Arbitrary Chronicles of a Restive Mind

The party presents...

2012-02-17T21:29:00.005+05:30

Three friends and I are trying out a new experiment by sharing everyday on this blog through pictures: bourban.tumblr.com

It seems like it'll be a lot of fun. I hope it makes me come back to my picture taking ways too!

Boston Harbour

2011-08-12T02:55:00.003+05:30

Summer

2011-08-09T21:29:00.003+05:30

Mountain

2011-02-04T21:50:00.003+05:30

The Gentleman's game

2011-01-04T07:41:00.006+05:30

I can't wait for the world cup 2011.

"It's a funny kind of month, October. For the really keen cricket fan, it's when you realise that your wife left you in May" - Denis Norden

These pictures are from a Test Match between India and South Africa at Chennai in March 2008.

Welcome to the future

2011-01-02T09:04:00.004+05:30

Memorial

2010-12-29T07:25:00.006+05:30

Grass and the Sky

2010-12-17T21:15:00.002+05:30

Chicago River

2010-12-13T01:20:00.004+05:30

The good times

2010-12-04T19:23:00.004+05:30

"Rich man's war and poor man's fight"

2010-12-04T19:07:00.003+05:30

A hugely preponderant majority of Americans with no risk whatsoever of exposure to military service have, in effect, hired some of the least advantaged of their fellow countrymen to do some of their most dangerous business while the majority goes on with their own affairs unbloodied and undistracted.

- David M. Kennedy

la chambre (on a saturday morning)

2010-11-27T21:13:00.007+05:30

This is where I will be brining out new things from. I plan to revive the blog!

American Stock Exchange

2010-01-05T11:34:00.001+05:30

Now and Then

2009-12-20T23:41:00.006+05:30

The winter is beautiful.

Travel

2009-11-05T07:36:00.002+05:30

The Fall

2009-11-02T04:30:00.002+05:30

SEAS

2009-11-01T01:18:00.005+05:30

The Taj

2009-07-24T19:50:00.005+05:30

Its the grandest and the most beautiful sight I've ever beheld. Its just unbelievably magnificent when you're there.

Eclipsed

2009-07-22T18:38:00.003+05:30

Missed the solar eclipse today, quite tragically. It was cloudy and that was probably the saddest way to miss the spectacle.
Though, it left me with time to capture this right before the eclipse...

But here's ending with a resolve to put an amazing solar eclipse picture someday on this blog.

DNA Almighty

2009-07-20T23:26:00.004+05:30

Murder

2009-07-19T00:49:00.003+05:30

How Rivers are Made II

2009-07-16T00:54:00.003+05:30

How Rivers are Made

2009-07-13T20:36:00.003+05:30

Mumbai

2009-07-10T23:41:00.003+05:30

Towering Woods

2009-07-05T10:45:00.003+05:30

Peeking peaks

2009-07-02T00:03:00.004+05:30

Calm

2009-07-01T23:55:00.005+05:30

Solitude

2009-05-25T01:59:00.008+05:30

Gravity

2009-05-25T01:50:00.002+05:30

Inebriation

2009-04-07T13:37:00.006+05:30

From modest starts to unshackling excesses. From a quiet toast to the friend to the copious raging flows. The bait of that one extra shot, one more swig, that one lemon sheltered gulp, because the days will not be the same again. The nights lesser so. You admire the people around, you love their spirits, you’ll miss this candor of emotion, friends and souls shaking in unison; one long drag and a neat tequila to calm the enormity of the realization that such times might only get rarer. That slackening of consciousness and yet the unfettered indulgence, with a bizarre gushing in the veins intoxicating every nook of you. As you shut your eyes, the impending isolation is crushing, the history even more, the rush of sensations is oppressive, your mind bounces off and back from volatile precarious territories. While you try to keep your perceptions still shut, you need that chest deep drag that swaps your deadening acuity with dazzle. Anything to bring you back to now, for now is the dazzle, now is the time. Another swig to quieten the hoarse agitations that men reveal themselves in. This one’s to keep you here, now.

Lungies Not Allowed

2009-03-30T18:56:00.006+05:30

Vote Earth!

2009-03-28T09:02:00.005+05:30

- Vote for me

http://www.voteearth2009.org

(Image idea at Tirusulam courtesy Suyog)

Night

2009-03-27T11:10:00.000+05:30

Sodium and Neon

2009-03-03T18:24:00.002+05:30

HDR Time Lapse Sunrise at Tirusulam

2009-02-22T14:15:00.006+05:30

Go ahead, watch it again :) Notice the Moon and Purple flowers!

Vaikunth Temple

2009-01-25T10:03:00.009+05:30

Vardaraja Perumal Koil

2009-01-25T09:57:00.004+05:30

Kailasnath Temple, Kanchipuram

2009-01-19T21:02:00.005+05:30

Jamuna Terrace

2009-01-17T23:04:00.004+05:30

From Atop

2009-01-15T11:10:00.002+05:30

High Dynamic Range

2009-01-14T22:15:00.005+05:30

Thanks to CHDK on my "point and shoot" A550 I can do a lot more with my camera now!

Here's a medium exposure pic on the left and the HDR image after I used the EV Bracketing enabled by CHDK (on the right):

I'll be uploading a more HDR images of better scenes soon!

A Village (II)

2008-12-29T17:51:00.004+05:30

A Village (I)

2008-12-29T17:07:00.003+05:30

गूगल गौड़ है

2008-12-12T16:56:00.002+05:30

न्यूरल नेटवर्क्स भी गौड़ लेवल हैं

"ऐ आई" तोह कल की बात है. न्यूरल नेटवर्क्स रुल !

Gairik: This is very cool!

en2hi.translit: थिस इस वैरी कूल!

Escherichia coli

2008-12-04T12:29:00.002+05:30

Isn't it magnificient?

And After the Rains ...

2008-12-02T00:43:00.003+05:30

Rainy Days

2008-12-02T00:30:00.006+05:30

A shame!

2008-06-30T21:04:00.000+05:30

Its a shame, this is what the nation does to its most treasured and impressive system of education. Although, the newspaper I quote here is one that I find among the least reliable ones for the true perspective ,I read it for other reasons ( ;-) ) ! These however, still highlight what the goverment and even the IIT management themselves are upto, and it sucks!
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3178940.cms
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3178940.cms
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3178940.cms
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Careers/Education/Indias_first_women-IIT_in_Maharashtra_/articleshow/3163698.cms
Politcising the 'premier institutes of technical education' is just as egregious a violation of sustaineable development as any. And, I say that not because I am fortunate enough to have studied at one of the IITs, but because it is very apparent how obnoxiously close these measures are to the country going to early assembly polls. And ya, btw, the country might lose sucha fantastic goverment for reasons like : The CPI (read Chinese Party in India) is very upset over India's strong strategic deal with the US, and the aam aadmi (the unsatisfiable) is upset over inflation which is derived from OPEC controlled forces.
Its a pity. Its a shame.

I'm glad, something motivated me to come back to the blogosphere!
Hope to follow it up with much more about Delhi, its tome-like huge newspapers (full with no information at all), the Delhi metro, the Taj! , Chadni chowk and my romantics with the french language!
Au revoir!

Thump

2008-04-08T20:37:00.000+05:30

I get knocked down
But I get up again!
You're never gonna keep me down...

The Rail

2008-04-08T20:25:00.000+05:30

I believe

2008-02-25T14:02:00.000+05:30

I believe in Karma, What you give is what you get returned,
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned,
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side,
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye.

I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands

I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

~Affirmation

Co-existence

2008-02-20T15:12:00.001+05:30

e-haze

2008-02-18T20:20:00.000+05:30

Trapped

2008-02-18T20:18:00.000+05:30

I Like This

2008-02-17T21:57:00.001+05:30

Its suddenly all so good again.
I'm beginning to enjoy life and spending time just like I used to, maybe, only way back in the 11th grade. :)
It just feels good to do the same ole things again, and maybe even do some new things. But I feel about them all just like I used to feel in those days. Suddenly its very comfortable to spend a whole lazy weekend by myself, just rearranging the minimal furniture in my room, listenin to some old tracks and lots of new ones, enjoying music in the same way again. I feel so comfortable spending entire mornings watchin cricket, leisurely getting ready only to spend the afternoon snugged up alternating the two books that I am hooked onto for this week. Spending time with myself, doing so much and yet doing nothing at all is something I have missed for a long long time.
Suddenly I feel, the life that I've been livin for the last three-odd years has been so unlike me. I treasure my time with myself all over again, with a clear white mind every morning, with the day spent with my guitar, my books, arbit photography enthu here and there, checkin mails infy times in the day... catching up with long lost mates ... a day I am making sure is always followed by great dinner (read meat and spice, not at mess ;) ) ... and sleeping so sound - an entire 8 hours - cherishin the day and really looking forward to the next day.
I love that I am reading again and music feels so good and so unrelate-able again ;) !
U2 rocks and John Mayer soothes me ... replacin the teenage days of Bryan Adams and Boyzone :P gosh its almost embarrassing to confess that now!
I'w gonna post more often now, with this photography enthu .

Aah, its me all over again ... I am so proud of myself!

Red Hot

2008-02-17T00:44:00.000+05:30

My mouse is on fire!
PS : Original Picture, increased exposure, no Photoshop :)
thanks Varangi for the idea!

Change

2008-02-16T14:00:00.000+05:30

Change is good :)
I hope!

dvorak
....
and a lot more has changed ... :)

Life, where've you been? - Part 1

2008-01-29T18:28:00.000+05:30

Its probably small instances and unexpected experiences that end up really showing you how essential it is to make the most of every breath taken. Just seems like life's walking back into me. Just seems like something new happens all the time, and all of it just tells me that good times don't come by themselves, but good times can be easily sought.
Breathing the calmingly warm humid breeze, standing in queue at the Andheri station, to get that ticket to Churchgate... I couldnt help smiling to myself. It had been an year since I'd been into those trains. The Chennai locals just cant match the speed, the haste, the rush to get it and jump out even as the train screeches, its exciting. Bombay just brings a smile to you. You can stop and talk in Hindi to the vendor and enjoy the most amazing vada pavs. I forget the routes and the directions all the time, and when I'm on a bridge, I never really know which direction I should go to get to the local for Bombay Central, or which direction Santa Cruz is at. But then, I just love to ask strangers, in a fake gujju-like hindi accent which way to go. Amuses me how many times I get replies in Gujarati! Bombay can make everyone feel very comfortable.

As I sit by the Marine Drive, its chilly. Bombay hasnt been this cold in 10 years. And I am just enjoying the evening by the Arabian Sea, in a half-sleeved tee, with one of my oldest friends ... it'd been 5 years. When I click the setting sun, she says it looks just like one of those wallpaper pictures. I couldn't agree more.

I'm getting better at this!

So here I am, just staring into the setting sun and looking all around, watching the 'queen's necklace' light up, the very cool breeze is almost making me shiver. I turn to the sky and huge seas and ask, "Life, where've you been?"
The evening is well spent, great dinner and I feel great. Almost as if, I've just quenched my regular half-yearly craving for being at the side of the Arabian Sea.
The train journey is just the same as always... snuggling into the upper berth in my AC/2 with oldies murmuring away in gujju ... I began reading my copy of Tehelka (something I always catch at any railway station/bookshop I go to, sadly thats not often enough these days) ... and I slept surprisingly sound.
The next morning is so beautiful. Baroda hasn't been so cold ever ... its just the most beautiful time of life, as everyone's getting ready to start the day, I am cozy in a huge blanket on Dad's bed with Mom's most amazing hot coffee, wasting all morning watchin Sachin smash away a 150 :)
"Life, where've you been?"

Bits of life

2008-01-12T14:47:00.001+05:30

Baroda Outskirts

Chennai at night

I love travel

2008-01-12T14:37:00.000+05:30

Feeling the force of the wind, push at you .... But you push back, feel it hittin you, feel the force and push back at it.Keep movin and keep travellin. There's nothin quite as good going new places, meeting new people, eatin new food and enjoying it all .... knowin you might never go back the same roads again.
Thats travel, thats the joy of roaming. Keep as much as you can with yourself, of every moment, you're not gonna live it again, not the same way.

Finally

2008-01-08T23:31:00.000+05:30

Finally it seems to fade a little,
for a bit.
I laugh, I sing,
I listen, jump,
I play.
I smile, happy.
Memories, the pain,
hurt and sorrow
wont give way,
they shouldnt.
But finally,
I play.
There's room for more,
Hope happens.
Bright days end
in darkest nights
sleepless,
waiting for the day
that'll make you laugh,
feel, act, anew,
the day that you wish
wouldnt end so soon.
Time, shall do it;
Now I know.

Stop here :)

2007-11-12T21:24:00.000+05:30

When they try their hands at humour.... :)

Another one said
"Don't go fast, unless you have an appointment with God"

:P

point made I guess.

but I aint a lion...

2007-11-03T01:25:00.000+05:30

Peeping round the door I got a big surprise

Couldnt see a thing but open skies

They've taken her away where is she now



Wish that she was here wish shed hold my hand

Maybe she could laugh maybe understand

Why was I so cruel where is she now



Acting like a fool I had to make her cry

Maybe I'm a leo but I aint a lion

I'm hurting oh so bad, I want her now

To weep is to make less the depth of grief

2007-09-16T23:30:00.000+05:30

Oh yes, even the pain that screams through your soul is better felt with dry eyes. Wet them, tear them and the pain hits you less. And you don't want that.
The invisible tears are the hardest to wipe away. Don't show them off, you ain't that easy to console. Your sorrow isn't that weak to be drowned.
Keep going, and if you are going through hell, all the better. How much further do you think you can go? Believe me, it shall go on, and thats the joy. To feel that hell shall give way, to what was. Don't forget, hell goes down, below, away from that time. But then gravity pulls you. Keep going.

Someone was probably thinking too much, but then he was right in saying
What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you.
Aah, too much fuss.

So, what is broken into pieces and still works, better and faster than ever?
You know.

Wait a minute, what did they say about rainbows and .... ?

And then, here goes the best part
The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea
-Stay away from all three, and nothing can be more addictive than what you feel. Who says you need cure? Sweat brought you here, the sea is the traitor, don't fuck with tears now.

~
I am back. The desolate stone's agony is the real addiction, one that keeps u under, but never shall kill.

On Happ'y'ness

2007-07-15T00:14:00.000+05:30

Perhaps the best movie I have seen in recent times ( and among the very best I have seen ever) is The Pursuit of Happyness. The message delivered is so direct and stark and yet so magnificent. Its a movie every soul deserves to see and a message that everyone must engrave to heart.
So after a I felt this strange feeling of happiness today, waking up at 11:15 am on a cool Saturday morning, I was curious. Really, its so beautiful how for some people small instances, visiting new places, talking to a friend, watching a great piece of sport video or reading that most amazing joke can so completely make your day(s). And for others all the fancy stuff and lucky hits end up having no difference. I got curious when, though I had a great feeling after we took the tour of the Caltech Underground Steam tunnels and then chatted for hours and then I went to bed at 6am, I dint expect it be carried into the next morning. So what makes you feel good?

Happiness is a form of courage. ~Holbrook Jackson

I totally agree. It does take courage to be happy. It takes courage to tell yourself that something good is happening to you. You need a big heart really feel satisfied...... and happy.

Happiness pulses with every beat of my heart. ~Emily Logan Decens

I so admire this guy. I dont know who he is (was?) or why he should be famous. But isnt that so amazing. Almost makes me envy him. All of us have come across people who resemble this belief in life. Its so great to live a life like that. Its a gift you give to yourself, every moment of your existence.

Man doesnt need much more in life, than enough belief and hope, to be happy.
This obviously isn't the way to discuss something like happiness, coz I am sure people object to anyone making generalized comments on the way of life. I dont wish to do that. I entirely agree with the fact that happiness is probably at best a personal choice. Its the most abstract thing and thus definitions are futile.
True.

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier. ~Walter Savage Landor

and at the same time,

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. ~John Barrymore

They do seem to conflict at first thought, but nope they dont. We just need to be ready to receive happiness all the time. Its this, that I feel is necessary. This belief that happiness shall come and this faith that you are capable to welcome it.
Feeling happy must start with feeling good about yourself, your peers, friends, your environment, your comfortable economic and social position.
Notice how I assume your economic and social positions as being comfortable. They really are. Think about it.
At IIT we call it RG :) .(Relative Grading deserves a blog of its own)

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark Twain

I didnt quite want to comment on it, but Mark Twain's name looks great in any essay ;)

So this has been an optimistic take on being happy. However, I do feel that optimism must have nothing to do with your ability to be happy. Pessimists have their reasons and motivations too.

Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. ~Cynthia Nelms
............

What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. ~Colette

So do think about yourself, your life and how lucky you are. Its such a beautiful thing to realise that you are lucky, that thngs have in fact worked out great, even though they seem not to. Its so amazing to realise and experience those small moments of joy and happiness, those little feelings that make a life....... and forget about all those things that couldnt be.

If you want to be happy, be. ~Leo Tolstoy

Happiness is a direction, not a place. ~Sydney J. Harris

Wonderfully put. Pursue it. The path is fun!

For the inspired: http://www.quotegarden.com/happiness.html

The Hawai'ian Pasta

2007-07-11T11:45:00.000+05:30

Haha! And I still cant believe I just won the first cooking competition I ever participated in!
Ya, Henry and I came up with this very 'exotic' Hawai'ian Pasta,the name was my idea!
So we had a cooking competition this evening for all the summer students at Caltech, and as expected there were few participants. Only about 9 teams came out with entrees/desserts and there were three prizes for grabs! I saw this as the motivation that I've been waiting for ;) to bring out the chef in me.
After 90 minutes of brainstorming and bugging the hell out of Tracy and Stephanie, Henry and I (all summer research students at Caltech) decided to take on the challenge of what was to be exotic Pasta in Sweet and Sour sauce with Pork Sausages. It took 30 minutes of eleventh-hour shopping, all of about 10 dollars worth of food, and a lot of crazy ( read great) ideas before we came up with this masterpiece, full with pan fried sausages in excessive butter, sweet and sour sauce improvised with a dozen sauces and again lots of butter, cheddar cheese, bow-tie pasta and a topping of pineapple!
Not bad at all! We were not only awarded the best entree at the competition with 20 dollar food coupons, but got lots of compliments of what seemed like a very 'creative idea'
Perhaps this is just the lucky break we were looking for.... :)

Ethnicity no bar

2007-07-09T19:12:00.000+05:30

Perhaps the most striking part about staying in the US and working with people here is how the whole thing makes you so aware of your 'ethnicity'. Now thats just a glorified and made-to-sound-good form of the term 'race'.
No, dont get me wrong, I am not talking about any kind of racism here though, nor any discrimination as such, but just about the fact that in this environment I suddenly find that your accent, your colour and your usage of the English language all tend to have a newfound significance. In India, where of course the South Asians dominate, such things never had too much into them. There, you are just either Indian or a foreigner! The common guy on the street won't even know how different it is to be from the USA or from Serbia.
Here, though such differences rarely go un-noticed. I found myself doing that too and it didnt take me too long to be able to distinguish Koreans from Chinese and Vietnamese from Japanese. Then you hear a white guy talk and you know immediately from his accent that he's Eastern European. And being in California, its very easy for you to identify the Spanish accent and the guys of Hispanic origin. I admit I notice stuff, but I swear I dont know what any of it usually means! What I mean is, people here cant help but notice racial differences among each other, but most people (and not all) fortunately never draw conclusions about individuals from this petty observation.
Its sad, really, that such things are probably the first details that you notice about a co-worker or a hostel-mate. But thats how life here is. The large Mexican influence in this State has another kind of differentiation setting in within the mind-set of the Caucasians here (as some damn forms that still require you to fill out your ethnicity describe them 'Whites, not of Hispanic origin'). However, I feel its too premature for me to comment on that as I have seen a very restricted set of the US population and their perceptions thereof.
I personally was so glad that there are these many Mexicans here! Mexican food rocks, really. I mean apart from all the cheese that they love to stuff all their meals with, the taste and preparations have an uncanny similarity to good ole Indian food. I mean I loved it when I could draw exact parallels like
beans and rice = Rajma Chawal,
Quesadilla = Cheese Paratha,
Burrito = Chicken frankie.
Tortilla = Maize Roti!

So I am still learning how to act/respond in this 'multi-cultural' society. Though stereotypes still exist in a lot of people's psyche here, its great to see that most people (young and old as well) ensure that a person neva gets too conscious of himself. One-off cases keep coming up, when someone's accent is such a huge give-away that you know immediately that guys talking to him are just so curious to know where he's from! But as far as I can see it, its just curiosity. And I also kinda believe that Americans (and this means all races!) at times too get proud of the fact they are multi-cultural and that people from all over the world co-exist here. I do feel its something to be proud of.
But then there was this Indian guy I know who put on a long kurta, which he loves to call his Indian shirt, one fine day and took to the streets. He complained of some people staring at him and kids pointing fingers. Dude! Now, imagine a guy wearing an eskimo suit walking on Indian streets, wouldnt all of us invariably turn around and 'stare amazed' just to get a second look! I mean if some people here find the Indian shirt unique and they look at you a little longer than usual probably just to see what you are wearing, its not discrimination for heaven's sake!

Yupp it takes time :) but its fun!

leonstein

2007-07-09T10:59:00.000+05:30

leonstein:proper noun
deriv: león:Spanish for Lion + stein: German for Stone

adj. Describes a person who has enough in common with the above or a person who is a follower of the philosophy and life described by the afore mentioned

And you thought it was just meant to sound like someone else!

Another attempt

2007-07-08T13:24:00.000+05:30

Recently a blog really impressed me. And this was very unusual, not just because I find blogs an unnecessary addition to the way the virtual world controls modern existence, but also because I have almost always been let down in my attempts at appreciating blogs. But this guy was a beginner and a genuine blog it was.
Though here again the impression that the blog gave of the author was very different from that you would on meeting him, thankfully the blog was neither repulsively artificial, not purposely and stupidly decorated, nor was it full with excruciating details of their personal life that the reader would rather spend nine lifetimes without.
And so, here's my nth attempt at blogging. And this time I am pretty sure its my final attempt. The problem with making such a statement at the outset is that I am now under extreme pressure to make this a successful endeavor. And thats another wrong thing to admit!
There of course are strong reasons every time I try to blog. This time again the same correlation between my psychological/emotional state and my establishing a blog holds. This virtual world is an escapists' bitch! However, this attempt is different.
For the first time, my blog is public. It carries my name and a link to a profile that I have spent less than 3 minutes in filling out. I esp like these parts as they make me feel great about not trying to be fucking artificial and impressive.
So as I finish this first blog of the final try, I am faced with the usual stuff that I never have been able to decide.
Q1. Who should I send links to the profile?
A1. Dude.... huh? Nope, not them. No.
Q2. What should I write about?
A2. If you already ask this, FO and stop trying to waste time!
Q3. Time? huh... When does Time ever get wasted...
A3. zzzz...
Q4. Do I like to blog?
A4. Gib-max (for those who get it only)

At that very bright note I wanna conclude this beginning of the final frontier. The final frontier is a challenge that I have taken up a few days back. Things like that often need valiant deeds, and so I here am.

PS: Doesn't blogspot suck?
I loved blog.co.uk