Sing a song of freedom...

Here I am sitting in my room and cleaning up my hdd...when I hit upon old folders of songs...ahh that reminds me of a few people in my life who have 'significant' songs for various reasons!

Here I go...

"Meri Saamne Wali Khidki Mein Ek Chaand Ka Tukda Rehta Hai
Meri Saamne Wali Khidki Mein Ek Chaand Ka Tukda Rehta Hai
Afsos Yeh Hai Ki Woh Hum Se Kucch Ukhda Ukhda Rehta Hai
Meri Saamne Wali Khidki Mein Ek Chaand Ka Tukda Rehta Hai"

"Nothing's quite as pretty as Mary in the morning
When through the sleepy haze I see her lying there
Soft as the rain that falls on summerflowers
Warm as the sunlight shining on her head"

"The smile on your face
Lets me know That you need me
There's a truth In your eyes
Saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says
You'll catch me Whenever I fall
You say it best
When you say Nothing at all"

"And the thing that gets to me
Is youll never really see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is Ill always be in doubt
It is a lovely thing that we have
It is a lovely thing that we
It is a lovely thing, the animal
The animal instinct"

"We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the hills that we climbed
were just seasons out of time."

"Clue number one was when you knocked on my door
clue number two was the look that you wore
n' that's when i knew, it was a pretty good sign
that something was wrong up on cloud number nine"

If you are a friend of mine and while reading this, one song from this list hits you particularly then it probably was for you in the first place! :)

People, Places and Peanuts!!

The last weekend was absolute fun! It started with meeting my friend of 10 years and then there is the snow!
I boarded with thoughts running through my mind. How will it be? What is it like to meet someone after two and a half years when you've had no contact whatsoever. Will it be like strangers greeting each other? Ideas and strange thoughts swim in my head. "...Hassan kneeling down in the middle of the road..." I continue to read "The Kite Runner" but every now and then my mind goes back to college, to after-college, and a host of other places. ...Amir Agha,.. Khaled Hosseini continues. I squint at the setting sun through the window, all the while playing with the thoughts in my mind.
'Peanuts'- The flight attendant breaks my sacred silence and I just force a polite Thank You!

My friend and I - shall we make it short and call her 'B' - have known each other for more than 10 years now and we still respect each other! :) She has been a fantastic person who understands you completely and sticks by you no matter what. I could go on but...Am pretty happy she came into my life!

I THINK I will miss her!

Thud! The wheels hit the tarmac!Welcome to Salt Lake City!

I make a couple of calls and trudge to the baggage claim and there she is! B looks as sweet as she did 10 years back and we wave to each other as though we are frantically bringing a plane to it's hangar, all the while with huge grins on our faces.

I KNOW I am gonna miss her!

After a quick round of hello's, we all pile into her friend's SUV - let's call him N - and I get my first real glimpse of Salt Lake City - Well, it's all covered with a white blanket of snow all over! Soon we were roaming around in downtown courtesy of the tram - which was a nice ride through town. Walking here and there with her explaining things to me kinda brought a smile to my face!And boy, did we have a lot of catching up to do! All through dinner it was talk, talk and more talk! Life has not been bad on us. God had shown mercy. With the weather nipping at us, we head back!

Activities on snow made up the entire Saturday and left us exhausted. N knew a lot of good places and the entire day was fun. All the while my thoughts kept wandering somewhere else and I just wished that Elle (another friend of ours) was there...to even things out! The day left us exhausted and as the sun was sinking over the white mountains, home beckoned. Sunday was another fun-filled day but as the time came for me to board my southwest back to CA, only the memories of the weekend were left. And to give an apt end - '...you say it best, when you say nothing at all' screams on the stereo and takes me back in time - to a time when things were at their best.Maybe I did make some mistakes back then. No. Not maybe, I did. Do I get a second chance? I probably don't deserve one. I smile to myself realizing the situation.

...Sad and slow goodbye's are exchanged and I trudge through the security check with mixed feelings all the while glancing back to see the physical distance slowly increase between us...

I WILL miss her!

Book of Secrets...it's no secret anymore!

Phew! Was I glad to get out of National Treasure 2! It was not quite what I expected...in fact was not worth the few bucks that were spent! Anyway, not really interested in writing about it. The bottom line is, If you can spend an evening talking to an insurance salesman, do it, rather than watching this movie!

Well...I do have a list (bucket list, if you may! - lol)
- The Bucket List
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal skull
- Rambo
- Meet the Spartans
- Sweeny Todd
- Cloverfield
- Charlie Wilson's War

...will add more later.

Happy New Year!

2008 if here! Gloryosky! 2007 is something of the past and 2008 is here in all it's glory! This new year has been a bit different as my friends -'Big Officers' - are back home and so they saw the new year well before I did! But we all had a nice conference call when the clock struck 12 in Bangalore and so was quite a blast. Now that it' s the new year here as well, things have settled down and another huge year begins with lotsa ups and downs and changes as well.

Reminiscing about the past year brings smiles and tears but in the end it has been a good year. And as someone said, - Life goes on - you bet it does!

Happy New Year to one and all!

The Walk of Fame!

On the very last day of the 2007 I made it to the much awaited Walk of Fame! This has been on the cards for some time and this year did not disappoint me in that regards. After taking a long walk along the 'stars' I got kinda tired in the end and had to return back - without seeing a few of my favourites - well, that's always there for another day! Hollywood is a nice place to be - but still does not come close to the entertainment world called - Vegas!

Man of the Match - Andrij

Finally a stellar performance from Shevchenko in the match against Aston Villa made the crowds look up to him. Sheva scored two goals and set up one in the 4-4 thriller at the Bridge.
A few snippets from the BBC live-text commentary during the match should sum it up.

1427: GOAL Chelsea 3-2 Aston Villa
A real striker's finish from, of all people, Alex, who collects a pass from the brilliant Andriy Shevchenko and takes the ball past a last-ditch challenge before drilling it home from 16 yards.

1410: GOAL Chelsea 2-2 Aston Villa
The superb Andriy Shevchenko equalises for Chelsea with an unstoppable strike from just over 20 yards. His ability has never been in doubt. What a finish.

His performance on the pitch - which was probably his best in a Chelsea shirt so far- spoke for itself and his class was quite unmatched on the field.
Way to Go Sheva!

Merry Christmas!

Ahh ....tis the season to be jolly...Christmas is in the air and it gives you a nice feeling deep down to see the happy faces and the holly around. I thought I would probably have to spend this Christmas alone but my family drove down and so we had a nice warm family Christmas yet again!

Now that it's over, am back at my desk hammering the keys - though still in the holiday spirit!
Happy Holidays!

Mighty forever!

The mighty whites - after being sent to League 1 to ply their trade - showed the football world what it is to rise from the debris! The current position says...

		P	GD	Pts
11	Yeovil	10	-2	14
12	Leeds	10	15	13
13	Northampton	10	2	13

...and remember we started with a 15 point deficit!!! Except for the lone draw, it's been Glory Glory all around the park! With 9 wins and a draw, we are marching on together up the ladder.
True- the climb back to the Premiership is a tough one, but with performances such as this, we fear no one!
Marching on!!!

Life.

Life is like a highway, sometimes everything appears bright and green and sometimes dark and gloomy (Note the use of 'appear' which may not be reality).
Yesterday, I had to drive a few things out of my mind, so took the flying Dutchman (my car) and headed out for a drive.
People and places change sometimes for the good and sometimes the result may not be what we wanted but one thing I have learned so far is, God does not give you all you want...He gives you all that you need.
I think and decide on the Outer ring road for several reasons. Green Day start "I walk a lonely road..." on the stereo...
Yes, I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. Everybody needs time...alone, to think in retrospect. As I drive down, I glance at known places, places where I have been many times before.
'My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating'
All the cars and trucks zoom by, life seems to be a big blur. Sometimes certain changes hit you hard, so hard that it takes time to even gather the pieces and get up. But another lesson learnt in life is...Time is a great healer. Everything takes time - Patience is really a virtue.

Time slowly crawls as I continue on lane 3 almost oblivious to the traffic. Cranberries on the stereo with 'Animal Instinct'. The song brings back memories, and I bite my lip, not that I want to but I had to, to prevent a drop from trickling down my cheek. I hold on. An ambulance wails on the other side of the road. I glance at it for a few seconds. May God have mercy on the poor soul. It's almost midnight and I turn around to head home - have a meeting at work tomorrow morning. I stay on the intersection waiting for a clear lane to turn. Trucks, Cars and SUV's speed past. The headlights hit me hard on the face illuminating it for a fleeting second. I turn into the last lane, and slowly rest my foot on the accelerator. I come back to the familiar places. This time around I stop and glance, but for a few minutes and a wry smile escapes. The drop trickles down. I move the Dutchman into first and the speedometer slowly moves...0...10...20...

Life is on a highway...we move from 0 to 20, 30 and perhaps 40, and either brake hard or swerve around when something comes in the way. I had braked hard and in the process stalled my engine, there had been no room to swerve. The reality of the situation broke free - This is reality. My mind said accept it, my heart said no. An intriguing debate continues between them, each bringing forth its own valuable point. Thoughts and memories keep flooding and walk back and forth at the back of my mind. Some good and some even better. I realize this is life and this is how things change - not for the first time - but things could have been different. Things could have been better.

I am almost home.

Have a long day tomorrow. My Manager is not gonna be in for some time - that completes the case by taking it from bad to worse!
God have mercy on me.