...shoOOonya...

A few years ago when the novel as well as the movie Da Vinci Code became a hit ... a lot of 'Da Vinci Code' Tours spiralled out taking the tourists through all the places which are mentioned in the book. There is also another kind of Tourism which has seen a rise in the past decade ... the rise of Terrorism across teh globle. Places and Sites targettted by Terror Attacks by Terrorists have become Tourist Spots ... Whether it is the World Trade Center (9/11) or is it the Taj Hotel of Mumbai (Nov 26 or we denote it in India .. our 26/11) or is it any of the other countless 'bombed/terrorist hit' locations across the world ... all of them are are becoming Tourist Spots where people visiting the city come and see the landmark which was hit. Guides provide a vivid description of what happened and how they were witness to the horrors of the event (whether they were present or not is another story) ... It even get better ... with "Political Tourism" – the...

Since i dont get 'Colors' and since i dont really enjoy 'Star Plus', i end up watching 'Sony' here in my Dubai Hotel where the choice between Indian channels is pretty narrow. (Another reason i watch so much of NDTV 24X7 so much these days, no choice at all there :) ... and I dont regret it. hardly any other news channel which impresses me. So, while random channel surfing, i chance upon the latest reality show of Sony "Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao" and i was watching it with 'some' interest when suddenly something happened! I heard something (instead of something) and was shocked, surprised and amused (in that order) In a particular scene ... the word  ParleG was muted with a beep; the treatment which is usually reserved for all kinds of abusive words uttered in the reality shows (giving it the sort of essence of reality)! Was ParleG considered an abusive word or is simply the marketing and sponsorship department censoring the conte...

I blogged about my second attempt at "dieting/diet control" here exactly a month ago! The first one was pretty effective and I lost about 4 Kg in a month in the month of April :-) Well … The Diet plan for the month of July (second attempt) went for a completely toss. Well Almost. I had anticipated that the diet plan for the month of July might not be very successful since I knew that office timings will be rough and I won't be able to devote time regularly to gym and cooking; but I hadn't realy thought it would be this bad. I actually gained weight instead of losing it. Well … no cause for an alarm though. I have just gained a few hundred grams and I am not crossing the 81 KG mark in this month (I was exactly 80 Kg a month ago). My sight is now on the month of August-Sept. Hope that those 6 weeks are good and conducive for my diet plan. And can help me shed a few kilos before I go to India for a 10 day trip (wherein I am sure to gain a few).

I discovered Paratha King (near Karama Post office in Dubai) about 10 months ago and I fell in love with that place almost immediately. They serve about 100+ varieties of Parathas and the Parathas are really really good. They also have another joint " Go Bananas " which specializes in Western snacks like Pizzas, Frankie, Burritos etc. I love them too. This post is not about PK or GB or about the good quality food they serve and how much I love eating out at these two joints. This is about a funny incident which occurred there. One hot and humid evening of Dubai Summer (about 2 week ago), I went to Go Bananas along with my colleague Aseem. There is no/little space to sit and dine in PK so we sit in GB and order a mix of Paratha, Frankie and Burritos J (Enjoying the best fo both worlds :) There was new lady (I think Phillipino) to take the order and we placed an order for a "Mooli Methi Paratha" to begin with. To our utter surprise, after 10-15 minutes she...

You showed me the way ...  You led me through life holding my hand ...  You showed me what life was ...  You showed me what Love was ...   You showed me what being loved was ... You showed me what loving someone was ...  Now you are gone ... nowhere in sight ... Now in life, nothing seems to be right   Without You, i feel lost ... completely lost ...  

The education for the most part was of poor quality, but that does not matter, because of what I have called the Placebo effect of education. What it confers is confidence, while the real knowledge is gained on the job - which is why dropping out of college doesn't do much damage to upper-middle-class kids, who presumably already have an ample supply of confidence.       Quote from Sridhar's blog post Why IT Happened in Southern India, an Unorthodox Explanation      an interesting article

Someone sent me pics of yesterday's 'record' high High Tide in Mumbai (as an email forward) ... and then i "surfed up" (literally) some more from the internet !     I soooo much miss being in Mumbai ... at Marine Drive ... at gateway of India ... at Juhu Beach ...     Wish i had been there ... experiencing the Big Splash on my face and washing away the tiredness from my body ... Wish I had been there ... watching the strong currents and waves which make you seem like a lilliput... Wish I had been there ... watching the wild wild fury of the "Samudra Devata (Sea God)" ...   Wish i had been there ...        

Ever since i started emailing (way back before year 2000) ... I have been writing mails to friends in a strange manner which is pretty common  ...  Writing Hindi words using English Alphabets. Not just email, even messenger chats would go that way. Millions of words have been written (by me alone) in this manner in the past decade.    आप समझ रहे हैं न मैं क्या कह रहा हूँ .... would be written as "Aap samajh rahe hain na main kya keh raha hoon" When Gmail introduced the feature to write in Hindi, it was a delight. I still do write in the Hindi-English fashion but then there are times when i catually switch that feature 'on' and write it in hindi 'properly'  Now I have become greedy ... I want this feature to be extended to G-Chat/G-talk tooo ....  Hope to see it soon ... 

When exams are near, I tremble with fear. Whatever I learn, I leave it in rear.   Math which frightens me most, Hovers upon me like a Ghost! Trigo is the worst of all, B'cos it fries me hot like a toast !   Science the next. Is like a pest ! Physics, Bio, Chemistry, Are the toughest !   Physics of lenses and projectile motion, Needs a lot of confusion calculations ! Producing Static friction in our brains, With the organic compounds being the biggest strain !   Biology has Botany with Algae and Plants, Along with Zoology with Dissection if Ants, Circulation, Respiration, Ingestion, Digestion, Leaving the students with Constipation !   Languages next in the row, Nothing in them is difficult so. Textbooks thirsting for our touch, B'cos about them, we don't worry much !   Electronics with their confusing Circuits, Technologies like Integrated Chips and Biscuits ! Computer Hardware and Sof...

After I made the previous post on some Hollywood movies, I had a look at my side-bar archives section and was wondering when I would cross my 200 th post. A quick count revealed that I had just missed the 200 th Post. And with that realization, the pang of NOT making a "this is my 200 th post" post hit me for a few milliseconds. A few milliseconds got added to that when I realized that even the 100 th post had happened without me realising it. Well … not to be outdone by fate and my nearly non-existent memory .... here it is. This is my 202 nd blogpost on this blog :D That's it ! Thats my milestone marking blog post ! A marker in time in the virtual reality we live in. And talking of virtual reality ... you should check this comic out here

I recently saw two movies on TV ... "The Game" and "The Paycheck" It was nice to see the movies 'again'. I had seen them first during my NITIE days (2003-2005) I had loved them then … I love them now. Both are simply fantastic. I also realised that the game was an inspiration for Bluffmaster and the Paycheck inspired the future viewing technology invention of Krishh :) These also reminded me of the movie "The Phonebooth" … yet another striking movie I had liked. Also, I saw a trailer for a movie on TV yesterday ... named "Derailed" ... While I saw the trailer / teaser; i remembered the Imran Hashmi starrer "Train" and realised that Train was most probably a frame to frame copy of Derailed... And while I am on the subject of movies .. let me tell you that while on my last India visit, i saw the movie "Angels and Demons" I had read all 4 of Dan Brown novels a couple of years and don't really have a great memory; bu...

Loneliness ... I have never spent time with myself... I dont go into those introspection states when one talks to oneself... I somehow never got anything out of talking to myself... or thinking about past events (partly the bad memory to be blamed) and ... I have always hated and feared being alone... Yes ... I fear being alone .... not that i get scared or frightened of the ghosts or shadows ... I am just scared of the feeling of loneliness which also gives the feeling that u r no longer needed... and thats what i hate ... i hate that fear and i fear that feeling of loneliness ... of not being wanted ... And as fate would have it .... the things i hate and fear have to figure in the scheme of things and say 'hi' to me every now and then :D So here I am .... alone ... away from home ... away from family and friends ... moreover ... friends ... best friends have drifted away ... being hopelessly hopefully optimistic ... i do expect them to come back and include me in their life...

Well, if you haven't noticed it yet, both are movies. Bombay is a Mani Ratnam directed Indian movie with music by A R Rehman, released in 1995. Lord of War is a Andrew Niccol directed, Nicholas Cage starrer Hollywood Movie, released in 2005.   I saw the movie 'Lord of War' a few days ago and was surprised to hear A R Rehman's music in it. A small piece of music titled the "Bombay Theme Tune" from the movie Bombay was used in a sequence in Lord of War where Nicholas cage sits watching an airplane being dismantled by villagers.   I always loved the music of the movie Bombay and it was nice to hear it after a long time. The song "Humma Humma" , my all time favourite, still rocks me and evokes a thousand memories of my junior college days.

Thats what i am struggling with these days ... With so much happening around ... inside it feels like life has come to a stand still ... And the problem is that its not the tranquil peaceful stillness that one would love to have at times in ones life .. Its the sluggish and stagnating variety smelling of loneliness and gloom ... which i personally hate ... Right now i am sooo immersed in it that I am finding it difficult to even come out it ... The motivation does not exist. The inspiration does not exist. I know, there is no one who can actually pull me out of it ... except myself. Those who can ... are not there. Ironically, had they been there, I wouldn't require any pulling out in the first place.

Today it rained heavily in Mumbai … There was water logging everywhere across the city and even the Trains were slow and late and at some point in time they even stopped for some time … I had called home in the morning and asked Dad to send some courier and then called again to check hoping he had NOT left home in these rains. Luckily he had not stepped out J he was home the whole day. I would have loved to be in Mumbai today. Would not have gone to office and would have spent the day with parents with mom ke haath ke banaye hue garma-garam bhajiyas, pakoras and a Marwari delicacy called 'gheria' Would have loved to go out in the rains and get wet. Would have loved to go out and see the Andheri subway submerged in water (its hardly 100 meters from my home and always in news during heavy rains). Would have loved to see the dark gray skies from the open window of my bedroom and the lashing rain with reduced visibility But here I am … in Dubai ..where its hot and humid … I don...

Last Friday was a strangely nice day. A chance happening leading to me discovering something good. The elated feeling leading to a change in gtalk status message which invited enquiry from a good old friend of mine which translated into a nice long chat ... further making the status message true'er ! The day brought many smiles … A real good day ... And now ... I am missing my best friends ... long time since i have talked to them ...

Yesterday my Laptop gave me the ‘middle finger’ ... well not exactly … it showed me the Blue Screen of Death.      The   Blue Screen of Death   (also known as a   stop error ,   BSoD ,   bluescreen , or   Blue Screen of Doom ) is a   colloquialism used for the   error screen   displayed by some   operating systems , most notably   Microsoft Windows , after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down to prevent damage. Blue screens on   NT-based   Windows systems are usually caused by poorly-written   device drivers   or malfunctioning hardware. ( Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Blue_Screen_of_Death ) And it did not do it once … or twice, It has already done it 4 times and I am already scared to switch it on again. B'coz the last time I saw the blue screen on my laptop (way back in march 2007) its hard disk crashed and I lot all my data L So … here I am … shit scared … of losing my data once again.  Data .. which included proj...

Imagine a house … a small cottage in the middle of the country side … like the one you see in dreams or in Yash Chopra movies (typically in Switzerland) Greenery all around … bright sunshine … beautiful flowers creating a riot of colors …   a soothing sight … a mind refreshing fragrance ... The cottage located on the banks of a small lake … Birds chirping all around … the soft sound of water flowing ... music to your ears … A perfect place to be … a perfect moment to savour … a perfect tranquil life J   Then comes the spoiler… Suddenly ... dark clouds loom over the horizon and before you realize, they cast a shadow over this peaceful tranquil dream. You move indoors. Inside the house is still darker. You realize there is no electricity. There is darkness outside and it's the same inside. It seems as if the light has been sucked out of your life. You remember the Demons of Azkaban from the Harry Potter tales ... the Dementors ... who suck out hope, happiness, jo...

Birthday Wishes !!!   May God bless You with Happiness, And a sharp brain to play chess !   May God bless You with all the Beauty, And a great devotion to your duty !   May God bless You with Compassion, And a liking for the latest Fashion !   May God bless You with with a glamorous Style, And a chweet, lovely, cheeky smile !     May God bless You with all the knowledge, By the time you leave College !   May God bless You with a Birthday everyday, To make your life joyous and gay !   In the end, Hemant will say Many Many Happy Returns of the Day !!!     Sounds kiddish ... right !! Remember … I wrote this peom when I was in school :D I was a kid then :D Sounds kiddish right !! Remember … I wrote it when I was in school :D This was my first attempt at Poetry (in English) ... I had written a hindi poem before this titled "Ulta Pulta" which got published in a hindi magazine too :D Hopefully I will find it somewhere in my 'real world paper arc...

One of my client side team member reached my blog :D   Rejith is one the Al Rostamani employees who works closely with us (Mahindra Satyam Team) for the current SAP Implementation project which is called "Tamkeen" (which is an arabic word meaning Empowerment).   He told me today that he reached my blog. i was pleasantly surprised and amused.   I havent really ever thought about popularizing my blog or promote it or increase its readership. I am perfectly fine with the few readers that might chance upon its contents through search or cross-links ...   Never really thought one of my clients would land upon my blog and recognise me and then even tell me about it ....   strange things happen ... and sometimes perfectly normal ordinary things happen that somehow feel strange ...   either way ... the strangeness did bring an amused smile on my face !  

last week I heard this on the only news channel i watch these days NDTV 24X7 .... and was pretty much amused ... Shiney said in his bail application (as reported by media): "If at all there was sex, it was consensual"   What exactly does he (Shiney) means to say 'if at all' … doesn't he know if he had sex with the maid? Sounds strange to me … dunno what the court will/has read into it ?

Long post ahead ... you have been warned ... and its about Me and this blog and nothing else ... no social comment or an observation of life around ... its about me adn my blog !! so .. you have been warned :D   The sidebar displays the number of post I have made in the past few years and a click on the small triangle next to the year also shows month wise posts made. I happened to notice it recently was pleasantly surprised to see that in this year (which is not even half way through) I have made more than 70 blog posts ... which is much much higher than any other years total and that too I have done it within the first 6 months of the year. I made a few other observations tooo  … the BIGGEST and most strange one of that is " I blog more when I am away from home. When I am at home, I almost forget my blog " That actually set me thinking … why did it happen that I blogged more when I was away from home, away in some foreign land, away from family and friends. I real...