Happily 'friend' after?

No.

There are no second thoughts about this.

Friendship is not destined to last forever. Sometimes, its best to move on with the sweet memories safely tucked inside. Priorities change; People change. Whats wrong? nothing. Do we still love the same toys we treasured in childhood? Do we still visit our college or school we thought we can never ever leave and cried hard on the last day? Do we still treasure our bicycles in front of our bikes and cars?

As we grow up, its more responsibilities (read miseries). And a friend might not be able to pitch in for each of your problems or share your joys the same way as before. And add the new relations you pick up along the way and their complexities....its best that you don't bring them on board.

So, is there something wrong about this whole thing? About losing friends whom you thought you can never ever part for a moment? No. Its the way of growing up. Funny...when I was young, I used to think why do my father and mother spend less time with their friends? Now, it dawns on me. Nice good way to make something clear to you...:)

A casual mail or a phone call to that long last friend sometimes tries to rekindle those old memories. I savor them for that moment and lock them up again....:)

Same Sh*t...Different Game.

I borrowed the subject line from one of Stephen King's novels. So, why this? You will understand at the end of this mail.

Indian Elections 2009.

From the early 90s, India has seen more of coalition governments. In my opinion, coalition governments are one of the trajectories of a true democracy. It gives the regional state governments more power at the center.

But am not here to talk about that.

Back till the 90s, India had a two party system fighting out at the center. The regional parties used to support one of the parties' candidates. Later, it changed to the regional parties entering into pre-poll alliances with the center parties and fielding their own candidates (first with a small percentage and then growing into large percentages). This has been the story all along till this year.

Now there is a new game in place.

No regional party wants a truck with the center parties just yet. And vice versa. The idea is to go it alone in the elections (with their own promises and manifestos). Get as many seats as possible. Then, post-polls, look at which center party has the largest number (or which alliance can fetch the largest number) and start talks with them for forming the government. Believe me....this is the jackpot of all ideas with so many benefits.

One, there is no incumbency factor. Even if a party was in an alliance with the erstwhile ruling party, they can say that they are not there in that now alliance and all along they have been vehemently opposing it from within. If you carefully listen, verbage such as moralilty, conscience, back stabbing, etc. will figure in their speech. Ohh....its just the cream whipped up your ****....:)

Two, there are a string of loose alliances formed now. But no party is committing to stay in the alliance post-polls! How is this great idea?.....:) Wonder of sorts, all the parties seem to like this idea. When I think over it, it seems to make sense in this manner - When I walk into a store to buy something, will I be acceptable with money or without money in there? With money, of course. Now, do the store people worry how I get the money?....:)....does it make sense now? Same pinch.

Three, the parties are now going to kindle a lot of passion and get the votes. But don't be surprised if they realign with the same parties they would have foul mouthed before the elections. Can you go and wipe out your vote then? nopes, I don't think so.

Four, whom will the people vote for or against? They don't know if some X regional party is going to support Y or Z center party after the polls. This must be the only elections where the people are the confused lot going to vote to some party believing that
Hmm.....sometimes, the twists in a horror movie are far less, I guess. Oh boy....I can't just wait for this roller coaster ride. Being one of the common man, am going to sit back; read the papers; listen to speeches; argue over tea with friends; make a decision; cast my vote and.....wait for the fun to start....maybe to be fooled.

All in the game. But wait...

Same sh*t....Different Game.

Alone...

Sometimes, in the midst of friends/relations/people, you find yourself alone. You hear none. You respond to none. Only the inside 'you' huddles close to you and talks/hears/laughs/cries with you. At times, the greatest strengths are drawn from 'you'. Why does this happen? I don't know. Do 'you'?

First decision

As we grow up, parents play an important (or rather dominant) role in most of the decisions till our college. So, it comes to a stage where we are almost 17 years old and still have not taken a decision in life all by ourselves. Enter the opposite sex...and the whole world turns upside down. For most, love is the first major decision in life. Oh....of all things, does it need to be the first?! And what happens in most cases? Well...that need not be mentioned. Am not arguing the merits and demerits of love but rather the uncanny situation of deciding the most difficult thing all alone.

The Omen..

As is the trend now, Hollywood is releasing a newly made version of the original OMEN. To say the truth, I was pretty scared when I saw the old movie and I have no plans to see the new one. But the interesting news is that the movie is releasing on June 6, 2006. You may wonder what is interesting about it? Hmm....if you write it down in the manner in which we usually write dates (be it American style or Indian style), it reads as ....

06-06-06

That is one hell of a scare by itself!

Phantom...

....For fans of Indrajal comics, here is a temporary reprieve....

http://thecomicproject.blogspot.com/

This is by a fellow blogger who has taken the initiative to scan Phantom, Madrake, Bahadur, etc., and upload.

Get to your childhood days!

Closer

Too long since I posted...Hmm...Yest, chanced to see a movie 'Closer' (2004) starring Jude Law, Clive Owens, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman and directed by a Mike Nichols. Normal story. But the biggest surprise was that the director will keep you guessing about the period of time each shot happens. Only halfway through the shot, you will realise that a certain amount of time has elapsed between the last happening and this. This trend was evident throughout the movie.

Thuvia

Many think Edgar Rice Burroughs gave the world 'Tarzan' and just stopped there. No...He has given something more....THUVIA. This is a fiction novel set in the Red Planet and one in the series of novels written about fictious events happening in the Red Planet. It gives good reading and is fast paced. I would liken it to the The Lord of The Rings in the context of character definition and bizzare happenings. Am not sure if you could chance upon hard copies of the novels but there is a site which offers the whole novel online.

http://burroughs.thefreelibrary.com/

Also, 'Warlord of Mars' is another interesting read.

Take the plunge...at Grand Canyon!

Grand Canyon is one of the few spots which does justice to its name. Grandeur is redefined here. The first words which escaped my mouth when I set sight on the canyon were 'Oh ..My God!'. Anyone who visits it will spend sometime musing over the power of Nature and will simply acknowledge the fact that humans, after all, are just a speck on Nature's plan. Canyons are gorges formed by rivers cutting through the terrain. Due to lack of time, I did not take the trails nor do camping there. Heard that they were the best part of the visit to Canyon. Hey ...hey...now I know that one gang (oh! how I love that gang) will go berserk when I mention the words 'camp', 'fire',etc. To them, I utter the now-famous-words-of-saro.....WE WILL GO!

New Year at Miami!

Hmmm..I know that talking of New Year at this time is really late. But hey...this was one New Year with my college friends at Miami. Now, that is something to remember about for a long time! College friends go a long way and we meet every year for our SANGAMAM in Chennai since 2001. It is total fun (read 'drinks, dance'). Best thing about our college gang is that our friendships were not limited to departments. Everytime, SANGAMAM was in a different location. The last time we had was on the night of Dec 25, 2004 in a seaside resort in Chennai. am not sure how many of you recognize that date. Ya..it was the day before the Tsunami stuck! To this day, I thank an unknown 'setu' who saved half of us (for sure!) by booking that same resort on the morning of Dec 26. Coming back to the topic, this time around, some of us in US planned a small get together in Miami for the New Year. The snap shows us partying at a South Beach restaurant on New Year. Hopefully, we will have a full fledged SANGAMAM in Chennai sometime this year.

Walking on the lake

Ya...you read the title right! I was literally walking over the ....half frozen lake! This is the mildest winter since 9/11 here in Upstate NY. Last weekend, I had pulled some friends and gone to the Canandigua lake. This lake forms one in the string of lakes called Finger Lakes. There are a lot of wineries and wine trails in this region.

Saro