Motive Power

Dedicated to Trinity Teal 🙂

“Don’t ask so many questions, children should be seen and not heard!”-“Who are you to think?” “It’s so, because I say so!”-“Don’t argue,obey!”-“Don’t try to understand,believe!”-“Don’t rebel,adjust!”-“Don’t stand out,belong!”-“Don’t struggle, compromise!”-“Your heart is more important than your mind!”-“Who are you to know?Your parents know best!”-“Who are you to know?”Society knows best!”….”Who are you to object?All values are relative….”

Sometimes, while reading a novel, we feel tat the author has struck a common chord wit us. Well tas wat exactly i felt when i read these lines in the novel,“Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. The above quoted words form but one part of a complex story interwoven wit philosophy. Trust me its been a bitter pill to swallow. You may ask why. For atleast in my life, I had been a puritan. Notice “had been” 😦 Because, in this wide wild world, sometime or the other one is forced to become impure. Not that there are nt puritans around but they are lesser in number even compared to the citizens of Atlantis in the novel(Atlantis is lyk the last resort of all puritans). Now wat or who is a puritan?In simple terms, one who thinks before acting. I don wanna go deep into the philosophy of Objectivism but wat i have said above results in a conflict of interest(or rather ideologies) wit ppl who believe or rather lead to believe tat terz this mystic force behind all our actions. Watever said and done, Objectivism does sound a little bit idealistic to me. Therez one thing tho which struck me:“Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is tat state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values..A morality tat dares to value the failure of your values is an insolent negation of morality”
Now, I guess I hve totally deviated from the purpose of the post.Havent we heard the above stated words quite often in our life??Especially during our school life??When we were brought up thinking that to question and think is a crime. When choice of schooling and even college was made even before we knew wat they meant. When none of us were heard and some of us were not even seen? Whenever we envied tat student not because of his/her innate talent and hardwork but proximity to “thos who matter”?We fought harder only to be overlooked.A friend of mine told me long time back that it wud be dumb to fight and better to adjust. Yeah!!Adjust….compromise…accept fate..move on..be another brick on the wall..we all have done these things without realising one thing:we have someway or the other successfully stopped the motor. Stopped the motive power within us. The power essential for us to keep moving in a straight line in this universe. Instead we keep moving in circles thats leading us to nowhere and losing everything and clinging onto just one thing:Hope. The eternal hope for a John Galt to come and save us. Save us and take us to Atlantis. To break the Wall.
PS:
This post was not only inspired from Atlas Shrugged but also by the songs of Pink Floyd. We had the band, Parikrama play in our college today and they did an awesome job:).

Musings of the inSanE

Two days ago, I heard tat a renowned politician,in his column in some mag or sth,does a weird thing.As in he himself asks the questions and answers them(i guess no one carez abt him!). i thot i shd try this out sometime. And i got a boost by reading Catch-22. Till date, its the craziest book i hve ever read. So this post is dedicated to all the crazy ppl out there 😉

Q&A:

Q:Do u see any point in ur existence in this world?
A:Yeha,of course. I mean without my existence, some of the major MNCs in this world wud simply collapse.

Q:Care to explain?
A: Sure…take the case of PepsiCo…everyday i make it a point to have Ruffles Lays…either i buy it or i persuade ma frnz to buy it..n if aint exist, employees in PepsiCo wud b outta work within no time…similar things apply 2 Coke too..i hve a coke atleast twice a week…so think abt wat wud happen to Coca-Cola Corp without me! Also I use Airtel SIM, a Nokia mob, a Compaq comp,a digi by some “confuciously” named company and my wishlist includes an IPod, a Ferrari and more…now do u realise who sends those plainclothes policemen to protect me?

Q:Did u ever try to commit suicide?
A:Interesting question…i have given this thing a lot of thought and time.Suicide wud b the Lord’s call 2 bail me out of abyss.. i realised tat I wud b bailed out but wud multiply the problems of all thos who luv me…which totally contradicts the purpose of suicide which is to relieve ppl of miseries caused by ma existence.

Q:Wat is ur opinion on putting pix in orkut?
A:Well,by not putting pix, ppl are hiding from the world..however one tends to have a better first impression by looking at other’s pic..so by putting a gud pic,one cud easily mislead others into blving tat one is gud which one isnt.

Q:Do u agree tat a fotographer can never take a picture of himself?
A:No I do not agree. A man’ shadow keeps moving wit the passage of time. And man is in the best position to capture those shadows. And if one captures all those shadows,u have an autobio which is nothing but the best picture of one’s self 😉

Q:Y do u hve pimples on ur face?
A:Everyone prays to God to relieve them outta misery. And everyone is in a miserable state now. Tat means tat God is facing lotta misery. Now He asks Me to relieve some of the misery. And when I do, a pimple appears on ma face..

Q:Don u think tat ur insane?
A:I don think I know..

Q:Huh?
A:I don think. I know!

Q:Do u think or know or wateva tat insanity is contagious?
A:LOl..yup..i know insanity is contagious…

Q:Y is it so?
A:To judge someone as insane, one should know wat or how is one insane.According to a study, 50% of the world think tat the other 50% of the ppl in this world are insane without realising tat they are also insane.

Q:And?
Q:Do u think I am insane?

A:Hmm…yeha..you are insane
Q: Y do u say so?

A:Because you are not sane.
Q:Y do u say so?

A:Because your are not lyk me.
A:Ok..accepted…now there are two ppl here…me & you…and so u call me insane..so 50% of ppl here call the other 50% insane..without realising that u have also become insane..

Q: Wat The F…?
A: So now you are also insane..which means tat insanity is contagious.

PS:
The fact tat u hve had patience to read till this proves tat either ur jobless or insane. Now if ur jobless,then ur insane because sane ppl always hav sth or the other to do…if ur insane, tat means tat ur jobless since u stray away from sane state only if ur idle…

Main Aisa Kyo Hoon!!!

Wone more tag post…tis time i hve been tagged by Gokul aka The Optimist from Utopia…n the subject is 5 weird things about me..actually it aint a tuff task at all…

1. I get easily addicted to things….for instance,orkut,blogging,internet,computer games,reading books(no no ..not college books),etc…i can do these things without even caring 2 have food or sleep..
2. I never step outta my house or room without applyin vibuthi…n if i don do it,sth or te other goes wrong..
3. I am so bad at drawing tat when i drew a mango in my bio record, the teacher asked me if i hve ever seen a mango in my life….*sob sob sob*
4.My mood keeps swaying al te time..I will b happy one minute n the very nxt moment, i bcome all pissed off..pissed of not bcos of wat is happenin 2 me..any general thing can piss me off..even te state of affairs in the kenyan cricket board put me off once…:O
5. I have had this weird feeling tat I am gonna rule the world rite from my childhood..even now i have it…lol…:D
lots more r ter…but am@home now n jus now had a gr8 lunch…so in no mood 2 sit n type…
I stop wit this….i tag all te visitors to this blog who haven been tagged yt 😀

PS:
To Teal:this aint the post tat i had promised u…wil b putting it up soon 😀

Perfect lover

OK ARCHIE…here I am…ur wish is gonna come true…The tag fever is bak..I had already been tagged once before…not tat I am bored or sth..but jus tat a general feeling of warmth n love is in the air…suddenly a thot occured..wat if my perfect lover reads this post…the probability is more so since Valentine Day is arnd the corner(don ask me why…if u still persist, wats spl tat ppl choose to propose on feb 14 ?? :P)..I had other plans for a Val Day post…but why let go an oppportunity ;)…

So here goes the tag:

“tu bin bataye mujhe le chal kaheen
jahan tu muskuraye meri manzil wahin…”

Some day in the YEaR 2010:
Here I am…26 years old…working as a s/w engineer in some firm…appearing single,content and without any sign of tension or sth..well well, appearances are deceptive..i know myself and however calm i look, I am always tensed.
So mah sweet mom n dad think tat I am working too much and tat me not paying any kinda attention to my personal life(dreams……..sigh!!)…so they catch hold of my grandad(if hes still arnd..hes an astrologer..hes predicted tat I wud hve a luv marriage..btw most of his predictions hve been true…notice” most” :D). My grandad, takes me to a corner and asks me wat kinda gal do i need. I feel like laughing out loud(no offense meant to my grandad but he knows me te best :))..I tell him tat I hve no intentions to “settle” down so early in life.The wily old chap tat he is, he raps me and tells me, “Dey, I know U hve been waiting for me to ask this for ages. so wat kinda gal do u want??” We are more of friends than grandad-grandson. So no surprises there 😀
Now, this sets my brains on fire. I ask for a cpl of days time and my thatha cedes to my request. I bunk office(who wudn luv to do this..I mean bunking for thinking abt ur future spouse..*very big grin*). I go somewhere I am left all alone(tat wud b my bedroom most prolly). I think hard. For two days. 48 hours. I rack my brains hard. I start thinking wat wud hve happened if I had used an ounce of brain earlier during my college days….hmm…
Ok..48 hrs have come to an end. The D-Day has arrived. I wake up b4 my grandad(he wakes up at arnd 4 or 5 in the morning..cmon I CAN change in the future and not b an insomniac). I go on a jog and meet him at his favorite resting spot in the nearby park.
Grandad asks me”So Vivek, wat do u think?“I realise tat two days of thinking haven helped me in anyway..All those words that I had written in ma mind abt the one n wonly seemed blur. I look up aimlessly and realise I am all lost. To break the ice I tell him“It shd b a gal“. He smiles and replies “Well, tat reduces my burden..wat next?”
rub my hands.Its winter(this is the ultimate dream.me jogging during winter..heehe..hoho..LOL)..n then the first quality or thought or wateva comes out of my mouth.”Jo apne zindagi jeeye or mujhe meri jeene diye..“This is a lift from the movie Dil Chahta Hai. I luv this lines esp the way in which Aamir expresses them. My grandad thinks for sometime and says”Tuff ask esp letting u live ur life ur own way..well lemme see..hmm..“. He then adds”Tas it?“
Pat comes the reply”Of course not..She shd b a good singer“. I am surprised tat I mouthed those words. But its true. I aint a gr8 singer. Was gud in my school but used to hate my music teacher so much tat I used to cry when he taught me. But yeah, I luv music and its becoming an inseparable part of my life. U may wonder tat I wud better do wit an IPod but wat the hell, this is my tag!! btw all the gals I have had crushes till now hav been amazing singers 😉
This time my grandad looks up and then looks at me and says “Independent and a singer…wat else?“
The nearby coffee shop has opened and I suggest tat we shd continue there. My grandad agrees wit me and we move ter. Cuppa coffee…I jus luv tat!
“She shouldnt be insane like me” I say.
“OMG, then who wud marry u??“my grandad replies wit tat sly smile on his face. Et Tu Grandad.I make up for the lost ground by saying”I mean she shd not be as crazy as me. U know how crazy I am.“(The U refers to all the blog readers 🙂
“Independent, singer and sensible..hmm…ok..continue“
Three down, three to go. Eight aint my lucky number so I am gonna stop wit six.
I bite my nails.I tell myself “Cmon dude..this is ur life partner..think hard..”
“She should have a sense of pride in wat she does. I mean..” my grandad interrupts me and says”U mean arrogant?“I reply “Well…hmm..yeah..something like that..“This aint means tat she shd be egoistic or sth. But a lil bit of arrogance does make a gal appear more beautiful and sexy 😉
“Independent
Singer
Sensible
Arrogant“
“Nething else?“I realise tat with just 4 points, the odds wud hve been shortened.Hes kinda impatient. So I tell him.” Wait..she shd b a die hard optimist..u know.. temme tat wat I do is correct and make me believe tat I gonna succeed…like being the rock solid force behind me.. givin me hope “

By now, the sun is out blazing. My grandad looks at his watch. One more one more..”She shd be intelligent enuff to understand wat I say and dumb enuff to accept them” My grandpa is all flustered now. “Wat in god’s name was tat?” He asks me. I grin and say”Well she wud understood this..If she does, then shes perfect for me“. He knows tat I have given this thing too much of thought and agrees to stop wit this.He gets up and starts walking. I suddenly remember another point and I shout loud..”Grandad, U gotta hear this…her name…“He does not turn back. Instead he keeps walking.I keep shouting but in vain. Suddenly someone raps me on ma head. Its her. She kisses me and whispers..“Is it tat tag dream again??Oho boy..too late..;)”

Note:
The fact tat I have been a victim of a vicious game called Tag has hit me. And after giving it a lot of thought, I have decided, the best way to clean up my conscience is to pass on the tag 😀
So here is the hit list.
1. Divya. Don ask me why..Perhaps its the fact tat U were the first visitor to my blog*smiles*
2. Gokul. This is the ultimate revenge. Dude u shall b spared if u agree to spare me ur tag 😉
3. Sankar aka Mighty Titan..Machcha..unakku kai vandha kalai..:D
4. Sushila..Chammathu ponnu aa seekarama tag post podutu 🙂
5. His Excellency…dude, do give this a thought amidst ur social posts(btw ur 4th part is yet 2 b posted..me waiting here da..post it soon)
6. Sankar…dey its been long time since u blogged. Hope this will b ur come bak post 🙂
7. Niranjana…Some more introspection..lol..:D

My Mood

“Ur playing..u think everything is going fine..then one thing goes wrong..then another..and another…n you try to fight back,the harder u fight back, the deeper u sink… until u cant move..u cant breathe..because ur in over ur head…..like a quick sand…”
–From the movie, The Replacements.
I am wondering as to why I am putting up this post. Tat too at 3 am…except for a handful,everyone else is sleeping..but I cant…:O

“I don’t want to be the one
The battles always choose
‘Cause inside I realize
That I’m the one confused.
I don’t know what’s worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream….
I don’t know why I instigate
And say what I don’t mean
I don’t know how I got this way
I’ll never be alright
So, I’m breaking the habit
I’m breaking the habit”
-Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park

Oh MY Gawwwd….wat the f**k is wrong wit me??????????????????????

PS:
Well..I wanted 2 put up the above mentioned song on my blog for quite sometime..but it kinda din match wat i wrote…so decided 2 put sth relevant to the song 😀
Again….Oh MY Gawwwd….wat the f**k is wrong wit me??????????????????????

Rayil Payanam

Okies…this is ma first attempt at a travelogue…

1.2.06: morning 6 30 am:
Knock..knock..as i had been promised, my frnz woke me up at 6 30(ok ok don blv it…but yeah its true tat i woke up so early :O…)the train was scheduled at 8 am. So we din hve a choice but to leave college asap. All of us(n tat wud include me, dino, harish, vinodh, deepan and shanky) somehow got ready n left by 7 :05. We were runnning late. It took around 45 mins to reach the bus stand n an auto ride from ther 2 the railway station meant we reached station just in time for us to get the tickets and some food. We hurried off to the 3rd platform and to our dismay, a huge crowd of commuters were already waiting for the train. And as luck wud hve had it, the train was running late. By the time the train arrived, we gobbled up half the junk food. The train was running packed and we somehow got into cpl of upper berths.6 of us and a train journey for 5 hours meant wholesum fun n wat a fun we had.
First things first and we had our breakfast. Station food was aweful as usual but no one was in a mood to complain. Dino had brought his discman and we had packed a set of speakers planning 2 rock the train. To our disappointment, the speaker din work(damn us…we nvr tested it bak in the hostel..). This meant that we had to manage wit the headfones and hence took turns to listen 2 music. Next we played cards. Wats a train journey without a game of cards. We din play rummy(is tat the correct spellin??but guess all kno wat it is :D) or asH(sometimes the H is misspelt as S ;). Instead we played “No Kiss”. Ok ok its not strip poker or sth. Its the NIT-C’s version of the game “Numero Uno”. Does it ring a bell?I am sure it does. The rules r simple. U goto empty the set of cards tat u got wit u. And for the NITC flavor, we make use of a Draw 7 instead of Draw 4. By the time the game ended, the rules vr bent n twisted so tat poor shanky was made to Draw 7 thrice :D. After the game ended, we all felt sleepy. Not a bit surprising since we are used to sleeping during class hours. Dino had brought a book “The monk who sold his ferrari” and I had “Atlas Shrugged” for company. Shanky was reading “the monk” and got bored within minutes of reading it. So we exchanged our books and I found him snoring after a page of “Atlas”..(I wudn blame him). I had been looking around for a “How To” book for a long time. The first few pages sounded promising and I started reading it earnestly. Till a particular page where a guy is shocked to learn that “concentration is the key to mastery of mind”…wat the hell…any kid in India wud know tat…So I stopped reading and continued wit Rand for sometime and b4 long, I too dozed off. By the time I woke up the train had reached Cbe.
1.2.2006: noon 1:30 PM:
Aaaahhh….Coimbatore…..the city wit which I have fallen in love….It felt gr8 to be bak in Cbe. We din stay there for long since our train to Salem was scheduled to depart at 1:45. In between tho, we had a look at the score(wher else do u hve live telecast of the cricket match being shown??Long live CBE..:D) and got into the train. I was planning to continue my siesta but my frnz suggested tat we play Rummy. Dino and Harish din kno the rules. So Vinodh carefully explained the rules and the cards were distributed and everyone was ready. This is were the fun started. Harish’s face lit up when he saw his cards and not even a round had got over when he put down his cards. To our utter disbelief, the debutant claimed that he had finished the game even b4 some of us had chckd our cards. PPl, its like a batsman scoring 400 on debut. Someone amongst us recovered quickly and chckd his cards and after a minute, we all were rolling on the floor with laughter. One of the sets that Harish had formed contained three 6’s. Well that is legally permitted excpt tat cpl of 6’s belonged to the same flower :D. The game was wrapped up bcos of his wrong call and he ended the game wit 80 pts(the one wit the min credit wins@ the end). It was the jus the beginning of Harish’s misery. He kept piling 80 points every game after game till we reached Salem. He did win a game in between but lost the nxt two to kinda compensate :D. And when we reached Salem, Harish’ credit stood at 400+!!!

We then got down at salem at around 4 30. Bala came n picked us up and in no time we were in the mandapam. Sap joined us from Tiruchengode at around 7 pm…. This was my first trip 2 salem and its a nice place..small tho compared 2 other cities in TN(bala….ru listenin?? :P)..the mapillai azhaippu and the kalyanam went off well and we had gr8 food after a very long time:D…our best wishes to Anu and Sivakumar :)…Wishin both a happy married life….

PS:
Do wotch out for the 2nd part of the travelogue :DAll pix vr taken by ma frnd Deepan…