Skype world

It all hapened on a very usual day in my office. I had at that time recently upgraded my internet conection from an ordinary dial up to a DIAS(direct internet acess system) and was with the big boys, keeping my system online as long as i wanted. Somewhere along the way while surfing the net i came across this write up on "skype". It had mentioned that skype was real hot with stress on opportunities to speak to people from all over the world in comparision with other messengers which was more on the type chat thingy. It sounded like fun, calling up or chatting with lovelly girls from all over the world, getting to know their intimate details, giving free advice which is never registerd etc. All and all it all was a fun thing, nothing to be taken serious . And it was fun, on a normal day if you really sat on it, you could feel the world slowly opening up. Usually when you gave a search in the mornings there are Chinese, Malaysians, Philipino's, Vietnamese etc. As the day progresses you can slowlly see the Turkish, Latvians, serbians, British and finally by the evening the Americans. One thing is certain here, this world through a computer moniter is a very small place. There are no distances as you can talk to any person for any amount of time with your headphone without spending a penny.

And it sure is a funny, creapy, interesting , sexy, lonelly, hot, racist, religious, sporty, dog eat dog world out there. You get all types of people, the frustrated house wife who is willing to spell out in detail her not so functioning sex life, the cyber businessman offering to teach you to make that illusive million dollars, the beauty queen who finally turns out to be a grandma with a rotten smile, pot smokers willing to share their halucinations, the ever correcting regious freak tripping on new found wisdom, your local next door girl willing to find you a real life match in marriage,Chinese girls with their proper demeanour out to study English, the online whore who can scream moans with accurate precision.......... They are all there cybered ready if you can get or find them. In all this, like flowers in the dirt, you do meet that rare genuine person.

Come and meet me, i am there sometimes all dressed in my best cyber wear out for a good time.......

My beautifull morning

I realized this morning i have been missing a lot of life. Saroj Vihar , our house wakes up very early and is up for life refreshing itself. The person who pays the most important part in this morning routine is my grandmom. Its her torchlight that got me the signal this morning, that everything is going to come alive. On her way to the kitchen she passes by my room, being the extremely decent person she is, makes it a point not to disturb me (not that it matters since i am a real sound sleeper). Its the kitchen where the action is all centered around. Ammama goes through the cores of her routine with uttermost precision. This morning by the time i got to the kitchen chair it was 4.45Am which is earlier than a usual morning agenda (she wakes up to our neighboring Muslim mosques early morning call to the first prayer which usually is around 5.15 AM). Its the mornings first cup of tea prepared by her with a reminiscing of yesterdays events , her awareness and judgment of facts, and the precise answers that in the early hours hits your head. With 83 years of vast experience, having brought up 5 very young children after her husbands untimely death has made her a vast encyclopedia of life ( my brother in law describes her as an old Cheverlot truck which can run in any conditions with minimum maintenance ha ha ha).
Morning is the time when the lights are blue with newness. I walk slowlly to the front cement courtyard to take a leisurely walk and to see this same courtyard that i have seen all my 41 years, in its all pervading blue light. Yes, moms red anthurium flowers have too woken up and ask their questions without any preconceived ideas. The red Anthuriums are brilliant with their white middle heads , all like live serpents poised to strike unwanted thoughts. Today my thoughts are not weighed by the past but spring out with a newness fuelled by the distant songs of M.Subhalaksmi's morning kirtanams from a nearby temple. In avyurveda, the definition of health springs to my mind. Health is defined as a feeling one realizes when there is no present awareness of our physical material body. This material body which we hold in such esteeem, who the sages of yore have always kept reminding us about is in a constant tick of undoing. The young, the old , the needy, the greedy, the millioraire all hold a vital capsule of infinity that undergoes no degradation. Its a vital need for our well being that one needs to sometime be aware of this infiniteness in us. Early morning don't bring old stale thoughts, its new, the air has a lot more negative ions.

Ammama gives me the house gate keys, i open one side of it inorder for the milkman and paper kid to come sailing in( Wonder how many more painfull deaths will the oppresive regimes have to come to terms with before the innocents blood stop flowing through the streets). Everything in Saroj Vihar is precise, money for the 3 or more satchets of milk is kept in their regular plastic vessel. I open the gate and look at a new day in the morning pleasantness. The yellow Sodium paper lamps on the street have diffused the blue morning light. Its Shabrimalla season with its coolness, in some unknow house the young celibate Ayyapan is taking his morning bath in front of an ancient well, in order to go to the temple. I have done this routine too , gone to "Mallai", the hard way after the usual 30 day fast inorder to clean the system.

Kommath house the imposing building stands like an old fortress erasing back the attempts of new real estate developers who build penis like new age flats so artificial in this part of my world. The age on Kommath house earns its respect,a giant impossing facade to a bygone era's gatehouse, slowlly my thoughts go back to a Vishu festivel day when one of our festivel rockets fired from Saroj Vihar went in there , and exploded very near a sleeping infant.....somehow it seems years have not gone so fast. I don't feel any damage has been done to the grey matter of my thick skull. My forehead has some white hair on it, but i don't command any respect or act as if i have seen it all. There is a bloody lot more to see. I am reminded by a wise saying which always made sense in my travels "The journey is the destination". Every second i am reaching somewhere in the dynamic suchness of now. No need to worry about the destination when you know that the journey is in the now.

The mosque next door invites the morning faithfull for their first prayer. A madman walks in front of me with eyes as innocent as a child's. Where is the journey of life for him? "Never philosophise in the portals of a mad man without food". The regular crowd of mornin overfat walkers with their long stick in hand walk by, always ready for that life saving hit on some waiting street dog. Why are these fat walkers walking with their presciptions, freshly signed by their relevant doctors today? The out of state long distance trucker blows its airhorns and screw it all up. I walk away with a Monolisa smile to get ready to do my early morning Sudarshana Kriya.

Wonder how this mornings basketball game will turn out is my biggest worry. Screw everyone, hey hey, its our time now, throw me that difficult pass. Let me dunk the ball once more into the cup of a fine day.........

Mr Mohandas with leches

God and wise man

1. Don't try to change life, just change yourself,and life changes: Wise man said changing the society is a false direction. The communist mentality has always been that the responsibility of all our faults is with the society with the world. But if one could change himself which in a way has been screaming from the ancient books and Guru's then the problem is solved. In the first place its simply too complex and impossible to change the society. After all we are all just guests here for a short while, for an overnight stay and then gone: gate, gate- gone forever....

2.Always take responsibilities for your personal miseries: Wise man said our most easy way out is to throw the responsibility on someone else. On the government,the social structure, the economy or finally on God. So watch out for that.

3. Never beg in front of your Gods: Wise man always laughed at the going on in the houses of worship. You are sayingto God"Do this do that or give me that house on the hill". YOU ARE TELLING THE WHOLE. "you are responsible". Net effect is you are complaining, deep down in actual effect your prayer is a complaint. You may be very polite, got the right dress and all but your politeness is false. So in front of your Gods be silent and express your gratitude if there is any left. That's all that's possible.

4.Change the cause and you are the cause: Wise man said when you look through green glasses the world looks green.Life is not a doer; its a mirror. The mirror is the same for a Buddha or for me. The mirror is the same but when you come before the mirror, it reflects your face. To be miserable or to be happy is upto you and me. Nobody else has anything to do with it. The world will remain the same, you can start dancing and the whole world dances with you. That is the deepest meaning of the word karma: that you are responsible.

Gayhearts place

It was really not my intention to go to Gayhearts place. After all i had been there from the beginning . I first met him at Laju's place, by the sea, on one of those Saturday nights. It was a long time ago before he got married etc. Lajju had this beautifull central open air courtyard where they would jack up a guitar, a speaker and if Ash the drummer was around then you had the drum's too. Lajju and gang of course were part of the legendary rock band of Calicut called "Axewagon"(Axewagon through years took so many permutations and combinations with its players that nobody knows the real Axewagon no more, at one point i also did play my part as Mr Band manager). The story goes that Gayheart had come to Calicut and was strolling back from the beach when he passed by Lajjus place where there was the sound of screaming guitars and general havoc with some singing etc. He got inside (in those days he used to keep his doors open) asked for the guitar and played some real good blues music. He turned out to be part of a blues band from Germany but in real life made those beautifull pipe organs which you see in real old churches. Then he got to be a regular, got started regular jamming with the guys , he opened up his mind and one drunk night made the biggest mistake of his life. He asked Lajju if there were any Mallu girls who would marry his poor blue soul? Could Lajju find one for him? On his next return or so from Germany Lajju suggested Madam Sally (a far, absolutely broke cousin sis of his). Then they got married went to Germany etc and i think life was good for a while.

After their first child Gayheart decided to come back to India and build a house by the sea. Gay heart came back to calicut with a bang really. He brought all his equipment like guitars, amplifiers, effects. And in those days Axewagon was the only band in Kerala which had its on complete sounds ( most band had to lease out). He also had the only 2 door Mercedes in town and boy did we freak out in it. But the laws of the land were against this blues guitarist, since he was a German, all property he owned was bought in his wife's name. In those days everything was going real good other than the occasional fights with his mother in law life was pretty ok. That was the time i really got to know Gayheart well. We used to meet often at "Beach wines" a local hang out joint where a lot of tired and crazy souls were regulars. I really liked this man from the beginning for the reason that there was a down to earth touch to him. We used to sometimes go for crazy rides in his open jeep with the wind in our hair chain smoking "scissors" cigarettes.

Gayheart had 2 kids Alwin the elder and Steven the younger. I got to know Alwin a bit for the reason that Gayheart used to bring him along even when he was a small boy. He could in those days speak fluent Malayalam to us and German to his parents . The real funny part was to hear Sally a local girl speak fluent German(which she learnt on her first trip to Germany) to the family and Malyalam to us. Alwin knew the beach well, all the shortcuts etc . Sometimes when we were in Gayhearts house and we had run out of cigarettes he would volunteer to get some. I had been with him once or twice on these episodes , he would always run in front barefooted whistling and take all the shortcuts. I would be always slow on these times cause the way to the local cigarette shop is by the seashore and the view could sometimes stun you esp if its in the evening and its a low tide. But he would come back tugg my hand and pull me on. Steven was just a kid always , but very watchful and shy. He looked more German of the two. I don't think i had much interaction with him for the reason that Sally & Gayheart was nearing divorce and our meetings with the kids got less.

Gayheart built this beautiful house . Most of the wood work were done by him as he had brought the required machinery for it from Germany. Its a lovely house with a dynamic view of the sea named "Eagle crest". To cut a long story short , the marriage of gayheart and Sally broke up. They gave the house to a person to run as a resort and migrated back to Germany. It didn't help their marriage in any way but one fact stuck on i.e the house or resort is now owned by Sally. It had been years since i met Alwin,Stewen And Madam Sally. So the trip to Gayhearts place i went........

Fishing village

Mr Dhar

The long and winding road

This is the part of the ride on my mobike to my estate that i love the most. Its some curvy bends which brings out the mobiker in me. You gotta play on the gears, go easy on the brakes and do your cornering. The air suddenly gets a little chilly even in the summer day, i guess its cause of the rubber plantations on the sides. You kinda feel as if you are on your way too Ooty or Kodai or something like that but then its all short lived and once you are over this small hillock you are back to plains and heat and dust again.

This afternoon when i took this picture, it all came out in shades of blue. Gods knows why. My autofocus camera cant play tricks with light or effects. So why suddenly is the road ahead blue? Is at an indicator of things to come? Is it a symbolic way of some higher power showing me that there is going to be pain ahead? Anyway i rode on in the afternoon heat looking for answers. The road looked more attractive than before, bike was all power between my legs, slowly pushed up the accelerator , let the needles on my RPM meter dance to Garry Moore's "Empty rooms".

Then like out of nowhere, somewhere near REC, came a challenge. It was a young guy ridding a similar bike as mine but very out of place. He probably was a religious student studying in the nearby Madrassa at Karanthur. Dressed in white mundu, white jubba and the traditional "thalai kettu" he just whizzed past me like a contradiction . So RPM's got heavy , and boy this guy could ride. Initially i really didn't think he would give me a fight( mostly its the REC kids who do it). Never in my wildest dreams did i imagine his adrelin output would be so pumpped up. But it was real fun for the reason that more than the challenge of speed it was the whole scenario that was giving me the kicks. Lets say that made my day.

Anyway the blue road seems still a mystery...... Well here i am travelling on it a lot. Wonder what colour it will be the next time i am on it.