One’s race track,
never is the race track of another.
Where one takes a right,
another takes left.
Part of the course though,
might be shared.
In this stretch,
a pit-stop for one,
might be the flying stretch for another.
Thinking of it,
the one who flew past,
is due for one ahead.
There sure is a winner.
The one,
who peeps at his rear-view mirror,
to savour the well run race.
There is a loser too.
The one-among-many,
who peeps at his rear-view mirror,
constantly threatened,
of being over-taken.
A loser,
ironically in a game of one,
defeated by himself,
as he was busy watching the race of another,
when he could have enjoyed his.
"L1Fe" may seem a Formula One race,
But never is it a,
"one formula" race.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Perplexed
You often get yourself caught in the weirdest of situations when you least expect it. This happens invariably when you try to be extra-careful and when you measure every letter of the word that you are going to utter.
This happened during my Gokarna trip. I was sitting on a chair, in Kudle Beach, eyes closed, listening to the waves crashing, feeling the moist salty wind and enjoying the weekend away from the hustle-bustle. I heard someone come and sit in the chair next to me. I opened my eyes to see to find this thin-tall-tanned-shirtless-foreigner sitting next to me.
He: Hi, I am Steve.
Me: Oh hi, I am Kripa.
He: (After making funny sounds that sounded like my name).So this your first time here?
Me: Ya. How about you?
He: I have been here twice before.
Me. Whoa! That’s cool! You must really like this place.
He: True. True. It’s very relaxing and the cheapest among all the places that I have been to in India. I frequent here a lot.
Me: By the way which country are you from?
He: New Zealand. I am from a beautiful city called Cairns. Heard of it?
Me: Yes. A friend of mine had been there last year. He showed some wonderful snaps of Cairns.
He: So where are you from?
Me: I am basically from Chennai (he nodded his head in approval, so I did not get into the details), but I work in Bangalore.
At this he said something that I will never forget.
He: (With a frown on his face) So you work for a living?
Me: !@#$%^#$%#$@#$@#$@#$%@%
P.S.: He went on to tell me that he used to work four years ago and that he had decided to stop working and tour the world. He had put all his money into travel. He told me he has finished touring Thailand, India and Europe in the last 3 years. He was back in India en-route to NewZealand. He added that he wanted to meet his family (parents), and go on to tour Japan & China. Steve was planning to find himself a job in China again so that he could build funds for his future trips. I was perplexed alright, but I got the hidden message. There is a whole new world with a whole new perspective out there.
This happened during my Gokarna trip. I was sitting on a chair, in Kudle Beach, eyes closed, listening to the waves crashing, feeling the moist salty wind and enjoying the weekend away from the hustle-bustle. I heard someone come and sit in the chair next to me. I opened my eyes to see to find this thin-tall-tanned-shirtless-foreigner sitting next to me.
He: Hi, I am Steve.
Me: Oh hi, I am Kripa.
He: (After making funny sounds that sounded like my name).So this your first time here?
Me: Ya. How about you?
He: I have been here twice before.
Me. Whoa! That’s cool! You must really like this place.
He: True. True. It’s very relaxing and the cheapest among all the places that I have been to in India. I frequent here a lot.
Me: By the way which country are you from?
He: New Zealand. I am from a beautiful city called Cairns. Heard of it?
Me: Yes. A friend of mine had been there last year. He showed some wonderful snaps of Cairns.
He: So where are you from?
Me: I am basically from Chennai (he nodded his head in approval, so I did not get into the details), but I work in Bangalore.
At this he said something that I will never forget.
He: (With a frown on his face) So you work for a living?
Me: !@#$%^#$%#$@#$@#$@#$%@%
P.S.: He went on to tell me that he used to work four years ago and that he had decided to stop working and tour the world. He had put all his money into travel. He told me he has finished touring Thailand, India and Europe in the last 3 years. He was back in India en-route to NewZealand. He added that he wanted to meet his family (parents), and go on to tour Japan & China. Steve was planning to find himself a job in China again so that he could build funds for his future trips. I was perplexed alright, but I got the hidden message. There is a whole new world with a whole new perspective out there.
Monday, February 27, 2006
e-Beat
It was 0220 Hrs on Sunday morning (or should I say Saturday Night), I was busy reading a book, when I heard the gate to my house open. “At 2:20 am???”, I was curious. So I ran to the door to check out who it was? And outside was this huge more-than-six-feet-tall guy, wearing a monkey cap, and a hat on top. He was wearing a green sweater and was carrying a four feet long rifle on his shoulder. I really cannot recollect what I was thinking then (Was I even thinking??). I just stool still, frozen by that fellow’s stare. He took out a device that looked like a Nokia 2100 phone (I could only see the back of the device) and pointed it to my window. I was curious, scared and am sure my face had gone pale. What was this guy upto?? What was he doing in front of my eyes?? Then he lowered the wool that was covering his mouth and gave me this wide all-teeth-showing smile and said “ebit saab”.
Me: What???
He: Hum rooz ek se che bajhe tak bit marthe haen (Phooof…only then did I realize that this guy was a cop and that his “bit” was actually “beat”…for those who do not understand Hindi, he said he does beats around the area from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.)
During the conversation, he told me that they are a group of 3 constables who cover this area at night and that they do four to five beats. He added that, “out of these five beats one of the beats has to an e-Beat”.
During the eBeat, the cops carry a device (I did not have a camera then, so I could not take a pic of his device), which they call the recorder and which is the size of a mobile phone. All the houses in our area are fitted with this white-plate. In my house this thing is fixed to the window. Have a look at these pics.
That’s my window, and you can see the white plate at the bottom right.
Zoooooom!! Close up view.
When the cop points the mobile-like device on this plate, we hear three beeps and on the third beep a number gets recorded on his instrument. Cool huh!!
The police department is becoming hi-tech. I have heard of e-Mail, e-Business, e-Commerce, e-Ticket, e-Banking…….but "e-Beat", was something really novel. I was very impressed. A really useful idea to monitor and make sure the whole area is covered by these constables. At least we can be sure that they don’t get paid for dozing the night away.
It feels safe when you get to see the cops do such things, especially when you have got yourself a new bike. Hehehe…
Way to go Bangalore Cops!! Way to go!! Hats off to the Karnataka State Police Department.
Me: What???
He: Hum rooz ek se che bajhe tak bit marthe haen (Phooof…only then did I realize that this guy was a cop and that his “bit” was actually “beat”…for those who do not understand Hindi, he said he does beats around the area from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.)
During the conversation, he told me that they are a group of 3 constables who cover this area at night and that they do four to five beats. He added that, “out of these five beats one of the beats has to an e-Beat”.
During the eBeat, the cops carry a device (I did not have a camera then, so I could not take a pic of his device), which they call the recorder and which is the size of a mobile phone. All the houses in our area are fitted with this white-plate. In my house this thing is fixed to the window. Have a look at these pics.
That’s my window, and you can see the white plate at the bottom right.
Zoooooom!! Close up view.
When the cop points the mobile-like device on this plate, we hear three beeps and on the third beep a number gets recorded on his instrument. Cool huh!!
The police department is becoming hi-tech. I have heard of e-Mail, e-Business, e-Commerce, e-Ticket, e-Banking…….but "e-Beat", was something really novel. I was very impressed. A really useful idea to monitor and make sure the whole area is covered by these constables. At least we can be sure that they don’t get paid for dozing the night away.
It feels safe when you get to see the cops do such things, especially when you have got yourself a new bike. Hehehe…
Way to go Bangalore Cops!! Way to go!! Hats off to the Karnataka State Police Department.
Friday, February 24, 2006
LeoMus
It’s been a really long time since my last post. Seasons have passed, without a post. Finally I have decided to wake up from my hibernation. After all its spring time. I have been sprung-up from my winter sleep not by the mere sounds of blossoming flowers, but by the mighty roars of Leomus. Who is Leomus??? Read along...
I feel like kicking myself for not blogging those wonderful weekend-outings, and those wow-incidents. Anyway I will try to put them in when I find time. All said and done, I could not let this big thing go untold. This buy of my life cannot go un-blogged.
In my previous post I had this:
"Someone said "Aim for the stars and you will end up on the tree-top". That’s exactly what happened. I dreamt of getting myself an Enfield Thunderbird, and ended up with a different bird."
Well, if that be the case, I have reached the stars. Yes. I got myself a Royal Enfield’s Thunderbird this Monday, 20th Feb 2006. It’s been dream come true for me, and I have been blowing the trumpet in all directions, with my accelerator.
Have a look at this beauty:
The way she roars to life.
The way she gallops, thundering along. (You should listen to her when I enter the underground parking in office. The whole parking-lot reverberates, and not a single head is left unturned).
The way she cruises along, leaving the city behind. (You actually forget the fact that you are riding on Bangalore roads.)
The way city auto drivers give way after hearing the bullet thuds from behind. (She has the bullet Electra’s silencer. Not to mention she has a horn that is louder than that of a truck)
The way she flies over Bangalore-potholes with ease. (Gas-Shock absorbers)
The feel of controlling a 350 CC engine thundering under your feet.
The feel of cruising at a 100 without a single tremble.
The pride in owning a Royal Enfield.
The confidence & belief that she is capable of taking you anywhere from Kanyakumari to Ladakh.
....It goes on and on.
Those who ride a bike just to get from one place to another will not understand what I am talking about.
She might be 2 ½ years old, but for me this is my first bike. And I doubt if I will ever get over this New-Bike-Syndrome.
Leomus...keep roaring the way you do.
Leomus...but keep me soaring higher and higher.
I feel like kicking myself for not blogging those wonderful weekend-outings, and those wow-incidents. Anyway I will try to put them in when I find time. All said and done, I could not let this big thing go untold. This buy of my life cannot go un-blogged.
In my previous post I had this:
"Someone said "Aim for the stars and you will end up on the tree-top". That’s exactly what happened. I dreamt of getting myself an Enfield Thunderbird, and ended up with a different bird."
Well, if that be the case, I have reached the stars. Yes. I got myself a Royal Enfield’s Thunderbird this Monday, 20th Feb 2006. It’s been dream come true for me, and I have been blowing the trumpet in all directions, with my accelerator.
Have a look at this beauty:
The way she roars to life.
The way she gallops, thundering along. (You should listen to her when I enter the underground parking in office. The whole parking-lot reverberates, and not a single head is left unturned).
The way she cruises along, leaving the city behind. (You actually forget the fact that you are riding on Bangalore roads.)
The way city auto drivers give way after hearing the bullet thuds from behind. (She has the bullet Electra’s silencer. Not to mention she has a horn that is louder than that of a truck)
The way she flies over Bangalore-potholes with ease. (Gas-Shock absorbers)
The feel of controlling a 350 CC engine thundering under your feet.
The feel of cruising at a 100 without a single tremble.
The pride in owning a Royal Enfield.
The confidence & belief that she is capable of taking you anywhere from Kanyakumari to Ladakh.
....It goes on and on.
Those who ride a bike just to get from one place to another will not understand what I am talking about.
She might be 2 ½ years old, but for me this is my first bike. And I doubt if I will ever get over this New-Bike-Syndrome.
Leomus...keep roaring the way you do.
Leomus...but keep me soaring higher and higher.
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