22.1.10

Rocket Man

It was late at night. Not surprisingly the stars were not visible at all. What's the point of living on the 11th floor if you can't enjoy the view?! thought Rajeev. But he shouldn't crib... because tonight was New Year's after all and this is what happens on every New Year's eve. The city goes berserk with its crackers and fireworks. He was used to seeing lacs of rupees being set on fire. Damn smog's gonna last for days...

The wind was whistling thru his hair... "It kinda feels nice..." thought Rajeev...
"Hmm... perhaps I fucked up..." and he closed his eyes.


Next day 11am

"Yo man... that was a killer evening last night."
"Yeah dude but I really haven't had much sleep"
"How come?"
"You remember last night before we went to G's house, when we stopped to pick up some munchies and ice, I was talking to a guy outside the shop?! My friend Sanjay's cousin..."
"Haan haan shortish chap with the 'fro like hair... right?!"
"Yeah the weird thing is I had a dream about him the night before and I remembered that while we were talking outside the shop and it felt even more strange...."
"Hmm... that is a pretty strange coincidence."
"And now I am more than a little freaked out coz this morning at 5 am Sanjay calls me to tell me Rajeev's committed suicide. He jumped off the 11th floor of his building..."


Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspapers says, says
Say it's true it's true...
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one


I...I will begin again
I...I will begin again

19.1.10

Year of the Tiger (cue in Survivor*)

I'm not very good with resolutions. The last time I made one was a good 7-8 years ago. I think I quit smoking for about 27 hours... does that even count as quitting?! Anyway this year as with most years I didnt give a hoot about making any resolutions but I did promise myself that I would put up a new year (sorta) post in the first month of the year rather than in Feb as I did last year. (in case you're a first time reader, yes, I like writing long sentences and sometimes I write even longer ones in brackets that follow said original sentence... and yeah it can get even longer than this one sometimes).

Speaking of the New Year it was quite a sober affair... for an hour. But yeah it was devoid of the usual shooshaa associated with NY parties. It was a small group of 7 that gathered on a friend G's terrace. The nippy air was a nice change of pace for this city's usual weather and made me feel glad I had an inner tee on.
No! You're the pussy who can't stand the cold!

The libations were flowng... some fantastic grub courtesy G and the reliable if occassionally nutty company of good friends made for a great night. Despite being nice and buzzed, I was reasonably in control of my senses. Unlike last year, where I am not sure how I got from the party venue into bed. (Well I do and if you're reading this... Grazie!)
The highlight of the night had to be the fireworks. The terrace being as high as it was afforded us a great view of the city all round. It was mad seeing fireworks going off at the same time across the city. Will not forget those few minutes in a hurry. Also two of our lady friends who made the night a trifle more interesting... You know who you are ladies and thanks for the show! Woweee!

What's changed in the last year? Been writing a fair bit more... not so much on the blog (in fact i wrote lesser posts than the previous year) but more on the web content side of things. Good to make some spare change for the beer and peanuts. The year ended with the germ of an idea for a project and it has quickly blown up into something which I didn't think was possible. If you have visited the blog recently you know it has to do with poker which I am quite pleased about. There are many pots bubbling or in mid-bubble on many fires and like I was telling S the other night, I am quite possibly feeling the highest levels of creative satisfaction and contentment at this moment in time, which I didn't think was possible when I had a corporate leash on a year and some months ago (see... told you I wrote long sentences).

For a short while I was a tiny bit bummed at not getting adequate attention from the blog world about my writing . But a level headed friend then reminded that the blogger's world is mostly a mutual admiration society. You like someone, comment on their posts and pretty much expect the same treatment back. That hasn't happened for this blog till I realised that this was supposed to be my own space where I could put down what I felt like and not care so much about what others wanted to read. I now remind myself of that everytime these thoughts come into my head. That said, there are some readers who come along and spend a few minutes out of their day here, generally contributing to this blog's tiny amount of traffic and my enormous sense of well-being. Thanks to all 4 of you!

The year gone by had 3 darn good trips. In the initial part of the year, we did a road trip to Goa (last one was 5 years ago) and had a great time there. That was followed by a trip to Bangkok in the middle of the year where I finally got to see the Grand Palaces and the temples. Bloody humid day and heat mein Wat lag gayi! hehe come on... it was right there. How could I possibly resist?! We also spent a couple of days prior in Pattaya as well but were pretty much confined to the hotel room coz there was torrential rains lashing the area which meant no watersports because of the rain and tides. And wouldn't you know it, the day we are to head to Bangkok, the sun is burning hot and the water has receeded 200 metres out. That sucked. But we caught the final of the Wimbledon at one of the local bars when the rain held up one night and that was awesome fun although the alcohol did me in for a while. Never start drinking before the sun sets btw.
The trips for the year ended with Christmas weekend being spent at G's uncle's home in Alibaug. What a lovely location and an equally nice house too. Loved the hammock and the massive game room next door. The trip was also good because my brother was along and its rare that we travel and hang with the other's friends. But they enjoyed themselves as did we all. Taboo is THE game to play when you are more than  few drinks down.

On our last night there I lay in the hammock and gazed at the stars with the music streaming into my ears courtesy the pod. A whole year had gone and I couldn't help reflect on many of the things that were and could have been. As I looked back, it was obvious that the area of concentration for the coming year had to be work. The end of '08 and most of '09 was a time of doing whatever I felt like. It's come to a point now that I will continue to pursue the things I want to do in life and now that the new career is up and kind of running I gotta ride that baby to make me enough money.

So I'm gonna sign off by saying Happy New Year and as we head into 2010, I wish for good things to happen for you.
Wish the same for me too ok?! :)

*I used to be Glen once