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  • The large and small!

    I have been able to experience a few extremes with my stay in the US, and I really like that fact…

    Things that I could only imagine, or maybe not, were there in front of my eyes!

    Talking about large …

    Being the country with more than 9 times zones all territories considered

    Niagara which has close to about 561000 litres of water flowing down per second

    Being able to drive the distance between New Delhi and Kanya Kumari over a long weekend

    and the other extreme… small…

    What would you call a 40 seater bus which makes awfully loud sound and can fly? no points for guessing that it’s called an aeroplane and this size is very popular for short distances in the states… my flight from Syracuse was a CRJ200 Bombardier Regional Jet with a seating capacity of 50 (2 pilots, 1 crew member, 42 passenger seats – 9 rows of 4 seats each, and 1 of 6 , I am not sure where are the other seats) and if this was small, there was another flight which had only 3 seats in a row, more rows though, and just enough headroom for me to stand properly… now the good part about these flights is that they have a good amount of legroom, and if you are not taller than 6ft you should be able to stretch your legs all the way… the bad part is that you might have to move around if the plane is empty to distribute the weight for a take off!!! It’s a plane, I understand a bit of the weight balance and aerodynamics but still found it amusing when I was asked to move the first time 😀

    I think these planes make more sense to fly low traffic routes in India instead of the large Boeings or Airbuses. I wonder why they use large aircrafts all the time.

    Taking about sizes, here is something for you to read and think about…

    “On a diagram of the solar system to scale, with Earth reduced to about the diameter of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet away and Pluto would be a mile and a half distant (and about the size of a bacterium, so you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway). One the same scale, Proxima Centauri, our nearest star, would be almost ten thousand miles away. Even if you shrank down everything so that Jupiter was as small as the period at the end of this sentence, and Pluto was no bigger than a molecule, Pluto would still be over thirty-five feet away. (Bill Bryson – A Short History of Nearly Everything)“

    And speaking of distances and history… some distances do get covered in due course of time and some milestones do become history… one of such is about to happen shortly while I am writing this!

  • बोलो राधे श्याम राधे श्याम

    शुक्रवार का था इंतज़ार
    हफ्ता बीता
    और आ गए सरकार

    खरीदी उड़ने वाली चिड़िया की टिकेट
    डाला झोले में सामान
    जा रहे हैं सहर से बाहर करने थोडी मस्ती
    ऊपर वाला हैं हम पर मेहरबान

    बोलो राधे श्याम राधे श्याम !!!!

  • A girl A boy and A planet

    “I am a star, a rock star”, she said!”Maybe more than that, maybe a real star”, he said.

    “And I am out of this world”, she said

    “Maybe then you need to have a place to stay outside this world too”, he said

    “I think so too”, she said

    “Maybe I will make a planet for you, and you could stay there”, he said

    “Fantastic”, she said

    “And I will name it after you”, he said

    “No name it after yourself”, she said

    “Kabhi ghar ke upar contractor ya architect ka naam dekha hai likha hua? tere naam par hona chahiye naam.”, he said

    “Rahega na tu thekedaar aur architect hi… tujhe artist nahin ban-na lagta hai kabhi. Ghonchu”, she said

    “umm… umm… hmm…. Arre par… agar… magar… “,he said and mumbled

    “Michelangelo ka kaam kahin bhi rahe, Michelangelo hi kehlaata hai”, she said

    “Baat to sahi hai teri! Seekhna padega”, he said

    “Chal ab planet bana aur naam rakh”, she said

    “Par main naam phir bhi tere upar hi rakhunga”, he said

    “achcha achcha ghonchu”, she said

    So he spent the days and weeks and months making a planet for her, and when it was ready, he spent days on the name… what could the name be!!! What was it that was the most important for him about her for her about him for them about this and what not…

    He finally decided that her planet would be called “Fiducia”

    and the people on her planet would be called Fiducians,

    He never knew if she liked the name or not, but when he told her about the names, she said “Love you!”, and he said “Love you too”, and she said “As if you have a choice!”

  • Hold on

    Say the truth, the way it should be said
    but hold on to your immediate reactions
    check if the words are worth it, or the person is worth it, or is the time right!

    Also, keep your distance from the people
    1. who are judgmental and like to jump to conclusions
    2. who tend to swing like pendulums with their actions/words/feelings/emotions

  • right place right time

    Got a comment on one of the photographs that I posted on Flickr yesterday… The photograph is from Kanha, a weeklong getaway in Madhya Pradesh last year in March. The comment says, “u r always at right place at right time with right gear 🙂 “ and I have been thinking about it since I read it… my reaction to this comment was “Or let’s say there is something right about every place every time where I end up being! 🙂 ” Too philosophical, maybe impractical too, but something inside me has started believing in that very strongly for a while now! Let me put my Positive thinker hat on and write the rest of this post… no one needs to agree to anything that I say (though personally I want everyone to agree with everything that I say, every time I say it, but that’s a different matter)

    Had a unexpected break after I wrote the first paragraph and on second thoughts, I am just letting the gyan session go! Till the time I have brighter side algorithms figured out right for myself, I should be fine!!!

    On a completely unrelated note, how many of you have heard the “Sunder Kand” of Tulsi Ramayan? Well, more popularly known as the RamCharitmanas! I love to listen to it, can’t make out even 10% of what is being said, and that when my Nani (mother’s mother) remembers almost all of it, my parents understand it fully. I might work on getting the Sundar Kand of Ramcharitmanas here on Chai ki Dukaan sometime in future!! Some of the reasons why I like listening to it are, the voice of Mukesh, the classical music and instruments, and the unexplainable peace that I get from it!

  • Krazy and Korrect

    At least that’s what the latest on blogthings says about me!!! I am pretty glad to read it too!

    You may not have long hair or a closet full of tie-dye, but you definitely dance to the beat of your own drum. (And you may even play the drum as well.) You are a true free spirit. You don’t let yourself be weighed down by rules and expectations. You are creative, philosophical, and caring. You want everyone to have a better life. For you, the worst thing in the world is being stuck in some rat race. You rather be broke than have to wear a suit every day.

    It might not be what I am, but it is for sure what I am getting to be!

    • Rules suffocate me
    • Expectations irritate me
    • Creativity excites me
    • Philosophy catches my attention
    • Care strengthens me (but I decide who I want it from; any non-asked for care is suffocating)
    • I want people to have better life… some while being around me, and some will have it better by just getting out of my face 😀
    • Rat Race… yea! I know how that feels
    • And suits! Well… I have a lovely black jacket, but I have not worn in over an year! Just do not feel like it!

  • Mission Mountains! Accomplished beyond expectations!

  • Hello Ween!

    Ok Day at work on Friday

    Bad Evening with a repeat muscle pull… and temporary reduction of movement around the house for a few hours with much uncomfortable pain!!!

    Worse Evening with a totally ridiculous movie called “Management”… what a piece of crap!!!

    Better ending to the day… sleeping while some movie is on… not even realizing when you slide into a deep sleep is one of the nicer ways to fall asleep!

    Not so good start to the day… waking up because of a strange dream at 4 in the morning…

    And making it better by spending the day at The Office (watching all 28 episodes of season 5 back to back, with a Japanese movie for a break), getting a 1965 edition of a photography magazine, and buying a Tie for myself.


    So all in all, this Halloween turned out to be full of Tricks and Treats for me!!!! purrfect!!!

    Happy Halloween Everyone, from the Chaiwala, and the Chai Ki Dukaan!

    The Pumpkin I carved for the Halloween!

  • some this some that!

    some learn it

    some know it

    some learn it and then know it

    some know it but never learn

  • Patekar Barishkar!

    ध्रिष्ट्ध्युमं पद्मनाभ प्रजापति नीलकंठ धूमकेतु बारिशकर (Dhristdhyumna Padmanaabh Prajapati Neelkanth Dhoomketu Barishkar)is one of my favorite names and characters in Hindi Cinema!!! I remember trying to recall his complete name in the movie so many times in college….

    For the ones who do not know or do not remember, this was the on-screen name of Nana Patekar’s character in “थोड़ा सा रूमानी हो जाएँ” (Thoda sa Romani ho Jayen). The movie was directed by Amol Palekar and released in 1990.

    Enjoy Nana’s entry in the movie about 2 minutes into the clip below… If possible, do try to get hold of the movie and watch it too (its on youtube too).. will take some mood to enjoy the movie, but its fantastic!