Crash , Bang , Smoke , Water ....All survive!

Twas only up six minutes in the air when the US Airways Flight 1549 (Airbus 320) made a landing in the Hudson.Yes eye witnesses are calling it more a landing than a crash.Witnesses who had no clue as to what was happening were quoted as saying that it almost looked like the pilot knew he would land it there on the Hudson.Reason for this ditch on the Hudson : Two reported bird strikes.Big planes like Airbus 320 or its successor Airbus 380 or the Boeings 747 , 727 can handle running on one engine unless and until something real fatal happens to the aircraft.The craft was on its way from LaGuardia , NY to Charlotte, NC.Given the size of the plane, it could have well glided and could have landed in the New Jersey Teterboro airport being so close in airspace distance.But this plane that should have been flying over Newark from Manhattan to Charlotte couldn't reach that point.It was going down.Going down fast !
Captain in charge : Captain Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger.He was a fighter pilot before he joined US Airways as a commercial pilot.He was an active participant in flight saftey and had started a company for air safety as pilots are taught from day one about emergency landings as they are taught to fly.And such a co-incidence that he should be flying that plane.Everybody is lauding both the pilot and co-pilot as heroes as there was a miraculous escape for all the passengers on board.But experts say that it was a text book landing.When you need to ditch a plane, safest way to ditch is water.That is why the pilots probably chose the Hudson than the nearest airport.
Pitfalls of landing in water : A plane is designed to land on ground.The engine, wings and the landing gear become a bane in water which is otherwise the means to land on ground.The landing gear was not disengaged as it would have caused the airplane to flip and break.The fuesalage,the belly provided the buoyancy of the flight.
The pilot said : Brace for impact and the passengers knew they were going down as they could already see the smoke from the engines.
Well even though experts are calling it a text book landing with all the passengers safe what is the most laudable aspect of the incident is that there was hardly time for the pilots to decide whether to take it onto the next nearest airport(which would have been catastrophic if it landed over a populated stretch) or make a landing on water.Well the decision to land over the Hudson near the midtown area of Manhattan by clearing the Washington Bridge by around 900 ms is not only heroic and laudable but also miraculous by the success of it.
The captains saw to it that the aircraft was empty before they disembarked and another passenger was offered the captain's shirt as the captain feared that he would succumb to hypothermia as his shirt was wet.Well he z still holding onto that shirt.At the end of the flight fiasco, the safe landing had earned its place in aviation history as a study in flight safety and the pilots make us feel that miracles still happen and sometimes you don't even have to look for it.

~A,humbled by the power of life

P.S. : In a quirky indication that the plane actually had good luck, the New York State Lottery said the numbers 1549 -- the flight's designation -- are sold out through next Tuesday night on the Win 4. Wagering on numbers 1549 has been cut off because they've already reached the $5 million cap.

Off the tangent...

Before writing this piece I convinced myself that I am an Aquarian and like a true Aquarian totally capable of imagination and thoughts off the tangent.Well my story today would either merit full points for accurate deduction from Sherlock Holmes or just earn chiding for being so foolishly school girlish when i have crossed the bridge of mid-twenties.There is this cute guy in a social networking site and I have seen his profile more than once 'cause I have already let you know that he is cute.He has this school boyish charm(as all his albums are unlocked,I could get a peek once..well i did peek more than once :-D).Now like the story goes all good girls like the bad boys.And from all my previous crushes, I knew I was (me being the good girl variety) doing it again.He was totally cute,had a bad boy charm,his unlocked albums spoke about his Bohemian lifestyle and amazingly cool was that he was a musician.A real passionate one too.Looked like he had given up his career(almost I am assuming) as a techie just to play music.He played in nyc clubs and he looked totally into it.Since he had posted quite a few pictures I knew his band's name and checked him out in Google.And i did end up with more than one hit.I was gleeful.I knew I could watch a live video of him playing.And so I did !! But..but...Where was the guy ?His name was mentioned in the credits but I couldn't spot him in the 4-man band.Why?Well this is why ?'Coz the man playing the instrument did in noways looked like the cute guy in the albums.What happened? Well he had put on way tooooo much weight.He in no way resembled the guy I was crushing on.He had the cute face but looked quite heavyset now.
So i started imagining why would a band player put on so much weight?Generally they tend to be of the lean variety.Cool and smokin hot.All in one.Playing the Sherlock Holmes I was , curious me made one more stop @ his album.And then I saw a very cosy picture of him with a band of frens.The girl next to him definitely looked like a girl fren than a fren.Something I had overlooked in my rush to a crush.So I started imagining that he must have been totally in love with this girl but his passion for music drew them apart.Her parents must have stopped her (like in all Indian love stories) from being with a guy who was into music so much.He would never keep you happy..He would be away from you most of the time...blah..blahh...And so the poor musician. rocker..whatever u call him was left alone!And being so much in love with this girl it ate him away that he did not have her anymore.He might have rocked away his blues but he could not forget her.He ignored himself to ignore the pain.And he din't care anymore..And the last thing he cared was how smokin hot he looked for the world when his world was not there with him....
Trrinnnggg !
Me : Hi Mom.Wassup? You know what?The guy I was talking to you about..blahh...blahhh....
Mom : That's how you are spending your free time ? Checking out some guy in some networking site ?You think you are sixteen..blaahh ...blaahhh...never ending blahh...blahhh.....

~A,only creative imagination counts..

"SHIRTS"

Come 2009 and i thought i would jazz up my blog a little.Well its not like the idea struck me like a bolt of blue from nowhere but my cousin who visits my blog now and then gave me the idea.She said -Yo sis..Could you make your blog a little snazzy and a lot of other words from the dictionary of cool lingo which i can't exactly remember now !So that made me think of shirts.Something i love and something cool.I have always loved wearing shirts.You can always team up shirts with something as formal as a trouser suit or as casual as a tights.Button up or button down -your choice.Its sexy.I love wearing shirts myself and the on screen diva whom i find crazy cool while carrying off a shirt is Uma Thurman.Shirts should be worn with attitude and probably that's why i like Uma most.Its not about being plump or lean, you carry it off well with your signature style and its gonna definitely sit well on ya.

Pics Courtesy : NY&C , IMDB

~A,A shirt affair....

Curios..

Time wounds all heels..

Solemates..

Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition... :-D

Love is faithless...

Happy co-incidences are a thing of the past...

Man in the moon with a cocaine spoon...Studio 54

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences.Its a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan...Serendipity,2001

Of Broadway & Hollywood...

Last Tuesday I had the most amazing time in life.I had been meaning to go watch a Broadway musical for over a year now and yet it hadn't happened.Being a student, i resort to the philosophy of simple living and high thinking (which of course I do not believe in but my purse is compelled to right now).So that was it.A year of checking out the website and seeing favorite shows play and leave ;I was still not ready to take the plunge.
But now it was that time of the year again-holiday season ! And people do crazy things during the holidays.When Nan came visiting and we decided that since she had come all the way from west coast it dignified a visit to the Broadway.And I was in no way an unwilling participant.Have heard about it from teenage years how big Broadway was and how sometimes hollywood stars did shows too.You get to see real live talent.
Having decided that yes we are finally going to a B'way screening, we were now grappling with the decision of which show ? Chicago ?No.We had already seen the movie.All My Sons ? Naah looks too serious.We wanted to come out happy like we always do in Bollywood multiplexes.And being women,we are especially suckers for sweet happy endings which makes us go Awwwwww !!
So after a lot of researching and reading tons of reviews, we settled on either Mamma Mia or 13.I had seen Mamma Mia the movie and it was quite good. 13 looked fresh , enthusiastic and peppy.A middle school musical in the lines of High School Musical.
I never knew I would do so much research for a show.On Broadway or off Broadway ? Orchestra or Mezzanine seats ? Online booking or shipped tickets ? Your credit card or mine :-) ?
But finally we decided 13 be it.And we were not disappointed.The cast was aged between 12-16 and they were talented , young,fresh and confidence literally oozed out from every dialogue , every song, every dance step.
The lead role Evan was played By Graham Phillips (whom we later clicked in our blurry camera phone).It is about a jewish boy growing up in NYC and how he has to move to a small town in Indiana coz his parents split.He has his Bar Mitzvah' coming up and he wants the cool kids from school to come over to his party.In order to make his way into the group he tries all kinds of tactics which miserbaly fail and how in the end he realises that they are not worth it.He just sticks to his real frens otherwise labelled losers in the middle school fraternity.
We loved every bit of it.It was like young adoloscents bringing sunshine to the stage that night and the show ended with a standing ovation.The stars of the evening came out and we clicked pictures of the talented babies and also realised at 13 we had absolutely no talent nor the knack for anything extraordinary.Wonder if I have any now ? Ahem..Ahem..Moving on.
As soon as we were done , somebody said Katie Holmes was performing next door and Tom Cruise had come to pick her up.We rushed.Now the thing is we women love Tom Cruise and especially Top Gun even if we were infants when it was released.We happen to fall in and outta love with him as a part of growing up.Ask any girl who grew up in the nineties.But now my part of growing up fantasy was here and I had to have a look..And my first celebrity spotting too..Went gaga over him just at his glimpse..My brush with the glitz and the glitteratti...I felt like singing "I am so lucky" with stardust raining over me but i guess that was the B'Way side-effect...
So having notched up double bonuses of B'Way and H'Wood we made our way home like two contented purring cats..My year had just ended with a big bang !

~A, still on cloud 9...

Not so nice girls...

I have it all in my head but i don't know where to begin.Like always.Let's just start by saying that all dawned on me when i started speaking to Zoe the other day.She said you know what babes? Preity is such a nice girl, I am not so nice and she guffawed.Yes, not so nice girls laugh out loud.Maybe we are not the typical version of an expected role model of an Indian girl !! (Gimme a break from them anyday!)...

I was always taught to be independent , fair , humble.And yes I can vouch for that in myself and all the girls' today who are my friends and i actually relate to.We are those who are never sorry for decisions they have taken and do admit to mistakes they have committed.We believe it is a part of growing up.We are the types who wouldn't take anybody for a ride nor try to manipulate people to have their own way.We do it on our own and probably sometimes better than the way others might do it.We believe in thinking for ourselves.We are the types who miserably fail in making the right noises seeing other people's kids maybe because we are not such ardent fans of howling kids !People do not like us because we get competitive.When the competition gets tough , we might just get a little more tougher.And we are definitely not soft-spoken ! We speak our minds and fiercely stand for what we believe in.Submissiveness was not engineered into our genes.

Well whatever I have penned down till now might seem like some really mean people and I happen to be one of them and so are my friends?

But let me tell you about another side of these not so nice girls.
Their friends mean a lot to them.They treasure their friends because they have seen enough of the real bad world around them (and i emphasize on 'enough')to appreciate their friends.
They work hard , they fight fair and they fight square for what they believe they deserve without resorting to feminine charm or wiles.They fall in love yet they can accept a rejection with just another smile and say I will find my own destiny.They are not your typical damsel in distress and never would be.Maybe they won't laugh at your stupid jokes,but when you need cheer on a bleak wintry morning of life they will always be your friend.

So is that being not so nice?

~A,not so nice....

Not so nice girls
...Coming soon.....After sem ends...

~A, raising the curtainraiser..

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle, you see the blue center-light pop, and everybody goes ahh..."
from On the Road

~ Jack Kerouac, A's alter ego ?

My Today

I try my best today
So that it brings a better tomorrow
Because this is the time for the best and not to be pushed off until a tomorrow
Which none has seen.
So I keep tomorrow at the scale of 'better' and the present today at 'best'
I prepare for the worst 'coz that's what the realist in tells me
Yet with the hope that nothing wrong is gonna happen in that enigmatic tomorrow
Foolish I know
But if it was all about reality then how do miracles still happen
The miracle of life , the touch of blessing , Meeting of loving hearts..

~A, garnishing life with reality and hope..

"Independence"...

As we stand at the threshold of 61 years of independence today i am set into thinking what does independence mean to me ? A nation's independence trickles down to each and every citizen of its country.A nation's persona is a part of that country's inhabitants' character.Our great fathers freed us from the oppression of the British.Even though we were not under a slavery regime physically; we were slaves of a suppressed mind.Somebody else made decisions for us.And that according to me is the greatest bondage-to be deprived of.."Independent thinking" ..Independence on this 15th of August means power to independence of thought.The power to being individualistic instead of being passed down blindfolded opinions.If we look back to the recent past even after years of independence we lacked the ability to actually prove that we were independent.Foreign Investors were resisted by politicians till a free market was declared in the early nineties..Paranoia ?..When computers were considered a possibility in the eighties to be brought into the nation, the idea was scoffed at by saying that 50% of the population lived under the poverty line and how would computers remediate that ?..Righteousness?.. But if we look back today just because some visionaries dared to be different then, we are where we are today.Today we claim ourselves one of the most fast paced economy in the world.Why ? The service industry proved to be a boon to the Indian Market.It established the world over what we can be in terms of competency and quality.But while we celebrate this i realize that (independent thinker that i claim to be ..) we are yet to go forward.Traveling opens your minds to other's opinions , their ideas.In my short life till now, meeting many people from different parts of the world, I realize my country's worth.Culturally I hold India in the highest esteem.None has what we have.The strongest fundamentally if you know what to embrace.However let's not blindly glorify what we have' coz we are not free of our demons either.Let's try to annihilate evils like female foeticide, dowries,killing in the name of religion,casteism as our independence greys. That would in actuality signify a strong growing independent country with the largest democracy with high caliber for maturity. Economically I know we are the leaders in service industry, the haven of outsourced labor. But are we just that ?Isn't it time we thought for ourselves to give rise to new ideas rather than to execute some outsourced work from foreign shores. I am not here to write an article on what we lack or to preach .It's my responsibility to do every bit I can for my own country like any other.And when I look around i think the winds of change are here.My generation holds the key to a more daring and successful India.And it makes me really glad that I am a little bit of India's historic bouncing back and I have every chance as the other to contribute.We are daring to dream , daring to think,daring to do and raring to go.We are finally absorbing our independence in the right sense to march to where we actually deserve to be.Let's make a little pledge to ourselves that every year this time we would save a little bit of time to introspect where we are and destined to be so that the dream which our nation's fathers dreamt for us would no longer be a dream but a successful reality..I pledge...

~A,proud to be an Indian.

Pursuit of HappYness...

Ravs and me are kindred souls when movies are in question.We are like a pair of siamese twins joined together at our movie taste.Well to start off something new , we decided we would take a week's pick and recommend each other movies we had seen (...not just off IMDB but movies we had personally liked and even though hard to recall we would try.. our best).My first movie was the "The pursuit of HappYness"..Critically acclaimed, loved by the masses and inspired by a true life story I was yet to see it for myself inspite of the rave reviews.So when Ravs reccomended I was quick to check it out.I luckily got a dvd print and nothing seemed better.

I had seen the actual Chris Gardener in an interview and was finding it a little difficult to accept Will Smith in the role.But as the movie went on the lines faded and i was more and more absorbed in what the movie had to say.We humans believe that the hardships we face are unique to us and probably no one would understand.We sometimes ; and not always look back on our hardest times and think that none has faced what we have.But seeing his story only makes me realise that "Truth is stranger than fiction"..Had this story not been inspired by a man's life where he is bankrupt , has an estranged wife and evicted in a span of four months preceded by a really tough time of trying to make it in a business I would anyday not buy the story.

Things which touched me most was his almost dogmatic determination in keeping his son and not letting go , not once does he let his miseries overshadow his want of doing something.He goes through a grueling finance internship just on will power and undeniably the most determined frame of mind.He takes on things with cheer and his personality is his sunshine as he trudges through the tough times.Nothing bogs him down ! Absolutely nothing ! And that's what affects people around him and makes them take to his persona more and more..The triumph of human spirit is the essence of this movie ! And to juxtapose this learning with a verse i heard in another great movie Pulp Fiction :

"Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

I believe there is no black and white personified in this world.I believe in the intangible.Think about it.We all desire the intangibles.Don't we ? Love , respect,happYness,passion,power...These abstract lines depict the intangibles of human frailty and also at the same time the humane power.What I make of this verse is that the righteous man is the one who realizes he has this power capped within himself ..the power to do something, to power to create, the power to win and keeps the passion to take it forward.The inequities of the evil men is the one who tries to dissuade you from doing the same,wants to instill in you that you can't do it.The miseries and the failures are the inequities beset in our path and we need to shepherd ourselves out from this valley of death(I say thus because a life without goals is no less than being trapped in a valley of death)..

Pursuit of HappYness (wrongly and intentionally done so in the movie) is actually a clause in the Declaration of Independence by America's one of the greatest thinking mind...Thomas Jefferson.I wonder what ticks those great minds who can inspire generations and think thoughts that can hold universal appeal even in posterity..Then again it is said about Jefferson by president Kennedy when he invited 49 nobel laureates to the White House :

"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House — with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone"....

I think someone like me can only wonder at what goes on in great thinking minds ?

~A,trust the thinking mind...

Ramblings of a restive mind....

I am drenched in the addiction of poetry as that is my only relief
What an irony ? Me who has never believed in the power of words but the power of fist
Left in the company and crutch of words today
I am a man trapped not only in being but in soul
Bearing the burden of my cross every single moment
If time would allow I would reverse its course
Again, would i be able to think with the clarity & conviction i do today?
I realize as i sit in this dark corner
Staring at the clouds drift by through my cell window
I understand so many things clearly today
But all lies futile as my life is in tatters
And i have myself with my mundane verses for my company
But not a soul to hear a nobody's ruminations

~A,being in somebody else's shoes

"What to do" ?

A two week sojourn...hmmm..I guess I am lacking inspiration. I am amazingly at a loss of ideas on what to write.I simply stare at the screen.So many things have been happening in the recent past yet I am unable to zero in on anything concrete to make it a nice piece to read.Let's see..Ya i know what I can write about ! I can write about my roomies who have been asking me to write so many testimonials or atleast a piece in my blog.Oh wait ! Still better maybe i can write on our trip to Six Flags where Fiona threw up on one of the crazy anti-gravity rides and missed an unsuspecting spectator below by inches when he ducked by giving one of those typically "matrix" acrobatic duck.Well maybe not.I still don't have the keys to the new apartment and i don't wanna be locked out by writing this.Maybe I should choose something safer.What about my employer?I have been working for her for about a month and while she has inspired me to pick up "Devil Wears Prada" ; I , on the other hand amazingly amazingly set her on an inspiration ride by my very presence.No! Hold on.I am not on an ego trip.The very moment she sees me she gets ideas on how to make me work more.Ab,could you please get the flyers made ? And yes, once when you finish could you please take care of this lamp?Yea right ! Some 100 years old smoke emitting lamp that needs water as its constant feed ! Gimme a break or I am gonna break that antique piece..Hmmppfff! Maybe i shouldn't go there either in my blog because i will end up with a never ending bitter tribute to my employer and i don't want to spend my emotions on her.Not a good idea ! Then what about the movie I watched yesterday ? Casablanca..A great romantic movie.A classic.And more than anything I fell in love with Humphrey Bogart.Well nah ! What's the use of cooing over a character when none exists in real life ? Forget Casablanca.Maybe i should write about the latest book i am reading.Murder at maggody.com. It is about a small village in Arkansas where computer revolution has recently invaded the place and a murder is about to take place(I am assuming 'coz I am still reading the book) in some website address ? Ahem..Doesnt sound too promising.What else is happening in my life ? Hmm what about the fact that i got my hair colored blond :-) ? Well not a good idea either to discuss since I have been reluctant to step out of home for the last 3 days and let's not discuss the success or the lack of it in this mission unaccomplished.
Oh ! Forget it..I just can't make up my mind and as a woman I have the prereogative of being fickle minded ;)..Not bad gal.Carry on ! Long live the gibberish !

~A,Clueless...

"Naked Walls"

Suddenly i feel like today is a day out of a movie.I am sitting in an empty room on the floor.I can hear the jabbing of the keyboard echo.So quiet is the room.Few stuff lying around.Waiting for my friend to help me move.The walls are stripped of any adornment put up in love.I suddenly feel like a stranger in this place i used to call home.I check my mails.And to my surprise I see a mail from my best friend De.Yes we have not caught up with each other in years.We just happen to know each other's little corners in this globe but it has been really really long since we actually spoke about our lives , our dreams , our miseries.As i pen down about her I mention... my " best friend"..Subconsciously...It is always that way with people who might not have been there with you on each and every occasion of your life but people who have actually always been there .De and me were inseparable in school.We were in the same section for ten years in a row.We were contrasting in every aspect of our personality.We were Laurel and Hardy (actually !..) :-) . We loved each other and we competed with each other like we hated each other.We have had our share of fights and our really special times which weighs out much more than any squabble we have ever had.As i think back I am really surprised at how we could be such good friends and such fierce competitors.We were so young but we understood the fine divide and remained forever friends.I still remember days when I used take part in debates..perform poorly and she would still give the loudest clap..The day when the teacher bashed me with harsh words and I cried for the first time in school and she just sat with me silently till I knew that it was ok and things like that happened..Yes maybe we are not there for each other like that anymore.We might have drifted apart now.. Not because of any personal hangups.Life happened.Life has strange way of throwing things at you.Destiny had different things planned for us and we moved different ways.But I always cherish our friendship and the times we had and I am so optimistic that one day in this life we would be the thick friends we were..Sharing every bit of our respective lives...By the time I finished the last line of her mail I was silently weeping and so was she as she wrote me those most genuine thoughts I have ever heard in a long time.
I now realize when you leave a house and move to a next you can probably take away all you have with you and the naked walls wouldn't remind anyone of you.But people who are in your heart and happen to go different ways in life make beautiful colorful walls with sparkling memories.They just make sunshine shine better..Shine On ! Tats what she said to me...(Thanks De for being my friend.. always..)

~A, your mail touched my soul..

"No Such Thing".....

"Welcome to the real world", she said to me
Condescendingly
Take a seat
Take your life
Plot it out in black and white
Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings
And the drama queens
I'd like to think the best of me
Is still hiding
Up my sleeve

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
just to lie you've got to rise above

So the good boys and girls take the so called right track
Faded white hats
Grabbing credits
Maybe transfers
They read all the books but they can't find the answers
And all of our parents
They're getting older
I wonder if they've wished for anything better
While in their memories
Tiny tragedies
They love to tell you

Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above

I am invincible
As long as I'm alive

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just to lie you've got to rise above

I just can't wait til my 10 year reunion
I'm gonna bust down the double doors
And when I stand on these tables before you
You will know what all this time was for

~A, Invincible as long as I am alive....

A weekend to remember.....

When i was boarding the bus at NY Penn Station Thursday afternoon , all I was thinking of was that I would be meeting Lis and we would have long long heart to hearts as we always do.Excited is a word that would fall short of what I was feeling .Kept on calling Lis just to let her know that yes I was finally coming to Fairfax... Country Roads , Shenandoah,Rhinestone Cowboy were just like natural tunes on my lips...Whatever gave me the feel that I am going far far away from the madding crowd ..If you happen to see Lis's and my profile in the popular social networking site, I feel our music choice just reflects where we stay and how life is around us..

The eagerness of a long weekend...A calm was settling around me and i fell asleep..The bus stopped at Maryland to drop off a few merry passengers probably visiting friends and family..Maryland meant DC was near and I was getting happier by the moment.Soon I was at New York Ave and there was an instant buzz.I guess the very hint of NY means a lot of noise.DC looked like a mela ground and everybody i met on the way to the Metro Station was actually looking for the Metro Station. Snaking my way through the crowd and eventually jumping red and orange lines I arrived at Fairfax.Lis came to pick me up in a green / gold line bus. Nice seeing her after a month.We made hurried plans of what to do the next day.We wanted to see the fireworks from Lincoln Memorial that was for sure. Mon z arrived from Philly and she called up Shal.Shal agreed to join in and so did Sona and Ini..

Made way to the Fairfax station on th 4th and we met Mank and Vaib.Boarded the heavily crowded train to DC.Soon we were joined by Ravs and Sag and a couple of scary gals.They wanted to take us to some never never land restaurant (walking.....!!!!) and when we refused i thought we would land up with some bruce lee kicks..Mank commented that one of the gals looked like the popular soap vamp...Komolika and we were in splits..Tat kinda broke the ice..We walked the streets of DC at night with my stilletos in my hand..and headed towards good 'ol reliable MacD..Just hogged and hogged...I have never seen such towers of ice cream and without any compunctions gobbled it down..Conversation got interesting and somehow we ended up christening Mon as Chirpy..After that there was no end to the rounds of teasing..We reached Fairfax and the walk home was really long...Big fan of ghosts that I am I was so excited when we decided to walk back home through the stretch of forest to have encounters of a different kind...I simply simply loved it..Ini was scared and the guys tried to make things worse for her...They just let out werewolf cries..Finally recahed home..Promising to meet up the next day , we bade goodbye.
Next day we went for a cruise in the Washington National Harbor and the day ended with a big bash at the Tandoori Nights in Arlington.We all paid for our own and actually handed out around 10 credit cards ..The maitre d' was kind enough to understand ..but Tandoori Nights was not the finale to the day.We met up again at Shal's place and started our discussion on the supernatural.Shal spoke about his real life experience.Ravs said that whatever happens in life happens for a reason.Maybe not for tomorrow but for many years later..Basically the butterfly effect..Things got interesting and we parted with a promise to discuss more on the same...
And as if to reinforce what we had spoken the night before something happened the next day.My bus timing got pre-poned and i needed to get a printout.Being a Sunday everything was closed.Was heading back disappointed from Staples when Lis and me met Ravs and Sag.Ravs said he would offer us a ride to Lis z school so that we could take a printout.And as we drove to GMU we laughed at only how we had discussed the night before how everthing happens for a reason and the reason for meeting kind Ravs was a ride to school ? :-)

Well though it seemed like that , I know why I met those wonderful people that weekend.I was meant to meet some nice friendly souls who make your life better.Yeah old friendships are like great wine but fresh ones are like the touch of a gentle zephyr.I cherish that weekend.And I always count my blessings for all the friends I have at this point in time in life ..

~A, Everything happens for a reason...

"Unwearing The Veil of Illusion..."

Life has passed on by..
And i have passed many a years wearing rose tinted shades..
Foolishly swept time under the carpet thinking of the times when love was mine
A naive and young heart then...I now know otherwise
That love was never meant to be mine
And as I see the ashes lying around
I know that my chances are gone..Life went by
And love never was and never would be mine...
Never was and never would be mine....

~A,Anonymous...

Wouldn't trade for anything else....

Happiness inspires never-ending desires of attainment within us.Everybody wants to be happy.Or anybody you meet on the streets would never greet you with a "I am not fine..."Everybody says I am fine.What drives the world? Money,Love,Power,Sex,Ambition...But what do they lead upto? In one sentence- the elated euphoria of being happy.Nothing makes you happy like the very hint of happiness.

But happiness feels so superficial.How can you feel , how can you have sensitivity when you are always happy?Pain is the true essence of life.Life without pain cannot keep you grounded.Life without pain cannot make you appreciate the fine nuances of this beautiful world.The best masterpieces in life are inspired by pain.Pain gives you focus.Hurt makes you the person you are.It helps you think.Brings emotional maturity .Makes you open your eyes more to the cosmos around you.

Pain makes me a better person.Makes me real.
Cut me like a knife anyday..

~A, can't live without a pinch of pain...

I would one day write on "Being Let Down..."

~A, a promise to remember....

"Kill Bill"..

I watched Kill Bill Vol 1 in 2007 and not many minutes ago finished Kill Bill Vol 2...There was an intended gap in watching the movies.More like the eagerness of lovers that is fueled by an interlude..Well a movie like KB and made by QT deserved that kinda break to get full appreciation.And now having been done with both the volumes and truly gripped by both , I just could not wait to pen down my enthused emotions even as I am @ the wake of dawn...

Beginning with Volume 1 , I had no clue about KB as I had never watched a QT movie before.But it dint take me much to figure.The movie is inspired by Martial Arts, Shaolin Temple.But it is not just another action movie.I was taken aback and yet instantly gripped by the way Uma Thurman kills the first viper of the DiVas Squad.Just out and out a killer and right in front of her daughter's eyes.She goes something like .."When you grow up you will wanna meet me.I will wait for you" And that z there to it ! No justification, No soothing words. I knew the movie was different instantly. Yes the movie has a lot of gore.But gore has style in it.

The martial arts fight inspiration of the movie with the caucasian edge kinda wraps up really well.Every move , every weapon depicts a different style.Repotedly QT spent around $ 65,000 for swords and accessories for this movie.

The action moves and fight scenes are surprising.Since a squad of killers are portrayed , the ease with which they handle an attempt to murder , a gunshot , a sword fight is really terrific.They are the best in the business and they actually justify every action move.Amazing !!
QT actually picked up bits and pieces while making this movie.The yellow tracksuit Uma wears on her way to killing the Krazzy88s is a direct tribute to Bruce Lee who wears it in the Game of Death.

In Vol 2 , I like the way Bill is more in the picture.They share a great chemistry of love and hate.She couldn't love another than Bill and she couldn't help but Kill Bill.That z a part of the essence of the movie.They were equals.

I loved the way Superman's character was analysed and how he justifies that just like superman's alter ego of Clark Kent was a critique on weakness of man, Beatrix Kiddo's running away to be a country lad's wife was a critique on normal people.She was born to be a killer and she admits she enjoyed killing people on the way as she made her way to Bill.

The final cresendo comes with Uma killing Bill and he asks her "How do I look?" and she says "You look ready"..The emotions are portrayed with very subtle tears without any dramatic effect and yet gets all the emotions through to you.

There are lots of trivia in KB and another one was when the credits were rolling up..As the viper squad names roll up, there are strikethroughs in the name.When Daryll Hannah's name comes up, there is a question mark.Coz they dont actually show her death but her pain on the way to death?Implying she might or might not be dead while for the rest it is sure they are dead..Well tats my interpretation ...

QT has done a great job.Gore gets a new style....

~A, like the way Bill was killed....