Street Hog:

On a Moonlit night, riding over the darkness, feeling the breeze, breeze past you. The feeling is second only to that of being in Heaven. The Hog rules the streets, the night and even the moon.

There's magic everywhere:

There came a time in my life when I was totally done with the job that I was doing. I was done as in DONE. There was nothing more to learn, there was nothing more to teach. Life was becoming more of a morass of monocrity and there was nothing left. But there was one decision I had stood with. I wanted to be with technology and not move on management. And there was a personal reason to it. I was a reporting specialist and I loved the representation of data. It was weird.

It was wonderful how data could be visualized and displayed in so many different forms. And every bit of data, is like a child waiting to get dressed, waiting to play. I have always missed art in my life and here I was with every opportunity to paint, create and build. But here the canvas was data. Some of the representations of data has been nothing less than breathtaking. And I....I have been enjoying all the painting. I have been honing my skills with the latest version of Business Objects (4.0). I have been trying my hand with Xcelsius and Qlikview. It has been an interesting ride so far.

Mahadev:

When we think of Shiva, the Lord, what really comes to our mind is the entity embraced by the Damroo, the third eye, the Ganges and the Moon. This is an attempt by me to recreate the aura of the Lord, without actually painting him.

Need, Indeed:

Need, Deed,
Feed, Breed,
Lead, Plead,
Knead, Bleed,
Steed, Stampede,
Speed, Heed,
Impede, Succeed,
Accede, Secede,
Reed, Weed,
Creed, Exceed,
Greed, Indeed!!!!!

Nobody’s fault:

I recently got into a rickshaw at Vidyavihar-w and immediately noticed that the meter was not working. When I did point it out to the driver, he looked back and mumbled something. I told him to let me get down if he was not sure why the meter was not working and he assured me that it was all good. When I did reach my destination, he demanded Rs.15 whereas from my experience, it should not have been more than Rs.12, which is the minimum fare. And in the ensuing argument, I mentioned to him that when I did point out the issue with his meter, all he did was mumble. To which, the gentleman had a very interesting retort, “Neither is it my fault, nor is it yours”, he said. “The entire fault is that of the meter.” I was too shocked to say anything but was adamant I would not pay the extra Rs.3. Finally after showering me with the choicest vituperations, he left.

Though the incident should have left me angry and flustered, I found myself laughing. Many a times, just to prove ourselves right, we come up with silly reasons and excuses. The human tendency to save one’s skin is so powerful, the self-preservation instinct so strong that we forget the implications of some of our extremely negligible actions. What seemed like a minor altercation between the rickshaw driver and me left him poorer by Rs.3 and left me with a hurt ego. Had he been kind enough to accept his mistake I would not have taken the issue personally. But then, his instinct to preserve himself led to the misadventure.

The Education blackmail:

A very close friend of mine recently called me in the middle of the night. Not in the soberest of moods, nor in the soberest of senses, she had nothing but silence to offer. After much prodding, she started opening up. And what she told me, brought back some memories and some realization as to how lucky I have been.

My friend, lets call her S, had been preparing for her MBA entrance. And however much she tried, she always felt the time would never be on her side. And she tried harder, her parents forced her harder, it was a never ending loop. I told her, to try was in her hands, everything else was destiny. People who gave these long lectured about crafting their own destiny was nothing more than nonsense. With hard work, you can only achieve, this much. To achieve more, you need an ample amount of luck. But as always, my advise only fell on deaf years. All that she wanted was more time and less sleep, so she could study more. She had to live up to the expectations of her parents.