SuRReaL - 1

An ordinary saturday morning
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I wake up, do the chores. Fix myself a steaming hot tea. Roomie screaming at the top of his voice at friend with the choicest expletives in Tamil. L.Shivaramakrishnan, Tony Greg and the crew hyperventilating in another room. A.R.R going "You are listening to Aaha fm, the climax of entertainment". I am still sipping on the ginger tea, and sweating in the morning heat. It is Chennai after all.

A screaming wail of a police siren and it is not Chennai after all. I get up turn off the heater in the room. Close the lid of the laptop playing Aaha and join my friend watching the IPL streaming online.

- Waltham, MA.
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Greed
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Casino. The temple for sin. A saturday night. I start on the slot machines at 9.00 PM, I play with 10 dollars, it lasts me half an hour. I put in 5 more to win back all that I lost and I win 15. I cash out and hop to the next casino. I sense a momentum that I have. I put in 50$ and loose it all in 10 minutes. I am left licking my wounds. A few more casinos and I loose 20 more dollars.

It is past midnight already and I need a coffee badly to stay awake. I grab my coffee and give my feet some much needed rest. And Eddie Vedder opens up on the instore music system -

Oh it's a mystery to me.

We have a greed, with which we have agreed...

and you think you have to want more than you need...

until you have it all, you won't be free.

Society, you're a crazy breed.

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

When you want more than you have, you think you need...

and when you think more then you want,

your thoughts begin to bleed.

I think I need to find a bigger place...

cause when you have more than you think,

you need more space.

Society, you're a crazy breed.

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

Society, crazy indeed...

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

There's those thinkin' more or less, less is more,

but if less is more, how you keepin' score?

It means for every point you make, your level drops.

Kinda like you're startin' from the top...

and you can't do that.

Society, you're a crazy breed.

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

Society, crazy indeed...

I hope you're not lonely, without me

Society, have mercy on me.

I hope you're not angry, if I disagree.

Society, crazy indeed.

I hope you're not lonely...without me.

- Atlantic City, NJ
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My first tagged post

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER
The Bank job - After a six month gap last year, I am on a movie spree, spending nicely in the cinema next door - a small independent theater that shows some nice movies and a few offbeat ones as well

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING
Right now many - Mark Twain by Ron Powers, and Walden by H.D. Thoreau - the second one inspired from "Into the Wild"

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME
hmm...Trade is all time favourite, Scotland yard too.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE
Outlook Traveller - Combines two things that I love - Travel and Photography. And nothing captures India better.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS
U mean other than Pouring rain on red earth? That will have to be the smell of Dosa being roasted in Ghee

6. FAVORITE SOUND
For some strange reason, though I dont like to wake up - Suprabatham by M.S and no one else.

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD
Splitting Migraines - That is me sounding like a manic depressive person. Thankfully, I havent had to bear anything worse.

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?
For the past 6 months or so, unless I am travelling, it has been "hopefully today will be better."

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE
Murugan's Idli shop on BB in chennai, Swagat in Indira nagar (dont go looking it is a hole in the wall that you will not find easily)

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME
hmm...tough one. Will think of crossing the Bridge when I come close to it.

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...
Quit my job.
Go to Stanford (buy my seat I hope).
Buy a Leica RangeFinder, A 1969 Mustang.
Buy a lot of land in Palakkad and do organic farming.

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST
Yes, 99.9 % of the time. The rest of the time I am plain Rash, especially when I have those migraines.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL
What is this ...a trick question??? I wish - Stuffed animal. I still dont get it.

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY
Incredibly cool. Especially in Kerala.

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR
After driving for almost 6 years, bought a car a month ago - A 98 toyota camry. My Mule.

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD
Travel around the world, without any plan - follow the wind.
Chase the monsoon around the country with my camera.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Brocolli should be disqualified from the vegetable list.

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
It would be a fine streak of brown. I love my hair the way it is

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.
Palakkad - Chennai - Kochi - Palakkad - Chennai - Mt. Pocono - Waltham.
There is only one home town though- Palakkad.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH
Cricket - Football (american and otherwise) - F1 - And developing a liking for poker.

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.
Trusted friend and confidante. Cool as a cucumber and solid as a Rock.

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED
I am a nomad. I sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor even inside the house. So there is just the carpet underneath.

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Yes. With the memory of my present life intact.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?
Night owl.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Sunny side up

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
In chennai it was Beasant nagar Beach. Now my sleeping bag

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Butter scotch, with caramel - all time fav
caramel and chocolate from cornerhouse while i am bangalore.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Well dont have many to tag, the one who tagged is one of my most dogged reader. The only regular blogger that I know of who can respond to this is -
Piyush Khan

Racism

Being in a different country, an entirely different kind of people, can sometimes be a real test of your values and beliefs. Growing up in a small town can mean that sometimes you grow up with a sense of a rigid order in society that has been followed since the time of the fire. That is how god intended it you are told. You grow up knowing people as Nairs, Menons, Pattars, Chettiars, Iyengars, achayans, mapplas and what not. And once you come into the big city, you also learn to put in another level -northies, southies, gujjus, marwadis, of course - bongs, mallus, tamilians, kannadigas and again what not. This is all fine, because whenever you talk about the "others", it is always to people within your own "herd". In essence, closetting anything that is offensive and presenting a front that is perfectly agreeable. Also, there is no way of identifying who belongs where just by looking at them (we are not even talking finance here) - except for the Chinkis and the Sardarjis maybe. So as long as you are in a society where everyone accepts that no one is equal, you are safe in a bubble of beliefs - about your political correctness and moral highroad; giving you all the credibility you need to criticise the zionists and racists in far away White man's land.

But when you actually get down to the middle of the action, realisation can sometimes come with a thud. You land up in a hodge-podge of races and you do not have a significant herd to bounce your thoughts off and constantly reassure oneself. By default, the moment you set foot on the jersey shores, you become a desi. Your fellow desis tell you, that you need to be wary of the goras, scared of the kallus, indifferent to the mexicans as they are all illegal, obviously. And this is the classic "to be or not to be" as far as I am concerned. I could become a part of the herd and find my own little group somewhere in there or else I could choose to walk the talk.

Things become even more complicated when you see the stereotypes being turned on their heads - Desis can sometimes stab you in the back as well, Goras are not racist bigots - most of them are genuinely nice people, Kallus are not necessarily only - murderers, gangsters and thieves, they are a people with a zest for life that is quite unmatched. And mexicans, for all I can gather, are indistinguishable from Indians in their beliefs and family values.

Walking the talk, is not easy my friend. Not easy at all.......

A swift kick in the B@!!$

You know things are ominous in your life when a piece of code can split your life into the banal details that make it mundane. And in a mouseclick can send your suave, smoothtalking and cool ego into the bin.

Check out - http://www.google.com/virgle/application.html. I logged in and filled out the survey and there could not have been a better indictment. Given below is what the program told me.

"Well, you're distressingly normal and could conceivably adjust to life as a deep space pioneer, though we recommend instead that you leave the Mars missions to the serious whack jobs who scored over 130 and instead finish year 3 of law school, tuck your toddler into bed, design Web 2.0 applications, run for Congress or do whatever other normal, healthy, middle-of-the-road thing you're currently doing with your normal, healthy, middle-of-the-road life. If you're determined to give Virgle a try, though, you can submit your video here. "

My result speaks for itself. There could not have been a worser blow below the belt, when you are least expecting it. Am taking a sojourn to assuage my tattered self esteem so might not be back in a while :-(