New Car!

My friend's company gave him a Mini Cooper car for free. When I saw the car, I liked it a lot and asked him casually if I can have it...

He said YES!!!


Well, I am not dissappointed by the fact that it is 36 times smaller than the real thing...
Hmmm... and who said I am too old to have a new toy?

The Pianist

Post-Trip Hangover

Bought this straw hat in Goa. Gives a rush of happy memories (although it was in Dec '05!) when I look at it as it hangs on my room wall, waiting to be touched by the orange light of the setting sun...

Road to Pune

While biking back from thamini ghat, the time was around 8 am and the summer sun was already shining down brightly. The silver road wound its way into the hills. Beyond the hills lies Pune...

Banks of Cauvery

If you are in Mysore, this is one place you should not miss. This is the at Srirangapatna (18km from Mysore), on the banks of river Cauvery... this snap is made of 8 snaps 'stiched' together and you can see that it is not seamless...

@#$%! Blogger is shrinking the image to a thin strip!!

Thanks to zoxcleb's advice I put it up on ImageShack. If your internet connection can handle it, here is a larger version...

Jesse Jaisi Koi Nahi Bhokti....

"Woof woof whine woof woof grrrrrrrrrrowl woof woofwoofwoofwoof whine woof whine woof whine woof woofwoofwoofwoofwoofwoof woofwoof woof woof grrrrrrrrrrowl woof woof woof woof"

Translation: I am Jesse, supposedly the daughter of a Kannada film star's dog. Of course, I do not throw any starry tantrums! When I am hungry, my big soulful eyes look sullen and you know I am upset. Then as soon as my mistress calls out saying that breakfast is ready, I am off in a flash of shiny black fur and then you realise how hungry I was! :-)

Kidding

This kid was sincerely trying to frighten us by saying that he will let loose the dinosaurs that he has back home...

Truly Madly Deeply

I'll be your dream
I'll be your wish
I'll be your fantasy.
I'll be your hope
I'll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do...
I will be strong I will be faithful
'Cos I'm counting on a new beginning.
A reason for living.
A deeper meaning.

I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me...

-Savage Garden

Inside

Tried my hand at photographing interiors.

The Cabin at the Edge of the Universe

...and I bet the Hitchhicker's Guide has overlooked this!

My Castle

Rented a new house. It has a pretty chandelier in the hall!!

Sus Road

On a misty sunday morning...

Art of Sleep

Was travelling in Prashanti express when I met some interesting people. This man was particularly friendly, full of life and enthusiasm. He had a lot of anecdotes to tell us. His good cheer and liveliness was infectious.

The next morning when we woke up to find him sleeping like a baby, without a worry in the whole world.

What I wouldn't give to be able to sleep like this! :-)

Here I Go Again...

This is (one of) my favourite place(s) in the world and I just can't help posting on it now and then...

Woman

8 Point Someone

I've got tagged! Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of those rare moments when we get to see signs of life on this blog!

I have been asked by Everyman to make a list of '8 qualities that I would want in my perfect lover'. Well, I for sure know there is nothing like 'purrrfect' when it comes to humans but what the heck? So, here goes (not in order of importance):

She should be (Yes! It's a SHE!!):

1. having a very good emotional intelligence
2. (preferably) having some inclination to creative arts (if not talent itself!)
3. knowing how to fulfil her 'cuteness potential' ( I mean, she should not be the kind who says, "The only thing I do to look presentable every day is wash my face and comb my hair!")
4. having the guts to be true to be herself and not caring about what people say...
5. having a lot of determination to be happy --a hardcore optimist...
6. having the love for life, overflowing with energy and mischief...
7. having a good sense of humour
8. unhesitant to kick my ass when I act too smart
   

Hmmm... i am already eight! I guess it is so easy to hope to see these in others...

ALIVE!

Live

I guess I will have to live with it...

Angry

Angry with myself...

Summer Storm

A cumulonimbus cloud towers over the outskirts of Mysore city, sometime around 2002.

Mysore and its surrounding areas experience frequent thundershowers from clouds like these, usually during the summer months. Most probably it is these thuderstorms that act like a thermostat keeping Mysore temperatures form rising too much in summer.

As kids we used to curse them for their timing; exactly in the evening ruining our summer fun. These are those rains which brought that warm earthy smell everytime. The mere thought of it makes me feel good!

Dung De Basanti

Yeah! I am so happy about this movie!!! Especially because I never saw it.

The latest victim of this movie was my friend Y. He was outraged by the way the movie makes a mockery of the audience with a plot that is inconsistent and superficial. Unless, it's anything chalega. I heard this first from many friends and then I read it too!

Yes, I know it was stylish, it was cool, bindas and all that sort of thing and of course, and many people are loving it!

This movie would have easily mingled with the other bollywood flicks being churned out except for the tall claims made by the publicity. It would really help if they would not raise our expectations so much with all the hype. The maker should have atleast taken care to see how convincingly he kills the main characters in the end...

My friend Y wished he went to Aksar instead. Atleast he would have seen to it that he left his brain at home before watching it...

I asked another friend D, how he actually found it OK. He said, "Neenu story tho involve avvanu kada!" (I never get involved with the story in the first place!). Yes, the visuals and the fun-stuff in the earlier part of the movie are kinda fun but please leave your brain outside after the first half! This is nothing like Yuva...

Orb2

...and with one last sigh,
freeing the anger with all its might,
it breathed fire into the sky.
With orange photons flooding the air,
it was a silent scream of light…

The Orb

...and the huge, fiery orb lowered itself gently into the backyard of the little cabin by the tree, where it would sulk for the next 12 hrs or so, pondering over what it had seen that day...

In Papa's Lap

The Wait

Silver Sea

After Pooja

The shawl and bag were colorful while the other colors were distracting, so I 'Gimped' them... found this image in one of my folders from last year...

Rising Sun

Short Story

They met in school. They fell in love. They got married.

Men at Lunch

The workers at the construction site beside our flat decided to have lunch...

Kid on Beach

This kid was playing happily all by himself, not caring a damn about what was going on around.

Smiles 2

On the Road

Along the Bangalore-Mysore highway...




Adipampa road, Mysore...



Valmiki road...

TALENT!!!

tal·ent
n

A marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment. See Synonyms at ability.
Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.
A person or group of people having such ability: The company makes good use of its talent.

I realised that 'talent' is wrongly used to refer to the ability to score in exams alone.
No, it isn't only that. If you are good at writing, connecting with people, singing, or anything at all and it comes naturally to you, it is a talent. If you are good at arguing against this, that is a talent too! ;-) If you enjoy it, it's only better.

I stopped enjoying painting and drawing. So I just gave it up. And I am not missing it one bit.

Talent

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to nurture it in solitude and follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.

-Erica Jong

Vasco 2

Entering the room allotted to us at Lapaz Gardens, we find the AC buzzing. I turn it off and open the window to be greeted by this sight...


The sea is so quiet. We do not know it was there until we are just 2 streets away and we see the sand and feel the breeze. The sand is warm. We spot coconut trees leaning gracefully, tempting us with their cool shadows. We trudge through the sand and then lay sprawled in the shade wondering if a coconut would choose to fall into our faces at this very moment... a heap of engineers we were...




My colleague enjoys the solitude, looking into the strangely silent sea...
Stranger sleeping... blissfully...

Parasailing

Finally, I got my rolls developed. The snaps in the previous Goa post were from borrowed digicams. :-) Here are some.

The under-exposed blob you see on the bottom-right is the boat towing the parasail...

I will post the other snaps later :-)

Wish

Let 2006 bring you growth, happiness and all that sort of thing!

A bit of Vasco and then Goa

On the way to Panaji, we stopped at Vasco Da Gama for breakfast. Since there were two hours before the resort buses would arrive to take us to Panaji, we took a walk down the street in search of the beach and on the way I saw this...



As soon as we landed at the resort, we sat down for lunch, where we were given the welcome drink. Each of the tables had a flower placed in a glass. Beauty in simplicity...



We went to Panjim for shopping. As soon as we got down from the bus, this beautiful building stood there with a pretty palm tree by its side. My Goan colleague tells me it is the Old Medical College...

The sunsets there were quite good too...

I realised that Goa is not at all overrated. It has a charm that very few places can match. This was my first visit but it is certainly not the last! :-)

Different Views

Fardeen Khan marries Natasha
-Times of India

Fardeen, wife stuck in lift for 5 minutes
- Mid Day

Meghalomania

This sprightly damsel, with wit that knows no bounds, makes all other blogs (including this one) look like old farts!! :-))

Swami

"...And yet you are wandering about the house like an unleashed donkey! What preposterous list is this? Do you think rupees, annas and pies drop from the sky?' Swaminathan did not think exactly this, but something quite similar."
-R.K. Narayan's Malgudi Schooldays

Do not know why, but I liked these lines in a warm and fuzzy kind of way. Reading about Swami reminds me of my own childhood. Talking about which reminds me of Mysore... I still remember seeing R.K. Narayan taking a walk among the boulevards of the CFTRI campus. The only reason why we kids knew him was because we had watched Swami and Friends on DD then. Of course, I still remember the episode in which Swami pretends he is on an imaginary horse (or donkey?) which suddenly moves under him and his little topi falls! And I always imagine Swami as a little boy running, never walking... and of course, I still remember the song at the end of each episode which used to go, "Tandaana-tanaa-nanaanaaaaaa..."

Independence

If you are truly experiencing independence, you probably are:

1) Cleaning your own toilet.

2) Cooking your own food.