En Route to Singapore...

Finally, after all the drama at the airport, we finally get on to the plane. Bye Bye Hyderabad. I don't think I'll miss you that much. So, we're on to a Singapore Airlines plane. It is supposed to be their new A380s. These planes are rather cramped. And for some sad reason I was being called 'Polisetty' and I always was mistaken for being a vegetarian and I get the middle seat ... ALWAYS!!! Bloddy travel agency always screws up. So, they have this nice miniature TV screen for watching movies and all. After the excitement wore down (it took nearly half an hour,) the nightmare began. They came and served us what they called food.

The only edible thing in all that was the bun and butter. So, I quietly eat up whatever I could and politely ask the air hostess to remove the plate as it was really cramped in there and I couldn't reach for the damned remote to change the channel or at least shut the damn thing off. She gives me big Singaporean smile, white teeth and no eyes and all, and says she'll do that right away and comes back TWO hours later to clear the plate. So you see, service was pathetic. Unfortunate stuff to happen right at the very beginning.

But then, we reached Singapore. :D Here we go, our ride begins here!

All aboard - Next Stop Singapore!!!

Finally the moment had come. I was finally, I say FINALLY, getting to go abroad. So, I went half-heartedly to work in the morning, pretended to work, did some work too and was all excited about evening. I left Google at about 3 PM for home. My cab mate for this trip was Dhruv. Loads of chatting and crazy heat and a drive of about an hour, I managed to get home. Had some chaat and then went and got ready. Dad and mom turned up to give me a grand send-off. While packing, I noticed that the medicines I was carrying are prescription drugs. Asthalin? Who'd have thought? So, dad and I rush out on our bikes and head to Sharada nursing home and somehow managed to get a prescription for the medicines. Got back quickly but Dhruv wasn't there yet. Left finally at 6:30 PM. My journey's started baby. The airport is so far far away. Shamshabad is like at the other end of the world. It took us forever (read 2 hours) to get there. The airport is nice and all. Far better than anything I had ever seen. Then again, I had hardly seen anything. The next few days were going to change my perspective. Adios Hyderabad! Mucho Gracias!!!

Illusion and Reality

People say I have changed. Have I? Or has their perspective changed? I know one thing for sure. Awkwardly at first and confidently thereafter, I have started to appreciate people and have learned to like them for the good they have in them. With joy and happiness, I'd say that the healing has started.

A friend of mine at work says that she doesn't like me as much anymore. Could it be because I am a lot quieter. I hope that these people don't perceive my silence for arrogance. I am just a lot more introspective. Another friend of mine feels that I have become more caring and understanding. She thinks I have changed for the better. This has left me confused. Who has changed here?

Change is inevitable as is the change of perspective. Do I justify myself to anyone? Should I care for an incorrect opinion? Is it my place to influence decisions? If I have inadvertently done so, what is the remedy? Shouldn't I have the answers to all these questions? How do you justify illusions? How do you define reality?

Stop and Stare

This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us
It's time to make our move, I'm shaking off the rust
I've got my heart set on anywhere but here
I'm staring down myself, counting up the years
Steady hands, just take the wheel...
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal... for the life I lead

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're 'here' not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can u see what I see

They're trying to come back, all my senses push
Untie the weight bags, I never thought I could...
Steady feet, don't fail me now
Gonna run till you can't walk
But something pulls my focus out
And I'm standing down...

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, you don't need

What u need, what u need...

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be
Oh, do u see what I see...

--
Stop and see,
Stop and feel;
Stop and love,
Stop and stare.
--

Archangel

I haven't been able to blog of late. I've been experiencing what I'd like to call a creative vacuum. I'm trying to be as random as I can. As a friend of mine says, "All my life I have wanted to be different, but in doing so, I have been so ordinary." Ironic and subtle at the same time. What is it that prompts so many of us to be different? At what point in our existence does it stop being an effort and becomes a way of things done? Questions like these seldom are answered because this is a lifelong struggle to be different. Fight to be different so that you can be one among many and yet be the one above the others. The Archangel - the first among many.

Intelligence and Madness

" A powerful wizard, who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom, placed a magic potion in the well from which all the inhabitants drank. Whoever drank that water would go mad.

The following morning, the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad, apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, and which the magician had not managed to poison. The king was worried and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health. The policemen and the inspectors, however, had also drunk the poisoned water and they thought the king's decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them.

When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard these decrees, they became convinced that the king had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. They marched on the castle and called for his abdication.

In despair, the king prepared to step down from his throne, but the queen stopped him, saying: "Let us go and drink from the communal well. Then, we will be the same as them."

And that was what they did: the king and the queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense. Their subjects repented at once; now that the king was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country.

The country continued to live in peace, although its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbors. And the king was able to govern until the end of his days. "

-- excerpt from 'Veronika Decides To Die' by Paulo Coelho. --


It is a rather thin line that separates intelligence from insanity and also from vanity. In the king's kingdom, everyone was mad. However, everyone thought the king was mad. Its tough to tell who is correct and who is not if we do not know what is correct. Even if you somehow get to know that something is correct, how do you determine its accuracy? While intelligence is accepted knowledge, insanity most of time is the forerunner of evolution.

Hope

Ironic it is that my next post would be all about hope and survival. I had just written about the end of all hope. An old lady I know suffered a serious accident and she is fighting for her life in the hospital. I've heard of people who put an end to their life because of trivial things like trying to prove a point or simply just giving up because there was nothing else to try. I wish there was someone to tell them there still was hope.

When she was in the hospital, she needed help. When I tried asking for help at work, the response I got was overwhelming. Almost everyone who was eligible to help tried their best. We tend to think that people have become more self-centered and insensitive. But that is not the case. People who care still exist.

You need some more proof that hope exists? Ask the parents whose only son battled for his life after being hit by train. Ask the student who works untiringly from three in the morning till midnight to fight and earn what he wants. Ask the social workers who leave their comfortable lives and go and help the poor and helpless. Ask the old begger who survives just by begging for food. Her life centers around hope.

Hope is eternal. Hope stems from the determination to fight. When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it. Hope. Just Hope.