science stories for kids 2: The one with apology

2010-12-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

Part 2:

English is a beautiful language, offers a wide variety of words to describe a particular feeling, situation or a context. Its important that you keep learning words everyday which help you communicate effectively.
An important part of leading a good life is say - Thanks, acknowledge a person for the thing or help or favor he has done to you. There is a depth in a sentence which starts with 'Please' and ends in 'Thanks'. Be willing to admit the mistake and say 'Sorry' if your conscious feels that you have done wrong to a person, hurt his feelings or crossed the line. A sorry has three parts, we usually do the first part and forget the remaining two or rather never care for the rest of the part of sorry. Here they are
1) Say sorry
2) Mean it truly, may be indicated in a tone or expression
3) What can I do to make you feel better, reverse the effect if possible- 'damage control' is filmy phrase here !

If you really care about a person, you should essentially do these three things, then there is no reason for the other person to be mad at you. Well this is the max you could do in saying sorry, if the other person is not still forgiving you, then there is nothing much you can do about it, right ?

Astronomy vs Astrology

2010-12-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

During the Kalpaneya Yatre @ JNP, there was a lecture organized on Astrology mainly with the objective to debunk myths. the audience was professional astronomers from IIA, ISRO scientists, Astrophotography enthusiasts like MR Ajay Talwar, amateur astronomers like me Naveen, & lots of BAS members, educators film producers, art enthusiasts movie directors etc, Shrusti school of arts folks etc. After the session which was on the basics of astrology, the debate & questionnaire was really insightful. this was sensitive topic from ages. As someone rightly put out to debunk myths about astrology we must understand the basics of astrology & explain to people that whats wrong in it, even the astronomy part of the astrology is wrong. someone had a nice argument about eclipse, they consulted several top gynecologists to know the reason behind the pregnant women advised not to go out during eclipse. The reply came that we don't know the reason, but we advise precaution better don't go out during eclipse. Exactly, fear of consequence is what prevents us from trying out a thing thinking why the risk simply. I & Kiran were discussing: Somethings are under our control, we go to astrology or prayer to make the things which are not under our control to make them turn in our favor. we can study very hard for the exam all night to get good marks but the paper should come reasonably easy to score good marks. So a simple technique of a pooja in morning may save us from getting low marks , then why not try it, simply why the risk ? similarly we apply same logic for bigger things in life. we buy a house investing all our life's hard earned money on that & that should be essentially on Auspicious day & the house should strictly follow at least basic fundamentals of Vaastu. At least i should not have argument that IIA conducted a breakfast session during eclipse to disprove any beliefs that eating during eclipse will be harmful.

...to be continued.

Moral science stories for kids 1: The One with Accept & Adjust

2010-12-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

Part 1:

In my school days moral science was not considered important subject, but later after many years I realized that this is the most important subject which needs to be taught in a way by which kids can imbibe the lessons & become good citizens of tomorrow. I think the Hrithik Roshan’s dialogue in Lakshya is very apt here in this context, whatever one may become in life, foremost is to become a good person. In this information era all info is available easy at hand. What’s important is to teach the values of living in society, the technology changes say for every 3/4 years. This series are written as imagining myself as moral science teacher to say high school kids

Learn the difference between the words "Accept" and "Adjust". This is essential in living a good peaceful & happy life. We need to adjust some things in life & accept some other things. the real meaning of accept in philosophical sense is to whole heartedly come in terms with a person or condition or situation & never complain about the same in life, never ever. Adjust involves compromises stretched over a finite time in your life obviously & complaints when angry etc. Thats fine, but see there are some things which you totally cannot change totally cannot go away from them you have to live with them throughout your life. Accepting them that makes living, i.e coping with them easier. Acceptance means never arises the need to complain in entire life time. Give an example or illustration to make the point clear in children's minds. For example you wanted your parents to be millionaire or more sensitive or something you always wanted them to be but they are not. So learn to accept such a thing because its out of our control to change your parents. Your destiny has decided that you should be born to them, right ? you may not like your job or say a house you are living, adjust with it for a while until you find a new job & a good house of your choice. Categorizing problems into accept and adjust makes life much simpler to live.

The Mystery

2010-12-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 17; the seventeenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

As I play with pebbles and shells on the shores of cosmic ocean

a mystery baffles me, dazzles me in my notion

As I make a futile attempt to understand the intangible infinity

only left with wonderment about my sanity

As I wander in the archive of ages of knowledge

with a deep desire to measure and acknowledge

a creation so magnificent, so splendid

a strange realization that we are as insignificant as a particle of dust

freely floating in fabric of the space & time

As I realize my home is so green and peaceful

the universe out there is chaotic than ever

violent volcanoes & collisions occurring around

this is a just periodic game of creation & destruction

with its own set of complex rules

Trying to find that unknown in that complex equation

guessing the magnitude of variables involved

mathematics has its own limitations to dare beyond

For those who have seen beyond are the enlightened

Those who do not have to seek answers for questions anymore.

As the universe plays a game of causes & effects

the flap of butterfly's wings causing a hurricane around the globe

there is a fine delicate balance of things around

trying to discover my purpose at last

as i let go of the assumption of reality and illusion

feelings of seeking for happiness and pleasures

i see the universe in a different form

with a heightened sense of things

and a higher level of consciousness

i see a beauty in the mystery of universe

this is not an illusion not a reality

this is something of the third kind

which you cannot digest

As I try to make sense of innumerable patterns all around me

from veins in a leaf to the shells on the shore

a smoother pebble resembling the yellow bands of Jupiter

and a sea shell having patterns as the milky way…

ascertaining the fact that nature loves symmetry

For there is a mystery in the elegance & elegance in the mystery

As I the see the source code of the universe

In its completeness across the electromagnetic spectrum
I exist as a mere impulse of heightened consciousness
I cannot be eliminated or terminated
I rejoice my being from inception till the end
In a state of being aware of itself
As I resonate in the cosmic symphony
I am a factor of an equation
ever trying to balance itself, coz i am still alive !
My physical body has constraints but my mind knows no limits

Life is nothing but an open ended string

living as vibrating randomly without knowing the meaning or purpose

with a deep restlessness to understand the ultimate truth

that transcends both the space and time itself.

From the cave paintings of animals resembling the patters found in sky

To the modern super computers modeling the faintest of galaxies

Patterns have fascinated mankind all throughout

We have come so far in an attempt to understand the unknown

Yet when I look up the sky, filled with wonderment

I see a streak of falling star passing by and wander in my wonder

For men* may come & men may go

but the universe rocks forever

*men : By men I mean Amateur astronomers, professional ones can never love Astronomy more than Amateurs. There is a depth on missing love rather than being with it.

PS: The pic is a long exposure photo of the Milky way galaxy, our home as seen from being inside the same hence this edge on view. This is visible to us a band or patch of light across the sky, it appeared as if milk is spilled in the sky hence the name milky way. there are mainly two types in sky observing through telescopes. observing planets inside solar system & Deep Sky Observing(DSO) . In DSO, we mainly observe the galaxies which are of various shapes. We can classify the apparent view as face-on view & edge-on view. face-on view is one in which the axis of rotation of galaxy is the LOS of observer not exactly though. edge on view is the axis of rotation of galaxy is perpendicular to the LOS of observer. Consider galaxy as a disc to get an idea.

Another PS: This all started with recalling the quote of Douglas Adams, hats off to the him for this !
I know the poem doesn't rhyme but what to do god created universe which cannot be described rhymingly with ease ! LOL pass on the blame to god himself, Here's another one on lighter side :

One one cold observing night due to lack of bedsheets one guy asks another to share bed sheet with him. but that was very small one & hence I suggested, may be if you can sleep on him Faceon or edge on you both can be covered by that bed sheet. This was definitely overdose of observing galaxies & needed sleep badly !

“There is a theory which states that if ever for any reason anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.”

-astrosunilnomy
Amateur astronomer
Council member
bas.org.in (the most active astronomy club in India)

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

My talking watch

2010-11-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

The story of my first & last watch

As a high school kid probably after seeing Mr India I had this fascination of having some kind of cool and unusual watch, I was gifted a watch by this girl, her family was friends with our family, she stayed at hostel & my dad was Principal of that college and our house happened to be near to their hostel. This watch looked more of ladies watch sort of & I did not liked it though I got hardly any gifts apart from a dress for a birthday every year. Then there was a trend of a typical watch called talking watch in our class and school. It was a relatively cheap Rs 150 something, which was available in local market. Everyone was talking about the talking watch, it could tell the time yes audio output when a button was pressed, nice florescent glow light etc, alarm etc feature. I wanted this badly & convinced parents to buy me this if I get 3rd rank which was the norm until all these years in school as Akshata & Bhavana took first & second ranks and I was sort of unbeatable at third rank position.
So I flaunted it all around making it tell time to all friends. It had a good battery after a couple of months also it said the time loudly enough. One day it went insane and never stopped making noise in class just alike a never shutting up barking dog. and I had to put it in my bag & keep it outside. This was embarrassing , came as direct blow to my constant efforts to impress on girls thought never any girl was impressed in actuality. After this event things changed in life a lot, lost a fascination for showing-off things to others. I never wear a watch to this day, just feel the need to be simple enough, some one said we should have some feature in our appearance by which others can start conversation with us, something to start talking about like a watch or a nice shirt etc..so that they can hit off the conversation & become friends. I don't know I never liked to wear watch again. this was my first & last watch !

Movie review-Guru

2010-11-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

Although concealed the movie very clearly resembles the process of Dhirubhai Ambani establishing himself as business tycoon of India. Abhishek Bachan i.e Guru bhai executes his role & character elegantly in the well defined role by Mani. Besides a couple of songs being melodious the songs tend to bore & simply do not fit in the story, but this can be excused owing to the chemistry between Aish & Abhishek working out very well. Guru bhai who intends to do good bijness(business), intelligently & aggressively establishes his textile business doing whatever it takes to achieve an exponential growth although setting a new trend of corruption & corporate crime in the pre-globalization era in India.

Guru bhai’s daring, self confident nature & his passion to dream big & chase to achieve them, coupled with very strong & well crafted dialogues definitely inspires the young entrepreneurs of Indian. Gurubhai hailing from a decent village family & his journey to become a great visionary creating huge & instant wealth to the Indian middle class is made very well in the movie. Guru bhai delivers on his business stratergies exactly his business expected, doing whatever it takes. Whenever his salute was required, he saluted! Whenever there was a need to bribe politicians to get his work done, he bribed!

Guru bhai’s passion to keep dreaming bigger & the chase makes him do some unlawful things as manipulating shares & cunningly increasing productivity of his company leading to conflict between himself & the archetypal capitalist, communist – a newspaper owner(Mithun) & his star reporter(Madhavan) who swears to bring Guru bhai down, ultimately landing guru & his empire in trouble .Watch out how guru survives his allegations & manages to get himself & his company out of the judicial allegations. Thanks to Mallika's guest appearance - dancing in 'mayya mayya' song in Istanbul which is really awesome.

Movie review Spider-Man 3

2010-11-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

Starring:

Tobey Maguire - Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Kirsten Dunst - Mary Jane Watson

James Franco- New Goblin/Harry Osborn

Plot Outline: An alien black parasite bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.

Spidey is back again with action, adventure, thrill, wit, excitement & romance. Among the superhero category of movies like Super-Man, Bat-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four etc Spider-Man is the superior one in terms of conceptually strong plot, action, animation etc & this sequel proves that all again.

This time Spidey has to fight against not one or two but three major villains, 2 story lines that have been developing since the first movie and then you have two brand new storylines. Spidey’s is all there to save the world whenever there is cry for help, but he also has problems of his own.

The story goes that Spidey wants to marry Mary Jane but Spider-Man's popularity is getting in the way of his relationship with her. His best friend from high school turned mortal enemy Harry Osborn (James Franco) is still trying to find a way to kill Spidey. New editions is Flint Marko who escapes from prison after being charged with the murder of Ben Parker, Peter's uncle who was killed in the first part, stumbles into a Physics testing lab where he is accidentally mutated into a Particle-man. An black alien sludge attaches itself to Peter and transforms him into a meaner, more aggressive Spidey and Peter as well. Certainly the fight is very tough for our Spidey as he tries to keep up his breaking love. Watch out how spidey figures out ways to defeat his enemies & who comes to his help.

It was an incredible experience for me to watch stunts on big screen in Spidey’s style. I wish I could have got the superpower of Spider-man but remember that: With power comes great responsibility – the responsibility to save the world….as per the tagline of movie.

There are a few humorous scenes involving the “new” spidey i.e after transformation- turning hostile to black parasite, who is charged with energy & dance moves & dialogues but there could have been more of them.

Spidey’s message in this part is wonderful which is “We all have choices. It’s our choices which make us what we are & we can choose to be always right.

When asked Tobey who among Bat-man, Spider-man, Super-man is the best in one interview on TV, his comment goes something like this: Bat-Man does not even compete with the other two. Super-Man with body of steel is certainly is the strongest, but Spider-Man is the best as he is the combination of wisdom & strength.

Although some would feel there is too much cheesy and boring romance and not enough Spider-Man, but overall its a good one & a must watch.

Rating: 4/5

Movie Review-The Departed

2010-11-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin

As rightly reflected by the plot & Tag line- it really does not make a difference whether you are a Cop or Criminal when you are facing a loaded gun.

The departed is a American crime classic thriller from the legendary martin Scorsese who proves himself as the best in framing movies with beautiful & strong plots- a story worth telling & of course watching. Scorsese has complimented rather than remaking of “Infernal Affairs”. I was on the edge of my seat with the knife keeps turning up to the final scene the plot being the lives of two cops: Colin Sullivan (Damon), smart and unabashedly ambitious, Massachusetts State Police Department's elite Special Investigations Unit, whose prime target is powerful Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) & Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), street-smart and tough, is purported to have a violent temper that costs him his badge and eventually lands him back on the rough streets of South Boston, where he is recruited into Costello's ranks. Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities. But neither man is what he seems and, as they work at cross-purposes, they are plunged into a dangerous game of cat and mouse in which the stakes could not be higher. Both being loyal to their masters are made to do exactly the opposite thing of what they pledge in their respective profession of cop(Damon) & thief(Dicaprio). Eventually the plot spins into free fall and the bodies start piling up.

A really spectacular movie & a must watch. A sequel is also being planned.

Movie review: The pursuit of Happyness

2010-11-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

Cast : Will Smith, Jayden Smith, Thandie Newton

Direction : Gabriele Muccino

The Pursuit of Happyness is really worth for its Best Actor nomination for Will Smith which is inspired by a true story of rags to riches of Chris Gardner, an ordinary salesman on the streets of San Fransisco who goes to become a wealthy stock broker owing to his never ending pursue, hard efforts & never-say-die spirit.

This movie is all about fatherhood amidst struggles to recover from harshness of poverty & hence seeking happiness ultimately. Chris a salesman by profession walks the streets of San Fransisco trying to sell his mysteriously portrayed product box: which once made a fortune for him is now no longer able to support him with enough earnings even for his daily bread. As Chris desperately tries to recover his family from economic crisis by switching businesses, he gets abandoned by his wife who adheres to his insistence of letting their 5 yr old son Christopher remain with him. As he makes up his way in his internship of stockbroker, life demands him a lot more struggle than ever. Some scenes like spending night in public restroom along with his son, running from cab driver when he has no money to pay for the drive, donating his blood for money for his daily bread, his tears when he clears the exam securing the job of stock broker after many long months of training & struggle to manage his life along with son did leave me with tears.

A must watch for those who like emotional ones.

This leaves a feeling somewhere in heart the miseries of poverty & economic inequality & in my opinion probably the movie is over made to a small extent.

Look out what really is the happiness, which Chris is pursuing, & why in name of movie happiness is spelled happyness & what Chris tries to sell in his salesman profession.

Will smith sparklingly shine in acting & elegant expressions of his well-defined character makes me wonder how come he missed Oscar for this superb role? & his son plays his role very naturally & deserves lots of appreciation.

The lines ahead contain spoilers. Do not read the further lines if you intend to see the movie soon.

The product Chris tries to sell is a bone scanner sort of medical equipment nicely called a ‘time machine’ by a mad beggar. Happyness is the name of the kindergarten school in which Chris leaves his son daily during his work. Chris seeks his happiness in the happiness of his family especially his son.

Strings are the new particles

2010-11-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

.....A peak into the bizarre world of Theoretical Astrophysics

.....A sip of reality at the Quant um Café..

In physics the word 'theory' has a special meaning. Surprisingly, it has a life cycle. An idea or proposal submitted in scientific community based on findings mathematically proved or experimentally conformed in lab. In Astronomy its mainly observations. A theory is proved when scientific community accepts it officially. A theory survives until it is proven wrong by someone sometime. It essentially predicts the outcomes precisely. If a theory cannot be proved in lab & confirmed, it should not be called theory in first place itself, it falls under the realms of philosophy or metaphysics or whatever you may like to put it in.

Our journey for the quest for understanding of the working of our universe has taken us from billiard balls to spaghetti. Read on to know what this implies.

In 1665, not long back, once Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree and an apple fell on his head, this made him wonder about the gravity and lead to whole new understanding – this story is so wonderful that I choose to rejoice in the assumption of this being true, although this may be just a fancy story. Gravity was first force to be understood scientifically, He suggested the force making apple fall to ground & the force which keeps planets round the sun are the one and the same. The force of gravity is directly proportional to the product of the masses of two bodies & inversely proportional to the square of the distances between them, irregular bodies are reduced to point masses by the concept of center of gravity. His equations made pretty accurate predictions enough to drive spaceships to moon & put a man there. But, Newton never knew how gravity actually worked.

Einstein was working as a patent office clerk, & working on light, Yes, he was not in the physics community at all. He discovered that the speed of light is like a cosmic speed limit. Light travelling at 3,00,000 km/sec is the maximum you can get in the universe. Exceeding this limit would mean theoretically you need infinite mass. This implies you need to build a spaceship so massive essentially containing all the mass of the universe to propel it greater than the speed of light, which is obviously impossible.

The light rays from Sun take about 8 minutes to travel 93 million miles to reach us. This implies if someone switches off sun like an electric bulb, it would take 8 minutes before we can see darkness here on earth.

When light itself, travelling at such high velocity is not instantaneous, how can gravity act instantaneously on bodies? It was later proved that gravity acts at speed of light.

Einstein continued his research & after 10 yrs came up with brilliant concept space time, i.e. three dimensions of space & one dimension of time constituted the space time fabric. This is like a stretched cloth, being warped, curved and twisted by the presence of heavy objects like planets and stars. This warping is what we feel as gravity. Gravity was a sort of unification of things happening on bodies like apples and bigger things like planets & galaxies.

This startling discovery not only gave an explanation how gravity actually worked but also came as a blow in the face to Newton’s gravitation concept that gravity is instantaneous independent of distances.

Gravity waves, waves if you would like to call them travel at speed of light. Gravity hence was a wave in the fabric of space time.

General relativity is the most beautiful theory

If Einstein would not have come up with general relativity, no one else would ever have.

quote by Prof C Vishweshwara @ JNP Bangalore

Disclaimer : Well I have googled & found that the title "Strings are the new particles" is not used anywhere in internet ! Hence this makes me owner of the phrase.

to be continued...

My first day at school

2010-11-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

I was crying incessantly, wetting almost half of my blue shirt, pulling out half from my grey half pant, making it look funny. It was first day for school, I didn't knew what the school was but really disliked the notion of being away form home, mom & especially my toys. Mom promised me Laddu in the evening told dad to bring the same from market that evening. This was a good deal & finally agreed to go to school.
Later that evening, I was crying again night for not getting laddu still while mom tried to finish feeding me dinner. She told a story, dad was coming from office, he met an ant on the way, it asked him where he was going. Dad said to Mishra Pedha shop in market. ant said me too going there to get some sweets. Both went together & dad gave it two laddus. It wrapped it in bag & put on its head & went home & the doorbell rang. i opened the door & asked dad you met the ant ? What did ant tell you ? How are its children, Dad added his own part to the story as it was my everyday story & he knew how to continue the same, while I enjoyed my laddu. As far as first day is concerned I was already ahead of race, knew A to Z & numbers 1 to 12, reverse .So I think, I did not learn much that year anyway. Totally not anticipated, the school thing became interesting after first day as a pretty girl Deepa was made to sit besides me in my desk ! So never got bored !

Celebrations

2010-11-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Well, this is an unconventional style, no paragraphs or stanzas, important is not to concentrate on the rules of writing but to enjoy the feelings behind the words.

may be its a poem in nascent stage, sometimes a raw image appeals more than a meddled photoshop one, hence this unrefined post. It's just a collection of raw abstract bizarre thoughts ran across my mind when looked through my window !

A tribute to all the small insignificant things in life that bring joy !

The elegant dance of flame in the gentle breeze
swinging in the rhythm of life
a burning desire in the prison of lantern resembling life
the chirping of birds returning their nests
a dried leaf floating in the random wind
without knowing its destiny and purpose
the light fragrance of the white jasmine
So pure, so serene and happening so effortlessly
a withering petal, half brown and half pink
a log floating in the stream, going with the water
Seems like my destiny freely floating in the waves of life
the flickering of street light outside my window
the thunder and then the silence before the storm
the reminiscence of childhood
a feeling of childhood joy rescued from oblivion
never ending wait for the sheer bliss of living
waiting for the return of joy shot from the catapult of life
a careless walk in beige dried grass
an unwilling attempt to embrace the destiny
to live the life the way it comes
has life lost its sheen ?
a green blade of grass shining in the sun
a small bean trying putting its head out
to get the first glimpse of the sunny world
a millipede with its numerous legs, crossing the street
an extinct sparrow returned with its chirp to wake me up
reminding me of the beautiful world out there
apart from being just plugged into the wall
taking a break from the normal windows desktop of landscape
and resting my eyes on the actual one from outside my window
bringing a great sense of belonging with the nature deep within
quintessence of living is long forgotten luxury
an effortless attempt to understand the intangible universe
the line of ants passing by, with tiny bits of food in their mouth
storing for the harsh winter
a snail making up slowly, unaware of its speed
escaping into its shell, sensing any danger, pretending to be safe inside
a sea shell lying on the shore, a twisted spiral
little aware of the fact that its bigger home milky way is also a spiral
a million sparkles reflected on ocean water by the setting sun
the last orange ray trying to make its way beyond horizon
a tendril hoping to coil around the stem of neighbor
a mushroom waiting to stretch itself from the moist log
A honey bee, checking out millions of beautiful flowers
working hard, collecting a bit of honey from each to make a drop
unaware of the probability that it may be stolen
Strange is the evolution which has imparted intelligence
the necessity of hexagonal honey comb
and the intellect in every organism to sustain itself
Admist all these bizarre thoughts
a desperate wait for someone special never ends,
waiting for a warm hug from beloved one, easing all the pain
to tell the thing never told, that you mean a lot to me
wishing the force of my desire be stronger
than the force of obligation
for once I would like to take a daring leap
breaking the circling around along the path set by life’s destiny
for once gathering courage to take a leap of faith
to be free form regret of not attempting even once
as a feeble photon travelling from a millions of light years
from unknown abyss of space and time hits the eye
mind rejoices in the realization that we are insignificant as a particle of dust.
A destiny reluctant to reveal more than one page at once
A falling star seen across the sky
I don’t know what to wish for
I only wish to convey gratitude to the creator, sustainer and destroyer
Stretched hands feeling the ocean breeze
Seemingly flying in the bliss of sight of horizon of water and sky
Glancing at the cloud passing by,
feeling the tender kiss of first rain drops on the cheek
the cold waves touching the feet
like arms of the sea trying to embrace me in it’s abode
as I let go off the notion of reality, the modern world around me
I feel as light as rain, as white as snow
To connect with the nature in its true form,
and rejoice in the very existence and wonderment about oneself
For I am the one of the nature’s most beautiful creations
I am just a ripple of celebration of someone somewhere
in the mysterious fabric of life

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The amazing carbon - 2010 Nobel prize in physics

2010-10-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Carbon has amazed us once again !

These are notes taken down during Prof Sivram’s lecture @ IIA, on 2010 Nobel prize in physics 12^th Oct, Google for the more info, this may not be correct altogether, since I have a amateurish knowledge of physics, particle physics almost from a layman’s perspective.

Click-able links for the press release of 2010 Nobel prize & 2010 Nobel prize in Physics are below :

2010 Nobel Prizes

Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010

Congratulations to Andre Geim, Konstantin Novoselov for winning the Nobel prize. The obtained or produced Graphene in lab.

- Suggested by Canadian theoretically 60 years back

- Graphene – excellent conductor – can be used as substitution for silicon

- Carbon based electronic circuits, May be realized as a high performance transistor capable of operating more than 100 times the current ones.

- Consists of single layer of carbon atoms, this was the most basic or simplest arrangement - form of carbon, but was discovered last. Since it is a layer of carbon items one slice think only, hence essentially 2 dimensional material

- Graphane is polymer of carbon & hydrogen i.e hydrogenation of Graphene produces Graphane

- Graphane is stronger than steel , can be best described by phrase – exceptional combination of extreme properties

- Finds applications in LCD’s, Solar cells.

The wiki links are Graphane & Graphene

These laboratory experiments of obtaining or producing Graphene etc help in analyzing the aspects related to concepts such as Zitterbewegung, Klein paradox, Quantum Hall effect, Anyon etc

PS : I will enrich the post when time permits

-astrosunilnomy

Yet another love story : Part2

2010-10-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Yet another love story
.....coz I don't hate love stories.

Part2: Close encounters of the pretty kind

Hazaaron khwaisheyen jage hai iss dil mein

Zyada intezaar mat karana..

Yeh nazarein tarase hei tere ek jhalak ke liye

Sheshe se bhi nazook iss dil ko tootane mat dena…

Bhool kar tumko jee na payenge

Tujhe dekh kar jo dil dhadkana sikha tha…

Tere pyar ke bina, dil kahin dhadkana bhul na jaye...

Bas itne guzaarish hai ke tumhare dil ke recycle bin mein mat rakhna.

It’s strange isn't it? the very thought of a potential* life partner changes your life all together. You see love in the air first time, apart from pollution & new microbes causing new flu etc nowadays…There are instances in life where you don’t know what you want from life & life seems to make no sense & instances where you know exactly what you want in life, but still life seems make no sense, because there is no way you could get it. Well, Shruti seemed just an excellent example, but worth a heart-breaking try though

Raj ke dil mein to Simran ko dekh kar kuch kuch hua tha…

Hamare dil mein to iss anjane khoobsurat ladki ko dekh kar bahut kuch ho gaya…

potential* : of course conditions apply, wish I could be lost in this dream for ever, reluctant to embrace the reality where the complexity of lives determines the probability of two people falling in love.

A day’s long wait was over finally & Shruti & Sunil met at the same restaurant.

Finally getting a break from uncertainty & wondering that whether she is actually gonna come for me or it was just a kind of joke.

Sunil : Hi I am Raj, naam to suna he hoga ?

Shruti : ha ha…good one, its been long I never heard this. Hmm, well I am Simran, who looked back one last time wondering whether the guy who stared at her so long was at all going to approach for asking out.

Sunil : Is it ? Wow, I feel Ah Ah I feel ..I feel..Oh god now it seems so easy to express those complex mathematical equations rather than to express these feelings. That too when pretty girl is 5 inches near to you.

Sunil (after thinking long could come up with this only) : well, I am surprised, I thought you were way out of league for me…

Shruti : Why, you have not been asked out by a pretty girl earlier ?

Sunil : Oh ho ho, I am not gonna fall for that, you want to hear your appreciation from me, let me say your handwriting is very nice. I am Sunil, why don’t we sit here…

Shruti : Oh good, Raj name wouldn't suit you anyway.

Sunil : I may look like a software engineer, but really I am not, working in that white boring building opposite to colorful Forum mall, & amateur astronomer, pretty cool sky-observation stuff you know ? I swear to God I am not a geek.

Although I now realize why Pooja had instructed me not to be too much of myself. Thank God, otherwise I would have started simply Chapter 1 : Introduction to Astronomy.

Shruti : Oh, Who is Pooja ?

Sunil: Did I say that aloud? I thought I said it in my mind.

I wanted to say she is my girlfriend, but that may ruin the current attempt of making Shruti my girl friend, besides the fact that Pooja was really like my girl friend, we both knew everything about each other, thanks to that long hours of office work, at least I had a good company, a good friend to seek advices, more importantly to make a useless attempt to understand a girl's mind. All i could deduce after lot of research was Girl's mind is very unpredictable.

Why is that girls are interested in other girls, & why it’s so important for them to be told by others about their appearances, obviously the answer is gonna be that they look pretty.

Sunil: Pooja is my colleague, she told not to be myself too much !

Ah again…Damn it you nervousness, I realize that I should have not told this too..

Shruti : I like people who are the same inside & outside

Sunil : Enough about me, I have spent many hours updating about me in orkut, facebook, & don’t know still many sites, you can look up there always. Tell me about you…

Shruti : Well I am apparel designer, studying now, wish to take up as profession later.

Sunil : cool ! I suppose you design ornaments. Not many people do what they like to do in life.

Shruti : No it's not ornaments, it's clothing fashion designing.

Sunil : Oh FTV stuff, Bikini destinations stuff, cat walks etc cool, this time controlled to say it aloud.

Destiny had done a sort of tit for tat with me, many people believe I am astrologer when they hear astronomer, & I explain to them the difference between astrology & astronomy, wondering whether they are stupid or something. Now I got couldn't pick up apparel designing as clothing or rather less clothing.

Shruti : I see you don’t care for fashion much, you have this professor type ka look.

Sunil : ya that’s true, you are good at observing things. – hope this appreciation cheers her up & still wants to be my friend.

Shruti : Tell me more, how come serous science about sky is your hobby

Sunil : ok, I don’t want to bore you now, just I was interested from childhood, picked up things & understood & got into like minded friends.

Ya I have done it, I have stopped being myself completely, now I am the romantic guy any girl could fall in love with, sorry any pretty girl could fall in love with, sorry Shruti could fall in love with.

Shruti does this strange action she places her hand making it a phone shaped & virtually calls up her friend. She is apparently updating her close friend about new guy - me.

Shruti : Hey I met one nice weird guy, at restaurant…I think I like him, Shruti continues the reply on behalf of her friend as well, Oh cool, how is he? tell me more, is it love at first sight ? I just like him, don’t know …he is nice, tall & handsome, He is from Bangalore & software engineer. He does not care about fashion etc, dressing sense etc but I think I will teach him.

Admist my wondering if I marry Shruti, Oh my god, astronomy most toughest thing is taking most of my time, Now I have to learn fashion, not cool ! Let me be myself, Our children will have to learn fashion…how can I allow this when real science is out there to be explored. I hear a voice : Now, you call up your friend & tell about me

What stupid thing, telling about some one in front of someone, just as my appraisal process in office I wanted to tell, but did not. Oh, this is supposed to be a romantic thing, why to ruin it ?

Sunil : Hmm, I will call up Pooja…She was the only one who ran across my mind.

Hey it’s Sunil, remember the girl I told you about. I met her today, she is more beautiful that I had seen her the day before. She seems a nice girl though I don’t know much about her. Ya you were right…the probability of finding a girl who has same interests or hobbies as mine is less. If Shruti agrees, I can simply send her photo in the photo competition at office & win a prize easily. Hey it’s great, good to hear about your new girl.

As I dint have anything more to tell, so made up this clever reply : Pooja was busy & kept the phone - I said.

Her smile was more than enough to make it my day, but how could I forget about her likely boy friend who stood her up yesterday?

Sunil: if you don’t mind, was that your boy friend yesterday whom you were waiting for.

Shruti: Yes, why do you ask?

Sunil: Oh is it? I felt like mother of hero of Hindi movies who goes to temple & asks in front of God- Oh God, Why ?

Shruti (laughing): I can’t stand that look on your face, sorry was just messing up with you. I was waiting for my cousin who is studying in college & apparently had assignments to complete, hence couldn't catch up last evening.

I think I must go, it was very nice meeting you, take my number & do you want to write it on your hand or somewhere as you shirt says ‘I have Amnesia’

I wanted to say, I designed it myself, but seemed contradictory to my swearing to god that I am not a geek just few minutes before.

Sunil: Ya tell me, oh that one, it doesn't apply with situations involving pretty girls.

Took down her number & controlled myself not to seem desperate from saying: I love you, wish you could be the love of my life, I could dedicate romantic poems to her, already many in my blog. But just told, it was wonderful meeting you & cannot wait to meet again.

Shruti: same here, So give me a call.

Sunil: wait let me tell..unlike rakj mere dil mein bahut kuch hota hai.. Hope atleast a fraction of that happen in you.

Shruti: still we don’t know each other, let’s see. Bye, take care.

Sunil catches up Pooja in office & tells hey I have got a new blog post, very exciting one this time.

Pooja : I know it's your meeting with that pretty girl isn’t it? can you think of something else apart from blogging & astronomy ?

Sunil: alright, don’t scold me, you just remind me of my mom, thank god my mom does not understand either astronomy or blogging.

Pooja: Ok, tell me, something, anything working out ?

Sunil: She is a Punjabi girl, bubbly, fun loving girl, caring have to see where things go, and did I tell you that she is pretty?

Pooja: ya ya you told me many times that she is pretty, Oh Punjabi, yet another 2 states story like Chetan bhagat? Good luck buddy

I am destiny, the narrator of the story, I unfold in strange ways.

Yet another love story : Part1

2010-10-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

Yet another love story ....coz i don't hate love stories.

Part1 : Serendipity

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Scene 1 : Sunil's office, Pooja sits besides Sunil in office

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Sunil : Hey Pooja, ok I don't know how to ask this, anything to gift for first date ? actually second date, actually it's complicated, Why am I talking so much, I am already nervous I suppose, Can you stop me please ?

Pooja : Ah, a girl, you have a date with a girl ? Sunil let me tell you, those internet chat ones - don’t believe them, you are a good boy, stay away from them.

Sunil : No not chat ones, I met her already, its with a pretty girl of course.

Pooja : ok, you have confused me already, tell me after few days if things work out, just buy flowers, red ones indicate love, so yellow would be great. Is she is girl from your geeky astronomy club, then you know better what to buy. Wait, are you sure you are not day dreaming after that weekend sleepless night of sky-observing

Sunil : No stop talking nonsense, I said she is pretty, how can a girl be both pretty & into astronomy same time, any tips for a date ?

Pooja : You are a nice guy, just be yourself,

Sunil ( Big smile showing all teeth ! ) : Really, hey thanks.

Pooja : I meant be yourself, but just not too much ! (Oh, smile reduces ) I mean shave & go, not that once a week shave, I don't give a damn look. Don't wear That E=MC2 shirt, nor any physics quotes shirt, i.e she must not find anything interesting on you to start conversation, so that you don't start talking your own stuff. She may get bored & drifted away.

I took a deep breath & wondered whats wrong with the E=MC2 shirt or other physics quotes shirt, I knew nothing about politics sports, Bollywood numbers, etc etc. I asked my consciousness, just like my mom told, that it never tells lies : Is it important to give up your true self entirely to start a relationship with a girl ? Answer came : Absolutely !

Sunil buys yellow flowers, wondering what to make out of Pooja's instructions & goes to the restaurant that evening. The newly opened one is by his friend Rajesh

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Flash-back - reverse rolling of tape..

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The day before, Sunil reads a note over & over again not blinking his eyes for 5 mins. The note read

"Tomorrow same place evening @ 6 ? - you could have just asked me instead of staring at me so long ..bye tc :-) ..Shruti'.

A gentle wind in the pleasant evening, the setting orange sun in the far horizon, there comes our heroine. She comes in the restaurant, all eyes are on her, Sunil exclaims 'Whoa, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen I suppose, she takes a seat & orders coffee. Sunil at the counter of his friend's newly opened restaurant. Sunil's heart skipped several beats & his eyes never blinked. A CRO machine connected to his heart would have shown the waveform of love symbol definitely with caption "let she be the one, God please ". Her orange dress matched with the setting sun, Sunil closed his eyes as if he could smell the fragrance of petals printed on her dress just like wheel or some detergent advertisement. Hmm, Why do we waste so much time finding the right one, when there are so many right-for-now pretty ones around ?

She was so charming, no make up, no hair do, no lipstick, making one wonder in these days, how come one can look so simple & yet so charming. The background song : 'Phir bhi kitne sundar ho' seemed to descibe her precisely.

Every moment's sight was so precious, worth to be captured in some kind of memory photograph. the melody of the sound of her payal seemed to match with the instrumental song in the background. Her red bindi reminded of the hubble image of the red giant betelgeuse . Like the Doppler effect, her proximity towards me only intensified my feelings for her.

Rajesh : Leave it dude, not your type.

Sunil : Shaadi thode he karne hai, line to marne de, after school days line marane ka bhi chance nahi mila...

Rajesh : line marta tha, school times itself ?

Sunil : Dude, whats big deal, no girl used to recognize that I am trying to impress her anyway.

Sunil sits next to her table staring at her almost making her uncomfortable. She finished her coffee, waiting for some update on her mobile. She picks it up & messages some body. She seems a bit upset, that look totally not going with her charm & beauty, she waited for half an hour, not looking around much. She got a call & said something on the phone & left to leave. She handed something to waiter along with paying the bill. Five minutes later the waiter comes to Sunil & handed the tissue paper. Whoa there it contained a note " tomorrow same place evening @ 6….. " - yes it was note from that pretty girl who left 5 minutes ago. Sunil began to wonder, anything wrong with this girl ? No pretty girl has given me a signal like this before, or is it I have evolved faster in recent days to become handsome. Did her boy friend stood her up in restaurant now, Did he break up with her ? Obviously she has a boy friend, since she was so pretty. Suddenly Shruti seemed to be the most beautiful name in the world.

You may wonder who I am telling the story, you will come to know soon.

Disclaimer : I am not Sunil of story, all characters are fictional.

Revenge against destiny

2010-10-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

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5.30 a.m at Green valley railway station, Jammu & Kashmir :

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Chotu : Wake up, Wake up my friend, listen carefully. I want you to do one work of mine, give this parcel to my brother on his birthday next week, I wont be there promise me that you will not open it & see. This belongs to my brother, Just give it to him & tell its last gift from me. Keep this safely with you. I have wrapped it in plastic cover so that it will not get wet. I am going somewhere, I have made a choice probably the most important decision of my life. I am sick & tired of this life. If am earning only Rs 50 selling team here, hence cannot rejoin my school. I will not end up anywhere near my dreams. Besides I will be having guilt of not taking care of my bother. I am just choosing the less worse thing, in fact I suppose I don’t have a choice.

Destiny has played a dirty game with me, I am going to reply it now.

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6: 00 am train arrives at Green valley

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Boom ! A loud blast is heard, Bomb Blast & next instant three compartments burning with fire, there is blood everywhere, many people catching their last breadth, many already dead.

Police & ambulance, fire brigade rushing to towards station.

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Report by local newspaper next day
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His name was Chotu, Police have confirmed this is the case of Suicide bombing, another shameful act of terrorism, this is the third bomb blast in the city in last 5 months. Making a child a carrier of bomb by giving him money is cheap act of terrorism.

When we asked police more about the blast, the police have told us 'Although no terrorist organization has taken responsibility for the blast, what else can be the reason? we are so easy targets of terrorists here in our valley always, he was a waiter at local stall, sold tea at platform & in the train. He came here last year after his parents were killed in the market bomb blast. They owned a general stores in the market. The hotel owner was care taker of these two brothers Ram & Sham. Chottu or Ram elder brother was about 15 yrs old, but everyone called him Chottu. His brother & friends are denying that Ram could ever do this bad thing. He was speaking with two strange guys one week back, after serving them them tea. They were talking to him something for quite sometime, may be asking him about the city.

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Rotary School, Jammu & Kashmir
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This is the story of Chottu, this is the beautiful picture I took one month back of the Station. Today this platform is in ashes. Terrorism never stops like this, only increases. Use the correct approach to stop terrorism. Rehabilitation of the victims should be done essentially, otherwise they will loose their normalcy in life and get carried away for doing anything anti social for sake of money. If the govt had some school or some NGO could have taken care of Ram & Sham & continued their education. they would have not done this.

This is the moral science class & we have heard many nice stories. But children, this is not just a stroy, this is reality, things happening not far from our school. You all are going to be the next future of India, you need to bring about a change. While the corrupt policy makers are busy making money for themselves & public opinion's vary over a trajectory from denial to acceptance, people just want to be told it's over. But it's not.

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One week later..
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Chottu's friend gives Sham the parcel and tells Happy Birthday Sham, your brother gave me this parcel to give it you, he said its his last gift. I think Chottu wanted you to be happy always.
They together open the packet & surprised to see ten thousand rupees. Sham tells I miss my brother, he was the only family I had, how can he think I will be happy with this money, I don't want this money, I want my brother back.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits
Image - Alston Station by Wandering Soul
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

Changing times, changing interests!

2010-09-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

myself @ IISC bookstore

Life is strange isn't it? How things change rapidly with time, how our interests, hobbies, passions change in course of time, no fixed time period though. Apart from Astronomy, which is inbuilt in my gene, when I was in hostel during engineering days it was Hollywood flicks & chicks. Thilak my friend inspired me to watch English movies. This was a wonderful world of story telling. I saw so many movies, that if anyone asks my favorite movies I can tell over hundred of them easily. Easy availability facilitated this, thanks to torrents & piracy; otherwise I would never have afforded so many movies. Say in 4/5 years now watching a movie has become a passé in my life. What really happens when you watch so many movies is expectations increase or other side effect is you get irritated by so many not-so-good movies coming all the time. Nowadays it blogging, writing & reading books. Just find very hard to find time, Attracted towards blogosphere which is also platform of story telling, various stories about so many things in the world & out of the world. I didn’t know such a world existed until some months before. Very young people have such an excellent command over English & write so elegantly that makes me wonder how come they have opinion about anything & everything. Some of them write so elegantly, so expressive that they bring out the exact opinion in reader’s mind they wanna convey, apart from creative writing blogging is all about beautifying your blog as well, people play with HTML like paint brush. Some blogs are so full of art & beauty.

Thoughts_behind : IISC library has some of the best colletion of physics books, was very glad to see latest printed releases of Feynman Lectures on Physics. So many books to read, So less time left in life !

Amateur Astronomy Workshop July,2010

2010-09-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

BAS conducted yet another successful workshop on July 24th & 25th. Below is the report written by me.
The same report can be found here.

Bangalore Astronomical Society organised amateur astronomy workshop and about 55 participants were registered. A program which run for two day, covering various aspects of amateur astronomy. This workshop was mainly organised to share the learning BAS members had over the period of years. Workshop was organised in short notice but the participants made it a huge success and with all the positive feedback we have received about the workshop, we will come back soon with many more such events.

Thanks for our guests and Amateur Astronomers Prakash (ABAA) and Subramani (ABAA) for their kind support and participating in the workshop. I would like to thank, National college Jayanagar management for renting us the seminar hall, all BAS volunteers ( Vivek, Achyut, Gautham, Ravi, Viswa, Amar, Udayan, Pavan K) for their hard work in organizing and support.

Thanks for Sunil G for writing a good report about the workshop.

Looking forward for many more such workshops and participation.

Naveen Nanjundappa

Reports follows here..

In the movie ‘A walk to remember’, Jamie's ambition in her life was to ‘witness a miracle’

Well, to say this workshop was a miracle I witnessed. Other miracles being with BAS more than 2 yrs now included watching TSE with Akarsh, Pavan etc & ASE with Naveen, Sharanu etc & so many star parties with Amar, Vivek & Akarsh & so many wonderful astronomy enthusiastic friends.

First of all Congrats BAS for conducting the workshop successfully & wonderfully with so much knowledge shared among us. I had forgotten that this workshop was my idea until Akarsh told me about this! I joined BAS couple of years back, when I had completed reading 4/5 popular books like - A Brief history of time, Universe in a Nutshell etc & was wondering what’s next? From that point of time I am able to explore various aspects in astronomy being with BAS, learnt so many things from everyone...to mention a few Naveen, Amar, Akarsh, Vivek, Parag, Pavan, Rakesh, Keerthi Kiran, Achyut, Ravi babu, Goutham, Viswakeerthi, Kiran Tikare etc.

Here is a summary of what we learnt @ workshop:

> There are many aspects of Amateur astronomy, you can observe planets, deep sky objects, astrophotography, astrosketching, radio astronomy(electronics expts specially for electronics engineers), learn theoretical astrophysics, Astrometry, do experiments, build telescopes, optics, instrumentation & the list goes on. Last but not the least, hunt for meteorites, comets, supernova etc.

> Ancient astronomy, Astronomers & their contributions. Galileo Newton etc. How our concepts changed with time. Lucky people as they were blessed with good skies then!

> Various Coordinate systems, Equatorial coordinate system - Right Accession & Declination. Difficulties with coming up with the coordinate system to locate a particular point for an observer on any part of earth for apparent view of obervable sky, directions, terms like hoizon & zenith.

> Stars patterns are called Constellations - how mythology has inspired to accept amazing patterns. Identifying tips, star hopping techniques, averted vision, - present day -88 Constellations as per IAU.

How star atlas is different from a catalog ? Messier marathon - Annual event where all 110 objects can be observed in one night .

Collins Gem Night sky pocket size beginner‘s guide to identifying constellations.

Various Star charts & catalogs exist.

Messier catalog – 110 comets like objects – the most beautiful things in night sky!

> Sun, study of surface features of Sun like sunspots, prominences . Life cycle of star moon & phase lock, eclipses, TSE, ASE retrograde motion.

TSE, ASE -how lucky we are to witness such amazing phenomena. The distances between Sun & Moon & the apparent sizes of moon & sun for an observer on earth are such that they give rise to such beautiful phenomena! not only beautiful view , but during eclipses lot of experiments can be done.

Binoculars, what best you can do with binocs, care while choosing one, what 10X50 means ?

Asteroids are minor planets, orbiting between Mars & Jupiter. Vishnu Reddy, the most famous amateur astronomer from India discovered asteroids http://blog.vishnureddy.net/

Asteroids, nomenclature. Meteor craters. Lonar crater in Maharashtra is the nearest & one of the significant in the world.

> Role of atmosphere & sky conditions, Bortle scale of sky darkness.

How light pollution, clouds, city lights, water vapor or haze can play spoils sport in observations & photography. On the other hand Auroras, rings around moon sun are awesome atmospheric phenomena

DSO comprising identifying constellations, open clusters, globular clusters, asterisms, nebulae, galaxies, cluster of galaxies etc.

Difference between magnitude & surface brightness. Catalogs of DSO.

How advanced DSO involves observing & recording features like spiral arms, nebulae in other galaxies,

Averted vision, star hopping techniques.

Importance of maintaining logs of your observations

Optics concepts like magnification focal length, resolution

Instrumentation aspects , choosing binocs, telescopes, focal length, magnification, eyepieces etc

Various filters which allow certain range of frequencies of light to pass & give amazing images.

Comets are most wonderful & beautiful visitors ,

Comets, core, coma, tail, composition & Oort cloud, types of comets with some breadth taking snaps of some of the comets. Indian Comet discoverer :

http://www.bas.org.in/Home/blog/amaruniverse/2009/23/03/treatise-vainu-bappus-comet

Step by step guide to challenges involved in Astrophotography, techniques like SLR, Star trails, Tripod, Prime focus, manual tracking, piggy backing, Automatic mounts,

Suresh Mohan’s photographs: http://picasaweb.google.com/drsureshmohan/

http://www.astrosurf.com/legault/iss_atlantis_transit_2010.html

Amazing phenomena which you should not miss to watch & photograph like Eclipses, Occultation, Auroras, halos around sun moon etc meteor showers.

My favourite part was :

Galaxy, classification – Elliptical, Spiral, Barred spiral, Irregular, Some irregular galaxies, Peculiar galaxies, Seyfert, Active galactic nuclei (AGN )

Our home- milky way, spiral arms etc. an observer on earth is seeing the galaxy edge on from inside! Advanced DSO includes seeing features in galaxy.

http://www.petesastrophotography.com/gallery/M31/m31globs.jpg

Last but not the least, how amateurs can contribute in the field of astronomy.

Share the fun & excitement of astronomy!

Thanks for the wonderful feedback, it will hep us create more enthusiasm in making Astronomy more amazing to learn.

Welcome to be a member of BAS, & share the excitement called ‘Astronomy ‘

Regards,

-astrosunilnomy

Sometimes I wonder there just aren’t enough stars!

Happy teacher’s day

2010-09-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

To all the teachers out there, I wanna express my gratitude & wish them a very happy teacher’s day. I don’t have any particular teacher in mind to call up or recall & wish exclusively, not because they were not good, but I was just different & got drifted away from my education at quite early stage, hence lesser appreciation towards things & teachers. As I a good listener, I always wanted to be a student in class room of the great scientist & teacher Dr Richard Feynman. I have been most inspired by his books & lectures & learnt so much. I wish, I could be in his class saying “Thanks professor” .

The best books in Physics : Feynman Lectures on Physics

As my sister said it - the American education system is designed in identifying & improving strengths so that people excel in what they are good at, achieving something in life, hence the number of PhD's in US exceed by a large factor compared to India,. The Indian educational model identifying only weakness, doesn't even care about the interest of students & does not appreciate the strengths etc, hence making all people normal persons. They invest their time & mental energy in improving their weakness whole lifetime & hence become ordinary persons just like everyone else. Education model basically should concentrate in helping students in identifying their interest. Counselling should be an essential part of the school activities. More important then that education system should focus on inculcating good values of our society & culture thus giving out responsible & best citizens for tomorrow. We must start implementing new policies which calls for an unconventional approach now !

Return

2010-09-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 14; the fourteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Here goes a few lines of Aerosmith's Tune….

I could stay lost in this moment forever

Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

I just want to stay with you in this moment forever and ever

Don't want to close my eyes

I don't want to fall asleep

Cause I'd miss you

And I don't want to miss a thing....

There are quite a few occasions in my life, I have felt I can’t afford to miss even a fraction of a second without enjoying to fullest-the ecstatic moments to cherish in my entire life. Enchanting Ganapati Bappa Moraya in Pune’s splendid Ganesh Chaturti festival was an incredible experience two years back, although I missed celebration of the same back home. Those huge artistic beautiful idols, devotees in thousands, ten thousand watt speakers, dancing & celebrations all were such ecstatic moments that they can’t be described in words. I felt as though I was in another dimension of living where my mind went into some sort of a hibernation and the heart chanted prayers of Lord Ganesha. Somehow for the first time in my life, I appreciated the beauty of God & the need to be thankful to Him to whatever he has given me. A deep mystic sense of gratitude arouse in me. Everyday while leaving home, as the Lingayat tradition goes, I apply 3 horizontal lines of Vibhuti on my forehead, rapidly recite a prayer without knowing its meaning, more importantly without knowing it's significance in life & rush to live my daily life without even realizing what God meant to me. It's like, I give a power point presentation to god about my wishlist in life & erase the vibhuti as soon as I am out of mom's sight, thinking it had become a passe.

God is not essentially an incomprehensible form whom we blindly worship. God is a feeling, an Ehsaas, an emotion, a tribute to the creator & sustainer of life, a feeling of thankfulness etc. You can customize God to the form you like to worship, May it be in love towards your parents, profession, knowledge, possessions etc. You may see God in your beloved people, in your family. Sounds rather bizzare- I find God in Astronomy- the subject I love the most. I find God in the love towards my family - my parents & grandparents who were freedom fighters. I have heard stories from my grandma about how Ganapati festival & processions happened in pre - independence days & hence have a sort of emotional attachment to all this. As a family tradition the idol we bring is from same shop made by the same person every year.

All great scientists who are logical thinkers throughout their lives are firm believers in God. This spirituality, devotion, is all beyond logic. We need a much higher level of thought process to understand & appreciate such things. Ordinary people like us who do not care much what mythology or history defines God to be, have an option to perceive & worship God in whatever form we like.

Ganesh Chaturthi, which was initiated for the purpose of national integration among Indians during days of freedom struggle, creates a wonderful atmosphere of joy, happiness celebration in home as well as in society.

I am waiting for the return of this splendid festive season, to re-live the Ganesha moments again (modaks included!).

Ganapati Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukariya !!

P.S : First job, new city, first time living away from home, no friends at all - I went to Pune & my uncle's friend picked me up & on way to his home, where I was supposed to be staying for a week, saw Dagdusheth Ganapati & exclaimed Whoa ! such a beautiful idol ! - first time I left saying the 'F' word for all exclamatory things, after 4 yrs of hostel life - my first dose of refinement I suppose.

Unlike other Gods, probably the duration for which we keep Ganapati idol makes it so special, kind of missing feeling after festive season. Hope to catch up both this year - Pune's Ganapati celebrations & at my home too. For those of you who have not seen the Pune's Ganapati festival, do make a plan to be a part of the same this year.

You can get more info at : Ganesh_Chaturthi@Wiki

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Technology-contest@indiblogger

2010-08-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

This post has been submitted for the My Demand contest

Complete Automation in automotive engineering:

Accident free traffic….by entering the source & destination of the travel all the vehicles must automatically optimize their routes & drive themselves to destination with artificial intelligence so that there can be no accidents. Also multistoried roads can be built for areas which are having higher traffic.

Doctor IC:

A device similar to cell phone which monitors health parameters like blood pressure, sugar levels, etc it can be enhanced to accommodate more health parameters. Should be able to diagnose health issues & recommend the medicine as entered by your family doctor. This would be first line of support similar to first aid.

A handheld device giving access to all kinds of information anytime anywhere for everyone..probably connect to internet !!

Cycles running on solar energy. A solar panel installed at home charges the battery fitted in cycle. If this battery runs low we can peddle to commute on the cycle.

Clothes which change color depending on our choice…

Innovation in storing & transporting electricity at minimal losses.

To device to archive my thoughts i.e facts & figures in my personal PC, which I tend to forget usually & access it when required in future….

Economical solar panels on roof top of every house generating electricity for daily usage

Huge solar panels around the sun…wirelessly transmitting energy back to earth…

==============================================================

a dose of love :-)

2010-08-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

u taught me love :-)

2010-08-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

thought_behind_quote : zinda rehte hain unke Mohobatein

PS: this is one of my favorite instrumental.

Silence as an expression of love !

2010-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

thought_behind_quote. We don't need to say I love you everyday , its so obvious that we love someone more than anything else.

PS: This is the first one in the series 'quote_in_pic' - something i invented. A picture is worth a million words. This is the inspiration behind this idea.

A ripple of consciousness !

2010-08-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

A tribute to all the small insignificant things in life that bring joy !

The elegant dance of flame in the gentle breeze

Swinging in the rhythm of life

A burning desire in the prison of lantern resembling life.

The chirping of birds returning their nests

A dried leaf floating in the random wind

without knowing its destiny or purpose

The light fragrance of the white jasmine

So pure, so serene & happening n so effortlessly

A withering petal, half brown & half pink

A log floating in the stream, going with the water

Seems like my destiny freely floating in the waves of life

The flickering of street light outside my window

the thunder & then the silence before the storm

the reminiscence of childhood

a feeling of childhood joy rescued from oblivion

never ending wait for the sheer bliss of living

waiting for the return of shot from the catapult of life

a careless walk in beige dried grass

an unwilling attempt to embrace the destiny

to live the life the way it comes

has life lost its sheen ?

a green blade of grass shining in the sun,

a small bean trying putting its head out & get the first glimpse of the world.

A millipede with its numerous legs, crossing the street.

An extinct sparrow returned with its chirp to wake me up.

Reminding me of the beautiful world out there

Apart from being just plugged into the wall

Taking a break from the normal windows desktop of landscape

and resting my eyes on the actual one from outside my window.

bringing a great sense of belonging with the nature deep within.

quintessence of living is long forgotten luxury

an effortless attempt to understand the intangible universe

the line of ants passing by, with tiny bits of food in their mouth

storing for the harsh winter.

a snail making up slowly, unaware of its speed

escaping into its shell, sensing any danger, pretending to be safe inside.

a sea shell lying on the shore, a twisted spiral

A million sparkles reflected on ocean water by setting sun

A tendril hoping to coil around the stem.

A mushroom waiting to stretch itself from the moist log.

A honey bee, working hard as usual visiting various flowers,

Collecting honey from those millions of flowers,

Unaware of the probability of that it may be stolen.

Strange is the evolution which has imparted intelligence

the necessity of hexagonal honey comb

Admist all these bizarre thoughts

A desperate wait for someone special never ends,

Wishing the centrifugal force of my desire be stronger

than the centripetal force of obligation

For once I would like to take a daring tangential leap

Breaking the circling around along the path set by life’s destiny

For once gathering courage to take a leap of faith,

to be free form regret of not attempting even once.

As a feeble photon travelling from a millions of light years

from unknown abyss of space & time hits the eye

mind rejoices in the realization that we are insignificant as a particle of dust.

A destiny reluctant to reveal more than one page at once.

A falling star seen across the sky

I don’t know what to wish for

I only wish to convey gratitude to the creator, sustainer & destroyer.

Stretched hands feeling the ocean breeze

Seemingly flying in the bliss of sight of horizon of water & sky

Glancing at the cloud passing by,

feeling the tender kiss of first rain drops on the cheek

The cold waves touching the feet

like arms of the sea trying to embrace me in it’s abode

as I let go off the notion of reality, the modern world around me

I feel as light as rain, as white as snow

To connect with the nature in its true form,

& rejoice in the very existence & wonderment about oneself

For I am the one of the nature’s most beautiful creations

I am just a ripple of consciousness of someone somewhere

in the mysterious fabric of space & time

PS: This is not exactly a poem, or may be a poem in its nascent stage, raw, thought to post it same way, no refinement! just a collection of raw abstract bizarre thoughts ran across my mind when looked through my window !

Goodbye 2

2010-08-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 13; the thirteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

This was my old post, shamelessly posting it again as i think i get less attention or appreciations compared to the hard work which goes behind writing. Enjoy reading anyway !

It was the time for our last Goodbye :-(

As she disconnected from me

without telling a reason,

without a hint of what went wrong

Leaving me bewildered & wondering in agony

I was sure we could work things out

whatever they were, with minor adjustments

I could change myself completely for her

I could have gone extra miles for setting things right

As I always knew I was not the perfect one for her

But I knew deep within, that this was not the reason,

a reason she preferred not to reveal

But I know for sure there was some other reason

a reason beyond my awareness,

a reason she never wanted me to know

I knew without a doubt that she could never be unfaithful

just fighting hard to accept her destiny as mine.

probably it was an obligation

a compromise included in her destiny

But I know she could never have never been unfaithful to me

As she went ahead

She turned to look at me one last time

With tears in her eyes, & a trembling smile

Telling the obvious truth

It was not her choice to depart

But the result of embracing her destiny

I wish I could her hug her for one last time

as she kissed goodbye from a distance apart

For the miles we walked together seemed infinitesimally small

there was still a long way ahead, in the wonderland of our dreams

in the beautiful & abundant life

in the life awaiting to make our dreams come true

My heart was sealed for her

I thought of none except her

The faith & trust which kept our love alive

I know, i can never love anyone that way

As our love was most pure & eternal

With her gone & with unwilling desire to move on

I just have one small wish left.

I just wish her pain reduces

Suppressing the wish, she could be mine again

to live the promises we made long before

which seem to now disappear in vain

I know you will not return baby

I know we can never be together again

But I will keep waiting for you now & for ever

You can find me at cross roads where we separated

I will be there until the end of time waiting for you to return

Coz that’s the only thing which makes sense

In this life which is meaningless without you.

I know you can never be mine

Still I refuse to accept this reality

For what’s left after this

Is a sense of void without even a silly hope of your return?

The last flower from you will wither in my book

though the memories of our time together will remain afresh in my heart

there is nothing other than memories to move on in life

rather feels to move backward to relive the moments we were together.

Just once again.

I feel so cold inside

Missing all the warmth of love & care within

For there are only memories to recall

The ones to cherish for the remaining lifetime

Sometime’s life is bit unfair

Depriving small aspirations too,

For all the love we shared , I think destiny was more than generous

But this is just not the way I wanted it to end

I wish she could be mine forever,

Hopefully I could run into her in next lifetime

Hope she recognizes me then

For I will the same as I am now

Her mad lover boy.

Loving her more than anything else.

I will miss you deeply, deep within my hearts

Amidst all these thoughts, as I realize the obvious truth

I feel a sense a soothing, a relaxed breadth in eternal bliss

For I know for sure that our destiny is not written separately

within no time, we shall be together

high up in the sky, just like a binary star

I will be yours & you will be mine

Pyar ke rahon mein chalna tumne sikhaya....

Pyar ke haseen ehsaason ke sapne sajana tumne sikhaya....

Zindagi ke najane kis ajeeb mod pe, jab tum chal diye apne raaste, tanha hum reh gaye...

Tere intezaar mein hum khade hai unhe raahon mein, jahan hum judaa ho gaye.....

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Goodbye 1

2010-08-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 13; the thirteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Dil chahta hai ....a kind of summer of 69’

How often we miss the good old days of our college & hostel life, we always feel to return to that life, at-least we find pleasure in telling to friends some memories we remember. I had never stayed outside my home before moving to the hostel of SDM college of Engineering, Dharwad. This rhymed poorly with Havard, & we shamelessly took pride to quote: 'Rejected Harvard to study at Dharwad'. As usual it was ragging & introductions with seniors in initial days at hostel & college, (Thanks to ragging in a way which made us friendly with some good seniors whose advice & help has helped us in long run). It was really nice being ragged by senior girls though, kind of gave a gentle kick. Then there was anti ragging committee formed, they were the ones who ragged, the best way to deceive the hostel warden. It was always tough to find time to study amidst all the hostel life fun. We were like the birds freed from the cage called parents & home, just trying to find wings - trying to explore many things which were actually fun, which essentially included bunking classes. They some scrap fellow came up with the idea of shortage of attendance. Now we had to be very calculative about bunking classes.

Elec & Commnc branch - huge strength & we really had to do lot of work to score decent marks. Internal marks were always tough to get. There were assignments & practicals, they screwed if our outcome varied by just millivolts. Our marks were determined by the trajectory in the V-I (Voltage- current) characteristics on graph. We were interested in other curves rather than these curves. There were like millions of theory classes, loads of copying assignments(later in life in software job, we do this in more sophisticated way CTRl+ C/CTRL+V), getting photocopies of notes, labs & meddling with CRO -cathode ray scope to get the desired output. Many a times the fresh fragrance of books were felt only just before the exam. We realized the value of time just before a day of exam always, only to forget it again soon. 8085 microprocessor practicals - consisted of keying in like over 20 opcodes to do just simple addition. This was more efforts than LKG when i used to add using the fingers on my hang & leg in less than a minute. Engg Graphics class consisted of something like imagining a line parallel to one plane may or may not be available in true length in another plane. What the hell ? it was so easy to imagine to sit in last bench & imagine & fantasize the most beautiful girl hanging out with me although it was so unlikely, these technical concept more than being likely, i.e being a reality were so hard to imagine. How the hell to imagine the transistor amplifies the current on which the whole electronics industry is based. Very tough subjects like Signals & Systems or Fields & waves only myself & God knew the way i understood things & managed to clear the exam, now only God knows.

Hostel had a central open roof ground in middle surrounded by rooms on all sides. Palm tennis is patented game of SDM college. Tennis court instead of racket we used our palms to hit the ball. there were few who were so crazy about this game that they even bunked classes to play. It was the time when desktop PC's became affordable for students students, & we found new way to have fun, may it be movies of any kind if you can understand what I mean. On a Sunday when there is no internal on Monday, one random guy would be glued in front of PCs, would get up late afternoon, exclaiming: Neough of studying ! kidding, Enough, had overdose of porn, need to get a life ! All learnt the 'F' word & started to find it's usage in almost all the things may it be good or bad. I used it in my welding class for the first time that too in front of Sir. They give welding shield which protects our eyes as we should not stare directly at the flame. As I held it came out the expression owing to overdose of seeing Hollywood flicks & chicks : What the fuck ? nothing is visible neither the tip of wire nor the metal joint to be welded.

   It's very surprising how varied personalities came under common culture called SDM. There are so many humorous moments i can recall, many more are forgotten though. There was a guy- Raj who used to sing Sonu Nigam's song all the time. By default everyone became bathroom singers as couple of bathroom doors would never get latched & you have to sing to indicate your presence inside. Thilak, who kept track of all things happening around him, just didn't mind interrupting you whenever he could making some scrap joke all the time. Sachin, whose room was such a mess, heaps of clothes lying around, not washed since ages, so bindhaas that just wear some jeans & hang out, all jeans looked exact similar & were originally had look to look very dirty. thats the most innovative way to make appear clean all the time. He found something he intended in this mess so easily, that it made my efforts of organizing things seem waste. If we are organized, after a while we may forget where did we keep a particular thing. but if its a mess, then that thing is definitely there in that heap. Then there was Pai, my friend, philosopher & misguide, who ate equal to ten people's share, i always wondered how come he so slim. Then there were good guys who used to simply mug up things & get highest in exams. There was a guy who used to overact just like our Bollywood actors we named him 'extra' for that. One guy used to apply Vibhuti on his forehead & I found him visiting some nearby temple all the time. There were few guys who kept talking all the time, just wished promptly good morning afternoon & evening just dropping in all the rooms. There were couple of them whom were silent most of the time but very strong personalities within. By final year we had finished all scoldings in English & Hindi unclassified dictionary that we had to come to common understanding that 'huchha' was supposed to be very high intensity scolding. But all this meant was 'mad' in Kannada. There were many humorous ideas like gifting a condom on someone's birthday & birthday bumps left a bad ache on the birthday boy. Holi was just tearing of shirts & making one unrecognizable by applying all the color all over. Then there was a malfunctioning phone, put a rupee coin & speak unlimited to impress your girl friend in hostel in same campus. Then, there were small fights and big fights among groups formed for some or the other reason like hitting on a girl, who was supposedly someone's girl friend etc. Once a guy washed another's underwear by mistake as it had same color & came & asked is this yours in room full of ten people. Next day was his photo on notice board with a quote : Get your underwear washed for free. We had cultural event called 'Fantasia' in which the participants from various engineering college in the state took part & it was a whole lot of fun. This also gave a chance to hit on other college girls as the saying goes, girls in neighboring college are always prettier & believe me it's true. I played various roles in the 'mad adds' event naming a cycle brand as 'Max Climax' - condom brand for cycle ! Thanks to this esteemed opportunity which got me on stage first time in life for such a prank -selling a condom named cycle. Thanks to girl's hostel being nearby many found their love apart from completing their education, many hearts broke as well. Though we did not have a convocation for graduation day with black coats & hat throwing etc, I feel very honored to be awarded the title 'SCHOLAR' by some random guy in hostel which in short meant an intellectual person. I felt overwhelmed when the title was prefixed with common words 'Saala kamina Kutta Gomse Scholar hai be'. This was more prestigious to me rather than engineering degree score which was just a normal first class. I must admit I was never interested in Electronics field & never understood how that works, but this came with many many lessons in life. so much fun & so much insight into oneself. Life always teaches the lessons you never want to learn anyway. Then there were all kind of professors, strict, expert, kanjoos to give marks & always angry ones. All the scholars from hostel dropped in when it was the pretty mam's class & there was no place to sit. Overall, College & hostel life were great. The benches were filled in FILB - first in last bench order though we found that this order is not followed anywhere in our operating systems subject later. I became friends with all kinds of people, so diverse characters, yet special in some way, got to learn so many things from everybody, got to know the value of everything in life. Indeed life is all about learning, Isn’t it ?
The last semester was more emotional- atyachaar sort of painful, all guys learnt to drink & becoming all senti that they are going to miss each other's company. It’s more than 5 yrs now, all have moved on in their lives, taken their own trajectories. As I recall the sad moments when we had to depart from hostel, college the last goodbye was so painful, with a false promise that we are going to be in touch in life anyway. Wish I could run across you all guys & gals at some point in life & sit & share the fun we once had, just recall & relive the moments. Wish we could have a grand reunion in college campus sometime, but that's not gonna happen. Many friends are settled abroad. We once rocked the world…it was a kind of summer of 69’ those were the best days of my life! I keep in touch with many through Orkut, Facebook, but days go by without even signing in leave out checking updates about all friends.
   I want return to that Sid & tell sorry for hurting his feelings, tell thanks to Sameer for being there all the time, and Shalini to express my love. wait a sec, Shalini was that hot chick.Ah, it's been so long since I fantasized about her. Dude, she was awesomely hot !

   Strange isn't it, the irony of life, when we didn't have money we had all the company of friends & time to chill out, enjoy. Now we have money & working in a company, but no one has the time to share that chilled beer !
This pic was of my seniors room, BTW we had strict NO for eatables & drinks in hostel, we assumed drinks meant Pepsi & cola. We were grown boys, No one needs to tell us to take a chill pill. We drink chilled beer all the time.

But seriously folks, I miss the Sameer, Sid & Shalini, shalini a bit more of course, & how can I forget my love, my only love, I guess not one sided love. Wish I could gather the courage to tell her just once that she looked so pretty and I am madly in love with her. Probably she would have said that she too loves me.
Hum CRO mein waveform ko nachate rahe, aur zindagi humko nachate rahe !
   Aur najanae kab yun he chaar saal guzar gaye !
Seriously miss those moments of highest levels of Awesomeness in life !

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Inception: This was my idea !

2010-07-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Inception movie is great, too out of the world though it’s similar to 'The Matrix' or 'Thirteenth Floor'. it was a long time i was excited something my type of movie out in theatres, usually i watch almost all movies downloaded from net. But I felt sad that this idea – the exact concept behind the movie was not just similar but exactly same as the one that ran across my mind & I wrote down. May be I could have sold it to some one who could have considered it as a science fiction movie stuff long time back. May be I could have made some money out of it.

More than 15 years before, when I was probably studying in 5^th std school, I started writing book & named it “Beyond your thoughts” which was primarily intended to be a collection of my weird thoughts & ideas that ran across my mind, mainly in Astronomy.

I wrote a subsection called ‘Simple things mean great things’, in which I go to tell about the physical significance of concepts like - choice, purpose, destiny, & dreams being one among them, Below is the exact extract of the same :

Day dream or night dream whatever you may dream is fascinating and dreams mean a lot to us. Day dreams are our aspirations or needs or fascinations we want to achieve in our life. We wonder what night dreams are all about because people dream on varied issues some meaningful and some not. We ourselves don’t understand what our dreams are or mean sometimes. Doctors and researchers have not yet completely understood the dreams. Leave about dreams we have not gained a complete understanding of our brains or minds, probably we will never gain a complete understanding I think, because how the brain works is so complicated thing. And one more thing, our brain has to understand how our brain works.

The interesting thing about dreams is that it’s a world created by our mind in which we stay believing it to be real or not knowing that it’s a dream world. You need to think in a different manner to understand what I want to say. In our non dream world we are well aware that it’s the real world or the non dream world and we can know and remember about the things happening in the dream world. But in the dream world we aren’t aware of it being the dream world and also we aren’t aware that a non dream world exists in which we stay for a longer time compared to dream world. Well you can say that, hey I may not remember just that thing that I thought or rather dreamt in the dream world that I was in the dream world and also thought that non dream world exists and I will return to it soon after completing my dream. Well u can also say that I just may not have dreamt of real world in my dream something similar to as we not thinking of dream world in our real world. What distinguishes the dream world from our real world is that the duration we stay in these two worlds. If we had a sleep pattern of say 23.99 hours which may have included a compulsory dream pattern of all time in it and we would return to the real world for a few seconds or milliseconds we would have thought of the real world as dream world and the dream world as the real world. Well you see the difference between dream world and non dream world. these two are different worlds one being real or something keeping us unconsciously conscious telling it real. We say our non dream world as reality because we stay in it for a longer time and believe in it or want to believe that our belief is correct.

You may remember reading this article about dream world as you reading it in you dream. May be?

But just one more thing. We never get a dream in our dream or what I mean is we never get a dream in which we go to bed and get another dream. I wonder whether we may be able to remember about the second level dream if we return to our real world without returning to dream world in which we had a dreamt of the secondary dream. This may happen if someone wakes us up suddenly when we are in our secondary level dream. If there are such multi level dream patterns in our sleep and if no one wakes us up we may get an infinite loop of dream worlds we may wander endlessly & its very difficult to think what can we remember after breaking out from all these looped dream worlds. Anyway enjoy your dreams !

Wish2

2010-07-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 12; the twelfth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

This is a story of a sweet girl Pooja & a weird boy Sunil.

They met in high school, Pooja's dad got a transfer in his job, & Pooja got relocated to Sunil's school. A new joiner in eighth standard, It was easy for Pooja to make new friends & get adjusted in no time as she kept on changing schools with her dad getting transferred to different cities. She was a typical girl, bubbly, charming & enthusiastic. You know some people are so good at heart that you feel happy when you are around them, you just have a feel good factor just when they are nearby. She was tall & after she entered the class she moved to last benches to find a seat. There was our hero Sunil sitting in last benches, totally unlike the other last bencher's, he was kind of weird guy, was afraid to talk to girls, he was very intellectual, but had some kind of inferiority complex & stammered while speaking. He liked couple of subjects & did not care about the other subjects. Sunil was a good kid, he lived in his world, he used to collect paper cuttings of astronomy articles wherever he found one in newspaper magazine etc. He never mingled with other sporty boys of class, but had few good friends who understood him well.

Pooja introduced herself to Sunil & as usual he was too afraid of her as he would be for any other girl in class. He just told his name & avoided the converstation though she started sitting besides him as this was the only vacant desk, She dressed nicely, talked humorously, loved to hang out with cool friends. Slowly they became friends. Science subject contained mostly of astronomy & Sunil was much ahead apart from this text book knowledge, he used to tell Pooja that what our text book contains is merely a collection of facts & figures, real universe in out there to explore. He used to talk about various mysteries of the universe & Pooja was fascinated by this & share his wonderment too. She appreciated his ideas a lot & Sunil as well. Sunil just liked her company as she used to listen patiently to his crazy ideas.

This was not a love at first sight but a small dose of love at every sight thereafter & grew stronger. they had found good freinds in each other, both being similar in some aspects, curious to know about nature, caring & fun loving. They finished school & joined same college. Both were relieved, that they will get to be in touch with each other in college as well. Then Engineering, Sunil wanted to take up science stream & Astronomy later, but his family conditions needed him to start earning faster. So engineering & then as usual software comapny was the only option. They got their engineering seats in different colleges, probably this was good in a way because this made them realize that how much they missed each other, or rather they came to know how much each liked each other, though they did not openly got committed in their relationship. Both kept in touch whenever they came to their home town & mails & phones. They waited desperately to hear about happenings in each other's lives. Sunil had a malfunctioning coin-phone in his hostel, by putting one rupee coin the active call never ended until phone was hung up. This was a time when mobiles were still not very popular & affordable by students, intermittent internet access from colege labs to mails, orkut, twitter etc, this kind of created a romantic void & desperation to hear from each other. Both landed up in good jobs & began meeting each other. There knew that they were in love but never expressed, pooja was waiting for Sunil to propose & Sunil was waitinf gor the right time.

Sunil was working very hard & had a grand proposal plan. He wanted to earn enough money for a couple of years so that the loan is replayed & have some money for marraige. After an year of his job, He fell ill for some days & was not keeping well often. He got a blood report done & recovered from this. But things had changed a lot within him. He started avoiding Pooja after that, he was very upset about something & never told Pooja, she could easily make that out & he refused to tell her though she repeatedly asked him, she knew his heart as much as himself. Pooja made a plan to get to know what's going on with him. What is bothering him ? Shruthi their common friend insisted on meeting Sunil at a restaurant & asked him whats going on between him & Pooja. She told him Pooja is very unhappy about this unexpected behavior from him. Sunil refused to tell anything. Upon taking promise form Shruthi that she would not reveal anything to Pooja, Sunil broke out. What do you want me to tell Pooja, that I am having blood cancer & I am not going to live for more than couple of years. I even haven't proposed to Pooja & therefore no relation exists between myself & her. I know she would be devastated by this, instead i am thinking of going somewhere without anyone knowking where I am gone. Shruthi asked whether you love Pooja. Sunil replied, I love her more than anything else from the day I met her, the day she sat besides me in school. As usual he was just too afraid to express his feelings for her. He wanted to stand on his own feet, earn some money & then ask her hand. He burst out into tears & said I cannot tell Pooja, better she forgets me. There was a hand on his shoulder & that was Pooja standing there listening to entire converstation. She was in tears realizing that their destiny turned out to be totally other than what she has dreamt of. She told Sunil that she also had liked him the day she met him in class & told if he would have somewhere withut letting anyone know about this, she would never be able to love any other person, Sunil was the love of her life & she had accpeted happily that both are inseperable.

Sunil told her that she is a wonderful girl, she has whole life in front of her & asked to grow out of this situation. Tiem heals everything, just forget this love, & move on. Pooja told she had given her heart to him & she was that kind of girl who couldnt think of any other person other than him. If she was ever going to get married it would be him.

Pooja seemed more than crazy, & because she insisted, they got married. After couple of years, Sunil became very ill. They had a baby boy. As Sunil was on his death bed, they held hand in hand & relived the moments of their life. school days & college days. As Sunil took his last breadths he said “I am sorry, I couldn’t be there all along with you, I Wish I never met you” & Pooja said “I always wish that in next lifetime also I should meet you & you must be the love of my life. She never heard a reply from Sunil. Now she waits for their son Anant, to grow up to understand the things & learn speaking so that she can tell the stories Sunil told her about the sky & stars & universe etc.

You may wonder, Who am I, telling the story? I am destiny, sometimes I WISH, I should not be so unfair.

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