The Factual Surrealism...The Overt Reconnaissance...The World 'Eyjafjallajokul'ed

NATURE-Wise

I venture out.I brave the elements.I dare to look into the sun.
Thats audacity!!!Such confidence comes from purity.The venerable nature just handed out to me the greenest brochure of mother earth.Everything is so
serene,so simple,so full of life,so beautiful.The green grass invites me to have a nibble at the fresh droplets of just laden dew.The tall trees incite the bird within me to touch their apex.The dusty roads mottled by patches of overgrowth of motley of sherbs run along.The mysterious canopies of shade made by the overhanging specs of clouds waylay me as i drive.
               I drive to the gratification of senses;I drive to conquer the eclectic elements of nature;I drive to the satiation of the eternal hunger.The need ,the want of being nurtured,being pure!All my senses are crying out in
unison to come aboard.The chirps of the parakeets,the buzzz of the bees,the hoot of the peacocks are the things that will accompany me, they will be my accomplices as i prepare to venture beyond the realms of hardhitting absence of an utopia.
                    But something`s changed.The atmosphere around me suddenly turns foggy.The air becomes dramatically heavier.My vision blurred,i adjust my frame of reference.And then i see it .The monster,the satan who has taken the movie to a completely new set is visible to my tear laden eyes now.It is me!!!
                            

The human being that was being chained,restrained was somehow let loose.And now in its full venomous mood is spewing forth noxious fumes and contaminants.
Suddenly i am afraid.Suddenly i am feeling a struggle starting between my ears.Then there is this horrifying slideshow of human acts that had me repulsed and left me unhinged.I looked upon the venom spewing snake aka factories,the horror initiator claws of the sawchain cutting,the hobgoblin that is the restraint on the rivers...and i feel a shudder!!! A cold swooped down and enveloped my senses,now they are numb,they are lifeless...
                      And a volcano erupts,and a flood surges, and a earthquake rocks...The mayhem is there for display,the pandemonium is rife,the havoc is running...The entire system is crippled...a nightmare...a incubus heavy on our minds.

        My mind goes back to the nerves that were tingling and communicating when i was a youngling.The essense of being immaculate, of being virgin in your thoughts,of freedom of any compulsion to react to your environment...that smell!!! I felt aerated..the cool breeze laden with the waft of the wet earth and the salt from the ocean hitting and filling my nostrils making me feel drugged.Just looking aimlessly at the different patterns getting dynamically created among the clouds would make the clock turn 2-3 times.The overhanging clouds swelled with water,pinned on the sky as if hanged from their tail,threatening me with their imperious thunder and darkened hues would keep me in their awe.

            I miss those days of tryst with nature,being in the lap of nature leaves you pockmarked with peace.Now the dragons and the beasts of the concrete jungle are the only things that one finds and they are devouring the innocence and soul of our nature.
                                     But still all`s not lost.The actions that are reactions to our any future actions are the harbinger of the complex consequences that our nature has to face if we are not careful.So the glaring
differences between the two visions that one can have, is actually a very thin line.The brumous gap between the two extremes of beauty and the beast is narrowing and the need of the hour is to make efforts to stilt the marshes and seed the plowes.

              

Let The Match Begin ....

Roger vs Nadal :::: Rafael Vs Federer

                                                   

Match Point no 4 ...Lights fading….flashes of the cameras blinding the eyes..

A fan shouting here and there ...umpire saying "quite please"...a forehand kisses the net and another body kisses the ground at virtually the same moment in time. This was the time 2 years back at Wimbledon when Rafael Nadal kissed or rather Bit the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy at the all England lawn tennis club. When the champion shook hands with the new incumbent, all eyes were on the future of tennis. This was because nadal had proved he was no flash in the pan, he was not only the red clay cladded warrior but is  also a grasshopper that is equally adept at predating the mighty of the greens.

                        Nadal is a fantastic athlete. There are no two ways about it. The way he has pushed federer out  of his comfort zone over the years is amazing ,coz we are talking about a player that has a over 230 weeks at the top of the pile of men’s tennis. Everything you notice about nadal leaves you imagining a ambitious, inspired and a ferocious competitor. The very fact that roger was doing so superlative stuff in mens tennis once thought to be the bastion of power servers inspired the Spaniard from Mallorca to become the player that he has become.

                         When you draw a mindmap of Nadal aka 'Rafa', the very peculiar routine that he goes through before the start of the match like keeping the water bottles stacked, and while he serves like that picking of his shorts, or the guttural "VAMOS", his flexing biceps, his accoutre, his superstitions between points ,all of these are acts that release a unique energy on the court which is unmistakably contagious. His venomous forehand ,lethal slice ,baseline deep passes all coupled  with blistering speed across the court, uncanny anticipation with the sprinkles of indefatigable energy and that vicious high bouncing top spin makes for the complete treat for any tennis lover.

                       At the  completely opposite pole of the sphere of tennis artistry sits the champion. FedEx as he is called, delivers all the dreams of a fan who appreciated aesthetic beauty. He is all about grace, flow, sleekness, technique. He doesn’t has a "trying too hard" bone in his body. A complete natural, federer has over the years through his unfathomable and now fabled talent made complete no work of some of the most illustrious players of the years. The aggassies ,the peters, the hewitts all were humbled. And when i say humbled they were outclassed! Some of the patent and fearsome traits of federers game like his perfect and stinging forehand, his amazingly accurate crosscourt and down the line passes, his flick of the wrist backhand, if are on display at the start of the match ,then the opposite players know it is nothing but sound of the death knell for them. The sight of federer in full flight is like watching a pelican gracefully caressing the ocean waters while 2 inches above or like an unputdownable book that doesn’t cease to amaze. The most difficult task for fedex is to be a better player.. as there’s not much scope for it.

                                               

                                        But one thing that stands out of these two tremendous athletes is the way they carry themselves. They display all the traits of a sportsman viz  humility ,grace and respect for each other as players secondly but human beings first. They both truly represent the union of two great players by chance thrown in the same era to entertain, inspire and enthral the audience the world over. Their duel is like watching the constant human conundrum of picking one between brain and heart, neither can live while the other dies, both are perfect complement of each other and are also good friends.          

Before the advent of rafa, federer was "the federer".Unstoppable like an raging bull, he was billed to be the "untouchable" player of his era. But Rafa changed  the game and how !! He challenged the champion with skills that were at best complement to those of his foeman. Flummoxed ,vexed, outplayed ,federer seemingly wasn’t able to solve the puzzle ,he looked completely off colour; he was completely at a loss. Match after match he seemed to abdicate his ability and will to win ,giving points and  thus matches easily to even unheard of players was nothing but the stranglehold rafa had on him ,mentally and emotionally. A volcano was bubbling inside federer`s calm exteriors. He was traumatized!!, being forced to take the lower podium was never a choice for him. 
                Meanwhile rafa raged on,trampling player after player, with his seemingly inexhaustible bout of energy ,he looked like a giant the mere look and presence of whom was good enough for a talented player to throw in the towel. Winning  all that came his way, he started replicating the dominance federer displayed just 2 years ago. People hailed the new king and rightly so ..They wrote off the old veteran and very wrongly so.

                    The tears were not of joy!! They were painful!! They were of extreme disappointment!! they came from the painful experience of being second best when your are so close to being touted the all time best. But they washed away the fear, the tears at the Australian open no matter how much ridiculed by his critics world over, served him a great  purpose. They made him believe himself to be vulnerable.

                 The tide had turned, the fortunes changed, federer was back!!                                   

The great story at Roland Garros the very same year made for a romantic comeback that for a change had all fans of fedex in joy-tears. And the win at Wimbledon stamped him the greatest tag ,rounding off what was an heroic riposte and one which only he could have pulled off.                 

In no way all this time was rafa was on a slide, he was unfortunate being injured. But having watched, admired and crooned for both of them i feel the joy of watching both play to their full potential is an experience beyond thoughts. Its no use having a pressurised Roger playing against a rampaging "VAMOSed" Nadal. Neither it is any fun watching an injury hindered rafa struggling against a "Resurrected" Federer.

                                                    

I want to see Roger Federer Vs Rafael Nadal!! 

Monster Caged ...Ideology retained

The pandemonium is over.The euphoria has died down.The bird has been killed!!!!

What started as great revelry now has been reduced to petty immolation of the scapegoats.The festival sparked off with the advent of a new paradigm,the one that promised to turn the entire furniture on its head.The start was nothing short of mesmerising,with all the elements in full bloom dancing in the isle of their own pygmalionism.
                       The monster was created.The leviathan was frankenstined. It was unleashed to devour!It promised to bring mayhem ,and it did.Initially the ruckus was bearable but soon Mr hyde got better of Dr jekyll.The design failed ,it was always flawed,but now the creator who being a victim of his brinkmanship got to know of the cataclysm.
                            But as they say "excess of everything is bad", when the balloon got over its proportions ,it had to burst.But worst of all it not only burst ,but also triggered an avalanche.An avalanche of proportions best left unestimated.The snowballed misery rolled with it the aspirations,the imaginations,the wishes,the prayers and buried the same in miasma of hellish contraptions.
            The day was of the gulliotine.The neck was marked.It had crossed the trammel.Its fate was to get severed.But as the nightmares generally are ,the headless monster rolled on ,it continues to fight, throbbing away violenty,thrashing,hissing.But i am not versus the creation ,nor against the creator but against the train of thoughts that led to the inception of the evil,maybe the counterproductive process is the culprit.Who knows?
                            Who are we to dole out brickbats? what authority we have to antagonise the perpertrators?But i will still stick my neck to say that although the tradition has been to mollify the morale police ,it is imperative to not to let the emotions draw out the sap out of a sapling that gave one rotten fruit.The trick is to give the right fosterage and to sever the wrong shoot.
The fortuitous thing is that the appartchiks come and go,but the system is there is to stay.All detractors speak the same shibboleths.Its a continuous process to wilt ,but it takes only a moment to give up the ghost.
                I wonder whether its a paradox when we speak of the putrefaction in the exterior, and the purification in the interior.Just think beyond ...And u will understand the magnanimity of the opportunity that lies in interpolating the outliers....

"A Wide Angle"::::

EVOLVE IN LOVE.....



The first time i saw her was in a newspaper Ad.She had a bright smile even in an old and battered black n white photograph.But there was that smile radiating out to my eyes and laughing at my dumbness of staring at them.I couldnt get over that feeling.That stinking gut wrenching & nerve wrecking feeling called infatuation.Honestly,that day i was not feeling anything but numbness in my
heart.
                                  Her forehead shone through the parting curtains of her curly hair & her inhibitant smile shone through he photograph revealing the very kind of person that she must be: very jovial,intelligent,witty yet kind.
                  That first impression of her left me craving for more info about her.She felt like an arcane companion,that long forgotten friend ,that age old partner who you have missed all these years and who has now come to fore.
     Yet the presence of this person eludes me.What i fail to understand is why my mind and heart seeks the unknown,the uninitiated,the unlikely.Its a great puzzle as to how our heart opens up avenues which are not visible or are unfathomable to our brain.Anyways as time passed by unaware of the festering longing within me ,i started anticipating a chancely meeting.The way the heart works is that it drags you down the abyss of fantasies which show their ugly head intermittently and renders one useless.The way the mind works is that it makes you believe that your only motto in life is not to fall for these fantasies and be practical which again leaves one overworked without any incentive and in all practicality useless!
                                     So i figured it out how to strike perfect balance between these two evilmongers.Never think too much about your mind,let it be..and never be too caring about how your heart feels ..let it be ...So i havent relinquished the idea that this girl can be the perfect match to my life but i am neither living in daydreams building air castles.To me love is not a strange phenomenon ,its just a unexplained one.Its like the question about life and death ..how one feels like after death ...but when one is dead ..death is unexpained...similarly till the time love is not part of your life it remains an enigma..a strange feeling of light ethereal rain that just carasses you without touching you ,a strange zephyr that gives you gooseflesh ,a beautiful serenade dream that is best left tethered to the chains of your sleep.
So i have allowed my heart to flutter for this special lass but only on the condition that it doesnt cross the realms of my influence.I am sure for many out there its the test of patience to not to give up on one thing in lieu of other but believe me life is willing to give you the complete basket of goodies spruced  up with additional paraphernalia.

RANDOM RANTS>>>>

Just the right Ingredients:::

fine! Its not right .Nothing is right.Even I accede to this fact.The daily events that sap the energy out of we poor souls arent the ones we`ll be speaking about with vigour 20-30 years down the line.True!that we all feel that the grass is greener on the other side,but the grass is of absolutely no color this side ,its dead grass which even doesnt respond to a strong zephyr.Thats how u feel sometimes isnt it??
                       But what constitutes the perfect mix?We all feel that something`s amiss.We all feel sad for the cause of unknown.We all revel in our misery.The perfect mix,the magic ingredient,the panacea,the placebo is all one ::time.
       Those who are short of time are not able to correct their fast watches and those who swim in this fleeting element called time dont watch.But time lingers on ,giving us ample opportunity to improve,succeed,fight our demons,enjoy,ponder et al.
                          "" the timely watching of time at a time that is not a bad time is nothing but timing that is imbued in the timeless clock if prehistoric time.""
                                  When somebody says:do it fast,what do they mean?It just is a way of saying to someone that the overlap of the times is loosening & the time will drift away if one doesnt hasten.Human beings have a tendency to overmine the fleeting nature of time & put themselves  under the bondage of deadlines and repercussions.Quality of time,whether at work or with family/friends is at premium & demands ones complete time ....
      

My view on life....

Taking the risk to the extent of sounding aggrandizing and aggravating ,i would say that it has been a long time since i felt freedom.That unshackled gaiety ,that unfretted frivolity ,that mindless expedition into the abyss of nothingness is not there.The more i think over this the more i feel claustrophobic.I want to break free.Still entwined in the worldly pursuits, life has now donned  the clothes of a chimera , deceiving; setting contraptions;illusioning  the thought process that gets rid of this smoke filled walk-through.
                                                                                   Now its time! I felt it yesterday,i felt it the day before and the day before that too!!The force of reckoning is in motion.The wheels of change have felt the whip of rotation.The destiny that was clouded in vagueness now is set to shine in all its resplendence.What is rejuvenating is the autonomy that has  been lost in the dungeons of time.Is it not the all i ever wanted ?probably ...
                                      My family ,friends and foes all alike are witnesses of this sea change.Maybe they will be the ones who will carry out the baptism..maybe even by fire .Should need arise, i may seek divine help but for the time being its the mortal world i am pinning my hopes on.Given the ample scope of operation ,it will require a gargantuan effort.
                                                          Just as i wish to continue to be a master of circumstance rather than the victim of it, i look back ! taking the essence of life at its very inception ,i wonder at the humble beginning that the life offers.It caters to the whims and fancies of those who wish to play with the master of the game ,viz destiny.The game of life is one where the odds are stacked heavily against you, with the dices being thrown as the portendors of the coming times.Taking nothing away from the setting that we all are in ,the life today is full of anarchic elements.So one has to be at his/her scintillating best and display a "never to do anything that dies" attitude to counter the life sucking vortex of time and come up trumps.

One day ,Two matches ,Third trimester....

I am watching the match between Kolkata Night Riders and Mumbai Indians.
But it seems the match is between only 1 team and 1 player.Sachin is at his roaring best today.He has already carved the KKR bowlers for 8-9 fours and he is looking good for many more.I am now curious to know what is the horizon for this sun of indian cricket who has been prophesized very incorrectly by hiscritics as a setting one.
                 Move over cricket and IPL.Another sport that used to capture the attention of the millions of indians had an extravaganza of sorts in delhi,two weeks ago.Hockey World Cup was a success ,not for the indian team but for india as a organiser.I was fortunate enough to be able to watch two matches,infact the very last two of the tournament.I was very much awed by the play in both the matches.If only i can say that about the indian team performance.The ghost of underperforming indian team(read hockey not cricket) lingers on.                  
I got up late on saturday and just came from lunch and was planning to sleep a few hours before starting preparing for other exam on monday.But one of my friends asked me if i wanted to come to the Finale of the world cup.I never had an oppurtunity to watch any hockey match (leave aside hockey ,no match at all ) in stadium live.So my sports bud got excited and started excreting adrenaline.In few minutes time 5 of us were catching and auto towards the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium.Braving the hostile weather,we finally reached the venue.

                      There the most important thing is what we didnt think of! tickets!!

How we managed them deserves a seperate tale in itself,best captured in the word "JUGAAD".So finally we entered the stadium,a different experince altogether.We were in our bid to collect 5 tickets ,got late and we entered the stadium on the stroke of half time of the firs match.The match which later on became a humdinger,showed its future promise to this newest batch of 5 people about to become its witnesses.The match was a third place playoff between england and holland.
                   Amidst the gentry and the bourgeoisie ,the concourse was largely composed of children and youngsters.They were given every reason to wave their flags and power their trumpets by the play both the teams displayed.The level of play was simply awesome.When we were seated on top tier after much deliberation about where to sit ,England was leading 2 goals to 1.
                                              In the next few minutes the scoreline read 3 goals to 1 to england.
                                  At the half time the score prevailed.But the mood was changing.All was not hunky dory for the englishmen as the dutch in the dying minutes of the half have begun to display some of their legerdemains.I have seen the movie Chak De and the scenes of the stadium was remniscient of the movie at large.At the stroke of half time came the sparkling jets of water from both sides.The stadium looked spectacular.The crowd was drapped in the colors of orange as the dutch team was the favourite.I remember the drubbing they gave india in one of the matches in champions trophy years ago.Its actually surprising they havent won world cup in recent times.
                                          The match was set up for an exciting finish.But not much excitement was happening at our end.It seemed that a jinx was in operation as all the goals, 4 of them in total,were fired in the opposite side (except for the lone Dutch goal which we missed).So we were not too happy with the proceedings ,but hopeprevailed that in the second half with the sides switching sides ,we wil get our share of action. But as luck would have it ,it was time for a dutch riposte.They fired four goals in the second half to snatch the tan colored medals from the cerulean colored english team.
                                         The match very efficiently served as an appetizer.The final salvo was next.The Germans who were the undefeatd team of the tournament pitted against the aussies who were the favourites for the title.
In the next seventy minutes the aussies showed class,strenght,stamina,passion whereas germans showed doggedness,stagnancy and moribund will.It was evident from the enthusiastic practice session that aussies had that who wanted this more badly.After seventy minutes and a game full of high running emotions it was the german goalkeeper jesulat who was in tears.

Aussies had captured another world cup.Whoof!dont they get tired of winning world events.The sweet clunk of the hockey stick hitting the ball ,the ever so interesting penalty corners ,the fast and accurate passes ,the players throwing themselves to get the ball ,thats the essence of hockey that enveloped my senses that day.So much so that i clamoured for more,i wanted a penalty shootout.
But as it happened ,the deserving won.
                     But the disappointing and yawning gap hockey has with cricket was glaring enough to see.In the most inconsequential T20 match fireworks galored in the IPL,whereas no such frolics happened when the final of the 2010 hockey world cup ended.But still the experience was to savour and all in all the tournament was a success.The crowds were excited(they blocked my vision everytime ball crossed in our side and annoyed me to the hilt),the weather good ,and the company of friends invigorating.


And finally the icing on the cake :We finally got to see a goal on our side of

the ground.And it was the World cup winning one .Thats HOCKEY!!!