Calling a spade a spade :)

Saw this on a friends blog.
... I guess most of my friends know how I feel about Bollywood in general, but here's a really funny take ... actions do speak louder than words.

This was hilarious ... have a look

The past few days have brought on a lot of stress and trial. There's no point reliving anything bad here, so lets move on :)

Discounting all the bad stuff, I'm happy that I led our cricket team to the next stage in Bangalore's premier corporate cricket tournament. We were in a must win situation and despite missing some key players, we trounced the opposition. I was happy to play my part and was declared man of the match for my 30 odd runs 2 wickets and an important catch at first slip. I was most pleased at the way the team responded to a difficult situation and raised their game. It was one of days when most things I did seemed to work.

In the last week or so, Abhi, the super- lead guitarist of our company's band discovered Muziboo, an online music community. He exhorted me to sign up and I duly did. Here's my space
http://muziboo.com/member/yogicbreath


One the most impressive vocalists I found on the site was George Kuruvilla. Turns out he and Abhi were in a band years ago at Engineering college. Small world indeed. Abhi and George are now collaborating online. Do check them out. Another fantastic piece of music here is Amit Savkur's rendition of Fuzon's Khamaj.


Lastly, I came across the following picture on my desktop, shot by my friend when I traveled to the SFO Bay area last year. I took off by myself for walk in the rocks at one of the points on the famous 17-mile drive and had no idea that my friend of his wife was aiming the camera in my direction. I have to say this picture gives me a great deal of peace especially so on days like this. I often wondered why I like it so much, and then I decided to verbalize it as best I could.

This picture is of me in a somewhat difficult and definitely reflective time. And the fact that I see myself (standing there, in the past) somehow tells me that a greater intelligence, if one exists, should see and feel the same picture .... and having seen it, will probably understand. Not sure if I'm being clear, but this picture gives me hope. I guess I somehow see hope in the grand design of the repetitive waves, in the wind that will not stop, and in the enormity of the ocean and the infinity of the skies.

Northern Sky - Nick Drake


Hip_prudster suggested a long time ago that Nick Drake songs would suite me well. I'm not sure but heres a cover of my favourite Nick Drake song.

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Since I have little else to say these days ..... here are some facts from Africa on NatGeo Wild, one of my favourite shows.



The Black Mamba, Africa's most feared and venomous snake, can run at speeds of 18KMPH, faster than most humans. It it usually 3 meters in length, can travel with half its body off the ground, and can climb trees effortlessly.

An African Hippo can cut a crocodile in half with a single bite. The tusks are 30cm long. Hippos can run at 30Kmph

The Nile Crocodile weighs a ton and eat everything from Antelope, small Hippos, and young Elephants. This crocodile can hold it breath for upto 45 minutes while waiting for prey.

The African Rock Python hunts by strangulation like other pythons. It however can hunt from both the ground as well as from under water. When it finds a Springbok or a Zebra, it swallows it whole and then does not need to eat for a whole year!

The African Wild Buffalo are found in herds. They will usually attack and kill lions, other large cats and even humans who are shooting at them.

A pack of Spotted Black Hyenas routinely launch attacks several animals much larger than themselves. They are known to attack and kill lions and then kill their cubs to eliminate carnivorous competition.


An African Scorpion is 10cm in length. It's venom is 3 times more dangerous than that of a Caped Cobra.

So ... I guess if you are in Africa, well ... good luck!

YOUR SONG

I listened to this song years ago and decided to cover it today.

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Yellow!



Here it is :) ... hopefully this sounds a little better than the live version I posted earlier.

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I can let you know the story without spoiling it for you, since the story begins at the end with no surprises anywhere. This guy called Pi experiments with the three popular religions in India, and attempts to practice them, and experiences the friction that one might expect from such an effort.

His family runs a zoo, but eventually sells the animals and attempts to move to Canada. Some animals are on the ship as well. The ship sinks and Pi is a castaway sharing the lifeboat with a few animals which are all killed in accordance with the hierarchy of the jungle food chain.

Pi tames the tiger that remains, with knowledge that he has gained from circuses and establishes his territory on the boat. The story floats along very boringly from that point on as Pi survives, floats, eats, feeds the tiger, etc etc. There are 2 passing events before Pi reaches the coast of Mexico. One ... when he encounters another castaway who is eaten by the tiger, and two ... when he finds an island that is acidic and carnivorous at night.


Pi's lifeboat is washed ashore finally, reaching Mexico. The tiger bolts away. He is nursed back to health by the locals. No one from ship insurance believes his story.

Believe it or not.... thats it. It left me cold all through. I guess the reader is expected to look for metaphors and meaning. Well, thats what the Booker was for, I gather ... I guess the tiger represents fear that must be tamed, the animals represents realities of power, nature and circumstance, the boat represents life and its confinement, the island represents the fleetingness of relief, and the shore represents closure, Pi's story, believable only to himself probably represents the individuality and secrecy of human experienes and so on and so forth ...


But all said and done, does it take such a long and boring story to get all that across? Or am I missing the point here? Nevermind! It's too boring any way you slice it.

I must recommend the following for those of you who might want to approach the subject more directly

Man's Eternal Quest, Autobiography of a Yogi - Swami Yogananda Paramahansa
The Tibetan Book Of the Dead (Bardo Thodol)
Conversations with God 1,2,3,4 - Neale Donald Walsch
etc ...