saty's world

This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time

2010-04-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Tyler Durden: Guys, what would you wish you'd done before you died?

Ricky: Paint a self-portrait.

The Mechanic: Build a house.

Tyler Durden: [to Narrator] And you?

Narrator: I don't know. Turn the wheel now, come on!

Tyler Durden: You have to know the answer to this question! If you died right now, how would you feel about your life?

Narrator: I don't know, I wouldn't feel anything good about my life, is that what you want to hear me say? Fine. Come on!

Tyler Durden: Not good enough.

My Name is Khan

2010-02-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

My name is satish and let me tell you 'My name is Khan' is no classic, It sucks. With all the indian critics going Gaga over this movie , I and duppu went to watch this crap yestarday . It was quite evident that all the Srk's remarks and Shiv sena's publicity stunts working full time. Theatre was full!!.

Movie is full of ridiculous scenes and cliched emotions, that make you cringe in your seats. I remember an incident few months back when i and Duppu were walking in princeton downtown . She slipped a bit and almost fell, Immediately many people came to help her. Imagine a guy struggling to cross the road and they stop trolley, Come out and say words like “Move out you freak”!!. that is just ridiculous.

Kajol looks very beautiful . she surely looks lot younger but cannot handle her shrieking and screaming all the time. Especially the scene when her son dies, the acting was very irritating rather than emotional.

The only good thing in the movie is Srk's acting. Many scenes standout due to SRK'S acting. But make no mistake here. He is definitely not in the class of Forrest gump 'Tom hanks' or Rain man 'Dusitin Hoffman'.
But the most glaring thing that was obvious in the film is , It is clear ‘inspiration’ of ‘Forrest gump’. The narrative, SRK speaking, Bonding with his mother, Mama jenny (Remember bubba gump’s mother?!) and many more. Karan johar you suck. guys we're still not completely out of recession . dont waste your money on this crap.

Rann

2010-02-15T10:23:00.001-08:00

What were you smoking when you made this movie RGV?. Seriously, what were you smoking. Are you the same RGV who directed movies like Shiva, Satya and Company in the past? or are you his evil twin who killed the real RGV and buried him in an unmarked grave?.
How amateur can the script be!!. how can a junior journalist, who joined a media company 3 days back can sit in the board meeting with the owner of the company and disagree with the owner's son's agendas!!.
The whole SMS thing was prolonged, Irritating and stupid. The movie just gets boring after few minutes into it .
Acting wise Big B, Sudeep, rajat kapoor, paresh rawal, Suchitra krishnamurthy and Mohnish Behl were good. Ritesh deshmukh has a constipated look throughout the film.

I wasted 2 hours and 20$ on this movie. I want my money back RGV. Give me back my money.

Movies I've watched lately

2010-01-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

Sherlock Holmes - loved it!!. Guy ritchie's potryal of the legendary intellect as dynamic and lethal was super cool!!. Enjoyed every bit of Jude law and Downey Jr's acting but had trouble with understanding downey's british accent. Still humming the theme music. 'Tan tana tan....'

Avatar - A visual Tour de force. watched in 3D IMAX. Amazing visuals but didnt think much of the story.

2012 - Edge of the seat disaster movie strewn with clichés . But absolutely loved it and duppu hated it!!.

3Idiots - Duppu loved it, I loved it and everyone loved it!!. Easily the best hindi movie of 2009 . The story had the same basic plotline as munnabhai MBBS Right ?

Hangover - Love this 'R' rated comedy.

Paranormal Activity - 'Scariest movie ever' ? Wtf!! . a shoddy film . The scene where katie gets dragged out of bed was interesting :).

Unnaipol Oruvan (Tamil) - A horrible sh*tty movie . A sad caricature of immensely watchable
'A Wednesday'. Its big time this dinosaur should retire .

Insomnia - Al pacino all the way. what an amazing actor!!. A beautiful movie, loved the story.

Eeram(Tamil) - A decent supernatural thriller. But felt the movie was like an over stretched rubber band.

Nagarahaavu ( Kannada) - Watched it again!!. may chammayya mestru and ramachari rest in peace.

District 9 - Immensely appealing and electrying must watch movie.

R.I.P Dr.Vishnuvardhan

2010-01-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

Dec 30th , 2009 is a sad day for kannada movie lovers.

The veteran actor Vishnuvardhan who shot to fame with 'Nagarahaavu' in 1972 was a rare actor. His 37 year film career is strewn with gems like Muthina Haara, Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu, Bandhana, Naagara Hole, Hombisilu and Apthamitra. My personal favourite being 'Nagarahaavu'.

It is disgusting the way his fans or hooligans behaved . Public property was vandalised. Houses and stalls were looted. May those guys rot in hell.
As i write this i am listening to the evergreen melodious song..'Baare baare' ( P.B srinivas) from nagarahaavu.

Moonlight Drive

2009-06-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

Standing in the balcony of third floor and sipping caffeine was very relaxing. It was a beautiful night .Clear sky , cool breeze and heavenly silvery light from the crescent moon soothed my nerves. I was trying to locate 'Saptha rishi' mandala' or 'Great Bear'. The last time i did star gazing was in 'kemmangundi' .

I was totally lost in the ambience . I heard a noise from behind 'so you're here'. I turned around to see Subs walking towards me.
'whom should we add in the CC' Subs asked.
'Are you done with your transports ? '
' I still need to do some testing before i could transport to QA'.

Even i had some work left to do . We had to send all our developments by tommorow and it was already 11:30 in the night. We started walking back towards our desks. Only i and subs were left in the floor and occasionally some guard would come and check on us. My cell phone started ringing . It was my dad.

' Appa, i am going to start in half an hour. My work is almost done'
' Dont come home , You better stay back . Its too late and it is not safe to travel at this time . City is very unsafe at nights'
' I will think about it. Anyways, I have home keys so you guys go to sleep '

I hated to stay back in office. Sleeping in my bed in home always gave me the most satisfying sleep. We got back to work and i was done with my tasks at around 1 am.

'Subs, I am done. Shall we leave?'
'Just give me 5 more mins '
'Ok'.

We packed our stuff turned off our comps and started walking towards car parking. I was happy that tasks had gone as we expected and can come to office next day late. It was 1 hour drive to home and had to drop subs on the way. To reach Subs home I had to take diversion at the railway crossing on the highway and
from there It is a muddy road and drive is quite bumpy for 2 Kms .This road runs parallel to Railway Track on the right and Open fields to the left.

The open fields is full of Latina bushes. I Always hated this particular stretch of road as my car becomes very dirty and the entire place has a acrid smell of acid probably due to some factory nearby . After the 2 Kms stretch along the railway track there is a big bridge above a sewage canal and from there on starts the Posh residential layouts !! , Where Subs stays.

City streets were empty and i was zipping through the streets in high speed. The same streets in the morning will be clogged with honking vehicles . The streets at this time are ruled by street dogs . I had my windows down and was enjoying the moonlight drive . We reached the rail junction and took a diversion towards Subs home and were going through that lonely stretch.
We were busy in talking and Suddenly A lady Passed in front of my car . She barely missed hitting right side front Headlights. Subs screamed out 'STOP'.

I immediately applied brakes. I turned around and put my head out of window to see if she is Ok . Subs was already shouting Expletives and he also looked out of his side window .

There she was Sitting in the middle of the road her legs were crossed and hands on the Knees .
She was wearing a Dirty white saree !!. She started Laughing Hysterically .The laugh was more like a 'Howl' . Suddenly a chill went though my Body . There was a certain Eerieness in the Laugh. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I coudnt see her face Properly as her Long hairs were blocking it .I could tell that she was staring at us . I broke out in a cold sweat. I and subs stared at each other. I saw fear written all over Subs face. That lady stopped laughing and i turned back to see what happened .She got up and started walking towards our car in gaint strides. I realised that she was more than 6 feet tall . I was already numb with the experience and didnt know what to do. Subs started shouting ' Start the Car !!, Lets get out of here fast ' . She was around 10 feet away from car. I started the car and zoomed away from there. We upped our windows and I trying to see her from my back mirror. She was gone!!.
My heart was still beating fast. We were silent for some time and then subs broke the silence .

'she was not human'
'what!!'
'Yes, They call them 'Mohinis' in my village.They are very dangerous ghosts!!'
'Crap, she can be some mad woman or some Gang who were trying to divert our attention and then attack us and rob'
'Did you see her legs?'
'No i didnt observe'
'She was Gliding rather than walking!!'

True , her gaint strides was more like glide. My imagination started running wild. We reached subs home and sub asked me to stay in his home that night.

I said 'Dont worry, I wont take that route. I will take main road' The alternative road takes through Residential layouts and connects highway but it is 4-5 Kms longer.
I dropped Subs and took main road back home. Every few minutes i was turning around and checking my back seat . Everytime expecting to see a lady in white saree sitting in my back seat . Even to this day whenever i think of this incident my heart skips a beat.

Dynasty Rules

2009-05-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well , The horse trading has started . One party has got more than 200+ and with some bartering they will be able to form a pseudo secular goverment. I am Glad that atleast we will see a stable government and not a Hung assembly as predicted in the exit polls. On the downside , very sad to see a person with zero credentials in politics getting into cabinet and his only qualification is being grandson and great grandson of past Prime ministers .
By the way heard controversial song in youtube 'jana gana mana Rann' . Found it quite interesting and very apt in the current scenario.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. "
- Abraham Lincoln

Blog rating

2009-05-12T18:43:00.001-07:00

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

It surely is cold

2009-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

Last week temperature dropped to -15 C !! and it snowed very heavily.

My car completely covered in snow. Took 20 mins to clean my car.

Backard of my home

Yummmmmmy Alu dahu puri to beat the weather.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-29T06:52:00.000-08:00

This movie has a Critic rating of 94% in Rotten tomatoes!!. British movie with Indian backdrop and Indian actors !! had to watch it.

After much anticipation the movie was finally released in a theatre close to my home . This theatre is a 100 year old Bangalore "plaza" styled and is situated in front of beautiful Princeton University . People told me that only low budget 'Arty' type movies are released here.
I could see 99% ofthe audience were Americans and rest 1% were me and Duppu :) . As the movie progressed i realised this is not a Indian Movie at all !!. It is a 14 course meal ( or reels !!) carefully arranged and served to satiate the palate of western audience.
What does india mean to Western people ? .
Ans : Poverty, Big Population , Taj Mahal and Call Centre's ..Well, You find them all in this Masala Fairy tale.
This movie has too many technical flaws in it. How can a movie star make fun of or insult a chaiwallah on the national television. From when did rama become "blue". How can Slum kids speak impeccable British accent without going to school .
The execution of the movie is very average. The adolescent version of Jamal , Salim and Latika are the stars of the movie. They are just fun to watch . Dev Patel and Freida Pinto are mediocre actors and they just cant act. Duppu wasnt amused by the movie either . She almost throwed up when young jamal jumps into a cess pool. Movie story is too much masala to qualify anywhere near Gritty description of mumbai.
Avoid watching this movie in theatres if you value your money in these recession times.

Can you run the country without politicians?

2008-12-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

This was the reaction of our former Sleeping PM H.D Deve gowda in response to the public outrage after Mumbai attacks .

Referring to the outburst against politicians, he took the media and the urbanites to task!!. "What nonsense is this? Why do you think only politicians are a burden? Can you run the country without politicians or without a captain or PM? Do you want autocracy and dictatorship,''

" Saaaar, We are very sorry to wake you up. Hope all the terrorists go to hell for making loud noises in mumbai and woke you up. For your kind information , our country is better off without politicians like you. With all the crores and crores of money you've made by looting people, I think you can settle down in switzerland or honolulu. Please take your Ogre sons also with you".

Not even God can keep me awake

You guyz think i am sleeping?..Naah i am thinking

Leave me alone guyz. I need to sleep.

See, I can do a sleep walk also

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Deve gowda is one of the worst scum bag politicians india has seen. He and his worthless sons have gobbled up people's money . Petty theives look like saints in front of these guys

Oasis

2008-12-07T03:02:00.000-08:00

Am I seeing a light at the end of the tunnel or is it just an Illusion?.

Frustration , anger , depression these are the emotions i am going through from last few days . I have left my country 15 months back but still coudnt leave my love for this country. Coudnt sleep when mumbai was bleeding. I am moving towards atheism but still i said "Please God". When it ended i said "Thank God".

Has the people's anger reached its height? or is it just a short term memory. I find India's media very immature and medicore. Politicians are Elected terrorists. People are dying . No security no infrastructure nothing. Our country is crumbling.

The more i see the societal awareness in this country the more i hate ours. When will we rise above petty issues. When will we stop being racists. According to me indians are the most racist people in the world. They fight for language, religion, Region, Caste and Etc.

I hope, hope is not a mirage in this Anarchic desert.

Again!!

2008-10-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

The Terrorists have struck again!!. Bomb blasts in Assam , 60 people killed and 300 people injured.

Whats happening to my country. Is there any solution to this. Innocents are dying. How many people are killed in these kind of blasts this year.

The blame game has started. Shivraj patil condemns blasts, Advani and BJP condemn UPA , Mulayam and Lalu blame BJP for condemning Terrorsists . Why dont these politicians die in bomb blasts?

Now, I am afraid. Really really afraid for my Near ones and dear ones.

Wicked Humans Kill an Innocent Animal

2008-09-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Bozo the clowns that is " Our indian Public" and pea brained scumbags that is forest department officials and police department people pounced on an innocent Leopard and throwed stones on it, Hit it with lathis. The poor animal succumbed to the stress and injuries.

The unsuspecting animal which is a resident of small sanctuary like forest around chamundi hills accidentally strayed into the City limits of Mysore . Humans turned into animals after seeing it and started chasing it. The leopard panicked and went into a bush . People crowded around the bush and started throwing stones. With no way to escape the leopard had to attack some people and in confusion ran towards police head quarters compound instead of Forest. Blood thirsty people didnt leave it alone there also . They chased it into the compound too. And eventually after fighting for many hours it died of stress, excess bleeding and injuries inflicted on by a mob.

The Headless wonders from police department could've controlled the crowds and these Brainless twits from forest deparment could've handled the situation more maturedly instead of chasing it around and panicking it.

I dont have any doubts in my mind about the extinction of wild life in india. All these beautiful beasts will one day be found only in Zoo's and indian jungles ( If they survive the slaughter from Butcher people) will be like old empty dilapitated haunted Houses.

Now looking at this picture brought tears into my eyes. This is the height of cruelty. These people should be subjected to chinese torture . These people should be stoned and hit with lathis till they die.

India Sleeping

2008-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

" Shocking ! Unbelievable !" I am reading this Headlines everywhere after Delhi Bomb blasts . My take take on this is " Shame on India !! Shame on you laid back attitude "

1,2,3...24, 25... I've lost count of the blasts that have happened in india in last decade. I am sure many more are to come. It is the sickening laid back attitude of the people of india and Governance body that we are in this state.

Indians from all walks of life should start a civil disobediance movement in india . They should stop paying Income Tax, Property Tax , Road Tax, VAT etc. Why should wepay all these to Government ? Just to see our near and dear ones blown to smithereens? . All the politicians should be whipped in public and should be made accounted for whatever they do. They are just busy in their own number game of seats .

Why is our Railway minister silent now. He was crying to lift the SIMI ban. Our Union home minister instead of looking into internal security of the country was singing praises of Afzal guru.

Keeping Aside the Government and system. The attitude of indian society is also very disturbing. We have this "Adjusting" habit in our blood. We get adjusted to any kind of situations. History has shown us that we never fight back against these Pea brained scumbags called Terrorists . As soon as we get a news of blast .
We call all our family , Friends etc. and give a sigh of relief !!. No one is hurt. We are even happy as some one else’s mother , father or brother is killed not ours.

Why not fight back?. We dont have to have Take a Gun and wage a war but we still can make People societies or groups to educate people and have neighbourhood watches.

Act now or suffer later !!

Dushta-avataram

2008-08-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Mr Kamal Hassan you've been in the industry from last 35 years but do you know what is Acting?.
Alas, The heath ledger is deadOr else i would've sent you to him to get some acting lessons. But you can still try to get some acting lessons after watching Daniel Day-Lewis in"There will be Blood". Heath ledger played the role of Joker in dark knight but you're a Joker .

I wonder why you didnt play the Role of Asin and Mallika Sherawat yourself!! In that way no other Clown will beat your mega crap record. You could've also made record by eating 1000 masala dosas at one time or drive a scooter on the pot holed streets of bangalore continously for three days without stoping or else try to be upside down for 3 days continously.
Did you pay anything to the make-up artistes at all or took all the money to yourself ?. Zoombies in " Dawn of the Dead" were better looking than your skin diseased roles.
Have we not seen enough of you in Patti (Grandma) role in "Avaii Shanmughi" or "Chachi 420" ? Which is in turn a disgusting remake of average movie Mrs Doubtfire.

All said and done Dasavataram is nothing but Plain Baloney from Sycophant Kamal Hassan.

One more

2008-07-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

Took One more SAP certification on June 27th and cleared it . got 87% , Infact 7 % more than last time.

now i am Solution Consultant SAP NetWeaver 2004s - Business Intelligence !! :P

Just Like That

2008-06-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

Been a long time away from blogging. Life has been too hectic and monotonous.
It's been 10 months since i came to US . Life has been on the fast track . I get up at 7:00 AM , Get ready reach office by 8:30 , Attend meetings , conference calls then work, work and work . By the time i reach home it will be 7:00 in the evening. Then have dinner , Browse net , check mails and ooohsssh i am totally sloshed and call it a day. Its the same routine everyday or same s**t other day. I have put on lot of weight also!!. Duppu keeps commenting on my bulging beer belly . It has become her favourite punching bag!!.
Cant beleive myself that Just a couple of years back i was a Gym freak and used to preach people on keeping themselves healthy and fit. Hmmn i have changed soo much or rather my tummy :P .
When i look back the last 10 months of my life. I dont remember a single day in terms of significance as there is nothing happening . If the same routine continues for another 30 years ( If at all i make it :P ) and when someday i sit and retrospect on the days i spent . I may be without any good memories at all.
I wonder if i am in some mad race and not sure where the finishing line is or rather what the finishing line is?!!. Recently i was reading a poem on a blog this is written by a teenager in a New York hospital, terminally ill with cancer. Its called Slow Dance . I was too touched by the last few lines of it.
" You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast. Time is short. The music won't last""Life is not a race. Do take it slower. Hear the musicBefore the song is over"

So the eternal challenge is to slow down take a break or do a retrospection and start over all new again.
Hmmn time for me to slow down.

Fear

2008-02-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

Lately i have taken a lot of liking towards watching Horror Movies!!
I just love the Thrill and Goose bumps you get when watching alone with Lights switched off and munching popcorn furiosuly in tension.( I have put on a lot of weight due to this habbit :P )
Alas, there is a flip side to it. Right now i am living alone in a single bedroom house.The ghosts in the movies are always alive in my head!!. My heart starts beating fast Whenever i goto kitchen to drink water in the midnight (A la urmila in bhoot), I am sleeping in my bedroom and suddenly wake up expecting a ghost standing at the edge of bed and warching me!!. A hand coming from below the Cot!!hehe It sounds amusing but beats the shit out of me :P.

I had an interesting Experience after watching this movie called "Exorcism of Emily Rose".The whole movie is very Aesthetically made and most of the movie is in Court. The movie is about A girl called Emily rose who dies Following a prolonged Mystery disease.Movie is actually based on a true story which actually happenned somewhere in the rural England. A priest is accused of Negligient homicide of Emily . A lawyertakes up the case and tries to prove that her death was not due to the negligience from priest side. But as the lawyer gets deep into the case and starts researching into it. She finds out that Emily was really possessed!!.Truly engaging movie with haunting music.
There is a scene in the movie where Lawyer keeps waking up at 3 in the morning and starts hearing weird noises comingfrom somehwhere. She cant understand why she wakes up at 3:00 AM daily. Later While interrogating the Priest in the court Room, The priest tells About How the first time Emily gets possesed. Emily would've been possessed at 3:00 AM as it is called the "Witching Hours" and during this time DEMONS make a mockery of God. Written somewhere in bible.It is only at this time Ghosts are usually very Active!!. This statement hits the Lawyer( Holly Hunter) like a thunderbolt. You should see the Expressions of Holly hunter, Amazing Acting.
After the movie, some friends Came Home and I went out with them for Dinner . By the time i came home i was very tired and i just crashed on the bed. I woke up very thirsty sometime in the night. Went to kitchen drank water and came Back. I just saw What time is it, It was 3:02 Am!!.
I sat bolt upright , All my sleep was gone. Ooh man !! Surely this cant be happening. This is not True!!The rest of the night was Lousy. I couldnt close my eyes. same thing happened next day also.
Time to stop watching horror movies I guess :P. But neverthless the Goose bumps are worth it :)

Tears In Heaven

2007-09-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

It was love at first sight!! . I first saw her when she was speaking to my mother. She was epitome of beauty and brains. I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was Cinderella of my dreams. She was center of attraction. Everyone was talking to her and congratulating her as she had topped the university in 2nd year engineering. She was very popular in the Locality.
We were new to the locality and her home was next to mine!! . My mom is fast at making friends and everyone in the neighborhood knew us within 1 month of shifting to this new home. It actually helped to my advantage in making friends with ‘S’ (I will mention her name as ‘S’). I still remember the first time when my mom introduced me to ‘S’. The touch of her soft hands when she gave me hand shakes and said “Hi Satish, How do you do” was mesmerizing. We became very good friends.
It was my birthday and I had called her for the party in my home. I was waiting for her very eagerly and when she came I felt like I was in heaven. She came to me and gave me a big Cadbury chocolate bar and pinched my cheek, hugged me and gave a peck on my cheek and said “Happy birthday, dear Satish”!! . I was totally blushing and my body had become numb. I thought time has come to a standstill. I got completely confirmed that she also likes me a lot. Her parents like me a lot, my parents like ‘S’ a lot and we both like each other a lot. But the only hindrance that was coming between us is that I was 8yrs old and she was 20!! .

As the days went by, ‘S’ had become a sort of Idol to me. I used to come home from School, Throw the bag and run straight to her home. She taught me how to play carom board and Chess. I used to get very jealous and angry when she spoke to other guys.
Somehow it was understood that she is my girlfriend!! And days went by happily.

One day I came home from school and was very happy to see ‘S’ in my home chatting with my mother. I ran straight to her and started narrating my school stories. She said Satish I am going to America!! And I said why?!!.
“I have got Scholarship for Higher Education”. At that point I didn’t understand what all these is but I was really heart broken.
That was the last time I ever saw her again in my life. She had once sent a greeting card for me on New Year, Which would sing jingle bells song when opened. Probably its still there somewhere in some old trunk.

Our family got shifted from Hyderabad to Bangalore and we lost touch with the friends over there. Its been almost 20 years since I know anything about her!!.
Yesterday I was speaking to my mother and she told you “remember ‘S’ ”. I said ‘who’s that ‘?. Then she told the girl in Hyderabad. You were very young then. I said yes!! I remember her, how’s she!! And where is she!!.
My mother came to know from somebody that, ‘S’ had died 6 months ago due to leukemia. She was never married. She had died alone and lonely, her family got her body after 2 days.
I was shocked and was filled with grief. I tried to remember her face but only vaguely remembered her sweet loud pitched voice. She was lost somewhere in the pages of my memory.
Why such a sweet nice girl who had a promising future had to be alone and lonely without any friend’s. I am still shocked after listening about her. All I can say is
“MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PEACE ‘S’ ”

The Last Answer, by Isaac Asimov.

2007-06-22T03:21:00.000-07:00

Murray Templeton was forty-five years old, in the prime of life, and with all parts of his body in perfect working order except for certain key portions of his coronary arteries, but that was enough.
The pain had come suddenly, had mounted to an unbearable peak, and had then ebbed steadily. He could feel his breath slowing and a kind of gathering peace washing over him.
There is no pleasure like the absence of pain - immediately after pain. Murray felt an almost giddy lightness as though he were lifting in the air and hovering.
He opened his eyes and noted with distant amusement that the others in the room were still agitated. He had been in the laboratory when the pain had struck, quite without warning, and when he had staggered, he had heard surprised outcries from the others before everything vanished into overwhelming agony.
Now, with the pain gone, the others were still hovering, still anxious, still gathered about his fallen body -
- Which, he suddenly realised, he was looking down on.
He was down there, sprawled, face contorted. He was up here, at peace and watching.
He thought: Miracle of miracles! The life-after-life nuts were right.
And although that was a humiliating way for an atheistic physicist to die, he felt only the mildest surprise, and no alteration of the peace in which he was immersed.
He thought: There should be some angel - or something - coming for me.
The Earthly scene was fading. Darkness was invading his consciousness and off in a distance, as a last glimmer of sight, there was a figure of light, vaguely human in form, and radiating warmth.
Murray thought: What a joke on me. I’m going to Heaven.
Even as he thought that, the light faded, but the warmth remained. There was no lessening of the peace even though in all the Universe only he remained - and the Voice.
The Voice said, “I have done this so often and yet I still have the capacity to be pleased at success.”
It was in Murray’s mind to say something, but he was not conscious of possessing a mouth, tongue, or vocal chords. Nevertheless, tried to make a sound. He tried, mouthlessly, to hum words or breathe them or just push them out by a contraction of - something.
And they came out. He heard his own voice, quite recognisable, and his own words, infinitely clear.
Murray said, “Is this Heaven?”
The Voice said, “This is no place as you understand place.”
Murray was embarrassed, but the next question had to be asked. “Pardon me if I sound like a jackass. Are you God?”
Without changing intonation or in any way marring the perfection of the sound, the Voice managed to sound amused. “It is strange that I am always asked that in, of course, an infinite number of ways. There is no answer I can give that you would comprehend. I am - which is all that I can say significantly and you may cover that with any word or concept you please.”
Murray said, “And what am I? A soul? Or am I only personified existence too?” He tried not to sound sarcastic, but it seemed to him that he had failed. He thought then, fleetingly, of adding a ‘Your Grace’ or ‘Holy One’ or something to counteract the sarcasm, and could not bring himself to do so even though for the first time in his existence he speculated on the possibility of being punished for his insolence - or sin? - with Hell, and what that might be like.
The Voice did not sound offended. “You are easy to explain - even to you. You may call yourself a soul if that pleases you, but what you are is a nexus of electromagnetic forces, so arranged that all the interconnections and interrelationships are exactly imitative of those of your brain in your Universe-existence - down to the smallest detail. Therefore you have your capacity for thought, your memories, your personality. It still seems to you that you are you.”
Murray found himself incredulous. “You mean the essence of my brain was permanent?”
“Not at all. There is nothing about you that is permanent except what I choose to make so. I formed the nexus. I constructed it while you had physical existence and adjusted it to the moment when the existence failed.”
The Voice seemed distinctly pleased with itself, and went on after a moment’s pause. “An intricate but entirely precise construction. I could, of course, do it for every human being on your world but I am pleased that I do not. There is pleasure in the selection.”
“You choose very few then?”
“Very few.”
“And what happens to the rest?”
“Oblivion! - Oh, of course, you imagine a Hell.”
Murray would have flushed if he had the capacity to do so. He said, “I do not. It is spoken of. Still, I would scarcely have thought I was virtuous enough to have attracted your attention as one of the Elect.”
“Virtuous? - Ah, I see what you mean. It is troublesome to have to force my thinking small enough to permeate yours. No, I have chosen you for your capacity for thought, as I choose others, in quadrillions, from all the intelligent species of the Universe.”
Murray found himself suddenly curious, the habit of a lifetime. He said, “Do you choose them all yourself or are there others like you?”
For a fleeting moment, Murray thought there was an impatient reaction to that, but when the Voice came, it was unmoved. “Whether or not there are others is irrelevant to you. This Universe is mine, and mine alone. It is my invention, my construction, intended for my purpose alone.”
“And yet with quadrillions of nexi you have formed, you spend time with me? Am I that important?”
The Voice said, “You are not important at all. I am also with others in a way which, to your perception, would seem simultaneous.”
“And yet you are one?”
Again amusement. The Voice said, “You seek to trap me into an inconsistency. If you were an amoeba who could consider individuality only in connection with single cells and if you were to ask a sperm whale, made up of thirty quadrillion cells, whether it was one or many, how could the sperm whale answer in a way that would be comprehensible to the amoeba?”
Murray said dryly, “I’ll think about it. It may become comprehensible.”
“Exactly. That is your function. You will think.”
“To what end? You already know everything, I suppose.”
The Voice said, “Even if I knew everything, I could not know that I know everything.”
Murray said, “That sounds like a bit of Eastern philosophy - something that sounds profound precisely because it has no meaning.”
The Voice said, “You have promise. You answer my paradox with a paradox - except that mine is not a paradox. Consider. I have existed eternally, but what does that mean? It means I cannot remember having come into existence. If I could, I would not have existed eternally. If I cannot remember having come into existence, then there is at least one thing - the nature of my coming into existence - that I do not know.
“Then, too, although what I know is infinite, it is also true that what there is to know is infinite, and how can I be sure that both infinities are equal? The infinity of potential knowledge may be infinitely greater than the infinity of my actual knowledge. Here is a simple example: If I knew every one of the even integers, I would know an infinite number of items, and yet I would still not know a single odd integer.”
Murray said, “But the odd integers can be derived. If you divide every even integer in the entire infinite series by two, you will get another infinite series which will contain within it the infinite series of odd integers.”
The Voice said, “You have the idea. I am pleased. It will be your task to find other such ways, far more difficult ones, from the known to the not-yet-known. You have your memories. You will remember all the data you have ever collected or learned, or that you have or will deduce from that data. If necessary, you will be allowed to learn what additional data you will consider relevant to the problems you set yourself.”
“Could you not do all that for yourself?”
The Voice said, “I can, but it is more interesting this way. I constructed the Universe in order to have more facts to deal with. I inserted the uncertainty principle, entropy, and other randomisation factors to make the whole not instantly obvious. It has worked well for it has amused me throughout its entire existence.
“I then allowed complexities that produced first life and then intelligence, and use it as a source for a research team, not because I need the aid, but because it would introduce a new random factor. I found I could not predict the next interesting piece of knowledge gained, where it would come from, by what means derived.”
Murray said, “Does that ever happen?”
“Certainly. A century doesn’t pass in which some interesting item doesn’t appear somewhere.”
“Something that you could have thought of yourself, but had not done so yet?”
“Yes.”
Murray said, “Do you actually think there’s a chance of my obliging you in this manner?”
“In the next century? Virtually none. In the long run, though, your success is certain, since you will be engaged eternally.”
Murray said, “I will be thinking through eternity? Forever?”
“Yes.”
“To what end?”
“I have told you. To find new knowledge.”
“But beyond that. For what purpose am I to find new knowledge?”
“It was what you did in your Universe-bound life. What was its purpose then?”
Murray said, “To gain new knowledge that only I could gain. To receive the praise of my fellows. To feel the satisfaction of accomplishment knowing that I had only a short time allotted me for the purpose. - Now I would gain only what you could gain yourself if you wished to take a small bit of trouble. You cannot praise me; you can only be amused. And there is no credit or satisfaction in accomplishment when I have all eternity to do it in.”
The Voice said, “And you do not find thought and discovery worthwhile in itself? You do not find it requiring no further purpose?”
“For a finite time, yes. Not for all eternity.”
“I see your point. Nevertheless, you have no choice.”
“You say I am to think. You cannot make me do so.”
The Voice said, “I do not wish to constrain you directly. I will not need to. Since you can do nothing but think, you will think. You do not know how not to think.”
“Then I will give myself a goal. I will invent a purpose.”
The Voice said tolerantly, “That you can certainly do.”
“I have already found a purpose.”
“May I know what it is?”
“You know already. I know we are not speaking in the ordinary fashion. You adjust my nexus is such a way that I believe I hear you and I believe I speak, but you transfer thoughts to me and from me directly. And when my nexus changes with my thoughts you are at once aware of them and do not need my voluntary transmission.”
The Voice said, “You are surprisingly correct. I am pleased. - But it also pleases me to have you tell me your thoughts voluntarily.”
“Then I will tell you. The purpose of my thinking will be to discover a way to disrupt this nexus of me that you have created. I do not want to think for no purpose but to amuse you. I do not want to think forever to amuse you. I do not want to exist forever to amuse you. All my thinking will be directed toward ending the nexus. That would amuse me.”
The Voice said, “I have no objection to that. Even concentrated thought on ending your own existence may, in spite of you, come up with something new and interesting. And, of course, if you succeed in this suicide attempt you will have accomplished nothing, for I would instantly reconstruct you and in such a way as to make your method of suicide impossible. And if you found another and still more subtle fashion of disrupting yourself, I would reconstruct you with that possibility eliminated, and so on. It could be an interesting game, but you will nevertheless exist eternally. It is my will.”
Murray felt a quaver but the words came out with a perfect calm. “Am I in Hell then, after all? You have implied there is none, but if this were Hell you would lie to us as part of the game of Hell.”
The Voice said, “In that case, of what use is it to assure you that you are not in Hell? Nevertheless, I assure you. There is here neither Heaven nor Hell. There is only myself.”
Murray said, “Consider, then, that my thoughts may be useless to you. If I come up with nothing useful, will it not be worth your while to - disassemble me and take no further trouble with me?”
“As a reward? You want Nirvana as the prize of failure and you intend to assure me failure? There is no bargain there. You will not fail. With all eternity before you, you cannot avoid having at least one interesting thought, however you try against it.”
“Then I will create another purpose for myself. I will not try to destroy myself. I will set as my goal the humiliation of you. I will think of something you have not only never thought of but never could think of. I will think of the last answer, beyond which there is no knowledge further.”
The Voice said, “You do not understand the nature of the infinite. There may be things I have not yet troubled to know. There cannot be anything I cannot know.”
Murray said thoughtfully, “You cannot know your beginning. You have said so. Therefore you cannot know your end. Very well, then. That will be my purpose and that will be the last answer. I will not destroy myself. I will destroy you - if you do not destroy me first.”
The Voice said, “Ah! You come to that in rather less than average time. I would have thought it would have taken you longer. There is not one of those I have with me in this existence of perfect and eternal thought that does not have the ambition of destroying me. It cannot be done.”
Murray said, “I have all eternity to think of a way of destroying you.”
The Voice said, equably, “Then try to think of it.” And it was gone.
But Murray had his purpose now and was content.
For what could any Entity, conscious of eternal existence, want - but an end?
For what else had the Voice been searching for countless billions of years? And for what other reason had intelligence been created and certain specimens salvaged and put to work, but to aid in that great search? And Murray intended that it would be he, and he alone, who would succeed.
Carefully, and with the thrill of purpose, Murray began to think.
He had plenty of time.

The Story So Far

2007-01-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hi people, wish you a very happy new year.
I am back to my blog after a long time. Life as usual is going at a break neck speed many things happening. Started playing foot ball every weekend which is absolutely refreshing. Had started to write many posts but couldn’t complete them.
After my Goa trip had been to Trivandrum to attend my dear friend john’s wedding. Wanted to attend a Christian wedding from a long time and also meet all my dear old class mates at the wedding. I was watching the wedding with lots of excitement. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. But was quite disappointed when john dint kiss his bride I had seen Groom kissing his bride in lots of movies so was expecting one. At the same time my friend shouted “john, you didn’t kiss your bride!! “. There were giggles from everywhere in the church.
All the people expected didn’t turn up but was still happy to see some old familiar Faces. It’s been almost 5 years since I completed my engineering. All my old buddies have gone their way in search of their destinies. But meeting them brings all those memories back and puts some josh into life. It was a good trip which took me down the memory lane.

In early December, A trip was planned to Kerala, Waynad from our company. This trip was basically for all guys and girls who had participated in our Customer day celebrations. I was not interested in this trip as I barely knew anyone and I had to take the responsibility of arranging transport, food, accommodation etc as I was the only local Bangalore guy in the group. I tried all the tricks in the book to escape but all failed.
Later when the trip started I came to know that all my assumptions were absolutely false. All these 20 people were simply wonderful. The party and dancing started right from the word go. I felt extremely comfortable with this group. This was a complete trip. There was dancing, camp fire, bus breakdown, moon light trek, beautiful waterfalls and got to meet wonderful people.

And to end the post, had a quite New Year celebration with my close friends at the yelagiri hill.

Goan Delight

2006-10-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

It was raining very heavily when we reached Goa. We were driving from past 12 hrs !!. And this was not a good welcome scene. Everyone had a big frown on their faces. We expected goa to be sunny, blue sky, happy
and lots of suntan !!. But it turned out to be cloudy, windy, dull and heavy rains.

Well, somehow we manged to get a beach resort. Checked in and had a good sleep. since this was a off season goa was empty!!. Till now i was skeptical about the goa. But Goa was quite a revelation to me. Party starts at around 10 in the night and goes till the wee hours in the morning. Goa is very beautiful. full of greenery and lots of beaches. At night 12 we came across a drive way kind of place and there was a guy who was singing "tu hi meri shaab hai". his voice was magical and was strumming the guitar very beautifully !!. Goa is a kind of place
which never sleeps. Early morning beach football was too good. when time came to bid adieu to goa , I was feeling very bad as i was not able to spend much time there. But promised myself that i will be back as soon as possible .
Hasta la vista baby !!

I'm on cloud Nine !!!!

2006-10-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

The organizer looked into my eyes and gave a doubtful grin. It was more of a sarcastic kind of look than confusing. This was the expression given by her when I told her my theme of skit which I would be performing and directing on our Customer Day. After convincing her, next task was getting actors!! . Only 1 week was left and no actors!!

I went to each cubicle and started asking them to act in my skit. It was quite an exciting, embarrassing and humiliating Experience. At last I was able to get some reluctant people to act for me. All of them turned up 1 hr late for the first day of rehearsal. It was very difficult to make 8 unknown people act. It went very bad!! The next day 4 guyz ditched me and again I was in look out for new people. To cut a long story short, I had hell time doing all these.On the D-day, I was quite tense about the outcome of my drama.

Well, the response was overwhelming. The praises have not yet stopped!! . I AM ON CLUD NINE!!

These are the responses from my skit mates:

From: Soumen
Subject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
Hi skit-gurus,When first day I went to attain the skit
rehearsal I was so confused how it will come out?
Then I got together with few talented skit gurus
who made it so simple. At last we had done good job
in stage. So I am congratulating them who made it
excellent. I am specially mentioning for Satish(Director)
who wrote an awesome script for us. Further if u write
any script,please tell us we will participate without
any questions.Thanks all
in advance
Soumen
_______________________________
From: Dev, Vasu
Subject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
Hello ppl,We indeed had a great time during the course of
practise and a much better time on stage on Saturday.
I think its time for  me also to confess.Even I had
some doubts as to how  would it come out  on the stage,
but I shld say that  when we have as talented
ppl as you all are,it had to come out pretty well.
Special mention for our director
(think there  is no need to right his name...we all know him)
,the Script that you  had made was really good which meant

half the Job was done and we had to only give the
finishing touches.
Cheers to everyone.
Thanks & Regards,
Vasudev B N

_______________________________

From: Cherumanalil Prasannan, VivekSubject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
Congratulations to all my great boys for an awesome evening of high humor! Sathish , I'm grateful to get some memorable moments ...Guys
I'm still basking in the warmth of our gr8 evening , we were on cloud nine!!!!!Luv u alllll.........Cheeeeeeeers!!Vivek CP
________________________________
From: Burra, Satish Kumar Subject: RE: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!Hello Super Stars & Megastars......That was great show buddies, all most all every one congratulated me for that skit. Every body enjoyed it. So Satish ( Director ) any Future plans for entering into Film Industry.Above all for one thing i am very happy is I made 8 good and Talented friends .
Cheers
satish Kumar. Burra
SAP Consultant
________________________________
From: Pande, Subhash Chandra
Subject: Confessions of a Skit team mate!!!!!
I had an awesome time practicing the skit, though with initial skepticism that if its going to click or not. But later convinced myself that its for the practice and fun that we are doing this skit and eventual result was not something of importance.But it was a huge response folks, all my team members and folks of neighboring teams congratulated and said it was an awesome fun!!!!Kudos to Satish Murthy for his concept!!!Cheers, v have a long way 2 go mates!!!!!!!!!!!!Subhash Pande

The days of....

2006-09-12T04:37:00.000-07:00

This was the mail sent to me by my good old friend Raghava.He is now settled in U.S of A .We were chatting about our school days and the gala time we use to have in our colony.

the days of hand-tennis
the days of 10-wicket cricket in the portico of your house
the days of King game in the colony streets
the days of Chacha Chaudhary,phantom, mandrake, Sabu, Diamond comics
the days of our walks to 'Nagara Kendra Granthaalaya' ( City central library )
the days of colony rounds in the evening during summer hols
the days of your stories about Jahangir uncle from Hyderabad
the days of tape recorders
the days of Colony Day celebrations
the days of I-Spy
the days of cricket in the colony grounds
the days/nights of our pseudo-Shivaraatri jaagaaran combined studies
the days of us practising Ramayana / Mahabharata quizes
the days of practising naaTakaas (skits)
the days of you narrating 'Shiva' story !
the days of playing Trade, Scotland Yard, bluff

how I wish I can re-live all those days again :((

Re-Engineering Love

2006-09-06T01:07:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in a roof top garden restaurant with my friends.As We were talking about current affairs , Bantering each other , I notice that a couple sitting at the corner table holding each other's hands and lot of mushy mushy talks going on :).
As I walk down the dark cinema hall aisle looking for my seat, I notice heads resting on shoulders, shoulders touching.
As i walk down the road i notice couples walking with their hands entwined in each otherslost in their own world.As I move on with life , i realise that I miss being in love. hahahaha Quite a realisation after 25 years !!.
What kind of an emotion is love? Why is only this feeling called "love" is always soo much talked. Is it just the chemicals in brain , As ajay devgan explains to esha deol in yuva"love is nothing but XX , XY chromosomes". Are we just slaves to our genes.
Love is a commodity. A commodity, like, for sale? . Sale, discount, retail, designer, factory seconds, et cetera, et cetera. They sell. You buy. ( remember mia wallace and vincent?)
well movies like kuch kuch hota hai which makes love a commodity rakes in a moolah of 200 crores !!!!
re-engineering love into rational model?....uffffff

Trip to Waynad and Calicut - 2

2006-08-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

DAY 2 : By the time we reached calicut it was 2:00 in the afternoon and everyone were famished and were Drowsy due to lack of sleep . So first we found a hotel and had our stomachs full and went to beach. The calicut beach was beautiful, clean and calm . Few guyz were playing football in the beach, We also joined in with them !! I was playing football aftermany years and had a ball of a time !! But we lost miserably to them ( 5 - 0..hahah) and i was kicked all over my legs..oucchhhh my right leg hurts even now :(. we played footballtill 5:30. I was very tired, i just went and sat on the rocks. Arabian sea was swelling with recent monsoons . Sitting there and watching the sunset and rhythmic sounds emnating due to the waves lashing the rocks brought a strange soothing effect inside me. I remembereda line from shantaram book - " There is soo much of sea inside us. our sweat, our tears taste saltylike sea !! " . Came back to hotel at 7:00 and played water polo in hotel's swimming pool !!Had a superb dinner and slept of by 9:30.

DAY 3 : By the time i got up it was already 10:00 AM and my friend's were still sleeping !! so i slept again !!. By the time we got ready and left calicut it was 2:00 in the afternoon.Our next journey was to Edakkal Caves. Edekkal caves - Two caves are located at a height of 1000 m on Ambukutty Mala near Ambalavayal.The New Stone Age Petroglyphs on the walls of these natural caves at Edakkal are evidence of the civilisation that existed in these regions in prehistorical times.We reached edakkal caves at around 5:00 and locals warned us that caves are closed at 4:00 pmitself and it is very slippery and no light inside the caves at this time and asked us notto go there. As usual these villagers words instead of deterring us from caves fuelled us towardscaves !!. after a Steep climb of around 500m we reached Ambukutty Mala. It was already gettingdark but we continued on our trek. The entrace to the cave was around 6 feet wide and 10 feet high , It was a closed by a gate . We thought of climbing the the gates and go inside but due to lack of light and the danger of getting lost or slipping into the oblivion stoppedus. so making a promise that we will be back again we started for bangalore.We were driving back to banglore and it was around 9:30 PM and we were passing through Muthanga national park , Just after a curve we saw a herd of Elephants standing by the Road !! before we could realize We went ahead of them so we took a turn and came back again !! This time a huge Tusker was standing on the road !! But seeing the light it went inside the jungle ..ufff that was close and was foolish of us to do that. Later we came across a Bison herd.By the time i reached home it was 1:00 am. It was quite Rejuvinating , With a smile on my face i went to bed :)

Trip to Waynad and Calicut

2006-08-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Was having a jinxed up feeling from quite few days. I wanted break from this boring monotonous job life. So started planning for a weekend outing
We made a list of many places and started eliminating them based on distance and rains (Since many places are experiencing heavy rainfalls now) and at last we zeroed in on Waynad. Nobody had much information on this place, what we came to learn later is that waynad is the second highest rainfall region after Chirapunji and Mowsyram!!!!
We started on Friday night at 11:00 and Reached Waynad, Vythri at around 5:00 in the morning. The waynad is like heaven on earth. It is 6000 feet above sea level. Waynad is a place non pareil.
Day 1: We had to park our Car in Vythri itself as our Resort is 9 kms deep inside the jungle and the only way to access it is by a 4WD jeep or by trek.
So we took a jeep till resort. The resort was like a big haunted house from Ramsay movies. There were only 5 people in the resort and all of them were Like straight out of a ghost flick!! They used to stare at us whenever we go out or come in, they never used to speak. To make the matters worse the place was full of leeches!! We had hell time plucking them out of our body. The only other thing which is known to suck blood like leeches is Vampires
And these 5 people in resort were like vampires. My friend had a feeling that they will become vampires in the night and suck our blood .haha!!
Whenever a cloud used to pass the hill (Resort was on the edge of a hill) the resort would be covered by a thick white blanket and wind used to make a Eerie whoooooooooosh kind of sound and it was soo hard that one couldn’t hear what the next person was speaking!! . My friends were already on the verge of nervous breakdown and like last nail in the coffin; my dad called me up and told that Waynad is full of king Cobras!! And asked us to be very careful while walking. The place had no power so we had to walk around the rooms with candles or torch. Had a feeling that we were back in medieval times. The villa in which we were staying had two levels; One at the ground level and other underground!! So my friend murali felt that according to movies , ghosts stay in the underground and after much argument and persuasion I and Mahesh were pushed to sleep in underground !! murali , gopi and prabhu slept above safely. We had to keep the candles burning all through the night and there were strange noises like scratching, running, crawling!! In the room and Mahesh would sit bold upright in the bed even for a slight sound. Finally morning came after a painful sleepless night. Quickly got ready did all the settlements with resort guys and ran for Vythri!! Everyone was relieved to leave the resort.
After coming to Vythri, We resumed our journey to calicut. That’s it for day one :)
Will come up lots of photos and details about day2 and 3 in next post

Hosur Road - Road to perdition !!

2006-07-21T03:56:00.000-07:00

Daily morning as i get into my car to goto office, A sense of nihilistic feelings sets in. Just to think of Hosur road spoils the day. I am travelling in this road from just 3 months but i am already reaching a saturation point. The traffic is too heavy all throughout theday and it is always a bumber to bumper ride. The traffic management is pathetic and to make matters even worse, The roads have got narrower due to the elevated highway project which is underway. Each and every vehicle which travels on this road daily has a Dents or scratches on it but it the pedestrians and Two wheelers who are always at peril. Its too dangerous to cross road or travel on 2 wheelers on that road. I almost see an accident daily !!! this is actually driving me crazy.This week i have witnessed 2 accidents . 1 ) involving 2 software engineers who were travelling on a bikebanged into a car , they were just ahead of me. They hit the car and fell below a lorry but thankfully Lorry guy applied brakes and they narrowly missed the lorry tyres !!. But they were wriggling on road like a fish which has been taken out of water. They were totally covered in blood .I stopped my car to help them but a traffic police came and asked not to stop. Immediately within 10 mins an Ambulance arrived and took them to hospital. I was praying that nothing should happen to them , Hopefully they are still alive . 2 ) This Accident i saw yesterday , An old man around the age of 65-70 was attempting to cross the road just then a BMTC bus came and hit him. I think he died on the spot. I could see blood flowing on the road. I was greatly distressed to see this. The poor old man was just not fast enough to run across the road. All throughout the night i was not able to sleep, The images of that old man lying in a pool of blood kept on coming. By simply applying brakes, The bus driver could have saved that old man's life.I wonder where humans are heading to ? . In a mad rush for money people have left everything behind. humanity has taken a backseat and hosur road is the best example for that. Truly , HOSUR ROAD is a road to HELL !!

It hurts !!

2006-07-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

I am back after a long time. Had been to lot of short trips in the recent times. Like madikeri, Yelagiri hills, Hindupur Etc. would tell about the trips at a later time.
A lot of emotions and thoughts are pent up inside me. Have to vent it out. I have lost a very close friend recently. lost in the sense means exactly the friendshipbut it is as good as losing the friend itself and one more friend who is very close and exclusive suddenly decides to be not soo close or semi exclusive. IT HURTS !!! It is hurting me big time .
Friend 1 : I know this person close to 10 years now.A very close friend Have spent a lot of time together in college days. We were together in the hard times , good times and Bad times. Suddenly this friend gets adventurous and starts a relation with a japanese who is elder to him and married, has 4 kids !!!. We all friends object to it as it not at all acceptable for his own good. Now he is ready to leave his parents and friends for that person. A good friendship has come to an end.
Friend 2 : Known for more than 10 years. We share a platonic relation. A friend who is very close to heart. Suddenly that person becomes cold for the reasons best known to her. I have tried talking to her but i am not getting any responses.
My life is woven around this people and the void that has been created due to them has hitme very hard. Philosophical or rational thinking is not helping me much to bridge a gap between emotion and practicality. Probably only time could reduce the void created by themin my life.

Aerial view of Vizag

2006-04-17T05:21:00.000-07:00

I took these snaps of vizag from my mobile

Full of Myself !!

2006-04-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

These Pics of mine were taken by my friends through my mobile. I found them quite interesting as you can see me in different moods and these snaps range from last 1 year till date.

A beautiful city called Vishakapatnam!!!

2006-03-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

Can anyone explain to me what is that Orb over my head !!!

2 weeks back had been to vizag to attend a friend's wedding. the vizag or vishakapatnam was a complete revelation to me !!!! wide roads , wonderful beaches, hills, buddhist complexdating back to 2nd century B.c, discos. I was completely bowled over by the cosmopolitan culture of the city. some of the places worth seeing over there are Rushikonda, kailashgiri,the beach road, submarine museum , thotla konda , sandyline restuarant and 10 downing streetdisco !!. had a complete blast over there. Also had been to Burra caves, Arakku valley anda reservoir of river gosthami( I dont remember the reservoir name).while coming back went tohyderabad to see my friend who got kidney transplanted recently.
I had an unusual experience near that reservoir. while coming back from burra caves we decidedto visit that reservoir. the reservoir is around 60 kms from vizag and by the time we reached that place it was around 6:15 and not a single person was there , it was completely isolated.it was a fantastic place . my friend jai prakash took a snap of me and srinivas. after he tookthe snap he called us and showed us the snap. there was an unusual light over my head !!!.that place was completely isolated , no boats, no humans, no source of light watsoever.these kinds of mysterious lights are called "Orbs" in photography jargon.so wat are these ORBS? a technical glitch in the camera? or something beyond our comprehension!!!

Shantharam - man of God's peace

2006-03-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."and soo begins this epic , mesmerising novel about Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption . This book is a romantic take on everything.what a book ! what a story ! can there be any other book which can match this?.You will fall in love with bombay after reading this book. This is one of the nicest novels i have ever read. This book is a autobiographical work of david gregory roberts. He escapes from a maximum security prison in Australia and comes to Bombay,India and the drama unfolds !! after reading this book you want to fly to bombay and have a look at leopolds and and wanthave a glimpse of Didier The man with a Big heart and wisdom sitting there.You want to fallin love with Karla the Swiss beauty with brains ( I am in love with her).The characters Prabaker, abdullah, johny walker, khader khan, Qasim leave deep impression on you.This book has brought tears in my eyes more than once.This book is a celebration of Human spirit and Life. come fall in love !!!

bandipur extravaganza

2006-02-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

hey guyz i'm back after a long time. i am posting some more pics of bandipur . when i think of bandipur trip two incidents come to my
mind. First one is, We were going through a open gypsy ride in bandipur and i had bribed my driver to take us deep into the core area . at first

he was apprehensive but later when he saw 300rs!! he was happy.I was searching for some animals and then i noticed pugmarks of the
TIGER!!! on the damp earth near stream . i felt my hair standing up due to excitement and i jumped from the gypsy and started inspectiong
it.I tried to follow the tiget tracks into the jungle but our driver was on the verge of nervous breakdown . he was frantically shouting
at me as this was a CORE area !!! . " Idhar paidal chalna mana hai!!!". i could make out that that pugmarks were of a big male tiger.
male tiger because the toes were very big it was almost half of the total pug area. females have small toes compared to the total area
of the pug and tiger was there at the stream only 3-4 hours back. as it was fresh pug marks. we missed seeing the king of the indian jungles by 3 hours!!
the second one , While coming back we started from mysore at night 7 and the traffice was too heavy . most of the lorries trucks and BMTC
busses didnt have tail lights or brake lights !!!. I was drving at a speed of 80 kmph and could make out there is a BMTC bus going in some
distance ahead. The bus was overtaking a truck laden with sugarcane . both didnt have tail lights. when i came near to BMTC bus i realised
that the bus has applied brakes as the truck swerved to the right. and the bus had no brake lights also and i was few feet away from the
bus and i was in the speed of 80 kmph !!!. I applied the full brakes and shifted to 1st gear and released my leg from the clutch. the car
came to standstill after it mildly bumped into the back of the bus !!!. everyone were praying to the god and my heart was beating like hell.
I was sweating like crazy and my whole body was shaking . i parked my car to the left and examined the damages and there was only a small
dent on the bonnet.well it could have been a very nasty accident. we survived it thanks to the god.

Bandipur, Ranganathittu and Yercaud trip !!!

2005-12-06T04:26:00.000-08:00

I have been touring a lot these days. Had been to yercaud, bandipur and ranganathittu. check out the photos of yercaud and ranganathittu. Very shortly will be posting bandipur photos.

I poornima and arvind . poornima playing pranks

A beautiful Red flower

water droplets on leaves.

beautiful valley in yercaud

I Rana and arvind

poornima sitting pretty !!!

A view of Kliyur falls. It was such an awesome falls !!!

Poornima, arvind and rana standing in a flower house in montford school.

I , arvind poornima and rana with poornima's car

crocodiles in ranganathittu

Night Heron

Lots of birds on a tree branch.

Encounter with Elephants

2005-11-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

Three days back I was going through the newspaper when a small article in the third page caught my attention “ Two people trampled to death by a pachyderm (Elephant)”. I started reading the article with more interest…” two people were trampled to death by elephants near kagathala halli near talagatpura police check post …….” Suddenly a shudder went through my body as I remembered that it was the same area where I had a nasty encounter with a group of elephants.
This incident happened in 2003, November and this could have well been the last day of my life !!!
My friend abhilash and I were working on a project, which involved us to trace the path of elephants in bannerghatta national park. Because every year during the months from August to December they cause a lot of havoc in the nearby villages by destroying fields, trampling people and very huge losses to villagers. This project was self sponsored and brainchild of abhilash and we wanted to submit this report to forest department and government Basically we wanted to prove that these elephants are not rogues but people are illegally blocking their path by drying up the natural lakes, granite quarrying and ETC.
That day, we got a phone from two villagers (ashwath and manju). We had asked them to call us if they sight any elephants nearby their village.
So, as soon as we got the call we equipped our self with handy cam and cameras and started to bannerghatta. It took us approximately 1 hour to reach that place.

Bannerghatta national park is very close to Bangalore (25kms). Its area is 102 sq Kms and connects to jungles near hosur-Salem towards south and mekedatu and then kollegal towards north. Fauna of this forest includes fox, bison, elephants, deer, snakes and very rarely leopards !!! Tigers have been wiped out of this place long ago.

We reached a place called HULI BOONU (tigers cage). This place was named after forest department caught a tiger in 1980, which was causing a lot of menace in the vicinity, by cattle lifting.

Ashwath and manju were eagerly waiting for us. They told us that they saw elephants between Holi bonu and Ragi halli village. The elephant herd Consisted of five adults and one calf.

Abhi was driving the maruthi van; I was ready with handy cam, camera and ashwath and manju were looking out for elephants. We were going in a very slow speed of 10-20 Kmph. After traveling some 5 Kms we reached a sharp bend in the road. Abhi decided that there is no use searching elephants like this in vehicle and the best way to trace them is by foot!!!. So we got down and parked the maruthi van behind some bushes. But since it was white maruthi van we were not able to camouflage it. Elephants resent white colour, I don’t know the exact reason why they hate white but they have a history of attacking anything white. We didn’t want our van to be smashed so it was decided that I take the maruthi van back to huli bonu and wait for the call from Abhi while abhi, ashwanth and manju go in search of elephants. Somehow I didn’t like the idea of leaving them without any vehicle when six elephants are lurking in the vicinity !!!.

I left that place with a very uncomfortable feeling. Just as I reached the huli bonu I got a call from Abhi asking me to comeback as soon as possible!!! The elephants have proved to be very nasty customers as just when they were approaching the bend a big lorry carrying granites (there is a granite quarry in the area) passed them and the elephants panicked, as there was a calf between them. So probably they thought someone is trying to harm them. So they charged the lorry but lorry driver drove fast and escaped them.
When I reached that place ashwath and manju (villagers) were totally panicked and immediately got into van.
Then we devised another plan, where ashwath, manju and I will go inside the jungle for elephants and Abhi will be ready waiting for us on road in car!!! . I know this was sounding crazy. I knew that elephants could really run fast we stand no chance against them.
Reckoning all these I along with manju and ashwath stepped into the jungle.
We all parted ways, ashwath and manju climbed a sand mound and were trying to locate the elephants and I was alone deep inside the jungle ready with my handy cam. My heart was beating faster than ever. I was trying to be as silent as possible and there was no wind. I felt lucky as elephants have a very keen sense of smell and hearing. Wind would have given away my position. But due to dense vegetation I was not able to make out where elephants were.
Just like that I simply took out my mobile phone (it was in silent mode). I saw many missed calls from Abhi !!!. He was desperately trying to reach me. Just then again he called me, he was shouting like mad. “ Just get away from there !!! You’re directly standing in the path of elephants. They are just few feet away from you!!!” I was not able to make out anything due to dense vegetation. Just then I heard a loud angry trumpeting from the elephant close by towards my left !!!. The elephants might have sighted ashwath or manju who are on a sand mound or scented me and they started charging in my direction. I could make out the breaking of tree branches and loud swishing of its trunk.
I looked out for manju and ashwath but they had already run away towards the road. I was left alone !!! I started running like crazy; my heart was beating very fast I thought it would burst out of my mouth.
I had never run soo fast in my life. Looking back now and then and thinking that elephant would be on me any second. I could still hear the elephants charging behind me. I don’t know for how much time I had run but I was totally exhausted, I had bruises all over my body and my jeans and t-shirt was torn while negotiating thorns while running. Finally I reached road and was relieved to see Abhi’s van !!. Abhi was shouting and asking me to run faster but I had already exhausted all my energy, somehow I reached the van and collapsed in it. Ashwath and manju were already inside the van. Abhi sped away as soon as I got in. I looked back to see a huge elephant standing near the edge of the road!!!

I was too shocked to speak anything. But unfortunately we were actually heading towards ragi halli village. We need to turn back if we want to go back to Bangalore hence have to pass that same area again where elephants are there !!! So we turned around.
This time I half came out of the window with handy cam and camera ready. Abhi was driving tensely. When we approached that area suddenly out of bushes two elephants charged towards us. Abhi accelerated the van and I took some pictures of them but video came out too shaky as my hands were shaking !!!
When we came back to huli bonu I was happy that I was still alive, Abhi was totally excited and ashwath and manju swore that they would never come with us again!!!

Even now I shudder whenever I think of this incident

one more photo from shivana samudra trip

2005-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

one more photo from shivana samudra trip
Originally uploaded by satishds79.

Rhapsody of water

2005-10-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

DSC01013
Originally uploaded by satishds79.

Had been to shivanasamudra few weeks back with my Caritor colleagues. Shivanasamudra is an island that lies 120 km from Bangalore. It is a hydroelectric station, which was the first enterprise of its kind in India. The twin waterfalls Ganganachukki and Bharachukki (200 feet) are the most alluring spots near the island. Here the river Cauvery divides into two streams and cascades 75 mts down a deep rocky gorge. I was totally awed by these waterfalls and was happily clicking away snaps from my friend bhargav’s cam. These snaps are my favorites

Our Class Get Together !!!

2005-10-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since we had any get together(s) so wedecided to meet On Sunday .Venue: Nilgiri's, Brigade Road.Time: 10:30 AMPeople Attended: satish, pradeep (Japan lambu), pradeep (Dubaichotu), ashwini simha, aarthi, tripthi, alok, KP (Krishna prashanth),hamsa, thilak.I hadn't checked our group mails for a long time so I didn't knowthat there was a get together on the Sunday. I was totally surprisedwhen alok called me on Friday!!! . Alok called me to tell me aboutget together and that day itself lambu pradeep, tripthi, aarthi andhema had called me!!!…It was very nice to talk to you Guyz after along time.I was looking forward for the get together on Sunday.Sunday morning I got up at 10!! And by the time I reached theNilgiri's it was 11:15…I heard some loud noise coming from a cornerin the hotel…I thought who else can make such noise other than ourINSTRA 2001!!!…Everyone was busy in chatting and eating…they hadalready finished eating some pastries, samosas and milk shakes.I Was very disappointed to see lambu not getting any chocolates fromJapan (kalla nanna maga)…we were chatting and eating there till 12:30and later we decided that we will go out somewhere. There were lot ofsuggestions from everyone and later we decided to go to NandiHills!!!Lambu pradeep and thilak went to pradeep's home to get car …so westarted at 1 pm. Since it was already late we decided to go toSammy's dreamland…but when we reached there it was closed!!!…So wethought of going to some dhaba.We went to Malgudi's restaurant near marathahalli outer ring road. Itwas 3:00 pm and everyone very tired and hungry. So we ate heartily(but the veg platter starter was very horrible!!!).From there we went to Mega bowl and played some bowling …I (chotupradeep and me one team) aarthi and tripthi had a contest in whichtripthi won and aarthi 2nd place, I and chotu were 3rd.By the time we reached homes it was 6:30…totally tired but we had anice time together…we need to have more get togethers…. lookingforward for next meeting and expecting to see more numbers next time.

Some more Pics from my chitradurga trip

2005-10-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

Recently had been to kunti betta in mandya district. And i dd some rapelling over there. It was such a wonderful experience !!!. i was very afraid in the beginning but later i enjoyed it a lot.

These are some of my favourites which i took in chtradurga

Sap Certified Solution Consultant !!!

2005-10-10T03:59:00.000-07:00

I and my friend karthik attended SAP teched'05 and we both got certified!!!. I took BW ( business information warehouse) exam and he took ABAP Work Bench exam.

I am just copying the wordings from my friend Karthik's blog...it goes like this:

Last week I attended SAP TechED 05 here in Bangalore It was very big event conducted by SAP. They started Tech ED from Last year and continuing. Whole purpose of the event is to introduce SAP Practitioners to the new technical roadmap SAP has built and moving. It was amazing !! I was impressed by the ingauration part of the event. They had Karnataka's folk dance called 'DoLLu kuNita' to welcome the guests to the stage. We had key notes from SAP AG Directors, who had come from different part of globe. There were about 2500 SAP Practitioners from all over India. It was a three day event.We also had an oppurtunity to take up the SAP Certification exam there I appeared for
Solution Consultant mySAP BI - Business Information Warehouse and cleared it with 80% !!!...unbeleivable hehehe

Trip to Chitradurga

2005-07-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Recently I had been to chitradurga fort. It is a magnificent fort with seven layers of wall in circum circle for defense against enemies. It is called yeelu suthina koote in Kannada .
Chitradurga, on the highway linking Bangalore with Hospet, is famed for its massive Kallina Kote (Palace of Stone) fort, a marvel of military architecture made impregnable by the Nayak Palegars. It has 19 gateways, 38 posterior entrances, a palace, a mosque, granaries, oil pits, four secret entrances and water tanks. And the legend of obbavva , During the rein of Madakari Naayaka, the city was besieged by the troops of Haider Ali. A chance sighting of a woman entering the fort through a crack in the rocks led to a clever plan by Hyder Ali to send his soldiers through the crack. The guard on duty had just gone home for his lunch break and his wife Obavva was his temperory replacement. Noticing the soldiers emerging out of this crack, Obavva was not perturbed. Using the Onake (wooden stick used for pounding grain) she killed and quietly moved the dead, so that hundreads of them entered and fell, without raising any suspicion. The guard, Obavva's husband almost had a heart attack, when he returned from his lunch break. His wife was standing there with a blood stained Onake and strewn around her were the bodies of soldiers.
Here are some of the photos of that magnificient fort.

Bon voyage my friend MS

2005-07-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

I am back after a long time. Life has been hectic from past few months , going to office in the morning and coming back to home late night only to catch a few moments of sleep I should rather say nap !!!. No time to think what I am doing in life.

My friend anil’s (we call him MS) father passed away recently. Three long years he has waited and struggled to get a PG seat and when the wait has come to an end (he has got a M.S seat in NUS Singapore) his father is not there with him to cherish the moment. I feel very sad for him, when he got the seat he was very ecstatic his parents were very happy for him. When he had started to prepare for GRE in 2001 our friend nagaraj passed away it had troubled him emotionally a lot so he couldn’t take up GRE. He wrote GRE in 2003 he had got a very good score and got into 4 U.S universities!!!! But as the fate would have its own will, He was rejected VISA 3 times! And again in 2005 he took up TOEFL and at last got into NUS Singapore.
His joy has turned into sorrow suddenly. He left to Singapore on 22nd night with a heavy heart. The next time I see him I want to see a very confident MS.
Way to go my friend. All the best in your life .

My Traits In Photography!!!

2005-05-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Recently i had been to Mavathur Lake near kanakpura to shoot some birds with a borrowed camera( abhis EOS camera)...but unfortunately coudnt shoot any i coudnt even go near them...when i started to slowly walk towards then they fly away!!!...i tried vainly to get them. So had to contend with some sceenaries...here they are...

Liger...Liger Burning Bright!!!

2005-04-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

AMAZING ANIMAL....!! The 10ft Liger who's still growing... Liger------ He looks like something from a prehistoric age or a fantastic creationfrom Hollywood.But Hercules is very much living flesh and blood - as he proves everytime he opens his gigantic mouth to roar. Part lion, part tiger, he is not just a big cat but a huge one,standing 10ft tall on his back legs. Called a liger, in reference to his crossbreed parentage, he is thelargest of all the cat species.On a typical day he will devour 20lb of meat, usually beef or chicken,and is capable of eating 100lb at a single setting. At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton. When he is fully grown he is expected to reach 12ft( from tip of his nose to the tip of his tail!!!), and almost 900 pounds!!!. He is the accidental result of two enormous big cats living closetogether at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami,Florida, and already dwarfs both his parents. "Ligers are not something we planned on having," said institute ownerDr Bhagavan Antle. "We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and atfirst we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with atiger girl, then lo and behold we had a liger." 50mph runner -------------Hercules has the strength of a lion and the speed of a tiger, reaching 50mph.

He will also grow a mane like his father, but just a small one, andsports his mother's tiger stripes on his huge body. And when he opens hisfearsome mouth he can both roar like a lion and give a purr-like snort like his mother. Not only that, but he likes to swim, a feat unheard of amongwater-fearing lions. In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate.Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another, but most lions arein Africa and most tigers in Asia. But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly beforeWorldWar II. Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the worldand a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lionmother. Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physicalcharacteristicsof the tiger.Famous cross-breeds --------------------- There are hundreds of hybrids in the animal world, some common such asthe> mule - a cross between a female horse and a male donkey - and somemore unusual, such as the labradoodle, a mix of labrador and poodle. Other exotic hybrids include the zeedonk, a cross between a zebra anda donkey; the zorse or zebroid, a zebra/horse cross; and the beefalo, an American bison/ domestic cow cross. Another rare creature is the wolphin, the offspring of a whale and a> dolphin. Back in the big cat world zoos in Japan, Germany and Italy have bred leopons, a male leopard/lioness cross, while Salzburg Zoo in Austriahas bred jaguar/leopard hybrids known as lepjags

A Passing Thought....

2005-03-15T02:47:00.000-08:00

i am quite irritated today actually and the cause of my irritation is Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress"....
i was very much impressed after reading his previous book " Da Vinci Code". the da vinci code is truly a very good book. it was page turner and from the word go
it was a very good read.
Da Vinci Code book is actually a fiction based on the true facts . I was shocked to read that there were really organisations like "opus die" and "priory of scions"
opus die - it is an organisation which follows hardcore catholic principles like " corporal mortification"...i.e people tie thorns to their body and endure pain because
jesus also had to go through that pain!!!..it is head quartered in NEW YORK.
Priory Of Scions - it is a secret organisation which protects some old documents. these old documents is also called "holy grail" which is beleived to have true facts
about jesus christ ( i.e jesus christ was a great inspirational leader but a mortal..it was also beleived that jesus had married a women called mary magadlene and had
daughter during the time of his crucifix)...church doesnot believe this and wants to eliminate those documents.
i have searched in internet and truly these organisations exist!!!

and also i never knew the leonardo Vincis paintings had soo much hidden codes and meanings!! ( leonardo vinci was beleived to be a member of priory of scions).
his potrayal of most beautiful woman in world " MONA LISA"..was actually not a woman!!! but a combination of man and woman!!. mona lisa means man and woman.
and also . his other famous painting "Last Supper" had clearly depicted mary magadlene in it!!....if u see it there are 13 gospels(his followers) of jesus sitting around him
but if you see clearly the guy next to jesus is a woman not man!! ( if you have read about jesus christ . mary was a prostitute sent by roman rulers to diviate jesus. but
actually mary was a royal blood who married jesus!!!...church had propagated these stories in order to show that jesus was divine with no woman influence!!)
i have observed these paintings and they are true!!!

just browse through internet and you will get abundant information about this.

after readig this book i immeidately brought his another book " Digital Fortress" and i should tell that i am quite pissed off after reading this.i read digital fortress in three
days and all the time was thinking that it would become interesting like da vinci code but it never took off!!...it is truly a mundane book. he keeps reffering the
same old codes and terminologies from his old book da vinci code. he has taken readers for a ride.
infact i was soo angry after reading that book i took out JIM CORBETT'S My India and read the first chapter.
the beautiful bengal tiger ....the beautiful naini tal...the himalayan foot ranges....all these had a soothing effect on my nerves.

Why Does My Heart Feel Soo Bad?!!

2005-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Today i was in jayanagar for some work. i was going in my vehicle and i passed my college, suddenly a wave of nostalgia gripped me.
i saw students coming out of the college...they had a sparkle in their eyesi could see them very enthusiastic, energetic and full of life. bryan adams "summer of '69"was playing in my car....i was suddenly thrown back in time.few years ago...i was coming out of the same gate of my college, careless and carefree as ever. dreams in my eyes and enjoying life to the maximum...our only concern and worry wasmarks!!!...come friday and, we used to bunk classes and ran to the nearest cinema theatre to stand in queue for tickets. sitting in the last bench and cracking jokes on our dearlecturers and getting thrilled whenever any girl giggles to our jokes.
my heart felt heavy and i became sad thinking of those days....where are those days gone?...what has happened to that sparkle in my eye?..people tell methat i have become more mature after my college days..what does that mean?..does that mean i have lost innocence? does that mean i have lack of emotion?
i and sisya aravinda talk about this soo many times..in college days we didnt have money or any other luxury but still we were happy now we are earning and can afford any kind of luxury still we are not happy, why?just as these thoughts were running in my mind..i got a call from my project leader, he was asking me about my reports and etc..i remembered that i had to run to office..there is lot of work pending... nowa days i spend my days thinking and waiting for weekend so that i can sleep on saturday and sunday (many will agree with me). this is life and we have to move on. someone had said "all good things must come to end!!" soo true...bryan adams "summer of '69" was still playing in the background " those were the best days of my life..."

The Ghost And The Darkness

2005-02-16T00:34:00.000-08:00

Hi friends,
How was my first post? Hope you enjoyed it. In this post I will write about the Hollywood movie ‘ghost and the darkness’.The basic facts of the story are portrayed truly in the movie. In 1898 two large male lions attacked workers in Africa building a railroad bridge and devoured about 140 humans before being shot. The rogue lions were nicknamed the Ghost and the Darkness by the superstitious natives. In the movie Val Kilmer played the courageous Irish engineer Col. John Henry Patterson who was in charge of building the bridge. Hollywood brought in Michael Douglas as a great white hunter to assist Patterson, but in true life Patterson hunted and killed both lions himself. The biggest visual discrepancy between Hollywood and the true story of the man-eaters was the physical appearance of the lions themselves. In the movie the lions were great beasts with huge manes around their necks. In real life the Tsavo man-eaters didn’t have manes at all and resembled female lions. Their stuffed hides are on display at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History and their photos are on the museum website. They look quite unlike the fierce male lions in the movie. In the movie Patterson was hit in the head by a wandering owl and knocked off his hunting platform placing him in great danger from one of the lions. In real life he was hit by an owl on his stand, but fortunately maintained his balance and didn’t fall. Like in the movie the real life Patterson did have a misfire on a borrowed rifle and missed an easy opportunity to kill one of the lions. Patterson also did build a huge wooden trap in real life that was baited with Indian Workers armed with rifles and protected by metal bars. This scene was depicted in the movie and the movie trap looked identical to old pictures of the actual trap. The result in real life was very similar to the movie. One of the man-eaters did spring The trip wire and was trapped inside the trap. The workers were so frightened they fired wildly through the bars and finally a bullet broke one of the slats in the trap door allowing the lion to escape. Unlike the movie there was no fire in the real life incident. In the movie many of the victims were Africans. While by most accounts that is true, most of the labor to build the railroad was supplied by indentured Indian laborers and the Tsavo lion reportedly killed 28 of the Indians. These workers were nicknamed ‘coolies.’ By some accounts 90% of the thousands of Indian workers in Africa died from disease and injury.

An exciting discovery in the movie by Kilmer and Douglas was the den of the man-eaters. Patterson also discovered what he thought was the man-eater’s den (complete with scattered human bones) and took pictures of it. The location of the cave was lost for nearly 100 years until it was rediscovered by American scientists one mile from the Tsavo railroad bridge on April 30, 1997.The men used an 1899 photograph of the cave to confirm their finding. No bones were found in 1997 and there is some speculation as to whether it actually was a den for lions. It may have been an African burial cave Disturbed by animals or possibly was a hyena den. I also discovered an earlier 1952 film called Bwana Devils told the story of the Tsavo man-eaters. and his account of how he hunted and killed the lions is well worth reading. Hollywood did a good job of retelling the story about the man-eaters in The Ghost and the Darkness and I look forward to a future movie about the famous Bengal tiger in India and Nepal that killed over 400 people. This tigress known as Champawat killed 200 men and women before being driven out of Nepal. She moved to India and continued to kill bringing her total up to 436 before she was tracked down and killed by the famous hunter Jim Corbett in 1937 and also a great man-eating leopard of rudraprayag, which then had created a flutter in Indian parliament. It had killed 125 people (official figures). Even it was shot by the greatest hunter of all time jim Corbett.

LIONS OF TSAVO

2005-02-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends,
Welcome to my blog. This is my first posting…since I have a passion for wild life and read lot of Jim Corbett books and Kenneth Anderson books. I will start with a posting on lions of tsavo
If I tell ‘LIONS OF TSAVO’ nobody will ever have a clue about it but when I say ‘GHOST AND THE DARKNESS’ then quickly you can remember that it is a 1996 Hollywood blockbuster movie
Starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. The movie is based on the true tale of man-eating lions in Africa .
I will give you the true accounts of the story that actually happened in Africa and in my next post I will write about how the Hollywood movie differs from the actual facts.
In March 1898 the British started building a railway bridge over the Tsavo (SAH-vo) River in East Africa. Over the next nine months, two large male lions killed and ate nearly 140 railway workers. Crews tried to scare off the lions and built campfires and thorn fences for protection, but to no avail. Hundreds of workers fled Tsavo, halting
Construction on the bridge. Before work could resume, chief engineer Lt. Col.John Henry Patterson (1865-1947) had to eliminate the lions and their threat. After many near misses, he finally shot the first lion on December 9, 1898,and three weeks later brought down the second. The first lion killed measured nine feet, eight inches (3 m) from nose to tip of tail. It took eight men to carry the carcass back to camp. The construction crew returned and completed the bridge in February 1899. Lions Rarely Eat People We will never know why the Tsavo lions became man-eaters, but two factors may have contributed to their unusual diet. In the 1890s, an outbreak of rinderpest disease killed millions of zebras, gazelles and other African wildlife. Lions had to look elsewhere for food, and attacks on humans increased across the continent. Poor burial practices may have also contributed to the Tsavo tragedy. Railroad workers who died of injury or disease were often poorly buried, or not buried at all A scavenging lion coming across this easy meal might start going after live humans.

After completing the railroad, Patterson became chief game warden in Kenya and
Later served with the British Army in World War I. He published four books and
Lectured widely on his adventures. After speaking at The Field Museum in 1924,
Patterson sold the museum the lion skins and skulls for the then-sizeable sum of $5,000. The skins arrived in less-than-perfect condition--old and dry, they had been cut down into rugs. (In real life the lions were even larger than they appear as taxidermy mounts.) Gunshot wounds and thorn scratches also blemished the skins. Museum taxidermist Julius Friesser did an extraordinary job creating the life-like mounts you can see at The Field Museum. Call the Hair Club for Lions although both of these lions are male, neither has much of a mane. Lion manes vary from place to place in color and thickness; Tsavo-area lions are often mane less. This may be a "family trait" common in the area--although we don't know if these two lions were closely related. John Henry Patterson’s 1907 book THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO is available on the Internet and his account of how he hunted and killed the lions is well worth reading.