5 to 1

Listening to a lot of Doors these days... Jim Morrison's voice is drugging me..
I just got back from a late nite ride... and was listening to some more music on Media Player....
The player's playing me The Doors shuffled...
And soon it plays 5 to 1 ... I happen to look at the right bottom corner of the screen...
the clock reads 5:Oh-1 AM...
And them i count 5 to 1 is eight hours...
5 to 1 is also a quick downshift on the left foot lever...
and 1 in 5 is always the right gear to exit a corner "IN THE PRIME"
Lets get together baby one more time...

Here are the lyrics for you....

Song Title: Five to One
Artist: The Doors

Lyrics:
Yeah, c'mon
Love my girl
She lookin' good
C'mon
One more

Five to one, baby
One in five
No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try

The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!

Yeah!

Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime

Come together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, aha
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, gotta, get together

Ohhhhhhhh!

Hey, c'mon, honey
You won't have along wait for me, baby
I'll be there in just a little while
You see, I gotta go out in this car with these people and...

Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Take you up in my room and...
Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah
Love my girl
She lookin' good, lookin' real good
Love ya, c'mon

for all you know that your life is just a strange illusion

Few combination of words when strung together have a strong influence on your life. However, this honest influence is very ironically deceptive and fades in no time. The title of this post is the best example of what I am trying to disseminate. These are powerful words picked from Iron Maiden’s popular song “Hallowed be thy Name”. Coz each day there will be moments when you feel that your life is not more than just an illusion of your own mind.

For elaboration – Most days of my life, I try to live with a reason. A reason conceived and perceived by my own imagination. The reason recorded clearly in my brain cells. I work towards it and then begin to observe triumph. And once the reason to live is justified to me – the question that haunts is “Is this all that I wanted to do?” Whenever these words hit my mind's eye, it illuminates the fact that our live is, just for the record, an illusion of our own mind.

When I fell in love with Mechanical engineering I wanted to sit in a design studio and make better machines. Which is very much what I m doing today or rather expected to do. Probably I wish to do even bigger things in life, which I am sure I’ll do. But what troubles me is that once I get to do that thing the question will remain the same “Is this all that I really wanted to do?”

Can’t really believe that I waited for 23 long years to live the life I’m living right now. This is the time I differ with myself – Is this what I wanted from life? It’s often said that you don’t always get what you need but what you deserve. Well that’s not quite true. Because you’ll always get what you always want, provided you want it really badly. But once you get it – you ll want some more and then some more and still some more.

For example, you set out to design a part which best suits the purpose. Then slog your ass out to make it work. Then you gauge the performance and record it for justification. However the gauging of performance is merely the interpretation of your own understanding. Meaning you end up convincing yourself that you are convinced. Eventually nothing exists in result – all you know and see is just an ILLUSION of your own mind.

And today when I sit down to complete this post, I am blank. I have very little to write. The reason for the same is certainly not known to me. But what I speculate is that I m genuinely confused. As I begin to look a few years back I see a time when I knew exactly what I wanted to do and the rest of planet earth of my age was still trying to find their preferred way of success. Today the tables have spun round a complete 180 degrees..It’s the time of my life when I actually don’t know what I should be doing next. The illusion has disappeared. The confusion has taken over.

And then I face the irony of life each day. Each day I go to office with a motive to make a difference to this place. Very often I sit down to list the things I wish to do, and each time I know that I have very little time. And on top of it all, I try a million times and fail a billion times.

Coming back to the reality, I think I am standing in midst of a youthful confused state of mind. The youthful enthusiasm to do whatever comes my way. The confused me who doesn’t know what to do at times. And then the state of mind that smacks me down to achieve that seems to be a distant dream.

Am I getting used to success or am I not getting any success at all? Have I showed myself the wrong way? Have I started to doubt my decisions or rather my choice?

And then Led Zeppelin had to happen. Run thru the following lines to learn more. Here the "Woman” being my “Distant Dream”.

Been dazed and confused for so long its not true,
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you.
Lots of people talk and few of them know,
Soul of a woman was created below. Yeah!

You hurt and abused tellin all of your lies,
Run around sweet baby, lord how they hypnotize.
Sweet little baby, I don’t know where you’ve been,
Gonna love you baby, here I come again.

Every day I work so hard
Bringin home my hard earned pay
Try to love you baby, but you push me away.
Don’t know where you’re goin
Only know just where you’ve been,
Sweet little baby, I want you again.

Been dazed and confused for so long, its not true,
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you.
Take it easy baby, let them say what they will.
Will your tongue wag so much when I send you the bill?

PS: None

Dil Chahta Hai!!! ..

11th March, 2009 - Wednesday!!!

Rohan & Deepak (Tata Indica, Mumbai)
Junaid (TVS Apache, Mumbai)
Sunny (Room, Pune)

Half open first drawer -
Confused yet Sure Sid, Playful Akash, Sameer not seen...
Dats the DCH DVD cover i see...
Dont feel like opening the drawer neither wanna close it...

Cya..
Sunny

MUMBAI

This is a tribute to a city which might have received ones before. But as they say, to each his own.

Mumbai has always been a part of life for me. In fact it has been an intrinsic part of my character.
Terrosrist attacks and bomb blasts have rocked this city to the core many a times, and people celebrate the spirit of this city only when innocent people living here die. The one’s who are the luckier of the lot, celebrate their survival. What an irony this city portrays.

I always remember one sentence said about this city by the great singer Kailash kher. He said in one of his interviews on being asked how do you feel being so successful after all the struggling years you have seen in this city. He answered, all that I can say is I still ask for a glass of water when being thirsty, but the same people who refused water once offer me wine now.
I think this is something I found the most apt to sum up the irony of this city. Or for that matter of any fascinating city in the world. I can relate myself more to Mumbai though.

I recently saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire and it was an experience in itself. Never have I felt living through Mumbai all over again watching a movie. This one really did it.The slums and the kids u see whn u are flying off the airport, relived without the flight. And there really cant be a better irony than a hollywood director doing the magic. In the land of the multi million bollywood ‘stars’ Danny boyle can show what Mumbai is, while Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, the king’s and queens of bollywood are busy shaking their asses to crappy songs.

There is something really magical about this city. I have been to many cities in the past year or so, but this city is just unmatched in its energy. That’s what makes it stand out. Believe me what u do in rajkot in 2 days, u can easily finish in mumbai in half. Be it work or fun or nightmares or hangouts or shopping.
I still remember the first time I flew out of mumbai, seeing it for the first time in its totality, from the outside gripped me in a strange way. I was awestruck like a man who was born and brought up in a Ferrari F40 and was allowed to step out of the car only when he was 23, to see its styling.

Everytime I fly out of this city its like resetting my internal clock to a frequency of 2 seconds as compared to being set on a clock cycle of 0.5 sec.Nothing is more nerve racking than a fast day in mumbai, no machine coding and deadlines can be as strenous. And when u land in mumbai, first the beauty of it is the view, I just love it. I am still not able to figure out why, but I have never seen such an awesome view ever.Just the sight of it makes u feel alive, like a dope which assures that u are back to where u belong. No matter how many strenuous hours and days lie ahead, its what makes me feel alive again. Just the sight of MUMBAI.

Rajkot
23rd Jan 2009

The Blog is on Stand By

Just a reminder!!

We are all alive!!!

-Deepak (Touring), Junaid (Alibagh), Rohan (Mumbai) and Sunny (Pune)

Going west!!!

This was first written when Kedar was packing-up to leave for Uncle Sam's land (its been a lil worked upon since then). I've been through this feeling many a times. Lots of my closer friends have left the country (while some have left me), I am happy DG is soon coming back and kedar is already back for a break, after a year.

Good Bye… No Why?

Fly away, O Mighty ol’ west-wind,

Fly away, for today you must,

We swayed together in these fields,

The fields you will sweep, on your way, to dust.

I hear you ticking, O time you leveler,

I hear you don’t have much of a choice,

We’d slain away about a million of seconds,

That ticked away during our suburban-drives.

Every minute, every hour, I know you’ve got the power,

But back then we were kings, and you: just a device.

So winds and storm,

And time and tide,

How can you take away something that’s deep inside?

Those memories of moments, those bruises of life.

Can you take away those days of thunder?

Those nights of frenzy,

Those games, those blunders.

Talks of life, walks of strife, sizzlers and knife, how many can you wipe.

Malls and movies, some money, a call for cheers

Comforts and victories, decisions and fears.

I can’t believe, you’re leaving pal,

But your bag hangs on your shoulder,

Take care; I’ve heard out there it’s cold.

Should I say Good bye now? No wait I need to wonder.

LOST

This is a part of whats been happening for some time now..... since the "END OF THE BEGINING".....just expressive of the way i've been feeling in the world, the Corporate World as they call it. The rest is for you to infer.

LOST

Does it feel great to be on the highway?
That wind in your hair, and passion to be right there,
Does it strike how far you reached, how many you left behind on the way?

Hi-tech, all geared up; ready to go.
Push the limits to what they could’ve never thought before.

Does the thrill drive you crazy?
Make you feel the center of galaxy,
Are you still awestruck by beauty, humbled by simplicity?

You’re sharper than before, nothings as potent to block the way.
Walk-on you’ve to conquer everyday.

Does it really need to be so damned?
So twisted and turned and lowered and churned,
They said, Faster, Higher, Stronger, you rammed.
You pushed the hardest now you hardly can stand,

Do they mean what they say?
Did you ask a “BY THE WAY”?
Did they say what they meant?
Or were those words from somebody lent?
Didn’t they teach you to go everywhere and knock-out and swear?
Didn’t they tell you of GOD and his Angels, and of DEVILS you need to beware?

I am lost, but to follow you, is the last thing I could dare,
I don’t remember, came I from where,
I don’t remember what I sought, no reason no prayer.
You have a plan, a road and a van, take care
Just watch out for that sign I saw back there,
I don’t know what it meant, four letters and a glare
I heard a man shouting, and I heard his bell,
In a mystic voice he said, “Bon Voyage on your way to HELL”.

PRINTING THE UNREADABLE

Its been really long this time that something came up here, simply because no one bothered to write or read something here. Seems like all of us are too busy to come back to this place which kept us occupied all thru the days when there was nthng to do. All those days the thoughts kept pouring, in fact overflowing sometimes.

I was just going thru my own blog after like a month or so and I was surprised what we used to think just some months ago. It seems like I am talking to myself as I was some time back. And believe me it’s a really intriguing experience to see someone so similar.

A lot has changed in the past months. Junaid starting his job, me shuttling here and there as a part of my job, Sunny bought a pulsar 200 and Rohan moving to kandivli.

And as a part of this change here I am sitting in my hotel room in Trivandrum looking for ways to kill time after a busy day at work. Although I am dead tired I cant sleep so early, its just 10 pm and I am Deepak..not good for my image to sleep so early…

So as destiny, hard work or luck whatever u mite consider has brought me to Trivandrum working at a printing press, I am hoping with crossed fingers that this thing goes well. I hope this wud be a good learning experience, academically I know it will be and it is. But what I am enjoying is all the different places I get to go to. All the different people I get to meet. Be it the client who is not expected to be good at all, surprisingly here the client is good( so far so good) or the locals of this place. People understand hindi but can rarely speak it, English saves the day most of the times, seems like u r not in ur own country, but then I look around and I see all the old vintage KSRTC buses and ‘small’ cars, brings me back to reality…..

Since this is kerala, all I have seen here is coconut trees, bananas to eat, and men wearing lungis. It’s a part of the uniform at some places, I mean it. Peoples knowledge here about different cuisines is so limited that Chinese means noodles, north Indian food means anything made out of paneer and anything else I haven’t dared to try yet. Roti here is a very decent substitute for rubber and I am starving to have a soft roti here. I have been on rice for the past whole week.

This weekend we had the opportunity to take a half day on Sunday, yes ppl, half day on a Sunday is luxury here. So we asked the local people working at the press to guide us as to how shud we spend the day. And of crse the answer was go to a near by beach. I have heard that Kovallam( pronounced Kovaddam) is a beautiful beach and so I was keen to go there. But I was told that there is some rally going on at that place and wudnt be a good idea to go there coz of the traffic. So we went to a far away beach named varkala to see the nayked ladies( no spelling mistakes, that’s how they describe this beach, just try to get the pronunciations rite) and the rest of the graphic details I cant share here due to the lack of appropriate gadgets to capture the moments of bliss……..

So far this is the story from Trivandrum…..will keep posting as and when I have some time and access to the net…till then…idli dosa rice coconut banana Malayalam newspaper….thats what life is

Money

Back after a long time...the last one by Sunny gave a glimpse of the transition from the carefree college world to the dog eat dog industrial world.

And heres something I chose to write on....one thing that makes the world go around....

MONEY

The first thing that comes to anyones mind is the most common phrase "Money is the root of all evil"

Have we ever really thought about what is the root of all the money that exchanges hands all over the world every single moment???? The obvious answer wud be all the people working all day long to earn money so that we can live a happy life....and to put it more precisely I quote some lines from Atlas Shrugged.

"Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made--before it can be looted or mooched--made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced."

All thru the years when I gained enuf sense to form opinions about money and life and other concepts of life, I have never believed money is the root of all evil, on the contrary I started believing that money is definitely THE source of happiness. Of course what gives a man happiness is solely a reflection of his mind, his soul. Although in the last few months I found enuf reasons to think over the issue money being THE source of happiness all over again

I have always been crunched to spend money all thru my life, another way to put it wud be I never had money to afford luxuries in life. Basic necessities are all that I could always afford. Which again is a relative concept in itself. What is luxury for me wud be a necessity for others. But I wud define necessity as smthng I cant stay happy without(example: Ice cream) and luxury as smthng u can enjoy and feel good about but can live happily without it(example: Vodka). All thru those years when money was not an abundant resource we had, I always thght it will give me all the happiness that I look for in life.

It will give me the ability to do all the things I love. Finally I will see ppl around me happy at least from the money point of view in life. But sadly I was hit by a unprecedented reality check as soon as I started earning. And that was now that u have money which u never had in all the past years, u start saving it rather than spending it. And the Q is why?????. The answer really simple....what if those years come back again....or is it that difficult for us to move ahead and accept change in life????

And all this just leaves me with a faint smile...definitely taking back my own words....money IS THE source of happiness...I must say it can be...but it is not THE source of content and happiness.


U can have the best meal in ur life eating at a roadside stall or at a five star restaur. What matters is the experience and the memory. Baskin Robbins back then was not anything great cause I was the only one appreciating good Ice Cream. But now when u have a great company to share it with(I hope u get I am talking abt u) it taste like never before. In our college days we had the best times with not more than 50 bucks in our wallet every day. And today when I have the liberty to carry 500 in my wallet, I dont have my friends to live those great moments again. Of course after reading this I am sure they will come flocking to me this weekend for a party

To put the above whole idea in a better(philosophical) way here's Atlas shrugged again

Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit.

And if u think this post can end without the Floydian view of money...sorry

Pink Floyd - Money

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team.

Money, get back.
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it's a hit.
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit.

I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set

And I think I need a Lear jet.

Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.

Pink Floyd - Dogs

For all the blog frequenters or none at all, for those wondering whether the blog is deceased or breathing, is it with the blog, or simply, the contributors dead? The answer to all of this is just that we are all riding are lives with the clutch pedal on. It’s the time to change gears fractions ahead of the next chicane. It’s the time to continue the engine (here, the hearts that drives men of immense wisdom) churning the revs with very modest or almost no power transmission. Only to keep it all set to pump up enormous muscle at the exit of the chicane. In plain simple words, it’s the point of our lives when we are bumping into the world of competition, technology and service.

So what is it that has caught up on us? Most of our time is occupied in recovering from the old concepts shattering blows of information each day at work. The rest of the time is used up in finding ways to spend the compensations after all the beating (This may not include others). I call it the Dog part of our lives. It’s the exact metaphor for human behavior at this juncture of our life.

To understand it better just run thru the lyrics of Pink Floyd song from the album Animals. Contrastingly, Roger Waters had composed these lines with a different view point; I looked at it from a different dimension.

Artist: Pink Floyd

Album: Animals

Title: Dogs

“You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need

You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street

You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed

And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight

You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style

Like the club tie, and the firm handshake

A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder

You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older

This is where it is right now. It couldn’t have got along any better than this. Beginning with DG (he has to start this). DG’s ass has always been the first ass to feel the gush of braking inertia each time. He was the first one to get a job (sadly with MBT though), first one to turn 18 (he did nothing, it just happened to be that way, or well, all of us were born after him) and most significantly the first one to fly abroad (purely on his credentials). Rohan is working with international clients selling the Americans insurance plans, Sunny (the author) is riding on 3D models of bikes and Junior is still burning up few more gallons of fuel on the test tracks for some more time.

The scene on the circuit is beginning to heat up. The start-finish straight of this new lap has faded in the rear view mirror (the induction training, I mean). We are all running down to lower gears to hit the first of the dreadful corners of just another lap of our lives. The analogy remains the same, the rules of the game remains same. The tyres are feeling new and the brakes are beginning to heat up. Time to develop a skill set to negotiate the trickiest of turns. I am allowing the Dog in me to take over. It’s the right time to run down the gears, feel the revs of engine and release the clutch lever once the curve is nudged away.

And this one is for you Junior; often the winner of the race is the one who hits the brakes last and hits every bit of the turn when the others are just trying to nudge off the apex. You’ll see a few people ahead of you in your visor, but they might very well be a lap down, so you don’t know who the winner here is? No one does…. The entire script is off course written by something Supernatural, we are just dogs in the park.