Johnny Goes down!

Johnny goes down by Karan Bajaj is a very unlikely book by an Indian Author. Its a cool mix of Rambo and the author says Indiana Jones and that of a cute hindi movie and a Wild west movie. The protagonist – Nikhil Arya is an orphan in MIT who is all brains. Technical as well as computer. And all heart too.

He survives various extreme conditions without the CIA’s training and is as common as you and me. Yet, as uncommon as a lustrous pink diamond in a gutter in Mumbai. Common because he has a mostly civilian background and uncommon because he manages to not only survive but also succeed in all his extreme environments creating a successful track record for others as well as himself in the most unlikely ways. He is a passionate man who wants to denounce his passion very passionately at every stage but ends up being just as passionate about everything he does. And he does everything exceptionally well. Be it love making, money making or even computer game making. And of course he is tops at the game of survival. He touches lives and makes everybody love him. He is exceptional like that. Maybe movies and super hero comic books are full of heros like him. The lone riding gunslinger types. But this is the first I have read with an Indian protagonist. And I love it. Johnny goes down is a book of many shades and colours. It is one of the few Indian books that does not deal with bereavement and loss in quite the same way as others do. Its quite cheerful. Its actually up in the leagues of Jeffery archer types. I only hope and pray that he does not get type cast so that one book is like the rest. I cross my fingers for you Karan Bajaj... please churn out something exceptional and you have a faithful reader in me!

Love you!

A perfect day for writing - my mind is humming and buzzing with activity. My only problem is I dont know what to write on... So I simply write. The words flow by from my fingers. My miond tries to make sense of the cacophony of words that seem to flow through my system and into the new one - hehe play of words - the computer screen.
For the past 2 days i have been trying to do some decent work. But I have simply ignored the urge to write. But now that my arse has been plugged and the food I eat stays in, I have decided to give in to another of my natural urges - writing.
I listen to songs as I write. My feelings range from happy to sad to regret. Listening to Above & Beyond on the earphones, I soimply love the lyrics of the band group or whatever. They surprise me with their lyrics. Some how they make trance sound decent enough for me. I cant stand the repetetive sound of trance at times - like a stuck record that cant move beyond a point. Good Lord! move on will ya! Just one tune on loop like there exists no other tune...! The world of sounds are varied and beautiful. Explore my dear! But I guess this band has some how managed to make trance interesting. Guess its the lyrics.
Listening to sun and moon, i am reminded of my first love. I never thought I would forget him. I knew it would never work out. But I never thought I would ever stop loving him. I guess everyone thinks like that of their first love when they first fall in love. :-)
But then you grow up. Then you realise that there is more to love and life. Sun and Moon are just fine. But there are millions of stars out there too ;-)
Your thoughts do Linger but you dont live like a Zombie. You gotta let go. Because Love is not enough....even if you are truly madly deepy in love and even though I felt I knew you before I loved you, somehow, you managed to let me go. If only I could turn back time, I would stay forever in love with you. But if only I could...But then nothing is forever. And if it is, then it would never let you go. And neither would you let it go.
I am not sure if I am making any sense...but I am simply writing because
the words just flow,
the world around me is suddenly slow.
My fingers seem to whirl around on the keyboard.
my mind makes less sense than my fingers do.
But my heart sings along happily.
Content that words that are in my mind
are seeing the light of day.
sense or nonsense,
it doesnt matter.
'Cause sometimes, sense simply doesnt have a place
in your existence.
You need to listen to your heartstrings,
and simply bow down
to the inevitable
and let things move on.
For sometimes, things move on as you want them to,
but never the way you want them to.

:-)

Singing.... A passtime, a hobby, a profession... Some sing well some sing in the bathroom, some better not sing. My cousins - now they are great singers. they sing well.. but I really dont know what it is about plugging stuff to your ears that ruins your sense of tune rhyme and rhythm. One becomes horribly out of tune! Woe befalls all who do not plug their ears!
My cousin has a lovely voice. She can sing very well. But with a darned iPod plugged to her ears, I would rather be anywhere but near her! I guess the advent of the iPod started off with the walkman. The sony walkman which helped you listen to your songs without antagonising other people and their tastes. It has evolved to a lot of other indivisual music listening and storing systems. Awesome. But sometimes when people choose to sing along and do not realise they are doing so loudly...! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting....

On the way to Bandra reclaimation, when you are going on the highway, there is this wonderful stretch of road which is wide and smooth and faces the backwaters of the Arabian sea. If you look below, you can see another road going into the suburb and then there is another road that takes a steep sort of curve which is reall beautiful. And beyond the railing at the end of the road, the dark waters swirl by in the moonlight or whatever.
There is a very unique way that this shoulder is used by my fellow city-zens.
Its a lover's meeting point.
The entire stretch of this railing has bikes parked at a uniform interval of a metre or so. I am sure if you measure the distance, it will be uniform. There are even cars parked along this railing. These also adhere to the distance between vehicles. These vehicles - all of them - have a couple either talking to each other, or coochi coo-ing. Not many coochie coo though - with due respect to these guys. Its the most decent lovers meet that I have seen. I guess there is another strange thing about this lovers rail - none of the couples seem to be really evesdropping on the others. I have never really seen any bored couples.They are always talking facing each other or looking at the sea or something, but never at the other vehicles parked around them. Likes its some unspoken protocol or something.
But this may also be that I am not able to see them at their ardous best because I always notice this stretch when I am whizzing past the highway. So I only notice that there are couples and that the entire stretch of this amazing sea line along the beautiful highway is lined with bikes and cars with lovers meeting up and catching up after a long day.
Its amazing how lovers in Mumbai end up finding the most wierdest yet most practical spaces to spend time together.
With no disturbance. Nobody really spying on them. Even if someone is going to be spying on them, they would know
because this highway is real broad and vehicles practically whizz past them.
Besides, the view is spectacular. Beyond the railing, you can see the dark waters of the sea swirling by and if the
moon is full, the reflection is beautiful. The breeze is wonderful and exhilarating. Its a rejuvenating place. If you are bored of your partner, all you need to do is look at the backwaters of the Arabian Sea or the traffic that whizzes past. :-)
Interesting city I live in ;-)

Books....

I Love books. A little fussy about it because I love fiction. The masala and the mindblowingly impossible things like....O well! like the CIA planning an assassination of some one to prevent another assassination, the adventures of a guy who manages to lose his memory yet retain his skills and O my! what skills they are! shooting jumping, sky diving etc etc....
For a bibliophile like me, I miss books. I miss the variety and spice that books bring in my life.
In a city like Mumbai that's teeming with life, movies rule. But books, alas! these are so scarce!
I miss buying books from the street. I miss buying and selling books. If a book is trash I can read it once, and resell it, too!
An amazing concept. Its a moving library. Buy, sell, resell....buy another one...Hmmm, sounds like my heaven. I can keep the books for as long as I want. I can also sell them if I am tired of them or if i deem them completely unreadable.
Mumbai, for a city that proclaims to cater to everybody's likes and dislikes, unfortunately, puts the bibliophile aside :(
There is one street in Fort which has the book bazaar on the street but it is so faar away from the suburbs! Also, it is a little on the expensive side. Reading, as a habit, is quite an expensive hobby in this city.
I wish I could get some books with more varied authors...different titles, a place near by that will allow me to exchange books, read them, savour them and talk to other people who love books. I miss talking to people who know where to get books, the libraries the places to go read in peace....
In a city where space is premium, this kind of luxury is not only unheard of, but unthought of!
I actually miss London where the bibliophile is pampered with choices. The number of different authors, the variety of literature, its something I miss about that city. It has a classic collection of books that keep getting churned out every year and surprise a reader and help you get out of your comfort zone in reading genres. On the other hand, it also helps you to read more in the genres that you are comfortable in. Works both ways!
For, the number of bookshops are more. So the variety of books are also more.
So does that mean that Mumbai has less nuber of readers? And is it that most of them reside only in the town side? Aah well, my bad that lesser mortals like me reside in the far away suburbs :'(

Run for it!

When everything looks dark
Then simply light a candle.
When you see theres no way
Just turn right back around
When everything you say is misunderstood,
Just stay silent
When the noise becomes too much,
Tune out.
When the noise in your head becomes too much,
Simply zone out of yourself.
Look outside of your head,
find your feet,
and simply....
make a run for the nearest ice cream store!

Anathema

And then the fumes of anger pass by me, like some gas of rotten gas. It wafts by and stifles me. Clogging my arteries, veins and circulation. It clogs up my entire system and creates such a stink!
There is no clean air to breathe.
I suffocate.
I die.
And its all anger.
Its all that rotten egg air that fouls up everything inside of me,
misdirecting myself from me.
Creating another entity that is so not me.
Its that stink inside of me,
that walks beside mostly,
but sometimes i am besides myself and it is inside of me,
wafting around and making me what i am not.