Minds At War

Well Done India! For decades, a majority of Indians were divided on the basis of caste and linguistic diversity. They also gave it a catch phrase - "Unity In Diversity". What a boat load of crap! Economic prosperity was controlled by the governments (Socialism) and routed through middle-men, who took their own cut out of it. The caste-politicians benefited by keeping the citizen divided and away from a future where an individual controlled his own destiny. The majority never got out of of the psychological ghettos that separated them from the others to be able to see any kind of potential future where their aspirations could be fulfilled. We who were born into a 65,000 Years old civilization, were fed with a fictional version of the Independence Movement, provided with false heroes and deliberately abstracted from a glorious culture and history. An 800 year period of Genocide and Slavery was masked under a facade of manipulated glitter & grandiose of the "Sult...

How to describe my trip to India? A few words that come to mind - Camaraderie, Bonding, Shopping, Monsoon,  Flashes of Opulence, Sense of Disconnect,  Colors and Traditions, Flavors and Aromas,  Fleeting Moments of Tranquility, Places Frozen in Time,  A Metropolis Ripping at the Seams yet Miraculously Surviving Each Day..... The entry point to India (Mumbai Airport) which earlier used to be a nightmare that I wanted to quickly wake up from, turned out to be a pleasant experience this time around. The new Mumbai International airport is very artistically done and ensures a very smooth flow of passengers. They have to improve the services a bit more particularly the long immigration queues during departure which spoils the overall experience. But still excellent progress. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Hai Jeena Yahan,  Zara Hatke, Zara Bachke, Ye Hai Bombay Meri Jaan Translated: ( O my dear heart, life here is a struggle Careful and be wise, this is Bom...

Another eventful year comes to a close and the new one is already upon us. Life continues to bewilder us with its myriad colors and hues. The feast is done and devoured and only the crumbs remain as an evidence of the celebration that has been. As the lights dim and the glow of the embers in the fireplace die off slowly, it is time to contemplate and reflect on the year past. Close your eyes and imagine a backpack that allows you to save and carry limited memories and achievements from the year. You pick each moment and achievement that are most important to you and stack them within one by one. - The vacations, the outings and celebrations - Sounds / words and gestures of your little ones - Laughter, warm hugs, kisses and cuddles - Fleeting, stolen romantic moments - Achievements born out of your mind and spirit - Little things that turned out to be bigger - Painful blows that found your resilience So collect the key moments that sum up your life that you would want to r...

We are the only beings on the planet that carry memories of events from the past inside us and allow ourselves to be enriched by these events. Events do not shape us, but it is the way we interpret these events in life that influence us on how we react in the future. Have you ever felt like one event or one phase of your life has left a profound influence on the rest of your life and has acted as a rudder for the rest of your journey? I bet most of you have felt that one time or the other... I am no exception to that, but mine was a period of 21 years that molded my attitude and outlook towards life. Was all of it pleasant? No, of course not, but I do tend to carry only the pleasant ones with me. As I stand and peel away through the layers of my life, I come to a stop  in the year 1983. That is as far back as I seem to remember. I was 10 years old and Kapil's Mavericks won the Prudential World Cup that year. I see a 10 year old boy standing in the balcony trying to listen ...

How many lives.... how many times.... how many dreams, have I seen myself wake up in the middle of nowhere to behold the  infinite mountains and valleys that stretched out in my view?  The pristine valleys lazing in the early morning haze, the fresh mornings sparkling with the dew dripping from the leaves, the sunlight peeping out of the clouds and from behind the peaks, the crisp morning air that I feel within my lungs, filling my mind with myriad possibilities and thoughts. Quoting the words of Marcus Aurelius - " When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. " Men have always been wanderers and adventure seekers since eternity, but with advancement of society and changes in lifestyle, this aspect of life is now more an aberration rather than the norm. I am not a follower of religious scriptures by any means but merely interested in it from a historical perspective. Often mytho...

Why am I an agnostic?  I was born a Hindu. Ideally that should have been an answer sufficient enough. But in today's world it has been twisted beyond all comprehension and it has become more of a question than an answer. And so are all religions. Most agnostics usually start of being rebels and the characteristic itself starting off as an act of defiance against the common order. I may have started off that way too, but it was not purely teenage rebellion. There were more undercurrents to it than that. I was born to a family of Alpha males, starting with my paternal grandfather, then my father and his brothers. These were men who were not only physically able but also could definitely stand their ground in an argument. Politically very opinionated, they would standout in a group and usually were at the forefront of any activities they got involved with. They were willing to risk an arm and a leg for something that they believed in, but religion wasn't just one of th...

In this journey of life , you meet people. Some you never think about again. Some, you wonder what happened to them...   Life has an ability to occasionally surprise us during the most mundane and routine activities; one just has to pause a bit and observe one's surroundings and discover the hidden details even as we rush headlong through these. I travel frequently for work and on a few of these journeys I have had amusing experiences with respect to Cab Drivers.  The most interesting out of these was in Maitland, Florida where I had traveled for a meeting and after getting down at the Orlando airport, I walked to the Taxicab Counter and requested for a Cab. They flagged in one and in a minute, this cab came to a rolling stop next to me and out came an old Indian (Asian) looking man with a thick white beard.  "Hello" he said and asked me "Are you an Indian?" I said yes as he helped me load my suitcase into the cab. On the w...

Out Road Trip draws to a close tomorrow. We decided to wind down a bit today. So it was a lazy morning for us as we got up late and then by the time we got out, it was 02:00 PM. We first went to an Indian Restaurant to have lunch, but unfortunately it was already closed for the noon break. So it was Mexican food today at "Chipotle". After a heavy burrito bowl we headed off to the Presque Isle State Park which is an sandy peninsula that arches into the Lake Erie which stretches from Ohio to Canada. Its is supposed to be the smallest of the 5 great fresh water lakes in the USA. It is almost like a small ocean rather than a lake with waves and sandy beaches etc... So we rented a motor boat and headed out from the lagoon to the bay and once we hit the main part of the lake it was fun. Never thought I would see waves in a lake, but did see that today. There were a few sail boats and ducks out there today. So it was amusing to watch Arun K. display his psychopathic tendencies...

Day 10:  Today was mostly driving from Fairmont to Chicago. We were planning to stay over at Arun K.'s cousin's home at Lake Bluff close to Chicago. Co-Incidentally his name's Arun too. So we were three Arun(s) around that day. On the way we stopped at another Indian restaurant - India Garden. The food was great. So 2 out of the 3 Indian restaurants that we visited all in fairly unknown cities and places in the USA turned out to be very good and so now I have come to infer that all the lousy Indian restaurants in the USA are concentrated in Wilmington - the place where I stay. We reached Chicago close to 07:00 PM again driving more than 600 odd miles. Arun's cousin - Arun, his wife Divya and their little daughter (2 1/2 year old) Aditi were really sweet people. Aditi is a little bundle of energy and Divya had made a lot of sweets and muruku etc for Janmashtami. Honestly, that's when I even realized that it was Janmashtami. She is an awesome cook. Meeting Arun...

Day 8: Today was kind of an off day for us, if you discount the 250 odd miles we drove from Sheridan in Wyoming to another small town / city called Sturgis in South Dakota. Sturgis apparently is a biker's pilgrimage center with the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally being held in August every year. Today I touched 110 MPH... Got Arun K. all excited, though he is more of a curves person (I'm talking about roads here). I prefer the freeways. Day 9: Day 9 started with us driving from Sturgis to the Black Hills region of South Dakota, particularly to Mt. Rushmore. But even before we reached there, we had lunch at an Indian Store / Restaurant somewhere in South Dakota. I still have to figure out if it was a store or a restaurant, cause the menu was pretty limited and so were the items on the shelf, but you can't be too picky about food when on a road trip. At Mount Rushmore, it was wonderful to see the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt & Lincoln carved out of th...

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain There are certain days that are worth remembering all your life and then there are days which leave you gasping. Today was one such day when the latter was true.  It started with me and Arun K. heading to the Yellowstone one more time. We checked out of our hotel and drove to see the rest of the park. Topmost on our agenda was to see at least 1 hot spring. We were soon at the Midway geyser Basin which had a bunch of Hot Springs / Geysers. The Excelsior Geyser was worth exploring. It was great watching the hot water spring bubbling out of the ground. The water then empties into the various rivulets. Around the springs, not even a blade of grass grows, but a certain form of bacteria and algae thrive even in thos...

What a day!!! Today was our first day at the Yellowstone National Park and it was every bit worth driving all the way from Wilmington. Yellowstone is the first established National Park in the world and has 400 miles of territory and 96% of Yellowstone is in Wyoming. Its is geologically and seismically one of the most active places on earth. It also has a super volcano inside it. This kind of geothermal activity gives rise to a number of geysers and hot-springs within the park. This activity also controls the weather in the region. It has one of the largest Bison herds in the world. In the 90s the wolves that had gone extinct in the region were reintroduced by importing a few wolves from Canada. The wolves thrived and now there are several wolf packs in the park. It also has Grizzly Bears, Elk & Deer. All these were the reasons why this was in my list of top places to visit. History & geography were my favourite subjects in school and that's why Yellowsto...

Someone once said - '' To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.'' Though I wasn't quite alone, but the sensation was quite true. We woke up in Fargo, North Dakota and every city looks different in the morning especially if you have arrived in the night. Fargo was no exception. I liked the city and would move there if I got the right opportunity. Well we started from Fargo for Yellowstone in the morning and covered ‎750 miles in 10 hours at an average of 75 miles an hour which is 120 KMPH touching speeds of up to 85 MPH (136 KMPH) in most places. Had it not been for all that construction and the numerous 35 mph zones we would have made it faster. Yellowstone looks promising from what we have seen so far. Tomorrow we will know for sure.

Today was a good day. A day of many experiences and sights. The day started off from the town of Hibbing where we stopped at the Minnesota Discovery Center Briefly. There we got to see a F94C Starfire fighter that once belonged the Minnesota Air Guard. Also on display was a helicopter and a battle tank. It was pleasant to see that display in a city which many Americans may not even have heard of. After getting some pics clicked we left for Voyageurs National Park. Needless to say that the drive through the pristine forests was really beautiful. We stopped at the visitors center to obtain more information and was amazed to see the various stuffed animals on display, including a magnificent wolf. The Voyageurs national park is situated on the USA - Canada international border. There we went to the Kabetogama Lake and reserved ourselves a guided boat ride. The boat ride was to start at 02:00 PM, so in the meanwhile we had the opportunity to grab some lunch ...

We had driven around 230 miles from Ohio into Indianapolis yesterday and got a good night's rest. Today we drove close to 800 miles and that was all we did. At the start of the trip, I had planned it in a way that we would not touch any of the major cities. That plan was kind of dashed today, when in search of an Indian restaurant, we were unwittingly led by the GPS into downtown Chicago. We lost about an hour and a half out there and it sucked!! The roads across the USA are in a state of being repaired and thereby causing huge traffic blocks. But on the positive side I got a glimpse of the Sears Tower and the Chicago Stock Exchange. My tryst with Chicago is hopefully done! The drive started in a rainy Indianapolis but the weather cleared as we headed Northwest and as we went further, it turned into beautiful and sunny August day. The windmills on the sprawling farms were a sight to behold. Those giant rotating blades were awesome! Our lunch was at a small food court somewher...

Day 2 started off a bit on the back foot with a few scratches to the car when someone backed into our car in the parking lot. But overall it has been good. We had a brief stopover at Hocking Hills in Logan, Ohio. The ride was a curvy and up and down ride, almost like a roller-coaster. My friend Arun was executing all those curves at 60 miles an hour and it was tough not to be scared. But he was within the speed limit at all times. Wonder if they made a mistake in calibrating the speed limit on that road. But the drive through the farm lands was awesome. We first went to the Cedar falls, but it was a bit of a disappointment though with not much water at the fall. But that did not dampen the spirits of the people who had turned up at the place. The next stop was at the Logan Lake and it was beautiful as we expected it to be. But again disappointment came our way as all the boats were already rented. At the lake I happened to see a lady ...

Started off 3 hours late, but completed the first leg of the journey. Just checked into a hotel after a nice drive of over 400 miles. We are in Ohio. Tomorrow we will visit the Hocking Hills.

What happens when you wake up one morning a learn that you are going to be a father again? One moment you feel overjoyed and on top of the world and then the next you are consumed by a volley of questions and concerns- What is he / she gonna look like? Is everything okay? What doctor do I contact? How is it going to change our lives? How do we start preparing ourselves? etc etc.. Though everything was planned , it still kinda catches you unawares :-). The next few weeks went in a blur with the doctor's visits and planning for the arrival of the baby. In June-July we found that our baby was a BOY and not the GIRL that we were expecting. Hmmm.. interesting. Maheena wanted a sister, but I'm sure she will be understanding enough to settle for a little brother instead. It was of course fantastic to watch my little boy floating around in his little cocoon. And I and Arti had this disbelieving look on our face when the technician told us that it was a boy. We could not but ...

Blogging after a very long time... Life has gotten even more busy after Rian has come into our lives :-) **************************************************************************** Ever wonder as to why the early civilizations used to try and live harmoniously with nature and why the modern civilization with all their vast knowledge has pushed this planet over the cliff! Beats me!!!!! We are bent upon destroying the very planet that we are living on and it is really not like we have another option. The human population is estimated to touch 70 Billion soon and natural disasters are killing scores each year. A huge natural calamity has the potential to wipe out big numbers. Apart from that we have been poisoning ourselves, the land and water with the use of Synthetic Fertilizers. Fertilizers find their way into the water table and also find their way into our bodies through the food and water. Over a period of time it seriously impacts the natural contents of the soil creating an ...