About the Blog

My blog post are of varied topics ranging from personal experiences, travel, wild life photographs, interesting news, of happenings around the world that catches my fancy. In other words i write about anything when i am in a mood to write

Friday, July 27, 2012

Death - As the Poet see it !!!


Image courtesy : Google Images
Few days back while browsing the face book I came across a beautiful status that was shared by a friend about a poet explaining death in a poetic way filled with so much emotions that touched my heart and then I decided that I would share it will you all ( My apologies to people who do not understand Hindi)


Kisi shayar ne mout ko kya khoob kaha hai:- 



Zindagi me dho minute koi mere pas na baitha , 
aaj sab mere pas baithe ja rahe tae,
koi tohfa na mila aj tak mujhe ,
aur aaj phool hi phool diye ja rahe tae, 
Taras gaye hum kisi ke ek hath ke liye,
aur aaj kandhe pe kandhe diye ja rahe tae. 
Dho kadam sath na chalne kho tayar tha koi,
aur aaj kafila ban sath chale ja rhe tae, 
Aaj pata chala muje ki "MAUT" kitni hasin hoti hai
Kambhakt HUM to yunhi jiye ja rahe tae!

It is quite true that poets and writers of the yester years have had undergone an immense struggle and hardships throughout their living life trying to earn through their writing to make both ends meet at their homes. Many of them were totally unknown during their prime and became famous after they had died. In fact some of their works were published only after their death and became best sellers….poor guys did not live to see the fruits of their labor. I did browse the net for the people who became famous after their death and I was surprised to note so many great names in that list from the field of literature, science and painting around the world. El Greco, Emily Dickinson, Vincent Van Gogh, Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka are few of these people whose works became famous after their death. There were many Indian poets and writers who had intense struggle in their lives during the British Raj but I did not come across any of them becoming famous after their death…. I am sure some were there since writing as a profession to sustain livelihood was very difficult in the past.

The most of the present lot of writers/poets have an alternative source of income to take care of their livelihood till such time they strike gold and then once they are famous concentrate only on writing and hence may not face monetary problems to run their day to day life. Yet they encounter frustrations as they would like their work to be perfect and want to be accepted in the society as a poet or a writer. Sometimes these frustrations lead to suicidal tendencies in them and they tend to wallow in their own grief most of the time alone. I think the poet’s oration I have pasted above is in frustration. Well it is my opinion and it may not be true….my apologies if someone feels otherwise.

I did read couple of blogs written by the bloggers whom I follow about such state of mind of the poets and writers.  I generally note that people who resort to poetry have generally a tough life and have personally undergone great emotional upheavals in their lives or are living through it each day. Some of the poems and stories I read on the net are so good and yet those authors lead a sedate life bidding  for a better tomorrow when they will recognized and famous. My best wishes to all the poets and writers for a wonderful and a better tomorrow!!!!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Random Clicks -06 ...Holiday timepass





Been fiddling with the settings of the camera and took this photograph of the Zawawi Mosque in Al Khuwair, Muscat Oman with Vivid color settings. Also check the picture of the same mosque taken during the night time HERE


View from my flat


View of the same Mosque from the from with the same vivid color settings

View from the main road



 A curious onlooker while i was taking pictures from my window..quite inquisitive


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Rajesh Khanna ..!!!


My idol of growing years…Rajesh Khanna passed on today morning.Thinking back he has personified in most of my fantasies in my teens and I still remember to this day when I liked a girl while I was in my 7th class and the songs I used sing on seeing her “ Ooh meri sapno ki rani kab ayegi tu” or “ roop tera mastana” both from Aradhana….the movie that propelled Rajesh Khanna to instant stardom overnight. I have hardly missed any of his movies from 1968 to 1975 and even after that I have seen most of his movies and each time I used to fantasize of having bevy of beautiful women at my beck and call…poof…dreams but then who did not have such dreams at that young age of 11 to 17 years. Songs from almost all of Rajesh Khanna’s movies sung by mostly Kishore Kumar ruled the roost throughout the entire tenure of my school and the college days in addition to Deep Purple, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Queen and others. It was a memorable journey of my life and I really need to acknowledge the influence of Rajesh Khanna in it….if I do not do that then I am lying to myself. Romanticism used to ooze out of him and we guys would try to imitate him those day… a slight tilt of head, a sensual smile and finally the romantic song!!! RIP Rajesh Khanna and may your soul rest in peace. I leave you with an apt song from one of his movie Namak Haram.

Even to this days when ever i listen to a song from any of his movies involuntarily i start humming the same. I am sure most persons from that era would say that inspite of having greats like Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Raj Kapoor the emotions evoked by Jitin Khanna... sorry Rajesh Khanna was even greater.

Thank you once again for having entertained us during my formative years Rajesh Khanna !!!!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Moral Police ...or plainly sex crazed


There has been a huge outcry in National media today from various segments of the society about molestation of a young girl in Guwahati by a mob of men that took place two days back under the garb of moral policing.  The shocking part of this particular incident is that it took place two days back and the media was filming this for over 20 minutes and yet nobody stepped forward to help the victim instead persons stopped by to grope the helpless girl.  There have been spurts of incidents all over India of moral policing by gangs of perverted young men who seem to break all moral barriers by molesting and eve teasing women who have spurred their advances and these people seem to garner some support from some of the religious political parties …. It is quite hard to digest that we are living in a largest secular and democratic country. A few questions pops up in my mind after viewing this on the TV

Is moral policing meant only for women?

Who are the people who decide to carry out the moral policing…have they looked at themselves in the mirrors first? Are they moral??

How does media be in the right place to capture this incident live??

I know these are futile questions and in the present times unless we have sterner laws and actions we are surely going to be hearing lot more of these kind of atrocities being conducted on women by sex crazed men. 

Another  news today was that of a Khap Panchayat in UP ruled that women under the age of 40 cannot own a mobile; women cannot go to markets or moving about in open, if at all they are going out with their family they need to cover their face; cannot have love marriages and so forth. A Taliban style order is being passed without any thoughts of the rights of individual as per the law of the country without consent of the women population. 

India Shining…. Are these the faces of India shining?? A national shame indeed where there is no safety or security to women.

Random clicks -05 Wildlife at Annamalai Ranges



All along wanted to take few photographs of various wild animals and birds during my trip to Conoor, Top Slip, Parambikulam Tiger sanctuary  and Coimbatore. I was able to take a photograph of a giant squirrel, deers and monkeys at the Top Slip and Bulbul at Sims Park
Wild Monkeys

Giant Squirrel in Top Slip


Deers in Top Slip Forest
Red whiskered Bulbul at Sims Park, Conoor

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Two Minutes

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 29; the 29th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'TWO MINUTES'.
Image courtesy Google

Well this is the topic a noodle advertisement be it for Maggi or any other brand that tells us that the noodles are ready to eat in this time frame and is slurped hungrily down  .Two minutes generally seems to be a very short span of time but then it is not true as lot can happen during these 120 seconds…a life can be evolved or a person can die and there are quite a lot of instances that these 2 minutes had been detrimental to the outcome that has resulted in life or deaths… strange isn’t it !! Well it is a fact is that most people cannot hold their breath for so long underwater either a swimmer or not! My post is neither about swimming nor to do with holding your breath for 2 minutes but about incident that took place my life and has relevance to the title of the post. Here it goes and this is a true story that took place at New Delhi in 1979 August.

Way back in 1979 as a youngster who had just completed engineering exams and back home, each day was spent along with friends from the quarters by going to movies and loitering in crowded South Extension market New Delhi ogling at pretty girls. One of these days we suddenly decided to go for a movie from South Ex for a show at Chanakya Theatre starting at 6.30 pm……..worries amongst us since we had not informed our parents/guardians that we would be returning back late in the night and especially those days we had no options of mobile phones and yet we took the decision to go ahead with our plans as the movie was “10” starring Bo Derek and she looked damn sexy in two piece swim suit on the posters of this cinema. Alas little did we expect that this decision would have an profound impact on our entire lives. 

Well four of us are from the same from the Quarters as our fathers worked for the same organization and we had great fun that evening and by the time we reached back to our houses at Maharani Bagh New Delhi it was 9.30 pm and we found our guardians were worried since we were late without any information. One of our friend‘s mother was bed ridden and his house was run by his brother’s wife and that evening since he was so late he got a massive firing from his father, then his elder brother and to top it all he was told by his sister in law that he would have to forgo his dinner as she has cleared the kitchen. This friend of ours had completed his B.Sc Chemistry from Delhi University and was working in a small scale industry dealing in chemicals. The tone of his sister in law coupled with the treatment meted out to him by his brother and his wife agitated him so much that within next 2 minutes decided that he would not continue living in this world. We never took his statements seriously and tried to bolster him stating that it is usual of elders to scold us for all silly issues. Later in the night he had swallowed some chemical compound samples which he normally carries with him as samples on empty stomach with an intention of committing suicide. 

Image courtesy Google
But then after having swallowed the chemicals he had puking sensations and a fright of dying that he started banging the door of the neighbor whose wife was a doctor and as the door opened he just dropped down vomiting and at the same time sobbing that he does not want to die…….but then it was too late for the doctor to save him as the chemicals he had swallowed had traces of cyanide and he passed away in few minutes and even before we could rush to his side. A young life extinguished at the age of 24 and for what reason… for being scolded for going to see a movie and coming home late.. I mean at 9.30 pm!! Thinking back about the incident it was quite sickening and atrocious of the actions taken by our friend. Had he given a thought for 2 minutes of his decision to swallow the chemicals in anger against his bhabi and his father, maybe he would not have taken the extreme step and he would have been alive that day. Banerjee RIP.
The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Lost my way in dreams !!!


For the past few days I have been having dreams…I know it is not unusual for one to dream but then in my case it has been after a span of 3 decades. In most of my recent dreams generally I am lost and I seem to be searching for something or someplace and I am loss of words as to why I get these dreams and that too now. The latest dream was that I have been trying to get back to the place where I have parked my car at a shopping mall and each time I took a path back I seem to reach back to the same place where I had started and I think I dreamt of taking a very long time to locate my car. It is said that dreams could have a definite meaning and I am trying to decipher the meaning of my dreams with the present context. 

Am I lost by taking the wrong turn in the cross roads of my life??  Well in my perspective as a committed parent the path selected by me was the right one though it does not elicit the same fervor it did some time back. Maybe it is because I am growing older and would like to anchor down at home port or is it the male menopause that setting in and I am not so sure!!! J. The initial euphoria of the return back to the same company and the project has waned and there is a definite change in me and my attitude and the normal happy go lucky guy character in me surfaces only sometimes these days. I really need to analyze the feeling and the dreams now especially that I am staying alone in a far of land away from my family. 

I have started asking the very question that I had written about quite some back " Why is it always me " and why is it happening to me. I sure need to introspect and come to terms with whatever be the reasons for I need to be here for some more time and earn moolah…petro dollars since I have a huge commitments to be taken care off. Once that is done I can take semi retirement …I sure liked the sabbatical break of 6 months I had when life was quite relaxing except for the thoughts of diminishing savings.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Amazing Beaches of Oman - Qantab Beach


This Friday morning I and my colleagues went to picturesque Qantab beach and a rocky coastline quite early in the morning to avoid the heat later in the day. This beach is quite scenic and has rocky coastline that has been eroded by sea water for ages and is quite amazing to look at .Some scenes in the Tamil movie Kandasamy was shot here extensively and I believe including a song sequence. 

Boat ride in a similar boat..see the wooden slats as seats
Reaching the beach around 7.30 am stopped at the tea shop for the tea and there we met a middle aged boat driver by name Hammis Mashri, who said that he would take us around for a trip on his motor boat right till Barr Al Jissah for RO 15. At first I was hesitant to take the trip because of the fear of the deep blue sea but then his statements that he would not be speeding and rushing like most of the teenage boatmen there and that he is a licensed boatman won over my fear and we set out on a brief ride. 


Boatman Hammis and Rahul who made the boatman accelerate
All was fine initially when he going slow and once he crossed the rocky mountain across the bay he accelerated the motor boat…the boat was jumping across the troughs in the deep waters really spilled my guts….it was quite scary with no hold on the boat each time the boat flies up and then comes down. We guys were literally holding on to the side and shouting to the boatman to slow down. He in turn was asking a friend who was facing him..Enta kof?? Meaning is “are you frightened”…and in the event my friend answers no, then he would accelerate even more. 

Natural opening in the rocky mountain jutting up in middle of the bay
Well our round motor boat trip right up to Shangri-La resort bay then on to Oman Diving club and back to the Qantab beach after having stopped for few photographs of the rocky mountain with a tunnel at the waterline finished and  all of us were thanking our stars to be back on ground safely. Thinking back about the boat trip..well it is quite risky for the following reason…no life jackets being provided by the boatmen, no proper seats…you are sitting on wooden slats place across the width of the boat, no holding points on the motor boat in the event the boat hits a large trough or wave when the boat rises up and slams down, . By the way we did see some boats with proper seats, holding rod and so forth but looks like they are more expensive and is suitable for larger groups of people.

Scenic view of the Qantab bay



The trip concluded at 8.30 am and from there for breakfast at the new Vasantha Bhavan at Ghala then straight back to the air conditioned confines of the home even before the day became hot!!! Another weekend is over here and a new resolution by me...not to travel in these speed boats again !!! Only proper powerboats that we saw moored in the Oman diving center henceforth.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Till death do us part !!!!


Warning… a personal post and would be boring to most readers


6th June 2012 was the start of my 30th year of married life …(am patting my own back)  24 hours/7..365 day x 29 years is a very long time indeed and you would not believe it that I did send my wife a message over mobile thanking her for having kuppai kotifying with me for so long( surely not a romantic message I know)….you must be wondering if it is a foreign language, well it is a phrase in Tamil which means putting up with garbage and I the response I got from her was that she was overwhelmed by my message and she felt that it was the other way around. This surely seems like the short story “The gift of Magi” that I studied during my higher secondary..each one trying to outdo the other by sacrificing the item most important to them. A nice feeling indeed and it is quite hard to describe the same.Only regret is that we are miles apart..me in Oman and she at Chennai !

During the last 29 years both of us have had myriad experiences that has been quite difficult at times and I thankful that my wife Revathi stood by me. I have not been a perfect husband for sure and that is what I meant in my message to her on the eve of the anniversary. There were few difficult times when I can tell with certainty that both of us have considered that it is difficult to continue together and yet  we have forged ahead and the reason attributed to this that one us would stop arguing and thereby deflating the heated discussions . I know life is not a bed of roses and all couples have problems in their lives but then one partner needs to let go of his/hers ego for continuing relationship. My parents were together for 54 years till such time my mother departed in 2010 and it has been an inspiration to me …their life experiences did help me to overcome few difficulties in our lives. These days we tend to read that divorce rates have gone back because of the lack of compatibility and the main culprit is arguments …neither one of the partner are willing to back down..a question of ego I would say with my limited knowledge.

Thank you Revathi for a lively experience during the last 29 years and I pray that we continue like this for a long time ahead, till we are able to see our young daughters well settled in life.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Silent Hunter...


                     Chameleon on the bush ...standing very still waiting for the insect to come by !!!!
           
   

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Real hot news...

A very hot day here at Muscat and temperatures reeling at 48º C at noon time and hot wind blowing makes you feel as though one is being cooked in a microwave oven. In spite of being well hydrated feel irritated……beja (brain) fried I suppose and hence an unrelated post of various news items I have come across today that seems to have some kind off connection to heat…;)
Irregular supply of Fuel (Petrol and diesel) for the last one week at Chennai has affected the general public…long queues at the Petrol bunks for the fuel that is rationed because of the shortage, non-availability/ increase in cost of vegetables, increased cost of commuting by share autos or auto as these were charging double the normal rates. A friend of mine from Chennai mailed me yesterday stating that his company employees are not able to work since there is no stock of diesel to run the generators during the power cut which seem to extend for longer period of time and is frequent. To top it all the sun god is not showing any mercy with temperature hovering in the region of 42º C….. kathri veiyal should be waning now and hope it brings some respite to all my friends and relatives at Chennai.
A Chennai company’s managing director currently in jail for rape and assault of an employee from May 3rd   has once again been charged by the police on fresh rape charges by another employee Pooja (name has been changed)of the company who has been working there for last 6 months. She has said that he has sexually exploited her for the period of her employment and only after the knowledge of his arrest for the earlier rape of another employee she has come forward with her complaint. It is believed by the police that this person has done the same with about six other young women whom he has employed in his company and I am quite surprised that these women have borne this for so long time ….. maybe a matter of “sour grapes”.
IPL tamasha is over couple of days back yet off field gimmicks are still continuing ….today’s News Papers carried the news of Poonam Pandey honoring her promise to pose nude should KKR win the IPL finals. Really gross and a cheap publicity stunt by an unknown model that is willing to strip for almost everything and I say this because she made the similar promise during the World Cup should India win the final. Indian media and public strive on such sensational news…..cannot understand what sensation would Poonam Pandey will arouse in the minds of the public posing nude. Other news IPL related is the SRK’s public apology of his misbehavior at Wankade stadium at Mumbai few days back now that his team has won the finals. Had KKR lost the finals than I personally doubt if he would have come forward with the apology…again a publicity stunt to increase his star quotient.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Caphytee...Madrasi...Bengali...

It has been ages since I wrote a post on BlogSpot though have posted few photographs now and then. There has been quite a lot of ideas floating round in my mind that I wanted to write about but then sheer laziness and circumstances prevailing around me prevented me from doing so then and when I really sat down to pen it down my mind was totally blank and it was similar to that of the data on a hard disk after wiping with a powerful magnet. Trying to get back to writing often and only way going forward is to pen down all irrelevant things that has been happening around me
This Saturday at the site pantry while preparing a cup of tea for myself I saw a colleague of mine also preparing a cup of tea for himself. He then added a spoon of coffee powder into the same cup of tea and when I asked why he does this..he responded that he like the taste of the combination… this is the first time I have heard of the cocktail of tea and coffee which I named as “Caphytee”…;). Need to try it out once to find out the taste but I do not have the necessary courage to do so!!!

Finally the hectic cricket schedule of IPL 2012 has ended this Sunday 27th May … So much of regional feelings being seen in the aftermath of the finals of IPL 2012 among the friends and colleagues …die hard CSK fans had to eat a humble pie in the end for they did not expect KKR to defeat them after having scored 190 runs. But then for the cricket lovers around the world it was a live wire and an entertaining match right till the last two balls of the innings… a very fitting final to watch. Some comments like “madrasi murgan’s defeated by bengali dada’s “did make me smile and I  wonder  if the person commenting is aware of how many bengali dada’s were there in KKR team and likewise how many madrasi in CSK. I suppose it did not matter to them since the franchises adopted Kolkata & Chennai as their home turf.
Monday morning blues for people working in India but then for us here in Middle East it is middle of the working week yet the feeling is the same here today due to beer binge while watching the IPL finals yesterday evening !! OMG am glad that IPL has concluded as it would reduce the intake of beer..hahahaha.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Random Click -04 - Night photography

Al Khuwair , Muscat
It has been almost over 50 days since i uploaded  a post or a picture on blogspot. Back in Oman after a sabbatical break of nearly 6 months, and while relaxing after work one day just happened to notice this from my living room window... flood lit dome and minaret of Zawawi Mosque at Al Khuwair, Muscat, Oman.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Dangerous Precedent

Tamilnadu is starting the profiling of migrant labor working in Chennai , an aftermath of the encounter killing of 5 suspected bank robbers who were from the northern states of India. This is totally against the democratic rights of each and every individual of  India who are allowed to take employment in any part of India without any harassment. The police spokesman states that the workers would not be harassed however the ground reality is totally different. Now coming to the profiling part i really do not know how does the profiling of migrant workers would weed out the anti social element since the details sought are only the records of the person. It would only create a data base of the workers being employed in Chennai or Tamilnadu and nothing more than that. Further as per the reports in the papers it is clear that most crime are not done by people coming here from the other states and  the prejudice shown by the Tamilnadu police is unfounded. If at all the profiling has to be done then each and every resident of the state needs to be a subject of this.... equality to one and all Indians.

Most of the criminals today are quite educated and it is wrong to preconceive that only unskilled or uneducated persons take to crime. The recent bank heists suspects were educated and well to do and yet chose to increase their wealth criminally and how does the Tamilnadu police monitor so many lakhs of people coming to Chennai for working in various companies or for studying. There is a definite flaw in thoughts of enumeration/profiling and if it is not scrapped then they are setting up an dangerous precedent for the other states to cite or follow similar procedures affecting scores of Tamilians working out the state.

I reproduce below the views of Times of India for fueling your thoughts on this issue

The decision to profile migrant labor goes against the spirit of social integration as enshrined in the Constitution. The stated objective of crime prevention rests on the presumption that migrants are responsible for rising levels of crime though present data may not support such a claim. Activists have raised concerns that the process could instill suspicion among locals and sow seeds of disharmony. The state should give up the exercise and focus on improving policing instead.


 




Your views and comments on the course of action taken by Tamilnadu Police please. !!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Random Clicks -03 ....Flowers

During my visit to Coimbatore last week i snapped few photographs of flora and fauna of Anamalai and Nilgiris ranges. Though this is not the flowering season, the nature was at full bloom and the pictures taken that day turned out quite stunning because of such vibrant colors.



MORNING GLORY




JACARANDA TREE 

I browsed through Google and was able to find out the names of the above two flowers however for following i have not been able to find out their names and would appreciate if any of you can name these flowers



The above photographs is just of few flowering plants and in season which is around May & June you would be able to see much more flowering plants.