The Golden Paradise

Heart thought like this, romanced the idea of nature and her infinite miraculous wonders, mind gave the jumbled thoughts random words, considered this a masterpiece when it was just 12-13 years old! Rummaging through my old belongings, I found a piece of paper nestled between a Tintin comic and some projects I did in school! It was one of my earliest poems! What do you folks make of it?

Once upon a time,
trees were strong, proud and healthy,
people were happy, satisfied and wealthy,
and animals were in large and moved about freely!

But now healthy trees,
are brought down mercilessly,
people are cruel and sad,
animals are meagre and dead!

If not for selfish humans,
this would never happen!
What is the use to live,
in a world without trees and animals?

Let us show some kindness,
plant trees and care for animals,
so that our mother Earth would become,
what she once was - 'The Golden Paradise'!

PS: You may also like this - HELP!!

National Aerospace Laboratories

 Well, since I have no other thing to do this week, other than seeing movies, TV shows and listening to yet another new crappy album by a young wannabe star, I have decided to blog about my visit to NAL last Sunday! (Who wants to talk about that Ayodhya issue, its too damn boring for my tastes :P.. Anyway because of that I've holidays for 4 days in a row!! Don't know whether to rejoice or grumble!)

Kodihalli Campus

 It was a technological exhibition day at NAL organized as part of the Foundation Day celebrations of CSIR - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. So my classmates and me made it to their Kodihalli campus by 9 in the morning. To enlighten everybody what NAL is, its a high technology oriented institution concentrating on advanced research in aeronautics and related disciplines.

Belur Campus

The day long event was hosted by NAL's Belur campus. When they first told us to board their buses and go to Belur, we were like WTF!!! It would take most of the day just to get there! And what will they show there, historical statues and tourism spots! No thanks, we have seen all of it! Then they put some sense into our very over excited brains saying it was just another campus some distance away. We felt relieved and went to the other campus and it was quite nicely done. Most of the popular themes being composite materials as the future of Indian aviation industry and prototypes and main frames of Airbuses, planes, etc. The NAL's technological innovations and recent achievements were on display as well. The exhibits included tapping of wind energy, power generation from solar ponds, support to India's space program, smart materials and structural health monitoring materials, among many others. 

Inside the Belur campus

 Collaboration between the different fields of mechanical, computer science and electronics was highly stressed at the event. Then we came back to the main Kodihalli campus' cricket field where there was the real highlight of the event, meant for most of the audience which consisted of parents and kids who expected some kind of flashiness and not just the boring scientific talk which went on inside the Belur campus. It included live flight demonstrations of NAL developed MAV's (Micro Air Vehicles) and radio controlled UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).

MAV: This costs about 4-5 lakhs!!

  MAV is an autonomous flying vehicle capable of carrying a payload and a miniaturized video camera which can locate nearby enemy troops, support military and civilian missions, weather observations and help in anti-terrorist operations, much like a drone. The different maneuvers can be done by a skilled operator. Anyways, if you have seen the air show on Independence Day on TV, its very much the same, except on a small-scale and there are no human pilots inside the vehicles, not that one can actually fit in even if they try!!

Bannerghatta (Thottikal) Falls!

Last week a bunch of us decided to bunk the boring classes and go for a short trip. We were all itching to get out of the dreary confines of college, class, assignments, the freaking traffic of Bangalore city, for atleast a day. Each and every one of us were thinking about how kick-ass the last 3 day trip to the serene and beautiful Madikeri was a couple of months back. So we all planned to go to Bannerghatta Falls. Its not the sanctuary, that's totally different. This was just a small water fall and not exactly a major tourist attraction. Of course, we didn't actually know how small the fall really was! So it was still a mystery to us. 

My Friends!!

Since nobody knew the route, we took the trusty bmtc bus at 8.30 in the morning. The sky was clouded and the weather was quite chilly. My kind of climate, loving it! After 90 minutes of insane laughter and general drowsiness because of the weather, we alighted the bus and made our way up a small mountain which had a couple of temples.

None of us went INSIDE the temples! (If there are no elders around, tell me who would really want to go inside the temples!!) It was a good thing the temperature was so pleasant. We ended up trekking for more than 12 kms through rocky terrain and wilderness which had a couple of temples inside!! We were surprised seeing the hordes of people on a weekday in the morning! Then we asked around and they said it was 'Amavasya', so naturally all the god fearing folks had come out in strong numbers to get blessed by their deity! Our final destination was actually still a long way to go. We spent some time at one temple and then carried onwards on our quest for the mythical falls. We saw some cows and deers grazing at a long distance away. That was our only contact with animals much larger than a centipede after that. 

Stone formations like these were all around the place, albeit in lesser magnitude

Finally, by 12 noon, we had reached the entry point of the falls. There are many entry points, but we didn't know about the rest of them. We were conned out of some of our money by a woman claiming to be the sentry for the falls, while no such thing was legally put up by the government there. The climb to the top of the falls can be treacherous for older people as there are no natural footholds which are safe and the ground would be slippery because of recent rains. We made our way slowly upwards as there was no way we would turn back after coming all this way.

I have to admit, I am scared of water as I don't know how to swim. Even streams which come up to my midriff scare the crap out of me. I didn't even get within 10 feet of the water fall, Abbey in Madikeri!! But still I love the experience I get to enjoy with all my friends. Though the falls wasn't exactly majestic or grand, we had fun and made very fond memories and that's the important thing.

If u study in VTU, you start to worry in all kinds of places in all situations!!

For those who don't know, this is me (well, I was dripping before)!!

My friends pulled me inside this and I got all wet and I nearly got my head banged against the rocks if not for some quick thinking by my friend, Jitendra! Some guy from another group threw a bottle which shattered against the rocks and we were all scared to move around with shards jutting out at dangerous angles. Damn him! We went back up and demanded an explanation and he said it slipped and he was very apologetic. Anyway, in hindsight, it was only a minor inconvenience and we just got back to enjoying ourselves. We came back to KBS by 5.30 PM joyful, tired and already planning our next escapade!!

PS: Had a great weekend with all the festivals! Hope all of you also enjoyed the festivals :)

PPS: Click to see more pics from this trip

PPPS: I  know you'll all kill me for posting so many ps', still here I go :P


V RuLe d WoRlD-(MECH)
V CrEaTe MaGiC-(CSE)
V r d PoWeRs-(EEE)
V made d WoRlD SmAlLeR-(ECE)
V BuIlD d NaTiOn-(CE)
V r d world
V r Engineers
Wish u a Happy"ENGINEERS DAY" on account of Sir. M. Vishveshwaraya's 150th B'day..
(Most amazing person to have ever been born..!

And he's from my state.. Yay)

Random!!!

Here's a lowdown on the week that went by in my life!

ಪಂಚರಂಗಿ (5 Colours) (2010):

My eyes are burning!!

Finally, after 3-4 months, I saw a Kannada movie! Directed by Yograj Bhat, this movie had huge expectations. His last 3 movies; Mungaru Male, Gaalipata & Manasare were all huge hits. Bhat's name has become synonymous with bittersweet love tales, & its for this reason he has become my only favourite director in Kannada! He doesn't give you eye-catching, titillating dance numbers or violent fights. He presents a simple, yet complicated story, with beautiful dialogues, soothing music and mesmerizing scenic locations. The only thorn was that in the theatre, a huge man was sitting in front of me & I had to sway from side to side to watch the movie. I felt like punching the fellow for being so huge & ruining my experience!

Diganth & Nidhi

Two families meet to see if their older siblings are meant for each other. While everything seems to be going just fine on the surface, there is nothing going alright. The younger sibling, Ambika (Nidhi Subbaiah) falls in love with the lazy Bharath Kumar (Diganth) who is also a younger sibling and seems to have an uncanny, if slightly exasperating, hold on the kannada language and treats everything around him (even people) like non-living things. He doesn't reciprocate and advises her to search for someone who is worthy of her and not a good for nothing guy like him. 

So cute

Loads of witty sequences, catchy dialogues which are sure to be a hit among the college going youth, highly interesting characterizations, background commentary, perfect cinematography along the beach ensure that there is enough to keep one's attention on the screen all the time. Diganth, still the chocolate boy, sports a rugged look and his acting has leaped in quantum amounts compared to previous attempts. Nidhi is gorgeous and sexy as the modern village belle (well, she is actually a city college girl who has gone home for the holidays), her acting also matches up with elan. The rest of the cast delivers up to expectations. There's a hilarious spoof on Nithyananda and other quack swamis. Watch this film with friends and family, you'll have enough material to keep yourself entertained for days! 

A small dialogue or whatever; me & my friends created it:

ಅರ್ಥ ಆಗದ ಪಾಠಗಳು,

ಉಸೆಲೆಸ್ಸ್ ಸಬ್ಜೆಕ್ಟ್ ಗಳು,

ಸಿಗ್ನಲ್ ಸಿಗದ networkಗಳು,

Heartbreak ಮಾಡೋ loversಗಳು,

ಬರಿ ಗೋಳು ಹೊಡಿಸ್ಕೊಂಡು ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡೋ ನಾವುಗಳು ನೀವುಗಳು... 

ಲೈಫ್ ಇಷ್ಟೇನೆ!!!

[Lessons cannot be understood,

Subjects are useless,

Worthless signal in all the networks,

Heart broken by our lovers, 

Listening to boring stuff, completing engineering, myself & yourself,

That's all there is to life!!]

Umm, yeah, much more cooler & humorous in my language!!
By adding 'galu', it is like treating everything like an inanimate object.

In College:
 
I found out there is a humbling and embarrassing feeling you get when you find out that the thing you were good at some time ago, you are not so good at it now. I had a passion for Table Tennis & I used to play for my school TT team and that was 6 years ago! After that I got immersed in other activities & TT lost out. Due to the excess of free time in college nowadays, I decided to hold the racket again to see how I fared, whether my skills had stood the test of time. The first day I played like a complete novice. My partner, the racket, betrayed me and I was spilling the ball all over the place. I got segregated in the beginner's court (there is no apparent divide between the players, but you get pushed to the side when you don't play well!) I played against a girl & some guys who couldn't even do a proper serve. But thanks to them, I found some kind of footing and within a week I have become an average player, don't have the same kind of reflexes like before in my glory days, but I now know that I can compete without fumbling around like a fool like that sad first day.

Korean movies:

Yippee, watched two Korean movies after a long time and loved both of them!

Windstruck (2004):

When police officer Kyungjin met with Myungwoo accidentally in a crime scene, she found that this responsible teacher who acted like a conniving thief was a really nice guy. One night, Kyungjin got into trouble & found herself in the middle of a gun fight between rival drug dealers. Myungwoo tried to help her & then something happened that forced them to stay together all day long. They got closer to each other and Myungwoo was not able to repulse the strange but pure natural attraction towards her. One day, when Kyungjin was chasing a notorious criminal, Myungwoo helped her again, however, not knowing that was the last day for him on Earth!

This has a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere for the most part and its a real fun movie. The emotional scenes seem too forced and tries hard to tug at our heartstrings. The sudden jumps from emotional scene to a funny scene is quite distracting. Still, it worked on some level. Oh yeah, the guy looks quite average and cannot act properly. But the girl is beautiful and acts wonderfully. Told from the girl's point of view, this movie will appeal to girls who like sad romantic stories.

A Moment to Remember (2004):

A heart broken girl probably would like to get the bitter past erased, but what if it happened to a 27 year old woman. In A Moment to Remember, the young couple Sui Jin and Cheol-soo struggle with the fatal Alzheimer which ruins their marriage step by step. Cheol-soo could save Sin Jin from a bitter past, but how can he deal with his wife who is losing her memories of love and life? 

Being a guy who loves romantic movies, I cried for the entire second half of the movie! I felt transported back to my teen years when I saw 'A Walk To Remember' for the first time. The physical loss of a loved one seems much more kinder when you see this movie. I totally connected with Cheol-soo, in his love for his wife and getting his heart ripped apart when his own love didn't recognize him. Many cute aww moments. Major recommendation to any Korean & romantic movie fan. Be sure to keep lots of hankies in hand! You'll need it!

Alive! Help Me!

Like a solar flare in the emptiness of the dark space,

your eyes blazed through my soul,

the room is full, but all I see is the angel in you,

shattering the defences I had built around myself.

Your eyes hold unfathomable sadness,

which your smile betrays not

Thinking I have ever fell in love,

a stretch, it is

like the tsunami and a harmless wave

the difference is mind boggling.

Your tidal waves keep battering against my heart

like a battalion of soldiers fighting an infant child,

a wild horse overtakes me,

my thumping heart rides on a runaway train,

waking up as if free from death's demonly grasp.

Your face casts a soft glow,

invisible to normal perceptions,

smile, like a million diamonds, free for the taking,

hair, shining from the glow of the half submerged sun.

Hidden secrets, beneath the smartness

and humor, I want to unveil,

others look through you,

not sensing or seeing the angel within.

When you rest your hands on my arm,

a shiver from the depths of the abyss,

runs through my veins,

I blackout for what seems like an hour,

in front of all those assembled,

but is only a few seconds,

never before have I felt these emotions,

so raw, unbridled, uncontrolled and euphoric,

your soul sings to me.

Are you my soul mate or my personal hell on earth!

As unexpected, it was,

so was it threatening and tempting,

a deep turmoil brew, inside of me.

I sit beside you, shifting nervously

something inside stirring

like the bloodlust of an immortal,

hungry vampire to warm blood,

threatening to coil and spring.

Afraid to touch the smooth skin,

unable to leave you out of sight,

torn, eaten up from the inside.

As if waking up from an eternal slumber,

my heart is alive again!

will you understand me? Help me?

Like the earth revolving around the sun, I am,

the closer I get, greater is the chance of being burned,

but the farther I go, my soul will slip,

into the cold, empty darkness.

I can feel you most when I am alone,

can feel your spirit in the midst of crowds.

Are you being played out before me,

by someone who is laughing at my longing?

With intentions, innocent,

I will never force you, my angel

down the path which you dislike.

Promises may be showered over the

hopes of obtaining you,

but my word, I will only give,

to keep it or die trying to keep it.

Give me a chance, single,

to be your knight in shining armour.

I go to sleep and wake up, with you in my dreams,

one arm around your slender waist,

the other buried in your glorious hair,

your sensous lips, so intoxicating,

twinkling eyes beckon me forward.

Hoping to take away your sadness,

I pull you closer,

afraid to kiss you,

what if you pull away, revolted?

Rejection, even in the fantasy will destroy me,

I wake up screaming in my mind,

not wanting to finish the dream,

afraid of the nightmare it might hold,

deprived of sleep from the past few days,

I have to know you,

my angel, my love...

This is my first poem after almost 6 to 7 years. Never before have I felt compelled enough to write a poem about anybody till now.

Independence Day

I know it was yesterday, but I wasn't free to write this, so bear with me. There were tons and tons of messages wishing me for Independence Day in my inbox (I am also not an exception, I simply forwarded some of those messages). I had also seen a very interesting program on TV where they interviewed our fellow youth about the importance of the day, whether they knew anything about some of the more famous freedom fighters, and the like. It irked me to no end, when except for a couple of students, none of them absolutely had any inkling to the great miseries our forefathers went through in rebuilding our nation. Even some of the middle aged men and elders didn't have much info about the struggle. All they were asking were - Name 5 freedom fighters. One girl went gaga and announced to the world Ajay Devgan, Aamir khan!! Wow, isn't that very interesting? I was fuming over some of the answers they gave; regarding our national flag, animals and many more which I will not prattle on about here.

The children only want sweets in ceremonies, the adults want holiday, the politicians only want their name to be announced to everyone when they hoist the flag, but why doesn't anybody want to hear about the legends who fell during the struggle?! During my schooldays, when they invited the freedom fighters to enlighten us about the old days, everyone began gossiping among themselves. Even my young cousins and nieces are not interested about it in the slightest. I feel angry, I think they are betraying the memories of our country, but I know the feeling will pass eventually.

The reason I tell this is, how many of us actually know anything about the blood and tears our forefathers (and mothers :) sacrificed so that their grand children and the likes could have a life which wasn't ruled by fear and oppression against the weak? I don't want you to think that I may know all about the freedom struggle; honestly I do not. I have only read text books and biographies of some freedom fighters when I was in school and the memory of those long nights with the good books are quite hazy now. My mom brought one book every month regarding our history and I used to devour through them as I am a major bibliophile. Also I had a great grandfather who actually took part in the freedom struggle and he used to tell all kinds of saddening stories regarding his younger days. Oh, how I am filled with pride over their great deeds even now.

The good people in our great nation called 'India' (what is wrong with the name 'Bharatha'? Never mind, I digress) go on protests and strikes in the name of freedom of expression and their birthrights. Do these people even know that the same constitution which has given them rights has also given them duties to protect ourselves and our fellow men against the inadequacies in our society? Not many care about anything other than their own well being.

While my mom was buying vegetables in the market (which is illegal) yesterday, I was left to ponder over the day to day life of these street traders whose only livelihood is selling their produce to keep their family afloat. Within a span of one hour, three different policemen came and demanded money from them. The poor blokes had to give into them as they really have no other choice. The people who are supposed to give protection are the harbingers of evil practices. If the authorities were really willing to change for the better, they would have built a space for them there; they tried by staging a protest a few years back! Now there's a sprawling apartment). At the basic level there's so much corruptness and oppression, then its no wonder we have still not achieved our true potential as a nation. Everybody think they are independent, but the truth is far from it.

By the looks of things to come, the Common Wealth Games may just bring a great shame to the country. I am hoping it will, so that we will improve the next time around. I have been rambling on about the things I feel very passionate about. I will end it now. Try to do small things which are righteous and virtuous, you will feel relieved and dignified even in old age and finally in death. Be proud to be an Indian.

Memories From Another Life: First Love

 Since too many of my friends said this post looked like a movie review, I am stressing the fact that this is, in fact, a true story & not related to the Koreans pictured here in any way or to any movie... Godspeed Folks :) Enjoy.. Send in your comments

The young 12-year-old boy was getting impatient at his grandma. He was thinking about hopping off next door to see the girl and he didn't think he could pull it off with his grandma right there in the hall. After fidgeting around the house for 20 minutes, he finally got his chance and yelling out his routine lie about going to play cricket, he dashed off madly. Tiptoeing across the side of the road as if the very steps he were taking could be heard by his grandma in the kitchen, he made his way stealthily into the next door compound. He was quite pleased with himself, he thought of himself as a ninja as he had not been busted all these days. He made his way up the floors and knocked on the door. The most beautiful girl opened the door with a smile on her face. The boy's breath was knocked away instantly, like every other time he saw her. She had moved in next door with her dad and mom and within a year, this girl had become his closest, dearest, best friend and a close confidante. She was his age, a tom-boy and for a guy who didn't quite like girls of his age, this was a major surprise.

Picture for representation purpose only

The boy smiled inwardly, they had talked about everything on Earth left to talk, and yet found new things to do together every weekend! This afternoon however was going to quite different. They had bonded over their mutual love for movies, cartoons, video games and cricket! They had watched quite a few action, romantic and sappy movies together each weekend in the afternoons when neither of their parents would be around. The boy was starting to notice and love the way her eyes twinkled whenever she was hiding something naughty from him, the way her hair fell across her eyes, the constant brushing of her hair to the sides. This day however there was something different about her, she was wearing lipstick and it looked delicious over her lips. In all their meetings she had never wore make-up, much less the lipstick which adored her sweet lips now. They went into the living room where she had been watching another of the romantic movies and sat down on the floor beside the sofa facing each other surrounded by her Barbie dolls, chess board and some other games. The boy loved chess and she loved her Barbie babies and much as he would hate to admit it, he was getting rather attached to the dumb dolls.

After some idle chit-chat which included some poking and squeals of laughter erupting in the silent afternoon, their attention turned to the TV where there was a very passionate scene going on. She jerked her head in a cute way towards the TV and something overtook the boy. Their faces came so close that he could see the tiny pores through the light powder on her perfect angelic face. Then it happened, with his heart pumping at the speed of a thousand F1 cars, they kissed each other. The dolls, the chess board, everything lay discarded, strewn across the carpet covered floor. It was not at all what the boy was expecting; it was sloppy, their noses collided and she had slipped her tongue, which was very gross. It was nothing like the kisses in those sappy movies and yet for reasons unfathomable to him, he was excited. She sported a mocking smile and asked about the kiss. He blindly told the truth and when he wanted to hear her thoughts, she replied it was alright. The mocking smile was irritating. Did he miss something that she caught on to? Of course they wouldn't tell anybody about this, it was going to be their little secret. His parents would take him to some dumb ghost buster and crucify him for it and he didn't want to think what might happen to his girl.

Picture for representation purpose only

They might have been young, but they weren't that naive. They made a pact that they wouldn't kiss again, which was alright as long as he could hold her soft hands. After a couple of months, the unthinkable happened; her father had gotten transferred and she was leaving him. He wouldn't get to see her again for a long time, probably forever. The weeks that followed her departure was pure torture for the boy, he had been moping around so much it was starting to frighten his mom. He calmed her down reasoning that he had not read properly for the tests, which seemed like a good enough reason for her. She didn't know about the deep abyss of hopelessness which her son was plummeting through.

Flash Forward 5 Years

The boy is now a happy-go-lucky dude whose only problems in life was the looming mid-term, which he was sure he would flunk at the pace he was learning the lessons. He is at his grandma's place in the evening, simply because he likes it there. At that moment, with his eyes hovering over the TV without registering any of the drama unfolding on it, a man and his daughter come into the home. The boy immediately recognized the man, so the girl beside him had to be his daughter. He couldn't believe his eyes; where there was a skinny, cute, button nose girl a few years back, now stood a slender, sharp-nosed, hot, delectable young woman who could easily have been the object of lust for many men and envy of some girls. He was overjoyed at her presence after all these years and sharp sweet memories burst through his mind like fireworks. He had never thought he would see her again in his life. Being a shy and introverted guy now, he didn't engage in conversation with her about the years by-gone. The father had come to reacquaint himself with his uncle, and after the initial pleasantries which included handshakes all around, he could sense an air of arrogance around the girl. She wasn't the girl he had fallen in love with; she knew the effect she had on men and had apparently become haughty and vain. The boy didn't take part in the conversation much, he only stole quick glances at her. Even though his heart was beating madly, his brain told him this wasn't the girl for him. After an hour, the meeting between the adults now being concluded, it was time for the parting. She hopped on behind her father on the bike and turning back, gave a coy smile to the boy. He was left dazed, confused and wondering into the dreary dark night.