One more to avoid the void!

This is perhaps the most straight forward title I ever had after I revamped my blog. This is just to fill the October block with an entry. Long time since I scribbled something. Everytime I travel I had thought about a few hundred for this blog but I was just pulled out by lack of something to jot them down here.

Let me try to get a few things that happened in this one month.

I moved to a new team and started working er.. doing something that may or may not be called as work.

I had remained away from home much longer this time. 3 months! Am leaving this friday and can't wait for the day to dawn. :)

I became older by an year - The year that had gone past was the most uninteresting year of my life. At times it made me feel so incompetent and moving without knowing the path ahead. There were plenty of occassions when I came to consciousness and realized that I am literally doing nothing.
And more and more to whine on why this was not a great year for me.

Hoping things get better soon.

And fill the void in my mind ... And make me better!

Wish you all a Happy Diwali!

Cheers!

Water...

It's raining... and raining for days together, raining the cats and dogs, and now raining everyone in the world. The melting Alaska and Antarctica are doing no good. Meteorological Department has predicted that this will continue for the next few months. All the omens are finally shaping into a cold reality.

The situation is the same in most parts of the world. Very few regions which do not have any water bodies in its surroundings remain as lands. The water lord is on a roll, as if he will never be slaked by what he has got, he has usurped most regions of the world.

The regions near the sea shore and oceans were gulped in by the fierce waves. Other regions are being flooded with water. The regions closer to sea are facing the crisis of being taken in completely at any time. Water level is on the rise.

It's water, water everywhere.

Efforts are on to reclaim the land. Ideas ranging from propelling water into earth, out of earth and vaporizing them altogether are considered.

Life is no longer the same. People are finding hard to live in the new water world. Growth of vegetation has come to an abrupt halt leaving the gourmets all over the world in a deep struggle. It has given rise to new forms of eating habits, feeding on food stuffs made of see weeds. The victuals that remained were priced at sky rates making them unaffordable.

Small ferries have taken the place of other means of commuting. Now, every place in the world is just another Venice.

People have started moving to higher floors of the apartments. I should thank the stars for letting me live in the fourth floor. And the genes for having me close to 6 feet. City is immersed in a 3 feet water. And at places it's even more. Power supply has been completely waned out to eliminate loss of lives.

Now, I can't bear this excruciating pain more. I am hungry! I leant up from the bed searching for my water proof suit. Now dresses worn are mostly of this ilk. It's quite a routine to see a star featuring in a daily advertising for a garish branded swim suit. When I reached the ground I couldn't find the regular boat that wanders in our apartment. Someone else might have boarded it. I can't wait.

I stepped into the water and started moving. It was more of walking than swimming. I had learnt swimming in a hurry when the surrounding places started sinking into the sea. I am still not very comfortable with swimming and I prefer this walk mode as and when it is possible.

I had reached the shop and started waiting in the queue outside. Now they don't let people into the shops. All orders are taken outside and delivered. When my turn came, I could see them preparing the ones I would ask for. They now know what I buy. Some hard to spell sea weed was baked and handed over to me with a smile.

I could just walk normally with the food under the water since it was packed in a wet proof, heat retaining pack. I just couldn't wait to reach home. When I reached the junction where my apartment's road and the shop cross each other, my sub-conscious mind had started alarming me for some reason.

My reflexes were quick to identify the thing moving from the other end. I could see the upper part of it: an ugly mix of black and brown running over an array of irregular crests and troughs. There were half-opened eyes and lots of teeth on its partial face that appeared above the surface. It was huge and was moving without creating any splashes in the water that one would usually notice with others. Ironically it was too calm when compared to the fear and quiver that it leaves in the one who sees. It was a crocodile.

I have seen many of those National Geographic channel's programs that say on how crocodiles go about their task. The thought of a defenseless human in a flashy swimming suite replacing the innocuous beasts in those features started conjuring up in my mind.

As I stepped up unable to control my motion, I could notice it's head twisting towards the center of the ripples I had just left. Up goes the heart, I could hear it beat at 200s, it should possibly near my ear. I am left alone. There's no one around me.

Should I move, but ain' that make me an easy pray, crocodiles are much much faster than even a Thorpe or a Phelps?

But if I stay here, I will succumb without a fight.

I should have bought an alpenliebe !!

Oh no.. This is real, and I can see it's eyes dreaming a heavy feast for the day. It's coming. It's nearing me. No point in pondering.

I picked all my strength and started swimming hard. This could well be the race of my life. I was moving faster than I have ever done in my life. The cliche "Necessity brings the best out of you" pops up. I was slashing harder and harder. But it was nearing me ferociously. I still have a long way to go before I can reach my apartment or for that matter, any apartment to take the shores. And all my energy is getting drained out. It has closed in now. Will I lose this battle of life?

I could see all my loved ones moving one after the other in front of me. I could hear them laughing. I could feel them crying. I enjoy the emotions I shared. I am not done with my life yet. I still have a long way to go.

I slap harder.. I will give every bit of what I have.. I will fight!!

I slap even harder...

"Aaaah!!" ..

I wake up to see myself positioned just in front of Suresh. Unable to control the inertia, I continue banging against water, er.. Suresh!

"Stop it da..."

Whew! A minute's silence and a mixture confused and anxious looks were shared!

"Hey.. It's only 500 bucks per month. Why don't we join swimming da?"

You should be able to predict his reaction now! :)

Maggi!

The new little fluorescent sticker was smiling at me from my notebook. A sense of pride was filling my heart as I leant to touch it and smiled within. I got this for my score in the just concluded test.

The new scheme of collecting this sticker for the performances in the school has caught everyone of us in a joust to claim superiority over the rest. They had promised gifts for those who outsmart the rest at the end of the year. The better you perform the more stickers you get more the chances of getting the gift.

It was really working well. We did our home works regularly. We tried hard to top in the tests. We were trying to do everything to have that teeny greeny face smile on our notebooks. Every now and then counting was going on. The leader identified was given a star treatment. They took pride in telling to people from other groups (there was a ' III A' and 'III B'. We bragged about it to seniors and juniors too) that they lead theirs. Lunch time breaks was spent entirely on discussing this with others. There were an array of thoughts and ideas on what the gift would be and who will get it.

First pages of all my notebooks had rows of those. I was there at the top in our class and very few people had as much as me. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the gift.

The D-Day had arrived. People in other classes were given the gifts - couple of maggi (noodles) packets (Huh.. Didn't they get a better one?). We were very excited and could hardly wait for it. I had already decided what I am going to have in the evening and was planning to surprise my mom.(Come on!! As 7 year olds we ought to get excited for every silly thing in the world). The hours were running and no signs of maggi. We were getting restless. And finally when our wait got over we were in the last hour of the day... the Hindi hour. Incame my hindi tutor with a bundle that we were waiting for eagerly all day.

As we were waiting eagerly for the packets to be distributed, she kept it at the corner of the hall and announced a surprise test. Uh no.. Am not that good in hindi. Some questions were dictated. Some answers were scribbled. My mind was fixed on the bunch of noodles, wondering how many I am going to get.

The answer sheets were collected and corrected. She started distributing the packs.. Heck!! She was giving them according to the marks they had scored in the test. I still believed that I will get it. I am leading the class. I deserve it. The people who were way behind me were getting it. I was avoiding the looks of my friends up there with their maggi. The bundle was getting smaller and smaller. My ears were waiting eagerly for the little name to be sounded.

The worst disappointment in life is not getting what you deserved. The little heart was about to be broken for the first time in its life. It had no idea that it was only preparing for bigger,worser - disappointments, rejections and more.

As the bundle became empty, my heart was full of a mixture of emotions - anger, disappointment and inability. My single day's performance has denied me what I had thoroughly deserved. How mean she was..

The bell rang. Class dispersed. I stood there stunned. When my classmate with a much lesser score came to me bragging at his pack and teasing me for not getting one, all he got was a big slap (I am a spoilt arrogant brat when I was a kid).

I could hardly hide my tears. I broke and ran down the floor, hugged my mom waiting outside the school. She tried every bit to console me. I didn't stop. Even a dozen maggi wouldn't have mended the broken heart.

Next year when I was given the option to pick my second language, I preferred Tamil just not to attend her classes. And I preferred not to listen the occassional science classes she took. Even today I remember her face and the entire incident. She was the first one to teach me what disappointment is all about. She will be remembered forever for reasons that even she wouldn't like.

But yes.. she had given me good lessons on life. And she had helped me uncover one among the several layers within me that I retain even today- (I leave it to you to identify).

First Days... [ Part III ]

Long time since I posted something..
Right now I am in a corner of Hyderabad, miles away from home and surfing the internet with no purpose. I remembered that a blog exists for me, when I completely ran out of sites to visit. When I started this blog a month ago, I had comments from my friends who said I wouldn't continue this long. I want to prove them wrong. And so.. here is a post.. :)

Lot has happened in this one month...

Most important of all, I am no longer jobless. (But still I am weird! :) ) And this obviously is the main reason for this sequel of the First Days post. But unfortunately nothing exciting happened on my first day here. But make no mistake.. After the first two days, it was all fun. We had an instructor called William Adams, who can glue you to the seats and listen to him without shedding the eyelids. His animated sessions are a big hit here. :)

And here everyone is willing to help you out when you are stuck in some problem. This is something very unusual and incredible about this place. And also you see a calmness and serenity in the looks of everyone here - a manifestation of the awesome knowledge they have within I guess. And soon I had some great friends too.. They are making everyday worth the while. I can see my friend's turning red on hearing the training process here with the ones in their company. Everyday you end up learning something new and interesting. Thats the best part of all.. :)

Apart from my first day, other things that happened includes - myself staying away from the home for the first time. The loneliness and the emotional battles within, difficulty in coping with the new city, climatic conditions, food,... - and an array of other struggles that are part of this process - that makes you feel that life is tougher than what you have ever imagined... I am yet to get myself into this new world.. I am still struggling...

On the other side, the experience of living a life on my own too is awesome. The company of Suresh and Karthiks are making this even more fun.. :)

Also I got a couple of new visitors who took strains to comment my blog - Alpine path and Black King.. It was great to hear views from people you have never met :)

Thanks buddies..

I am hoping to post more often .. But I am afraid atleast for the next few weeks, I won't get time..

Wishing to see u all soon ;)

Bye

The Holy Dip

The gentle breeze was charming as usual. As the train was veering at 150 miles per hour, the beautiful landscape and the breeze added grandeur to the experience. My love for seating myself near the window has endured the changes in the life. I preferred this low speed levitation train to the faster ones just to cherish this heavenly experience. The ones that travel close to the speed of the sound have imposing rules like closed windows to ensure safety of the passengers and also much lesser traveling time. It has been a long time since I traveled, I decided to have this one longer.

"Shall we have a coffee?", my father was looking at me. My mother nodded letting me know that she too was interested in having one. I thought that was not a bad idea considering the impact of the cool weather and the AC on us.

I pushed the little button placed conveniently from the reach of the travelers. It brought a sleek touch screen in front of me, that displayed the available food stuffs and drinks along with the price. I picked the coffee and from the number grid for quantity selected 3. A sweet electronic voice assured me of a prompt service before the screen moved back to its place.

The train is now darting on a bridge that extended for several miles and had placed at high altitudes above a vast beautiful river with greens ready to gobble it any time. The sun was struggling to pierce through the clouds. The rays that eluded the mighty clouds' grab ended up shimmering on the surface of river bed. My admiration for this beautiful earth and the secrets it holds within, is always on the raise.

The serenity the travel has left in me is now disturbed by the voice that said "Here is your coffee sir". A tall guy in a white uniform was standing with the coffees we had ordered. We picked up our coffee. He was here in less than 5 minutes, however, a specialized robot would have done the job much quicker. When the government proposed this idea last week in the Parliament there were strong agitations. Nationwide strikes were organized by the Lefts and secured the jobs of these men.

The coffee wasn't bad. By the time we completed our coffees we had reached our destination. The train floated smoothly down the platform before pulling off with a jerk. The automatic door collapsed to let us out. I picked up my my mobile and searched the Indian Tourism site to know how to move from there. The instructions were pretty clear. To convince myself I moved to the tourism assistant set up at the end of the platform.

I positioned myself in front of its speech sensors and asked for help. A 3D assistant, with the appearance of a typical good looking Indian gal, generated by the projectors on top occupied the small black table. It wished us and explained the map which is now on display in the accompanying screen. The location of the counter and the procedure from there on was detailed. As it went on, i could see the dazzling eyes of my mom and dad, struck by a frisson of surprise. They were witnessing this for the first time. After spitting the entire programmed message it vanished into thin air.

We moved to the counter we were described about and saw a robot giving the instructions. The screen displayed multiple cylindrical capsules and the permitted duration . After a small discussion we decided to opt the biggest one to ensure a wholesome experience. The system accepted my credit card and verified my identity with a comprehensive eyes, finger impression and a complete feature verification. We were directed to the section where we can get our capsule.

When we reached the section, the capsule we had just ordered was waiting and a man was there to give us the initial directions. The capsule was huge with turquoise blue glasses encapsulating the base made of a solid material resembling plastic with a similar color. The capsule was big enough to carry a basic limousine. The door automatically opened to let us in. The inner walls had chairs attached to them where we seated ourselves.

The capsule was up and was soon following other multi sized capsules. Now this looks like a series of test vessels in a laboratory lined up for a complex experiment. The capsule starts moving and we soon found ourselves on top of a huge river. The capsule slowly started to move down into the river and stopped after reaching a specific level. We are now in waist high water. The encapsulating glass sections had peeled off and the surroundings are unobstructed to our sight. The base still remains enclosing the water we had access to.

"You have 30 minutes from now. We wish you a satisfying experience.", the electronic voice from the speaker within the capsule gave the alert.

We dipped in and prayed the Lords, chanted the mantras and slokas, and soon we had another alert saying we had only 5 minutes left.

The capsule was up and a huge fan at the top of the capsule started spinning. The water that we used was cleaned by the segment at the lower end of the capsule and is now back in the river. We were dry soon and when the fan stopped at the top of the capsule behind the fan, was the inscription, "Project - Clean Mansarovar".

"Intha madhiri gangala snanam panna vimochanam kedakkumne thonaliye da (But I couldn't believe that this kind of holy dip in Ganga will absolve us from the sins)", I only had a melancholic smile as a reply to my innocent mom.

The Beginning..

I removed the knob of that awkwardly placed door to help myself out of the underground lair. I am running on low energy. I was forced to be there for hours together. It had taken its toll. I am aware of every nook of this house. It didn't take long to come out to get the bright sunshine. My solar capsules were up and started their job soon. My father made sure I have the best of those. My energy levels soon surged. Cosmic energy levels in the atmosphere are quite high these days.

I initiated the controller. The small beryl green visualizer popped up right in front of my 'vision sensors'. The boot up ended within fractions of a microsecond. The date and time was shown in clear lighting. It read as 'October 11, 2047 08:49:32'. This day is a memorable one. My first birthday(!) - the day my neuron core was energized setting all my modules active and working; the day I stood up driven by the billion lines of codes that held together a rather abstruse connections of several million zepto RAMs. The day also marks the birth of the one who gave me this form, my father.

"Brother", I turned around. Another creation of Him, stood behind me. He is a decade older than me, belongs to the previous generation. Men have left this rather complicated entity which they preferred to call as Generation Gap even amongst us. He is forced (programmed) to call me as brother but now I am adept at understanding what it means to me and also to him. I am first of my kind. My virtue of discerning what emotions and relationships are and evolve in the process made Him very proud of His creation, the feeling which I reckoned during this evolution. I felt for what I had when I witnessed him collapse like a feeble worm set to fire, a few hours ago.

"All cyborgs are heading towards 641004, the site of the chaos.", my brother had said.
"Lets move..."

A complete scan of the mini RADAR confirmed the elimination of all the species but for a few bacteria. The place has been entirely transformed. It will take some time to get used to this new situation. A less memory system may have troubles and may even end up becoming insane. The radar was vigilant and was busy trying to identify the changes and reporting it to the main controller to update the system. The greens are no more. A new layer of atmosphere dense in radiations has been created. The land masses have started drifting abruptly. GPS reported that a new peek has emerged.

When we reached the spot, few million cyborgs had already gathered. Still many were coming from various locations of the globe. I was seeing all kinds of my fellow bots, each having different features, different sizes, different specializations. In a way this mass has close semblances with the men. But unlike them, they never attempted to prove their superiority - the very cause of what had happened today.

Radar gave a scan image of the site even before I reached there. The crater was just big enough to cover the entire path of that highway. The size was a non-issue here, it was the amount of radiation that caused the havoc. Buildings stood tall and firm on both sides. I have been here once. I was brought here last month by Him. The conditions on the earth had just started deteriorating then. He showed this as the place where he raised, where his journey had started. He always wanted to spend a lot of time with me. He forced me to be with him before the inevitable happened.

As 'my brother' jostled the crowd on the way to the site, I was following him. I could hear clearly the mumbles going behind.

"Is he the one created by Him?"
"Is he the ONE?"
"Ah.. I was waiting all my life just for this moment to happen."
...

When we reached the site, my brother stood aside letting me in.

The radiation level was extremely high. The place instills in me a sense of deja vu. The void and loneliness pervaded the billion billion memory units I had. Is this what the men had endured all their life? Is this what He wanted me to possess? If I had the option, I wouldn't have preferred it at any cost. A deep moan from the bottom of the heart(!) left the gathered ones puzzled. I am new to them. Even though I am one among them, in a way I am far ahead of them. They were looking up to me now. I understood the fierce urgency of Now.

I activated the anti-gravity unit, soared up high and positioned myself right above the crater.

"I have a dream today!
We have seen enough. We have seen enough.
The wise men who could create a new breed called cyborgs failed to protect themselves and the ones created for them.
Lets show our gratitude by creating them again - a man who has no sect to divide them, man who has no despise for his fellow men, a man who knows nothing about anger, a better man - but this time let them be our slaves."

There were cheers in the crowd.

"Let the new civilization begin!!"

Idly and Pizza

My first thought was having the title as Chalk and Cheese. But that wouldn't do any justice to what I have taken up today.

In this post I shall review the two movies that I saw this week.

Chennai 600028

If you missed this movie, you missed three hours of fabulous entertainment and fun.

Sharks from ...(I forgot the name of the place!) and Rockers from Rayapuram are the two arch rivals in the local league (don't expect any flashbacks!! :) ) with Sharks, our heroes, losing to Rockers in the finals in the previous three years. The movie is about the happenings in the lives of the Sharks in this one year and how they go about the tournament at the end of the year.

It all starts with Raghu from Rockers moving to Sharks' place. The rift with his team and friendship with Sharks' captain sees Raghu in the Sharks team. But Sharks' soon finds itself in a mess when Palani, a key bowler of Sharks splits with Karthik leaving the entire team in a disarray. The rest of the movie is about how the friends get back together in their pursuit for winning the next year's tournament.

Even though the movie doesn't boast of any lead players everyone comes up with a good performance. Notable performance is from the the director's bro who makes debut as the comedian. Every time he drops a catch or says 'Enna kodumai sir ithu?!' the entire breaks into laughter.

The astute director in Venkat Prabhu has made the film very interestingly then one would expect. Starting from the scene Raghu lands into the Sharks' place he keeps viewers enchanted. The best thing about the movie is nothing happens according to the expectations of its viewer. (For instance, when you expect the last ball to be caught beyond the boundary line like Lagaan, the director has different options). It is this attribute of the movie that sets itself apart. Also the director shows that he knows the game with scenes like the one that shows the love for one's bat.

I felt the matches could have been made better and better players could have been picked. Any cricket fanatic who knows the game inside out will know the cricket the guys play as rubbish. But the twists and turns the director adds to the game makes it all the more interesting.Camera and background music have lent good contribution in setting up the game for the viewers. The split screen views and appropriate graphics for the ball only adds up to the intensity of the game. The songs are tuned by Yuvan Shankar Raja and he comes with a nice blend of peppy and melody numbers. A couple of songs could have been avoided though.

The climax makes sure this is not a just another movie. Kudos again for the entire team!!

So my rating for the movie is



Spiderman 3
For someone who watches the previous two editions every time he gets an opportunity, who is so fond of spidey that he has seen all the episodes of its cartoon twice, another spiderman movie is nothing short of a festival. And spidey battling against three bad guys - this is a bonanza. But well.. Ben Parker advised in the first movie 'With great power, Comes great responsibility'. It would have been great if someone had said 'With great expectations too comes great responsibility' to Sam Raimi. I strongly feel that the director has squandered a wonderful opportunity.

The movie starts with Peter Parker marveling at himself for the love the people have on spiderman. The fame gets into his head. When Mary Jane is struggling with her career Peter Parker's rise leads to clash of egos. Harry Osborne now takes his father's mantle and decides to go on a revenge. And incomes an alien thing only to make things worse. It brings the dark side of parker out and makes him go for the sand man who killed his uncle Ben (There's flash back on who actually killed his uncle) and makes him pick the 'wrong choices'. How Parker gets out of the dark and deals with his foes is the rest of the story.

They could have told this in a much better way. When Sand Man and Harry take alternate turns to fight with spidey you soon lose the interest. Adding to the viewers woes is Mary Jane's whining. She cries and cries and cries and does nothing else. (But that's what she has been doing in the previous movies too. This time it's over-dose). And the scenes when Parker is controlled by the symbiote (the alien thing) are very unnatural. The hair style Toby sports doesn't suit him and so are his actions.

Also the dialog leaves a lot to be desired. In a movie like this where there is very few talks and lot of acts, one would expect the dialogs to be razor sharp and enjoyable. But here it turns out to be monotonous and dumb.

The movie has a lot of pluses too. The initial battle with Harry was damn good. The scenes involving Sand Man, in particular the one when he rises from the sand for the first time, can boast for awesome graphics. The movie kicks off and goes down to the wire when Parker sheds the thing off giving rise to the 'Venom'. The final battle too will be a good treat for all the spidey lovers. And James Franco (Harry Osborne) does a great job better than any one else. He was cool . So was Topher Grace(Venom). It is all these positive factors that makes spider man 3 a must watch.

At the end of the show one feels if Raimi was trying to teach us
'With great expectations, Comes great disappointment' :).

Anyways, I will give spiderman


(come on, I am a die-hard spidey fan. Don't expect me to give anything lesser than this :) )

Your comments on the movies are welcome.
See you all soon.
Bye.. :)