kris.blog();

the morbid

2012-02-11T13:20:00.001+05:30

I've been dreaming a lot, daily. been trying to remember them, but it's now a little too much to write.

anyway, one of last night's dreams included, among other things, a friend (actually, two "friends", of which I could only identify one.) who tried to dig a tunnel straight down, into the wet sand inside a cave.

to cut the parts I don't remember, lets say that he somehow disappeared underground. since we have had no idea, we sent crabs to look for him (in my dream, I could speak to crabs, and they could speak to me).

the crabs came back in a couple of minutes, saying they had found a couple of "graves".

later (in the dream), I read in a book that an unidentified friend of mine who loved to watch volcanoes, lost both her arms in an eruption but otherwise survived fine. she continued to watch volcanic eruptions from up close after the accident, but always took someone along to watch.

hagru

2012-02-07T15:40:00.000+05:30

i was in goa last week for my friends' wedding. as usual, i tagged along with a goan friend (this time, with his mom and 4-year-old daughter too), and stayed wherever they were staying. one of the places being, his aunt's home. his aunt has some 8 dogs and as many cats.

(some of) the cats

so anyway, the cats somehow weren't very cosy with me. i'd have to sneak up to them and pet them when they weren't looking, and they'd suddenly jump and run off a few seconds later. except for this one cat, that snuggled in between me and my friend's lil daughter on the sofa. i tried to make small talk with the girl, and the conversation went something like this: (k is me, e is the kid)
k: so you like this cat?
e: yeah, but i don't want to play with him.
k: why?
e: he is hagru.
k: hagru? is that his name?
e: no, he doesn't have a name. he is hagru.
k: but his name is not hagru?
e: no, he doesn't have a name! he is hagru.
k: so if i call him hagru, will he play with me?
e: don't play with him, he is hagru!
k: meh.

anyway, i finally found the same cat sleeping in my bed a couple of hours later.

turned on the light in the room, and it jumped out and ran for the door.

i found it had pooped in my bed.

apparently "hagru" is what they call cats with bowel problems :S

the girl and one of their dogs

purushwadi revisited

2012-02-02T22:02:00.000+05:30

the last time i went to purushwadi, it was the start of last monsoon. one of my regrets (on seeing the scenic route) was that i had chosen to take public/hired transport instead of my bike. so a few weekends ago, i decided to fix that. also, i had my new bike (just 2 days old, at that!) and was itching for a long ride. and the weather was perfect.

My odometer, getting out of home (note the shrinkwrap!)

On the way to Bhandardara, well before Purushwadi

Kalsubai in the distance - the route passes by the base village

Welcome at the entrance of the grassroutes campsite

inside the house of Pasabai, the lady who cooked our meals

A cute little kid

A calf in one of the villagers' cattle sheds

Ploughing the field

A class of giggling kids

The evening trek

watching the sunset

Puranpolis, bhajiyas and fryums to accompany our dinner (once we started eating, clicking pics was out of the question!)

The next morning, we rode to Pemgiri, which has a banyan tree that has spread over an acre.

One of the first good photos on my new bike :)

A field being ploughed by tractor, in contrast to all the bullock-ploughed fields we've seen in Purushwadi.

hello

2012-01-29T09:48:00.001+05:30

found this in my inbox, today morning. looks almost legit. this is getting freakier and freakier!

From: "Alicia Mabou" <*************@yahoo.in>
Date: 28 Jan 2012 17:30
Subject: hello
To:

Hello dear,My name is Alicia,I know that you may be surprise how i get your email, i got your email today when i was browsing on Internet looking for honest partner,then i feel to drop this few lines to you. I will be expecting for your response so that i can send you my pictures and also tell you more about myself,my dear,age or color even distance cant deny any relationship. Please lets give our self a trial,Thanks,Awaiting for your mail above Miss Alicia.

what crap men yaar!

2012-01-27T13:45:00.001+05:30

(funnily enough, I'm typing this in a farmhouse in goa)

I was walking through a lightly wooded forest with nickolai, one winter evening, enjoying the sunset through the trees. when suddenly, a bird crapped on me. and then another. and another. and another. and so on... 8 times. In quick, rapid-fire succession.

thankfully, we weren't far from nickolai's family farmhouse. we reached there after dark, the pale yellow porch light shining through the woods like a half-hearted beacon. as soon as I got home, I wanted to wash up.

Unfortunately, the house had just two bathrooms, and nickolai's mom was busy washing clothes in one of them, so I had to use the other. so I had to use the other one, which was attached to ninoshka and nickolai's bedroom. but the door of the bathroom was barricaded by a large wash-basin, which I had to remove in order to use.

ninoshka and I couldn't get ourselves to agree about the way to open the bathroom door, but we finally figured the correct way to open it was to lift up the wash-basin to detach it from the door-frame.

and that's when I woke up.

falling anywhere

2012-01-19T12:00:00.000+05:30

i woke up with a start in the middle of last night, feeling sickish, with my heart beating wildly.

it was a dream that was to blame.

i don't remember much, but the last thing that happened was, i was walking down this huge long flight of stairs from a church. The stairs somehow seemed similar to the ones outside St. Fancis D'Assissi Church near home, but the view of the road in front of the church reminded me of Our Lady Of Immaculate Conception Church, Panaji.

anyway, while i was near the top of the stairway, far from the side railing, and walking down the stairs, the stairs suddenly became near-vertical while i was in mid-step. and i was holding my foot in mid-air, around 4 storeys above the road.

i woke up in a funk. checked twitter in the hope of calming my nerves down by distracting me, but a few seconds later, i closed my eyes to recall that final scene, and the sick feeling returned.

i could reproduce that feeling of vertigo by just closing my eyes and recalling that scene.

thankfully, i can recall it now without any vertigo. but this was the first time i've got this feeling in a dream.

ps: blog title inspired by one of my favourite tracks, "falling anywhere" by kyau vs albert.

the only rule is: there are no rules!

2012-01-07T16:23:00.003+05:30

mumbai traffic is interesting (if you can look at it with detachment from your sense of self-preservation and sanity). it comes with chaos and madness that only years of hard-headed aggression and trust in fate will let you tolerate.

amidst all that, i always ride with one guiding principle: follow the rules, and you'll be safe.

looks like i might have to amend that.

one morning, riding to work along link road, i reached a traffic jam. the cause: a traffic cop had decided to take over a (perfectly working) signal.

i inched my way through, sneaking between cars, nudging bicycles and honking at less-aggressive bikers, until I reached the edge of the traffic jam. after a 5 minute wait, i decided to remind the cop that I was waiting, with a couple of honks.

he turned around and waved me through the intersection.

right into the path of a car he had waved through 2 seconds earlier.

thankfully, our reflexes and brakes worked, and we stopped a few inches short of each other. the cop didn't even bother to look!

a few weeks later, i was riding home along the highway. bumper-to-bumper traffic from jogeshwari to malad, as usual. and me doing my usual "disciplined" lane cutting (checking my rearview, signalling lane changes, the works). till a lane broad enough for a biggish vehicle opened up alongside.

since i was at a standstill, i decided to avoid confusion by staying in my lane until the first vehicle passed, and then tailgating along.

and i was rewarded with a nudge to my bike from behind.

turns out the next driver didn't imagine i would wait and let a vehicle pass, so he just launched his car at where i was standing.

i'm not sure what rules i should follow any more.

traction vs control

2011-12-18T05:09:00.001+05:30

when I started biking, I was scared of skidding. of course, my bike had much better brakes back then, and I was very rear-brake heavy, so I guess that fear was for a good reason :)

as my experience on my two wheels grew, my braking habits changed, and so did my confidence in making my bike do exactly what I wanted it to. I started pushing my bike to figure out exactly what point it would skid.

as an aside, notable markers:
100 to 20 on dry tar road with new tires in about one truck length with both brakes
90 to 0 on dry paved road with slightly worn tires in about 3 truck lengths with only front brake

anyway, there are many saner points between these extremes, and those are the points I usually find myself at. points that don't have numbers to put on a graph, but valid data anyway.

and with all this in my head, I've come to grow comfortable with the telltale screeching noise of my tires reminding me they're being pushed to their limits. but the real comfort is when I realized that there a big difference between losing traction and losing control. The squeak of tires when they bounce over rough cobblestones while braking strongly but steadily, the growl of cutting through gravel with one hand resting easy on the throttle and the handle held firmly straight, and many many more such things.

and somehow, that seems to strike a chord with my life too.

There are things you can to be liberal about, without losing control of your life. you may be pushing yourself, maybe because you find yourself in a tight spot, maybe in anticipation of something riskier than the current situation if left to chance, or sometimes, just for the rush of pushing yourself.

There are times when you don't need to worry about traction at all, just about staying on course and within your limits.

and of course, the are times when losing traction means losing everything. the end of the line.

traction is nothing. what matters is control.

precarious

2011-12-05T00:32:00.001+05:30

i love my bike. i love riding it around.

people always say bikes are dangerous. i tell them i'm careful, not just to avoid risky maneuvers, but also to avoid situations where i'd not have time or the opportunity to react to someone else doing something stupid on the road.

today, i realized how wrong i could have been proven.

i was around 2 seconds from disaster. and i wasn't even moving fast. and none of the people in the cars involved got injured either (all 3 cars took quite a beating though!)

google reader, you're messing it up!

2011-12-04T07:36:00.001+05:30

I started reading blogs when I started using google reader.

in fact, I started blogging shortly after (and to a fair extent, because of) google reader.

it had the usual characteristics of a google product: clean, easy to use, functional, constantly getting features added, mobile-friendly, and eventually (inevitably?) popularity.

google reader was good for me for almost 5 years.

until early last month.

I now hate reader.

maybe google is trying to get more content on to google+ with this, or maybe getting people to use that "social network" a bit more, but whatever it is, they're doing it wrong.

I do NOT want the stuff I like to go someplace else.

I do NOT want the stuff I share to be on a closed social network.

I WANT to be able to read stuff my friends share in the same place as I read my subscriptions.

I WANT my mobile experience to be as similar to my web experience (why on earth would they *remove* the like and share features from google reader mobile?)

I WANT to be able to search the stuff I've shared over the years (it's there somewhere, just that google isn't letting me get at it)

I WANT to be on a platform which I can trust will remain interoperable with open standards (mainly the ability to export my shares as a rss feed)

I could go on and on, but these are the biggest things google reader used to be, and isn't anymore.

my feed-reading experience is so crippled right now, that I don't even know how many other people have outraged over the new crippled reader, just because google+ is such a crappy platform that I can't bring myself to use it to read others' shares.

the final straw was 20 minutes ago, when in a moment of insomnia, I opened the android reader app, read one post, and then couldn't find an option to like/share it (other than the android native "share" option). seriously, what?

despite being the google loyalist that I am, I think the time has come to take my feeds elsewhere. I just hope google notices.

this is not being evil, this is simply being dumb.

Adriana Jenkins left a message on your guestbook

2011-12-02T11:32:00.001+05:30

BABE... i guess your not getting any of my email huh? ive been tryign to email u so many times but this dam laptop is such a piece of garbage and keeps freezing.. anyways how u been? In case u dont know who this is its ME ADRIANA.. we used to chat a bit on facebook and then I think u deleted me :( haha.. anyways guess what... I got 2 things to tell u.. both good news.. 1) im single now.. yup me and my bf broke up about 3 months ago... and 2) guess where im moving? RIGHT EFFING NEAR U.. lol... ur actually the only person im gonna know there.. well 3 cousins too but i cant chill with them lol..I remember when we chatted u told me u thought i was cute and u wanted to chill so now we finally can HAHA! im kinda scared to move.. im hoping this email addy is still the one you use and u can chat with me ebfore i get there.. maybe even help me move my shit in...are u still on facebook? i cudnt find ui was soo confused...anyways im gonna need someone to show me the town and take me out so u better be around bebe...we only chatted a couple times but i remember thinking to myself i wanted to get ot know u better when i was single..a nd i thoguth u were cute too but cudnt tell u cause i wasnt single lol...ok so more info about me.. well im 23.. virgo.. love the outdoors and love to socialize, go out for drinks, restaurants, movies etc.. travel.. i have a lil kitty named BOO and i luv her to death... uhhh oh im a super horny gurl too but every gurl is they just wont admit it. so ilove watching p0rn and all that.. love sex etc blah blah blah...who doesnt..I really hope we get a chance to chat for a bit either online or on the fone before i get there enxt week.. i hope u remmeber me and still wanna chill and arent married yet lol.. OH YA also.. i need to find a job when i get there.. do u have any hookups or know anybody hiring? id LOVE to work in a bar or osmehting like that...really anythgin cause my current job is fun and all.. and technically i CUD keep doign it but i want a change.. i currently work from home and well thats cool but i need ot be out meeting people.. oh wait. i dont think i ever actually told u what i did? hmm shud i......???? ok WELLLL... and dont get all weirded out on me.. i work on a webcam chat community site and i get paid to chat with people and get naked HHAHA... BOMB right :)? I KNOW.. like i figure iim horny anyways why not get paid to chat with people and play with myself heheh...anyways i hope u dont look down on that and NO THATS NOT WHY IM CONTACTING U RELAX URSELF lol... i actually need help once i move and i remembered u live there so im reaching out....like i said before this computer is a complete piece of CRAP and freezes NON STOP.. ive tried ot send this email to u maybe 3 times already and im hopign this time i can hit SEND before i run into trouble lol.. ANYWAYS.. heres the deal....every month natalie (my boss) gives each of us 3 VIP codes to give out to whoever we want.. so with this code u can lgoin to watch me at work for free and dont have to pay like everyone else... the only way i can give u one of the codes (so we can chat) is if you absolutey DO NOT give it out to anyone else and u ONLY USE IT FOR URSELF... i only get 3 a month and she gets pissed if more than 3 people use them so DONT SHARE IT MISTER... i figured u cud always email me back instead but my email account doesnt even let me login half the time.. so the bets palce ot chat me is my chat room... if theres anyone else logged in when u sign in ill boot them out.. but remember DONT SHARE THIS PASSWORD PLEASE BABE IM BEGGING U.. I TRUST U... im online most of the day now to try and save money for my move.. also since im in such a huge debt already form my student loan :( I really thingk we need to chat before i get there and make sure u evern remember me hahha.. anyways ive rambled on and on now and ur probably soooo annnoyed with me so ill stop now.. im gonna go start work.. i really hope u come chat me. it wud make my day and releive a lot of my stress about the move... REALLY i mean that....anyways once i see u in insdie ill shoot u myc ell number and u can gimme yours.. if u dont wanna come chat i understand but its really the only palce to find me now days.. if u email me abck ill probably get it once i get there after my internet is setup so about 2-3 weeks fomr now.. but im hopign to see u in my chat room.. rmemeber its 100% free with this code im gonna give u.. just DONT GIVE IT OUT OR ILL KICK U IN THE BALLS INSTEAD OF LICK U IN THE BALLS WHEN IS EE U hahahahha...k babe im out for now... chat ya soon.. kisses xoxo ADRIANA FREE VIP BYPASS LINK ------>> [LINK DELETED :P]

ps: this was a message sent to me on bebo.com: turns out i created an account there even before i joined orkut... and never ever used it!

road tripping (part 2)

2011-11-10T03:41:00.001+05:30

it had all the makings of a great evening: a couple of hours of roaming the anjuna flea market, a perfect beachside sunset, a band playing awesome music while we sipped our drinks, and a bunch of some of my best friends.

but I never knew there was something better coming up.

all I can say is that I've never experienced such a blend of togetherness, while we still did our own thing...walked in small groups, sat and gazed at the sea together, walked around alone while the waves lapped at my toes, made some long overdue phone calls... and the best part is, we all had the time of our lives.

I think I've seen enough to say: this evening was as near perfect as it gets :)

road tripping (part 1)

2011-11-06T04:37:00.001+05:30

my classmates from vjti are some of my closest friends. we aren't exactly on a daily or even sometimes a monthly speaking basis. but somehow, those 3 years we spent almost entirely together, including half a year as roommates in a new city, at our first ever jobs (internships, to be precise), counts for something.

in fact, it counts for a lot.

so much, that 4 years of living our separate working lives seems inconsequential.

and even though this is just the end of the first of 9 daysof this trip to goa, and our first ever vacation together (barring one weekend last year), it already feels so naturally perfect.

matryoshka dreams

2011-10-17T23:55:00.002+05:30

(you may have noticed that i haven't blogged in a while. nothing specific, just laziness and inertia, i assure you!)

saturday, september 17:

satej, a friend of his (who i didn't recognize), and i were on our way to matheran. i was on my bike, and satej and his friend were riding a scooter.

we passed through lush green fields, riding on dirt tracks that bordered each plot, until the terrain changed and we started riding uphill.

the way to matheran was without cliffs and winding roads, though. instead, there was a road that zig-zagged up a mountainside, and the slopes were covered with a canopy of broad, leafy trees.

satej and his friend rode ahead, while i was a couple of minutes behind.

all of a sudden, the brakes failed on my bike. immediately afterward, the right side handle of my bike just snapped off.

thankfully, i was going uphill, and managed to stop without any mishap.

i managed to fit the handle back together, but it was rather precariously attached, and i had to be very careful not to make any sudden movements, and hold it together while riding.

i reached a small village on the way (it was more like a cluster of shops and small eateries), and decided to stop and scout around for help. but satej's phone was unreachable.

i figured i'll haveto keep riding all the way to the top before i'd find him.

and that's when i woke up, in bed, at home. it's around 9am.

i was relieved that it was all just a dream. but it seemed very real! so i quickly dressed and went downstairs.

the bike was parked in its usual spot, but the brakes were broken. and the handle came off when i tugged at it.

i went home and called the mechanic. his phone was busy on another call. i was feeling lazy, and got back into bed.

i called again a while later. he answered and said he'll come over to collect the bike in a few minutes.

i fell asleep waiting.

i woke up at 2pm.

turns out everything so far was a dream, and i was late for the kingfisher beerup (which was supposed to start at 10am in bandra. panicked, jumped out of bed, started getting ready. but then i realized i'm already too late. went back to bed, fully dressed.

next thing i realized, i'm awake, with my phone in my hand.

it's 9am.

and it's still the morning of kingfisher beerup!

ps: kingfisher beerup was the day when kingfisher took us on a nice bus ride to their brewery, with chilled beers and snacks handed out all the way, a hearty lunch, a tour of the brewery, more beers on the way back to bandra, and then an evening of pizza and beer...all sponsored by kingfisher! no wonder i dreamed about it. thankfully, i made it *on time* too :D

i got killed. IT WAS AWESOME!!!

2011-09-07T12:43:00.001+05:30

some ads in facebook are...simply awesome!

contrast

2011-09-05T08:48:00.001+05:30

I'm on my way back from gokarna (a chain of beaches in north karnataka). I traveled by bus, both ways. the contrast was quite extreme though:

going: expensive ticket (1500 bucks to goa, another 200 to gokarna)
return: cheap ticket (1250 bucks direct from gokarna)

going: fixed pick-up point
return: major uncertainity over the pick-up point

going: last row window seat that barely even reclined
return: middle row seat, almost-sleeper recliner seat

going: bus took 18 hours for a 12 hour journey
return: 11 hours into the journey, I'm almost at bbay

going: money spent getting to the pick-up point: 19 bucks
return: money spent getting to the pick-up point: 130+700 bucks!

going: cheese sandwiches for dinner, no breakfast - wasn't feeling like eating. spent 24 hours in all, with those sandwiches.
return: a delicious fish thaali for dinner, chicken roll for breakfast.

going: didn't have time to charge the phone, so spent most of the journey with the phone switched off, or with "battery low" - and no plug point in the bus.
return: charged the phone fully before leaving, and the bus has a plug-point at every seat.

ps:

going: sat next to a random shady guy who didn't even get up from his seat for those 18 hours
return: still sitting next to a cute girl...we played nudge-nudge all night :P

a spiritual quickie

2011-08-14T21:05:00.001+05:30

I've never been very religious. organized religion has given me a lot, no doubt, but god seems to give me far more through random encounters than through what I've ever received from an hour of devout attention at Sunday mass.

like yesterday, when I was walking to the nearest bus-stop from my friend's place (I was actually looking for a rickshaw, but it didn't look like they were interested in taking me anywhere). I called another friend who lives nearby, to see if he was free for a quick hi.

turns out he was in church.

I was right outside the church, and in no hurry to get home anyway, so I thought i'd do a quick march-past the pews outside to see if I could spot him. quickly, and from a distance, because I was probably smelling of whiskey and definitely looking and smelling like a sweat-drenched hobo with my soaked shorts and rumpled tee (the adventure that led to that is another story altogether :D)

I couldn't see him. but in those 30 seconds I caught a bit of the homily:

"the lady would walk by on the beach every evening and pick up broken and discarded bottles from the beach. and every time she would pick up one of those, she would say a silent prayer for the person who had thrown it there"

turns out, that's all I needed to hear that evening.

I went home a touched and determined man.

not because I'm planning on cleaning up beaches.

but because it's been ages since I've prayed for someone I didn't know personally. or for the secret intentions of people. or even just the greater common good.

good intentions and the road to hell

2011-08-13T20:03:00.001+05:30

my mom always loves to say: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"

and indeed, it is.

I set off from my friend's place with a will to walk as far toward home as I could. which, knowing myself, would be all the way.

8km. an hour and a half, at a brisk pace, with a slight drizzle to keep me company.

also, I was telling my friend about how I rarely get time with myself, thanks to my connected lifestyle.

10 minutes later, I studied the signboard at a bus stop and decided I might as well take a bus home. 5 minutes later, the bus arrived. an air coditioned volvo.

of those 15 minutes, I spent a grand total of 12 minutes tweeting, texting and calling.

and now that I'm in the bus, myPod has been switched to full blast, and here I am, moBlogging away.

walking? myself time? my ass.

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

level 2

2011-08-12T03:36:00.001+05:30

another recent dream. almost a parody of an old one that I had in college. but the dream revised itself to make sense in a corporate setting.

I woke up one Monday morning. terribly late. so late that I was tempted to call in sick. but morals prevailed, and I trudged my way to office.

when I got there, it was already past noon, and there was an understandable managerial outrage.

funny thing is that, I my dream, my manager actually said that "if you're going to come in so late, you might as well call in sick and relax at home, instead of rushing to office".

and then I thought to myself: this sounds extremely weird. this is probably a dream. I should wake up now and check the time, and rush to work.

and so I woke up, checked my phone. I had overslept, but not as badly as in my dream. I jumped out of bed, raced to the bathroom, got into the shower.

and then, my phone started beeping next to me.

I opened my eyes and realized that was a dream too, and my phone was beeping for the first alarm.

I was early.

and I was dreaming in my dream.

and I had somehow realized that I was dreaming while I was dreaming in my dream.

as the old rhyme goes:

"row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,
"merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
"life is but a dream"

e1m3: new secret passage found

2011-08-03T22:36:00.003+05:30

a few days ago, when browsing around google maps, i came across a curious looking small grid of roads near my route from home to office.

on closer glance, it looked like i may have found an alternate route that bypasses quite a few traffic jams on my way home.

so on tuesday, after work, i decided to explore the area.

what followed was something that took me back 15 years, when i was a big fan of doom: it looked like a secret passage.

it appeared out of nowhere. i wouldn't have even noticed it if i wasn't looking for it. it was a dark, narrow path, lined with high bushes on either side, peppered with briskly walking men and strangely aggressive bikers.

mud soon gave way to muck and slush, and finally, i got to the point where i thought the map was wrong: a 50-foot stream (more like an oversized gutter, actually).

everyone i had asked said there was only one way across that gutter, and that was the big, traffic-laden bridge, with traffic jams at both ends... and that was the main road.

but they were wrong. google maps was right.

there was a bridge. one that would have only been open to pedestrians, if it wasn't for a broken turnstile at either end (i'm sure it was the doing of those aggressive bikers!)

a few hundred feet later, i was back to civilization, and the strange aura of that mysterious path gave way to a squalid slum.

that's when i realized why there was such a tight grid of roads nearby: it was a neatly-laid-out network of lanes that led to each clump of shanties in the slum.

trekking in goa

2011-08-01T23:17:00.005+05:30

this dream happened over 2 months ago - 19th may. thankfully my faved tweets (this, this and this) and a couple of narrations of this dream have kept it fresh in my head

there were 4 of us. me, dennis, and two girls i don't recognize (yes, i actually dreamed of people i don't know. strange but true). in the dream, i knew the girls too.

so we were at the top of the hill, in a slightly wooded area. there was a mossy, musty room that we had to pass through. and once we were out, it was just a cliff, and a drop straight down, into a rocky stream that was barely knee deep.

i was the first to step out of the room.

i stood at the edge of the cliff. i couldn't see a way to get down. and i was really scared of the height. one of the girls exited the room and was a few metres away from me.

she told me i could jump, the water was deep enough. but i was scared. i wanted to go back.

just then, a baby tiger jumped off a ledge that was behind me and onto my back. i was pushed off the cliff. i screamed as i fell.

and landed in the knee-deep rocky stream on my feet.

and somehow, when i looked back, what looked like a 100 foot was barely 20 or 30 feet high.

the girl jumped too, and landed safely. we crossed the stream and sat on a few dry rocks while dennis and the other girl got down.

we made small talk that i can't remember.

meanwhile, dennis and the other girl reached us. we looked around.

strangely enough, i can only remember what was on 3 sides of what i saw.

so we sat there, and watched the sun set behind the lake and the village. and then realized we didn't have any torches, and had to get to the village before dark. and dennis and i were craving a beer after the "trek" (that's what we called it in the dream, btw!).

thankfully, the lake was barely waist-deep too, and we splashed across as it got dark.

and that's when the dream ended :)

the perfect weekend...again?

2011-07-21T09:09:00.001+05:30

I'm sure there's another post titled "the perfect weekend". so this will be another.

anyway, here's what went into my perfect weekend:

- a birthday
- a midnight ride
- a trip to my friendly neighbourhood mechanic (well, what can you do?)
- a second breakfast (cheese garlic bread, woo hoo)
- street shopping
- mangoes and milk, shaken together
- a new bag!
- my favourite friend
- twitter at home
- a chicken sannndwich for lunch
- a long ride without rain
- a trekker-adventurer friend
- a short ride without rain
- one of my first "new" friends
- her dog
- giving aformentioned dog (with friend) a ride to marine drive
- chaat at chowpatty
- a doggie walk in a drizzle
- a short ride with rain. and the dog and friend.
- a longish walk in the rain
- a long chat...in person, after ages!
- a long ride with rain
- a 2 hour nap
- a train to karjat
- lots of deep fried, batter coated goodles. with chai.
- a 6 seater with 9 people. birthday boy included.
- a hike in the rain
- a head and back massage in a waterfall
- rum, rain and ham-and-cheese sandwiches
- a brisk walk through a downpour to get to the nearest cuppa chai
- a 6-seater race for a train (that we lost)
- a hour's wait for a train
- a 2 hour's wait for the train to reach our destination
- one of my best "old" friends
- falling asleep at midnight out of sheer exhaustion

yup, this was just one weekend.

blur

2011-07-16T09:27:00.002+05:30

i had another lucid dream today morning, a few minutes ago.

this one was not as sharp or memorable as the previous one.

to begin with, there was no story.

it's interesting. the dreams i remember, are always the ones with a story. the rest of them just fall apart into bits and pieces, that fall apart into photo-frames stuck in my head.

anyway, last night's dream included tisha, tushar and samantha (and the funny thing is, i can't remember what samantha was doing in my dream!). and involved random things centered around goa.

the most vivid scene in my dream was the last one, when i gave a gun-toting terrorist a lift, in exchange for him guiding me how to get through numerous checkposts on the way (quite successfully, i must add).

he was a really nice, polite guy. and he only hitched a ride until we were past the cops, and then actually got off and started walking while i rode off. he also lost his gun somewhere in the crowds while i was riding (i had to ride through a densely peopled market of sorts).

after he got off and started walking, i rode by myself through a narrow, winding, country road.

and fell really sleepy.

in my dream, i remember, everything would be a blur once i'd take a turn, and i could only keep my vision straight when i was riding in a straight line. and i was all over that road, not even noticing the number of near misses i had cos i couldn't see through my mental haze most of the time.

and yet i survived, unscathed. until the end of that road, which connected to another road - i could take the other road home, or turn back and take this winding one home.

and that's when i fell off the bike.

my last thought before i woke up was "what's a better road to ride on when you're very dizzy - a straight one or a winding one?"

the dream seems to be so very influenced by recent incidents in my life, that i'm kinda freaked out.

scream

2011-07-14T09:34:00.006+05:30

i was riding my bike on a broad and straight gravel path, by a long row of brightly coloured rowhouses on one side and a slightly high stone wall on the other.

hills on either side of me. gray, stony hills, without much vegetation. but the track i was on was tree-lined and green. it was a sultry afternoon, but the heat wasn't overwhelming. the weather was invigorating.

as i rode, i passed by a lot of bikini-clad caucasian women, not in groups, but colourfully dotting along the way, all ambling back in the direction i was heading from. and the odd topless one too.

i sped up a bit, despite it being a rough, gravelly path, filled with packed stones.

finally, i reached the end of the path, save for one rowhouse. this is where i was riding to. they had a swimming pool. and my bombay neighbours, were caretakers of the place.

everyone was getting out of the pool. a topless teenage girl just got out of the pool with her dad, who was toweling her down. she smiled at me as i parked my bike.

my neighbour nudged me and said "she's the only one left for you to eye now". i looked at her, but apparently she wasn't talking to me - she was talking to her husband.

i was feeling too embarrassed to take off my shirt because of the number of hot-looking women around, so i decided to get into the pool with my t-shirt and (obviously) shorts on.

as i was getting in, everyone else was getting out, drying off and leaving.

i walked to the edge of the pool. it had steps leading down to the water (more like a public bath looking thing than a pool, i guess). noticed the water was pretty dirty. lots of leaves and a bit of junk floating around near the edges.

i looked around to see which was the cleanest part of the pool to get into.

as i was walking around the pool on the steps, everyone left. except one woman, wearing a black, completely soaked, clingy dress that ran all the way down to her ankles. she had long straight hair, and really weird eyes (they had white corneas, making her kinda look like a female marilyn manson). i somehow didn't think much about her.

i kept my bike keys near the edge of the pool so i could keep an eye on them. the keychain was my old bright red manU one.

as i dipped my feet into the water, i could hear the radio playing inside the house, announcing that nuclear tests were happening today.

the male caretaker said hey, this is cool, let's go there, take the kids and all. it'll be fun.

his wife (she has quite a booming voice, in real life and also in the dream) replied/shouted "what's with you and taking the kids for these nuclear tests, you're all so boring. i don't wanna go."

meanwhile, i decided to wade into neck-deep water as that was cleaner.

while i was reaching the middle of the pool, i realized why the water was so dirty.

there were two dead rams floating under the surface, near the middle of the pool.

i was super grossed-out, and found my way to this one raised pillar in the middle of the pool so that i could get out of the water for a bit.

sat there, looking at these two dead goats, wondering how i'd get out, considering how grossed out i was, and that the water was neck-deep.

i turned around to see how near the other end of the pool was. turned out it was nearer. but there was something else floating about there. face-down. a long haired woman wearing black.

i shivered.

as i turned to face her, she stood up with a start from the water, hair flying backwards, roaring and screaming, and i realized she was atleast 16 feet tall. she lunged towards me.

i woke up with a scream. literally jumped up, and looked around the room.

ps: i was surprised i didn't wake up my bro. maybe my scream was part of my dream, and i woke up silently. funny thing is, my dream continued for a fraction of a second after i woke. that was when, i looked across the pool and saw my bike keys at the far end, and realized there was no getting away.

the weekend in a village: purushwadi

2011-07-04T23:41:00.002+05:30

disclosure: this trip was organized by grassoutes, and they happily offered to sponsor my weekend if i was ready to blog it. the opinions and experiences are solely mine though. also, special thanks to verena for letting me use some of her lovely photos :)

i've always loved the village lifestyle. my first brush with it was at tushar's village in goa, which was still semi-linked to civilization...and besides, that was still goa, with all its trappings of madness ;)

the village i went to two weeks ago, on the other hand, was a different world altogether.

first of all, i arrived without any transportation of my own (2 trains and then one of a villager's jeep). was hoping for rain, but unfortunately there wasn't as much of it as i hoped.

but that weekend, what i hoped and what i found were two completely different things. and i mean it in a good way.

from the welcome (i think it's called a "tikka"), and the caps, with the villagers drumming at the entrance of the school compound, i just knew it.

the goal of the weekend trip was to live as much like the villagers did, while keeping it fun and engaging... and i must say, we did achieve it for the most part.

from the sweet black tea (black, because the villagers don't milk their cows, and sweet, because that's all they have for energy before they head to the fields in the morning), to the home cooked lunch (we were "adopted" by Sulochana Gangaram Kondar and family, and all our meals were at their house) - this was about as close an experience as we could get.

after our lunch, we went to our home for the weekend for a short round of introduction while a few of us rested our backs on the mattresses. our "home" was the beautifully decorated 5th standard classroom, covered from floor to ceiling with posters and tidbits of knowledge hung from lines across the room!

the view from our room: picture perfect!

late in the afternoon, we then set off for a meandering walk-turned-fruit-gathering-turned-trek that took us through the fields, a bit of jungle, and then a short climb to a plateau.

ps: bite marks are only cos i wanted to make sure the fruits were as delicious as they looked!

and then came the plateau. i haven't been to a place as windy since...never! the view of the plains from all sides (in fact, they weren't plains, but plateaus in their own right - we were far, far, far above sea level!). it was just breathtakingly beautiful.

on our way down, we got to see a rare sight: one of our guides caught a crab while it was in the process if hatching hundreds of babies! a lovely sight indeed.

back at the village after a quick (and far easier) climb down, we settled in with a cup or three of chai and biscuits, and waited for the sunset and the fireflies.

the fireflies (which sadly, neither my phone nor the best of cameras people had brought along could capture), were breathtaking. i had seen such a brilliant display only once before, in matheran, but this time, since we were surrounded by such lush greenery and no artificial lighting, it was even more breathtaking.

after dinner, five of us went for a long walk (about an hour long, in fact! time just flew and the atmosphere was energizing!), where we saw even more fireflies. we walked without any lights whatsoever, our only guide being the fireflies, and the light of the (clouded) moon reflecting off the wet road. it just got us high on life and nature.

after a good night's sleep, we had a simple breakfast, and then set about interacting with the villagers.

the village jeep, packed with over 20 people, about to head off to the nearest village (rajouri), 20+ km away, which has the nearest market/secondary school/medical clinic/state transport etc.

a rock altar in the middle of the village - we thought it was carved, but it turned out it was a naturally formed rock that was found in the stream!

among the things i tried my hand at were: chopping wood, grinding flour, and *GET THIS* ploughing a field! yesh, it's actually much easier than it seems. i haven't perfected my sounds, but i can control the bullocks, even!!!

finally, we all settled in for a scrumptious lunch (3 families cooked, so there were almost as many dishes as there were people!) a rustic, but delectable treat. best part being, everything we had consumed this weekend (barring the tea, i guess) was 100% organic food, all grown by the villagers!

and finally, the time came to bid farewell. but not for long, because i will soon be back! next time, it'll be with a tent and my bike, and it'll be a whole new way of experiencing this paradise!

in conclusion, this was a trip of a lifetime. i have fallen in love with the experience, and am hoping to go on a lot more such weekends, with the help of grassroutes.

ps: grassroutes organises such trips all year around. just contact them and they'll be happy to help!