Sunday, September 21, 2008

Interview

I came across this in *humbl devil's* blog ~:<{dêvïl’z Åbõdê}>:~ . found it pretty kool , lets see how many I answer before I get bored and do tell me how many you could read :P


( ) smoked a cigarette
( ) done some form of dope
(v) crashed a friend's car : uncle's car yeah. friends don't trust me enough for that
( ) stolen a car
(v) been in love : who isn't?
( ) been dumped
( ) shoplifted
( ) been fired
(v) been in a fist fight : yeah with brother
( ) sneaked out of your parent's house
(v) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back: yeah
( ) gone on a blind date
(v) lied to a friend : yeah but had a reason
(v) skipped school: 10th grade. No one attends school :D
(v) seen someone die: die, no. dead,yeah, my grandad
(v) had a crush on one of your internet friends : *sigh* yeah
( ) been to Canada
( ) been to Mexico
(v) been on a plane : yeah
( ) eaten sushi
(v) been skiing-snow or water : yeah Manali
(v) met someone from the internet : yeah
(v) been at a concert : Bombay Vikings, Enrique Iglesias
(v) taken painkillers : yeah
(v) love someone or miss someone right now : yeah
(v) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by : Still do it on my terrace
(v) made a snow angel : Yeah this year, when i was in Gulmarg ** goes starry eyed and drools all over the keyboard remembering all those good times **
(?) had a tea party : Don't remember . perhaps in childhood
(v) flown a kite : yeah. Every year. now i can launch the kite on my own too :P
(v) built a sand castle : yeah. used to do that earlier now just running about
(v) gone puddle jumping : I was a naughty kid
(v) played dress up : *sigh* yeah , we used to have fashion shows till I was 9
(v) jumped into a pile of leaves : dry leaves.
(v) gone sledding : sledding??
(v) cheated while playing a game: Picnic
(v) been lonely : Yeah but a call to friends cures that.
(v) fallen asleep at work/school : yeah last year
(v) used a fake ID : yeah to get into some other college campus
(v) watched the sun set : yeah. Again from my building terrace
(v) watched someone sleep : I put my nephew to sleep once in a while
(:) felt an earthquake : not really but it feels like that on a roller coaster
(v) slept beneath the stars : Shit. I just realised I absolutely love my terrace
(v) been tickled : Yeah , so many times that I think I have become immune to it
( ) been robbed
(v) been misunderstood :
(v) pet a reindeer/goat/kangaroo : goat's young one
(v) won a contest : yeah
( ) run a red light/stop sign
( ) been suspended from school
(v) been in a car crash : yeah and it still gives me goosebumps
( ) had braces
( ) felt like an outcast/third person
(v) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night ...lotsa tyms...hehe
(v) had deja vu : yeah Freaky stuff
(v) danced in the moonlight : danced at night when there must have been a moon in the sky
(v) liked the way you looked : some rare narcissist moments :p
( ) witnessed a crime
(v) questioned your heart : yeah, questioned it, found faults with it, listened to it anyway
( ) been obsessed with post-it notes
(v) squished mud through your bare feet : yeah awesome feeling
(v) been lost : yeah someone told me "get lost", and I did at a park
(v) been on the opposite side of the country : Does West Bengal count as East or North East??
(v) swam in the ocean : Goa !!
(v) felt like dying...hehehehe
(v) cried yourself to sleep : 2 years back
(v) played cops and robbers : School recesses were not for lunch!
(v) recently colored with crayons : yeah brohter's project
(v) sang karaoke : Essel World, Infiniti and do YouTube karaoke's count?
(v) paid for a meal with only coins : College canteen :P
( ) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(v) made prank phone calls : All the time. Now now, before you get any ideas, i wasn't the one who has been calling at 3am to ask calculus formulae
(v) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose : ugh. Yeah. Sprite. burnt my nose
( ) caught a snowflake on your tongue : I wish but I caught raindrops on my tongue
(v) danced in the rain : yeah. Awesome stuff
( ) a letter to Santa Claus
( ) been kissed under the mistletoe
(v) watched the sun rise with someone you care about : Parents. Darjeeling ** starts drooling again **
(v) blown bubbles : Still do. paas aao paas aao paas aao naa =))
( ) made a bonfire on the beach
( ) crashed a party
( ) gone roller skating
(v) had a wish come true : just today, morning
(:) jumped off a bridge : Not yet. But damn i know I'm going to bungee jump at least once
( ) ate dog/cat food
(:) told a complete stranger you loved them : nah told others I loved him ( Steve :p)
( ) kissed a mirror : Now i wouldn't say I was making out eith a mirror will I ?
(v) sang in the shower : It irriates my brother, so yeah :p
( ) had a dream that you married someone
(v) glued your hand to something : to my other hand. This fevikvik ( not sure about the spelling) is effective. Don't try it at home. YOu have it fromt he horse's mouth
(v) kissed a photo : Not really, but the coverpage of a book
( ) climbed a water tower
(v) screamed at the top of your lungs : Building terrace again!!!
( ) done a one-handed cartwheel
(v) talked on the phone for more than 5 hours : Obviously. Hey it didn't mention if it's at a stretch!! At a stretch no. I like to talk but not that much :P
( ) picked and ate an apple right off the tree
(v) climbed a tree : Yeah. Then was bitten by a bee
( ) had a tree house
( ) been too scared to watch a scary movie alone
( ) believe in ghosts
( ) have more than 30 pairs of shoes
( ) worn a really ugly outfit to school : Yeah fancy dress, had become a crow
( ) gone streaking
(v) gone doorbell ditching : come now , you must admit, it's fun; if your'e on the right side that is:p
( ) been pushed into a pool/hot tub with all your clothes on
(v) told you're hot by a complete stranger : eavesteasing perverts
( ) broken a bone
(v) been easily amused : I'm always amused no matter what. call it looking at the amusing side of things
( ) caught a fish then ate it
(v) caught a butterfly : I regretted it though. its wing got all crumpled
(v) laughed so hard you cried : It was weird but yeah
( ) cried so hard you laughed
(v) cheated on a test ...once or twice,feel very uncomfortable. I don't like being dishonest to myself
(v) forgotten some one's name : always happens when I vaguely remember looking at their faces in some random movie :p
(v) French braided some one's hair : yeah, made hell of a mess of it too!
( ) gone skinny dipping in a pool/hot tub/river
( ) been threatened to be kicked out of your house or been kicked out of your house
(>) loved someone so much you would gladly die for : NEVER, I'll elaborate my point in some other post perhaps
( ) cheated on someone : never
(v) talk to yourself when no one's around : even when someone is around , I do that sometimes
( ) hate someone you once loved
( ) love someone you once hated
( ) kissed the phone for the person on the other side : Just reading about it brought a WTF expression on my face. Then again maybe I *might* get struck my lightening and do it in future
( ) kissed the person on the other side of the phone : what's the difference between this question and the one above???

Friday, September 19, 2008

What Do You Think?

I was going to write about my Kashmir trip this time , but I decided to narrate\type\tell this story because I just made it and it is fresh in my mind. :p
It's a story about two men and their families ( not families mostly, but they play a passive role). At the end of the story, I want to know from you, what you think of the characters and their actions and whether they were justified. For the sake of not insulting anyone by using names, let us refer to them as Mr. A and Mr. B.
Land prices today are as high the buildings they are making these days, aren't they? This story happened before that.
There was a patch of land located in the forest, which wasn't really habitable because of the surrounding wilderness. Mr. A was hard working and strong, but he wasn't much smart in business. He lived on a hand to mouth existence. Didn't save much but one thing good was his father had some influence. He got his son the permission to live on that patch of land. Now this Mr. A respected nature and instead of razing the trees, he made his home without harming the trees or other flora and fauna. In other words, he accepted the nature around him as a part of his life. He married and had kids and all that comes with married life (yawn!). He lived a pretty isolated life. He didn't talk to other people that much, but he loved his family and was fiercely protective of them. His IQ may have been as low as the railing of that new bridge they built on the Western Express Highway near the domestic airport, but he was pretty strong and could hold his own in a brawl at the pub and stuff like that. Provocate him, he'll tolerate you for a while and then give it back to you, all of it and more.
Enter Mr. B in the picture. ( or in this case, story-on-the-blog ). Now Mr. B was not so strong but was smart. And he had influence too, so he acquired permission to live on the aforementioned-unhabitable-but-inhabited-by Mr. A land too. Whoa, so our Mr. A had a neighbour in his isolation now. Mr. B was a social animal. He went to parties, had parties at his home and stuff. He even made friends with A and his family. Now, A accepted B and his family as his neighbours but sometimes he would get wary of the fact that B was much smarter than him. B here expanded his business ventures and made huge profits. He brought his business home. Set up a manufacturing plant right next to his home. All that disturbed his peace life but , he made compromises. But he started taking advantage of A's lack of intellect. He would use A's sons for labour at a rate much cheaper than was dictated by the government. He even got rid of the trees surrounding their land and of which A was very fond of. So you see, B was this shrewd fellow, who in the name of ' for the greater good of all', did everything he could for his own benefit. He would set his own rules and didn't care much about other people's rules but he broke them in such a way that the other person feels, B is actually helping them out.

Some people did raise a voice against B's antics but he managed to convince most of them that what he was doing was just another way of doing what was good for all. And those who saw through the honeyed-talk were silenced thorugh his influence.

One day he went too far. He expanded his house by demolishing A's house. Now A was homeless. He hadn't realised he and his family were being abused. He hadn't paid much attention to the people fighting for him against B , because to him they were just 'smart people' like B; not trustworthy. Since he was homeless, A had no choice but to roam about what had been his property, his home till the day before. But B showed his nasty side to him and threw A out of the house and accused him of trespassing. A became really frustrated now. He was homeless, Not smart enough to find work at his old age, and his influential father was dead. His family depended on him for support. One time one of his sons wandered into B's property and stole some food. B was a bit drink or he wouldn't have reacted the way he did. He killed A's son.

A had enough of it now. He was done tolerating B's nonsense and he was done being pushed about in the name of good. Screw all and screw all their well - wishes. When things came to his family, he forgot the rest. He went to B's place in a towering rage and beat him to a pulp. Vandalised the place in general and went away.

Unfortunately or fortunately, B survived and lodged a complaint against A. He declared that A was deranged and so was not safe to have around. As a result A was arrested. A didn't try to defend himself. He didn't care! People were of mixed opinions. Some people agreed that B had it coming to him after what he did to A's son. Some said, A was a brute and should be hanged, while some thought, B should be made to pay but A's method had not been right.

Politicians started including A and B in their speeaches. Several Save A's life organistaions and petitions came up. The debate is still going on as to whether A should live or not. It's been more or less decided that he should live, but the decision has not yet been implemented. People depending on others to implement that. People moved on. While A's life has been stuck in a rut since that. Once or twice a month, he has to go to court to see lawyers battling out his fate. But he seems aloof from all of it now. Like he is just outside looking in through the wall . or perhaps he's just numb and indifferent to it.

Now think about what A did . And what B did. In my opinion all of us are B in some small way at least. And the animal kingdom is A. This analogy just came to it. Think about it.

Ps : in teh previous post, i forgot to mention, there was this one news channel who had claimed that Steve was good with crocodiles because he used to sodomise them. :(( faggots

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Life Of a Legend


Two years ago, today, ie, 4th of September, an innocent stingray used its barb in supposed self-defense and was responsible for giving a huge jolt to the world of animal conservation. It killed beloved crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin.
Some people hated him, most of the people loved him. But no one can deny the fact that once anyone saw him in action as ' the crocodile hunter', they could not remain wholly indifferent to him. Frankly how can that be possible? How can anyone ignore that innocence and complete honesty oozing out of his personality? One look at his eyes and you are toast. Eyes wink, eyes allure, eyes twinkle, eyes glitter, but very rarely do eyes beam. Steve's eyes beamed. When you look into his eyes, you get this feeling that he is saying " Come here. You are welcome to my world. It is such a beautiful place. crickey! Become a part of it and experience it for yourself". ( Oh well i guess there was way too much corn in it but thats how it is. Talking about Steve aayerwin makes me that way:P)
As if he wasnt enough we have an equally enthusiastic soulmate of his who in his own words used to get scared to tears for him but never once did she ask him to stop what he was doing. And then theres Bindi who is an animal nut like him and ickle Bob. What a kick-ass family!



So what makes him different from other animal conservationalists? Why not Jeff Corwin ( thought I daresay he's very popular too ). I guess if anyone asks me why I love\worship him so much, I wont't be able to answer it properly if at all ( that'd be a first one won't it? me not answering back?), but I'll wonder about it for days and nights and come up with the same answer I have right now : I don't know. But it goes deep like you know love for one's country. There's no particular reason as such. Animal magnetism counts?:P Steve didn't need to make an effort to show his passion for conservation. Others ( forgive me if you are offended) seem to try to show enthusiasm about it. ( a la david blaine and chris angel. Angel seems more on the defensive side although he may be a better magician). He lived his life full throttle, taking unthinkable risks to save animals, in spite of knowing, deep down, that one day his luck could run out. This sort of unconditional devotion to his beliefs is very appealing too, no? Besides I haven't encountered many men who could compare a woman to an orangutan and actually get away with it by making the woman ( Kathy Buchanan in this case) feel complimented. He was as enthusiastic about his family as his work. How many people can claim that they are their child's hero? His ebullient antics, broad australian accent, and knack of making you feel as if you are the only one he is talking to and what you think or do matters to him made him a household name across the world.



He had his share of controversies too. Dangling Bob-too-near-the croc incident. People said he was idiotically fearless. Now thats not really fair. :-| He always said that being brought up in the zoo with his conservationalist parents, what seemd bizarre and dangerous to others like dodging a four metre croc, tossing beer snakes, rescuing baby bats, was just a walk in the park for him. He was born and raised with wild animals so these 'antics' were completely natural to him. Modern day Mowgli I say. Though here is something which shows he was a mortal just like us: he lived in constant fear of fast cars after losing his mom to a car crash!
5th September,2006. I was having my morning cup of coffee and browsing through papers as usual and thinking about Teachers' Day. Mumbai Mirror, Page 29, left side, bottom of the page were the lines " Eccentric conservationalist : Steve 'crocodile hunter' Irwin dies in a freak accident with a stingray." Shit. I kept on staring at that headline for an eternity it seemed, without really processing it. After that i don't really remember what happened. I guess I was numb. Mainly because Steve was one of those vital creatures of whom when they do die, we say it seems impossible that they can be dead. Isn't it amazing what one barb can do? I can't even imagine what his family must have gone through at that time. One day, he is all hale and hearty and merry as usual. Next day, he is gone, never to return. One small consolation is that he always said, he wanted to die doing what he loved the most. If he'd have had the chance to say something, I guess he would have said " crocs rule and crickey it wasn't the stingray's fault. it was me who was invading its privacy"
People tell me , move on he's gone. get over it. Why should I? if moving on means not thinking of him when I see a snake or a particularly amazing stunt by a bird, I don't want to forget him. I don't swim around with crocs like he did, but thanks to him, I do love all animals now. I'm not even disgusted by insects. That's his legacy. That's how Steve lives on.
Beloved,eccentric,charming,generous,passionate,gorgeous,innocent,lovable, gentleman of the wild. A wildlife warrior. That's Steve for you. Love you Steve.

( Note : I meant to post this yesterday but the draft wasn't complete yet and I didn't want to spoil it by haste, so posting it today. Btw Happy Teachers' Day to all:P )