Freewheeling On The Bench

Richard Cory

2011-01-09T20:38:00.002-05:00

A little more than 2 years, till the song "Richard Cory" by Simon & Garfunkel drew me to paste the E A Robinson poem here. I hope you will also enjoy the Paul Simon's parallel.

Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich-yes, richer than a king-
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Richard Cory by Paul Simon

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.

But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."

But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

Me & My Wanderlust

2009-01-06T21:56:00.004-05:00

I don't call myself a "photography enthusiast", somehow I feel this is one is worth sharing. This was taken about two years back (or a little more) in the parking lot of the Sarvana Bhawan Indian restaurant Edison, NJ

The lights are no more than those of the shops & their hoardings.

Thanks Giving... May be Next Year

2008-11-29T22:23:00.003-05:00

The sky was falling and streaked with blood
I heard you calling me then you disappeared into the dust
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire
I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs into the fire

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love

You gave your love to see in fields of red and autumn brown
You gave your love to me and lay your young body down
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire
I need you near but love and duty called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs into the fire

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love

Money Can't Buy You Love

2008-08-17T19:01:00.003-04:00

Recently, I got a chance to visit a friend of mine staying in NJ. Accidentally, for unknown reasons his cable and telephone connections had to be fixed.

A technician of Colombian origin was sent to his apartment to check the technicalities. Soon, my friend broke into a conversation saying “You're from Colombia? You have really beautiful women

He replied, “Yes, but they ask for a lot of money.”

2008-03-25T23:19:00.006-04:00

In my early childhood, my parents, my brother & me lived with my grand parents. This was a three-storied house, quite large, perhaps a bit ill kept due to its size. The ground (first) floor was living space for all of our joint family, the middle one having bed rooms and a patio, that sometimes was our cricket ground, as there were no playing grounds in near vicinity. On top was the terrace used to evening tea & snacks, playing cricket & kite flying. The next house to ours was quite high, towards the east and particularly blocked all the sunshine in the first half of the day. This left us with quite chilling mornings indeed.

Before Holi, this patio & the terrace was used to dry up potato chips and papads (spicy Indian crackers). And most of the times those chips, pickles & papads were more of a generous invitation to the monkeys. Not only food, the clothes hung up for drying were also unsafe. It was no wonder if the missing clothes were found in the neighbourhood, and sometimes they did cover a lot of distance.

I cannot guess the year it was, my first vivid childhood memory dates back to the day following my birthday. Among my gifts, I remember a replica of a military tank that Daddy brought for me a couple of days before my birthday, which could not survive till my birthday. I was embarrassed when I was asked to show that tank because all I could bring was some mutilated pieces, which I had hid in the closet of our bedroom under a trunk. There was a set of building blocks and I guess there were some books too, but I was always more of a 'free kid' to escape that interest.

That day, I had quickly gobbled my lunch and came upstairs into the patio to see if something builds out of the building blocks. Soon, I was quite taken in by my imagination. Minutes later, I felt hands on my shoulder. Assuming them to be my brother’s, I kept continuing with what I was. Soon, it felt an impediment to my concentration. I mumbled “mat karo dada” (Don't do it brother). My humble request didn't make difference to him. So, I looked over my shoulder, just to find nails long and black and arms more hairy than any human being can have. I screamed. I guess, the poor creature got more scared than myself and ran in fear.

No Make-Up Needed

2008-02-04T00:26:00.000-05:00

Alright everyone, a late update. On this Thanks Giving, Thanks to Saurabh Bhaiya for driving me to the Guitar Center. I picked up the guitar I had been eying for about an year.

I found the last piece left at the E. Brunswick Guitar Center. A Fender Strat from the Deluxe American series, a two colored brown sunburst. I tried it through some 15W tube amp. It blew me on the first strike. I got it then & there.

It's a luthier's wonder. Till now, I haven't found a single fault in it (though it helped me in finding faults in my playing). It has the perfect sound & weight balance. The neck & action are very comfortable and it never goes out of tune, no matter how much bends you play.

Now time for some opthalmic pleasure

Is it true?

2007-11-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

This was the question of the day on the Intranet site of my company

What is an Adverse Event?

1. A negative reaction to a medication

2. A visit from your Mother-in-Law

3. Getting food poisoning from an expensive dinner

Any guesses for the correct answer?

10.1% said its B

Dirty

2007-10-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

Benazir Bhutto saying the victims of the attack made the 'ultimate sacrifice' for democracy.

God must give some sanity to her & strength to the ones of victims.

2007-10-18T16:33:00.001-04:00

It was a logical thought to use the MS outlook to compose this post, the outcome came out to be rather an illogical structure of my musings.

I have a mountain of documentation to read, but the sleepy afternoon made that very uninteresting & uninviting. Adding insult to injury, I am given a place that is on the corner of the wing, (kind of) on the intersection of the pathway that takes everyone in & out. Also unarguably the most visible place from the main corridor that ends on the exit gate. Moreover, Wendy's is the only place to eat in a walkable radius of my work place.

I relocated from DC suburb to Wilmington, DE. Its kind of coincidence that me & Rajeev Bhai swapped places. Now I keep nudging him to relocate back. He'd be too alone in DC now.

I didnt want to go through the long queues for security checks and deafening sound of the small airplanes that are used here for short flights. so I took a GreyHound bus from Union Station, DC to reach here. Contrary to rumours, my experiences with GreyHound have been good. Earlier, I had taken a ride to DC from Wilmington. Both the times it took about 3 hours. They are much more comfortable than those Chinese buses that ply on the same routes. Another reason to get onto GreyHound is that I suspect that I am travelling with the spirit of Robert Johnson :-)
After a few days of stay in the Days Inn hotel, I shifted to an apartment. A bit far from my work location. About 4 miles. I am looking for a place nearer to office.

Before coming back to US, I had a long 'Official Holiday' in India. I was in Calcutta for more than a month for project training & visa processing with my new employer. So I have absorbed enough of home to survive quite a few months without it. Certaily, my experiences in Calcutta are next to come.

Update

2007-10-18T08:49:00.000-04:00

So I finally joined my new job on 8th of this month. As another addition in the ongoing list of challenges, I got allocated into a project requires skills other than my core skill set :)

It looks like a pleasant change from what I had been doing since a couple of years. Nevertheless, I hope that they realize that I shouldn't be away from what I used to for long.

madhushaala - 1

2007-10-15T23:28:00.000-04:00

मृदु भावों के अंगूरों की आज बना लाया हाला,
प्रियतम, अपने ही हाथों से आज पिलाऊँगा प्याला,
पहले भोग लगा लूँ तेरा फिर प्रसाद जग पाएगा,
सबसे पहले तेरा स्वागत करती मेरी मधुशाला।।१।

प्यास तुझे तो, विश्व तपाकर पूर्ण निकालूँगा हाला,
एक पाँव से साकी बनकर नाचूँगा लेकर प्याला,
जीवन की मधुता तो तेरे ऊपर कब का वार चुका,
आज निछावर कर दूँगा मैं तुझ पर जग की मधुशाला।।२।

प्रियतम, तू मेरी हाला है, मैं तेरा प्यासा प्याला,
अपने को मुझमें भरकर तू बनता है पीनेवाला,
मैं तुझको छक छलका करता, मस्त मुझे पी तू होता,
एक दूसरे की हम दोनों आज परस्पर मधुशाला।।३।

भावुकता अंगूर लता से खींच कल्पना की हाला,
कवि साकी बनकर आया है भरकर कविता का प्याला,
कभी न कण-भर खाली होगा लाख पिएँ, दो लाख पिएँ!
पाठकगण हैं पीनेवाले, पुस्तक मेरी मधुशाला।।४।

मधुर भावनाओं की सुमधुर नित्य बनाता हूँ हाला,
भरता हूँ इस मधु से अपने अंतर का प्यासा प्याला,
उठा कल्पना के हाथों से स्वयं उसे पी जाता हूँ,
अपने ही में हूँ मैं साकी, पीनेवाला, मधुशाला।।५।

मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवला,
'किस पथ से जाऊँ?' असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला,
अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ -
'राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला।'। ६।

चलने ही चलने में कितना जीवन, हाय, बिता डाला!
'दूर अभी है', पर, कहता है हर पथ बतलानेवाला,
हिम्मत है न बढूँ आगे को साहस है न फिरुँ पीछे,
किंकर्तव्यविमूढ़ मुझे कर दूर खड़ी है मधुशाला।।७।

मुख से तू अविरत कहता जा मधु, मदिरा, मादक हाला,
हाथों में अनुभव करता जा एक ललित कल्पित प्याला,
ध्यान किए जा मन में सुमधुर सुखकर, सुंदर साकी का,
और बढ़ा चल, पथिक, न तुझको दूर लगेगी मधुशाला।।८।

मदिरा पीने की अभिलाषा ही बन जाए जब हाला,
अधरों की आतुरता में ही जब आभासित हो प्याला,
बने ध्यान ही करते-करते जब साकी साकार, सखे,
रहे न हाला, प्याला, साकी, तुझे मिलेगी मधुशाला।।९।

सुन, कलकल़ , छलछल़ मधुघट से गिरती प्यालों में हाला,
सुन, रूनझुन रूनझुन चल वितरण करती मधु साकीबाला,
बस आ पहुंचे, दुर नहीं कुछ, चार कदम अब चलना है,
चहक रहे, सुन, पीनेवाले, महक रही, ले, मधुशाला।।१०।

Check Out This Chirping Chick

2007-06-01T14:09:00.001-04:00

Introducing to all, the chirping chick

Her writing makes me feel deep in some complex... Wish I should have started a long earlier.

What you all say about her?

2007-05-12T01:20:00.000-04:00

Here

What You Listening To?

2007-05-12T00:39:00.000-04:00

These are the most played ones on my itunes.

Tarana [Live] - Ravi Shankar - 23
Setting Me Up - Eric Clapton - 22
Chase - Ravi Shankar - 19
My Trial - Me ;-) - 18
Sandhya Raga [Live] - Ravi Shankar - 18
Mr. Zero - The Yardbirds - 18
From Four Until Late - Eric Clapton - 17
Tana Mana - Ravi Shankar - 17
Fall Like Rain Eric Clapton 16
Three Little Girls - J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton - 16
Ghoonghat Ohle Na Luk Sajna - Abida Parveen - 14
Keep It Coming (With Heavy D) - B.B. King - 14
Born In Time - Eric Clapton - 14
Knocking On Heaven's Door - Me ;-) - 14

How place & time changes my listening pattern. Check out my previous post here.

Missing

2007-05-10T22:21:00.000-04:00

Today I'm missing my guitar. I was playing this small cute acoustic, that I have borrowed for the time being. But its not comforting.

Operation Successful

2007-04-29T12:18:00.000-04:00

I can claim for the fastest gender change operation in the world.

A few records in the database of my application were having gender mismatches. I was asked to create a 'change gender' screen. As a default practice, upon successful completion of the process, I forwarded the control to an existing web page displaying the success message.

When testing, the screen displayed "Operation Successful".

I Me Mine

2007-04-19T19:47:00.000-04:00

I always wanted to read this, perhaps I had the added the title "I Me Mine" to this blog getting inspired from the single on the Let It Be.

Today picked this off the Border's, perhaps this is the only book upon which I've laid my hands after reading Great Expectations in '97/ '98. I might have read Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn before that.

It interests me reading the life of Harrison & his experiments with Indian Classical Music, disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar, correlation of Guitar techniques with those in Sitar and his lyrics.

At a certain page he says, "But when you get involved with Indian music then you can appreciate what is going on. Without instruction or knowledge of techniques, you can't really appreciate what they are doing."

I'd better go back now...

Keep Watching

2007-04-16T12:09:00.001-04:00

Now we can blog in Hindi too :-)

Will try to post few of my favourite lines from Madhushala.

First things first, I have translated all the quotes that I had made of Sufi poetry.

Ooooh just found out that we can't have the titles in Hindi :-(

Icing On The Cake

2007-04-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

Ireland have sent the B'desh back to their corner.

This time their captain scored 32 of 57. A good performance by his standards.

Keep It Comin'

2007-04-14T10:48:00.000-04:00

This needs special mention. I picked up this B.B. King - Deuces Wild CD.

Came across this number Keep On Comin', duet with rapper Heavy D. In this B.B. leads those Funk & Hip-Hop beats.

All I can say Lucky Me :-)

Keep It Comin' B.B.

Too Much of Monkey Business

2007-04-12T13:14:00.001-04:00

This is just another example, how sometimes the H1B visa holders are exploited. Most of them come to the US through small consulting companies and big giants sub-contract them.

TCS had made all of its non-US-citizen employees to endorse and sign over their federal and state tax refund cheques to Tata. Moreover, Tatas wanted lawsuit to be dismissed and the arbitration of the case be done in India.

See this for more details.

I'm So Glad, I'm So Glad, I'm Glad, I'm Glad, I'm Glad

2007-04-12T10:12:00.000-04:00

Although Bangladesh had got the Englishmen reeling and squealing, but it was a happy ending to the twist.

Yesterday, yet again Mr. Bashar played an innings of a dirty dog.

Had it not been Bashar's irrelevant and outrageous comments, I would have happily continued to support B'desh.

But after all is said and done, all is well that ends well.

Chuhe Ke Haath Haldi Ki Gaanth Kya Lag Gayi Khud Ko Pansari Samajh Baitha...

2007-04-10T10:08:00.000-04:00

I saw these comments from Bangladeshi captain.

"Someone asked me whether the World Cup has become stale after the exit of India and Pakistan. But, I think they don't have the right to play in the Super Eights after losing two out of their three first round matches."

Don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs...

"If this attitude persists, one should organize 'Top Ranking Cup' instead of the World Cup, where the teams will play according to their rankings. The Cup is not a property of one or two teams. It belongs to everyone and the best team will win the Cup,"

Which attitude is he talking about? If this world cup would have been a 'Top Ranking Cup', I reckon Bangladesh would have barely made it to the WC, if at all it could.

"I think our win against South Africa would silence some of the 'noises' heard after we lost the first two matches of the Super Eights,"

Real class will tell in course of time.

"Instead of spoiling the show, Bangladesh has made the World Cup more interesting. There are plenty of teams now fighting for the semi-finals,"

OK, I agree.

The Bangladeshi coach should prick the ears of his pigs so that they become level headed. Apart from making comments, I didn't see any innings from Mr. Bashar worth mentioning or appreciating.

Say whatever, but it's hard to digest these statements from Bangladeshi captain. If Team India has some ego in some corner these comments are sufficient to resuscitate their passion (if they have any), if not passion for the game at least self respect.

I expect Team India to produce the same results what West Indies had done to India in the Indian tour after WC '83.

Time will tell...I still have fear & doubt about Team India's performance in Bangladesh next month.

My comments:
What to say more, when everyone is defeating my country these days. And some Tom, Dick or Harry comes walking to smear salt over the bruises...

My Watch

2007-04-03T15:54:00.000-04:00

The young professor's obituary post reminded this incident when my beloved watch played a little joke with me.

In Jan, my big bro came here. I was all set to hit the road to NYC to see him. My bags were packed, the cab was booked, the tickets were done & my coats were ready for the NYC cold. Not to forget, I took the shower in the night to save the morning time :-)

All of a sudden I sprung out of my bed. My beloved showed the time something about 10:40. I cursed all the people who came to my mind. Namely, my flat mate for not waking me up, the cab service for not turning up at all & last myself for being so lazy. But when my somnolent eyes gained consciousness I saw that I was seeing my beloved upside down.

I took back all my curses.

Three Little Girls

2007-04-03T15:28:00.000-04:00

Perhaps the best one in the Road To Escondido.

When this world got me feeling low
I don't need nowhere else to go
Cause I get all the love I need, from
Three little girls

We're in the garden collecting snails
On the bed reading fairy tales
I get all I'll ever need from
Three little girls

Cause all my world was sad and weary
All my days were winding down
Then you showed me a better way
My three little girls

Lord, you've put me to the test
And lead me through the wilderness
Then you showed me a brighter day
With Three little girls

Julie Rose, and Ellie Mae,
Sophie Belle, You came to stay
You take my breath away
My three little girls

Cause all my world was sad and weary
All my days were winding down
You showed me a better way
My three little girls

Three little girls

Thanks

2007-03-31T08:31:00.000-04:00

Some of the recent developments have raised my respect for judiciary. Verdict on Manjunath's case is one more victory of judiciary over bureaucracy.

The SC's stay on the OBC reservation in IITs & IIMs is another bold step. I liked it.

Team India - Child's play...

2007-03-17T18:58:00.000-04:00

I also didnt expect Team India as so an easy prey.

In '83 we lost a match before lifting the cup (Though it was against WI at that time!).

So lets keep the spirit. I expect a more crisp review at Manish Bro's blog.

HP DV6226US

2007-03-12T23:31:00.000-04:00

I got this HP laptop DV6226US:
1 gig of RAM, 120 gigs of HDD & 1.6 GHz Pentium Dual core.

I will give full points to it. I've set up my development environment of this machine, loaded Java 1.5, JBoss 4.0.5GA, Oracle XE, Oracle SQL Developer & MyEclipse. It didn’t sag.

As of now I have not seen any compatibility issues of Vista with java, Oracle 10g XE or Jboss AS.

Vista is cool, no doubt about it. Sound & graphics are crisp & sharp. The only thing that bothered me that I couldn't VPN to my office machine ( XP box). Perhaps MS wont leave this thing unattended. I might be doing something wrong.

Though I have the admin rights on my office PC, it said to contact the local admin of the system you are trying to connect. (I used the local admin user of this laptop to connect.) I just aborts the process by saying that the computer that you are trying to connect runs an older version of windows। Even though I asked it to connect anyways, it gave up after trying for a while. Tomorrow I will contact network admin at my work place. Then only I will write complete reviews.

Update: 17/04
The day I made this post, the Internet connection at my office was unusually clogged. I can connect to my XP box. No problems at all.

Just One Night

2007-01-15T01:48:00.000-05:00

I dont know how many times I my blogs i have mentioned it.

Nothing matches the joy of listening to it (esp late nights).

Squid Rid Forbid

2006-12-14T14:27:00.000-05:00

Though it wasn’t experiment with food on the weekend, but the color of this thing enticed me to pick it up from the shelf. It looked whiter than Nirma white, cleanly trimmed into a shape of fish. With a little idea about how this thing would have looked had it been alive, I brought it home. (All the time I could read “Skinless Squid” on the wrapping)

I called up one of my friends, an avid sea food lover.

I asked “yeh batao squid kya hota hai”

He said “web proxy cache, free waala hai download kar sakte ho”

I said "~!!@#$% main sea food ki baat kar raha hoon”

He said “bhai maine to nahin khaya, try karo aur batana”

Disappointed with him, I looked over a few recipes on the Internet, unluckily could not find all the ingredients. So decided to fry it in desi ishtyle. Not all that good, more like boiled eggs; bad enough to be trashed. I seem to be smelling it in those little corners.

More about squids, and also here
More about squid

Rep: A cow powwow

2006-11-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

In reference to Ishan Bro's A cow powwow, Harsh saw cow for the first time when he saw one right in front of IGI exit. Even My eyes lit up (seeing him smile)

So next time we have a reply ready for the beef eating carnivores...

Sweet Coincidence

2006-11-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

Here Also I have to catch the bus #56 for office :-)

2006-10-30T13:04:00.000-05:00

तेरे बाज दीवाने हूई, टोका करदे लोग सभोई
जे कर यार करे इदल जोयी, ताँ फरीयाद पुकार्दी हाँ

Recommendations

2006-10-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

Cream - Reunion DVD
Ravi Shankar - Definitive Collection & Sangeet Sartaj Series
Muddy Waters - Electric Mud
Avoid 'Don' -> pun(e) intended

How Badge was born...

2006-08-13T10:25:00.001-04:00

Okay, a quick doubtful George Harrison story from the mental trash bin. EC had written one last, unnamed song for Cream as the group was breaking up, and he asked George to play guitar on it.

In the studio, George said the song needed a bridge — a middle section before the last verse — so he penciled in some additional lyrics on a copy of the song lying around. By the time he finished, Clapton had gone off somewhere. George stuck the lyric sheet where Clapton could find it, and scribbled "Bridge" at the top.

Clapton found it later on, and not only dug the bridge but thought George had found a title for this otherwise nonsensical song. He couldn't quite read George's handwriting, though. And this is why Cream's final single was titled Badge.

What You Playing On Your Ipod?

2006-06-08T23:02:00.000-04:00

These are the 10 most played songs on mine...

Can't Find My Way Home - 71
Carnival - 63
Swing Low Sweet Chariot - 63
Black Rose - 62
Promises - 62
Hold Me Lord - 56
Hello Old Friend -55
Li'l Rachel - 51
Let It Rain - 45
High - 45

Its True!

2006-05-30T12:24:00.000-04:00

Yeah the information in the forwarded mail is ok.

This can be referred to for more information

http://www.blonnet.com/2004/05/05/stories/2004050500201000.htm

I have asked my uncle for more info on this subject... Will update as n when i will get it.

Happy B'day Zimmie!

2006-05-26T00:55:00.000-04:00

Wishing belated birthday to Zimmie! He has taught me to be a complete rebel yet to be calm.

Did You Know?

2006-05-26T00:48:00.000-04:00

I got a forwarded mail with this message. I will once again confirm the authenticity of this information, if found wrong/some missing information , it will changed appropriately.

I did not know about this right of mine. Thats why I didnt vote for these many years.

There is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the pollingbooth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone! Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. this is called 49-O... why should you go and say "i vote nobody"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by xxx votes, and that particular ward has received 49-Ovotes more than xxx, then that polling will be cancelled and will haveto be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and he cannot contest the re-polling,since people had already expressed their decision on him. This wouldbring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates fortheir parties for election. This would change the way, of our wholepolitical system... it is seemingly surprising why, and electioncommission has not revealed such a feature to the public.... please spread this news to as many as you know... Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power,expressing your desire not to vote anybody, is even more powerful thanvoting... so don?t miss your chance.So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on...

Rendezvous with a dietician

2006-04-04T03:16:00.000-04:00

It can be quite painful having a dietician with you on a dinner table.

Wish my friend & his fiancee do not see this

P.S. : forgot to share- they booth look so beautiful together

I Feel Good

2006-03-27T01:06:00.000-05:00

They say ev'rything can be replaced, yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So I remember ev'ry face Of ev'ry man who put me here.
I swear I see my reflection Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining From the west unto the east.

Be My Guest!

2006-03-24T11:21:00.000-05:00

Please be the first one to sign my guest book

सुना है ग़ैर की महिफल में तुम ना जाओगे
कहो तो आज सजा लूं गरीबखाने को

Mood: ...
Current Music: Dylan: Oh Sister :-)

:-)

2006-03-22T11:48:00.000-05:00

My work table ;-)

!!!

Mood: Playful
Current Music: Asha - Jawaani Jaaneman

An Idea can change your life!

2006-03-22T06:13:00.000-05:00

In the month of January, I took a new cell phone number from a leading service provider. While marketting their new plan they promised me rental free service & a flat rate of 99p/min for STD and local calls.

I took the connection, but the bill showed a tariff plan other than what had been told to me. And also some additional costs. On contacting them, I was told that there was no plan such like that & I should have checked the available tariff plans on their web site. Infuriated at their customer grievances cell & requested them to discontinue services to the number.

While the services to the number were discontinued, I got continuous phone calls from the service provider to pay for my usage & also the bills for that number. The amount of my usage was minimal; I requested them to deduct the usage charges from the security amount deposited by me & return the balance back to me. They never cared to take pains for this.

And I got the bill for the month of February as well, swollen with all kinds of charges, mainly rentals, late payment charges & service tax. I simply wrote a letter to the service provider & copied the letter to a media channel.

To my amazement, today I received a call that they are ready to settle this up with all calls @ 99p, no late payment charges, no rentals & the remaining some Rs. 77/- will be refunded. Let’s wait for tomorrow morning

Will update as & when something happens on this front.

Current Mood: Sleepy
Current Music: Lata & AB - Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum

What's wrong with our Li'l Master?

2006-03-21T13:00:00.000-05:00

Is Sachin really injured?

How could he hurt himself? Any possible guesses?

John Brown

2006-03-20T00:45:00.000-05:00

Who can tell you stories better than your grand Ma?

One from Dylan's Unplugged

John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore.
His mama sure was proud of him!
He stood straight and tall in his uniform and all.
His mama's face broke out all in a grin.

"Oh son, you look so fine, I'm glad you're a son of mine,
You make me proud to know you hold a gun.
Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get,
And we'll put them on the wall when you come home."

As that old train pulled out, John's ma began to shout,
Tellin' ev'ryone in the neighborhood:
"That's my son that's about to go, he's a soldier now, you know."
She made well sure her neighbors understood.

She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile
As she showed them to the people from next door.
And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun,
And these things you called a good old-fashioned war.

Oh! Good old-fashioned war!

Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come.
They ceased to come for about ten months or more.
Then a letter finally came saying, "Go down and meet the train.
Your son's a-coming home from the war."

She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around
But she could not see her soldier son in sight.
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last,
When she did she could hardly believe her eyes.

Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off
And he wore a metal brace around his waist.
He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know,
While she couldn't even recognize his face!

Oh! Lord! Not even recognize his face.

"Oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done.
How is it you come to be this way?"
He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly move
And the mother had to turn her face away.

"Don't you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud.
You wasn't there standing in my shoes."

"Oh, and I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here?
I'm a-tryin' to kill somebody or die tryin'.
But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine."

Oh! Lord! Just like mine!

"And I couldn't help but think, through the thunder rolling and stink,
That I was just a puppet in a play.
And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke,
And a cannon ball blew my eyes away."

As he turned away to walk, his Ma was still in shock
At seein' the metal brace that helped him stand.
But as he turned to go, he called his mother close
And he dropped his medals down into her hand.

2006-03-16T01:18:00.000-05:00

This happenend a couple of days back...

I parked the car at a wrong place in green park, so it was towed away to hauz khaas police station.

When I went there to get it back, I had to deal with a (s)tout constable, typical of delhi police, obviously a Jaat. What happenend is follows:

Me:"Woh hari gaadi meri hai"
He:"Mehendi rang waadi"
Me:"Haan"
He:"theek hai, le jaa"
Me:"fine kitna hai"
He:"150 bina padchi, 300 padchi ke saath"
Me:"bhaiyaa parchi kaat do" (in my UP ka bhaiyaa ishtyle)

the receipt read: "Car found parked at non parking place. Causing Obtruction to traffic & pedestrians"

Rain on Holi!

2006-03-14T01:50:00.000-05:00

Its cool here in Delhi!

Pune kind of weather here today, something I miss badly...

I'd love to leave early & go for a drive to President's House & India Gate!!!

Wishing a very Happy Holi to all...

Greatest One-Day Ever

2006-03-13T03:43:00.000-05:00

So I'd let the expert speak on this...

Folks Watch out for space on Manish Bro's blog (Click Here)

Throw Throws & Thrown

2006-03-12T09:36:00.000-05:00

So this happened during an interview...

Me: "Can you describe me the difference between the throw & throws keywords"

He: "When a method is expected to throw more than one exception, you got to use the throws keyword else its OK to use the throw."

Murphy's Law

2006-03-10T05:59:00.000-05:00

You need to pee only when you are stuck in a traffic jam...

Weekend Shopping

2006-03-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

got a cool canon digicam on saturday!

looks good works better!

???

2006-02-27T03:05:00.000-05:00

Lifted thiese lines from Vini's Blog

By the time you swear you're his, Shivering and sighing
And he vows his passion is Infinite, undying
Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying.

-- Dorothy Parker

Music In The Park

2006-02-26T12:13:00.000-05:00

Saw Ustad Zaakir Hussain & Pd. Shiv Kumar Sharma in the evening...

All in all a good weekend :)

What You All Feel?

2006-02-23T08:20:00.000-05:00

What I feel is that international cricket is all entertainment business.

Everyone in the middle makes money & we waste our time glued to TVs, internet sites etc etc for scores.

And Me just interested in the end results...

Views/comments?

2006-02-23T06:46:00.000-05:00

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving
--Albert Einstein

Gullible Fool

2006-02-21T13:06:00.000-05:00

It’s been a long time since I wrote something here. And like always this time too, it won’t be worthwhile. I had put myself into some unnecessary issues. And lesson has been taught to me. It’s up to me to take the learning or not. I do think sometimes that life has been bitter, and this time too history has repeated.

It hurts when my giving nature is taken for granted; my faith, honesty, affection, emotions, dedication and commitment being used and cheated. And people found fun in it.

BUT I have taken back to my old ways. I feel good. Back to guitar, music & trying to work hard more than ever.

Birthday Bash

2006-02-15T23:53:00.000-05:00

I thankful to Sadiya & Harsh to encourage me to play guitar. I have decided to have a Blues Jam on the coming saturday evening. Everything is in the place. Last night, I tried my hands back on some of the licks. Just get a feeling that I might do it right!

Everybody is invited :-)

P.S. No dearth of Booze & Blues promised!

I am ALive

2006-02-13T01:37:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the wishes.

Trying to get back to music, guitar & all the better things in life. This time its hard :-)

One Deadly Combo

2005-10-11T06:44:00.000-04:00

teachers + listening just one night on ipod :-)

2005-05-05T14:22:00.000-04:00

Its been fun, working like a dog for almost 36 hours now :-) not trying to glorify it but it indeed was!

it will be like this for a few more days... may be till this weekend then I will be on bench for another 20 days... and after it I'd be off to my first overseas project!!!

Rest everything is everything, I had said to her that I wouldnt leave without seeing her and this might just turn out to be true! my trip has been postponed by a month. She is visiting Delhi in first week of June...

2005-05-03T08:31:00.000-04:00

Wish I could write something like this for her!

If not for you
Babe i couldn't find the door
Couldn't even see the floor
I'd be sad an' blue
If not for you.

If not for you
Babe i'd lay awake all night
Wait for the mornin light
To shine in thru
But it would not be new
If not for you.

If not for you
My sky would fall
Rain would gather too
Without your love
I'd be nowhere at all
I'd be lost
If not for you
An' you know it's true.

If not for you
My sky would fall
Rain would gather too
Without your love
I'd be nowhere at all
I'd be lost
If not for you.

If not for you
Winter would have no spring
Couldn't hear the robins sing
I just wouldn't have a clue
Anyway it wouldn't ring true
If not for you
If not for you.

Arz Kiya Hai!

2005-05-03T06:25:00.000-04:00

कागा सब तन खइयो
चुन चुन खइयो मॉस
दो नैना मत खइयो
इन्हें पीया इमलन की आस!

तर्क-ए-ताल्लुकात पर ना तू रोया ना मैं
लेकिन यह क्या की चैन से ना तू सोया ना मैं...

सुना है ग़ैर की महिफल में तुम ना जाओगे
कहो तो सजा लूं गरीबखाने को!

2005-04-14T07:12:00.001-04:00

I was unusually bland with ideas to update my blog till this happened.

Just after my lunch, I took a break. Went down to get a cola. (Which one? I don’t want to ignite cola wars.)

Two little children came, smothered by dust and their bodies polished by grease. Possibly they hadn’t had a bath from so long (I cant guess the number of days).

They stared at all the sweets on the counter and one of them said, “Uncle paanch rupaye ki yeh waali de do”.

Just out of the shop, they sat down in the dirt on the side of the road and innocently divided the sweets between them.

Now, I am as bland as I was…

Hold On

2005-04-14T06:38:00.000-04:00

I found many of my fav EC songs on my friend's terminal. My CD player has been in rots and also my all EC tapes. These days its my only source of listening to songs and its refreshing to hear them at EOD.

This came to my mind... co-written with Phil Collins (can be found in the August album)

Deep down in the dead of night I call out your name.
It seems now that nothing is right, there's nothing but pain.
If only I'd told you I love you, now all I can do is...

Hold on, hold on to the feeling.
You've got to hold on, hold on to the feeling.
I don't feel right on this sad night.
Lord, I've got thistles growing in my pillow.

If you could believe in me, then I could be strong,
And then we could set our love free and right all these wrongs.
You'll know when I touch you how much you still mean to me, baby.

Hold on, hold on.

Just give me one more chance.
Please give me one more chance.
Don't tell me our romance is through.

Hold on, hold on to the feeling.
You've got to hold on, hold on to the feeling.
Hold on, hold on to the feeling.

Five People I Would Like To Meet

2005-03-09T07:34:00.000-05:00

1. Larry Elison - For his vision and leadership.
2. James Gosling - I too want to go on Java Road (some dont have ears here)
3. Sachin - Why his bat weighs that much
4. Bob Dylan - Reasons are boundless
5. ~~Eric Clapton~~ :-)

I Feel Free

2005-03-09T05:51:00.000-05:00

Its Time to put my (new!) weekend shoes for a week.
Got my leave sanctioned, after a bit of huccus muccus. Will leave this place tomorrow for a week!

Everybody's waiting for me in Mumbai and someone waits in Pune!

I Want To Break Free!

2005-01-14T05:45:00.000-05:00

So this is perhaps the most sickening afternoon in office of all my near to one year of professional life. I have checked all of my mail accounts -> 1/0 times and no one writes to me (history repeats itself!).

Satisfaction Guaranteed

2004-11-02T00:49:00.000-05:00

It will be soon the time for bonfires. I will be throwing once the winter descends in full swing. I would like to share a recipe of "Handi Waala Gosht" that we enjoyed in bonfires. Its easy n effective needs the least to do and get the best results (You may ask my friends). What we did for 4 friends (You may vary the quantity as per your servings and taste)

· 1.5 kg of mutton
· 6-7 onions
· 2 large garlics
· 100 gms of ginger
· 2 tablespoon haldi
· 3 table spoon lal mirch
· 7-8 lal mirch (whole)
· all the ingredients of Garam Masala (taken whole)
· a handi (fill that handi with water and leave it overnight, to prevent it from cracking)
· 10-15 dung-cakes
· Oil as of your choice
· A crateful of Chilled Beers

Clean the meat, cut onions & garlic into medium sized pieces. Put the handi over the dung cakes (upla), just put everything in & seal the lid with aata. Leave this for 2-3 hours; enjoy your beer and party!

P.S. Occasionally look that those uplas are moderately lit

A Must Read

2004-10-29T08:55:00.000-04:00

A Son's Plight

Boss is Boss

2004-10-28T08:12:00.001-04:00

I forgot to share - How I felt so funny when my old boss did not reply to my mail. Hope he is doing well...

Promises

2004-09-27T07:16:00.000-04:00

aah it feels good. It was going rather a slow, sleepy afternoon at the office and came to my mind was EC classic "Promises" today!

Promises
I dont care when you never come home.
I dont care when you just keep on rolling away on a distant sea
coz I dont love you when you dont love me.

You cause a commotion when you come to town.
Give 'em a smile and they melt
Your lovers and friends are all good and fine
but I dont yours when you dont like mine!

I tried to love you years upon years
You refused to take me for real
But this time you saw what I wanted you to see
That I will still love when if you just like me.

I've got my problems can't you belive
I've got a woman calling love hate
We may be wrong but we'll always be friend
But how would we know that our promises end?

Reminisce of Countryside

2004-09-27T04:31:00.000-04:00

This ages back to some 10-12 years ago (if I not wrong). We had just shifted to our house in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. The colony had just started to flourish and there were a lot of vacant plots and empty houses (made and left by LDA). I had soon made friends and when not playing cricket, we would discover the area on our cycles.

What we had discovered, the farms in a near by countryside were the most fascinating. I enjoyed it as I had never seen any farms. It was not far from my home just 5-8 minutes of cycling. This was the edge of the colony; marked by a ‘teela’, which was made by the farmers to protect their crop from the excess of rainwater, which might run down from the city. Beyond this ‘teela’ was a patch open land, probably owned by the Indian Railways, as it didn’t have any vegetation. Railway tracks and then the farms of wheat and other vegetables followed this. During the summer vacations we used to visit the place everyday to play in the sand and the wilderness. Apart from our morning visits, it was our favourite place for general time pass and cycling (especially up and down that ‘teela’).

This place would bloom up in the rains. A pond of rainwater formed in every monsoon that would last for a many a month. This was one of the source of water for the farmers apart from there tube wells etc. This would also become temporary home for birds like swans and wild cranes. And many a time we saw them hunting for snakes and fish. Also we discovered many new things like snake colonies, sometimes deadly snakes like the cobras as well. A few times the villagers shove us from that place as it was home for many poisonous snakes. But we would always go to that place to enjoy the calm serene atmosphere, greenery, cool wind and the sound of train. The rail tracks had been laid so as to avoid the farms and they took an unusual steep turn, all the trains would slow down there and it just seemed to add beauty to the place watching the slow trains passing by. Soon we started to cross the pond, using a mud-paved path made by the farmers and the villagers and would sit beside the tracks. The surroundings looked more beautiful from this place as it was higher than the ‘teela’. Sometimes we would place ballast stones on the track and they turned into powder when the train ran over them.

This place was most enjoyable in the monsoon mornings, one morning I went to the place with a couple of friends. It had rained very heavily since a couple of days, and the pond was larger than how we had seen it. We were on the side of the tracks and a friend had found a skin of a snake and wanted to show us. We all ran towards him me and a friend Vishal was on one track and another friend Ajay on the other track. To get to the calling friend we had to cross the bridge and that bridge hardly had any space to move along the tracks. The only way was to cross them on the tracks. As we ran on the bridge I saw a train coming towards us. We had hardly gone 10 meters, so we turned back But Ajay felt that train is on the other track, he kept running until he was in the middle of the bridge he found that the train was on his track. Meanwhile, a goods train came on our tracks and we could not see where Ajay was. We both kept shouting but our voices would not reach Ajay in the rattle of the two trains. The slow goods train took an eternity to cross us. And when it passed, we didn’t see Ajay! We felt that he would have jumped in the pond to save himself. But when we got there we saw him on the pillar of the bridge. He had jumped upon it just in the nick of time.

After this incident we did not go there again. Even the monsoons could not entice us to take the courage to see the place. But we all miss the place so much; also hope that it’s in the same shape we left it last time.

What You Did Today?

2004-09-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

The most satisfying thing I did today was to help two tiny toddlers to cross the street.
I remember your words Sanjeev (you’re an ole bastard I miss)

Chhab Tilak Tajdini Tose Naina Milaayeke

2004-09-14T12:59:00.000-04:00

मोह से बोलो ना बोल मेरी सुन या ना सुन
अर्रेय मैं तो तोहे ना छाडूंगी आये संवारे

मोरी सास ननिदया इफिर तो इफिर
अरे मोह से इफर क्यों ना जाये
सभी गांव रे एक तू ना फीरे मोसे
एय मेरे प्यारे मैं भी तो आयी तेरी छाओं में रे
रही लाज शरम की बात कहाँ
जब प्रेम के फांदे दियो आन् रे

These are a few lines from Begum Abida’s tape where she sings Amir Khusrau. All these years whenever I went to a music store I just hunted for EC CDs and tapes whatever I could get or I could afford. But this weekend, I picked up a tape by Begum Abida Parveen. I didn’t have any prejudices that how would it be. It influenced me so much that I am finding it impossible to collect what I have been feeling after listening. Its all so simple yet so deceptive; in its simplicity, it makes divinity definable and in all its complexity and intensity it invites to explore the layers and the meanings so hard to comprehend.

But what more or less I could comprehend was that it educates. Educates us that God is gettable and one does not need any pre-defined or pre-conceived path to find Him. I am quoting a few a lines from the same tapes. These songs have been sung at the ‘Dargaahs’ and ‘Majaars’ by the Sufi Fakirs since centuries. Hope you all enjoy as I do. Also I would like to you interpret them in any way you wish (That’s the quintessence of ‘Sufism’).

तोरी सूरत के मैं वारी सब सिखयन में चुनर मोरी मैली देख हँसे नर नारी
अब के बहार चुनर मोरी रंग दे रख लो लाज हमारी

रखी है तुमने लाज मेरी हर मुकाम पर
यूं ही करम रहे मेरे आका अपने घुलाम पर

पहुच गया हूँ दरे यार तक मुकाद्दर से
वर्ना सब मेरे सजदे इधर उधर होते

छाप तिलक तज्दिनी रे तोसे नैना मिलाये के

अपनी छब्ब बनाए के जो मैं पी के पास गयी
जो छब्ब देखी पी की तो अपनी भूल गयी

चश्मे मस्ती ए जबीं ज़ुल्फे दराजी ए जबीं
माय्कर्स्ती ए जबीं फिकने तराजी ए जबीं

रेनी छड़ी रसूल की मुहम्मद रंग मौला के हाथ
जिसकी चुनरी रंग दी धन धन उसके भाग

Its really hard to choose what to include and what not. But one final from my side
‘उनकी क्या कहै उनकी मुहब्बत में तो हम सूफी हो गए’

Dead Man Walking

2004-09-10T10:54:00.001-04:00

For many a day could not update the blog. Maverick is down, but Joe is going well. Joe always sets up encouraging examples.

So this time, I'd like to share an incident that took place around the start of this year and had a stark affect on both my roomie and me. We have common interests like food, travel, and above all music. When he moved into my room our group of music lovers grew and we started jamming to pass the free time away. Soon it took a considerable time of our lives in Pune (may be the prime reason of me not socializing as I used to.)

Once we had rather a long jam at my room, and ended at around 2:30 in the morning. One of the friends who does not like to sleep anywhere else but his room, asked for a drop. To our common interest, we decided to drop him, as we did not want to loose the sleep after a tiring gig. Willingly I decided give company to my Roomie for a late night early morning ride is always sought after (that too in Pune’s weather). This fellow’s place was around a couple of miles away off the Bhandarkar Road.

Early Morning, no traffic, no cops we reached the place in a few minutes. While returning we had a strange but true incident, both of us were on my scooter moving from Bhanadarkar Road towards S.B. Road. The Bhandarkar Road looked like abandoned that morning; to our surprise we could not see not even a single stray dog, a sight so uncommon on the roads of Pune. All of a sudden, my attention was drawn towards a moving figure. We saw an image crossing the road. It had a blanket around it and to our surprise the head was missing. Its true! And we could see it moving relatively to the road divider and to us. I asked to my Roomie “Dada, are you seeing what I am ?”. In reply he said “Yes”. Holding our nerves and calling the Almighty we drove as fast as we could to reach home.

The next day, we went to Chaturshringhi Mandir to seek the blessings. To our anxiety we decided to find what could have been the reason of our experience, was it our hysteria, or does this hold any relevance to life. In our finding we studied about the background of the Bhandarkar Road and the history of the Pune city. We found that such incidences had been common in that area and folks say that when under the British Rule, the city was a military center and was confined to the parts what is known as ‘Camp’ today; while thew Indian lived in the 'Peth' area. The British used the Chaturshringhi Hill and surrounding areas as a butchering yard. The rest can be easily deduced. What we know as S.B. Road and near by area was used as a dumping ground for the corpses of the killed. Its also said that the Chaturshringhi Mandir was built to ward off the evil that was thought to be associated with the place.

Though I still dismiss the experience and regard it as hysteria of both of us but sometimes it does make me believe in Super Natural. Till that day I had been mocking the people, who shared this kind of experiences, but this time I think that I will have to think a little more before making a firm opinion.

Resignation Mail

2004-08-09T02:05:00.001-04:00

So it happened what I had been waiting for... Got a job in (New) Delhi. To follow the procedures to leave my organization, I had to write a resignation mail to my Project Manager & Project Team's Head.

But when I got to write that mail I found that didn't know what to write. Long back in high school they had taught to write job applications etc, applications of all other varieties that could be made. But we were never taught to write a resignation mail. I should not blame anyone but me for me not knowing how to write a resignation mail, may be they had left it upon me to learn it on my own.

Its a opinion of mine that a resignation mail should also be included in high schools as a lesson because now I believe that they as important as Job Applications. If any English instructors get to this blog please try to include a resignation mail in the curriculum. So once again I am thankful to Maverick (self acclaimed !?!)for helping me out(You can get to his blog). Cheers Man!!!

Freewheeling On The Bench

2004-07-16T02:23:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Mr. Amit Verma, who entertainingly calls himself "Maverick" for inviting me to the Blogging community. I am an entry-level software professional working in Pune. And these days I am freewheeling on the bench.

As the word bench comes to my mind also come very interesting things that we can do on the bench i.e. forwarding CV to our friends (though they never turn helpful), listening to favourite music, reading about people whom we deify etc. etc. etc. and etc. the last in the list comes the soul searching i.e. finding the faults that we made in our last assignments and waiting for some new work. For me, contributing to the blog is the latest entry in the list.

It’s been around 20 days of freewheeling for me. I’d been meeting all my seniors to assign some work to me. That gives an idea of the time I must have spent on the activities that have nothing to do with my work at office. I listened to some of my favourite music on the net (though it always entices me to take it up on a better scale), reading about Einstein (not about his work, Physics is long lost friend for me), Blues, Robert Johnson, repercussions of nuclear droppings in Japan, and sometimes the news and also about some new technologies that I am bound to forget.

I always idolized Einstein not only because of the theorems he proved or equivalences he discovered but because of the humility and respect for human life that he had. Some of his smallest quotations have the deepest meaning and a subtle humour that’s too original to be found somewhere else.

I am adding some of his quotes that I found interesting. Hope you all ejoy them as I do.

If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
Address at the Sorbonne, Paris.

Before God we are all equally wise - equally foolish.
Quoted in Des MacHale, Wisdom (London, 2002).

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."

"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."

"God is subtle but he is not malicious."

…common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen.
Quoted in E T Bell, Mathematics: Queen and Servant of Science

Many others can be found on the net, I forgot the site, as it was one among the hundreds in browsed. Google is always a friend (guides better than TLs and PMs).

The second endeavor lately was reading about Blues, my favourite music. Though I knew about the origination of it (in the Mississippi Delta), how it spread etc but this time I tried to get some technical knowledge of it i.e. the scales, the notes, the chord formations etc that are prevalent in this style of playing. The reason of behind this was my listening to Clapton’s latest release in which he has covered 14 of 28 songs of the Great Blues legend Robert Johnson.(I am hardest of die-hard fans of EC; I religiously went to Tokyo to see him live).

This music had the most profound effect of me. The lyrics are too powerful. I sometimes wonder how these people row up being so expressive. On the first listen I didn’t like the music all that much, but it has something that invites, and it plays the trick. It grows over and becomes very commanding. Sometimes I wake up singing “Her tamales are red Hot n she got them for sale” or “You better come on in my kitchen coz its gonna be raining outdoors”. This led me to read about Robert Johnson. As a little boy of early teens he was no good with the guitar and on a certain day he was kicked out of some juke joint for playing there. This hurt him so bad that he took an exile. On his re-appearance, people could not believe him having the skill. And then came an interesting legend about him, some people say that he sold his soul to devil for fame and money. The story runs like this that at the moonless midnight if somebody goes and plays his guitar on a crossroads, a huge black man would appear and take away the guitar and tune it for him. He is none but the devil. This is jokingly interesting. Cross Road Blues (a Robert Johnson original) or the Cream's rendition – Crossroads can be listened to. They both are based on this legend.

Many of the things I have in the pipeline. You might see them if I am on the bench or a few more days and do not leave the job. But right now its time to get back to learn better coding, as it’s my only source of living.