http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=BMjrp6qm-iI

there have been so many rockstars, and there will be so many more, but no one will be as 'cool' as Mark Knopfler.

"you can fall for chains of silver
you can fall for chains of gold
you can fall for pretty strangers
and the promises they hold

you promised me everything
you promised me thick and thin, yeah
now you just say Oh yeah Romeo yeah
.... you know I used to have a scene with him"


amusement, sarcasm, all delivered with so much laidback nonchalance...saw him perform at Bangalore .... there too, like in every other performance, he does not care that there are a few thousand people in rapt attention ... he sings, he plays, as if he was all alone. He's a laid back, relaxed version of the Pearl Jam attitude, everytime.

Renditions of his songs are always subtly different ... both on the guitar and on vocals, each time he performs...such a refreshing change from the somewhat programmed and literally 'staged' performances of someone like Sting. You can watch three performances of "romeo and juliet" and they'd all be subtly different and improvised live.

21 Sep, GoldenGate Bridge, Muir Beach, Muir Woods


The usual spots, the usual shots :) .... archived for no particular purpose...


21 Sept, GoldenGate, Muir Beach, Muir Woods

Japanese Garden at Golden Gate Park

Well, tried driving down to HMB on Friday evening, only to find rain there! Drove back :)


Went out on Saturday to the Japanese gardens with friends. The gardens are aesthetic to the 'c' ... laid out to perfection and tended to like a baby. They resonate with the sound of peace.

I'm embarrassed to be posting more Patel shots, but they're all I have :P



19 &20 Sept Drive to HMB & GG Park

Phir Dekhiye - Rock On , Guitar and Piano Chords

George on vocals, he's not in the video ... the guy playing guitar in the video is Jayswami, who moderates a forum on which he provides several chords for hindi and tamil songs.


The song is Phir Dekhiye, which is along with 'Tum ho toh' is fast becoming one of my favourite songs this year. Its funny ... most years I visit the US, I'm hooked to something or the other that I hear on the radio here, but this time, its these tunes from back home, from a movie I wasn't even planning on watching.

Btw, for what its worth, I think George's rendition is better than the original.

George Kuruvilla


There are a few times in my life when I've seen or heard something and just thought to myself, gosh, why am I not seeing this on TV or a bigger screen?

It is both humbling and uplifting at the same time.

As all of us do, I've had the privilege of being blown away a few times ...

Kumar Kannan - friend and workplace cricket-teammate ... I've seem him make near double hundreds in 25 over games (which is just a bizzare feat) at any level...

Abhishek Narayan - friend and workplace music band mate ....superb guitarist.... Abhishek simply breathes the ability to perform and creates phonic beauty out of steel and amplifier material. An absolute natural, with and without the guitar. There have been times when there have been awkward moments on stage, when Abhishek has just found the right time to start a GnR or Pink Floyd solo and the crowd is simply eating out of his hands after that.

Ganesh Pitchiah - again, a friend and workplace cricket-teammate .... I cannot remember the number of times when he has just taken my breath away with an unbelievable stumping or a brilliant catch. There have been times when even the opposition dressing rooms actually gasp at his brilliance, followed by a stunned applause and an incredulous shake of their heads.

All these people are simply phenomenally gifted and fortunately for them, their passions align with their gifts. For various reasons, they are not on TV ... but thats OK.


Here's another... George Kuruvilla. I first heard George on Muziboo and subsequently learnt that George and Abhishek were on a band together during their Engineering days.


After a couple of George covers I was simply blown away by what I heard and my first question to him was "Are you a professional musician?" I was stunned when he replied in the negative. George's vocals are a sublime mix of great range, controlled power and absolute pitch perfect delivery. He sings in English, Hindi and Malayam and like all really gifted people, improves almost naturally ... Muziboo has a cool feature where the "Music" link on the left bar opens a page which has a playlist on the right, and it streams all the songs on the page. I can't remember a time when I've closed the page cos I didn't want to listen anymore.


How George is not singing for Bollywood or winning American Idol (considering he lives in the US) is just beyond me.

Lastly its amazing how all these people tend to be among the nicest people I have met.

Enough words.... if you haven't heard George already, let the magic begin. And if you are someone with connections to music production, go ahead and convince George to sing professionally. You'd be doing yourself a HUGE favour.

http://www.muziboo.com/member/gkuruvilla

I've had the most interesting reactions to my photos .... people telling me I need new clothes, a makeover, a haircut, and that I need to tidy my room. Gosh!!! Who are these people!!!! :O

Anyway, I was happy to resume running again ... able to complete a 5K run on the treadmill in about 3o minutes. Running on the treadmill is so much easier than running on the ground... and I'm not sure all that calorie counting on those sophisticated machines is entirely accurate.

That apart, the US has meant more Thai food (which does not disappoint), more daylight, thankfully manageable work (this time) and the opportunity to catch up with old friends.

For all this blogging .... here's a great quote to sign off with .... maybe Ed Young saw blogging coming before we did :)

"Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote, /And think they grow immortal as they quote."
- Edward Young

Half Moon Bay, 14 Sept

Pics from the drive, the beach and the moonshine over lake Elizabeth captured on very slow apertures ...






Sept 14, Half Moon Bay

Point Lobos, Sept 13, 2008 ... Sacheen as tour guide

Brilliant place, with the wierdest erosion patters ... the kind attributed to ice and not water. Also, very strange geology ... igneous rocks for the most part and then pebbles which look as if they have been fused together by years of coalescence.

Also found a great beach with white sand, with homes very close to the beach. How I wish I could have a home by the ocean.



Sept 13, 2008, Point Lobos, California with Sacheen as tour guide

Monday: A blur of activity ... little sleep the night before.... jst 3h.....begin... rush to a friends place to carry somethings he needs in the US ... to Forum mall t0 buy books for the same friend .... traffic noise ...dropping off cheques ... supervise work for a while on the house...calling suppliers and contractors to try and get work completed ... buying solar water heater panels ... checking email .... calls to work ... from work ......drive out.... buy some specific shampoo for another friend's wife....visit to the doc ...then RAM upgrade for sisters laptop... catch up with someone for whom a gift was bought sometime back ... some solace... somethings are different, some remain the same... coffee, tea, tiramisu ... au revoirs ... home ... torrential rain .... movie with family ... back home ... begin packing post-midnight .... sleep at 330 .... wake at 630 ....

Tuesday: 8am on tuesday ....continue packing ...work ....call people at work between sips of tea... drive out....buy a few things .... pick up new spectacles .... some medicines to be packed .... Solar water heater guys arrive.... tell them where to install it.... supervise work on the house ... contractor arrives ....big spat after he provides new terms on some work .... shouting match (my first for the longest time) ..... ugly scences ... furious as months of angst spill over in a tirade of vehemence and frustration....adrenaline pumping...i realise this is not worth it and disconnect .... reconciliation ... drive to bank twice to get drafts for payment for work .... bank guy looks at my face and does all he can to make things easier... humanity is alive, i tell myself..... get home .... continue packing ...call cab .... cab arrives and parks some distance away .... finish packing .....shower ... call cab driver.... phone's off .... call cab company .... confusion .....delays .... anxiety ..... cab arrives ... prayers, lamps lit .... hug mom ..... drive off in cab .... traffic... delays ..... more traffic ... chat with cabbie Prasanna .... he needs to make 900 bucks a day that must be returned to the cab company...interesting buisness model ... he essentially rents the cab from Meru at 900 bucks a day and then pays for the gas and runs it as much as he can to make a living..... typical Indian exploitation, at 27K a month, way more than a typical EMI he should be owning the cab, not renting it...expect that he's not creditworthy on his own so the cab company Meru makes a tidy profit... Meru is essentially a vehicle owning company with a call center.... its the same story everywhere.... the guy renting the vegetable cart out makes 10% a day!! from the poor guy rolling the cart in India .... that 3600% p.a. .... how can these things change? Microcredit? Probably ... Prasanna drives his shoes off and makes 10-15K a month.. this is just wrong.... cab doesn't take credit cards .... stop off at ATM ..... drive..... airport .... cab bill is 761....i want to make sure that someone should be happy after how unhappy Ive been today so I pay 20% more than the bill ..... he beams with happiness...he should be more much happier with better financing on his car deal ..... new airport... first visit .... kinda small for an International airport.... young folks everywhere behind computers learning the ropes ... again typical India.... young people in the workforce... new opportunities.... this is probably what trained investors get excited about....... check in.... customs ..... don't have hard copy for office laptop export exemption letter.... negotiations...go downstairs, get approval...old India .....expemption provided ....go upstairs, through security ... im famished..... eat something .... call friends .... board .... flight to Singapore..... cannot sleep.... the clock ticks over to Wednesday

Wednesday: Somewhere over the Indian ocean ..... arrive in Singapore .... still no sleep ... 3hour layover... eat ... walk .... Changi Terminal 3 is breathtaking..post-modern Koi ponds ... board...... 6 hour flight to Seoul ....

....thankfully middle seat is unoccupied for the next 16h of flying... thank God for small mercies.... guy on aisle is about 45-50 ... says he now lives in SFO.... was born in Bangalore, studied and worked in Chennai ... started logistics business, lost 40-50lakh back in the 80s... (phew) ... left India to earn money in Dubai... repaid loan ... in the process got divorced and lost his family .... then moved to the US ... now works for a logistics company that is expanding in India.... he coughs a lot... well ... I always believed that economy determines lives, and this is just another example .....

still in flight....... watch movie ....Sex&the City ..... poor film ..... 1 hour layover in Seoul ..... board again ..... 10 hours to San Francisco... watch Indiana Jones ....then Les Heures de Ete ...both so so ... 3h of sleep en route to SFO .... arrive.... cab to hotel... some confusion with reservations... finally get room ..... call rental car company....unpack minimally ..... shave, shower .....Hertz sends driver....driven to Hertz location.... get car .... no navigation available.... need to exchange later.... go to workplace and get badge activated...call manager... make bad jokes about long flight... drive to Safeway and pick up some food .....come back ... talk to hotel staff... room change on Friday... its about 5PM .... I realize Ive had 6hours of sleep in 6o something hours ... think I'll take a nap at 530 .... will wake up in a bit to get dinner ...then drive to SFO Intl to change car.... open my eyes... its 1AM ...Ive slept for 8 hours....try and sleep more.... wake up again .. its 430AM .... this is not good.... headache kicks in .... pain killer .... wide awake....now some email... respond to work stuff .... tea ....blog....and post ....

630AM ....i need more tea ....

I sit with a friend, eating a snack, while he goes on about Google's latest browser, yadda yadda. I understand all he says and add to the conversation my own nuggets ... why they do what they do... and other such wisdom. I have a Bachelor's Engineering degree in Computers, and a Masters in Business ... they were both intellectually stimulating, but I frankly couldn't care less about either.

The truth is, I just dont care about all this stuff that makes sense to my head, and is still irrelevant to my soul.

I searched for the calling ... and did not find it. I still am searching perhaps ... but its possible there is no calling for me. I'm a deaf guy looking for a song, or a song looking for a deaf guy :)

HOLY COW!





It must have been at the (old) airport in Bangalore when I first came across this book. The art work drew me to it and I read the back cover.... something about a prediction about the author that came true, and something about how she originally hated India with a passion.


Well, an year or so later, I bought this off the pavement ... I'm not going to help some ranting woman make more royalty money ... for all its faults, India is where I was born and raised.... I am an Indian and I owe this country far too much for all it has given me.


This is a travelogue ... it begins in Delhi, moves across to Varanasi, Ladakh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bangalore, Amritsar, etc. The author for the most past rants about India, hating its disorganization, its traffic, its lepers, its weather.... well pretty much everything. At some level you empathize .... the author was born and bred in the (non-existent) population density of Austrailia, and clearly the sheer amount of human energy in thought and action is overwhelming for her in India. Her ranting assumes a cresendo so virulent that at times, I was left feeling glad that I don't live in Delhi :) . Having been there myself, there is some truth to it from a south Indian perspective ...I recall the shock that I endured ... mostly cultural ... Delhi on the streets is can be a brutish place and culturally, most of India is a far cry from the four southern states. Even so, the author is however unfair... there are far too many references to people breaking the wind... so much so that foreign readers may be scared to light a match in this country for fear of igniting the copious methane.


Anyway, after her initial set of rants, the author cools off and begins a pilgrimage ... clearly she expects one of those Beatles' style interactions with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, but that's not about to happen. In this country, she is far too typical a tourist.... someone with currency-converted means, some connections resulting from her boyfriend's employer, but little else. That means she does not have a private jet, has to travel in trains and planes like the rest of us, and for the most part, has to stand in line. Predictably, her spiritual endeavours do not result in enlightenment, which was a far fetched goal given the amount of anger she carries anyway and given the rooting she has in the illusion, amplified in every sense now that she is in India.


That said she has her share of spiritual experiences .... India is generous :) ..... she experiences corporeal transcendence at a Vipassana camp and expereriences radiance in the presence of Mata Amritandamayi of Kerala. There are other (somewhat comical) situations during her visit to the Kumbh Mela and her experiences with Naga Sadhus.


I was baffled at the reference to how captivated she is by Bollywood ... she makes an effort to meet Amitabh Bachan, and is giggly intoxicated by meeting Priety Zinta and Aamir Khan. Crazy!
She also joins her Delhi girlfriends in taking Bollywood dancing classes ...... If this is not conversion, I don't know what is!


The book also contains introductory passages on the major religions of India (refreshing the memory of my school books). The author is (thankfully) silent on her discomfort with religion ... she must have been far too scared eventually, but she expresses a preference to Buddhism for its existentialist moorings.


There are interesting parallels to my own experience of when I travelled to Ladakh, and noted that it was far too delicate an ecosystem, both culturally and economically to handle the invasion of UP and Bihar carpet sellers who have migrated there .... something I just cannot understand. Having lived near a small town called Khaltse for 10 days, there are just not enough white tourists there to sustain a carpet economy. Ladakh also had Goan and Punjab based trinket sellers, who declared that they were in Ladakh during the Goan off season. The contrast between the demure, soft spoken locals and the carpet selling, souvenir hawking brutes is just far too stark for even an Indian to miss. As with everything else, economy dictates.


The point is, that this book, like anything subjective, is heavily anchored on perspective. There are some things which transcend perspective, like the author's relationship with her household help, which is at a very human level and develops strong bonds, but this is one of the few things that saves her as a journalist (yes, she is a journalist in Austrailia, albeit an average one given this book) and lends her some credibility.


Also, I have to mention that outside India, this book is sold with slightly different artwork, with Lord Shiva wearing sunglasses ... I imagine that this is largely to help sales, but also reflects the mood of the book ... despite spending 2 years here, the author eventually remains supercilious and fails to develop the one thing that she claims India teaches her.... sensitivity and co-existence :)