My Personal Tribute Richard Wright

I heard the news that Rick Wright one of the original members of the band Pink Floyd, has passed away. He died of cancer at the age of 65. This will go down as one of the worst days of my life. People reading this post might find it silly that iam mourning for a person (a musician) whom i have not known or met personally. I agree i don't know him personally but his music has made me what iam today. Pink Floyd's music has always been very personal to me. I don't like to share that with anyone. Every time i hear "Wish you were here" i burst out crying as it related to my very close friend i lost. I can honestly say it was Pink Floyd that was the inspiration for my success in life. Iam very lucky to have discovered such brilliant music at a young age. Rick, i don't know if there is really a "Great gig in the sky", if so shine on you crazy diamond.

Remembering: My Cousin's Wedding

Its kind of hard to believe that my cousin sister is married. I just wanted to write something about this special event in my family. I remember the rants we had about marriage and what we want and we dont want. Somehow it was me and her who were the shameless rebels of our family. We always wanted to breakaway from tradition in any possible ways. Thus came the discussion on how many guest we will invite? and what we will do? what we wont do? , the list goes on and on. One thing for sure was the fact that our saying will have no impact as far as parents were concerned. I remember the days when she was really fussy , fighting with her father for every little things he wanted her to do. Some instances include her refusal to look at any horoscopes sent to her, not willing to talk to suitable bridegrooms chosen by her father and so on. She entered her second phase where she suddenly changed from brashness to shyness and spent all her time including office hours over the phone talking to Raja. She let go her stand on how the wedding is to be conducted and let her father take care of it. She soon became the scrape goat for all of us and boy! we loved it. Everyone of us used to tease her but she always took it in good spirit. I was over the moon on day of her wedding. Everything was going as per plan and i was playing the bakara part in the wedding. It never occurred to me that this would be last time i would be seeing her before she takes off to US. It was all of sudden realization that a person you have known all your life is moving on and chances of seeing her whenever i like are very less. I guess iam not the only one with mixed emotions. Iam very good at hiding my emotions so on the day of wedding i goofed around and made fun of both the bride and groom. When i got time for myself after the wedding i was really sad. I guess, it must be same for everyone close to her. Even if i make it to the US in future there is very less chance of sharing the same level of bonding as before. Things will be never be the same. I understand that we have now grown up and ready to take serious responsibilities of life. Its just so hard for rest to understand and be mature. She had moved on, she has a family of her own and i would soon have mine. I will cherish the best moments we had together for rest of my life. From this moment its a new beginning for them and iam happy for them. If you guys are reading this, i wish you all the very best for your future.

Excited About Trek To Skandagiri!!

This is all in all uttaran's idea. Initially i was hesitant about Skandagiri as i was planning the same trek with another group. I realized that might not happen as my other group is full of ditcher's. This is the chance to make it there. We made all our plans, we will start at 5:00 am from egl and hope to return back by 7:00pm. In our usual long tea breaks we decided what stuff to be carried. We are 6 of us taking 2 cars. Me and Ozzy are the car drivers. Arun might bring another person along, not decided yet. These folks want me to cook at the peak!! Iam not sure if thats gonna happen.

When traditions conflict modern outlook

Just few days to go for my cousin's wedding, iam a nervous wreck. First, i will be asked to wear dothi which i have never worn all my life. I feel very insecure with the traditional outfit. Just when iam getting accustomed to what i have to go through, there come another shocker. The Bridegroom is supposed to put a ring on my fingers!!! Isint is what people do in gay marriages?? I hoping none of the bridegroom's friends from US will attend the wedding.

A Week Of Iranian Cinema

After the trek, it was time to relax. Nothing befitting than watch some good movies. Thats my idea of relaxation in city.I had 3 movies lined up for viewing. The first one was "The Dark Night", "Children Of Heaven" and "The Color Of Paradise". Dark Night is the latest batman flick which everyone is talking about. The "excellent" casting of Heath Ledger as joker is often raved about. I have seen it on dvd before and was not all that impressed about it. But after lot of people recommending me to go to the theaters, i decided to give it a shot. Surely it was not as bad as i thought. It was very good entertainer and worth a watch. I guess its the best batman movie so far. This blog entry is not to talk about this movie, rather about two Iranian cinemas i have seen on the same day. I was a bit skeptical of Iranian movies as i thought it would be about some religious nut cases trying to make a point. But it turns out to be way more than that. It makes Hollywood/Bollywood movies look dumb. I guess they are dumb when compared to this.

Children Of Heaven: (Majid Majidi)


This is a simple story of brother and sister living in poverty. The boy (brother) looses his sisters shoes at the market. Afraid to let their parents know of the loss, they begin sharing the one pair of shoes. The little girl wears it to school in the morning and the boy takes it from her in the afternoon. The story moves on with lovely incidences that bring you delight and awe. The movie's got some amazing moments to cherish. The pair is so natural with those furrowed faces, anxious knitted brows, range of sad faces they come up with make it worthy numerous viewing. My top three moments in the movie has to be , the scene where both the children sit in front of their parents and exchange glances and talk to each other in writing so as to avoid their parents overhearing the loss of the shoe. The scene where both the children follow the little girl who is using the "lost" pair of shoes, only to realize that they live in much more poverty than them. Finally, the climax, its a poetic finish to the story. Its a must watch for all people who love good movies. Frankly, Dark night stands no chance in front of this movie. No special effects, no big actors, no hi-funda concept, just purely human and lovable.

The Color Of Paradise: (Majid Majidi)


Another masterpiece from the same director. This also an Iranian film. The story is about a boy, who is rejected by his father because he is blind. The story goes on to show what feelings a person goes through when not liked by people he loves. The movie also shows the angle where the father feels that a blind son can never lift him off his poor economic status, hence only a burden. The boy is taken to his village to meet his grandma and his sisters and realizes that he would want to stay with them and study in their school rather than a blind school. The movies rolls out in slow pace with beautiful cinematography, breath taking scenery. I have never cried for any movie before until i saw this. It was truly touching when the father realizes his mistake and tries desperately to save his dying son. Its sure to make you cry. This is a movie with such strong message, human value,love and caring.

I know theses movies are of different genre and not the same as action flick. But still it make me wonder why cant people take movies like this with good social message. Hats of to Majid Majidi for bring us such great cinema.

On Turning 25!!

Today being my birthday, I realized that i have turned 25. Thats a quarter century. I suddenly realized iam OLD. I guess its time to reflect back on my life gone by. It had been one crazy journey, had fun most of the time. As far as i can remember i had always been rebellious, sometime it was good thing to do and sometimes bad, but i had learned to follow my heart very late in my life. I always believed in somebody else's words and never lived my life. Things did change for the better when i started taking control of my life. Iam happy that i have come a long way (positive) but also angry with myself to have lost out on many opportunity. Whether i have become a better person or not is for others to decide. There are 3 things i would like to share :

1. Family : I have most amazing family, I say this from my bottom of my heart. My grandfather, the man i
admire the most. A very intelligent man with lots of moral values. Man of dignity and pride. Iam not here to write an essay so ill cut it short. Two things i love the most is his unwillingness
to giveup on any work he takes up. I wish i had more of that quality. The second thing is he has
a mind of his own. Iam still puzzled how he was able to break away from this superstitious
belief shackle. Most people around me believe blindly on what "elders" say. He is different
he always questions what was told to him and took in what he believed is right. I think thats
a great attitude. I will proudly say i have some of that in me. My grandmother and my mother both alike, kind, helpful and very supportive. My father, i miss him the most as he has always been away from the family due to his work. He is a great guy, very loving and supportive. And my sister and cousins, well, crazy bunch of kids always pestering me for something or the
other. Great kids though.

2. Friends: I have had and still have a amazing bunch of pals. They have been with me through all my ups
and downs. We share a lot in common. I believe , key to friendship is to share the same
wavelength. I love to meet new people and make friends. My initial shyness to talk freely with
strangers held me up most of my life. I think i have changed for the better, time will tell. I think
i will stop it here. If any of my crazy friends read this they will be laughing their ass off.

3. Myself : I wanted to write this to reflect my 25 years but ended up writing some boring essay. Did i
analyze my life? Yes i did, and i have achieved a lot of things but lost out on some. So ill end
this with a apt song of my feelings.

"Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death"

If you never heard of this then you have wasted your life.

CCR all the way!!

I would have never thought i will be writing a blog on the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). I first song i heard of this band was on a soundtrack of "Remember The Titans". The song "Around the bend" was very catchy and feel good number. As time passed i got really addicted to this song. I decided to try out their album, so i chose the Greatest Hits album. The first track of the album was "Proud mary", which was so good that i instantly liked it. As the album began to roll on i started to enjoy every bit of it. I could not believe that i missed such an impressive band. It is strange that this band never made a major impact with selling records as one would have expected. They seem to have this slow and feel good touch to the music unlike most rock bands around. Most of the songs had great lyrics, and good guitar work. Its a good replacement to Simon and Garfunkel. For all those folks out there who have not heard CCR, i suggest you hear them as they are very very good. So go on and grab a CCR album and enjoy.

Black Is Beautiful

I decided to write on this topic after hearing people go on and on about black being inauspicious. To begin with, in Hindu tradition , Kali is know as the black goddess. She is linked with death. This is not just with hindu , but with other religions also. So, in other words religion shuns people from using black by referring to it as evil. So, does that mean that if a person likes black color then he/she is evil? I often wonder why the so called "sophisticated" people end up liking black so much that they have cars, mobiles, all in black but refuse to wear black dress to auspicious occasion. Thats strange because we are allowed to have black cars but not wear black dress. The irony is that the black car does come to the auspicious occasion as well. Another funny thing about the whole issue is, i heard people say that the westerner's wear black for funerals. I usually argue that they wear black for movie promos, office, party.. So is that evil? To me its very simple, black is the most beautiful color i have ever seen. It signifies elegance, style, mystery, sensuality, i can go on and on. Black personifies personality. Speaking of back, the first thing that comes to my mind is "back hole" !!! A very mysterious thing, no one can tell what it is like in that hole. That very mystery element reflects black. Iam really fascinated with that thought. I feel its time, as sane and intelligent humans that we get rid of the mind block on black and allow people to express themselves in anyway they want. Lets each one decide what they want. Lets remove the taboo status of black from our society.