<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221</id><updated>2012-02-17T00:14:47.179+05:30</updated><category term='abstract'/><category term='essay'/><category term='people'/><category term='peace'/><category term='boredom'/><category term='favorites'/><category term='limbo'/><category term='pangea day'/><category term='videos'/><category term='community'/><category term='tomfoolery'/><category term='verse'/><category term='traffic'/><category term='rambling'/><category term='work'/><category term='understanding'/><category term='mensa'/><category term='travelogue'/><category term='awareness'/><title type='text'>Mind over matter? Never mind, doesn't matter...</title><subtitle type='html'>Randomness inflicted on the unsuspecting populace...</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>11</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-2370415233682408716</id><published>2008-05-12T12:59:00.005+05:30</published><updated>2008-05-12T21:42:14.498+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='videos'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='favorites'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='pangea day'/><title type='text'>Favourite clips from Pangea Day</title><content type='html'>These are some of my personal favorites from Pangea Day :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=74"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=105"&gt;Pangea Day Opening&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=74"&gt;A Thousand Words&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ted Chung&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=4"&gt;Dancing Queen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sumit Roy&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=6"&gt;Elevator Music&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Serdar Ferit&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=7"&gt;I Remember Lebanon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Zeina Aboul Hosn&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=32"&gt;J'Attendrai Le Suivant (I'll Wait for the Next One)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Philippe Orreindy&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=8"&gt;L'Homme Sans Tete (The Man Without a Head)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Juan Solanas&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=9"&gt;More&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mark Osborne&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=72"&gt;Mutual Recognition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jehane Noujaim&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=67"&gt;Operation Homecoming: Road Work&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Richard E. Robbins&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=75"&gt;Pale Blue Dot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; (Carl Sagan ++)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=10"&gt;Papiroflexia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Joaquin Baldwin&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=12"&gt;Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Zach Niles and Banker White&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=29"&gt;Stille Post (Telephone Game)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oliver Rauch&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=2"&gt;The Americana Project: Cuba&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Topaz Adizes&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=14"&gt;Walleyball&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brent Hoff&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Speakers:&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=62"&gt;Assaad Chaftari&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=57"&gt;Ali Abu Awwad&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=24"&gt;Carolyn Porco&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=61"&gt;Muhieddine Chehab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are a few videos on the site that weren't relayed. Will check and put those up later.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-2370415233682408716?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/2370415233682408716/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=2370415233682408716' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/2370415233682408716'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/2370415233682408716'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2008/05/favourite-clips-from-pangea-day.html' title='Favourite clips from Pangea Day'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-438859281657928804</id><published>2008-05-11T07:25:00.013+05:30</published><updated>2008-12-12T07:45:10.285+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='understanding'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='people'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='peace'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='community'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='pangea day'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='awareness'/><title type='text'>Going to Gondwanaland : Pangea Day</title><content type='html'>Hmmm, half past seven on a Sunday morning, and my fingertips slur these words on the keyboard... Am a spot sleepy, a spot tired, a spot hungry, a spot woozy... and yet, the predominant emotion in my head is a pleasant high... a light optimism. &lt;br /&gt;I lucky to have been part of a truly remarkable experience last night... one that made me think, feel, and more importantly, lose some of my cynicism at us descendants of the primordial soup and our foibles, large and small. When P alerted me about &lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.org/"&gt;Pangea day&lt;/a&gt;, I was pleasantly surprised to read about the whole project, and what it set out to do. My mind drew parallels to Live Aid and Live 8, but this was even more phenomenal. It had started from scratch and is a testament to the vision and perseverance of &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehane_Noujaim"&gt;Jehane Noujaim&lt;/a&gt;. [No disrespect to Bob Geldof :-) ]. Out here, at ground zero / Bangalore, the folk who organised this event did so at extremely short notice, and pulled off a resounding success.(Check the &lt;a href="http://www.pangeaday.in"&gt;Indian Pangea day site&lt;/a&gt; for details of the people, the place etc). Thoughtworks hosted the event, and also pampered us folk through the course of the event... I also joined a couple of folk to make some vague attempts at music before the event began... Ah, there, now that I've gotten all that out of the way, time to get down to brass tacks. &lt;br /&gt;The event itself... sitting with a hundred odd people, looking at a program a few million people around the world were watching simultaneously, cant help but set a tiny tingle in your spine. The night was a magical swirl of images that danced in my eyes, in my thoughts, in my awareness, in my conscience. The movies screened were snippets that ranged from the whimsical, the hilarious, the stunning to the shocking, the disturbing, the confusing... but almost all of them were thought provoking and in some ways profoundly moving. The simplicity of the concept that was the undercurrent of the project, and the clips screened- reaching out to and understanding people- belied the profound impact of doing so. I won't enumerate the movies here, you'll find more accurate and complete listings at the Pangea Day site. Instead, here, I guess it's more pertinent to recount how each movie-ette, each insight, each moment captured there held us and carried us along on a wonderful journey of thought. A majority of us who had assembled were touched in some way, big or small, by what happened last night. It really was an experience worth remembering. To an extent, we cannot look at the news of the strife or suffering among strangers with the same dispassionate apathy anymore. We have a fragile, ephemeral existence, on an individual level, as a people, as a species, as a planet... will we make something significant of our co(s)mic insignificance? Hmmm, after last night, I realise that there still is hope...&lt;br /&gt;A lot of it was exemplified by the attitude of some of the people present yesterday. After a rather fun breakfast at Capitol with some of the folk, and an awesome solitary ramble through Lalbagh... I couldn't help but feel, yes, there is hope. Not easy, not even clearly visible, but can't help but hope. Here's to dawn!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DSetfbYYIto/SCZlglyzJrI/AAAAAAAAA7A/DaL-p2UwyJQ/s1600-h/Here%27s+to+dawn.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DSetfbYYIto/SCZlglyzJrI/AAAAAAAAA7A/DaL-p2UwyJQ/s320/Here%27s+to+dawn.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198954430421214898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-438859281657928804?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/438859281657928804/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=438859281657928804' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/438859281657928804'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/438859281657928804'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2008/05/going-to-gondwanaland.html' title='Going to Gondwanaland : Pangea Day'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DSetfbYYIto/SCZlglyzJrI/AAAAAAAAA7A/DaL-p2UwyJQ/s72-c/Here%27s+to+dawn.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-114234056676904561</id><published>2006-03-14T18:18:00.000+05:30</published><updated>2006-03-14T18:19:26.770+05:30</updated><title type='text'>D-uh!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php?im"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.nerdtests.com/images/ft/nq.php?val=1768" alt="I am nerdier than 89% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-114234056676904561?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/114234056676904561/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=114234056676904561' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/114234056676904561'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/114234056676904561'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2006/03/d-uh.html' title='D-uh!'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-114233967654535345</id><published>2006-03-14T16:03:00.001+05:30</published><updated>2008-05-12T21:43:56.448+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='traffic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='people'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='rambling'/><title type='text'>[ANT] The mechanical waltz</title><content type='html'>Life resembles a chaotic dance of people and things. The dancers each swirl their way through the space provided by the others. They dance because they have to... with a few actually enjoying the dance and the way they dance... This is a chaotic, passionate waltz, much like Brownian movement.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3237/1499/1600/Mechanical%20waltz.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3237/1499/320/Mechanical%20waltz.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For me, it's easy to think of life while on the mechanical waltz to work. Yes, this is my wonderful city's traffic I'm talking about. Come morning, and the metal beasts of burden yank their lords to their destinations, in a dizzying, swirling, absurd dance that defies attempts at logic. And the dancers can sometimes be typecast! There are the auto-rickshaws with an identity crisis: They think they are two wheelers, but alas, fate has other things in store for them. The thing to be admired is their spirit, they carry on like two wheelers, regardless, more a caprice than a waltz...&lt;br /&gt;And what about the two wheelers themselves! The two wheelers dance to a Presto while the rest are at Largo. Any remote air vent between 2 other vehicles shall do, and they shalt make their way, firmly convinced of their immortality. There again is their wonderful belief that theonly true world is the one in front of their front wheel, all else is maya! Hence they undertake lateral spatial transitions as well, in total bliss. And the blaring horns and screamed invective... hmph, mere trifles! If anything, they add flavour to the sounds of the symphony, and the waltz continues...&lt;br /&gt;And the buses and trucks, the mastodons on the tarmac, the last bastion of stability in a sea of the volatile? Naah, not quite. Like any heavily built dancer, they like to imagine they are light on their feet, and add many a whimsical twist in the tapestry of the waltz! This, coupled with their almost-real immortality, allows them to throw their weight around! And the cars, poor creatures, are forever frustrated by the cruel world that does not allow them to move in freedom. "I mean, other vehicles on the road should be illegal, how dare the bike in front of me go at 40 when I want to floor the pedal!". And of course, no one follows lane discipline, so the cars have to make their way through, around, along or against the traffic. And there's always the odd bike they may have to nudge, but it's all a part of the dance...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Note:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;This post is dedicated to all the dancers that fit in this category. There are the specialists I may have ignored, and my apologies go out to them, but I felt they were beyond words! This includes: cab drivers, mobile-phone-addict drivers, female drivers {yeah, go ahead, flame me on that}, underage drivers, adrenaline junkies...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-114233967654535345?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/114233967654535345/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=114233967654535345' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/114233967654535345'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/114233967654535345'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2006/03/ant-mechanical-waltz.html' title='[ANT] The mechanical waltz'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-114198801690419598</id><published>2006-03-10T13:25:00.001+05:30</published><updated>2008-05-12T21:45:03.823+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='people'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='rambling'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='abstract'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='essay'/><title type='text'>[ANT] Eyespeak</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;(This is the first in a series of some meandering essays I've been meaning to write for a while now, but haven't gotten around to. For all I know, I may enter limbo again and not write another, but this is a start...)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;I have lately come to notice the joy of almost telepathic communication... when only eyes meet, and the communication is more an acknowledgement or understanding. It's somewhat funny, the joy of the instance of communication, especially with the unknown!&lt;br /&gt;When something noteworthy happens in cricket, for instance, while viewing in the cafeteria, stranger's eyes meet, and there is that nod without nodding, that mutual acknowledgement,which is vaguely satisfying! You're stuck in a traffic jam, and fellow drivers look across, with a mutual resignation+annoyance+frustration++++... And what about when we see someone attractive, and, in the remote possibility that their radar locks in to your gaze, and in the even more remote possibility that they acknowledge, and the infinitesmal probablity that they do so positively....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's intriguing, the intangible bliss of the ephemeral contact! I guess it is the comfort in knowing another human being thinks the way you do. There's also a certain abstract elegance to such a communication that words or form would destroy. When an aquaintance is rambling on and making a general ass of himself, and you look across at a f(r)iend, the muted smile speaks volumes more than a later analysis ever could! And the obfuscated haze of mutual confusion, the unision of flaming irises when in ire, the condescending disdain, the shocked horror, the pleading exhortation... you name it, the eyes have it...&lt;br /&gt;May the silent stories play out their evanescent scenes!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-114198801690419598?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/114198801690419598/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=114198801690419598' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/114198801690419598'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/114198801690419598'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2006/03/ant-eyespeak.html' title='[ANT] Eyespeak'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-113688327585816287</id><published>2006-01-10T13:07:00.001+05:30</published><updated>2008-05-12T21:46:18.173+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tomfoolery'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='limbo'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='verse'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='boredom'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='work'/><title type='text'>Boredomination</title><content type='html'>I guess all of us have had one of those moments when sudden, all pervasive boredom and inertia strikes us, and strikes hard! All will is lost, and we enter a state of limbo, and our head feels like it’s full of sawdust, and we ponder the irrelevance of existence! I entered one of those state a few minutes back, and have now for some obscure reason, decided to write nonsense rhyme!&lt;br /&gt;If you ask how this differs from any other poetry/lyric I write, they don't rhyme! :p&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Got a bee in my bonnet, buzzing bumble bee&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Or maybe two, or maybe even three&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;’Cos my head feels like a heavy hive, where bees thrive, nine to five&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Rows of neatly ordered little hexagons&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Forgotten words, quips and lowly puns&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Oh, how they blur and dance , twist and prance, sharpen and lance&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Staring at screens of words obnubilated&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;A sudden noise and I feel defibrillated&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Trapped in a silent scream, from a hazy dream, meandering stream&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Faraway clattering sounds drift to my ears&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Know no seconds, minutes, months, years&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;In my torpid heavy head, filled with lead, so gratefully dead&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Inertia carries me, my magic carpet&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Lassitude soothes me, my string quartet&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Am the king at the helm, an empty realm that does overwhelm&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-Ananth&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-113688327585816287?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/113688327585816287/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=113688327585816287' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/113688327585816287'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/113688327585816287'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2006/01/boredomination.html' title='Boredomination'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-112807754915668466</id><published>2005-09-29T21:15:00.001+05:30</published><updated>2008-05-12T21:47:37.792+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tomfoolery'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='boredom'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='work'/><title type='text'>The leaning tower of Paper-cup-isa</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3237/1499/1600/Paper%20cup%20Pisa.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3237/1499/320/Paper%20cup%20Pisa.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was clearing some files from my comp, when I tumbled across this photo. This happened sometime last year, and I'd sent this accompanying mail:&lt;br /&gt;-----------&lt;br /&gt;Check the attachment to see what happens when I have time (and paper cups) on my hand. One of my friends wanted to see if I could build the leaning tower of Pisa using paper cups, so I did! :-) For ideas on how to absolutely waste time, you may contact me. Abnormal charges apply.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-112807754915668466?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/112807754915668466/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=112807754915668466' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112807754915668466'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112807754915668466'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/09/leaning-tower-of-paper-cup-isa.html' title='The leaning tower of Paper-cup-isa'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-112789489679388247</id><published>2005-09-28T13:30:00.001+05:30</published><updated>2008-05-12T21:49:25.216+05:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='rambling'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='mensa'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='travelogue'/><title type='text'>[ANT] Mensa Bangalore travelogue: 24 Sep 05</title><content type='html'>This is the travelogue mail I sent on the mensabangalore mailing list! You could also check the photo's on Roshin's blog: &lt;a href="http://roshinlal.blogspot.com/2005/09/shivgange-trip.html" target="_blank"&gt;http://roshinlal.blogspot.com/2005/09/shivgange-trip.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So here goes:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;------------------------------------------------------&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;[Those who know me know how I like to ramble on! This is a looooong post… For the benefit of those with limited patience and/or time I have included an abridged version in the end of this post.]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STATUTORY WARNING:&lt;/strong&gt; The thinly veiled dancing girls were conspicuous by their absence, so you won’t find any reference to them in the post below. &lt;em&gt;(Mensan inside joke)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;24092005: 06:15...&lt;br /&gt;Stage 1 (Thought for food):&lt;/strong&gt; They say that morning drifts in and gently shakes you awake.... don't believe them! That morning woke me with a slap, aided and abetted by this contraption called an alarm clock. I managed to ignore the damn thing and doze off before another conspirator called “Conscience” woke me again! What followed was a series of hastily executed morning rituals and a hasty message to Jo telling her I may be a few mins off schedule (again). And then, I managed to get to Pavithra Restaurant in Jnr 4th block just before Jo could decide to start throwing things at me…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The appointed time for the food to be delivered by the good people at Pavithra was 7:30. However, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to make us wait until 8:05 for this to happen. This was having slightly perceptible effects on Jo’s BP, though! :-p&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;24092005: 08:30...&lt;br /&gt;Stage 2 (A moving story):&lt;/strong&gt;  We enter the bus stand, lugging along enough food for an army, and proceed towards Platform 6. (Platform 6 has no significance other than that Pradyot and I thought it sounded a good number at the time). Chetana and Rathi are already present, and we await the arrival of the rest. Then the Ms start trickling in (I think it is pertinent to add that Ujjwal was multitasking breakfast as well!). Owing to Tathagath (wish you were there) dropping out due to unforeseen workumstances, we were a final party of 15 who met up (with plaza names in brackets where relevant): Shaheen (Jo), Chetana, Rathi, Pradyot (Francis X Hummel/ FXH), Roshin (Jedi master/ JM), Dibyo, Frank, Mayur, Ujjwal (Brilliantnut/ BN), Amar, Karthik, Sandeep, Sonia, Sumedha and Ananth (Jazz4kicks /J4K).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thereon, we proceeded (as advised by the KSRTC powers that be) to Platform 16. After a few unsuccessful attempts at what may have seemed like hijack at the time, we found out that we had to go to a different platform after all! And lo and behold: A big, shiny (Yes, I’m exaggerating) red, empty bus was waiting to head to Dabaspet (which was our intermediate destination). We generally swarmed into the bus, and seated ourselves much like cheese-spread on hard sandwich bread. (And yes, the rhyme is intentional). At around 09:30, the driver decided he ought to continue the rest of his nap while driving…&lt;br /&gt;And the intrepid adventurers set off to conquer the unknown (Unknown to them at any case). The bus journey was the usual chit-chat, punctuated by a steady flow of Maaza, biscuits and BN repeatedly asking us how much longer it would take and when we could have lunch! The gang alighted at Dabaspet (4 KM from Shivagange) at around 10:30. To our luck, we almost immediately found a pvt bus that would take us where required if we parted with the appropriate amount of money. The transfer of funds happened and we proceeded along what was very optimistically called a road! We then got off at Shivagange, looking at the hillock (It seemed a bit taller than expected) with mild skepticism. For most of us, physical exercise amounts to typing on a computer keyboard! We then proceeded towards the base of the hill…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;24092005: 11:15&lt;br /&gt;Stage 3: (Up, up and still not away)...&lt;/strong&gt;We passed by what was possibly THE local attraction: a couple of VCD stores! Then Pradyot decided to go and buy bananas. Roshin was happy at this, and was extolling the virtues of the good fruit, and mentioning how useful it was on a trek, when Pradyot interrupted him to say that it was for the monkeys…. We had climbed up the first 5 or so steps among what seemed like a million when the peaceful monkeys of the area that it would be kind of them to reduce our load! They proceeded the relieve Pradyot of his burden of bananas (in a manner that may be viewed as a shade too abrupt, some may call it snatching).&lt;br /&gt;After thanking the monkeys adequately, we proceeded upwards. Then, the soft city slicker in us came out, and we began to take the occasional rest break! Somewhere along the line, I guess some people may have been disgruntled with the fact that I was regularly showing them new halfway marks as soon as we reached one…&lt;br /&gt;Finally, when we asked some locals how far we had come, they told us we had finished 1 Km out of 4! You thought this would deter most people! But no, not Mensans! We decided to find a suitable spot for lunch instead, near the actual halfway mark!&lt;br /&gt;Soon, at around 12:30 – ish, we decided that we had found a suitable spot for lunch, which I now call the “Stony sandwich shelter”. At this point, I think I should also mention that our lunch menu consisted of Sandwiches, Pulao+raitha and chips, and the absolutely necessary water… We settled in the rustic calm, with our caps in defiance against the insistent sunshine. The sandwiches went down well, and a lazy calm was washing over the group, when another of out fellow primates decided to make things interesting. The monkey was a battle scarred veteran, who tried to share the rewards of our hard(ly) earned food. I had a Swiss army knife with a telescope, machine gun and among other things, a telepathic translator for assorted animals. The monkey was thinking: “Hmmm, easy pickings, city slickers again! That too, only 15 of them! Hmmm, not bad, a couple of them are trying to shoo me away! I guess I’ll have to bare my fangs after all! Hmm, that’s better, they’re edging away, lemme try grabbing something now! Ah, what is it this fine young man has thrown: Oh, it’s some white thing, Mayonnaise? Naah, they were eating pulao, must be raitha”. He then proceeded to feast on the raitha, and we trudged w(e)arily to find another suitable place to resume lunch! And lo, we came upon what I call “Pulao Plateau”. Again, a flat expanse of rock on which we sat and resumed lunch! The pulao was good, and we also discovered Dibyo’s affinity towards “Lays : Spanish tomato tango”.  Midway through lunch, the sun slipped behind some clouds, and we slipped again into a hazy, lazy calm! Then we debated climbing uphill again. (We had covered 30-35% of the distance then). However, we were not too sure of getting a suitable shelter there, and sometime back, we had passed a covered mantap under a rock overhand! We decided to head back there for chatting and lazing about till the worst of the afternoon was done with! And then those who wished to would head uphill to conquer the peak, and the others would stay back to concur in peace…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;24092005: 14:00&lt;br /&gt;Stage 4 (After eatings; meetings and second questions):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We entered our shaded alcove, and a few souls climbed the roof of the mantap, for reasons unknown to mankind! Then came a short discussion on MBlr. (Just 1.5 hrs, really). The talk went this way&lt;br /&gt;1) A round of introductions&lt;br /&gt;2) A brief overview of Mensa India (Bangalore)’s current structure:&lt;br /&gt;(a) Executive (core) committee:&lt;br /&gt;Deals with all administrative and budgetary activities in MBlr.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(b) Event committee&lt;br /&gt;Deals with event organisation and planning.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MEMBERS:&lt;br /&gt;(a) Executive committee consisting of:&lt;br /&gt;-Sugandhi (President) MBlr’s representative in Mensa India.&lt;br /&gt;-Pradyot (Secretary, current acting president in Sugandhi’s absence)&lt;br /&gt;-Yogesh (Treasurer)&lt;br /&gt;-Roshin (SIGHT coordinator)&lt;br /&gt;-Lahar (Newsletter editor)&lt;br /&gt;-Shaheen (Core member and Event comm. Interface)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(b) Event committee (current active participants in alphabetical order):&lt;br /&gt;-Ananth&lt;br /&gt;-Chetana&lt;br /&gt;-Guru [Hannibal Lecter on plaza]&lt;br /&gt;-Rathi&lt;br /&gt;-Shaheen&lt;br /&gt;-Sumedha&lt;br /&gt;-Trupti&lt;br /&gt;-Ujjwal (Also webmaster for &lt;a href="http://www.mensabangalore.org/"&gt;www.mensabangalore.org&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also, discussion was present on the functioning of MBlr and the road ahead. (These discussions are beyond the scope of this e-mail, and the general guidelines will be available online). Many questions were fielded, and it was interesting to note that all of Sonia’s questions were numbered 2nd. :-p (Roshin, thanks for catching that!) It was then that we noticed the clock had crept to 15:20 and that the trekkers needed to make a move on! Hence we divided the water among ourselves and set off. Pradyot (by virtue of “been there, done that” syndrome), Rathi, Chetana and Dibyo decided to hold fort till we returned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;24092005: 15:30&lt;br /&gt;Stage 5 (Reaching for the skies):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;It was only when we started walking back did we realize how lazy a good lunch followed by a long chat makes you. We were feeling the heat by the time we returned to Pulao plateau itself. Then, we used a combination of planned rest and mutual motivation, we pushed on ahead! We passed a friendly neighborhood bartender who gave us the option of nimbu pani or buttermilk. We gently avoided both and trudged on ahead to what seemed the last stretch! These were steps with rails heading up at an almost impossible angle! Steeling our hearts, we pushed on. At some parts it was tricky, since the steps were narrow and small, making it a watchful climb. However, at any time during the stage described so far, all we had to do was turn around! The view was BREATHTAKING! The sun and clouds conspired together to dapple lights and shades on the fields below! It was very picturesque, and goaded us to push on ahead and see what the view might be from the top! This is when the encounters on the planet of the apes started. Along the way, a monkey had jumped on Roshin and neatly swiped a box of mints from his bag. Going up, we paused at the cave temple, before the last insanely steep climb to the summit. Sonia decided to rest here and wait for is to return. On the way up, one of the nice monkeys was endeavoring to establish communication with me, the gist being that it wanted my bag. I took a step or 2 towards it, hoping to scare it away. It took a step or 2 towards me, baring its fangs (my, my, what sharp teeth you have, grandma), successfully scaring me away! After a dicey stalemate, I wandered around an alternate path and sped up the steps, fuelled by my paranoia about monkeys and rabies! :-D&lt;br /&gt;Then we all made it to the top (There’s actually a temple there). The view was just amazing. There were smaller hillocks dotting the fields around, and we were on the highest point in the vicinity. We felt on top of that world. In the meantime, some monkeys had roughed up Amar’s bag a little bit, but we managed to retrieve the bag. We then proceeded to climb a large rock on top of the hill, and were at the highest point we could climb to! It was just brilliant. After drinking in the view, we waited for the dizzy pleasure to pass. Then, we turned our eye to the downward path. Pushing on, we came back to the cave temple. Here some monkeys had wrested Sandeep’s water bottle from Sonia and had savaged it!&lt;br /&gt;We then decided to make our way downhill as early as possible (without rolling down, that is). The downward trail was peaceful, until we spotted some 40 odd monkeys heading upwards at a distance. It was then that those primates displayed their abilities in psychological warfare. They just lined the path on both sides and watched us go by, occasionally grunting or swiping a hand out! Speaking for myself, fear did lend me wings (for details, refer Justforkix in “Asterix and the Normans”). A few of us managed to get to the bottom of that stretch unscathed. We then noticed that the rest had been fenced in by the monkeys, and the monkeys had grabbed a packed of crisps from one bag. Then Roshin ran back and scared the monkeys for a moment. Taking advantage of this diversion, we all scooted down. Then, after a round of refreshments at the aforementioned bartender, we were able to laugh at the incident in retrospect. Well, we had come here for adventure and thrill, and certainly got a lot more than our money’s worth! Now, in the pleasant evening, the climb down was serene, and again, the view breathtaking. We came back to the meeting mantap, and it was a joyous reunion. After a brief recount of each other’s incidents, we proceeded down towards ground zero. In the distance, we saw clouds that seemed to extend swathes to the ground. (My theory was rain…). A brief stop and a few tender coconuts later, we headed down again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;24092005: 15:30&lt;br /&gt;Stage 6 (The other title of “The Hobbit”):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Then, we asked the f(r)iendly natives where the bus would arrive. After a little misguiding and doomsday prophesying, we were told that the buses there were fictional and that we needed to take private transport. (Auto’s @ 50Rs each for 4 KM). While haggling with the auto-drivers, lo and behold, an empty bus arrives! We troop into the bus and again head towards Dabaspet! We then get off at Dabaspet, and hang around waiting for a bus. This interlude is punctuated by jamoon and chips! :-)&lt;br /&gt;Then, we had a feeling of Déjà vu as a conductor in a crowded private bus told us that was the last bus to Bangalore, and that we would have to stay back if we didn’t catch that! And lo and behold, an empty KSRTC bus turns up, and is heading towards Bangalore! :-)&lt;br /&gt;As before, we trooped in and settled in comfort! Then talk meandered around, until Ujjwal brought up the topic of SIGs, and more specifically: A book SIG! Hence work is now afoot to work out the logistics of a book SIG in MBlr that facilitated discussions and exchange of books. There’s also Outdoors, Music and Community Service on the anvil, with a lot of nebulous ideas that need to be distilled! By the time we reached B’lore bus stand, I can safely say that we all got off the bus in anticipation of the good times ahead.&lt;br /&gt;---------------------------------------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abridged Version:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bought food – met in bus stop – caught bus – got off at Dabaspet – caught bus – got off at Shivagange – climbed a while – had lunch (in 2 stages due to monkey intervention) – climbed down to shaded regions – spoke for a while – some of us climbed up, some stayed back- the climbers had a steep climb, with breathtaking scenery, punctuated by inter-primate encounters – felt amazing on top – more inter-primate encounters on the way down – stopped for nimbu pani – met the non-climbers – stopped for tender coconut water- headed down – caught bus to Dabaspet – had Jamoon – caught bus to Bangalore – STOP.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;------------------------------------------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Credits:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;For Planning: Shaheen, Pradyot, Chetana, Rathi, Ujjwal, Guru&lt;br /&gt;For food organisation: Shaheen (I was supposed to do it, but work got in the way and Shaheen did a very good job at short notice!)&lt;br /&gt;For infrastructure: Rathi (ie paper plates etc.)&lt;br /&gt;For first aid stuff: Rathi and Chetana&lt;br /&gt;For dropping me home: Sumedha! :-D&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Phew, that was a long mail…..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ananth&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-112789489679388247?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/112789489679388247/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=112789489679388247' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112789489679388247'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112789489679388247'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/09/ant-mensa-bangalore-travelogue-24-sep.html' title='[ANT] Mensa Bangalore travelogue: 24 Sep 05'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-112567190662795425</id><published>2005-09-02T19:57:00.000+05:30</published><updated>2005-09-02T20:08:26.633+05:30</updated><title type='text'>[LYR][ANT] Forever</title><content type='html'>This was relatively less stark, again written in the early engg college phase. I had originally intended this to be a song, only, I've quite forgotten how it goes...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A million thanks to Arun for actually preserving these poems and lyrics of mine!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a kind of abstract look at how we like to evade the notion of (our) mortality. It is inspired by the Simon and Garfunkel song &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://sglyrics.myrmid.com/parsley.htm#track08"&gt;Flowers never bend with the rainfall&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Forever&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The sands of time keep running&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yesterday just slips away&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The tomorrows just keep coming&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Today's not here to stay &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;But we walk along on the slow path&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Walk along the beaten trail&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scoff at shadows of passing time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And pretend ... We'll go on living forever &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;As each milestone keeps passing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And we keep on hoping there'll be more&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And the horizon keeps nearing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;But then, we've stopped keeping score &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The wheels of fate keep turning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And we hope it points our way again&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't know when we'll start learning&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ignore the end, we'll do it fain &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And we walk along on the slow path&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Walk along the beaten trail&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scoff at shadows of passing time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And pretend ... We'll go on living forever &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The clouds above are clearing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;We see it lighting the path below&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;We see the end nearing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The chasm that splits the road slow &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Yet, blind, we keep on walking&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thinking the chasm will bridge itself&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;We carry on, without stopping&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Keeping our thoughts to ourselves &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Still walking along on the slow path&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Walking on the beaten trail&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Scoffing at shadows of passing time&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pretending ... We'll go on living forever...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="right"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ananthapadmanabhan R&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-112567190662795425?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/112567190662795425/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=112567190662795425' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112567190662795425'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112567190662795425'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/09/lyrant-forever.html' title='[LYR][ANT] Forever'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-112566204590557255</id><published>2005-09-02T15:56:00.000+05:30</published><updated>2005-09-02T17:34:37.540+05:30</updated><title type='text'>[PTR] [ANT] Battleground musings</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;This is something I wrote back in the dark ages: the pre internet years, sometime in PUC or initial stages of enngineering college. I was in a War/Death/Darkness mode back then. I thought it was good to write (what I thought was) "serious poetry", with stark imagery and protesting war etc. I guess the hangover of those thoughts still exist, dunno...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Note there there is almost no sense of syllablic metre, and it is almost blank verse, only that I've used a rhyming scheme...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;Anyway, here goes: :-)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;Battleground musings&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I awake at the sound of a faraway cry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I know what it means, and yet it means nothing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;Just that another fellow human did die&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I feel no sorrow, just numb at his passing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I see the fires under the dark night sky.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I know he's dead, and know there'll be more&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   Strewn, the corses of young men lie&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I see the broken men, and no ones keeping score.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I hear the noises pierce the night air.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I know they portend death, and move to kill in turn.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;About the thoughts that haunt me, i do not care.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I'm aware i'm a fool; and yet dont learn. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;    I watch the young boy brutally felled&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;    I see the jagged tear that robbed his years.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   His mother pines, with his hands held&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I see the wounds, awash with her tears.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I'm no more apalled at a death so young&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I've seen it before, and will again&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;More young men die, their songs unsung&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I feel, hidden deep, a searing pain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I rue the day i stepped on the field&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I have slain fellow men, stilled in fear.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   Trying too late, to mourn for those killed&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   Knowing now, killing doesnt make me superior&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I know now, while praying for an end&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;I nurse my sorrow, and my shattered dreams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;Knowing full well, that matters may ne'er end.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;There may ne'er be an end to the screams&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I feel around me, a shroud of despair&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   I hope to lift through, out into light.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   Maybe it'll end if we try to care&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;   A dawn of salvation, ending night.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="right"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ananthapadmanabhan R&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-112566204590557255?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/112566204590557255/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=112566204590557255' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112566204590557255'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112566204590557255'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/09/ptr-ant-battleground-musings.html' title='[PTR] [ANT] Battleground musings'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977221.post-112542299211888958</id><published>2005-08-30T22:39:00.000+05:30</published><updated>2005-08-31T14:47:00.596+05:30</updated><title type='text'>A short history of nearly nothing (Glossary included)</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;...and I entered&lt;/span&gt; the world of 'blogging! What do I dump here... Dunno, a lot of inanities, perhaps! I'll start off by dumping my (so called) poetry here when I get around to typing it out. This has poetry right back from my 7th standard days, so if you're weak hearted, I wouldn't recommend a read!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Otherwise, I may just ramble on incoherently... like in this post!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Glossary for Post Titles [FOR THOSE THINGIES IN SQUARE BRACES]&lt;br /&gt;[PTR] : Poetry. I don't know pottery, probably never will!&lt;br /&gt;[LIT]: Literature, reading, fiction/non-fiction, novels, book reviews and so on&lt;br /&gt;[LYR] : Lyrics, songs I like and so on&lt;br /&gt;[MUS]: Musings on music&lt;br /&gt;[ABS] : Abstract thoughts&lt;br /&gt;[ART] : If I manage to sketch something and then actually scan it...Or if I find some good art pics&lt;br /&gt;[PHT] : Photos&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[ANT] : Nope, no anthropology, no antonyms, no nothing! These are posts on something I may have written or composed...&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;Want to know what the letters in []mean? Navigate to my first post at: http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15977221-112542299211888958?l=jazz4kicks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/feeds/112542299211888958/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15977221&amp;postID=112542299211888958' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112542299211888958'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15977221/posts/default/112542299211888958'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jazz4kicks.blogspot.com/2005/08/short-history-of-nearly-nothing.html' title='A short history of nearly nothing (Glossary included)'/><author><name>Ananth</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12834956020210937486</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
