Hiatus

On a rather long hiatus until mid January 2009. Will be visiting Kerala and Pune on account of the many weddings that I need to attend. I miss writing here. Fact is, there isn’t a lot of interesting things happening in and around my life to write about. Most of the things I read or see is depressing and there are a million people out there expressing their views on the very same subject. My views and opinions on and about them seem to make no difference so I’d choose to be a realist and just be mum. Also, I’m done with the many people in my life; liars masquerading as friends.

Be back in January. Till then – adios!

-Anup

Opeth to India.

I, initially had the itch to write about the ongoing war in Mumbai. Then again, whats the point? I’d just be glorifying the cowardly deeds of a handful of bastards who think its alright to play kill bill with innocent people. I’ve been following IBN for over 35 hours now and frankly, I think the Indian police, army and navy are not equipped to deal with a hostage situation and they’ve just been ‘getting ready’ to launch the ‘final assault’. The last I saw of the war; the NSG has been prepping itself to enter the Nariman house, Oberoi and Taj hotel. This has been the case since yesterday evening and from what I heard, they’re taking a cautious approach since they value human lives. IMHO, the more you wait, the more they might kill. I’m no one to comment cause I don’t know how its in there so I just hope that this all ends soon. I repeat myself here again – You kill a 100 or if you go on to kill a 1000, we will not bend and thereby we won’t break. We can bust your puny asses in Pakistan if we want. Exterminate every living pest in that country, but then we have our principles and trust me,  we’re reaching our limits with our patience. Don’t you see that these kinda attacks are pointless? Especially in Mumbai where things would go back to normal within a day or two. The lives you lost – a futile attempt at what? Sore losers.

I’ve news and its stakesauce! Opeth is coming to India – Jan 2009. Read if off the Indian Opeth fans community on orkut and it seems to be pretty authentic. They’re coming to IIT – Chennai. I’m not missing this opportunity. My favourite lines off of Bleak:

Opeth
Opeth

Devious movements in your eyes
Moved me from relief
Breath comes out white clouds with your lies
And filters through me
You’re close to the final word
You’re staring right past me in dismay
A liquid seeps from your chest
And drains me away
Mist ripples round your thin white neck
And draws me a line
Cold fingers mark this dying wreck
This moment is mine

Anyway, thats that. I’m just hoping for December to come soon and sweep me away. I’m going to be busy and touring. Many of my close friends getting married. A lot of my money going bust in travelling. I’d be on a long hiatus in December. The approved leaves begin from the 18th and extend upto the 2nd. That’d be fun! I’m tired and sleepy. PeaceLoveEmpathy,

-Anup

The 17 year old me.

I’ve been going through a phase in my life where I’m trying to fight a side of me that I don’t like. I’m trying to fight a loving family thats weighing me down with expectations and desires that I cannot always fulfill however hard I try. Career related confusions which puts me and a very important person through a lot of trouble. Well, I’m in trouble cause he’s in trouble. I just can’t seem to make my god damned mind on what I want and this is not new to me. I’ve always been a fucking confuscio. Mangled by my own selfish self and the world which seems to be just as selfish and cruel. Everyone is selfish; I’d say. No ones a saint and I’d dare all those who’d say that they are! Like they put in a 100% from their side for someone else without expecting something in return.

Then again, I have my ongoing war with an alter-ego that I just can’t resist. He is too strong for me and wants me to do things which I know will destroy my otherwise sane and simple life which is so meticulously planned out that you’d almost miss the boredom written all over it. Its somewhat like Mozarts music. A melody that you pretend to like or a shady corner in a rain filled sunny day. Since I mentioned him; my other side that is… its not like he is a bad person. I mean, he’s nowhere close to being bad. Its just something I’ve wanted since the time I saw the movie “Into the wild” and in it I heard the song – Hard sun by Eddie Vedder. I really want to do that, you know? I’m not sure if I’d burn money like he did cause I don’t have any. Nothing but debt which’d take me over 3 years more of work to pay up and thats if I don’t keep adding more to it. Fuck! I’m in a vicious circle. Dad had warned me but I chose to ignore him as per uge! Coming back to the wild part of me – my recent roadtrip to Kerala has ignited the desire to wander off to nowhere and be completely out of touch; at least for a while. Sadly, all I can think of for now is the next movie I’d queue in. Drab ehh? Not really. I’m alright and I find absolute bliss in the ‘alone’ but unlonely life I live. Before I get down to discussing what I really wanted to say, here’s something I sung recently. Turned out good:

[audio:http://www.anup.org/audio/ae.mp3]

The very reason I decided to include my previous story before this post was to show myself and the others about the wear and tear my thought process and inversely, my writing has gone through over the years. Especially since I seem to think out the stuff I write these days rather than heart it out. I’ve hated that and I’ve always preached against people taking time off to write and you know… make an effort. The words should flow; right from your heart, proceed to the brain, no filters applied, go through to your blood and then seamlessly move into your fingers and out onto paper. Thats when it’ll really work; I feel. Making an attempt never helps for me and thats what I wanted to tell myself. YELL IT OUT EVEN! Here’s what a 17 year old me wrote:

The prodigal son:

For the last twenty years you tolerated me,
But, it was difficult for me
to be the way you wanted me to be…
It’s unbearable for you to see me in pain I know,
Crappy fuck you have to reap the seeds you sow.

Dad, you know? … you are my idol,
Again, I don’t intend on making academics my bridle…
I don’t wish to be what you have been,
An under to a jerk, thats all you have seen.
Not that I am some able dearth,
To reach some where near your worth…

Easier said than done,
The illusions of my mind make me a prodigal son.
As I sit typing and chatting shit,
All day long to virtual beauty tits.
I know it’s high time I gave it a chuck,
Hah, you know what? I am the biggest schmuck!
I love you dad… and your wife?
She means every thing to me in my life.
You never let me out of hugs and cash,
But your words were harder than a leathered whiplash.
I am not sorry to be what I am,
But now its difficult to shun,
And quit being a PRODIGAL SON!

My Redemption:

I walk my life alone,
Redeeming the deeds that I have yet to mourn.
I’ve always been there,
In gods court; he was always unfair.
He gave me goodness that I never deserved,
Then asked me for justification which I never preserved.
He wrote upon me, his able son,
A chapter that was to never begun.

Joy is just one side of the coin,
Pain and suffering plagues the other.
Someone asked me the other day,
Doesn’t pain give you pleasure?
I was dumbfounded, did not know where to start…
Couldn’t let her know that, “Hey! that was smart.”
She was a feline when it came to curiousness,
and look at me boasting prolific seriousness.
She gave me a shirk, looking at my bening self,
But in my dark ignorance I continued to delve.

Finally I realized; late but yeah… there was light,
I ran towards enlightment with all my might.
And lastly… I could see glow.
The redemptions of my life – All the pain and suffering,
Which were aflow.

So you read that and you read the story beneath it, you’d see what bothers me. I’m letting the pitious ambience I live in get to me. Its alright that its getting to me, but I shouldn’t let it reach my writing. I do well when I don’t force myself. I hated that story but I’m going to let it stay. Just so that I remember that however vicious the circle be around me, I should be me!

-Anup

Nemesis

I don’t always like the stuff I write. Especially when it comes to incidents and stories. I seem to be able to rant and ramble but then I’m not sure about how well I’d be able to describe and incident or more importantly; talk about a real life situation. Add to that I got a really radicle review for the following write up. It didn’t bother me much though. I wasn’t going to share it until I re-read it and decided it put it up for reads. Here goes…

This is a story of retribution, redemption and divine intervention. I’d be speaking about it in 1st person and it’s inspired from a real life friend who turned out to be one amongst the many jackasses I know. He proved his jackassery time and again and this time he just went out of his usually insensitive ways to something that’s even more deeply hideous and overtly contemptuous! It’s sad that he had to give up his life for what he did, but then come to think of it, that’s how God allows redeeming yourself. This is Arjuns story and it was this crazy episode that changed his life.

Arjun, me, Sachin and Vinod (my elder cousin brother) we were roomies around 4 years ago when we lived and worked in Bangalore. They have since then moved to Mumbai and pledged to never return to this god forsaken place but I was too much in love with this city to not return. I guess I’d settle down here someday. They curse this place for its people, infrastructure and everything else. They can go on and on about how much they hate this city but they still won’t go away. They’d devour all that they make out of it – money, friends, a career, a life and then ramble on about unhelpful it is; inconsiderate schmucks.

We lived close to K.R Puram and had easy access to the city. I loved these guys and living with them was an awesome experience. Especially since that was the first time I ever got a chance to be away from home and I was making my own life. I was earning well then and I used to wonder about how I’d spend the 7,000 Rs that I had! That was such a huge amount then. Arjun came across as a good looking guy who had a naughty little smile, an awesome personality and a charming set of behavioral rules which seemed to get him within close proximity of anyone he wanted to talk to and this included guys as well. Our lives were easy, all of us were new, we all earned in decent figures and the rent we paid for a mansion of a house we lived was satisfyingly low! In this way, we managed to save up on money and Arjun bought himself a new bike. This he said would be of substantial help in his hunt for a girl he’d want to be with! I’ve always been a geek and his chick-talks only encouraged me to write more and that’s all. The whole concept did not appeal to me then. I was a helpless romantic and I thought love would happen and that you don’t need to go look for it. Arjun on the other hand was unlike any of us, he was one of those many Casanova’s prowling in the shadows of a party, a get-together, a coffee-shop or anywhere for that matter. He’d just happen like a sudden curse to women and that’s how we had posthumously crowned him the king of jerks!

Arjun worked with MPhasis then and I was with Dell and the both of us were Customer Support guys and we answered phone calls from American customers and we worked the nights. He was quite a crowd puller and within a few months he was overflowing with friends and he was nowhere to be seen. He’d just come around to pay up on rents and the occasional drinks with my cousin and Sachin. I’d ask him about what he was up to but I usually got lies and that’s when I stopped talking to him. Then one alcoholic night he got high on Old Monk and seemed to be in a talkative mood. He spilled out a name and a small story along with it. He met this girl at work. I quickly turned my music down and began listening intently because this wasn’t Arjun. He seemed to be in trouble and I was worried. I’ve seen him get drunk numerous times but this was different. He cried and sobbed as he never did! Amongst all his sobs he blurted her name out – Payal.

I thought to myself, “Hey! I know this girl, guess she’s the same girl who kicked his ass on the first day at work” He had showed a picture of her to me once and she seemed to cute to me then. I wondered about what might have happened; where did this girl find the power to hurt Arjun? He was a tough nut to crack and I was surprised to know that he’d let the very first girl in his life bring him pain and misery. I continued to listen closely as he unraveled a story which was so distasteful that I hate him to date. He started telling us about her – Her voice… a sweet whisper, her words… riddles you can’t work your way around, her smile… a hundred dawns; bright and full of joy, her eyes…. deeper than her words and she… a gorgeous girl. She carried her exterior beauty very neatly hidden in clothes that weren’t too loud but bought out her beauty. Payal was his best friend and they had fallen in love with each other!

She loved him a lot, he said. Arjun was his usual self. running around working on his regular set of unacceptable actions which would bring out the worst in anyone and that’s precisely what he ended up doing with Payal. He was not sure about what he felt for her. He wouldn’t want to share her, but he had other girls as friends and Payal wasn’t someone who’d want to share. She was obsessive, possessive and everything else that a girl could be when she was really in love. She needed her timely phone calls and he’d miss them callously. She needed his touch and he never had the time she asked for cause he had gotten what he wanted and he had quenched his thrill! I felt like bashing him up when he uttered the word thrill; but then he sobbed some more and I felt weird. What was wrong with him? This wasn’t the Arjun I knew! Here is where I snatched the glass from his hand and asked him to blurt out! “What the fuck did you do?” I nearly screamed. That’s when I looked into his eyes and I could see his pain. Red in pain and agony, he seemed like someone who was destroyed by nuclear bomb full of love-gas! “She met with an accident… they won’t let me see her… she’s in pain and I can’t even go close… they won’t let me” and he passed out!

I waited for him to wake up in the morning. The lazy ass would try to never wake up if he could because he loved sleeping. I pushed and prodded till he finally woke up not knowing about what had transcended on us the other night. He seemed to be his normal self now and it seemed like he wanted to make a dash for the door. I stopped him, “Tell me what’s going on!” he grimaced and yelled, “I HAVE TO SEE HER AND I NEED TO GO NOW! Out of the way now before I beat your sorry ass off this porch!” One look and I knew that this guy was desperate! “I’ll take you to the hospital; I don’t want you to drive!” I didn’t give him enough time to negate my need go with him. I quickly jumped onto the bike and took off with him.

“She’s critical and you’ve got to be out of your guiltless mind to have come here! What do you want now?” The first words I heard as I strode into the hospital after parking the bike. Mr. Mittal was facing the garden as Arjun stood behind him. His head hung in shame, tears welling up in his red eyes. I secretly felt happy. I heard myself whispering, “The bastard deserves whatever it is that happened” I’m not sure why, but I somehow hated this “everything’s-ok” attitude that he carried around himself and I thought he needed to suffer a bit to learn. Well, I was in for a surprise and I cursed myself the second I heard what Arjun said – “…but I did not expect her to kill herself! I don’t know!! What wrong did I do? Did she tell you anything?” Mr. Mittal turned around and handed over a letter. He read it slowly, this time the tears came down swiftly and it seemed to form a small pool around where he stood. I walked over and put my hand over his shoulder. He handed the letter over and walked away.

Her letter,

“Ajju,

          I’m not sure if I can call you that anymore, but then that’s all that I can call you for now. I’ve loved you endlessly and I know that this is the biggest sin I’d ever commit. Falling in love with you was a slightly smaller one. But then, do you see me even now? Now as I try to finish this wretched life which you’ve come to hate only because I asked for some of your time and love; even now, all I want to do is to see you. I know that I can’t do that and it pains me, the way I am. I’ve been a self-loathing idiot all this while thinking about why I don’t love my parents as much as I love you. I have no answers. I’m tired of living in contemptuous self-pity and I just wanted to say good bye! I love you so much. Please don’t forget me.

Yours,
Jhumki

Our entire lives tumbled upon me as I read that I did not know how to react. I sat down, contemplating all that I had just lived through and I was wondering about what was going on in Arjuns brain and mind. It all felt like a bollywood movie and I couldn’t shake myself out of it. I walked up to Mr. Mittal and enquired about Payal. That’s when the doctor confirmed that she was out of danger and that we need to inform the police about her attempt to self-murder. Arjun was no where to be seen. I tried calling him, he never answered. I went back home and that’s when Sachin told me that he packed up and left. “Bastard!” I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to run after him, find him and kill him, brutality style! But then, he was a coward and he was gone! He’d redeem one fine day for all that he did; the way Payal was redeeming for her lack of affection towards people who gave birth to her. And come to think of it now, she’s alive and its divine intervention!

=============================END================================

Like I said, I find it a bit too bollywoodish to believe but then thats what my brain cooked up.

-Anup

Kerala roadtrip, Wonder la and Feminism.

I finally completed my write-up on my Kerala outing and its here. Its a rather elaborate one and it has details not everyone may like. So proceed at your own risk. The trip was amazing and I loved every inch of it. I’d like to do it again sometime and yes this time it’d be alone for sure!

I watched Vaarnam Ayiram today. I’ve been waiting for that movie since a year odd now. They had its promos on since then but then I guess they finished on the project recently due to various reasons. Anyhoo, it was finally here and I went over to PVR and watched it – alone and happy! I realized something here, I am better of by myself. I seem to have a problem with people and this includes friends and family. Small things annoy me. Ahhh, speaking of which; Abhi was in town over the weekend and we (Abhi, me, Chetan and Amod) went over to Wonder La! I can’t put into words about how exhilirating those rides were. The rides, the coasters, the water rides… man, this was undoubtedly one of my best weekends in Bangalore. What I noticed when I was with all these lovely people was that small things annoyed me and I ended up annoying these good people because of my annoyed self. This is something I learnt about myself very recently. I’m sure I wasn’t like this before. I was irritable but I used to get back to my normal self within no time but these days I seem to stick to small things and make a mountain out of a molehill. I hate this. Somehow, I feel these fine people would be better off without me too! Not always; but yeah almost always. Did I miss the point? The movie rocked. Sameera Reddy looks old and Surya looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g! The story is a bit spread out but then I loved it anyway.

I’ve been tagged by Layman and this time its Feminism!!! Arghhh… Why Deepak? Its a very controversial subject and I’ve been in huge conflicts on this before and these debates have led us nowhere. Its a modern mans nightmare – Feminists. People who decide to defy the creator and demand equality between both the sexes. In this egalitarian society, they say; we must be considered equals. Everything that man has, we should. I spoke about this before too and its here. I mean, I fail to understand their ignorance. How can we be equals? When you don’t fulfill the basic requirements – physical difference. We are different and there is no question of equality. Why do these women want to fall down to where we men are? Why don’t they understand that they are way above. Up there they are starlight and they wish to fall down to where darkness prevails like mist over mossy, quicksand infested dirty land.

Feminists are usually frustrated about how women are oppressed and pushed down by men. What? Seriously; can that even happen in today’s world? Why don’t you go find yourself something constructive to do? Or if you’re talking about the society where people-pollution hasn’t arrived yet. Luckily, I’d say because people such as yourself haven’t polluted their minds with unnecessary demands. So if you’re talking about little villages and uneducated women then I’d say let them fight their own battles. There wouldn’t be feminists there who talk for them, they’d deal with their own life. None of us need to speak for them. I’ve written about this once before when I was upset about having to live with the fairer sex. I very nearly ended up being a sexist bastard but I’m alright now I guess. That article is here. Also, a few things I’d like to make clear. Unto times infinity men will do the following:

a) Woo, hit, flirt.
b) Love, make love and help reproduce (make life)
c) Help women play god! I put this one separately.
d) Care, be insecure, be demanding and everything else.
e) There will be no paradigm shifts to the rule. You will be eve and I’ll be Adam!

-Anup