Half past midnight and I got my twinkle toes and that urge to consume fire water...so what do I do???

When I was a little younger,dispersed as it is now,I had a mad group of friends...mad as mad can be...n then in that group was me...the only source of sanity binding the cuckoos nest!!!!


It was fine summers night...cold as hot can be and when the normal human being was sleeping in the comforts of their homes...I got the ITCHIES!!!!

ITCHIES(English : Insanity) is the insane urge to do crazy stuff without checking the repercussions.Modern science has shown that Itchies are a sign of greatness and happen only to people on the thin line. The nerves in the brain refuse to send signals to the balance of the body and adrenalin takes over.


PLUTO...the result of all ITCHIES and people suffering from them....the night club open till 6 AM.
I call my partner in crime...a certain Sonali Kanwar...the looniest of the loonies....ITCHY was her second name...always ready to drink!!!!!
Slumber got driven away just as i mentioned Pluto to her...n 01:00 I had made her jump over her gate(she used to get locked in) n we were headed to the king of good times...where the old monk was absolut'ely a sinner.....

The dreary drive through the ravines...oops streets of delhi and we hit what WAS the only respite...the road from JNU to PLUTO...the forest of Nottingham....with its greenery and all that came with it in Delhi.
Zipping on in the darkness not wanting to miss a second at the bats abode and racing a few more ITCHIES we start to cross the little bridge over a lil pond and as it was only possible fr one car at at time...the three or four cars of the convoy start the crossing...back to back with each other...n in the middle of the "pulliya" suddenly there is a CRASH BOOM GUSH GUSH......THE DARNED BRIDGE GAVE WAY AND WE FOUND OURSELVES MINUS A ROAD AND STRUGGLING IN SOMETHING LIKE WET QUICKSAND...SINKING IN!!!!!!

HUH :-O

The car refused to go forward or back and sank in two feet into the slush and water started gushing in...Sonali in her little black number in order to impress me started screaming....
OH LORD...if the predicament already wasnt enough!!!!
I dont know how..but within five minutes a crowd had collected around the catastrophe...I think Sonali's screaming had done the magic...
Now I had three problems...
1)We were slowly sinking into nothingness and why would the water be smelling funny???
2)I had a woman screaming next to me as loud as a siren as if i had taken all she had...eeew!!!!!!!
3)A cut throat crowd had collected around enjoying every moment of this free show!!

THANK YOU INDIA...for giving us MCD...HYSTERICAL WOMEN...A CROWD THAT WOULD RATHER AGGREVATE TO ENJOY THEMSELVES RATHER THAN HELP!!!!!!

Jeez...what was this.
I had the presence of mind to call the 100 number n then I got thinking as to what the next thing to do would be.......
I remembered my friend Pareekshit..the guy with a TATA ESTATE...the means to pull my car out!!!
01:30 AM call to the police!!!
01:32 AM call to Pareekshit!!!
01:35 AM Sonali decides that screaming now is not a requirement...takes off her shoes and wades across to dry land leaving me to my destiny!!!
01:51 AM Pareekshit arrives...a TATA INDIGO n a rubber tube??

Huh had he not understood what I had told him???
"BRO...I am in the heart of the city and sinking into the road which is now flooded with water..need you to get a long chain and your estate...The bridge has given way!!!"

Well on being Questioned...he told me that he didnt believe me and thought I was pulling a fast one...
HUH???
What was there not to believe...it was right in front of his eyes....
Well but a brave effort indeed we tried to pull out my OPEL with his INDIGO n a TYRE TUBE!!!!
RESULT:HIS CAR GOT DRAGGED IN AS WELL!!!

IT WAS ABSOLUTE PARTY TIME!!!

02:25 AM: THE POLICE FINALLY ARRIVES!!!!!!

I wade my way through the torrents to reach them and explain my sad state of affairs...n the fact that I have a girl with me n that I need help!!!

POLICEMAN 1: naam kya hai???
ID aur license hai??

POLICEMAN 2: ladki se rishta kya hai??

HUH??

POLICEMAN 1: Mujhe to gadbad lagti hai!!!

POLICEMAN 2: kahan jaa rahe the??

Here I was in a plight beyond doubt..n they were questioning me like a criminal!!!

VIVA DELHI POLICE!!!

Luckily for me Pareekshit is a well connected bloke n he flashed some contacts and immediately the cops were on a different tune!!!

Anyhow out of the darkness suddenly we saw lights...our neighbours in the mess were more sensible...they had called a TOW TRUCK!!!
It arrived and we all rushed to it...but again business is business!!!
The truck driver quoted 3 ctimes as much n we fools not knowing any better said yes...
One by one the cars were pulled out..a couple wouldnt start but German technology...mine started and we zoomed out from there after spending two hours in that shit n smelling like it...where do we head...PLUTO!!!
jeez two hours less of drinking time....
THE ITCHIES!!!
:-D

“When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain”

“The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.”

My prince of Denmarks tale happened in the aquarium!!!!!

Seafood has always been my favourite in the food chain as has been keeping little tropical fish in an aquarium...a strange combination but thats what strange men are made of...moderations...huh??

An angler in its truest sense I as much enjoyed fishing for survival as I do taking care of what my mother believed was a little water world in our abode...something that made our house feel closer to a greater geographic entity where man was still not the top of the food chain.
A little tropical world which consisted of Guppies,Gouramis,Tetras and Sword tails...A collectors treat and an onlookers paradise...It was her daily routine to sit and look at these coloured lil beauties and be taken to a different unexplored world where she believed she was the fairy god mother!!!
She would dilligently feed them and clean the aquarium everyday and they all had names!!!!!
My love for the aquatic fauna grew from there and it actually began to haunt me everytime a fish was served in my platter...not that it stopped me ever from eating it but the thought always crossed my mind before i devoured it with a vengeance!!!

Well enough of talking about aquariums!!!
Time to get to the real thing!!!!

We had once gone to our farm in the tarai's of Uttar Pradesh...the banks of the ganges spotted with its numerous little distributaries and lakes..and what do we do...decide to go angling!!!
I had never before even heard the word and related it to catching fish with a rod!!!
There was my cousin...a year older than me...n me!!
Arjun...the cool dude who had just moved back from the states with his cool fishing gear....A Cabelas Fish Eagle...n all the cool baits in the world..spinners..bobs n spoons...n me with no knowledge of anything at all....how the hell do yu catch fish???
I only knew that yu had a line n a hook n you put bait on it...so what do i do??
I end up in the market place buying myself a hook n line that costed me 15 rupees all together to compete with his...whateva!!!!
I had some ham left from the ham sandwich packed for us and that was going to be my bait!!!
Watch out little fishies....you are going to be dinner!!!!

Any how...we landed up at this tank where the fish were supposed to be a plenty...and the rivalry enormous!!!
American rod vs Indian line!!!
We both found spots close to each other and let go our wares...Arjun's bobber vs Vikrams stick!!!
Kinky..aint it ;-)

The sandwiches got over as did my bait but not a single fish!!!
Then Arjun caught one...a 6" beauty!!!
I could have died drowning myself in shame :-(
How could he win??
I decided to change my spot!!!!
The ham had run out n so were my hopes!!!
A local villager sitting next to me in my new spot and catching away to glory....he had atleast fifteen fish with him...6" n more!!!
God knows what fish they were but looked like eels!!!

“A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.”

N neurotic i was at that time...ping..the devils mind!!!
I walked upto our village bloke there and bought the damn fish off him!!!
he had them in a bucket...i even paid for that to see those beauties swim around in it!!!
Two weeks pocket money gone...I walked up to Arjun with my catch n the look on his face was worth every penny spent...15 funny fish vs 1 measly 6" lil sole he had caught.
They were my prize!!!!
He threw his rod and marched off.
Me marching behind with a bucket full of eely fish...thats what i called them!!!

They travelled back to Delhi with me...my victory over the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!
INDIA ROCKS.....

Mom had decided to stay back with my granny n dad n me came back...I was the "pirate" king of the aqua marine...

My 15 beauties...I had to preserve them for as long as i lived to boast my victory!!
My pets...I put them into the Aquarium...they enjoyed the freedom from the bucket to the tropical paradise they found themselves in!!!
I slept with content like never before.....
Arose the next morning with the deep desire to see my babies...hail n hearty n looking gorgeous...
Oooops...why were they the only fish in the aquarium????
What had happened to solomon n sheba n dasho n all of my moms beauties????
I was a dead man...survival of the fittest...food chain...my monsters had eaten my moms angels for breakfast...the same way i would be for dinner by my mom!!!!

I have never seen her so angry and upset together in all my life!!!
Hamlet in the Aquarium...the fish were removed and given to the servants for dinner!!
Hamlet had avenged in a manner even Shakespeare wouldnt have imagined...served as dinner for the servants...huh???

Well the Aquarium was locked up after that as was i in my room for many a week!!!

But my heart still swelled as i thought of the look on Arjuns face...he never knew...n he still doesnt!!!!
Well now he will
;-)

MEMORIES

I drains my glass and slowly look around.
How many more drinks till the memories drown?
A pirate I knew beyond any compare.
A man and a sailor who would dare.
A PIRATE KING WITHOUT A FROWN,
Anand the Invincible would wear the crown!!!!!


People come and people go leaving an impact on your life...some positive and some negative.
With Anand there is nothing i can think of which would be negative...full of energy...willing to help...always laughing...a true friend...a sailor by profession and a sailor by heart!!!!

I had the pleasure of having him as a batchmate in our pirate training and as well as sailing with him on a ship which was the Santa Maria of the Indian fleet...the largest ever to sail on the Indian fleet!!!
But like all good things come to an end so did our friendship and not because I welshed or cheated but because he did.
A rough sea..a morning round on deck...a 60 feet wave...the ship under water rising back......
ANAND WE WISH YOU PEACE IN YOUR WATERY GRAVE!!!!
YOU WERE TOO NICE A PERSON FOR THIS WORLDLY WAY!!!!

“An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.”

LADY ASTOR : Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.
WINSTON CHURCHILL : Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.


I guess that would be diplomacy at its utmost best.
A man strong enough to rule a country of alcoholics willing to drink poison if a certain member of his parliament offered it to him...not to forget,IN A DRINK!!!

THEN WHO IN HEAVENS GRACE WAS I??

I was all of 17 years old and a true sailor...a man who would drink a bottle to prove his manhood n swagger back home with an arm full of women(PROVE HIS MANHOOD...HUH???)
OR SO I THOUGHT!!!

BUT A FOOL AND HIS THOUGHTS SOON PART AND THE FOOL MUST DEPART!!!
WHATEVER!!!!!!

I had just moved from Delhi to Mumbai...oops Bombay...and was training with a bunch of cut throat wannabe pirates waiting for their oppurtunity to rule the seas!!!

SID THE BRAINDEAD
OZZY THE WOOZY
MANDEEP THE SERPENT
JAI THE SNAKE CHARMER
ALEX THE EASY
SANDEEP THE PIMP
ANAND THE INVINCIBLE


The list is endless but i chose to cease there as this was the group involved in this particular episode!!!
There can be only one king in a jungle and one jungle which is truly a jungle...we had our groups and rivalries...
Brazil vs Argentina Finale...if you may!!!
Delhi vs Bombay and an evenly matched set of teams with its defences up and ready for that one oppurtunity to show their offence!!!
One such argument...resulting in a wager!!!
Manhood to be proven...
A BOTTLE OF OLD MONK IN THIRTY MINUTES AND NO ADDITIVES ALLOWED!!!!!!

The winner takes it all...the loser standing small!!

In all the clucks a cough can be mistaken as a growl and thats just what happened!!!!
The crowd backed out...bets started being laid...murmurs rose to uproars...n here was i in the absolute midst of it without a clue of the trouble i had coughed myself into!!!

A cough ( pronunciation (help·info) Latin: tussis) is a sudden and often repetitively occurring reflex which helps to clear the large breathing passages from secretions, irritants, foreign particles and microbes. The cough reflex consists of three phases: an inhalation, a forced exhalation against a closed glottis, and a violent release of air from the lungs following opening of the glottis, usually accompanied by a distinctive sound.[1] Coughing can happen voluntarily as well as INVOLUNTARILY.

Frequent coughing usually indicates the presence of a disease


Did anyone not figure the involuntarily part?????

But it was too late now!!!
THE DELHI BOYS STOOD TALL WHILST THE BOMBAIYAS(MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN PAPAYAS) HUDDLED UP AMIDST THEIR MURMURS!!!
ARGENTINA HAD A PENALTY KICK...

Four quarters of OLD MONK in front of me.
I had been fooled already!!!
My never have drunk before self didnt realise that a bottle is 750 ml whilst a guarter 250 ml...i had been fooled into drinking 33% extra...viva bombay!!
MARKETTING STRATEGY...BUY 3 GET ONE FREE!!!

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM

A TREASURE TO BE FOUND ON TREASURE ISLAND!!!!

First cask opened...three seconds in my mouth and into my blood stream!!!!
My first taste of poison!!!
THIS WAS EASY...LIKE DRINKING WATER!!!

Three more and i was onto holiness guided by the wise old monk himself!!!
Second cask...it went down like a hot knife in soft butter!!!

the huddling happened...murmurs happened...the wagers happened...n THE OLD MONK HAPPENED!!!!
:(

#3 happened...n the involuntary coughing again...n i was feeling the saintliness already!!!

guided through travines tottering n falling i picked up the last n opened n put it on my mouth n that was it!!!!!!!!!
more came out than what went in and it would not think of stopping!!!!
the first time i threw up on the wise old monk!!!

i was put under the shower in the common bathroom n i was wishing all my frenz n well wishers a happy holi!!
200 rupees to turn back 7 months!!!
wow!!!!

I was put to bed and got to know exactly how dizzy the spinning earth might feel!!!!
TWO WHOLE DAYS THE WORLD SPUN AROUND FOR ME!!!!

i was living the life of a top...spinning my way to the loo n back!!!
THE PIMP told the authorities but that is another story...

For now I was the king :)
the daring idiot who had finished a bottle and a lil more n still lost the wager!!!

IDIOCRACIES OF THE WAVERING MIND
HA HA!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

This heart, my own dear mother, bends,
With love's true instinct, back to thee!

I look back on my childhood and thank the stars above.
For everything you gave me, but mostly for your love for if it was not it I would not be what I am today!!!
I remember if there were 2 pieces of what i liked left and i was one on the table you would still say that you didnt like them so i could have both!!

You were ALWAYS the one to dream great dreams for me and if I did not chase them, loved me the same selfless way any way!!!

You always backed out for me to take my happiness when it came my way so I would get it all and when sorrows did cross my path you stood between me and them to not even let them close to me!!

You were always and always will be the bank where i would come and deposit all my worries and sorrows and know they would be taken away and repaid with all the love and caring in the world!!!

You are the only person to see beyond my superficial being for the person I am within without me even having to try a display..someone who would know if i was hurt across the globe without a minutes notice...someone who can just see me and know what I have as my deepest thought....and a remedy for it all.

Mama even if I dont say it too often cause i take you for granted,thank you for being my only true friend and caring for me minus any prejudice...I will love you always!!!

THANK YOU MOM FOR LOVING ME,NOT CAUSE I AM LOVABLE BUT BECAUSE I AM YOUR CHILD AND IT IS YOUR NATURE TO LOVE SELFLESSLY!!!



here is wishing you a very happy 60th birthday and a hundred more to come....

:-)

love sex and dhokha

To all the girls I've loved before
Who travelled in and out my door
I'm glad they came along
I dedicate this blog
To all the girls I've loved before

To all the girls I once caressed
And may I say I've held the best
For helping me to grow
I owe a lot I know
To all the girls I've loved before

To all the girls who shared my life
Who now are someone else's wives
I'm glad they came along
I dedicate this blog
To all the girls I've loved before

To all the girls who cared for me
Who filled my nights with ecstasy
They live within my heart
I'll always be a part
Of all the girls I've loved before

The winds of change are always blowing
And every time I try to stay
The winds of change continue blowing
And they just carry me away


lol

A little alterartion to a certain Senor'e Iglesias's song and I begin my thought process very much insync with what our man must have gone through in his life had the lyrics meant anything!!!

OK lets start by being cynical!!!
I guess love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident....

Ho Hum...twiddle twiddle!!!!
An old saying which i tell everyone when everytime someone walks away shredding a piece of my heart...Can you live your life on aloo parathas all your life???

He He
I GUESS NOT!!!

Change is the only thing constant and i guess thats the basis of evolution!!!
We see our parents and I see a lot of my friends today...breaking up and making up...n there always is a comparison...look at our generation and look at you guys!!!
In our time marraige meant eternal bonding...
Eternal bonding...what is eternal bonding???
Today the meaning of happiness has been redefined thanks to what we call evolution...doors have been opened where a man and a woman today can make choices...choose who they think is perfect...and when they find out he or she is'nt...they chose again...but the problem is that they want to graduate and that i guess seldom happens and it is happy hunting grounds till the teeth fall off!!!
Now is it correct to deny a person the freedom of their choice...and shouldnt they just be let loose searching for that one non existent soul who is supposed to be made there for you...and when they come home after having done their searching empty handed and tired too lead a dreary life with the next person that walks along????
I guess that is the rule of the road...
People have stopped nurturing and cherishing what they have in the search for something better!!!

I was in school...my first love!!!
Nope not the first girl I kissed!!!
Someone i deeply cared about and desired but did not have the courage to tell...had I things might have stood differently...
Well she left suddenly and I evolved into a soul who decided to tell every woman who crossed my path that I was in love...lol...always searching for that one chance i missed on telling her!!
Life goes on and with a success ratio beyond comparison...Don Juan(mind you not casanova) had been seduced many a times into believing he was in love!!!
Sex became the epitome of love...
But is it???
I have a friend who tells me...You can either have sex with a woman or you can love the woman and if you can do both then you need a psychiatrist!!!
IDIOT!!!!

WHAT IS HE TRYING TO SAY...I WASNT IN LOVE WITH ANY OF MY WOMEN CAUSE I HAD SEX WITH THEM???
HUH...
or that i need a psychiatrist...lol...more like it!!!!

I guess nobody can replace the hurt a person leaving causes...what he can do is get immune to it...and build another home for someone to settle...Mr Iglesias we understand you!!!

A die hard romantic by heart I guess I like the concept of falling in love without learning the concept of sustainance....a fools paradise!!!
Whats the point of building a house in a jiffy when the next earthquake that comes will raze it to the ground!!!!
I would rather take my time waiting for the right person to come along and start with a strong foundation...a foundation no earthquake can shatter!!!
But do such people still exist in todays jet age where they have time to think about foundations???
Well for me i believe in fairytales and I believe that for every adam there is an eve...in yin n yan!!!
Search on dreary traveller and you might find your treasure... maybe you met the wrong people at the right time and the right people at the wrong....maybe you are meant to walk alone...
The love that lasts the longest is maybe the love thats not returned or the love that you had and lost...and comes back and haunts you...that is human nature!!


“You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she'd want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”


to all the girls i have loved before......

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

Jules Verne would be ressurected to tell the tale I am narrating now..but being the kind hearted soul I am I let his aging bones Rest In Peace!!!!!!!!

Was I to believe him in earnest in his intention to penetrate to the centre of this massive globe? Had I been listening to the mad speculations of a lunatic, or to the scientific conclusions of a lofty genius? Where did truth stop? Where did error begin?

Well the error had been made and the truth had stopped to exist....and the lunatic mind had taken over my lofty genius...and penetrate the centre of this massive globe we decided to do!!!

Six hours of waiting left for Lil John and time was not meant to be wasted...we decided to explore the vent of the island...the shafts Jules Verne believed led to the centre of our massive globe....the dormant volcano this island was...its very entity...its existance!!!!!

We decided to enter the womb...the place we come from and the place we end up in from this 800 metere crater called THE QUILL..the feathered pen!!!!
Scared more with what Lil Johns reaction to us would be than entering a dormant volcano we managed a guide and decided to see the core of our earth!!!
Managing the gradual 350 metre climb to where the crater was to descend to the centre of the earth!!!
It was easy...the people who had attempted to reach there before us couldnt have been the experienced trekkers we were..no offence meant....may their souls rest in peace!!
We had reached the tip...halfway to our destination...
Reaching the top we decided to look down...a bunch of monkeys sitting on a tree and chattering reminding us of where we had originated from...n look down we did!!!!
It was a steep smooth wall like creation going down n down n down....its walls ravined with volcanic ash tht had frozen into a rock like substance...little paths running across it!!!! At that point of time I would rather have gone back a million years to become our tailed ancestor cause the moment they saw us peeping down they jumped into the crater running through the ravines and disappearing into the depths and taunting us with the fact that had we really evolved from them...or just degenerated into regressive humans!!!!
which ever way,i was in a tough spot having convinced the balance of the team against their wishes with rewards of seeing the centre of the earth!!! How was I to back out now??? The simplest excuse would have been to remind them of Lil Johns existance...but in times of dire need the human mind normally ceases to exist...another truth had unfolded on me!!
with little or no vegetation showing and the smooth inner sides of the volcano taunting us the guide kind of got enthusiastic and started his descent!!!
Ten USD for serving us as a delicacy..Carribean roasted Indians...the island was to have a meal on us if we slipped and the lava still existed!!!
fair deal
We followed suit FOR ABOUT 50 METRES...the beauty of nature and its massive power awed us into proceeding without thinking...the black walls with grey streaks running through them...fossilised insects and plants clearly visible...i closed my eyes and with a furor like never before burst out...."LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...I GIVE TO YOU THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH"
With those words i had broken all barriers...made this world into a smaller and more accessible place...united its population into being one!!!!
And our adventure was over...we decided that what our ancestors could do now with ease was too easy for us and not a challenge anymore and that instead we needed to satiate our hunger all this trekking had caused and head back and prepare for Lil John.
And we turned back with a tale to tell our grandchildren as to how we had travelled and seen the very core of our existance in this unverse!!!!
Lil John was a little more difficult to handle..but alls well that ends well!!!
We got our freedom and our Dinghy permission to redock....
As we Headed back chopping the waves and being tossed around like a popcorn in a microwave... I looked back at the Island in all its simplicity hoping that one day i would return to it....I HAD FORGOTTEN TO PUT A FLAG WITH MY CREDENTIALS ON IT AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH!!!!!
:-)

A TRIBUTE TO VINCENT VAN GOGH

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...

Now its getting boring Gulliver!!!!

GULLIVER OH GULLIVER...WHERE ART THOU????

GULLIVERS TRAVELS CONTINUED

A compass to guide you...the stars in the sky...the great bear pointing north and the cool sea breeze!!!

Gullivers travels by Jonathan Swift!!!

People remember Capt Jack Sparrow but whatever happened to the original??
We were brought up on Robinson Crusoe...and his ship wreck...The Kon Tiki voyage...the crossing of the pacific on a raft...and these tales i guess have lasted in our memories gradually fading as we are ourselves...being replaced by the newer versions...Pirates of the Carribean,not that i havent watched the series with the same fervour!!!!

I remember one of my travels to this little volcanic island in the Carribean...a part of the Netherland Antilles!!!
ST EUSTATIUS!!!

An island with a population of 800 ppl when i visited it in 2002 and a sikh family running the only general store,living upto the tradition of being enterprising,it was a quiet paradise!!!!

I still remember we had sailed from the English channel during the winter season when the atlantic is at its roughest best but our ship being one of the largest to cross the atlantic and still so small in front of natures fury and after 9 days of sailing the INAGO arrived at its destination in the evening....and what a sight awaited us..frozen in my memory forever!!!
From a distance we could see the sillhouette of the volcano and the sun setting behind it,a reddish sky and the clear blue sea where you could see 300 feet down,the winds blowing at 40 knotts and the waves rolling the ship like a large cradle with its little babies onboard!!!
As we let go anchor the first thought in my mind was to swim ashore to this little quiet paradise island and follow suit the sikh mans example...open a grocery store...competition amongst brothers was not a fair idea!!!
the only thing the whole bay was full of was sailing boats and tiny speed boats as the seaway was the only highway to this paradise.
We finally manoeuvered and after anchoring I rushed to the mate to get his permission to go ashore...n granted it was!!!!
we lowered our little dinghy and the lucky seven along with the capt and the mates wife ventured ashore!!!!!
N what an experience....
Our first stop,call it patriotism,was the general store...where we picked up our cases of beer and having downed them we decided to roam the streets of Statia!!!
Our first stop was the fort on the sea front with its canons still intact pointing out to sea as if warning Jack Sparrow and its team to be careful.
On speaking withy the locals we got to know that this little paradise used to be a haven for the pirates of yore and the population were descendants of the lot that used to come here to hide frm the patrol ships....my mind immediately wandered of to THE BLACK PEARL and its crew stopping here and dividing its wealth...the women n dancing and then a thought struck me and left me dumbfound...was Senor Gags Pauls ancestors a aprt of the notorious pirates???
A SIKH PIRATE OF THE CARRIBEAN???
Made me rather proud!!!!
Dilly Dallying and with a stomach full of beer and some of the most amazing sea food we decided to divide.
The less adventurous lot thought it a good time to head back to the safety of the INAGO whilst three of us daring youngsters decided to check out the night life of this pirates haven!!!!
what happened next is beyond belief and i guess you would just have to read further in my next blog to find out...
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE...but then in my case i guess i have never been brave!!!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM!!!!!

The intentions were clean and we were sailors in a pirates haven with the pretty bar girls in a mystical carribean island so what do we do...decide to get shown to the next whiskey bar!!!!
We asked one of the local women n she told us about this restaurant which turned into an open air club n where all the locals and tourists went to and on asking how to get there she said very simply just ask anyone and give them 5 usd n they will drop you!!!!
I wish it had been that simple.....but what were we...papooses in a strange land!!!!
In the sidereal zone of time...we finally found a decent soul who agreed to drop us to our destination for the 5 usd offered....
By the way our conversation went as such

ME: hey mate can you drop us to the PHOENIX BAR??
MAN:Ik spreek geen Engels(n he nodded his head)
ME:leetle leetle speak Engels??
MAN:yes yes(n he nodded with a fervour which made me think he understood everything)
ME:PHOENIX BAR go 5 USD
MAN:yes yes(n he kept staring at us
ME:car(signalling a steering wheel)
MAN:yes yes

n he disappeared like lightening leaving us standing!!!

N it began to rain...our hopes drenched as much as we were!!!!!!
But there is a god!!!
Very soon our man returned in a red coloured covertible and gestured us to get in...we were in luck!!!!
N promptly he drove us to the PHOENIX BAR!!!
We paid him his 5 USD n he gestured again to us saying he would wait for us n take us back to for another 5 USD!!!
WE HAD OURSELVES A MAN FRIDAY :-D

By the way a phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again and i could totally relate to know why our place was called THE PHOENIX BAR!!!


The bar was in all the majestic colours of the phoenix and every table had a small bonfire next to it and fresh meat and vegetables roasting and the most amazing women dancing to a live band going from table to table serving liquor...this was heaven..the moment a glass got over the lady came like fire and a new one was reborn!!!

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Not getting carried away...the women were just good business ladies and made sure they emptied their customers pockets but who cared...we were having a blast!!!
A few kilos of meat and a coupla bottles of liquor down we decided to call it a night and head back on the dinghy to what we called home...THE INAGO!!!

In our free spiritted way and with a tummy full of meat n liquor and a heart full of love we headed out and surely did find our little man in his red convertible waiting!!
This island was truly paradise if there was a paradise on earth...
with difficulty but determination we got ourselves into the car...n the little man started driving!!!
A perfect end to a perfect day...
a good wine is one which starts and ends with a smile and i guess we had gotten our share...

Singing to our hearts content we headed to the jetty through the dark streets of Statia...

As we plummetted the streets suddenly the car screeched and stopped!!!
Ahead there stood a tree trunk...oops a man easily 7 feet tall and four feet wide with an axe in his hand....the little man was trembling and screaming LOPEN LOPEN!!!
I guessed that meant run..cause he opened the door and sprinted...greased lightening!!!
and we sat there watching that tree trunk closing in...

lol
enough for today...i guess we need to sign in again to find out more on gullivers travels
:)
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind....but we were not kites!!!
#####################################################################################


"A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind....but we were not kites!!!"


As the giant closed in all 3 of us got out of the car in a speed not definable and ran in different directions...luckily sane enough not to run in his!!!
The big man stood outside for a bit shouting and cursing then sat in his dinky car and drove away!!!
Was this the way god had made man to be???
Survival of the fittest....born with gods curse on you if you were tiny????
What kind of a place were we in...uncivilised and scary where 7 ft tall men with axes still ruled!!!!!!
Five minutes later we regrouped at the spot where our chariot had stood a little while back to re assess our situation and figure out what we needed to do...all the alcohol n love THE PHOENIX BAR had provided gradually seeping out turning into dreary despair...

A decision was reached and we decided to exit the venus fly trap as soon as possible!!!!


The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value.

The plant's common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love!!!!!

But the strange notion of being in a trap...you are in it and there is no way of getting out!!!!!

We trudged our way in the slush,drenched to the skin to the jetty to find it dimly lit and the dinghy gone!!!!
Too tired to even think we lay down in a shed and crashed into never land seeing the lights of THE INAGO out at anchor....too distant for us to reach !!!!
It was 4 A.M. and Gulliver had finally got a resting ground!!!!!!
Slumber land is a beautiful place...you dream of your fantasies and you can be king...but that night all i dreamt about was THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and the seven feet tall gigantic man with his axe!!!

On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings.

But that is not how our little escapade on this island had turned out to be...we awoke with a leaking roof,drenched to the core...the sun beating down on us in all its equatorial glory and the taste of freshly baked earth in our mouth!!!
Paradise we were in...rejuvenated and wanting to put the previous night behind us we decided to find the quay keeper and the wherabouts of our ride to THE INAGO!!!

A SHRIVELLED MAN..BEATEN BY THE SUN AND THE WIND AND TIME...we found jose..the quay keeper!!!
He saw us...we stared at him..n thank god for small mercies he spoke English.

JOSE: goodmorning gentleman!! hope you slept well!!!

Idiot that this man seemed like...what did he think????

ME: aye aye captain...where is our dinghy??
JOSE: the dinghy has been sent back and no one is allowed to enter or leave the island!! we had a heinous crime on it last night...your presence is required at the police station!!!!

Thoughts of the 7 feet tall man slicing down a dozen with his axe and having caught our MAN FRIDAY came running to my mind and we had witnessed his wrath..decision time!!!

ME:sure...how do we get there???
JOSE:just ask anyone the way and give him 5 USD and he will get you there!!!

NOT AGAIN!!!!

ME:can we walk it down??
JOSE:yes you can but its a ten minute walk
ME:point us in the direction

AND HE POINTED TO A STREET...

Ten minutes later we were standing at the police station which could have passed off as a little tavern..a cute lil red room with a yellow cell n comfy beds and a tv and a fridge!!
It seemed like heaven after the night in the wharf!!!
The SHERRIF was sitting there feeling rather good about himself and thank god again he spoke english!!!
SHERRIF: hello
ME: hello
SHERRIF: I heard you stole lil johns car last night???

Lil John...wasn't that Robin Hoods aide...was Robin Hood also a pirate and his merry men sailors???

ME: lil john???
SHERRIF: the red convertible

We were dumbfounded!!! Lil John was the lil mans name...the giant had stolen his car and murdered him and we were the culprits!!!!

SHERRIF: you are under arrest!!! we have not had a crime here in the last 23 years and now in my session we have one!!!!
ME: sir,we never stole any car...there was this big man with an axe who stopped us and the person whose car it was ran away and so did we...thats all we know.
SHERRIF: that BIG MAN WITH AN AXE is Lil John!!!!!!

Saying that he stomped out leaving us totally bewildered in a police station that looked out of the Noddy comics!!!!

what happened next is another story but I guess i need to head to the gym....so tonight it is!!!!
AN EMPTY MIND IS A DEVILS WORKSHOP...n at that time HOT STUFF would have looked like an angel in front of us!!!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


The only thought crossing our head was as to who the man was who had got us the red convertible...our MAN FRIDAY!!!!!!!

N WHAT LIL JOHN WAS GOING TO DO TO US!!!
N WORSE STILL....WHAT THE CAPTAIN WOULD DO TO US ONCE WE GOT BACK ONBOARD...N WHAT IF WE DIDNT???
My head totally hurt with the permutations and combinations of what could happen....a strange phenomenon it is but its a fact that the smallest of things can have the most drastic effect on our lives...a left instead of a right...THE PHOENIX BAR instead of THE INAGO...LIL JOHN being the owner of the car rather than MAN FRIDAY...taking a ride in a red convertible rather than plain n simple walking :-(

life has its own ways as does destiny of making us reach places.

Anyhows we sat their in despair waiting and after what seemed like the longest 45 minutes the SHERRIF reappeared with the district attorney...WONDER HOW THEY EVEN HAD A DISTRICT ATTORNEY OR A DISTRICT FOR THAT MATTER...the whole island was 13 km in diameter!!!
BUT ANYHOW IT WAS A DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND A MAN WHO FELT RATHER IMPORTANT ABOUT HIMSELF!!!!

DA:so these are the criminals
SHERRIF:yes
ME:criminals??
DA:they look like street un's n smelly !!! Have them wash up....

what did he expect after a night in the shack n no bath...did he not notice that i was wearing Armani Jeans and a Ralph Lauren shirt...duh!!!!!!

But anyhow thanks to that little confrontation,we were shown into the cell...paradise with a beautiful little water closet!!!
Hot water did the trick and we came out after a bit looking a little more like the officers of THE INAGO...THE QUEEN OF THE CARRIBEAN!!!
Cleaner we were...n the DA decided to question us!!!

I narrated the whole tale to him and as to how our MAN FRIDAY had got us the red convertible!!!
he looked at us in disbelief and that day I realised something...YOU ARE NEVER A CROOK UNLESS YOU ARE CAUGHT CROOKING...
MAN FRIDAY had gotten away n we were stuck!!!
N to top it all...in a 12th century Pirates Haven...maybe that might work in our favour...was the only prayer I had in my head!!!!
After a bit of discussion between themselves...the SHERRIF told us that Lil John would be back in the evening and we would have a meeting then...till that time we were under arrest.
THE BEGINNING OF A CAREER...MY FIRST DAY IN PRISON!!!
I was officially a thief now...so might as well behave like a rogue!!!
I opened my mouth wide and squeaked out....food!!
The 2 consulted each other again...n then told us that we could go out and eat as they never had had a prisoner n no facility for food...also that we could stay out till 5 pm..cause thats when Lil John returned!!!
To be honest they were just worried that we dirty delinquents were dirtying their prison!!!
So with a heavy heart n still eyeing the cell n its neatly laid out beds we left the jail...only to see the most beautiful sight in our lives...but that comes in a bit!!!

A lil more confidence now cause these memories have reminded me of an alternate career option....
:-/

GULLIVER OH GULLIVER...WHERE ART THOU????

GULLIVERS TRAVELS CONTINUED

A compass to guide you...the stars in the sky...the great bear pointing north and the cool sea breeze!!!

Gullivers travels by Jonathan Swift!!!

People remember Capt Jack Sparrow but whatever happened to the original??
We were brought up on Robinson Crusoe...and his ship wreck...The Kon Tiki voyage...the crossing of the pacific on a raft...and these tales i guess have lasted in our memories gradually fading as we are ourselves...being replaced by the newer versions...Pirates of the Carribean,not that i havent watched the series with the same fervour!!!!

I remember one of my travels to this little volcanic island in the Carribean...a part of the Netherland Antilles!!!
ST EUSTATIUS!!!

An island with a population of 800 ppl when i visited it in 2002 and a sikh family running the only general store,living upto the tradition of being enterprising,it was a quiet paradise!!!!

I still remember we had sailed from the English channel during the winter season when the atlantic is at its roughest best but our ship being one of the largest to cross the atlantic and still so small in front of natures fury and after 9 days of sailing the INAGO arrived at its destination in the evening....and what a sight awaited us..frozen in my memory forever!!!
From a distance we could see the sillhouette of the volcano and the sun setting behind it,a reddish sky and the clear blue sea where you could see 300 feet down,the winds blowing at 40 knotts and the waves rolling the ship like a large cradle with its little babies onboard!!!
As we let go anchor the first thought in my mind was to swim ashore to this little quiet paradise island and follow suit the sikh mans example...open a grocery store...competition amongst brothers was not a fair idea!!!
the only thing the whole bay was full of was sailing boats and tiny speed boats as the seaway was the only highway to this paradise.
We finally manoeuvered and after anchoring I rushed to the mate to get his permission to go ashore...n granted it was!!!!
we lowered our little dinghy and the lucky seven along with the capt and the mates wife ventured ashore!!!!!
N what an experience....
Our first stop,call it patriotism,was the general store...where we picked up our cases of beer and having downed them we decided to roam the streets of Statia!!!
Our first stop was the fort on the sea front with its canons still intact pointing out to sea as if warning Jack Sparrow and its team to be careful.
On speaking withy the locals we got to know that this little paradise used to be a haven for the pirates of yore and the population were descendants of the lot that used to come here to hide frm the patrol ships....my mind immediately wandered of to THE BLACK PEARL and its crew stopping here and dividing its wealth...the women n dancing and then a thought struck me and left me dumbfound...was Senor Gags Pauls ancestors a aprt of the notorious pirates???
A SIKH PIRATE OF THE CARRIBEAN???
Made me rather proud!!!!
Dilly Dallying and with a stomach full of beer and some of the most amazing sea food we decided to divide.
The less adventurous lot thought it a good time to head back to the safety of the INAGO whilst three of us daring youngsters decided to check out the night life of this pirates haven!!!!
what happened next is beyond belief and i guess you would just have to read further in my next blog to find out...
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE...but then in my case i guess i have never been brave!!!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM!!!!!

The intentions were clean and we were sailors in a pirates haven with the pretty bar girls in a mystical carribean island so what do we do...decide to get shown to the next whiskey bar!!!!
We asked one of the local women n she told us about this restaurant which turned into an open air club n where all the locals and tourists went to and on asking how to get there she said very simply just ask anyone and give them 5 usd n they will drop you!!!!
I wish it had been that simple.....but what were we...papooses in a strange land!!!!
In the sidereal zone of time...we finally found a decent soul who agreed to drop us to our destination for the 5 usd offered....
By the way our conversation went as such

ME: hey mate can you drop us to the PHOENIX BAR??
MAN:Ik spreek geen Engels(n he nodded his head)
ME:leetle leetle speak Engels??
MAN:yes yes(n he nodded with a fervour which made me think he understood everything)
ME:PHOENIX BAR go 5 USD
MAN:yes yes(n he kept staring at us
ME:car(signalling a steering wheel)
MAN:yes yes

n he disappeared like lightening leaving us standing!!!

N it began to rain...our hopes drenched as much as we were!!!!!!
But there is a god!!!
Very soon our man returned in a red coloured covertible and gestured us to get in...we were in luck!!!!
N promptly he drove us to the PHOENIX BAR!!!
We paid him his 5 USD n he gestured again to us saying he would wait for us n take us back to for another 5 USD!!!
WE HAD OURSELVES A MAN FRIDAY :-D

By the way a phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again and i could totally relate to know why our place was called THE PHOENIX BAR!!!


The bar was in all the majestic colours of the phoenix and every table had a small bonfire next to it and fresh meat and vegetables roasting and the most amazing women dancing to a live band going from table to table serving liquor...this was heaven..the moment a glass got over the lady came like fire and a new one was reborn!!!

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Not getting carried away...the women were just good business ladies and made sure they emptied their customers pockets but who cared...we were having a blast!!!
A few kilos of meat and a coupla bottles of liquor down we decided to call it a night and head back on the dinghy to what we called home...THE INAGO!!!

In our free spiritted way and with a tummy full of meat n liquor and a heart full of love we headed out and surely did find our little man in his red convertible waiting!!
This island was truly paradise if there was a paradise on earth...
with difficulty but determination we got ourselves into the car...n the little man started driving!!!
A perfect end to a perfect day...
a good wine is one which starts and ends with a smile and i guess we had gotten our share...

Singing to our hearts content we headed to the jetty through the dark streets of Statia...

As we plummetted the streets suddenly the car screeched and stopped!!!
Ahead there stood a tree trunk...oops a man easily 7 feet tall and four feet wide with an axe in his hand....the little man was trembling and screaming LOPEN LOPEN!!!
I guessed that meant run..cause he opened the door and sprinted...greased lightening!!!
and we sat there watching that tree trunk closing in...

lol
enough for today...i guess we need to sign in again to find out more on gullivers travels
:)
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind....but we were not kites!!!
#####################################################################################


"A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind....but we were not kites!!!"


As the giant closed in all 3 of us got out of the car in a speed not definable and ran in different directions...luckily sane enough not to run in his!!!
The big man stood outside for a bit shouting and cursing then sat in his dinky car and drove away!!!
Was this the way god had made man to be???
Survival of the fittest....born with gods curse on you if you were tiny????
What kind of a place were we in...uncivilised and scary where 7 ft tall men with axes still ruled!!!!!!
Five minutes later we regrouped at the spot where our chariot had stood a little while back to re assess our situation and figure out what we needed to do...all the alcohol n love THE PHOENIX BAR had provided gradually seeping out turning into dreary despair...

A decision was reached and we decided to exit the venus fly trap as soon as possible!!!!


The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value.

The plant's common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love!!!!!

But the strange notion of being in a trap...you are in it and there is no way of getting out!!!!!

We trudged our way in the slush,drenched to the skin to the jetty to find it dimly lit and the dinghy gone!!!!
Too tired to even think we lay down in a shed and crashed into never land seeing the lights of THE INAGO out at anchor....too distant for us to reach !!!!
It was 4 A.M. and Gulliver had finally got a resting ground!!!!!!
Slumber land is a beautiful place...you dream of your fantasies and you can be king...but that night all i dreamt about was THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and the seven feet tall gigantic man with his axe!!!

On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings.

But that is not how our little escapade on this island had turned out to be...we awoke with a leaking roof,drenched to the core...the sun beating down on us in all its equatorial glory and the taste of freshly baked earth in our mouth!!!
Paradise we were in...rejuvenated and wanting to put the previous night behind us we decided to find the quay keeper and the wherabouts of our ride to THE INAGO!!!

A SHRIVELLED MAN..BEATEN BY THE SUN AND THE WIND AND TIME...we found jose..the quay keeper!!!
He saw us...we stared at him..n thank god for small mercies he spoke English.

JOSE: goodmorning gentleman!! hope you slept well!!!

Idiot that this man seemed like...what did he think????

ME: aye aye captain...where is our dinghy??
JOSE: the dinghy has been sent back and no one is allowed to enter or leave the island!! we had a heinous crime on it last night...your presence is required at the police station!!!!

Thoughts of the 7 feet tall man slicing down a dozen with his axe and having caught our MAN FRIDAY came running to my mind and we had witnessed his wrath..decision time!!!

ME:sure...how do we get there???
JOSE:just ask anyone the way and give him 5 USD and he will get you there!!!

NOT AGAIN!!!!

ME:can we walk it down??
JOSE:yes you can but its a ten minute walk
ME:point us in the direction

AND HE POINTED TO A STREET...

Ten minutes later we were standing at the police station which could have passed off as a little tavern..a cute lil red room with a yellow cell n comfy beds and a tv and a fridge!!
It seemed like heaven after the night in the wharf!!!
The SHERRIF was sitting there feeling rather good about himself and thank god again he spoke english!!!
SHERRIF: hello
ME: hello
SHERRIF: I heard you stole lil johns car last night???

Lil John...wasn't that Robin Hoods aide...was Robin Hood also a pirate and his merry men sailors???

ME: lil john???
SHERRIF: the red convertible

We were dumbfounded!!! Lil John was the lil mans name...the giant had stolen his car and murdered him and we were the culprits!!!!

SHERRIF: you are under arrest!!! we have not had a crime here in the last 23 years and now in my session we have one!!!!
ME: sir,we never stole any car...there was this big man with an axe who stopped us and the person whose car it was ran away and so did we...thats all we know.
SHERRIF: that BIG MAN WITH AN AXE is Lil John!!!!!!

Saying that he stomped out leaving us totally bewildered in a police station that looked out of the Noddy comics!!!!

what happened next is another story but I guess i need to head to the gym....so tonight it is!!!!
AN EMPTY MIND IS A DEVILS WORKSHOP...n at that time HOT STUFF would have looked like an angel in front of us!!!!

GULLIVERS TRAVELS CONTINUED

A compass to guide you...the stars in the sky...the great bear pointing north and the cool sea breeze!!!

Gullivers travels by Jonathan Swift!!!

People remember Capt Jack Sparrow but whatever happened to the original??
We were brought up on Robinson Crusoe...and his ship wreck...The Kon Tiki voyage...the crossing of the pacific on a raft...and these tales i guess have lasted in our memories gradually fading as we are ourselves...being replaced by the newer versions...Pirates of the Carribean,not that i havent watched the series with the same fervour!!!!

I remember one of my travels to this little volcanic island in the Carribean...a part of the Netherland Antilles!!!
ST EUSTATIUS!!!

An island with a population of 800 ppl when i visited it in 2002 and a sikh family running the only general store,living upto the tradition of being enterprising,it was a quiet paradise!!!!

I still remember we had sailed from the English channel during the winter season when the atlantic is at its roughest best but our ship being one of the largest to cross the atlantic and still so small in front of natures fury and after 9 days of sailing the INAGO arrived at its destination in the evening....and what a sight awaited us..frozen in my memory forever!!!
From a distance we could see the sillhouette of the volcano and the sun setting behind it,a reddish sky and the clear blue sea where you could see 300 feet down,the winds blowing at 40 knotts and the waves rolling the ship like a large cradle with its little babies onboard!!!
As we let go anchor the first thought in my mind was to swim ashore to this little quiet paradise island and follow suit the sikh mans example...open a grocery store...competition amongst brothers was not a fair idea!!!
the only thing the whole bay was full of was sailing boats and tiny speed boats as the seaway was the only highway to this paradise.
We finally manoeuvered and after anchoring I rushed to the mate to get his permission to go ashore...n granted it was!!!!
we lowered our little dinghy and the lucky seven along with the capt and the mates wife ventured ashore!!!!!
N what an experience....
Our first stop,call it patriotism,was the general store...where we picked up our cases of beer and having downed them we decided to roam the streets of Statia!!!
Our first stop was the fort on the sea front with its canons still intact pointing out to sea as if warning Jack Sparrow and its team to be careful.
On speaking withy the locals we got to know that this little paradise used to be a haven for the pirates of yore and the population were descendants of the lot that used to come here to hide frm the patrol ships....my mind immediately wandered of to THE BLACK PEARL and its crew stopping here and dividing its wealth...the women n dancing and then a thought struck me and left me dumbfound...was Senor Gags Pauls ancestors a aprt of the notorious pirates???
A SIKH PIRATE OF THE CARRIBEAN???
Made me rather proud!!!!
Dilly Dallying and with a stomach full of beer and some of the most amazing sea food we decided to divide.
The less adventurous lot thought it a good time to head back to the safety of the INAGO whilst three of us daring youngsters decided to check out the night life of this pirates haven!!!!
what happened next is beyond belief and i guess you would just have to read further in my next blog to find out...
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE...but then in my case i guess i have never been brave!!!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM!!!!!

The intentions were clean and we were sailors in a pirates haven with the pretty bar girls in a mystical carribean island so what do we do...decide to get shown to the next whiskey bar!!!!
We asked one of the local women n she told us about this restaurant which turned into an open air club n where all the locals and tourists went to and on asking how to get there she said very simply just ask anyone and give them 5 usd n they will drop you!!!!
I wish it had been that simple.....but what were we...papooses in a strange land!!!!
In the sidereal zone of time...we finally found a decent soul who agreed to drop us to our destination for the 5 usd offered....
By the way our conversation went as such

ME: hey mate can you drop us to the PHOENIX BAR??
MAN:Ik spreek geen Engels(n he nodded his head)
ME:leetle leetle speak Engels??
MAN:yes yes(n he nodded with a fervour which made me think he understood everything)
ME:PHOENIX BAR go 5 USD
MAN:yes yes(n he kept staring at us
ME:car(signalling a steering wheel)
MAN:yes yes

n he disappeared like lightening leaving us standing!!!

N it began to rain...our hopes drenched as much as we were!!!!!!
But there is a god!!!
Very soon our man returned in a red coloured covertible and gestured us to get in...we were in luck!!!!
N promptly he drove us to the PHOENIX BAR!!!
We paid him his 5 USD n he gestured again to us saying he would wait for us n take us back to for another 5 USD!!!
WE HAD OURSELVES A MAN FRIDAY :-D

By the way a phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again and i could totally relate to know why our place was called THE PHOENIX BAR!!!


The bar was in all the majestic colours of the phoenix and every table had a small bonfire next to it and fresh meat and vegetables roasting and the most amazing women dancing to a live band going from table to table serving liquor...this was heaven..the moment a glass got over the lady came like fire and a new one was reborn!!!

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Not getting carried away...the women were just good business ladies and made sure they emptied their customers pockets but who cared...we were having a blast!!!
A few kilos of meat and a coupla bottles of liquor down we decided to call it a night and head back on the dinghy to what we called home...THE INAGO!!!

In our free spiritted way and with a tummy full of meat n liquor and a heart full of love we headed out and surely did find our little man in his red convertible waiting!!
This island was truly paradise if there was a paradise on earth...
with difficulty but determination we got ourselves into the car...n the little man started driving!!!
A perfect end to a perfect day...
a good wine is one which starts and ends with a smile and i guess we had gotten our share...

Singing to our hearts content we headed to the jetty through the dark streets of Statia...

As we plummetted the streets suddenly the car screeched and stopped!!!
Ahead there stood a tree trunk...oops a man easily 7 feet tall and four feet wide with an axe in his hand....the little man was trembling and screaming LOPEN LOPEN!!!
I guessed that meant run..cause he opened the door and sprinted...greased lightening!!!
and we sat there watching that tree trunk closing in...

lol
enough for today...i guess we need to sign in again to find out more on gullivers travels
:)
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind....but we were not kites!!!

GULLIVERS TRAVELS

A compass to guide you...the stars in the sky...the great bear pointing north and the cool sea breeze!!!

Gullivers travels by Jonathan Swift!!!

People remember Capt Jack Sparrow but whatever happened to the original??
We were brought up on Robinson Crusoe...and his ship wreck...The Kon Tiki voyage...the crossing of the pacific on a raft...and these tales i guess have lasted in our memories gradually fading as we are ourselves...being replaced by the newer versions...Pirates of the Carribean,not that i havent watched the series with the same fervour!!!!

I remember one of my travels to this little volcanic island in the Carribean...a part of the Netherland Antilles!!!
ST EUSTATIUS!!!

An island with a population of 800 ppl when i visited it in 2002 and a sikh family running the only general store,living upto the tradition of being enterprising,it was a quiet paradise!!!!

I still remember we had sailed from the English channel during the winter season when the atlantic is at its roughest best but our ship being one of the largest to cross the atlantic and still so small in front of natures fury and after 9 days of sailing the INAGO arrived at its destination in the evening....and what a sight awaited us..frozen in my memory forever!!!
From a distance we could see the sillhouette of the volcano and the sun setting behind it,a reddish sky and the clear blue sea where you could see 300 feet down,the winds blowing at 40 knotts and the waves rolling the ship like a large cradle with its little babies onboard!!!
As we let go anchor the first thought in my mind was to swim ashore to this little quiet paradise island and follow suit the sikh mans example...open a grocery store...competition amongst brothers was not a fair idea!!!
the only thing the whole bay was full of was sailing boats and tiny speed boats as the seaway was the only highway to this paradise.
We finally manoeuvered and after anchoring I rushed to the mate to get his permission to go ashore...n granted it was!!!!
we lowered our little dinghy and the lucky seven along with the capt and the mates wife ventured ashore!!!!!
N what an experience....
Our first stop,call it patriotism,was the general store...where we picked up our cases of beer and having downed them we decided to roam the streets of Statia!!!
Our first stop was the fort on the sea front with its canons still intact pointing out to sea as if warning Jack Sparrow and its team to be careful.
On speaking withy the locals we got to know that this little paradise used to be a haven for the pirates of yore and the population were descendants of the lot that used to come here to hide frm the patrol ships....my mind immediately wandered of to THE BLACK PEARL and its crew stopping here and dividing its wealth...the women n dancing and then a thought struck me and left me dumbfound...was Senor Gags Pauls ancestors a aprt of the notorious pirates???
A SIKH PIRATE OF THE CARRIBEAN???
Made me rather proud!!!!
Dilly Dallying and with a stomach full of beer and some of the most amazing sea food we decided to divide.
The less adventurous lot thought it a good time to head back to the safety of the INAGO whilst three of us daring youngsters decided to check out the night life of this pirates haven!!!!
what happened next is beyond belief and i guess you would just have to read further in my next blog to find out...
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE...but then in my case i guess i have never been brave!!!!!

STUPIDITY OF A WAVERING N DRUNKEN MIND!!!!

“I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid”


Education...I have had negligible but dont relate that to me being stupid...the stupidity came as a gods gift to me!!!
AND THANK YOU ALMIGHTY!!!

Thank you for making me stupid enough to never realise peoples agendas!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough to never realise the games people play!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough to never see what shallow gains people want from me!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that people at times only have used me!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that if a man hurts n no one tries to help cause of humanity its not what we are meant to be!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that if an old lady needs to cross the road there is never anyone to help!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that a friend in need is a friend indeed!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that life will carry on even if i am not around!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that a wine was a grape once growing on a tree!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that life has its own ways of constructing and destructing!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see the life people live on the pretext of being happy!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see that people dont even have the guts to say they care when they do!!!
Thank you for making me stupid enough never to see the hurt one feels on losing someone they actually cared about!!!
YOU HAVE ONE LIFE...THANK YOU GOD FOR EACH PASSING MOMENT WHEN I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE IN MY HEART AND ANOTHER THING I AM DISPLAYING AND NEVER ANOTHER CHANCE TO SAY IT!!!

“I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid”
PLEASE!!!!!!

valley of death

1.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.


2.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.


3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.


4.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.


5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.


6.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

Robin Hood

"Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions."


Was sitting at home today recuperating after yesterdays binge drinking with big plans of calling it an early night when a so called friend in need took the liberty of asking me for a bit of my company and being the magnanimous soul I am,I decided to bless her with some.
What do we do...drive all the way to Ambience Mall n decide to see Robin Hood(not the prince of thieves)but a more real version than a romanticised Kevin Costener saga.
Introspecting rather than judging,i leave that to the critics,it was a movie worth a watch basically stressing on how moments make a man and lead to occurences n events.
Made on the lines of Braveheart,it kind off got me thinking as to the nature of men...jealousies...leadership...honesty...commitment...loyalties...n lack of them!!!



"If its illegal for a man to fend for himself, how can he be a man of his own right?"

A little barbaric and carnivorous but it took me back to memories of school!!!
I guess every lion wants to rule the jungle and often fights other prides to show his supremacy!!!
I was in class 12D(DPS) n rather notorious for being a lady's man and someone who never said no to a brawl!! Had this one particular feline who had her paws and green eyes on me,and though this lion had his pride full the idea of another was appeasing.
Now there was this other lion(as luck would have it his name even ended with a SINGH)who had feelings for this cat and rather jealous of what she had for me.
Anyhows,lets get real,this man would always be talking about me and bragging as to how he was a black belt and could take me on...this girl came upto me one break time and said that he would keep doing this and she dint like it...so i told her to tell him that he could have a fight anytime he wanted...duh...I had just fractured my knuckles cause i socked someone...n can you believe it....nothing happened to him!!!

Anyhow i guess it was a very planned move,still trying to figure out if it was on her part,but ten minutes later i get an envoy saying that the fight had been scheduled for the recess in the basket ball courts!!!!!
I was 6 ft 3 in tall,still am,n thought my one hand was enough to take him on...and i had just watched mr travolta in "grease" n nothing mattered besides being cool......
recess time it was!!!!
I quickly rounded up all my aides and started planning as how to oust the sherrif of nottingham!!!
by the way our gang in school was called the SAINTS...god knows why???
two of my best friends,venky and jerry with me and a bunch of followers we headed for the basket ball court only to find the whole school there and my girlfriend standing and addressing everyone!!! my school had 7000 students and when i say everyone was there i mean it...god knows how!!!!!
Monica walked upto me and took me aside and said that she had told everyone that i had an injured hand so the fight was postponed(thank god) but then the envoy who had come to ask me for the fight walked up and called me chicken n that was it..hand or no hand i had to whip this guys ass!!!! Monica dint seem to find it a good idea!!!

N i got to know why...as i walked the crowd made way for me...I might as well have been Moses and in the middle I see this big burly as tall as me sardar standing and practicing his taekwando...WHAT HAD I GOT MYSELF INTO???
WE SHOOK HANDS..mind you my left cause the right was in plaster and the battle begun.
Both of us circling...looking for an oppurtunity...lady marion loxly n friar tuck standing and crying...lil john ebbing me on..the sherrif had to be beaten!!!
i closed my eyes and let my left arm swing...it got him flat in the face...no effect...he swung one...caught me on my nose(its still crooked)n to top it every time he would swing n even when he wouldnt he would make this loud grunt like a pig n that was scarier!! One more from him and it would have been end of fight..but god helped me and i dont know what came into his head(i think it was god and his taekwando lessons)he decided to show off by knocking me out witha kick...I saw it coming and with all i had caught hold of his leg...never to let it go again...what a sight it was...this big fat sardar hopping on one leg with his other one in my hand and screaming to let it go cause it wasnt fair...but all is fair in love and war..n this had both involved so how could i????
one corner had my girl friend crying and the second this feline looking at us dumbstruck..either ways i decided that letting his leg go was not a good idea...i tugged at it and goliath fell...the tremours could have caused a tsunami had we been even 500 miles from the sea...but luckily we werent.
his leg still in my hands,he writhing on the floor..begging me to let go n then venky walked in...my saviour and said end of fight...robin hood had won!!!
well goliath challenged me many times after that but now i had won..i had the option of saying no...i was the officially declared king of the pride and the jungle...the moment the battle got wom my girlfriend suddenly got her leo spirit back and walked up to the other feline and told her to find another lion or she would have her to answer too...and from that day nobody crossed my path in dps!!!!

"Fate has smiled at us at last. I for one will not turn my back on her."

with that in mind...we made the most of our image...and i still do!!!!!

Here's to
A long life and a merry one
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A happy day and a peaceful one
A cold beer and another one!!!!!!!

DOGS AND CATS

"If suddenly you forget me,dont look for me...
cause I would have forgotten you already..."
+
"ah my love,ah my own
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished and forgotten
my love feeds on your love beloved
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine"

PABLO NERUDA


We have enough and more people in our lives who walk through it making an impact and having us feel that life would come to a standstill minus them but does it ever???
Have you ever dug a hole in loose sand???
The moment you do....and let it free the sand fills it on its own to level.....life has its similar ways of filling voids...
I guess one never stops hurting on losing something precious...just gets accustomed to the loss and the pain...waiting for a replacement...very mechanical but then humans are machines...probably the most complicated!!!
Two kinds of people I know of...
1)the dogs...people who are connected to other people. The kinds that could sit at home or be out clubbing with you cause you are you and they are connected to you!!!!
2)the cats...people who are connected to material objects or incidents. The kinds that would sit at home with you cause they like sitting at home...if it was somebody else,they would still sit at home cause the idea is to sit at home...the person doesnt matter!!!!!

now which of these are good???
now thats the strange part...one is good for the people around them and the second for themselves...
how can one judge???
ha ha!!!

the dogs will always have a hoarde of people around them who matter whilst the cats are the sorts who will move on from a set of people to the other without remorse...as long as they have similar surroundings and their needs met.


People talk about stars and signs and omens that keep a relationship together...I think of it biologically and psychologically....a cat and a dog can never be friends...nothing can culminate out of it in the long run ever.

In his own poetic way I presume Senor'e Pablo here is trying to show a dog trying to cultivate a cats traits but failing miserably....he aint a wizard that with a swoop of his wand he turns the dog into his feline counterpart.
I have enough friends and acquaintances who will come and boast saying that he has a Ferrari n I love him...or she is so beautiful n I love her...but was it another guy with a Ferrari and a Hummer or a pretty girl who was rich as well...either would jump at the oppurtunity with their eyes closed.
Whilst if a dog was to come up to me he or she would say that i Love the guy...lets figure out how we can grow together...
now who's better???
I would still say both cause different things give them happiness....
a couple friend I had would love this one song...everytime they heard it she would go n kiss him...THE EARTH SONG!!!
Strangely they parted ways...and i bumped into her someplace and THE EARTH SONG played and she was with this new guy doing the same thing and happy in the same manner on hearing the song...two weeks after they had broken up after being together for years...i found it strange but she had no memories of him...only the song!!
well she was happy...
I happened to meet the guy again a few months later and MJ was the star again...and this guy turned to me with puffy eyes and said he missed her.
now who is the judge of these two??
she is happy n he is not...

The sad part is cats have nine lives and dogs have one...
Just dont let the dogs go extinct
:-(

Annies Song

You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

I get goose bumps everytime i hear this song...its lyrics.
John Denver...the greatest country singer ever and the deal with him was that he was so basic in everything he wrote and sang....a guitar and a heart full of love for his lady..a pilot by profession he would serenade his sweetheart with a song everytime he went on a flight...lived by it and died in a crash only to become a legend with the songs he serenaded his love with....so connected with nature that nature finally consumed him to bacome a part of its soul forever!!!

I probably have him as my favourite cause I relate to everything he writes and sings about......the simple pleasures of life...and in my varied travels have experienced most of what he has in his travels....
Its the simple pleasures of life that actually get your senses tingling more than any material thing that money can buy.
My maternal family hails from the Tarai Lands of Uttar Pradesh and though now things have changed but I remember my days of yore sitting out in the gardens of our house in the candle light with the forests all around our house and the Ganges flowing a fw miles away...hearing the wind rustle through the trees..the crickets calling...the sound of the river flowing...frogs croaking...the distant whistle of a passing train...the cackling of the flying ducks and if you were lucky a roar...now that was music...music that not even the greatest musician today can create..the inspiration for many a orchestra n maestros...n till you have experienced it you wouldnt know what I am talking about...the silence in between spoke a mile running a chill up your spine!!!
The mountains always have their own charm...specially in spring time... the melting snow...the budding greenery...the distant sun breaking through the chill...a cold body and a warm heart...the reddish blue skies..and a simple word that travels many a mile stuck between the peaks...a distant view...what artists make their paintings on...and how do you say which range is better...have travelled a many and the same thing i wanted in all...a hot cup of coffee and a warm meal...n hours of sitting and enjoying nature at its best.
Its sad how we give up our simple pleasures in our complicated lives.......one of the best feelings i have ever had was in mumbai...a row with the girl i was in love with...a month of not meeting...a meeting...a friend inviting us out to a dinner in a open air area...crazed and an uncomfortable silence between her n me...it starting to rain...she getting up and walking in it...that inviting look on her face...me getting up n reaching her...holding hands and walking...it just was one of the happiest moments in my life....n probably the simplest and cleanest......
a storm in the desert...the majestic authority nature shows over its creations....i remember i was crosssing the suez canal and happened to see a sand storm...it was like gold dust creating its own imagery...shapes and signs...telling its children to enjoy its magnifcence and still warning them against its fury.....
like a sleepy ocean telling its children not to wake it up...the dolphins and the waves...the gulls and the breeze...the pacific and the atlantic...the peaceful and the revengeful...where we arent the top of the food chain and we never will be...where the only fountains we see are the spouts of a lonely whale...where at times you can see the bed and at times where its shrouded...
thats the nature this genius covered in his music laving behind a legacy for all us mortals to cherish and appreciate for the rest of our lives!!!
Dear Mr Denver...you blessed us with your music not just Annie reminding us over and over again where we basically come from and what we need to nurture....


Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your armsLet me lay down beside you
Let me always be with youCome let me love you
Come love me again

Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth.

I guess every man has this dream as a child about defining his life...what he wants to do...his purpose for existance and what he builds for himself.
As a little boy I still remember sitting together with friends and discussing what we wanted to do with our lives..and an interesting bunch we were.
1) I wanna be a police officer and catch thieves and become famous...his mom heard that spanked him and today he is an Investment Banker in THE STATES!!!!
2)I wanna be a Astronaut.....his mom heard that spanked him and told him to be grounded and today he is an Investment Banker in the STATES!!!!
3)I wanna be a doctor so i can see naked girls :-)
His parents were super happy not knowing the reason why and his wish got granted(thank god not another Investment Banker) and today he is a urologist in Max...I dont know how many naked women he saw on his way there..lol!!!

For me...none of these things excited me!!!
I was a movie buff through out and lived in my romanticised world where adventure was the key to life.Being the fickle headed bloke I was each day had me in a different profession depending on what Mr AB was in his movies and I made sure i saw all of them...sadly he was a misfit in most...The Great Gambler,Zanjeer,Don...the list is endless and my friend number one and me would have many a wars in our little dreamland where at times he saved the woman whilst in others she did not want to get saved and ran away with me.
Lucky for me my parents never found out else I would have been an Investment Banker in THE STATES!!!!
ANYWAYS
School got over and I topped...a 39% and my parents disowning me where was I to go??
Landed up in the city of oppurtunity..........Bombay!!!
Read an advertisement in the paper for the Merchant Navy...n my mind said this was it for me!!
I would earn in 6 figures,get to travel the world and anyway SINBAD was my favourite(by the way Namak Halal had just released and there was that song Raat Baaki on a ship) and i would soon be known as Capt Vik...and a girl in every port!!!
Now that was more like it...
I applied...got through(since only 39%ers and similar IQ levels would apply)...got recruited...got trained and on my 18th birthday as a gift from the gods i got my first ship as a cadet...it was more like a big boat,but in my heart i was already captain of the ship with many a adventures planned.We were told in our training that we were CADET OFFICERS enroute to becoming Captains and that we had a certain authority and respect onboard.
I reached the ship which was docked on a small little jetty in Calcutta harbour and sailing to Singapore the next day. It was a dark and weary night and i was tired not used to staying up hours beyond 10 pm..so I reached and asked the Quartermaster to carry my bags up the gangway and show me to my cabin...BIG MISTAKE!!!! He disappeared only to arrive a little later with this big burly unshaven man with a toothpick in his mouth n scratching his ass and looking like he hadnt bathed in a week.
My miniscule brain thought that my stuff was a plenty and the quartermaster only one and he had brought help...so i yelled again and told him to come and take my stuff.
That was my second BIG MISTAKE.
The two of them came to the jetty and picked up my bags and started trotting up the gangway and I followed very proud of myself for my achievement...i was eventually a CADET OFFICER...lil did I know that the burly man was the chief mate and the most dreaded chief mate of the entire fleet...one even th captains stayed away from.
Anyway I was taken to my cabin and like a chicken being fed before the slaughter given a meal...the last supper!!!
Leonardo Da Vinci might as well have painted me.
Sooner than later the QUARTERMASTER was back telling me that the chief mate had called for me.
I put on my uniform and marched down in full flow to the mates cabin...n the moment i entered i knew i was slaughtered.
Saw that darned monster sitting on a sofa...
he turned me around n kicked my butt and from then for 24 hours i was chipping on the deck..no food..no water!!!!
The ship finally sailed and thats when i got my respite and a bit of sleep.
On awaking i walked to the deck..n my eyes and heart were pounding with a sight only seen in your imagination.
The ship had sailed and was transitting the hugli river and there was light rain falling.
A rainbow with the clarity I had never seen before was right ahead of us and on both sides were thick mangrove forests and a flock of gulls was flying next to us...and i walked to the side...river dolphins racing the ship...i was mesmerised...a cool wind blowing and i knew what heaven was...it had been totally worth it.
That was my first day of seeing the world...THE TRAVELS OF CAPT VIK THE SAILOR!!!

LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT THIS QUOTE WOULD SOON TAKE OVER....
"Much has been said of the sun-rise at sea; but it will not compare with the sun-rise on shore. It wants the accompaniments of the songs of birds, the awakening hum of men, and the glancing of the first beams upon trees, hills, spires, and house-tops, to give it life and spirit. But though the actual rise of the sun at sea is not so beautiful, yet nothing will compare with the early breaking of day upon the wide ocean. There is something in the first grey streaks stretching along the eastern horizon and throwing an indistinct light upon the face of the deep, which combines with the boundlessness and unknown depth of the sea around you, and gives one a feeling of loneliness, of dread, and of melancholy foreboding, which nothing else in nature can give. This gradually passes away as the light grows brighter, and when the sun comes up, the ordinary monotonous sea day begins."
N IT DID..........

raindrops kep falling on my head...they keep falling

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.......


Well with the rains on the onset let me go back into time,not far away,but last year to when the monsoons were on their highest fury and nature had flexed it's muscles and brought the great city of Mumbai to its knees...the poles had been reversed....Mumbai had become Venice and without the Gondolas....and the sernaading!!!
People were escaping from the city cause their social life was getting effected and their homes flooded!!!!!!!!
One such person plonked themselves in Delhi at my house saying Mumbai was flooded and she did not know what to do so she decided to bless me with her presence...lol...i wish it would have been for love but at that time i wanted it to be raining forever in Tinsel Town.
And being the lion hearted man...what did i do???
plan a surprise trip to Goa...DUHHHH!!!!
We took off....God had mercy on us...n we landed...God really had mercy on us....what happened in between no words can express or explain...i need a whole life to describe that roller coaster!!!

But when we landed and got our bearings back...i was dumbfounded.
I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life...Greenery and Greenery and a reddish grey sky and a cool breeze on my face...and to top it a false feeling of love in my heart!!!
The first thing that came to my mind was the everlasting song from BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID....
"Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me'
Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me"

I was on top of the world!!! The absolute top....well i wish it had been geogaraphically rather than metaphorically...but ALAS...
ha ha!!!

SUNBATHING TIME
We finally found the sun one day and in a country where the women give FAIR AND LOVELY more business than anywhere in the world,my lady friend decided that she was too fair for this aboriginal country and didnt fit in!!!
what happens next...a few litres of tanning lotion are applied,hands..legs...back and torso smothered and then she decides that if her body is tanned and face white it would look rather funny and despite repeated warnings of repercussions beyond belief and relief she dipped her face into a bucket of lotion and claimed the beach as her hibernating abode...what happened next was history..and it was all my fault and i was to blame for the sun and the lotion and the effect that the sea had...we had a repeat of MEET THE FALKERS!!!!
END OF LIFE...END OF REALITY!!!!!
The rest of the monsoons passed with me not stepping out as she was my guest and if she couldnt,HOW IN HEAVNS GRACE COULD I???

Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.”

And they had...the only thing forgotten in this quote was the TANNING LOTION!!!!!
;-)

tandoori nights

Tanha Tanha hai dil

Tanha Tandori nights...

if loving you is wrong...i dont wanna be right........

he he

n to think you thought i was talking about food here!!!!!!!!!!

well i am...........

I still remember that night when a bunch of us decided to be adventurous and go to Karims in Jama Masjid to check out the food...TANDOORI NIGHT!!!!

And a team we were...lol

there was this 65 year old friend of mine...a man with all that a man can require...money...power..and an attitude to match... a totaly self made super rich exporter who having worked all his life started his adoloscence very recently.He had more energy than all of us put together and made sure he displayed it.

the next entry into the zoo was this friend of mine from the british embassy who could be lured anywhere just by the thought of food....n it totally showed....the coolest babe in the world and a true connoisseur of any kind of food...whether it was gol gappas on the road or butter chicken at the pandara.

and then there was this girl...a head turner...with a tendancy to steal hearts...she had already stolen mine n i guess to break it later but at that point things were different and love was in the air....

And then there was me...the king of the pride...or was it the pride of the king???

still trying to figure that one out....he he!!! but either ways it was me.

well the magnificent 4 set out on the escapade amongst discussions of how we were going to treat ourselves on good tandoori food which was fit enought to be served to kings....

In 1913, Haji Karimuddin had Established the Karim Hotel in Gali Kababian, Jama Masjid, Delhi saying, "I want to earn fame and money by serving the royal food to the common man". Allah has 99 names and Karim is one of them. It is because of this very name, Karim is growing day by day...and with patrons like us who would drive down to it all the way to cherish the delicacies served.

It was a winter evening and all of us headed on MISSION DEVOUR in moods that would have sent the german armies a packing we started the radio in my car.....

oooooooooooooo

what was that???

STILL AND SILENCE IN THE BATTLEFIELD!!!!!!!!!

oooooooooooooo

tak tana tana tandoori nights tandoori nights

was god watching us??

was god unwell????

was this his way of talking to us and telling his four children that life was meant to be enjoyed and cherished rather than wasting over trivial issues.........

ooooooooooooooooo

tak tana tana tana tandoori nights

n then HIMESH RESHAMIYA takes over the vocals

tanha tanha hai dil

tanha tandoori nights

if loving you is wrong

i dont wanna be right

*and we were in splits!!!!*

one cant understand the intensity of the moment but for the four of us it was a moment to remember...i guess deaspite wanting to forget as now all 4 are in different zones it is something that will bind us together forever...

lol

we reached and devoured a raan,butter chicken,barra's...you name it and we ate it..ate till we couldnt even walk..rolled back home but we now had discovered something besides the food...

a code word when we wanted to go eat....TANDOORI NIGHTS!!!!!!!