Over the Top...

I was on a South India tour back in 2000 when my Dad and his colleagues planned a 13 day road trip along with families. When we reached this place it was around 7 in the morning with slight drizzles and an unending line of vehicles parked on the road. The previous night due to heavy storms a tree had fallen and blocked the main road. Needless to say, we spent the whole day in the parked bus and it was 8pm by the time we reached the place on top of the hills. As if that was not enough, the whole place was dark due to a major power cut. We found only one shop open with candle lights inside. All of us went in eagerly and everyone bought something there, with a common intention, that when we get back we can tell people that we visited this place and in fact bought something there. We left from there with out a view or a picture of the place.
         If you are still wondering, its a famous hill station called Udhagamandalam A.K.A Ooty. My second visit there happened 3 weeks ago with my sister's family. We spent 3 days hiking a lot of locations. The highlight of the trip was a place called Suicide Point (no, not the one in the picture above! Come on..!!) and the Toy Train (your trip is incomplete without it). When we came back I found my 16GB card had around 1800 photographs from the trip. So, let me say it once again....STAY TUNED!

Last But One... [Guest Post]

Desire is the only constant in life. Right from the time we start knowing about what desire is, we keep chasing it in one form or the other. As long as we were in school, we wanted to get to college. As long as those boring intermediate classes never ended, we had only one final wish in this life, to get a good rank. After the results are announced we realize that our final wish was actually "last-but-one" and the last wish is to get a seat in a good university/college. We slowly learn that the process repeats every semester with a consistent desire being, "if only I clear all of them this time". We become a bit enlightened after graduation, coz its time to face the real world and start some actual learning. Now the desire becomes solid and also final, to get a job, 'thats it, Im settled for life', we decide. The good news is we get a job. The not so good news is its not final. Then comes the various troubles in the name of performance, reviews, projects, perks, team leaders, project managers, meetings, conference calls, misdirected career path and other fancy corporate terms that I forgot a while ago. My very dear friend Md. Eliyas reminded me of all these and explained it visually in this mashed-up photo depicting his current status at work. Seems like he has a lot on his mind and his plate (Welcome to the corporate world my friend). Just remember whatever desire you have its not going to be the last. Its always last but one.
                Lets all wish him luck and hopefully the photo gets less crowded soon, so we can see the original awesome photo.

india [LIVE].................(Guest Post)

Chances are you might have been outside of your home/house/shelter/apartment/building at midnight on 30th March 2011. You might have fired crackers though its not Diwali yet and its scorching summer time. And also chances are that you'll remember this night for a long time to come. Coz, thats the night when INDIA came out together in unison chanting prayers and cheering a national spirit in the name of victory against our arch-nemesis PAKISTAN at the game of cricket. Even people who are not fans of cricket (yours truly) had a blast of excitement that night on the streets. I heard that tankbund and necklace road were filled with around 10000 fans with flags, DJ, bands and just about 50 police personnel. No harm done, no one hurt, no non-sense, just pure performance, in having fun together. I've never seen any festival being celebrated at this proportion, perhaps the greatest display of national integration. We won the semis in a high octane chase that as reported by the media resulted in thousands of crores of rupees transactions in the name of betting and indefinite bottles of Budweiser in the name of cheering as reported by our maid the next morning. Anyways so my friend Prakash sent me this photo that he took with his new Sony Cybershot. He had a lot of other great photos on that but come on, INDIA doesnt come out at midnight everyday!

PS: Almost forgot, the match, tomorrow, finals, ...SRI LANKA, Dhak Dhak GO, INDIA GO!!