Dusseldorf ramblings.. Jan 2011

waqt yahaa itne dheeme chalta hai, mano ek lamha doosre lamhe se izzazat lekar, aage badta hai...

kuch saalo baad zindagi baadalo mein kaid hogi, rishto ki zubaan bhi shaayad kahi ghum hogi, har cheez idiot proof banegi, badi niras si zindagi banegi...

anjaan shehar bhi ghar lagta hai, jab kissi gali mein koi apna rehta hai..

bahut dino baad, khamoshi ki awaaz suni, yahaan par to patte bhi ped se, maafi maangte huve girte hai...

martins corner - the jewel of goa

three thoughts hit me almost immediately upon eating the first morsel of prawn curry rice -

1. this is exactly how 'hortes aunty' use to make this

2. i wish mandali and dadh were here - they would have freaked out

3. why the hell have i never come here before

without doubt this was the best goan food i have ever had. absolutely authentic, reasonably priced, great ambience at martins corner. i must thank vaibhav/ashish for getting us there. if the chef is reading this, please do accept our grateful thanks.

the best part was the accent on food, no taam jhaam, simple basic decor. the mandatory wandering minstrel regaled us with some great harmonica. we were down to fresh lime and breezers, marginal propensity to consume had hit us big time. in typical mumbai fashion we wanted everything to happen fast. goa mein alag pace hain.. all our frowns disappeared when the food arrived. we had kept the order simple, fish and prawn curry, rice, one prawn masala... i licked my plate clean after ages. i cannot describe the ingredients etc, but the experience was heavenly. took me back 30 years when i would have lunch at our neighbours, practically every day. aisaich khana tha. i could almost hear her voice calling out to the non existent crow,cow etc in a bid to get me to eat quickly. may god bless her soul. and may god look after martins ...

i wish busybee were around, it would be fun to read his review...

walking chaalu huva

started on one of the items on my wish list.

dusseldorf diary - wish list

now that i have seen snow fall, thought it will be a good time to list down some other aspirations:
1. visit times square
2. sky dive
3. drive through leh ladakh - ab thund seh sakte hain hum...
4. get an article published in hindustan times - the sunday brunch
5. write a song, get it into a film
6. 'the last resort' - goa beckons
7. get janaki to submit her tax declaration on time (at least once)
8. learn a new language
9. complete the walk - pune to pandarpur
10. weight loss - 10 kgs...

will keep you posted........... LOL.....

records created, airways blocked

missed the 200. i hope the naysayers will finally shut up and rise in tribute to his genius. only the world cup (ODI) has eluded the master. i am sure if this form continues they may as well send the trophy to india. thank you Sachin for making us believe that impossible is merely a word, that the basics will always prevail, that it is important to acknowledge the role played by others in one's life and that the good guy can also succeed.

i had a bad attack (as if there are good ones) of asthama yesterday. For the first time in years travelled without all my medicines. Luckily the hospital is close by. A visit to the same got me acquainted with theopylline. am much better now.

this is a quite town, duesseldorf is. No honking, no crowds milling the streets, everything seems to have a well thought out place for itself. The people strike me as disciplined, the area that we stay in looks like a set straight from 'the truman show'. The roads are fantastic, no holes even the paver blocks are laid out in the way they should be, separate lanes for cycles, footpaths that one can actually walk on. More later....

last day

tute fute makaan par,
aab shishe lage hain,
is jagah ke har mod par,
yaado ke mazaar bane hain.

kabhi yeh galiya, khila karti thi,
dosto ki hasi thi,
har darwaze par dastak,
hoti apni ummido ki,
sapne bhi haseen the,
apna tha asman, aur zameen bhi apni thi.

har kahani kabhi to khatm hogi,
har lamhe ko kabhi to thamna hoga,
koi aur inhi galiyo mein kal aayega,
apni pehchan ko talashta,
in tez daudti sadko se guzrega,
waqt ko tak daav par lagaya hamne,
usi waqt ki chhaav mein,
koi apni kismat azmayega.

khamosh timtimati imarat vahi hain, vahin rahegi,
agle musafir ki rah dekhti,
agle ashiq ki raah takti......

my saadu gets hitched

just back from a great vacation. the occasion was my brother's wedding. setting was my hometown. goa in all its simple splendour. got there on the 3rd of feb. kokan kanya zindabad; sirf one hour late. got home just in time for the 'haladi' ceremony. thats essentially the 'fattening the goat before the slaughter' ceremony. everybody was there after a long long time. pramod is my chacha's son. they stay next door to my mama.

ace swimmer, fisherman, marksman and generally a great guy at heart. when he finds time he also doubles up as a lab-in-charge in a college in goa. most of our clan was present, coming from various corners of the country. folks stationed abroad called. the haldi done, pramod was groomed further...

undistracted we continued, hogging our way through some outstanding goan food... vegetarian.. it was also a time to catch up,take stock of all the kids floating around, figure out what one is upto, catch up on all the local gossip. we had the traditional rice grinding ceremony that night. lots of fun, all the ladies get together and grind the opposition along with the rice, good hearted ragging of all and sundry. the next day saw all of us decked up at the marriage hall; on time.. featured here are my sisters and bhabhi alongwith detali.. oops jetali

amidst some rather melodious mangalasthakas and adroit gymnastics, pramod ushered seema into our family. featured here mr. and mrs shirodkar. may they live happily everafter....

ipad is here - obama's address to congress

ipad - great example of creating hype, a certain buzz always fills the air before an apple launch. products are simple, beautiful to look at, intutively designed.. good show steve.. now we wait for realistic pricing...

avanti and i listened to one of the finest orators of our times- obama barack.... god be with you mr.president. fantastic, soaring speech, full of hope, optimism, admission of mistakes,admonishment to own party, extending a hand out to the opposition, genuine concern for the common american...even avanti seemed to get it.. hope the americans do

lexulous-1600 plus

do try out online scrabble at www.lexulous.com
highly addictive. just managed to claw to 1646 points; started at around 1400 odd. thank you - agarwal brothers.

find purpose

had a very intersting conversation with some friends a few days back. all of us agreed to the fact that we must do domething beyond the mundane existence that we have got into. only problem was finding a purpose. i am sure we will get to that stage as well. my guess; we will settle on education. more later...

mandali is here

airport arrival lounges must surely be the happiest places on earth. its a treat to see people come out of the swishing gates, look around to catch a familiar face, see 10 of them and then the glow of absolute bliss. tears flow unchecked, grown up men and women venting emotions bottled inside. some people catch a glimpse of their child for the first time, hugs abound, kisses from a normally restrained race.some exchange coy glances at a sweetheart they met long ago.

it was fun to spend almost an hour waiting for mandali. amazing positive energy.got talking to an old man who had come to receive his daughter. his narration of travelling by ship in the 50s was a stark contrast to the age we live in. we have come a long way.

the shortest journey is the one that brings you back home.

growing up with tendlya

20 years ago, a wisp of a boy entered our collective consciousness. His feats over the years have ensured that he stays there.

Every generation needs its heroes. In Sachin Tendulkar, we found ours. So much has been written about him, so much has changed around him. He remains the same; the kid looking for the next match.

I think the debate about him being the greatest is pointless. There is no fair comparison. I always look at it as you had your Sunny bhai we have our sachin. Its not a safe stand just a more ‘susegad’ one. Should we compare two diamonds and argue over which one shines brighter. I simply cannot understand the point of it all.

For me the turning point in my life was the Sharjah sandstorms, post those brilliant innings I started believing in the concept of god. The opposition could have fielded 20 players without making an iota of a difference. It had to be a divine force powering those arms; it could not be simply dna, tissue,bone , genetics and ability.

I do not know how we will cope with his retirement, hope his last match is in Mumbai at wankhede or better still shivaji park where it all started.

general rambling

I guess every answer carries within itself new questions. every solution has in it a new set of problems. yeah, its great that we can be in touch with anyone at anytime courtesy the mobile phone; but it needs to be charged, call drops, voice mail, call forwarding... the mind boggles. years ago we would travel without the benefit of tele check in, online booking etc.. fact is i never missed any leg of my travel schedule.

i believe technological advancement is of no use unless matched by intellectual progress. not that i want to turn my back to the future; point is we must be aware of the pros and cons of anything that we choose to embrace. the future is relentless, history unforgiving...

why this blog

share some thoughts with friends,
small archive of times gone by,
create a reference point for avanti,
to know the world her parents grew up in,
a world most certainly different from the one she will inhabit.

love.. where art thou

relationships with an expiry date,
struggling to stay afloat,
dew on a leaf, looks beautiful,
stays only for a while.

some alive only just,
fearful like flowers of eventual decay,
some go on unmindful,
like thorns not afraid of withering.

running... getting nowhere

People walking across the street,
immersed in their worries,
so many lives wandering,
so many untold stories.

Shadow of a life in debt,
no longer felt scary,
a generation fed on hype,
hoopla and instant karma.

Lifestyle to maintain,
children to educate,
conformity rules,
amidst stifled hearts, muzzled voices.

Running forever,
the world at our nike’s,
just somehow to be ahead,
in the race to the unknown.

No heroes to look upto,
only tigers of paper,
gods made of clay,
honesty becoming rarer.

No Woodstock to call our own,
caught between the digital and analog,
unable to make up our minds,
we stumble along.

groping in the dark...

The writing on the wall,
getting clearer by the day,
those living in denial,
will soon be out of the fray.

bunch of angry old men,
souls sold at the altar of power,
destinies unfulfilled,
empty shells remain.

too late to pray now,
too late to lament
the divine stick works,
sometimes delayed, always silent.

Sisterhood of 10

One awakens to the sun,
while the other sleeps with the stars,
separated by a distance,
they cannot fathom yet,
but will soon overcome…

hello there

You will have to bear a lot of my writing. I sincerely hope the songs uploaded make up for the agony...

Life - something about it

A beautiful song,
a poem long forgotten,
memories shared,
a drink with friends, a stolen glance,
the first kiss,
blazing eyes over a report card,
rupee saved; a movie seen,
lessons learnt and forgotten,
new pain dulling the old,
one happy moment clouding another,
discovering dylan at 36, what a waste of the first 35,
fishing in goa, as equals with dad,
brothers, in arms over a football,
the videos on hire, 4 movies in a row,
hurtling towards mortality, life hangs on,
random scattered thoughts,
fast forward and flash back at the same time....