September rain

I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

...

So if you want to love me
Then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Sometimes life kicks you in the nuts. :-|

birds seen from KP Tower-2 620

1. Common Myna
2. Jungle Myna
3. Brahmini Myna
4. Ashy Prinia
5. Some Warbler (booted?)
   
6. Tailor Bird
7. Oriental White-eye
8. Pied Bushchat
9. Indian Robin
10. Oriental Magpie-Robin
11. Great Tit
12. House Sparrow
13. Red-vented bulbul
14. Red-whiskered bulbul
15. Little Brown Dove
16. Blue Rock Pigeon
17. Asian Koel
18. Common Crow
19. Jungle Crow
20. Grey Hornbill
21. Shikra
22. Black Kite
23. Pond Heron
24. Little Egret
25. Intermediate Egret
26. Red-wattled Lapwing
27. Little Cormorant
28. Indian Cormorant
29. Rose-ringed Parakeet
30. Alexadrine Parakeet
31. White-breasted Kingfisher
32. Common Kingfisher
33. Baya Weaver
34. Dusky Crag-martin
35. Red-rumped Swallow
36. Little green Bee-eater
37. Scaly-breasted Munia
38. Black Drongo
39. White-browed Wagtail
40. Greater Coucal
41. Ducks (unidentifeid) - probably Spot-billed
42. Large Cuckoo-Shrike (?)
43. House Swift
44. Cattle Egret
45. Indian Silverbill

Crazy engineers

CrazyEngineers.com was in news (literally) recently.

Why is that a big deal?
Well, for one, it is a one man run website and Kaustubh (the Big-K as likes to be called sometimes) has worked really hard for it. I think this has turned a page for the site.
The site is already 40k members strong from more than a 100?? countries! Quite an achievement considering it is only word of mouth.

It does not need any shameless advertising from my end, or sure.

I do visit the site sometimes, the interviews the site has managed are varied and interesting. It is nice to read stuff about leaders and local entrepreneurs. I think the 'Know your CEan' feature is interesting too, adds to the dynamic nature of the site. (Nice to see champ being interviewed. Though I don't think he was candid with his answers.)

Always nice to see some hard work getting visibility.
Way to go Kaustubh. Hope you are making some money out of it now. :-p

मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

आसमां से ज़मीन को छूता, मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष
गुमसुम सा रहता, कुछ न कहता, मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

क्यों रूठे हो पूछा मैंने, मेरे प्यारे इन्द्रधनुष
आँख चुराके, खोया रहता, मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

सागर से गहरा, अभिमान से ऊंचा, मेरा अनूठा इन्द्रधनुष
पर्वत से बहता छिछले नालों में, मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

प्राण हो मेरे, आन हो मेरे रूठो न मुझसे इन्द्रधनुष,
रोज़ रोज़ की ताने सहता मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

धूमिल से हो तुम, दूषित गलियों में खो न जाना इन्द्रधनुष,
भीड़ में जीता, शुन्य में खोया, नुक्कड़ पर बैठा इन्द्रधनुष

टूट चुका हूँ, जाग गया हूँ, कहाँ है मेरा इन्द्रधनुष?
सिसक सिसक के कोने में रोता, मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

सदियों से जीता, पल-छिन्न में मरता, मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष,
मुझे देख कर, क्षण भर जी लो मेरे भोले इन्द्रधनुष,

आखिर थोडा सा, कुछ घबराया सा मिला मुझे वह इन्द्रधनुष
अपनी काया से, कुछ गदराया सा, मुझमें रंग है भरता...
मेरा फीका इन्द्रधनुष

All talk and no play never takes you too far

Talk about following your dreams! Caught up with an old friend of mine while back after a good couple of years. I remember talking to her and her telling me how unhappy she is with her current job and she is meant to do somthing better. Something she has her heart in.
She had an artist's flair to her and wanted to go for a course at the National Institure of Design - probably the most reputed design school out there. But, something seemed to hold her back. I don't know - lucre, self confidence, doubt or just plain luck. That was when I last heard of her.
Today she proudly announced that she was in Bangalore. In NID! Everything apart, she is an inspiration for morons like me who blabber about following your heart and stuff. This is the real deal. Somebody actually took the plunge! Someone actually followed their dreams. And am proud (and envious, in a good way) of her. :)

Out of the purple

I must admit, I have been off colour for the past month or two. Guess am going through one of those 'existential/relalizational' phases of life. Everything seems bland, boring and banal. Trying to come to terms with my new found boredom.

I am, as usual, confused from the last couple weeks. Guess, I'll never get over bewildering over 'appraisal/feedback' thingie. I've always believed the whole thing to be a scam.Though, it is much better at my current company, I just think we Indians are by default to polite to give honest feedback to each other. Me, guilty as charged.

I've been doing a lousy job in my current project. I know that. More out of self-blocking-out than lack of skill or interestingness of the project. A lo has been happening in last 6 months or so and have not been able to think straight. I hope to get back on track before other people realize this :-D .

Been reading an interesting book - Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson) . It's a mishmash of everything nerd. World war, cryptography - both old and new, guns, espionage, hacking, phreaking... Loving the book till now. It's a huge tome. At a hulking 1100 pages, it's the biggest piece of bound paper I've read (out of college text-books. Wait. technically, you have to read a book from cover to cover, right, to actually read it? Cryptonomicon wins.). It has quite a bit of geeky, tounge in cheek humour and also has it's share of gore with sharks and cannibals and bombs and huge guns. The book, somehow felt very masculine. Something that panders to the male geekdom. But, then it is written well enough to be more than that and some across as somehing I'll refer to a friend or two.

What do I give her?

Something random I wrote this weekend

How about those ear-rings that jingle, sparkling like tiny stars?
Or maybe an expensive evening, with moonlight, champagne and fancy cars?
Oh, what do I give a girl who hates chocolates and is allergic to flowers?

I know she hates roses, she wouldn't stop sneezing for what seemed like hours.
And she doesn't fancy chocolates, cause I still have those three boxes of Mars.
So, what do I give her? She hates chocolates and definitely not into flowers.

She tells me she doesn't need chocolates to woo her or a fragrant floral shower,
She tells me she happy with what we have, something we could call ours
What do I give her? She is sweeter than the chocolates and much prettier than the flowers.