simple to complex India

Remember the time when buying a car meant picking a budget and buying the one car that suited that budget? Am talking about the days when the options to buy a car were very few. Am talking about the mid to late 1980s. I still remember the options people had. If they had a small budget, maruti 800 was their only choice. A bigger budget and may be a premier padmini. A slightly higher budget and you had the options of choosing a wide range of colourful Ambassadors :)
Anything above that, you had to import that car. Ahhh, Life was so simple!

These days, buying a car is like going on a head spinning amusement park ride! you think of buying a car and the chances of going mad are more likely than ending up with a car you completely like. Don't get me wrong, having options is great. In fact, the influx of quality cars in India is steadily on the rise, but what happened to all the simplicity? If choosing a car has become so complex, can't imagine how many simple things in life have become complicated!

Merke Merke

Whenever I listen to the song "Merke Merke" from the movie kanda naal muthal, It makes me feel good. never know why. It is a great song and every time I listen to it, I am tempted to go and watch the tastefully made movie. My first impression of the movie was that it was a decent movie and the song did not capture my attention. But when I watched the movie again and again, it kind of grew on me. Now I feel that the movie is great and the song is just pretty awesome! For guys who like the songs, take it!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGKY9AXQoVE

and if any one has the urge to watch the movie like I do now, go to youtube and watch it :)
The quality is not tht good, but the movie is!! :P

mustafa mustafa...

He found it hard to let go. He never wanted to let go, but he had to. His eyes welled up. He was leaving and he had to accept it. But one thing he always knew, he will always remember everything! He felt sad, his eyes were wandering around trying to get in every detail for the last time. His wandering eyes suddenly saw something, something he had been seeing for so long that he never thought of having a second glance at it. But now it made complete sense! He looked at it and read it aloud and wept...

A new year and some new thoughts...

A very happy new year to all of you. Time certainly flies by, doesn't it? I still remember all the new years for the past 6 years! why only the past 6 years? well those years have been the most eventful in my life. I have no clue what I did for the 2000-01 new year celebration. But every new year after that seems to have been etched in my memory. So how was my new year celebration? well, to be honest it was good, but not great. It was good because I was able to ring in the new year with friends with whom I have been celebrating the new year for the past 6 years! It was good because nobody in Boston have ever heard of 'OOO' pottufying until we did it right smack in the middle of the road :) and It was good because it was my semester holidays :P

So why was it not great? well, there was a little sadness in a corner of my heart. I have been privileged by the fact that I have had a great bunch of friends. And the fact that we are still in touch is even amazing. But this new year, a small part of me wanted things to slow down. Friends are going far apart geographically, and some are starting a new family. All this meant that I would have one less person in my life to celebrate things with. Do not get me wrong, I am happy for them, but the fact that we might not get together as often as we want to bums me out. I understand that change is the only constant thing in this world, but if we strive, could we not overcome it?

It all comes down to priorities, doesn't it? If you and I think that we should meet at least once every year, is it not possible to do so? hmmm.. I just hope that no matter what happens, I always stay in touch with my friends. After all, friends and family made you who you are. Keeping in touch with family is a given thing, but sometimes keeping in touch with friends is overlooked. Given how things are going right now in my life, I just want to say to my friends "Guys, no matter what happens, I always will have the time for you!". Happy new year once again!!!

A distressing situation

I am no learned scholar. I have not read any of the scriptures of any religion. But, I have always felt that no religion ever encourages violence, and even if it does, it does in the context of fighting for justice.

There has been so much of violence and protests in the name of religion that it I am beginning to feel sick. On one end there is fighting in kashmir..the other end there is an out-cry on the ram-sethu project..and in between all this is the utterly shocking tehelka expose on the 2002 gujarat riots!

Why is there so much trouble?? Whenever a person rebels it is because that he believes that injustice has been done in his case. But what troubles me is that they some how bring religion into the equation and then all hell breaks loose. Should there not be a mediator of sort who should tell them that it might be because of a mis-understanding??

Well, I agree that everything is not a mis-understanding and that some awful things are done purposefully. But is violence always the answer?? This is where religion helps people. Most religions I know say that you should fight for justice. This, I think, justifies a person's intention of engaging in violence. But is this right?? one person starts the fight and obviously gathers people with similar ideologies around him to fight for justice. Should there not be a compromise somewhere in between all this?!!

It is a shame that all this violence is present in India and the world in the name of religion. When will this ever stop? Can the peace, preached by all religions, ever reign supreme???

Music, lyrics, visual and the voice

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing..
watch you smile while you are sleeping..
while you are far away and dreaming..
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender..
I could stay lost in the moment forever..............
every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure!!

If you have guessed by now, these lines are from a song by aerosmith... The reason I put it up here is to just wonder how could any one express themselves so beautifully.. Words are beautiful enough, but when delivered by a great visual and a great voice, it makes that piece timeless.

Whenever I think of some amazing songs, quite a few come to my mind. Out of those songs, I would like to mention a few. The first one is 'Tanha dil'. This song by shaan has great lyrics, and the video is very good. There is no question about his voice either, It is very good. I dunno exactly why I like this song, but I like it a lot. I think it brings out a feeling in me which is generally hidden deep inside. The second one is a song which I think I would recommend to everyone. Even the craziest of head banging rock fanatic might like it. It is not fast by any means, but it has got a soul of its own. The song is 'krishna nee begane' by colonial cousins. The fusion of the voices of hariharan and lewis is great and above all the video for it is stunning. It is deeply moving, and when watched in a specific mood, can bring a tear to your eye. I have seen people shed a tear after seeing that video. That alone makes it one of the greatest visuals ever. The next song I like, is not because of its great visuals or because of great lyrics, but because of a great voice. The first time I heard this was when I went to a live show by KK.
Ppl have told me that a live performance can give a good measure of how good/bad a singer is. when he sang that song, I was quite simply blown away. My god what a voice! After that experience I wanted to go to as many live shows as possible. I was imagining how great it would be to hear a spb or yesudas live. Damn that would be good. unfortunately I have not been able to go to a single live show after that :-(
I am no music fanatic, but I just wish that I could hear all the great singers at a live performances. That would kind of help complete a very incomplete life.

Roaring times ahead...

Federer loosing to Gonzalez...
Renault, Mclaren facing charges of foul play.....
Stoner giving Rossi a jolt...
More youngsters in cricket...more zeal!!
what's happening in the world of sport?!!

I love sports and I follow cricket, tennis, F1 and Moto GP. I try and follow other sports but these are the top 4. Anyway, my point is, something happened this year which kind of rekindled my interests in these sports even more.

There used to be a time when I used to watch a tennis match just to see how the master plays against the rest. gosh!!..That federer plays a sublime game. These days however, federer seems to be loosing more than the share of games he used to loose. I understand that he's no machine but still. I feel a little bad, but to tell you the truth, am happy that he's loosing. I should be honest and say that I used to get a tad bored seeing him win game after game. Now, it's like there are others apart from nadal who seem to take the game to federer. It will be interesting to see how federer comes out of this slump(in his terms that is!). Has the time come where he has to fight for his crown? or is this just a passing phase. Have to wait and watch.

Leaving tennis behind, F1 has a new champion!! yay.. I love Kimi. The iceman has had this coming for a long time. What a racer! After seeing schumi dominate for sometime, I was hoping that Kimi would come up and challenge him. However, it was alonso who challenged schumi. I always considered kimi a better racer than alonso and I badly wanted to see a three way battle between schumi, kimi and alonso. That did not happen. But what happened is Hamilton! The new kid has got some spunk. He seems to be champion material, and after this season, I cannot wait to see what happens next season. The fun is that all the three, kimi, alonso and hamilton, will be racing for different teams! I just hope that alonso gets a good car next season. It should be one of the most exciting seasons in the recent past. slurp! what a match up! With all this expectations, it is sad that Mclaren and renault were involved in foul play. This could have been a much better season had Mclaren not been involved in that fiasco and had Renault not been accused of foul play after the season end. I just hope that these things clear up soon and make way for some very very good racing.

A New champion in F1 and a new one in Moto GP as well. At the beginning of the season, I had a feeling that Rossi was not concentrating enough in Moto GP. Though he did not win the previous year's championship, he seemed not all that concerned. But now he better stop with all the 'switching over to four wheel racing' nonsense and try and win the championship again. Stoner is like the hamilton of Moto GP. The aussie bloke drove like crazy! He thoroughly deserved the championship. And what more, Rossi not only has to deal with stoner, but also pedrosa and hayden. To say Ducati have put in a strong effort this season is an understatement. They have made their intentions very clear and are going to give Repsol honda and yamaha a run for their money next season. It looks like F1 and Moto GP are going to give a speed crazy motor sport fan like me a bonanza next season :-)

What has increased my interest in cricket?? Is it the mudslinging that fletcher started? or is it the messy wollmer's inquest? or is it the talk of bringing in the youngsters to the game? The first two just made me feel bad that the game of cricket is no more a game!! :(
However, I just want to see how the game copes up with all this and comes out on the top. The talk of youngsters coming in is also something I find very interesting. It is not just because of the lot of young indians who are coming through in the team, but also the changing composition of the Aussies. Lot has been said about McGrath, warne and langer retiring. But what about the ageing hayden and gilchrist? These guys have to also be replaced by youngsters. I am very interested to see if the new bunch of aussies still maintain the world champion status especially in the test matches. The upcoming test series between India and aussie should be a cracker of a contest. Indians have been doing well in test for the past 1.5 - 2 years. Out of 15 matches played, they have lost only 3 and won 5. Among those losses were 2 losses in SA. Both these matches were close and indians were not very easily beaten. And in england, after the escape from defeat in the 1st test (thanks to the rain gods) the rest of the series was a solid performance. Indians are a close 3rd in the ICC rankings in tests. I just hope they play to the potential and give the aussies a scare! Something definitely to look forward to in all of them..yay once again!!!