The power of words.....

I recently watched a movie, called "The book of Eli". Its set in a post apocalyptic world, where resources are scarce, there are dead bodies strewn all over the world, and the new generation of people can't even read.. In a world like that, a gang lord, sends out his goons, day in and day out, trying to find a book,, a book that would give him the power to rule over everyone else... His subordinates do not understand, that how a book, could make happen, what so much muscle could not.. He then says, that the book has the words, the words that will hit people right in the heart, and make them come running to him, to worship him.. That book, will give him the words to use, the power to make them count!

The movie is set in Hollywood, so that book is the bible. It could as well have been the Bhagwad geeta or the Quran. The fact of the matter is, that though we say so much... How much really counts? How much would actually matter to you, how much would you remember say 1,2...maybe 5 yrs down the line?

This is where literature, and to a lesser extent, movies make their mark.. For example, i read a book some 4 years ago.. I barely remember any one thing that anyone said back then, but this dialogue from the book, just stuck!
"I shall have lived in vain, if i do not prove to you that the rapier of irony is stronger than the bludgeon of insolence."
-as spoken by Olivier Haddo, from The Magician, written by William Somerset Maugham.

Some movies just immortalize such stories, quotes, or poems.. They make you want to just stop and read all the great literature there is in the world..
There are few which do it with as much effect, as the movie Invictus... If you've seen the movie, you just cannot not be a fan of the poem! So here it is...

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley (written in 1875)

Passing thought - If you want someone to be a really great writer,, ensure it by adding a "William" to their name! It seems like every other great writer in the world has the name!!

In the movie, they used this poem. But in real life, Nelson Mandela gave Francois Pienaar an excerpt from the speech, "The man in the arena", by Theodore Roosevelt.

Maybe someday, i'll be able to make every word count like these great people.. But until then, (I'm a maths student, i believe in probability),, So i'll use lots and lots of words, probability says, that atleast a few of them will be remembered!!


Movie review-
The book of eli - Slow, with brief stints of very gruesome action. Very cinematic. Every shot of this move could be made a wallpaper!! An entertaining watch, and a must watch for Denzel Washington Fans.

Invictus- One of those very feel good movies. Added to the fact that its based on a true story, just makes it that much better. Immortalizes Nelson Mandela, and what he did for South Africa. A very very good movie!

Intelligence prevails..

They (the poor creatures who've realized they're not very intelligent) say..
"I was born intelligent,
Education ruined me."

For their sake, Lets assume they were 'intelligent' when they were born.
Compared to the other species, maybe they were.

Intelligent life forms the other hand.. We say...
"I was born intelligent,
Education just proved to me what i already knew" !

(My heart goes out to the great and witty soul who thought of the original saying, but far too many people plaster it on their shirts these days as a brazen excuse for stupidity and laziness for me to appreciate it anymore)

heaven's opening up...

The whole rainy season, the weather department kept saying that it will rain...But the closest we got to rains here in delhi(barring 1 day) was 80-90% humidity everyday!!
Finally,season was over,, The weather dep pronounce a drought all over the country...
Then ... a couple of days later this happens!!


within 2-3 days,,north India is flooded with heavy rains lasting 3-4 days at a stretch!! The outcome was unprecedented!! This is not a sight you see everyday!


At this point, this little pool is home to 2 Buses,a car and a few bikes!! (dont ask me how!)

The Weather department's (mis)information lives up to its reputation again!!

Getting back to rains,,, this (lack of sense of adventure) isn't the only reason people hate rains.. Its the power cuts, the eternally wet clothes, and inability to move out are some of the other reasons and many more...

The great president of the hagga club (lord makhija),, stated he hated rains..On asking why,,this is what he said....
"Jab baarish hoti hai, to saala road pe pada hua 15 din puraana gobar bhi ZINDA ho jaata hai !! It comes back and hits you in the face with a vengeance!! "
This comment was one of the very few times, that i was left completely speechless! You can't really say anything at something so witty, so true, and so blankly put!

Frankly speaking, i should hate the rains too.... They're the reason my bike needs major repairs, and that i had to swim to work for a few days...


But then,, i remember this...

(I know most people won't recognize this picture,,, but hard as it may be to believe, its our college!!)
And ANYTHING that could turn our barren, sandy, and brown college into this....
Can be nothing short of AWESOME!!
That must be the actual reason behind the phrase.. "The heaven's opening up!"

"Where some see natures fury, others see nature's true splendor !!"

Blog Drought....

I knew its been a while since i was here,, but it really hit me,,when i couldn't get the address to this place right the first couple of times!!! On one hand, i go around screaming at people that they don't read/leave comments,,and on the other,, i forget my own blog address!!! This maybe one of the few times i actually felt foolish about myself.... But then, shame is unnecessary feeling i shed a looong loong time ago... So this'll just be another one of those things i proudly , and i shall continue to enlighten/enliven peoples days from here!!

As to where i've been for soo long... I've just been busy...Apart from creating ground-breaking technologies and boosting the sagging economy of the world,,working 45 hr days and taking interviews,, had to make time for a few social gatherings, ranging from multi-national/multi-racial crowds to kids bday parties, right up to native andhra gatherings...Things like this have to be done from time to time to keep the fans happy you know... In the hours i saved in my life by sleeping those few hours less every night, i managed to squeeze in a couple of meets with international celebrities/authors, and catch a few movies and read a few books too.....Added to all of this were the cross-country bike trips and which included elaborate gastronomic menu's from every place we could find.....With all this, and the the semi-pro photography, gadgetry shopping , the Bike modifications and tuning and breaking land speed barriers....I've just not been able to pull up enough time to get down to writing... But finally here i am...

In my defence, there has been a general shortage of good writing of late online.. I'm referring to the blogs, more specifically about most of the blogs i read..,In the last 3-4 months, almost all of the blogs i read, either stopped, or decreased/shortened the size of the posts dramatically.. Its been,, what i would like to refer to as a blog drought.. Maybe it was the summer, the actual drought, pure laziness or just that people ran out of things to talk about... I mean,, i can't expect everyone to be going and doing cool things all the time!!

So with the actual drought clearing up, and rains flooding most cities in the country, i thought it might be a good time to clear out the blog drought too! So here i am, back to give meaning to the peoples lives (or atleast some humour)... This is the start,, i've got a lot of things to write about from the adventures of the last few months (stated above).. So i hope you guys will have fun reading, and getting scolded by me for not leaving comments! And hopefully, the other bloggers out there will come out to clear the blog drought too, (so that i have something to read when i get bored in office!)!!

So Till next time....Enjoooy !!!

The perfect day!!

I am not superstitious,, but i do believe in luck! (call that an oxymoron if you so please)..And i definitely believe, that when its your day,,it is YOUR day!!
So here goes abt perfect day i had recently...

Dateline-> March 2009
Place-> Gurgaon/delhi

Woke up saturday morning nice and fresh..I had surprisingly energizing sleep! Read the paper, got ready and realised it was a nice It was a nice pleasent day, so came to office taking my own sweet time..

As i reached office, i realised that i was late for some work i had to give in about an hour! It was about the training i had taken the day earlier, about which i was still on a high! Corrected the papers and gave them to the HR, who's a very punctual person.. Though i gave them a half hour late, she actually complimented me on the great job i had done! This day was getting better by the minute..

The mood was nice and cool in office..And after lunch i sat down to do some research for the next task i had to complete over the week.. Interesting new stuff, so it was nice learning things about it.. It tested the knowledge i already had at a conceptual level, so it made the work even more challenging and interesting! Finally after about 6 hrs of searching and almost at the point that i was starting to get bugged, i managed to get things working!!! The joy of getting something working after putting in a lot of effort and continuing even when you thought you can't, is something unparalleled!!

Was on a major high after the accomplishment, and told my senior that i'm done and am leaving for the day..He says, "Par aapko aaj LLD dena tha." . I asked back sadly,"aaj??" and made a sad face..And though i was leaving a bit early, i asked him if i could give it on monday...He smiled, and said "first half monday morning!"..And i was out of office in the next 10 seconds!

As i made my way to makhija's place(usually a painful trip changing 3 modes of transport, bus,then metro, then auto/bus), i got a bus surprisingly easily! And even got a seat! On the way it started drizzling, and i LOVE the rains!! The smell of mud and concrete when it rains is just something else!! Then i got into the metro and found a sat, and on both sides of me 2 good looking females came and sat! And then i even found an auto guy who i didnt have to scream at to charge a humanly payable amount to take me to my destination!! Nothing could go wrong that day!!

Once i reached, though it was 9:30 already, i wanted to go out cos i didnt want to eat at home.. Makhija initially refused, saying he hates rain..On asking why, he gave me one of the most concise and graphic descriptions ever! He said
"When it rains,, road pe pada hua 10 din puraana gobar ZINDA ho jaata hai!! zinda ho ke, it flies around onto everyone, and is more active than ever before!!"
It was a point i couldn't really argue with!! But still, after a little coaxing from me, he agreed and we set out! I got to drive an FZ16, while it was raining !!! Getting to enjoy, great rains, an awesome bike and overall a great day,, all in one!!!

When we reached the mall, i was on a high and in the mood to go to a fancy place..So when moved towards the fancy place there, and on the way makhija tells me, its a disco!!! I can't dance to save my life, and was drenched cos i was driving, and he was in slippers!! But on a day like that,,,we were invincible!! So we walked in hoping we won't be denied entry!

And as we hoped, When we reached the place,, the guys outside lead us inside, no questions asked!! Once inside, the place i was in was a cool place with a quadranlge in the centre, and a stage for a DJ/band, it was 2 levels with the centre open through, giving a balcony type view to the ppl on top..There was a fancy bar and all the disco lights and stuff!! Only one problem...
No of hot girls..........zero...
No of girls..............zero...
DJ playing cool songs....nope...
DJ.......................nope!!!
Songs....................nope!!!
The place was empty!!!! The only ppl there were the ppl working!! For some strange reason the whole place was empty!! No wonder they didnt even ask us when we were entering!! Not willing to be an "different" in this case, we walked out...
strike1...

Ended up eating something at the food court, which was, a bigger fraud than usual..
Strike 2...
Then we were looking for a movie, found a naseerudin shah movie running "baarah anaa"..It was a movie in which naseerudin shah doesnt talk for the whole first half!!! Overall, an OK movie...Expected more from a naseerudin shah movie...
Strike3!! (i could almost hear the sound in my head,,"you're out!!")

And so ended my perfect day!!
Will i still call it perfect? Definitely...Why?? Cos there's no such thing as PERFECT!! The day you think that perfection is absolute,, and that the day is perfect beyond anything else,,is the day you've stopped trying or enjoying!!
If you don't want to take my word for it,, try some other famous ppl!
"Have no fear of perfection
You'll never reach it."
-Salvador Dali

So,,,is today a perfect day?? Yes!!!
Why?? Its my sis's bday!!

Happy birthday akka!!
:D

The law of the garbage truck!

Lots of people ask me how is it that i never get angry, some of them saying they would like to see me angry, one case in going to the extent of saying that they're trying hard to get me angry!!...I just smile back at them, and they get even more confused about the mystery that is Adi...

As a kid, i was this puny little thing who used to go red faced and charge into people (age, size, gender no bar) who said/did something to irritate me, for the tiniest reasons.. In school on numerous occasions i charged into people only to realise 5 seconds later, that i was faaaaaaaar too small/weak to make any difference to them, and on more than one occasion, i got thrown to the floor in a matter of seconds!!

I am a Taurean after all, and the raging bull is too much a part of me.. But over time, some sense dawned, and i've learnt how to control the anger to a great extent.. And despite being big now, and able to put up a fight if needed, i still find the old tactics i used to not get angry more effective!!.. I do have many touchy areas,,and i blow my top for the tiniest reason when anyone does those things.. And most of the people who've lived with me know this only too well.. But in my defense, if i let go of those touchy things too, i would be betraying the Taurean within me!
:D

The gyaan i gained which i use to combat the ragin bull? Simple ways..
(1) I'm in a crazy and talkative mood, in which case i divert my attention to something else or laugh it off before the anger gets to me.
(2) I'm making a conscious effort not to get angry at you.
(3) (The most common reason) I feel Superior and think it is below me to get angry at the things people around me are doing!!
Think about it, someone irritates me, and i come out feeling greater at the end of it! I even smile back half the times and get the person even more irritated than he already is!! Its a complete win-win situation!!!

For all of you who don't have a bloated ego like mine,, maybe this idea can act as a substitute.. Here's the story ...

”One day I hopped into a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital." This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck".

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dumps it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street

The bottom line is that successful people don't let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ……love the people who treat you right.
Forgive the ones who don't.“

Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it!!