Dedicated to Annie

This happens to be one of my favourite love songs.John dedicated this song to his then wife Annie.Wiki says that Denver "wrote this song in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Bell Mountain in Aspen, Colorado as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife.The song has since become a wedding standard and an expression of love for many people, due to its grand imagery and the fact it could apply to anyone (Annie is not mentioned by name in any part of the song).

Legends of all time

Awesome ...what else can be said about these two legenda in act together.Mark and Eric happens to be my all time favourite and to see them perform together is perhaps the most memorable life time experience.If one is the Sultan of swing the other is revered as "The God".Enjoy this masterpeice.

Happiness and choices in life

Often we come across choices when it comes to make decision. Sometimes we consider ourselves to be lucky when we have multiple options before making a choice. The choice could be either of a job, your TV show, your choice of MP3 player or even a life partner.

Sometimes I remember the good old days when we use to have those old magnetic tapes and we relished each and every song in the tape. Today with MP3 disks we have the choice of 125 songs to choose in a disk and we often end up forwarding most of the songs without enjoying any. So with more choices we have become more choosy and particular about our decision making. The same applies to consumer durables,cars,bikes,even hair style or something as small as a sachet of a shampoo ,we often end up analyzing our choice.

Wonder if we have become better in making decisions about out lives and are happy with the choices we are making. So with multiple news channels and radio stations around are we enjoying the life as much as we used to do when we had limited choices?

May be as individuals we condition our mind to be content with the reality when we have limited options or choices. May be happiness lies in understanding the reality that we need not have the best of everything in life to be happy and sometimes the best choice may not give you what you may need to make you happy.


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Barry Schwartz is a sociology professor at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. In this talk, he persuasively explains how and why the abundance of choice in modern society is actually making us miserable.

My Visual D-N-A :)

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The way I see life !!!

We shall Overcome !!

The Man who moved a Mountain

"Courage easily finds its own eloquence." — Plautus, Roman comic dramatist (c. 254-184 B.C.

It’s difficult to give words to some experiences in life. There are times in our lives when words simply are not enough to express the vortex of emotions which is felt when one comes across something like this.

The courage and will of legendary Dasthrath Manjhi is one of those rare real life incidents which will continue to inspire mankind for ages to come. Our man from Gaya had the fortitude and conviction to move mountains and he made it happen by his sheer perseverance and faith is his efforts to move the mountain. He is an inspiration for all us and just when you feel chips are down and the road ahead seems insurmountable, put yourself in his shoes and imagine the courage it would take to move a mountain.

I have not seen Hanuman and Ram nor do I believe in living gods (read-modern guru’s) but Dashrath Manjhi comes close to be a god and he epitomizes god like virtues.

Today’s TOI also covered his great saga.Over four decades ago, a frail, landless farmer got hold of a chisel and a hammer and decided to change the face of his village nestled in the rocky hills of Gaya. Dashrath Manjhi tore open a 300-feet-high hill to create a one-km passage. Manjhi knew it would he easier to move a mountain than an apathetic government. He knew writing to the powers-that-be would only leave the hill tied in red tape. Instead, Manjhi, then in his early 20s, took up a chisel and hammered at the rocks for 22 years.

This feat, part of local folklore now, stemmed from Manjhi’s love for his wife. For, when she slipped off the rocks while getting food for him as he worked in a field beyond the hill and broke her ankle, it became a burning passion to tame the formidable hills that virtually cut his village off from civilisation. And he completed the Herculean task — creating a short-cut which reduced a long and arduous journey from his village Gahlor Ghati to Wazirganj to a walkable distance. Manjhi hasn’t forgotten the public ridicule when he began hammering at the hill. “They called me a pagal but that steeled my resolve,” he says.

Even his wife and parents were against this “adventure,” especially when he sold his goats to buy a chisel, a hammer and rope. But, by then, Manjhi was a man possessed. He shifted his hut close to the hill so he could work all day and night, chipping away, little by little. “I did not even bother to eat,” he says. With most of the cultivable land and shops across the hill, villagers had to cross it many times a day, braving dangers. It was after 10 years that people began to notice a change in the shape of the hill. Instead of a defiant rockface, the hill seemed to have a depression in the middle. Climbing it became a little easier. “All those who had called me mad began to quietly watch me work. Some even chipped in,” he recollects.

In 1982, twenty-two years after he had started out, Manjhi walked through a clear flat passage — about 16-feet wide — to the other side of the hill. But his victory was tinged with sadness. His wife, who inspired him to take on this task, was not by his side. “She died of illness. We could not take her to a hospital on time,” says Manjhi. But, the villagers were there. They got him sweets, fruits and all that they could afford. Says Ram Avatar Yadav of Bhitra village: “We grew up hearing stories of the man who wants to move a mountain. Today, it’s a reality and a boon for me.”

Cat Stevens Returns

Cat stevens is back in his old avatar with An Other Cup, his first secular studio album in 28 years. The disc contains old songs that were never recorded, songs he wrote in the last couple of years, and songs that he came up with on the spot, once he reached the studio.

Born as born Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21, 1948, he adopted the name Cat Stevens; under this moniker, he sold over 60 million albums, mostly in the 1970s changed name to Yusuf Islam in 1979. Stevens became a convert to Islam in 1977, after a near-death experience when he nearly drowned surfing at Malibu Beach[1]. He adopted the name Yusuf Islam in 1979, and became a pious advocate for the religion, devoting himself to educational and philanthropic causes in his community. A decade later, controversy arose when he was reported to have made comments that seemed to support a fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie, but he claimed to have been misinterpreted.

He has given some of the memorable hits like Moonshadow, Morning has broken, Wild World, Father and Son and First cut is the deepest.

It is believed that he didn't touch a guitar for many years, until two years ago, when his son brought a guitar into the house. After picking it up in the middle of the night and discovering that he could still play, he felt the spirituality in his playing that he said had been missing from his music back in 1978. This week, Yusuf Islam was awarded the Mediterranean Prize for Peace, as he continues to re-enter the spotlight as a musician. Recently in a live concert he commented on why he didn’t touch the guitar for so long, he said , ''to stay out of trouble more than anything.'' But when he picked one up a little over two years ago, ''My fingers just felt at home.''
The 2004 tsunami inspired him to write a song, ''Indian Ocean,'' for a charity album; it's a long, detailed narrative about an English family on an island holiday that takes in an orphan after the tsunami.

Just another year ? :o)

Here comes another new year, new day and new beginning. This happens to be the first post of my year and I decided that it has to be on my first blog buzzz ;o).Buzz continues to be the only space in my virtual existence where I share my personal thoughts, feelings and life experiences. Despite being a blogger for almost two years now I have never been able to express my day to day experiences and intense personal thoughts on my blogs.

I decided this post of mine will be an exception, just another way to kick start this new year. One of the reasons why I seldom share my personal experiences is due to my indecisiveness in working out the significance of the event in my life. I think its always better to look back after a while and give your experiences a different perspective.

Last year was significant in terms of some of the ideas on which I have been working over for some time. Projects and ideas close to my heart are shaping up well and its been very satisfying and an intense, profound experience of sublime humility to see them in action. I think blogging has also been a part of that experience and the amazing reach and connectivity and impact of the blogs and social network continues to make collaboration and reaching out an exciting experience.

Work has been good fun and somehow I have been able to manage and prioritize activities much better than last year and just get a feeling that I can survive in chaos ;o)…its so much fun to be a little disorganized and still continue to chase your dreams. The interesting thing is that my 360 degree feedback shows I need to improve my time management skills but I guess it wont be fun be a perfect one ..heheheh.yes I can afford to laugh on myself today…

So what next ???

Well I continue to have more fun blogging and chasing my dreams. I’m very lazy when it comes to change myself and yeah I think the imperfections makes me always strive for something better, so no new resolutions and I’ll be just what I am .I guess my neighbours must be disappointed to know this as they may be hoping I do not blast music at high decibels as I have always done in the past. There is a part of me which is highly non conformist and borders on the verge of a rebel. I have always been a passive admirer of this non-rational, emotive and passionate part of me which is more spontaneous and vulnerable. At the same time I think my grey cells continues to make a more condensed and phlegmatic to life’s vagaries. I guess you can call it a war of heart over mind, but I feel there is no point in being so evaluative and critical of myself today. Let us celebrate what we are and make the best of our ability, I just hope I am able to give my existence a better meaning and a relevant existence to my human identity and be a better human being.

Enough….I will continue to get up late, I will continue to be a teetotaler, a veggie, a die hard music buff, 24*7 blogger, romanticist, Theist, erratic, …and last but not the least hopefully happy and single :D)

Happy New Year Folks !!!

American Pie

Music Video:

Right here waiting

This is the end .....

Looking back at life today, I realize how much I have lost and found,

The touch, the pain, anger and joy, the agony of losing someone you love,

The angst of loneliness, the dreams which always remained unfulfilled,

My wanderings which I never expressed, thoughts which never got words,

Lonely tears of a wailing heart, the lacerated soul, ever searching ghosts of mortal desires.

The end of innocence, the pangs of the bitter truth that you are gone,

How the music faded, how the sun went down,

How the innocence of youth gave way to the ways to the mundane jaded world.

How I lost the precocious unbridled charm of a passionate heart,

My destiny, my pain, how the child within me cries every night,

How my faith belies my own hopes, my vices smirk at my virtues,

How truth fought the lonely war, loosing you means loosing my innocent self, my faith, my god, my life…..

I have wings

Great stuff.The moral of the story is really good.Take a look.

Back again !!

One of the sad truths of life is that all good things in life must come to an end. Vacations are over and I’m back to my usual chores. It was hectic, fast paced and even before I could realize that I’m on vacation the short but sweet 12 day break ended. Going home is always worth cherishing but getting back to work is something you can’t avoid.

Meet some old friends, spent some lazy afternoons doing nothing, did some usual time pass with my friends, did few things, meet a lot of people whom I’d interacted virtually.The only regret is that I wished I could have spent some more time with my family. The journey was full of its usual elements of surprise with delayed flights and missing trains.

Well the saddest part is that when you get back to work you have to make up for the days you spent doing nothing. But that’s life and it will always be like this…

Take me home....

All my memories gathered round her, Miners lady, stranger to blue water

Dark and dusty, painted on the sky, Misty taste of moonshine

Teardrops in my eye

Country roads, take me home,

To the place I belong….. John Denver

So finally I’ll be going home this week for Diwali and Chatth Celebrations. Last time it was a short but sweet visit .So loads of plans and memories of the days coming back. I keep reading about the good things happening back home and believe me nothing gives me as much joy as the memories of my day’s in Patna.

Although I left the city last year during the same time but I continue to display Patna in my location details as somehow I can’t see myself detached to the city. Some may think its funny or rather foolish sentimentalism but I really don’t know why I feel so strongly about my roots. I was not the same while I stayed in the city all those years of my life but perhaps the journey to different places has made me realize my emotional connect with the state and city.

The festivities and the regular Dhamal and times spent doing nothing is something which made life back in city so special. For me it’s not the flashing lights or the purple haze which makes life beautiful. It’s about the things you believe in and feel that you must stand for. Sometimes I wonder how important has been the role of my city in shaping my ideas and thoughts as an individual.

It’s hard to find that out but as they always say “You can take a man out of Bihar but can’t take a Bihari out of him”….so here I go , back to the place I belong to.

Heehe :0)

What do you say ????

One of my all time no.1

Music Video:STAND BY ME (by Ben E. King)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Modern Times !!

Bob Dylan’s new album is creating waves all over once again and the poet philosopher singer is enjoying his popularity with the generation Y fans. Bob Dylan's first new album in five years, Modern Times, will was released on August 29. The artist's 44th album features 10 new songs recorded this past winter with Dylan on keyboards, guitars, harmonica and vocals, accompanied by his touring band.

While it has been marketed as the third in a conceptual trilogy, beginning in 1997 with Time Out of Mind, Dylan himself has rebuffed that notion; in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he stated that he "would think more of "Love and Theft" as the beginning of a trilogy, if there's going to be a trilogy."

The Rolling stone says that Modern Times is something different. It's less terrifying, less funny on first listen. But it has more command, more clarity. There is none of the digital murk of Time Out of Mind, and the snakebite live sound of Love and Theft has softened. This music is relaxed; it has nothing to prove. It is music of accumulated knowledge, it knows every move, anticipates every step before you take it.

I just heard couple of songs and as usual was lost in his haunting melodies.It has Dylan in a classic mode and as usual the songs will require repeated listening (like many other Dylan songs) before you finally get in the grove.

Mile Sur Mera Hamara

Wonderful Stuff...