the fluttering calendar

Sitting in front of my comp trying to get the project report done. fluttering calendar in front catches my eye. hardly 3 weeks to go. College over. When in school had a strange sense of emptiness though we knew where we were gonna end up.
similar feeling now. 4 years . friends, classes, assignments, cricket matches in the acacia and what not. girls?.. No thank you.. Loved one. and let her be. wherever she is. Life goes on.
four years back thought life would take major turns. not happening..
nothing's the same too. Never wanted to go with the flow. Never wanted to go with the crowd. in four years.. ve blended with the crowd.... i am the crowd.
All of us take our lives for granted. We think about our purpose when we are disappointed with life. but we never take a chance to thank the ones who make ours happy. this is my tribute and my thanks.
1. thank you acha and amma for being you. i can't imagine a single day without you.
2. thank you friends.. you know who you are.. thanks for all the fun, the teasings, the bets, the cash, the relationship advice which always suck, the fucking swearing sessions and the occasional smokes.
3. thank you my college.. for lousy lessons on engineering and great lessons on life.
4. thank you my college bus... for the unforgettable ragging sessions.
5. thank you my mobile phone.... for being my ears.
6. thank you my faithful steed in blue.. i'll never forget our ride together.
7. thank you the CAT.. . i intend a continued association.
8. thank you my ex.. taught me how to love... and how not to..
9. thank you Uni-Y.. for the sodium vapour lamps and the speeches.

And thank you life.. for carrying me forward.

i plan no more nostalgic yearnings. it ends here.

And the blog?.. spend too much time writing about things that didn't really matter.

but an unforgettable experience.

thank you readers.

aravind.

The name's BOND.. James Bond

"Well, er, I've got this little villa up by Mona Dam James.", her voice hurried."Its got quite a nice spare room looking out over Kingston harbour. And its cool up there. And if you don't mind sharing a bathroom." She blushed. "I'm afraid there is no chaperone, but in Jamaica,people don't mind that sort of thing."
"What sort of thing?" said Bond, teasing her.
" Don't be silly James. You know, Unmarried couples sharing the same house and so on."
James Bond in the full possesion of his senses, with his eyes wide open,his feet flat on the linoleum floor,stuck his head blithely between the mink lined jaws of the trap. He said it and he meant it,"Good night Mary, you are an angel".
At the same time, he knew, deep down,that love from Mary Goodnight, Or from any other woman,was not enough for him. It wuld be like taking 'a room with a view'.For James Bond, the same view would always pall.( Ian Fleming's The man with the Golden Gun)

What is it that makes James Bond an Icon of the 20th century? The guns? The larger than life villains?The women? The cold steely-no emotion resolve? Or the stylish one liners?
Maybe at the end of the day its all about a man who is in total control of his senses, treats women like queens and trash at the very same time, has the licence to kill.. Yet not sure which side he is on.. The good.. or the Bad...
Well for those of you who ain't familair with the man, here are a couple of starters.

*James Bond is the son of a Scottish father, and a Swiss mother. When Bond was 11, both of his parents died in a mountain climbing accident in South france(Chamonix).

* He is a commander in the Royal Navy and works for the British Secret Service, though his identity card says that he works for Universal Exports as a sales manager.

* He is 6 feet tall, 76 Kg, bluish grey eyes, sharp features, and has a 3 inch vertical scar on his left cheek(Sean connery does total justice to Fleming's description)

* He is a hard drinker who prefers a dry martini(shaken,not stirred), an insatiable womanizer and a chain smoker.

James Bond epitomises the ultimate male fantasy. No family, No responsibility, living life on the edge with beautiful women for company, and in between all this, save the world too for a good measure. There is something about shirking responsibilities, blowing up stuff and sleeping around that is appealing to males everywhere.. I love the concept. Breakfast at paris, lunch at monte carlo, kill a baddie for tea, and Tango with the Queen of Monaco for dinner!!

Isn't that what books are all about? i've always believed that rather than "providing knowledge" books make u forget your worries. Its about being what you always wanted to be, going places where you wanted to go, doing things that you could never imagine doing otherwise. At the end of the day i don't give a damn about somebody's opinion about how mystic the world is or how pretty the sunset is(yes.. all kahlil gibran fans.. ears open). Instead I would rather read about a Swashbuckling double agent who saves the world before dinner and blows up half of europe in the process.

Life in the 20th century has been pretty ugly. It still is more or less so. which explains why fantasy has really gotten people hooked on. No wonder the most successful enterprises in literature and entertainment today are related to fantasy and fiction. (The Harry Potter series, the Lord of the rings series, The star wars trilogies etc etc)
i used to tease my friends for reading Harry Potter. because at one point of time I used to believe that books should make u think... I was wrong....

they should make you dream... dream about a Better tomorrow.. and an even better today.

the wolf walks...
into the night.

Deja Vu Contd...

and what did the wolf see... he saw.. A NUN WITHOUT A WATCH...
bad joke eh?... well i have a knack of cracking really lousy jokes at midnight.. or so they say....
Anyways on a more serious note.. i would like to say something about a topic which really gives me goosebumps.. Paranormal activity.
its the same with Paranormal activity and religion.. there are some who blindly accept it, some who blindly reject it, and a few others who walk the tightrope in between. I for one chose the tightrope... simply because.. i like to play safe.. heh heh.
back in the 90's( so cool to say it na?) there was an awesome show on TV called as the X-FILES... slick editing, an eerie soundtrack, great special effects and a picture perfect casting ensured that the whole of the country was glued... i was.. and how!. i developed an interest in the paranormal... aliens,sector 17 roswell crash, vampires, werewolves and what not... the more i read about it.. the stories seemed more and more convincing... SO HOW MUCH OF IT IS TRUE??... and how much should we believe..
the following are my postulates: -
1. I don't know what happens to people after their death. Maybe they take on a new life as an Arizona jackrabbit or maybe the spirit wanders on.. i don't know. I will.. but when i do know... don't think will be an a position to blog.. So as long as that is the case, i'll walk the rope.
2. Aliens... believer... and why?.. cos there are a million galaxies.. and each with a million planets.... i believe in permutations, combinations and probability. Hence i believe.
3. Aliens attackin??.. u got to be kiddin me... bull..
4. werewolves.. heh heh.. wud like to believe.. somethin about the half man, half wolf thing that really gets the testosteorone going!.. and hello.. Wolf remember?
5. Vampires.. If u mean humans suckin the life outta others.. there could be a long list starting with Mr Bush and ending with a very nice professor of mine.... but seriously the whole garlic coffin thing?... nope...
i just cited a few examples to make my standpoint clear. i would like to believe all of it.. simply because i am a dreamer.. i like fantasy.. i like myths.. i like mystery...
if the power fails on a stormy night.. yes.. i think twice before getting out of bed... and when i see the chair rockin... i don't always blame the wind...
and for all u know guys... i might not be kidding about me being the wolf...
on that note... its time for me to leave...
the wolf walks.. into the night...

Deja Vu

with 14 days of holidays to boot.. i really don't have anything much to do other than sleeping, watching television(the endless tirade of boring channels.. never ends.. i can never stop either..), or doing both at the same time. Skipping through, the trailer of the movie Deja Vu caught my eye. It wasn't the Movie which attracted me.. it was the title..
wht is Deja Vu??
the term "déjà vu" (French for "already seen", also called paramnesia) describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eerieness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past. Déjà vu has been described as "Remembering the future".(wikipedia)
All of us have had a sense of Deja Vu. It could be the little girl u saw at the railway station,the drooling old woman with the cancerous jaw, the e-mail with the Id abt which u dreamed, or even the sessional marks for the current semester. We feel as though it happened in the past. it sometimes strange, even scary. I'll tell you something which i felt as a very stong feeling of Deja Vu.
i used to go for tutions for science subjects during my high school days. every day morning i used to wake up, attend the classes half asleep and go to school. One morning i remember dreaming about walkin a straight long road by the side of a meadow. i'm walkin and walkin.. and some one calls out to me for the time.. pretty normal dream right?
there is a long stretch of road from sreekariyam junction to my school. in the wee hours of the morning(let's say 8 o clock.. not exactly wee hrs!).. the road is pretty much deserted.. i am walkin. i see this nun walkin on the opposite side. i crossed her and walked about five feet.. when i heard this voice call out to me.. what's the time...
I TURNED... and u wudn't believe wht the wolf saw...

to be contd..

Old Turkey Buzzard...

still got no clue eh wolves??... This is the title song of the movie McKenna's Gold.... ya u heard it right.. the classic western starring Gregory Peck in one of his most memorable roles ever... I've a series exam coming up tomorrow but when i saw the movie being aired on Pix tonight... i couldn't resist it.. its one of those few movies which linger on and on... in your mind( in fact i'm hummin the background music right now..)
The movie has a special place in my heart... i still remember the first time i saw the movie.. i was five then.. and my uncle had just returned from london with a VCR(remember this was in 1990!.. was kinda a big deal) and at least 100 movies... in fact my uncle spent his entire free time in london taping classic movies which appeared in BBC3... (err.. due to which we got accustomed to quite a few british ads).... mc kenna's gold was the first movie we saw... well to a little boy of five who had enough trouble drinking out of a glass... the movie and its plot were well... of zero interest...
what caught my attention back then were the thrilling horse rides, the final earthquake scene.. and the awesome backround music... i just had to see it again... and again.. and again.. well u get the idea..
i must ve seen the movie a minimum of 300 times... well.. maybe a zero more... the funny part is i never understood the story till i was 10 or so...
for those of you who haven't seen the movie... basic story is like this... The gangster Colorado kidnaps Marshal McKenna. He believes that McKenna has seen a map which leads to... the CANYON OF GOLD....(lots of masala in between)..
Today when i heard that music again... somehow i felt a strange feeling.. a mostalgic one perhaps... felt as though i was once again that little boy with a runnin nose... milk bottle in one hand and remote in the other... watching with wide eyed fascination.. Mc kenna saving the day....
i guess some things just don't change... Old turkey buzzard.. the song will forever ring in my ears....
the lone wolf walks... into the night..

Birds.. feathers.. flock together?

wolves.... The lone wolf is an ardent admirer of the good life... you know.. money, fast cars, luxury... the works..
Ask any ambitious educated youth in our country whom he wants to emulate in the long run.... and Trust me.. the name of Vijay Mallya would definitely come up.. if not every time..
Why do the youth admire this man so much?.... For one he's rich.. Second he is the king of good times... and finally.. he's got attitude...
Infosys Chairman Mr Narayanamurthy is a millionaire too... his assets surpass those of Mallya's... Yet he chooses to live a simple life.. An ambassador car and a modest 2 bedroom apartment as compared to Mallya's fleet of ferraris and lamborghinis... and that palacial house in goa...
So wait a minute... Birds of a feather flock together na?... but then why the discrepancy in the theory...????
The American automobile industry is led by three giants(or at least used to be!)... GM, Chrystler and Ford.. today they have lost the battle to the Japs who took the american car market by storm since the 70's... The reasons behind the failure of the american giants are quite interesting...
Alfred Sloan designed the segmentation theory post world war 2..... the former president of GM divided the american market into different segments based upon differences in socio-ecomonic conditions.. BUT THE TASTE WITHIN A COMMUNITY WAS ASSUMED TO BE HOMOGENEOUS...... i.e millionares always prefered a bentely always... heh heh.. Little did they realize that there were quite a few Murthy's in the customer base who could afford it.. BUT NEVER WANTED IT...
Japs realized this fundamental flaw in the american design process... They brought about the concept of the LIFESTYLE car... according to those wonderful japs... A person's lifestyle may not directly depend on his socio-economic segmentation... rather than making 50 different models for different segments... the japs designed just 2 or 3 good models.. and upgraded on the accessories... for eg:- the same system is now followed in India.. you have the maruti 800 and the 800 dx... both have the same engine, same handing and riding comfort.. but accessories such as air conditioning bring about the change in price...
Trust me the Japs had it all worked out... in 20 yrs.. They conquered the car market... While Gm struggled to maintain the top spot... Ford and Chrystler had practically been left to the dogs... This fellow wolves, is inventive thinking..... Out of the box... damn!.. these Japs are good..!
To conclude.. Do birds of a feather flock together????.. I leave it to you decide....

the wolf walks... into the night...
Howl of the day:-
Have a carrot in one hand and a long stick in the other... you'll go a long way.. definitely out of the rabbit hole..

the elephant trap...

fellow wolves.. the lone wolf is back after a long hiatus.... was on a perilous journey encompassing life, death and everything in between.. Humans,lesser mortals that they are... call it the university exams... The wolf has been through hell and beyond...
i was thinkin and thinkin.. wht shud i write on.. and i caught a glimpse of today's newspaper... Alongside the terrorist attack in the RSS headquarters.. there was a half a page article about a rogue tusker being captured... and it was the seventh article in the series.. i guess its the MEDIA EQUIVALENT OF REALITY TV...
the wolf shares a sense of bretheren with the mighty tusker.. But cmon.. The guy is getting undue publicity ... today he shares the media space with our Prime Minister..!!
which brings us to the core issue... Has the role of media been reduced to the 3 S's:-
1. SCOOPS
2. SCANDALS
3. SENSATIONALISM
the wolf believes yes... today the media revolves around news that people want to hear.. two headed goats in some village in kasargod, 11 yr old being molested by 45 men, gory details of mao activists chopping off the head of innocent villagers in nepal.....
Is this what we want to read?? clearly yes... The wolf pities the humans for still being primitive and carnal in their thought process despite claming to be the most civilsed race...
all of us Agree to the fact tht media plays a pivotal role in a country like india where corruotion and malpractices are rampant..
Take Tehelka for example... We all agree tht it was the worst tht people at such positions should be doing... or the couch casting issue involving the "bad" man shakti kapoor....
BUT ISN'T THE MEDIA CREATING NEWS RATHER THAN REPORT THE NEWS??
Let us take the case of the tusker episode.. the dude has been around for quite some time causing trouble.. nobody took notice.. neither the forest officials nr the government...
but one fine day the newspaper reports the issue... and bang!
things start falling into place... the paper has its masala hathi safari to entice its readers, the tribals have one less trouble.. and the forest officials get a chance to play Superman....
everybody is happy.. i agreed... BUT SHOULDN'T THE PAPER HAVE STOPPED WITH THE FIRST REPORT? WHY GO FOR A MEGA SERIAL INVOLVING THE TUSKER, THE FOREST AND THE OFFICIALS..... one simple answer... money speaks..
More sensation means more readership... more readership means more money....
Is this a good thing or a bad thing??( personally the wolf reaches out for the film supplement before the editorial...)
Its probably a generation thing... the present generation lives on the fast lane.. sensation is the fad... And media are really cashing in on it...
the wolf is not against PAGE 3, scoops, tehelka or dance bars.... But news should speak the truth... always.. and should not be fabricated for the sake of extra readership or satiation of a few perverted souls...
Everybody loves a good story.. But one needs to wonder whether newspapers are the right place for these fictitious stories...
the wolf walks.. into the night..