My career choices...

Even before my desire to pursue a career as Superman, I wished to become a pirate. But I was young and reckless then, and as I grew old, I realized that the prospects of becoming a swashbuckling pirate are quite thin for a teetotaler vegetarian, and a not so athletic guy with glasses. So much was the desire, and still is, that I carry a full-blown pirate costume in my closet. It is to be noted that the costume came with an eye-patch and a dagger, ahem ahem, made in China in plastic. You see where I am going with this career choice? Honestly, not too far. The fact that I lived 250 miles away from the nearest coast throughout my life didn't help either. But things changed with the passage of time, and after gorging octopus tentacles in Spain, and getting drunk on Vodka in grad school, and running a few miles every other day in Austin, I decided to switch my long term career options and set my mind on becoming Superman. As I said, I grew up and was forced to make more mature choices. I was all set with this career choice. Bought my blue trousers and shirt with a big Z on it, and an over sized red underwear, and yes, I already have my dorky glasses to hide my true identity. The only hurdle I could not cross to achieve this career choice was that my dad was not Jor-El, and was a native of a small town called Visakhapatnam, rather than planet Krypton. And there was nothing much I could do about it, except blame someone else for my failure. I bellowed, "Dad it is all your fault!"

Life is full of compromises, and yes, some disappointments. As a wise friend told me once, "Aim for the stars, and you shall reach the tree top." Well, my tree top currently stands at Qualcomm in Austin. But I am not done yet. With 2009 facing me, I have decided to hang on to my costumes for I never know when my dreams may come true. Hoping, and wishing the same for all y'all for 2009. Wishing everyone a happy and dream fulfilling new year, just hang on to your costumes...

The season of war

It was the season of war.

A season?
Well, we have summer when the heat melts the coldest of hearts, and winter, when the warmest of hearts freeze. They come and go, and so do wars. So stop interrupting me and listen...
Where was I? Ah...It was the season of war which was neither mindless, nor a random act in the hands of a single bored dictator who, in all his presence of mind, decided to increase his power because he didn't have enough. This was a war where brothers, husbands and sons fought hand in hand, for freedom, and wives daughters and mothers fought with them till the very end, for it was choice either to die for freedom, or live in a state of slavery, for all alike. It was bloody, severed heads and hands lay on the ground which was brown at one time. Now it was crimson, and would remain for so for generations to come, if any, as a testimony to the war that was fought for freedom.

Freedom you say? and it is not a tyrant they wanted to be free from? then freedom from whom? Why so much blood? Why the war? Who were they?
Hmph, true Scorpio...nevertheless, you ask irrelevant questions. In the battlefield, stood a small girl. Her face muddy, and her unkempt hair flying to the wind which carried screams of horror every war entails. The wind, however, is not important. The little girl is. The little girl, with a muddy face, unkempt hair, and very large, but wet eyes. If she closed her eyes, she would squeeze the tear down her cheek. But she didn't close her eyes. She didn't want to close her eyes. She knew if she closed her eyes, she would not see what she was seeing at that moment, and that moment would be lost forever. It was a damned war, and there she stood with a smile on her face, and tear in her eye that was waiting to escape, looking at this boy who was covered in his own blood. His eyes were still open, and he was breathing heavily, he was breathing his last. She knew, so did he. She had loved him at some point, and she knew she would continue to love him, forever after. She stood with a smile on her face and the tear in her eye, ready to escape when he breathed his last.

A smile? You said she loved him? Why would she smile when the boy she loved is dying?
Ah, for once you nearly ask the right question. If you had asked, why would she smile when the boy she loves is dying, you would have got your answer. She stood there bravely, for in all her innocence, she
knew, that if she smiled, so would the boy. They had gone through a lot together, well...as much as their age had permitted. In all her innocence, she knew that the smile was all she could give to the dying boy. So she smiled...As the boy's end neared, she knew that there would be no one to bring a smile to her face when her chance would come...yet she smiled.

How come you don't ask any questions when you should? and ask a lot of irrelevant questions when you should not?
Well child, its time for you to go to bed. Just remember, No amount of blood or war can ruin your innocence and your love. For when you smile, so will the people you love, even when they are breathing their last and they will breathe their last breath, happy and in peace.

Good night my child,

Living on the edge...

Recently, I have been toying with the idea of getting a dog. I discussed the prospects of pet ownership with a friend of mine, who immediately, without holding his breath even for a second blurted, "Why don't you get a wife instead. Easier to maintain." Clearly, he was at least 30 ft away from his better half, and loves to live on the edge. I did tell him that there were easier ways to commit suicide. Distance is good at times. It saves lives. Here is another example. We asked a colleague of mine on why he wasn't inviting us for lunch to his new place. With no thought-gap in his speech, and in his full senses, he exclaimed, "My wife was awfully busy the last week. So there was no one to clean the place." Again, it is to be noted that the distance between his mouth and his wife's ears was at least 4 miles, as the crow flies. Either people love to live on the edge, or the darwin-zman theory on extinction is awfully misplaced (see my previous entry on this blog).

thought-gap: A unit to time. Time so small, so to allow only one thought. no thought-gap means, no time even to allow one thought through...

Stupidity should have been extinct by now...

Some believe that dinosaurs, with their small brains, were quite stupid to adapt to the new world, which led to their extinction. Going by Mr. Darwins hypothesis, I would assume that since then, all stupid creatures became extinct and were lost in the passage of time. That would explain why we do not see dodo's crossing the road anymore. But I have always questioned this theory. For one, it does not explain the existence of the lady on a cell phone behind the wheel of a SUV trying to run over me while I ride my bike, and it does not explain the existence of this annoying, whining colleague who works a few paces from my office space. Siiiigh, but it does, however, explain my presence, and soon to be an absence, on a bike in the streets of Austin.

Yet another attempt to blog...

I am trying really really hard to keep up with this world. It has come to my notice, a decade later than expected, nevertheless, that citizens of this world make it a point to log their thoughts. And here I am, making a third attempt to blog. In my experience, blogging is similar to giving up coffee. No reason to give up coffee, and no reason to blog either...but they never stick. Oh well, lets see how far I go this time.