No Man's Land.

Oh wow, New Year's here and I'm yet to post anything. Well, I don't believe in reminiscing about the past year or making resolutions which I will break-down with about as much regularity as the MTC buses in my city, so nothing along those lines. Apart from that, it's been a dull, drab year so far. Till today...

I've also wanted to see how long it takes for me to type a post. So I'm gonna check that... in a different way. So, I'll see how many songs I run through on my iTunes before I complete this post, starting with...

High Hopes - Pink Floyd

Have you ever been to a place where you KNOW you've made a mistake in going there, the moment you enter it? It's a scary feeling man, you want to get out of that place as quick as you can but without making yourself look like the biggest fool in the world after the President of a certain country which starts with U.S and ends with A. So, now that you're in there, you try to mix with the crowd, most of whom are "veterans" in that place and are gulping in amounts you wouldn't have believed was humanly possible! And it's not like everyone's of the same kind, there's quite a heady "cocktail" of people in there. You feel so insecure, childish, lost, totally unsure of what to do next, what the procedure would be to get yourself one of "those".

City of Blinding Lights - U2

It's not like I've never wanted to go there. On the contrary, I've ALWAYS wanted to. But most of the times, all the things just failed to come together. So I wouldn't be able to go and remained a "good boy". But today, it was just so unplanned, so unexpected. A friend just said he was going over there and asked me if I was coming too. I don't know what came over me at that moment, but I nodded yes. And Bang, before I knew it, there I was- the place I had always wanted to come to but had "conveniently" got some excuse to keep away from.

Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd

SO, as I already said, now that I was in there, I thought Why not? I just followed my friend blindly as he went straight to the table and spoke in the most cinematic conspirational whisper he could muster. Then he went through a back-door into an even bigger room which was filled with rows and rows and rows of our... um... subject of interest! I mean, I didn't KNOW there was so much variety in this world, and that there were so many people who KNEW about so much variety... God!

Lifting Shadows off a Dream - Dream Theater

By this time, I had had enough. I was totally convinced this was the wrong place for me to be in, and looked for ways to tell my friend that. He, however, had already got really..."elevated", shall we say, and I saw that there was no point speaking anything to him anymore. I just hurriedly worked my way past all those rows of tables and chairs and people sitting on them... well, as near sitting as they could manage and found the welcoming light of the red Exit sign. But it wasn't over yet. Just as I stepped out, there was this other friend who was just walking in and on seeing me, raised his eyebrows so high that I'm sure I saw them disappear into his hair. I hurriedly mumbled a "I didn't DO anything in there" and scurried out.

Zoo York - Paul Oakenfold

Lesson learnt. Don't go somewhere just because everyone else is. It becomes painfully obvious in about two and a half seconds that you don't belong there, and you stick out like a sore thumb. And when ESPNStar says Please don't try this at home or when any other organisation issues any warning of such sort, heed them! Don't make the same mistake I did and go to places you don't belong...

Yes, people. I went to The Central Library, IIT-Madras today...

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

So, takes me about six songs then...

The Way I Am...

There are people who have fixed goals and dreams in their lives. They know what they want and they have their lives and careers planned right from their graduation till they are thrown their retirement party at the end of it all… And then there’s me.

The First thing I wanted to be was a Spy. This was the period I was drowned in Jeffrey Archers and Robert Ludlums and learnt that KGB was Komitet Gazudastrevenoy Bezopasnosti. But anyway, the spy guy seemed to have the best life possible- cool gadgets, very helpful contacts, one of who invariably turned out to be a very good-looking lass and free trips to every country in the world! That dream’s not dead and buried yet. I DO know 5 languages, with fluencies ranging from perfect to Yeah-I-can-Survive-in-Spain. And I know three moves in Taekwondo. And I can tell a Browning Automatic from a Luger…

Then I wanted to be a Fighter Pilot… but that dream never took off!!! That’s because by the time I realized I wanted to be that, I already had a minor power in my right eye and thought it has not worsened, they say that you need 20/20 in both eyes to be a pilot… I think I have 15 or something in my right. But still, it would’ve been fun to take a MIG-21 up there and do a cobra-maneuver in it, wouldn’t it?

I think next up was Auto-Journalist. It would be the dream-job, really. I mean what other job lets you take Porches and BMWs at record breaking speeds around racetracks AND pays you for doing it??! I tell you, these auto-journos are the luckiest people on the face of this earth. PLUS the free trip all over the world to International Auto Expos to ogle at models… of cars, of course.

There have been cranky times when I’ve wanted to be nothing. You know, like, carry a backpack, hitchhike all over the world and do odd jobs here and there to refill the wallet. And as I already said, I AM a man who walks alone! Don’t know how wise a career option THAT is though…

And THEN I wanted to be a Football Player. Clearly, I have the pace and I’m not an old dog yet so I CAN learn new tricks. Besides the only time when I get unrivalled joy, other than when I am driving my car, is when I have the football at my feet and am juggling with it. Sure, it is the most physically demanding of all my dreams, but at least it won’t get me killed like Spying might… I think! Of course, all this was before I broke my foot. Now, I can’t even run.

You think there must be a latest fad, right? OF COURSE, there is. Now, I just want to be a Stand-Up Comedian. I know I’m funny when I want to be, and it shouldn’t take too much for me to morph my situational humour to the stand-up kind. Or I could just use some of the signs put up by our dear Traffic Police. I mean, there is this one which says “Accident Prone Zone. DEAD slow”. What’re they trying to say??? That if the accident doesn’t get you, going slow will? That either way… you’re dead???

So you see, I’m a very multi-faceted individual (Ha! That’s for you all who thought I’ll say CONFUSED individual!). And as befalls a man of so many talents as me, I seem to be faced with a problem of plenty. Well, I guess I just have to learn to live with it because… it’s just The Way I Am…

I WON'T give a title!

My All-Time Favourite Characters (fictional or mythical or whatever):

1. Anbuselvan I.P.S
2. Rajesh
3. Percy Balckeney
4. Bruce Wayne
5. Abhimanyu


Top 5 Vivek Movies:

1. Minnale - SLISHA ob.

2. Saami - Again...

3. Badri - Not many people know this but he's REALLY good in this too

4. Parthiban Kanavu - Respected Sir, As I am suffering from fever...

5. Run - Funny in parts. Sporadic. Not the unbelievable flow of Minnale or the punch-after-punch of Saami...


I know I haven't blogged in a while... I also know this is a poor excuse...

Whatever.

Love, Passion and Disgust.

It started 6 years ago… this love affair of mine. I remember it was my umpteenth school for just my Eighth Standard. It was a new place, a new system with new people around. Being the new guy was an ‘old’ thing for me. I had been new guy 7 times before, so this was nothing new. But what I always did first to get over this new guy thing was to find something… someone to hold on to. And that’s when this happened…

We started off on a high. I liked everything I knew, saw or heard about ‘my’ one (And let’s just stick to that, shall we? We’ll call my one… My one… MO… ok?). So anyway, it was love at first encounter. I’m not sure however, if the feeling was reciprocated. I wouldn’t be surprised if even my existence was even unknown to MO. I mean, MO was popular beyond measure, filled with success and on an elated high… surely there would be more than one admirer!

The love grew over the years and as the seasons flew past, our lives became more intertwined. I got to know more and more about MO and my love just turned to passion. I would do my best to make sure we spent as much time as possible together, that all my Saturday Nights were scheduled around MO’s convenience… it was an affair like none other and passion was an irreplaceable part of our affair.

But the old adage “Familiarity Breeds Contempt” was not said for nothing. It takes only a very small time… an hour or an hour and a half for all that you believe in to crumble into dust… for Passion to turn into Disgust and then Despair. It was a late night date, post-dinner when it happened. We started off like usual, on a passionate high. MO gave me a gift, a surprise so joyous that it made me sit up and focus my entire attention. But from there, it was just downhill all the way that night. First, the gift was cruelly taken away and then MO did some very uncharacteristic things that I simply turned away in disgust, asking myself if THIS was the one I had been so passionate about, around whom I had built my evenings… As the night drew to a close, the disgust turned to despair and this was then replaced by a numbing calmness… a resignation to fate…

I’m not saying it’s all over between MO and me… Sure, AC Milan might be the highest-ranked team in FIFA 2005, and their back four of Maldini, Nesta, Stam and Cafu might be practically impenetrable. Sure, Chelsea might be a bunch of talented individuals who have clicked together like well-oiled machinery thanks to their Manager. Sure, Arsenal might play oh-so-wonderful one-touch football at times that you wonder how they fail to score at all… And SURE, there might be ONLY ONE KEANO…

But that does not mean my love affair with Manchester United will end. One small setback in a club of champions and championships will not be enough to turn me away from Man Utd. forever… Oh no…

GLORY, GLORY MAN UNITED!

Epilogue: Benfica 2-1 Man Utd. This scoreline meant that Man Utd failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champs League for the first time in 10 seasons. George Best would’ve turned in his grave, remembering the Benfica 1-4 Man Utd match, which made Manchester United The European Champions then… How ironic is life!