Random Ramblings

It was an impossible dream Like reaching for the stars in the sky I chased it like that elusive butterfly I prayed to get it I hoped to catch it some time So that it could be forever mine I was always so near Yet it was so far But I pursued it endlessly For it was just too dear It sometimes faded And disappeared in the sky And when I held it at last It was just a mirage

I loved coffee. I asked for tea. What I got is a soft drink. Well, that precisely is the story of my life.

"Man's mind , once stretched by a new idea , never regains its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Just wondering, what is the worst non-fatal, non-demeaning thing you can do to a person? Surely, one of them is allowing him/ her to explore things so that forms his opinions and ideas about things, and then exercise control (& not just give opinions) on what he should think, what he should deem as right or wrong & what he should do . Barbaric it may sound but probably allowing him to remain ignorant may be a better option . What say?

Recently I managed to get a glimpse of 2 (reality) shows - "Rakhi ka Swayamwar" and "Sach ka Saamna" While the former is a manifestation of a publicity hungry clothes shedding "Sati Savitri", the latter is a virtual slaughter of private life in full public glare for few wads of money? Or am I wrong ? Maybe Rakhi Sawant has really changed, and hopes to find a soulmate and become one of those Tulsi-type bahu and people are facing the truth just to come 'clean', to make amends to demands of their conscience! Meanwhile, I am reminded of Dhitrashtra's statement in jaane bhi do yaaron - "ye sab kya ho raha hai"

Random thought - "knowledge is a bane if u r supposed to follow a preordained line of thought" What say ?

Traveling around country side is so much - exciting tiring interesting frustrating but above all ... enlightening (now, I still don't claim to be an enlightened soul though!) It is just so awesome an experience. You get to know soooooooo many different shades of life - some good, some not so good, some un-good and some outrightly bad. But then, that's life! I may be liking only parts of it right now, but I am sure that in times to come I'll cherish these 'traveler' moments of mine ... hopefully !!!! Hoping to come with a longer, detailed post ... Hopefully I don't run out of motivation & energy by then!!!

In the penultimate moment, he just waited. A guillotine will kiss his neck, and is speed would be enough to separate it from rest of the body. This process will be repeated eleven times, ten times after his head had already been chopped off. But then, that was the law ever since those bearded men who believed themselves to be messengers of god took over few years ago. He was guilty on many counts, punishment for each ranging from few lashes to being executed few timed over. He was one of the few individuals who was given a chance to plead in public to escape this gruesome end. This was a special privilege given to him by the ruler, so that he begs for forgiveness for all his sins, be blessed with atonement and then back to life as normal ... normal as per as what they thought. That, the ruler thought would serve as a precedent and inspire people to follow their line of thought. For the one last time he was asked, "You still have the time. Do you wish to come back to the life of a

Of late, I haven't been quite regular on this blog, except for few sporadic posts here and there. There have been many factors, chiefly laziness and utter lack of motivation to make a post. Meanwhile I have been working on (... rather, have worked on around a month and a half back!) on designing a web page. I wished to update it on a regular basis, but somehow the inertia of doing nothing in this direction is too much of a barrier. www.rathinikesh.com Hope to start updating this soon !!!

Nothing unites us like a common enemy. Think about it, and a great deal of truth about human existence comes forward. Two individuals, who may hardly be in good terms often come together once they get a common enemy. Long ago it was the Britishers on our soil which united the much divided people of this country against them. Much before than, in times of monarchy it was the enemies of the kingdom which kept the flock together. Thousands of years ago, it was the nature and the wildlife which kept the humans together. Why only humans? Take the case of animals like deer in the forest that often stay together for there is a fear of being hunted by some bigger enemy like a lion or a tiger. There might be some cohesiveness because of similarities among themselves but it becomes secondary given the fear of something bigger, something that threatens the basic existence. This common enemy factor may be of different magnitudes, in different shapes and sizes. It might be a big movement or

With the clouds of elections and subsequently, polity in post-election times looming large it is again a time for all those false promises and assurances, of trying a million permutations and combinations to reach that coveted number, of mud slinging and infighting, of big ticket bargains and compromises ... and of course hope and dreams of a better future. In about ten weeks or so it will be clear who will rule the country for time to come (... if that time is 5 years remains to be seen!) . Will the incumbents be back in power or the PM in waiting becomes the PM ... or we'll see emergences of the opportunistic alliance called "The Third Front" . Meanwhile the fight between the two largest parties reminds me of a cover page story in The Economist during the 2004 US Presidential elections - "Incompetent v/s Incoherent" . Personally, I think it is a contest between two alliances - one not having a great track record during its last five years in power against an