Space out Time out

The Tall and the Mighty Calling! This has by far been the most compulsive topic that I wanted to blog about and somehow I have been procrastinating it. Rather I have been waiting for that one high after which I would be thrown into writing about hikes. I know a lot of us have that as a usual hobby. Almost every other Desi soul on orkut has hiking as his interest. I may be in the same pool coz I don’t know their exact frame of mind when they hike. But for me its an elixir. I developed this ardent love for the hills somewhere in my adolescence. Since then I long to run to them. Mountain View offered me ample scope to quench my appetite. The copious trials have their own flavor and my friends and I pick one every week. My last cake was Half dome in Yosemite National Park . We had been there earlier in May 2006 to conquer it, hardly having trained for it. We almost made it.. ALMOST and that hit us bad coz it stood there high up mocking at those who thought it was undemand...

My new MINI I cant quite describe the feeling of owning something you've wanted for so long. But I am in those moments right now. After so many speculations and misgivings, I finally drove home my dream car. But just a day before that I felt like I was in the wrong side of the higway with everything charging at me for the decision I made, for instance: Why not a car that is the most common, most practical and most affordable? Nuances like loans and retail values and brands hounded me. Thanks to that I feel I have achieved supreme knowledge in number details like interest rates, milage and moolah ;) But then again, this is the quintessential question for picking between surviving now/saving later and living.. Do I want to live the way I planned or do I want to walk the line. I opt for the former any day, hence the choice :)

Intervewing Paranoia I would always tell my friends that each one of us should have one job waiting for us after we graduate from school, than have to go back to studying things all over again and then end up with jobs that we do not enjoy as much. This way what we reap is truly what we sow and its not a week's cramming and gulping down of the PIEs and other quick tricks and tips to crack it.. It may be a non sensical thought but how much sense does being judged by anyone for a hour to decide if you are fit for job or not make anyways? And what if its not your best day, or its not the interviwer's favourite day? What is the criteria that makes it click or blow in your face? And what are the odds against a suitable undertaking that fits your interests as well as your potential. But yet again, the question is, how does one zero down to that? The other problem that exists is hope against hope. The fact that knowing an interview did not go as well, we are dejected when the mail h...

CARNATIC BLUES!! I believe most people especially in the US have their primary goal to just be able to perform on stage. Back in India, it is not so. I feel for Carnatic music, one should go through rigorous training even after you feel that you have reached a stage where you can be giving a stage performance. The whole structure of raaga needs to be very clear in your head and the more you advance in your learning, the more you should go back to the basics and use them for all the raagas that you learn. Like for examples, the alankaras should be practiced with all the raagas and not just mayamamavagaula. Also, varnams should be really stressed upon before reaching the keertana stage. The more varnams you learn, the more strong you become in the ragaa structure. For keertanams, you should stress on learning the madhayama kalam keeatanam first for any raaga, then moving on to one having a chittaswarm and then moving on to vilambakalam keertanam for the same raaga. This way y...

I would often wonder why is it that people hinge on to prayers before starting something new or carrying pictures of gods in their purses for an interview or scribble "om" or "nam myoho renge kyo" in their answer sheets as soon as they are distributed.. And where does this vigor go once the inertia or the novelty of that event is broken and a steady pace is set in. What is the psyche behind this? I am a practicing Buddhist and we chant as a form of our practice, for hours together sometimes. We determine to make a change in our surroundings and summoning the strength to make something happen for us and others as well. The meaning that I derive out of this whole practice is the law of "cause and effect". What we do is what we get or what goes around comes around. I ask in my head sometimes, if the thing that comes around is really an effect of the causes that we made or is it to stop us from making bad causes pro actively. Is it magic or is it common sense?...