Stupendously Sublime

My love for wildlife (and it is wildlife, not just tigers) has taken me to some fruitful and other fruitless places. The sum total of my experiences has brought me more joy than anguish and it is certain that this particular passion is not a passing fad. My latest sojourn (and I have many of those) took me to the literal center of India, Nagpur (they have something called center point or zero point, don’t remember which). Diverging from the topic for a minute, my job is absolutely awesome (though a raise won’t hurt) it pays me to roam around India talking to different people and all I have to do is to convince, cajole, prod them to join my organization. It is too good to be true. So, I was in Nagpur and through a gentleman that I had met at a leadership summit I’d heard about this awesome Tiger Reserve/National Park/forest range called Tadoba. He spoke with such passion that I was sold and it remained in the back of my mind. Now, Tadoba is about 160 km from Nagpur and a tough place...

Today after a long time, i had the opportunity to think..to really think about where life has brought me as person, as a son, as a friend and very frankly said, i have had some very romantic ideals; friendship, loyalty being there for my near and dear ones and for a long time i have followed them as well. But, during all this time i have realised again what my cynical self had proclaimed far and loud "everyone will betray you, it's not a matter of 'if' it's a  question of when" and i don't mean in a literal sense that someone will take a knife and stab me in the back. Its a betrayal of expectations, of trust, of promises and it happens with such regularity that it somehow astounds me and  amuses me to no end. As new people enter our lives we learn that there will always be people who will be there to spend our happy times with us and let's face it that we are in the prime of our lives, its all downhill from here folks. We take for granted our bonds...

The sound of silence is deafening, i never used to put up with such cliches but after having felt it so clearly i am a believer. The sound of no sound can madden anyone and many teeter on the precipice of their sanity for a long time without falling either way (madness is like gravity). My dark  brood  into the inner reaches of my  mind  was interrupted by the wind ruffling through the bamboo thickets of Mysore DC and these magnificent plants created an auditory effect that i could not have foreseen/fore heard. The thousands of bamboo leaves (they are not actually leaves, bamboo is grass) rubbed against each other, protested the wind and created an angry voice that could rival the biggest wave crashing into the rocky shore, amazed at this likeness i sat for a moment or an eternity in that storm of white noise  slowly clearing my mind of all its clutter, breathing in the nothingness and breathing out the cloud of doubt that dogs me everyday. For those few glor...

Strange, how things come to me so late at night, here i was enjoying one of the few delights in life: a great movie coming late at night (without breaks) on a weekend when i can watch it in peace and enjoy it like a fine summer wine and a beautiful movie it was, "Finding Forrester" was compelling but my thought was because of something the character of sean connery said in the film. He said, and i'm paraphrasing here, "don't think, write....write from the heart and edit with the brain" something similar that i have read as well is "write drunk, edit sober" (this is usually credited to Ernest Hemmingway, but it is actually the creation of one Peter de Vries) which makes sense or doesn't, i don't know, all i know is that i can't write when am drunk and i hate rework so i don't edit. Thinking or better still not thinking is the key to let your instincts and emotions guide the flow of your pen while you pour yourself out onto the pap...

Today as we were sitting together and wondering how the last year blew by, the finality of the  moment was starting to sink in. In the house that i have started to call home, there will be no longer a long haired pillock, sunk lazily into the bean bag, holding 1 device or the other. There will be no one to say "Ek aur"at 2:30 am at night. There will be no one to run errands, pick people up, score, bring different people into our lives and generally provide interesting stories and events. Today, a brother leaves for home, amidst a change that will be forever with him. Bangalore was what it was, because of him and its gonna be sad without him. But change is good, changing for the better is great, but changing for the better and remembering where you came from is the best. Pranav is a brother to me, usually annoying, at times Nalayak, part encyclopedia of useless knowledge and for whom the company of brothers was more important than girls. Now, before he starts to get a big h...

The thing with titles is that they are ridiculously difficult to justify, or is it just me? I have sat and thought and thought and finally it struck me that I’m at my wit’s end, that I, who is regularly complimented on my literary prowess (though it is mediocre at best (please please please disagree with me and tell me I’m better than average) and insipid at the worst) am at a loss of how to tie 3 divergent stories connected only by 2 threads, Me and Mumbai, HEY! That sounds like a good title…but is a bit broad to cover this particular tryst, so let’s just say that it is Me and Mumbai: Shots So, abstract title done…on to the meat of the bone. Me and Mumbai: Shots The intrepid recruiter (shouldn’t this be the Inept Recruiter??) was on the move, and his first assignment was the land of Maratha pride, Maharashtra. Recruitment aside this was a most tough land to compete in and the availability of good human capital always comes at a premium, a premium I could not afford to pay, ...

As an  intrepid recruiter on the move for  the past month or so I have realised 2 things 1. What 18 hour workdays  mean 2. The beauty India has... Now, I was told when joining that campus recruitment is very tough business and the travel can be  crushing and as is my usual self, i considered these warnings as gross overstatements (STUPID, STUPID), what i really should have understood it as was a massive understatement. I have not seen what my house looks like for the past months in fact my only concern while visiting (I use visiting, and not living) my house is that i have to wash clothes. Now, if we had the numbers of last year i'm sure i would not have seen my house for atleast 3 months and every single event means an 18 hour workday. But, the questions is "Do i hate it or do i love it?" and the unequivocal answer is that i love it...it is hard, it is fast and out of the office... This job has some other perks a...