2005-12-26

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Busy! And thats what I have been all through the last fortnight. Yep, a full 14days of complete slog. Oh! Boy! How I missed this comfy life of bloggin, checking mails & playing free-cell. These 14days I led a complete 'anti-RP' life. Yep. Starting from getting up till sleeping in night.

1. Getting up @ 6:30am!!! - I had to do so bcoz I had to be in ofc before my PL. Lossing about 3-4 hours of sleep is no joke esp during winter in B'lore.
2. Reach ofc @ 8:30am!!! - :-( No choice. Bcoz my PL reaches ofc @ 8:30! Bcoz of her I had to pitch in atleast as late as her if not earlier. :-( Poor me! This was the first time my ofc saw me earlier than 10:30! Only on the joining day did I manage to reach ofc earlier than 10:30, it was atbout 9:45.
3. No Blogging & No Replying to mails!!! - Again, hopson's choice. Had loads of work and had to finish it atleast with some considerable delay. Having lost the touch of working & reading docs, I had a real tough time keeping my eyes open everytime a PDF file opened. To top it all, I was supposed to concentrate!
4. No Sleeping in ofc! - Oh! Boy! This was the toughest I had to endure. Immediately after lunch, as though programmed, my eyes goes shut. But, the last 14 days, no way! I might even get skinned before the whole world!! Sleeping? No way! Gr8 sin!
5. Leave ofc @ 10:30pm! - Sometimes I am used to this though. But these days were different and difficult. Many days, I extended my stay for another 10-15 minutes just to go through the blogs of others. But no time to comment. And no energy too. I was sapped by 7pm that the next 3 hours was more like a hang-over.
6. Struggle in bed till 1:30am!!! - The next biggest disaster. Earlier I used to sleep even before my head hits the pillow but these days, I was so damn engrossed in the prjct that I used to wonder how am I gonna manage my PL the next day for not having completed the work!! Boy! It was indeed a struggle trying hard to sleep but cannot. I wanted to sleep bcoz the next day I had to get up at 6:30 irrespectively of sun, shine or rain. But sleep would dfntly not come to me. Kya kare?
7. NO NOVELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Man! This was the biggest heart-break I had. I just was not able to read novels even in the night. Reason? Bcoz I was toooooooo tired to read but cannot sleep. Grrr..... I was completely pissed off. From the time I remember, I always snatched atleast a page of novel, be it exam, interview, or what-ever it may be. I feel incomplete without reading novel. And all of these 14 days I was without a novel! :-(

I just remembered a nice fwd I got some time ago. This fits the situation I was in, though not so completely. But could'nt resist putting this here... ;-)

Team Work

2005-12-13

Rasmus! Rasmus! Rasmus!


Rasmus! The name spells music. The name sounds musical. The name generates musical vibes. Yep. I am refering to the Rock Band "Rasmus" and about their tour to Bangalore on Dec 4, 2005. I attended this concert and, believe me, they were rocking. The concert was scheduled by 6:30pm and as usual the main performance did not begin even by 8pm. We, which included my friends Jayadev, Sameer and Anoop were in Palace Grounds by 6:45pm.

This concert was organized by 'Campus Rocks.' The event began with a rock performance by 'Presorika,' a Delhi based Rock band. Campus Rocks Boy! These guys were rocking. This band consisted of, like Rasmus, only 4 members - 2 guitarist, 1 drummer and 1 singer. The singer was awesome. Boy! They really sound more pro than most of the VH1, MTV or V-channel artists. What grace. What performance. Classic. I really enjoyed it. Sorry was not able to get any pix of 'Prestorika' to put up. In fact, I straight away went ahead and purchased their CD from the VH1 counter that was set up. Since I like metal and this being my first metal album purchase :-) I love the songs.

Then a little before 8pm, Rasmus group came up on stage. The band member are:
1. Singer - Lauri Ylönen aka Lintu
2. Guitarist - Pauli Rantasalmi aka Tonni
3. Bass - Eero Heinonen
4. Drummer - Aki Hakala aka Hattu

Lintu

Their performance for very good. Truthfully, I have never heard them but I went ahead bcoz I just had some 'gut' faith that they might be good. And, no regrets. Their songs were by large a very good collection. Though the number of audience were far less than expected still the crowd was going 'ga-ga.' Somewhere mid-way all the performers took a acoustic and sang some pretty good soothing numbers. In fact, the drummer Hattu even imitated our Indian style of English speaking while introducing a song. Pretty hilarious. Then they sang their version of 'Raghu pathi raghava...'

It was by large a very good show. I dont remember all the songs but I tried to list as much as my memory goes. If possible & if you are a Eng song lover, pls try to listen to these, they are good. And I vouch for it. :-)
1. Shameless
2. Keep your heart broken
3. Guilty
4. Funeral song
5. First day of my life

For more history on this group, pls refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rasmus Did not know that this group has been around for over a decade! Pretty good, yeah!

2005-12-12

Walk-a-thon.... An emotional participation

Another perfect weekend! Yep, had a gr8 weekend. This post is regardin on how I spent my December 3, 2005 (Saturday). One can find another blog (Prasad's) speaking about the same event. A simple & an excellent straight forward narration, unlike mine.

Walk-a-thon was organized by Samarthanam trust. It is a trust for disabled. It was started by three visually impaired friends Mahantesh, Mudda and Nagesh. This trust is based in JP Nagar, Bangalore. This trust also has an USA website. These guys are doing some great work. This event was a walk for 7km for a cause. The cause was to create awareness around the International Day for Disabled Persons (3rd December, 2005)

Participants began marchingNeways, this event walk-a-thon was co-sponsored by my company. And, so we happened to get some free participation passes. I was to co-ordinate from my company and did the best I could. Some 15 colleagues of mine participated in this event. Though as many as 35 employees voluteered only 15 were able to make it. For various other reasons they dropped out.

At 3pm we were to assemble in front Kanteerava Stadium. After the customary registration procedure, we proceed into the stadium for, again, customary speech & introduction for about 1/2 hour. After which we assembled for the walk-a-thon. And then a 5km race was organized inside the stadium. The participants? visually challeged ppl!!! Yep. Nearly blind and fully blind ppl participated in this race. For completely blind ppl, there was another guide who was running along with them. Can ye believe it? Blind people participating??? Boy, I was stunned.

Then the walk began, which was mostly event-less. But, once in a while, when we tend to crib about the distance to walk, we would overtake a blind, or a polio affected, or a 4yr child participants. It would be like a loud slap on our face. I almost found it like God telling me Open your eyes, Idiot! Understand how lucky you are? Remember how much have I given you? And, after all these, you still crib as though you dont have anything. Rascal. I just could'nt stand this.

After the walk-a-thon, we assembled for Participants Queued up another roller-coaster ride for our egos. Sitting again in the Kanteerava Stadium, we witnessed some miracle. Yep. Thats how I call it as 'Miracles'. We witnessed some amazing performances from 'dis-abled' people. Lemme explain just two events that shook my complete poise.

The simplest of all was through a gal called Asha, a visually challenged artist from Samarthanam. She sang like as though she has been singing for over 100,000 years. What confidence? She performed side by side with regular cine-artists. Even the film-artists was amazed by singing. And, the best part of it was she cannot see, so she has to remember everything including the lyrics, when to stop/start, everything. This almost made feel very sad for not using my capabilities.

But the most shocking was coming next.....

This was a dance performance by visually challenged artists! Beleive me. I just could'nt handle it. There was these 2 gals dancing together. They were perfect in their synchronisation. Man, even rocket scientists will be ashamed of this synchronization This dance was called the 'Invocation dance.' During the performance, the artist danced toward a table where a statue was kept and offered flowers, bang on target!! Damn it! I would have been a little at peace if they had faltered. Too much of perfection made me go mad. I was ashamed of myself. (**Currently feeling low, again and high with goose pimples**) I feel too low in front of these people. Can ye believe it, bang on target??? Too much. Just imagine their situation.....
1. they cannot know what the other gal is doing?!!
2. they cannot know which is the front-part of the stage, length of the stage, any dimensional at all... Damn it, they dont understand what dimension mean???
3. they cannot visualize how a finger positioning will look?
4. they cannot understand that this finger position means 'peacock' and another means 'dove' bcoz they dont know what is a peacock, dove....

but damn it they performed!!! They performed as though they were normal. why? why cant they falter? why should they make me feel sooooooooooooo low & poor??? Why, damn it, why????
I feel cheap in front of them!

To make it worst, there was an awarding function for Para-olympics Gold medalist! How many of you are aware that India has atleast 3 Gold-medals in Para-Olympics??? I did not know till I went for this walk-a-thon. So much for our newspapers and sport-crazy country we live in. These are the real heros of our country and definitely not Sachin, Saurav or Dravid. These are the true heros in their lives. It is my pride and pleasure to list out their names in my blog:

1. Devendra Bevendra, Javelin Throw. Check this link:Devendra Bevendra improved his own world mark to bag the country's first gold medal in the Javelin Throw, category F44/46, at the Paralympic Games, Athens
2. Vikram Singh Adhikari, 56Kg PowerLifting. Was not able to get any article on this event. So much for sports-crazy nation.

Boy, that day was a real roller-coaster ride for my ego and threw me so off-balance that I am yet to recover. I might sound mean but I really want to out-wit them in some damn forum. Yes. I dont want to feel like sh*t. Such mentally-strong people always keep me grounded to reality & make me feel religious. And, worst, make me feel poor. I dont like it but thats the truth.....

2005-12-07

A Tribute to Mothers

Received this mail more than once yesterday and could'nt help but posting it on my blog. This mail definitely increased my want to get my mom down here. Those who are staying away from mom can understand. Esp ppl like me, who have been away 'a-shy-short-of-decade'

Tribute to Mothers

I take this opportunity to tell my mom something I have never done before. Though I want to but never got myself out of the 'dont-be-silly' image to do so. Mom here I go and hope you read this:

Mom, I love you.
Hope you remain with me always