<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161</id><updated>2012-02-15T23:25:27.313-08:00</updated><title type='text'>silences, chasms and me...</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>21</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-8043197329813155491</id><published>2011-03-17T11:04:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-03-18T06:55:51.996-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Black Hole</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Remember that feeling of uneasiness when you purposely try to avoid something that is always around? Remember, the last time when you were walking home late, and you had that uneasy feeling that someone was following you, but you just wont look back to check? That sinking feeling you have when you can neither accept nor change? I avoid looking at my pictures&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Its always been there. I remember getting scared of looking at it when I was young. Then, I don’t exactly remember when, the fear turned into a weird sensation of uneasiness and I began to avoid looking at it. I even remember sweating if my eyes fell on it…I felt my heart sink. It would scare me. So much so that would feel weird getting my pictures clicked, leave aside sharing pictures with family and friends. It was there, right there, in my face…but why couldn’t anyone else see that hole in my stomach?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;And now when I think of it, it makes complete sense. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;From a small black mark just about in the middle of my stomach, where some believe lies the energy of nature and some, the Zero, the unity, the completeness in the absence of everything; it grew as I grew old. As I grew in years and gained consciousness, I started feeling uncomfortable of it. On one hand I knew that no one else could see it, and on the other, I would make efforts to keep it covered all the time to hide it from the watching eyes. I carried it wherever I went. And then came a time, I began to hide it from myself. Every once in a while, I would deny its existence to myself. Then I would decide to check on it. It was right there…getting bigger by the day. Strangely, more I learned, bigger it became. It wouldn’t grow during happy vacations. Would gloat at an exponential rate at other times. Knowing about people killing people would make it bigger. Tears gave it more pace. By the time I got out of college, I could almost pass my arm through the hole and scratch my back!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;And just a few days back, I began to realize that there was more to it than I thought. Lying in my bed, I began fiddling with it. My finger smelled weird…a tingly fragrance of…err…freshness? Yes. And then, for the first time in years, I looked at it…without fear, without disgust, without doubt. And it was beautiful. It smelt of wet mud…it felt like ocean froth. And I knew it was inside me. The perfect world. Where there was no fear or darkness, no suffering or embarrassment. All this while I had failed to realize that everything that I wanted to do, everything I wanted to be…all the change, which I was looking for everywhere, was right here. Bright, glowing, beautiful, fresh.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 252px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585115792154163074" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uE7Rsjkchjo/TYJROMTF94I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/C89aQhmJXow/s400/passion.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;And today, as I walk out of the door, I don’t hide it under clothes of embarrassment. I walk naked to the eyes, shining with the infectious glow of the man who has realized that there is no joy or comfort outside of oneself. One can choose to be happy even if there is none around. One can choose not to suffer even when there is pain everywhere. And the change that one wants to see in the world begins from within…&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-8043197329813155491?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/8043197329813155491/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=8043197329813155491' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8043197329813155491'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8043197329813155491'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2011/03/black-hole.html' title='The Black Hole'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uE7Rsjkchjo/TYJROMTF94I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/C89aQhmJXow/s72-c/passion.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-4511117674124451013</id><published>2010-10-16T07:50:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-10-16T08:29:58.757-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The wicked, the ugly and the blasphemous</title><content type='html'>&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt;  &lt;w:worddocument&gt;   &lt;w:view&gt;Normal&lt;/w:View&gt;   &lt;w:zoom&gt;0&lt;/w:Zoom&gt;   &lt;w:punctuationkerning/&gt;   &lt;w:validateagainstschemas/&gt;   &lt;w:saveifxmlinvalid&gt;false&lt;/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid&gt;   &lt;w:ignoremixedcontent&gt;false&lt;/w:IgnoreMixedContent&gt;   &lt;w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext&gt;false&lt;/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText&gt;   &lt;w:compatibility&gt;    &lt;w:breakwrappedtables/&gt;    &lt;w:snaptogridincell/&gt;    &lt;w:wraptextwithpunct/&gt;    &lt;w:useasianbreakrules/&gt;    &lt;w:dontgrowautofit/&gt;   &lt;/w:Compatibility&gt;   &lt;w:browserlevel&gt;MicrosoftInternetExplorer4&lt;/w:BrowserLevel&gt;  &lt;/w:WordDocument&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt;  &lt;w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"&gt;  &lt;/w:LatentStyles&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 10]&gt; &lt;style&gt;  /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable  {mso-style-name:"Table Normal";  mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;  mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;  mso-style-noshow:yes;  mso-style-parent:"";  mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;  mso-para-margin:0in;  mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;  mso-pagination:widow-orphan;  font-size:10.0pt;  font-family:"Times New Roman";  mso-ansi-language:#0400;  mso-fareast-language:#0400;  mso-bidi-language:#0400;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The canine species has always had some celestial connection with me. A sort of a love hate relationship. A romantic parallel to the painful situation would be “can love but cant marry”. And before my dear readers (to the ones who are smirking “get in touch personally to have a real peace of my mind”) hugely misinterpret the above statement and start kicking my ass in various public forums, let me make it very clear that there is no hidden reference to the female species of any sort. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Let me be more elaborate. Thing have never kind of worked out well between me and my pets. Till the time they are ‘almost pets’, its great…you know, dwellers of the B-Mid of XIMB 2007-2009 would be able to better appreciate this greatness…with all the shoes / slippers, but mine, vanishing and being found in a horrible bundle of dog hair the next morning. But….and I emphasize BUT, the moment they graduate from being ‘almost pets’ to PETS, something somewhere snaps. All my pets run away. It happened twice and that’s when I decided not to tie the knot anymore.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So coming back to the topic of discussion here, the wicked, the ugly and the blasphemous are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"&gt;&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;The      Wicked One&lt;/u&gt;: KP, better understood as &lt;i style=""&gt;Kaala Pilla&lt;/i&gt;. One of my ‘almost pets’ this season. And man he      is wicked. He could also be called The Silent One and The ‘Son of a bitch’      One (well, technically, that would apply to all of them)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;The      Ugly One&lt;/u&gt;: BP, the &lt;i style=""&gt;Brown Pilla&lt;/i&gt;.      How ugly can life in any form be? Really? A few days back I found the      answer to that question when I saw this one. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;The      Blasphemous One&lt;/u&gt;: JP, &lt;i style=""&gt;Just Pilla&lt;/i&gt;.      How can a dog always be peeing on that holy picture on that sidewalk? Really?      How small a bladder does he really have?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;For the records KP, BP and JP are three little stray pups who happen to live on the street I live on. They also happen to not accept the fact that they are stray pups, and cannot be, rather should not be, extremely choosy about the brand of biscuits they eat.&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; Usual evenings see the three little ones being fed in front of my house. The sound of my door around that time of the day means KP and BP emerging from some hidden unknown corner of the world, and JP taking a small ‘food break’ from his leak. The food is never enough (don’t smirk at me…the world wont be enough if you came down to really feeding them), and sharing food is not exactly their forte. I usually make exceptions for BP and feed him more, as being the ugly one, he gets fed less often by the other dwellers of the street. JP is rough. He knows how to grab his grub and gobble it down before anyone can snatch it away. And KP, by the way, is one of the wicked dogs I have known. He looks sweet and hungry and ‘poor’…only when its dinner time. Otherwise he could also qualify as ‘The Mean One’ or ‘The Nasty One’. At meal times, unlike the other two fighting for food, he has his spot picked where he would sit, tilt his head and make the most adorable puppy dog faces in the history of puppy dog faces…and would get his meal served on a platter! &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; And this brings us to the day of ‘The Great Leak’. Instead of biscuits, I had bread for the three of them, and yes, there ware a few biscuits too. I gave them a crumb of bread each, which they sniffed, rejected, and demanded their usual biscuit feast. I flung another bread crumb, but they super sensitive noses told them that there were biscuits hidden somewhere. I pulled out the much sought after pack and threw a piece and the ruckus that followed was worth a watch. Even the wise ass KP couldn’t resist and entered a growl war with BP. And just when the situation could go out of hands, JP did something that I will never forget. He took a leak. On the biscuit. And the three of them quietly got back to their bread crumbs and stared chewing. Finished their grub and they were back to their usual business- KP and BP playing in mud, and JP to his favorite corner to pee some more. &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; And I stood there dumbfound. In the world where a bunch of retards broke down a mosque a decade or two back, and half of the population of a country has been fighting for the piece of land since then; in the world where after years of legal / theological discussions and tussles, a Supreme court decides to give a share to everyone just to make them happy, and the media still trying to tickle the two parties into another tussle… ‘the great leak’ of JP came as a whack in the faces of so many of us. &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/TLnDxxvAeZI/AAAAAAAAAGA/IkAaf60jeVA/s1600/Final.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 209px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/TLnDxxvAeZI/AAAAAAAAAGA/IkAaf60jeVA/s400/Final.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528665277505501586" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; And while the immaturity of the masses takes ages to decide if a temple of a mosque should be built in Ayodhya, or to which side of the border does the piece of land named Kashmir belongs to, my three little pups did the right thing and moved on!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-4511117674124451013?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/4511117674124451013/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=4511117674124451013' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/4511117674124451013'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/4511117674124451013'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2010/10/wicked-ugly-and-blasphemous.html' title='The wicked, the ugly and the blasphemous'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/TLnDxxvAeZI/AAAAAAAAAGA/IkAaf60jeVA/s72-c/Final.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-3425189984989405196</id><published>2009-09-18T00:50:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-18T01:03:26.083-07:00</updated><title type='text'>For old times sake... ;)</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Something I wrote about an year back during the B-school days...hence some references which not everyone would understand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;_____________________________________________&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;My head is spinning&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Did they actually low down the music? Or is it just me?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;“dude, party over or what?”. “…………..”. “dude???”. “………………..”. no point&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;As I walk back to my room, my thoughts wander to those early days here – the first day (that’s another story…), the first class, the first set of friends, the first JLT... “Crap no, stop dreaming. There is an assignment due for tomorrow, and classes from 9 to 9, and the term project due for the day after, and this quiz thing”…but that’s ok. I ll take them one by one.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So, where was I…yes, the first class! (no, am not going to talk about the first day…come on, I am not suicidal, am I?). I was pretty excited…will sound a little weird to all those tortured ones who know me more, but yes, I was excited. God like profs, strange sounding subjects, and weird looking books…how is a lesser English Grad expected to react to this? Questions like - “How will I manage?”, “What will I do in the class where most would ponder…and I would wonder?” would haunt me. Come on, don’t blame me…they all said b-schools are hell. And what did this lesser mortal do in the first class? Lol…he slept…shamelessly…partly because of the sleepless nights which the seniors passed on to us as traditions, and partly because I had no clue about half of the things the Prof chose to assume that people know! Ahh, what a beginning! But no, Let me be more specific.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Ok, Quantitative methods 1, better known as QM1 here in XIM. Probabilities and graphs and curves (not “those” curves) and equations and what not. The guy lived math: ate, drank, and breathed…everything with math! I sometime wonder if he does a beta test every time before visiting the washroom…to decide to do or not to do! I mean, come on prof, how on earth would I know everything you think I do? You are a member of ISI (the statistics one…and not the other one!), not me. But that’s ok…when more than half of the batch gets a zero in an announced open book quiz, I realize its time to move on!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;MC…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;…ahem&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;There are things that you can help…and there are things you cant. Managerial computing falls in the second classification. The guy is god…seriously. In an MC class, things don’t matter…rather they shouldn’t matter. In an argument, he is always right (you know what I mean yeah?). Just a couple of sessions in the course, he’ll make you realize a couple of things:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 39.0pt"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list:Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="font:7.0pt &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;He knows technology better than anyone you have ever come across&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 39.0pt"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list:Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="font:7.0pt &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;He knows accounting and finance better than anyone you have ever come across&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 39.0pt"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list:Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="font:7.0pt &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;He is more intelligent than anyone you have ever come across&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 39.0pt"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list:Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="font:7.0pt &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;You are the biggest idiot to have ever walked on the surface of this planet!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;That’s it…no more about MC. Request to the person being discussed here (if accidentally he comes to read this): &lt;span style="font-family: Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;mso-hansi-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-char-type: symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;J&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; every thing said upstairs has been said (oops…written) in good humour. So…you know what I mean!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;EA 1 and 2: How I wonder if one could average out the energy levels of the two profs in focus here, life would be so much easier for the poor ones who have to sit through those classes. One, all too soft and quiet and ‘lullaby’cally melodious that, not that you don’t want, but you just cant stay awake! The second one…boom. The guy is like the whole economics department of Jadavpur university all pumped up and hell bent on shoving the entire macro-economics down your throat. Even if you are half dead with sleeplessness, he will keep you awake…but he is good. Perhaps one of the most sincere and committed people I have ever known. And btw, his was one subject I really studied.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Question: If a person goes to a television shop and points towards a television set and agrees to buy one of that model, makes the payment there and asks for the set to be delivered to his residential address, and while a third party logistics guy is delivering it to the above mentioned place, he drops the set bang on the door of the house of the buyer, in front of the buyer…who pays for the set?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Answer: @$%&amp;amp;&amp;amp;^&amp;amp;#@&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Question: if a person “MS” ( &lt;span style="font-family:Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;mso-hansi-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-char-type: symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;J&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; ) opens a “chana shop” ( &lt;span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-hansi-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;J&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; ) in front of the XIMB campus and his assistant sells his “chana” to X without his knowledge at a price lower than the actual price, is the transaction still valid?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Answer: Sir, please……….&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Question: X contracts to sell one share of MEL to Y on 01.01.08 for Rs.400. On that date, the market price of the share settled at Rs.375. Y refuses to take delivery…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And life goes on…the second person to make me realize that I actually am the biggest idiot to have ever walked on the surface of this planet! That was Business Law (for the record)&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;There is a lot more…but I think I should stop. But one course that deserves a mention here is FMGD (Firms, Markets and Global Dynamics). The guy is a saint. Yes, given all the theatrics and the monkey business that he does in the class…he is a saint. Haven’t met a person like him ever before, and don’t think will ever meet. I will not be surprised if a few years down the line he gets a Nobel or something! Ever thought one could predict the future of the world (economically, politically et al)? Ever wondered if even Adam Smith missed out on something very basic while propounding his theories? &lt;span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;mso-hansi-font-family:&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;mso-char-type:symbol; mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;"&gt;J&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Yes!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And I also realize that while writing this last paragraph, I have been extra careful about not making any grammatical mistakes. Come on, the man deserves it!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Yawn…sitting near my window, I see the sun slowly rising. The music is still on (so the party is still on I guess). My head is still spinning. I ll talk about the first set of friends and the first JLT (hehe, I know there are some people who would love to hear my account of the first JLT!) sometime later…have a few things to take care of. Have an assignment due at 9 (that’s like 4 hours from now), term project due tomorrow (hmm…I ll look into that later) and the quiz! I think I’ll go have a cup of tea and then start from somewhere.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And yes…completely forgot…I need to sleep too…for a while. Its been three days!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-3425189984989405196?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/3425189984989405196/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=3425189984989405196' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/3425189984989405196'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/3425189984989405196'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2009/09/for-old-times-sake.html' title='For old times sake... ;)'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-6642603752202611740</id><published>2009-09-10T09:22:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-10T09:34:16.326-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Little did I know</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SqkqIw7mcZI/AAAAAAAAAFs/lmx97J4UXCU/s1600-h/near-death-experience-1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SqkqIw7mcZI/AAAAAAAAAFs/lmx97J4UXCU/s400/near-death-experience-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379877559932973458" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Chimes and chants, and robes and pyres&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Prayers and sermons, and incenses and fires&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;All my stay at the halfway house&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I spent being a ‘pious’ man&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Sat alone&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;In my corner&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;With the ‘book’&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And looked down upon those who sat with a different book&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;But little did I know…&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Running and running, and running and running&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Giving and taking, and I thought I understood it all&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The trick&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The game&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And they all called me successful&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The stuff of the house, I sold to the visitors&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;They never asked and I never had to answer&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;If the stuff was even mine&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;But little did I know…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Grumbling and grumbling, and passing whines&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I divided the house and drew all lines&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Sitting in my corner all the while&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I fought and fought&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And wont let anyone in&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Stamped their feet with the hammer&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Punched their noses&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Drew blood&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Both theirs and mine&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I did my duty&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;But little did I know…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Little did I know…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;That all this while when I have been busy gathering some imaginary currency (note: currency is not necessarily money…but any stock or bunch which one thinks will be of value when one leaves the halfway house), I missed on everything that the place really had to offer. There were trees in some rooms and some rooms had mountains. Some had rivers and some had fountains. There were colours and flavours and tastes and sensations…all of which I forgot! I had roses in my corner of the room, which i just ended up protecting from everyone…neither did I enjoy the fragrance myself, nor did I let anyone else do it! While singing my prayers (given to me by an earlier visitor), I often forgot to help my neighbor (sometimes chose to ignore his cries just because he sang a different prayer). &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Little did I know…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;That there was enough for everyone in the halfway house&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;that there are no rewards in the morning when one leaves from here&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;this place was made for me (and everyone) to enjoy&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;...and that the place itself is the beginning and the end!!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-6642603752202611740?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/6642603752202611740/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=6642603752202611740' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/6642603752202611740'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/6642603752202611740'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2009/09/little-did-i-know.html' title='Little did I know'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SqkqIw7mcZI/AAAAAAAAAFs/lmx97J4UXCU/s72-c/near-death-experience-1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-5890403370411639058</id><published>2009-07-28T07:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-28T07:42:29.814-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Patliputra Chronicles (Part-1)</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;10 things you cant miss when you are in Bihar&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;People spit. A lot. Sometimes you feel the place wont require monsoons to get flooded.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Public transport is perhaps the best in the world. A good part of the population lives on bicycles. Auto-rickshaws work in lieu of the busses…and are usually always as crowded too. Indian Railways provides personalized services here. Every coach in the train has a lever (emergency brakes) which the people are supposed to pull to stop the train wherever they want to get down...at least they think its meant for that!!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The universal “road rights” (the ones that say that the pedestrians have more right on the road than a guy on a bike, who in turn has a more right than the one driving a truck) do not apply. Auto-rickshaws are the kings of this jungle and sit right at the apex of this food chain!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Shops don’t sell eggs and bread after 10 in the morning. On a more personal note, do not go out asking for eggs or bread at any store after 10 AM…there is a good possibility that everyone around you would seem shocked at the sacrilege that you have committed. You might also get giggled at!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Remember that FEVICOL advertisement which shows a bus fully loaded with people?...yeah, exactly.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Apart from a few big towns in the state (few), people everywhere like to do things sitting by the roads- eating, drinking, pissing, shitting, smoking, bathing, even something that seems like random sun bathing! This road can be any kind of road- a local lane by the house, a proper road, a state or a national highway. Thankfully, the runaways on the airport are protected (apart from the airport in this place called “Bhagalpur”). Interestingly, folks also seem to be quite fond of using the national highways for another very very important economic activity…drying corn! (They almost end up using half of the driving area of the highway…traffic can obviously wait)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;People are hardworking. Very hardworking. Sometime back there was a problem with the water supply in one of the residential buildings here in Patna. One would imagine a havoc to occur…but it didn’t. for weeks people started walking down to the ground floor (some from the 7&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; floor) every morning to get drinking water (I don’t know what they did for water for other “necessities”). Very hardworking…just that nobody suggested (or even thought) of getting the water supplied corrected.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;You are not supposed to crib if you get power supply for more than 12 hours in a day. An AC room in a hotel usually means about 3-4 hours of guaranteed air conditioning at night.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;You have a right to remain silent. Anything said to anyone in public can be used as evidence against you in a “well audienced” fist-fight!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Only rice is understood as proper food. Everything else is breakfast/snacks.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-5890403370411639058?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/5890403370411639058/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=5890403370411639058' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/5890403370411639058'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/5890403370411639058'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2009/07/patliputra-chronicles-part-1.html' title='The Patliputra Chronicles (Part-1)'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-8855721261035399840</id><published>2009-07-24T02:22:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-24T02:30:51.822-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Sharp-shooters...?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Sml-4CS_eII/AAAAAAAAAFc/DB8qF8EQxag/s1600-h/ist2_2697455-dead-twitter-bird-flu-victim.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Sml-4CS_eII/AAAAAAAAAFc/DB8qF8EQxag/s320/ist2_2697455-dead-twitter-bird-flu-victim.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361956332515588226" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Long time, indeed. No muse knocked on the doors of my consciousness to drag me out of my slumber to pen another one of those notes I used to till about a year or two ago. But finally it did come knocking, and when it did, it did so with a thunder. Ever wondered how many co-incidences happen all the time in the world around us? On second thoughts, its funny how everything that happens happens not because it is intentionally made to happen, but certain other happening that happen to happen unconsciously make it happen…lets put it simply. Had that man (perhaps in his 50s) not stopped to check his pockets while walking to his car, realizing that he had forgotten his vehicle keys in the house, gone back and returned talking on the phone, lazily strolling towards the thing all engrossed in the talk, perhaps he would have escaped, by a few seconds, the bird shitting on him right in the middle of his head. Coincidence isn’t it? Its not over yet. The bird wasn’t really stationed where he had to be to aim on the man’s head…the poor thing was chewing on something in his little corner when, just before the man was to reach the auspicious point, another one of its clan flew it off hoping to grab the grub. It fluttered its wings and moved to where he was meant to be. Everything fell in its right place for the bird to shoot right at the moment when the man strolled by. Boom!!! Thunder followed when the man chose to ignore that the bird, even if it tried, wouldn’t understand the abuses it was being honored with.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;The simple incident took me a few months back. Ah, indeed there is fate. And indeed there is destiny. Was it the man’s fate to be bird-shitted upon this morning? Was it bound to happen? Was it already written somewhere out there? Or was it just an interaction of variables, unrelated but interactive? How free is a man from what he is destined to be? Does he choose? Can he choose? Is this choice real? Does this choice make any difference in what happens later? How much, if at all it does? Did that second bird jump on our shooter bird because he had to, for the man’s destiny to happen? Or did the sky pour shit on the man’s head because the bird was attacked? Did he forget the keys, and then got that phone call because only then what was destined to happen could happen? Or did he just forget it, independent of the birds fighting in the air, independent of destiny…he just did!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Yes, if there is one thing that is not as deceptive as the rest, it is the coincidences! Its amazing how easily I have been priding myself of all sorts of things, without realizing that it wouldn’t have been on the man’s head if the birds weren’t fighting!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;If the shit fell spot in the middle of the man’s head, does it make the bird a sharp shooter? I feel humbled…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-8855721261035399840?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/8855721261035399840/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=8855721261035399840' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8855721261035399840'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8855721261035399840'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2009/07/sharp-shooters.html' title='The Sharp-shooters...?'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Sml-4CS_eII/AAAAAAAAAFc/DB8qF8EQxag/s72-c/ist2_2697455-dead-twitter-bird-flu-victim.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-2149461108363266950</id><published>2007-09-16T13:39:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-09-16T14:00:00.557-07:00</updated><title type='text'>...some random crap</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Ru2Y24SFYCI/AAAAAAAAAC4/D9t_WTjALFY/s1600-h/600silenceistheanswer.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5110909220723974178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Ru2Y24SFYCI/AAAAAAAAAC4/D9t_WTjALFY/s320/600silenceistheanswer.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I feel numb. Numb…now when I speak this word, I realize that it refers to something completely different from what I always thought it did. Things always made me believe that it means blankness, a state of void where nothing exists. Perhaps what one experiences with a few kilos of weed running in his blood. Or something when one succeeds (or fails?) in detaching himself from any pain…the state primarily caused by a state of extreme happiness or the lack of it. Today when I say this word…I realize how wrong I was…no, correction, I don’t realize…I just think I realize. If what I thought sums up the meaning of numbness actually sums it up…then it can mean anything but numbness. If I can define it, if I can feel it…then perhaps I am anything but numb. Numbness is when I stop feeling…even stop feeling numb. When you walk out of the funeral of a loved one and don’t even feel or realize that during the entire cremation ceremony, not for a moment you realized what the death of that loved one means. Its when all that you can think of is that you wont get to talk to that person ever again. That’s it. No pain. Just a weird silence of senselessness that one not very often finds oneself in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the midst of the wormhole of emotions, one suddenly realizes that he doesn’t know what these emotions are.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-2149461108363266950?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/2149461108363266950/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=2149461108363266950' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/2149461108363266950'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/2149461108363266950'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-random-crap.html' title='...some random crap'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp3.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Ru2Y24SFYCI/AAAAAAAAAC4/D9t_WTjALFY/s72-c/600silenceistheanswer.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-4959523035675651648</id><published>2007-06-17T12:38:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-06-17T12:44:05.646-07:00</updated><title type='text'>I dont care if it doesn't rain</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/RnWOkX9HOdI/AAAAAAAAACo/xnei-x5CGJs/s1600-h/Silence.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/RnWOkX9HOdI/AAAAAAAAACo/xnei-x5CGJs/s320/Silence.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077120910486878674" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;A drop of sweat trickles down my forehead to my brow bordering the whiskers of my eyes, like a thirsty rattle-snake treading through the sands of the Thar. The weather forecasts last night were not encouraging. I think its touching 47 degrees outside. Am lying flat on my bed waiting for a whiff of air to brush my sweating forearms and face. I have been waiting for quite some time now. This silence…this blanket of stillness…there is a strange numbness that seems to have fallen upon everything around…not like the dewdrops of a white winter morning that fall on the sleeping surface of sleeping leaves rustling softly in the chill of the fog, but like a thick soot that falls from the chimney of the square-rectangle-edged factory, on the faces of the silent laborers, who, darkened with the tar, stare aimlessly into the grey oblivion of the stationary chasms of time. In the metal of the stationary fan above me, I see the reflection of the Da Vinci’s man, limbs all stretched, pinned to the bed like a ravished butterfly, staring drowsily at its reflection in the metal of the fan above it. Quiet. My room smells of rotten time. My armpits smell of rotten onions. I am sweating. Had it been some other day, I would have been restlessly trying to ease myself, but strangely enough…I am still. I can feel my eyelashes soaking in sweat, but I do not move to clean them dry. There is something inside my head that stops me. The thought of you. I hear a hazy whistling sound in the background which doesn’t seem to die. But I am not feeling uncomfortable…because, perhaps, today I am learning one of the most important lessons of my life. Just a few days before my life is to enter a new phase, I am learning to do something that I have never been able to do my entire life. &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I am learning to let things go.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Nothing seems to pain me any longer.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;PS: I don’t care if it doesn’t rain even today.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-4959523035675651648?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/4959523035675651648/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=4959523035675651648' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/4959523035675651648'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/4959523035675651648'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-dont-care-if-it-doesnt-rain.html' title='I dont care if it doesn&apos;t rain'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp3.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/RnWOkX9HOdI/AAAAAAAAACo/xnei-x5CGJs/s72-c/Silence.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-2915714126670132650</id><published>2007-05-19T14:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-05-20T12:40:34.422-07:00</updated><title type='text'>A Tribute to Him</title><content type='html'>Its raining outside. I know, not just because of the sound sight smell of it…I know it because I have just come in. Some 15 minutes back when it started to rain, I said adieu to my books, got out of the bed, wore my slippers, removed them (???)…and went out! For the first time in the last 10 hours, I could appreciate the weather…and not curse the electricity board (for the abundant power supply to the city already enjoying the hearty shower of the blessings by our very own sun god (pun intended (for the lame ones who dint get the joke))), lousy fan companies (for making fans lousy enough to silently retire during a 41 degree C afternoon, leaving some miserly souls to thunder-wonder at their sudden un-heroic departure), mosquitoes for biting in all the wrong places (you know what I mean) and myself for missing the aims while trying to squash them with a slap (and hitting myself in those very wrong places). Keeping my hands on the rail, I stretched my neck out and let the drops fall on my face (and then I also remembered to remove my glasses). I felt a different sensation run through me. I smelled a different fragrance fill my nose. And when I opened my eyes, I saw different colours! “But rains supposed to be just colourless water, isn’t it?” I thought. To see if it was really colours pouring down in that midnight shower, I asked my right hand to go under the shower, and I asked my eyes to follow carefully to detect the first tint of colour to fall on my hand…it did (the hand)…and they did (the eyes). It was actually colours pouring from the heavens!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I stood there in sheer amazement for about 5 minutes…looking at my hands get motleyed and rainbowed in the most beautiful and the transparent of the colours, and then decided to get back. While returning, I noticed the weird yet-unwitnessed freshness that that plant had taken up…or did the rain do it? (I suddenly also noticed that I had been smiling this while). Returned to me bed, got up, walked up to the mirror…bitch that I am, I still wanted to check if colours really poured. And what I saw was more astonishing that the rain itself. One look at the person in the mirror told me that the plant alone hadn’t taken up that weird freshness…the rain had done something to me as well. I saw a radiance in the being in front of me…I had never been so happy to see myself ever; weird, isn’t it?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now, sitting straight in my bed, I think of equally weird things. First, my feet would not leave the ground; remember, I removed my slippers before going out?; even now that I am in my bed, my feet are firmly stationed on the wet marbles, spreading the colours of the magic rain in all sorts of places in the room. Why???&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don’t know!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Secondly, why do I feel these colours have been following me since evening? Not that I am sad about or anything…but just that, you know, its kind of unusual if everything around becomes so colourful and charismatic! Does “he” have anything to do with it?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don’t know!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Maybe he does. I think it all happened after I met him this evening. Ok, let me not indulge any more in these cheap thrills of suspense and tell you that this “he” is my 30 months old cousin. As I entered his house today (cribbing and cursing the electricity board, lousy fans, mosquitoes, myself), I realized that my cousin was fast asleep (for a change)…but not for long. “He doesn’t sleep” aunt said. I knew. But today it stuck me. There was this 30 months old boy who doesn’t sleep, doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t sit, definitely doesn’t walk, maybe sees, maybe hears, seems to understand when his mother scolds him (seems to)…just lies there aimlessly all day staring at something in the empty space. “The doctor suggests that we should relieve the child of this life”, aunt said and started weeping. “What life would he have even if he survives…”; “guruji said he would live for 55 years…but doing what? Lying there all these 55 years, possibly not even aware of the fact that what he is experiencing is a magic called life!” I closed my eyes…and felt a strange numbness drown me. And next when I opened my eyes, I saw these colours! I think he did something…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, he did. In an instant he told me how blessed I am. I realized what I have…I have a life. I realized that when I say that life has been harsh with me…I am so wrong; because, apart from life, there is something that I have…a penchant for life…a passion that helps me survive whatever shit comes my way…the bug of optimism that helps me see good in everything and helps me glide through highs and lows of whatever life makes me see. I have something that not many people have…and surely my cousin doesn’t. I opened my eyes and saw colours!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now…sitting straight in my bed with my feet still smuggling colours in the corners of my room, staring at my incensed radiated coloured palms, I want to believe that there is somewhere a god out there. I want to believe in His presence…But faith is not something that one can close his nose and gulp down like a foul-tasting medicine. But I want to believe...because I know, if there is anything like a god somewhere, he loves me. He does...more than he has ever loved anyone else...&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-2915714126670132650?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/2915714126670132650/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=2915714126670132650' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/2915714126670132650'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/2915714126670132650'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2007/05/tribute-to-him.html' title='A Tribute to Him'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-8678416597731739757</id><published>2007-04-23T07:09:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-23T07:25:54.849-07:00</updated><title type='text'>I know the taste of water...</title><content type='html'>Sometimes I wonder if I am really mad. Mad to see the world the way I do…mad to do the stuff that I do…mad to think so much, to peep into the sparrows nest on my rooftop, and then smile to myself on seeing the feather family celebrating the new rays of sunlight of the new day…mad to stand like an idiot in the middle of a rain showered road, to let my nostrils fill with the aroma of the thirst of the dry heat suddenly satiated by the innocent droplets of water…mad to be what I am…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My common sense tells me that I might just actually be one…because you always say so. But I wonder if it would be so different being “you” and not “me”. Do you also feel your thoughts wandering into the tranquil zones of desire when you see birds flock near that temple, and fly in symmetry upon the slightest of the whispers to disturb the silence of their silent world…do you also feel your hands tremble with excitement on witnessing a lost ant meander here and there, and finally reunite with her kingdom, just to be lost in the crowd the very next moment…do you find yourself smiling when that pigeon shits on your vehicle every morning…do you feel all this? Or am I really mad?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/RizBXfBTJ_I/AAAAAAAAACA/ACAaHo3ODDE/s1600-h/9710-madpoet.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056629090838325234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/RizBXfBTJ_I/AAAAAAAAACA/ACAaHo3ODDE/s320/9710-madpoet.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;You told me today that you don’t dream like me…but I don’t dream either!!! Trust me…I don’t. I don’t think of the mountains when I see the sun rising from beyond the horizon…I don’t dream of the hills when I see it go down. I don’t dream of heavens when I feel the raindrops on my eye lids…trust me, I don’t. All I do is feel…taste…see…sense…be. But is it really so different being “you” and not “me”? I want to know…to know how it feels to be you. What do you feel when the hushed evenings greet you with a bitter cup of coffee and suddenly you realize that there is more to life than just office and work…what do you feel when you take the first sip of that coffee, close you eyes, and drown into that couch like a kitten does in the comforting haven of its mother. How does wind feel like in your nostrils? How does that music feel like in your ears? How do the cold window panes feel like on your fingertips? How does it feel to be you…?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know the taste of water…but I don’t know what it tastes like to you…&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-8678416597731739757?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/8678416597731739757/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=8678416597731739757' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8678416597731739757'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8678416597731739757'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2007/04/i-know-taste-of-water.html' title='I know the taste of water...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/RizBXfBTJ_I/AAAAAAAAACA/ACAaHo3ODDE/s72-c/9710-madpoet.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-8430839708703561417</id><published>2007-02-18T12:21:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-02-18T12:34:46.907-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The day gone by...</title><content type='html'>Mirror Mirror…show me the day again…the day the world on this side of your surface showed me today. That walk down the river with the first of the birds picking on the first of the fishes…with the crystal droplets of water made priceless by the first of the sunrays falling on their innocent faces…with the early morning breeze, just awakened by the “new day” call, filling in my nostrils…with the holy chants from the temple down the holy stream. Mirror Mirror, show me the day and let me live it again&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Rdi2j_tRBeI/AAAAAAAAAAM/wSlu6RhLGKs/s1600-h/water-y0lr.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032973313099498978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 249px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 183px" height="159" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Rdi2j_tRBeI/AAAAAAAAAAM/wSlu6RhLGKs/s200/water-y0lr.jpg" width="221" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Show me the innocent untamed road through the woods again…show me the rusty metal of that unknown bridge again…those leafless trees, those treeless leaves…those voiceless lives, those lifeless voices…show me the day and let me live it again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can still hear the voices of the dry leaves rustling under my steps…of the wind whispering near my ears…of the crammed greetings of the jungle birds, which made me feel a part of it all…show it me to again…and let me live.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Have I been sleeping all this while…and am still sleeping too, dreaming all the cherished memories that I have from the day just passed by? Or was it all one of the sleepless dreams that are seen not from the mind, but from something about 12 inches below it? Was it the immortal manifestation of my desires that pulled me, though ephemerally, out of the angular world…or was it really a day, like any other? Whatever it was…show me, and let me live it again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, I see it now…this wooden door behind me that I see in you is the one that opened it all to me today…the pebbles outside, kicking a few of which I took my first step towards the “worldless world”, like the first steps that a child takes…and starts walking…walking into the horizons of the unknown, the beautiful, the mysterious. The smoke rising from the distant village, escaping the fingers of the vociferous branches, and getting lost in the silent skies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But I know these are mere images that you show me. What is real to me is just an illusion to you…what is real to you is just an illusion to me.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-8430839708703561417?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/8430839708703561417/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=8430839708703561417' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8430839708703561417'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/8430839708703561417'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2007/02/mirror-mirrorshow-me-day-againthe-day.html' title='The day gone by...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/Rdi2j_tRBeI/AAAAAAAAAAM/wSlu6RhLGKs/s72-c/water-y0lr.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-116224261857966922</id><published>2006-10-30T12:20:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-10-30T13:10:19.200-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Religion, spirituality and some thoughts…</title><content type='html'>Driving my way home in the evening, suddenly a thought stuck me…oh, its diwali!! I should have been home by now…I saw the light turning red and decided that if anybody called up from home, I would tell them that I am almost there and would take only 5 more minutes. The halt was a petrifying one…but different too, from the sensations that it usually arose when I experienced it every now and then. Sometimes my senses become too acute to anything noticeable (to sometimes unnoticeable things too) that it becomes difficult to contain the thoughts then…they run like wild boars…pretty unconcerned to what comes their way! The countdown…7, 6..3..1…the green light, and here goes a cracker right in the middle of the crossing “boooom”. The sound was baffling…rather scary.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The sounds are something that have always attracted me. The hymns, the chants…the music…but crackers?? Can it be possible that all the people who are lighting these fireworks, actually like the sound of it? Or is it the vision, the brightness…the illumination that makes them fire these “dummy bombs” and enjoy. Or is it nothing more than “who spends more” philosophy? But sure it cant be the sound.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The road seemed quite different. “I have been using this road almost everyday for more than an year now…is it that if somebody blinds me…brings me to this road…and gives me back my vision…will I be able to make out where am I? Would I know that I am on this road?”. I looked around at the trees and other accessories displayed on the banks and thought…”off course!!”. “But is it not that…I know where am I right now…so I think that I ll know even then”. I looked at the trees and the accessories again…trying to forget that I know where I was…trying to unlearn the relationship with the space…and suddenly it all changed; the road that I had been cruising twice everyday (atleast) since time immemorial seemed all new and distant. But how could that be possible?? How can I possibly not relate to the space?? How come I had to think at every turn “to turn or not to turn”, when usually the “familiar” road itself drives me home?? I said “Focus on the road…take lessons in life…you don’t want “it” to get repeated, do you?”. The very thought of the series of incidents that had happened an hour ago sent chills down my spine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I reached home…with tones of thoughts beating my head like a drum…I barely remember how I parked the car, if I had taken out the keys before locking…what exactly was the time when I reached...et al. All I remember is the “pundit” with John Abraham hair and white attire from tip to tow reading out chants to my parents. He was quite amused to see me…guess mom had already done the fieldwork! But the first thing that really attracted me was the sound…of the whole ritual. I sat next to the white man and tried to participate in the performance. Yes, I call it performance…not in a derogatory sense, but because performance is a part of the ritual. How important are sounds in Hinduism! How much importance does this religion give to the effect that “good” or “bad” sounds can have on a human. I remembered the days when in school we were to pray to Jesus and thank him for all that he had done for us. But those prayers were like…so unlike these sing-song chanting that this holy guy was doing in front of us…they were more like interacting with somebody in our day to day language…I also remembered how, despite being the black sheep in a highly religious and pious family, I had always been attracted by the mere sounds of the “shlokas” and “mantras” that were sung during the “havans” and the “yagyas” that happened every once in a while in the world around me. “To listen…”, the pundit suddenly said, “is of supreme importance in this universe. Good listening helps one succeed in any and every run of life. The holy sensation that listening is…even if someone hears the Sundar Kaand everyday, unintentionally without understanding it, he would be blessed because the sound it self has the power to grant wisdom.” Sounds…interestingly enough, it jelled in so well with the “questions cauldron” that my mind was at that moment. I didn’t notice much that happened after that…though I still remember the sensations that those sounds ignited in me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The priest, once through with the whole affair, starting interacting more pomplessly now. I remember him asking me “why don’t you speak much??”…I was startled, as if woken up from a dream. I said “yeah, I do sometimes” and I could see the amusement on his face on hearing my voice for the first time in the evening. Sounds…its indeed important to listen. Had “he” listened, “it” wouldn’t have happened. If he had just listened to the car honking, perhaps he wouldn’t have had that accident!! If the driver of the vehicle would have listened to his cry…perhaps he would have stopped to see whom he had run over!! If the other people on the road would have listened to his groans…perhaps they would have stopped by to see if anything could be done to save him!! And what if even I, like others, wouldn’t have listened to hi pain…perhaps I wouldn’t have taken him to the hospital then!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What if this priest could listen…listen to the hard truths and realize that there is more in life than just reading scriptures and worshipping gods all day long...he would surely know that religion is wonderfully scientific, and nothing super-natural!! What if my parents would listen…listen and realize that at that moment, to save “his” life was more important than to keep myself away from any police case that I might end up getting into…I would have shared with them what happened that evening!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;High on grass…or high on life??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;PS: Happy Diwali!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-116224261857966922?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/116224261857966922/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=116224261857966922' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/116224261857966922'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/116224261857966922'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/10/religion-spirituality-and-some.html' title='Religion, spirituality and some thoughts…'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-115683468620239670</id><published>2006-08-28T23:51:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-08-28T23:58:06.213-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Kingdom of the Night</title><content type='html'>Bonjour Tristesse!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Had been hibernating for a while…out of work, out of relations…out of life. I had thought I would never live again…but here I am, up and kicking…again!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/aac.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/aac.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Lots of things have happened…lots of things have changed…old cracks opened…old wounds come alive! Its been a month of agony, loneliness, madness…a few semi-suicides. But the sun is here again…I looked out of my window this morning and there were a dog or two, ruling the empty amphitheatre of the meandering roads…a bird or two, stretching their feathers out of the dark blanket of the night, pulling up socks for a new day…a man or two, too engrossed in their early morning labor, half asleep, walking like zombies, with a cigarette or two between their teeth. In a few hours, life would take over…the meandering roads would become a choking market place; the beautiful kingdom of the night would end!! But just then, somewhere, in some other part of the world…the birds would again stretch…the dogs would rule (not sure if stray dogs are the same in other countries as they are here in India)…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How different I feel today…wont call it good. Ya…Peace…its been so long since my last rendezvous with the sensation that it seems completely alien now!! Got up early today (if that 15 mins nap can be called a sleep), exercised (one artificial way to be happy), a quick shower…a wheelie onto the grub table, and off I go!! Called up a few old friends while zooming through the roads…man, their expressions of surprise told me how long it had been since we last talked!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know there are things I am into which I shouldn’t be…I know the old chasms are not the life that I always wanted…but the…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;…I ve gotta to live!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But…I have realized…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;…that I am stronger than I thought I am!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-115683468620239670?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/115683468620239670/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=115683468620239670' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/115683468620239670'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/115683468620239670'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/08/kingdom-of-night.html' title='The Kingdom of the Night'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-115302853449952730</id><published>2006-07-15T22:36:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-07-20T23:04:33.333-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Rhythm of Pain</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/ren-goku-the-tower-of-purgatory-20041014074029470.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/ren-goku-the-tower-of-purgatory-20041014074029470.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;This river flows besides me&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;This bridge across the river… which I see beyond the horizon&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;the bridge I want to cross… wish I could cross it&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;The sun shines right in front of me… I wish I could turn my back to it&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;but this hole in my chest…&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;… and the bullet inside it&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;Like pain, death follows a cycle. The Death Cycle. Somewhat similar to the water cycle that we studied in school. Water evaporates. Gasses rise. Then clouds become. Condensation. And the free flow of the power of nature. Pain does the same to you. I ll refer to pain as death hereafter because:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;1.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;I don’t see much difference between the metabolism behind the two.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;2.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;after a certain intensity, both give the same sensations.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;Death makes a droplet out of you and makes you a part of this whole gas-water-gas-water-gas never ending vicious cycle of concurrent loss and gain of ideological and physiological structures. One moment I feel an intense energy inside me. I feel like a pressure cooker. Like the whistle on the pressure cooker which functions to remove the extra pressure from the apparatus so as to keep it going, I feel my fingers performing the same task for me…letting out some bits and pieces of that pressure, the minimum amount which needs to be released to keep me going straight into the second round. They (my fingers) shiver with the outflow of pressure. The intensity makes them pain…but who cares, there are more important things to be worried about. Then my nails get active. They move towards my other body parts, very subtly, not letting me know what they are up to. The pressure releases. I hear the whistle…and I see blood. The whistle did its job. The blood (or the pressure) has been let out. My ears go numb and my bloody nails come to rest. The evaporation has happened. I feel the weight going away. I feel less heavy. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;But its worse.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;Because when the whistle is still, you don’t know what’s happening or perhaps what is about to happen. All you know is that something is cooking inside. When the clouds are up high in the sky, you don’t know what’s happening inside them. But the cloud knows. Perhaps. The pressure cooker knows. Perhaps. Or at least it can feel what is happening inside. I feel the turmoil dieing. But the thought of it is there to remain. Here comes the pain…stage 1 to stage 2 is basically a shift from the physical to the metaphysical. Death has various avenues to explore. It was the body and the bloody nails in the first case. It’s the ability to think and the ideological backbone of the whole existence that are the front this time. Stillness takes over. The dark power of silence takes over. I feel that I am completely in my senses, the next moment I realize that I was not in my senses the very last moment…only to realize the very next moment that even in that moment of realization, I was not in my senses. The house of cards falls over and over again. I sit still there. I want to destroy. I want to act. I want to put my bloody fingernails to work again… and destroy anything and everything within arms reach. But I cant…the hands wont move. They wont move because perhaps I want them to move, but I am not being able to move them. The brain is not sending signals to the hand…it has better things to do. And the worst part is that I know all this is happening. Water again. The pressure cooker is again picking pace. The clouds are getting dark and heavy. Its time to empty the cooker and consume the preparation…and get over with it. End. Or a new beginning? Remember, its not an act. It’s a cycle…The Death Cycle. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;You’ve got to die over and over again.&lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;The river keeps flowing.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;The bridge I cant cross.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:14;"&gt;This hole in my chest and the bullet inside it…&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-115302853449952730?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/115302853449952730/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=115302853449952730' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/115302853449952730'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/115302853449952730'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/07/rhythm-of-pain.html' title='The Rhythm of Pain'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114979571265844234</id><published>2006-06-08T12:38:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-06-08T12:57:40.646-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Thou still unravished queen of silence...</title><content type='html'>It’s not always good to think.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sitting here alone in this room at the writing desk, with a huge mirror in front of me, I look into my eyes and find a question shyly peeping out. Don’t ask what it is… you’ll know it soon. This mirror seems like a painting… starting with a half filled glass of water from the left hand bottom, dark wooden floor, a crampy bed, a night lamp just bright enough to fill the whole picture with a golden viscous light, and me in the midst of it all… I feel the question… Why now??? Why is it that I am a part of this picture? 6th June 2006… an unknown person in an unknown city… in an unknown civilization. Why am I here?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I wonder why I wasn’t born a few centuries ago. The picture wouldn’t have changed much, except that the night lamp would have been a candle… the water in the glass wouldn’t have been mineral water. Perhaps the picture wouldn’t have been that empty. I would have been filled with something… the knowledge of my world, the age I would have been living in. What if I would have born during the freedom struggle days? Would I have had courage to be a revolutionary… the courage to be selfless… perhaps. I know those times had something to replace the void which is there in this picture in front of me. And my knowledge of my world would have filled me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But here I am. Know nothing about the world outside the brown wooden frames of this picture. But maybe I was born for some purpose… maybe there is a reason behind all this, a reason that I haven’t discovered yet. Maybe there is some force outside my realms that wants me to be here. Because without me, this picture would have been incomplete… at least this much importance I can grant myself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I guess I am reading too much into all this. That’s what happens when you don’t have anything to do except sit and eat. When the whole humanity is the result of a bloody chemical reaction that accidentally occurred ages ago… I am no exception.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I shouldn’t think much… Its not always good to think!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/400/human.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114979571265844234?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114979571265844234/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114979571265844234' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114979571265844234'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114979571265844234'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/06/thou-still-unravished-queen-of-silence.html' title='Thou still unravished queen of silence...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114754757561114127</id><published>2006-05-13T12:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-13T12:12:55.613-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Random rambling</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/wildfire3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/wildfire3.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I walk and walk and walk and walk… I don’t have a very good sight but impeccable olfactory senses. I smell grub from far off…sniff sniff! I gather food… and that’s all I do (at least). I know we are social animals (animals???), that’s why I don’t work alone. Also I am too miniscule to make a difference alone (as if we make it when we work together…). We work together. We… many others like me. Look-alikes. Strangers??? The stranger walking next to me secretes a fluid and keeps dropping it all the way it goes and I, with my nose all ready to sniff, sniff and take directions. We are happy. Long live the queen. But just one problem… if these humans could take a little care while walking and not chew us under their feet… and stop looking down at us as “mere ants” (as if it matters!).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/sandball.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;How much sense does it make writing all this and comparing me with all kinds of insects and stuff. But well, not all of it is a lie. I did escape getting “chewed” under many “human” foots, many a times. I call them humans because they own something that I have happily given up to become what I proudly call “raw”. I am a euphemism. Trust me, I doesn’t feel good calling oneself one. I am devoid of values. Haven’t given them up intentionally. Perhaps because an ant is too meek (or useless) animal (animal???) to take such a big step which needs a lot of reasons to get justified. An ant does things out of habit. It gathers food out of habit. It respects the queen out of habit. And it stays happy that way. Not much of thinking involved in the whole mechanism. It goes to office. It works. It earns. It saves. And this one sometimes writes. Who needs meanings? Or maybe I don’t understand them…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Habit is really the biggest motivation behind any and every action of “mankind” (NOTE: The author intentionally rejects the word “Humanity”). Those who do, they do it out of habit; those who don’t, they “don’t” out of habit. I write out of habit; I call myself an ant out of habit. Hitler didn’t war because he had a motivation bug in his ass who would tickle him all the time to go and fight. It was a habit. Habit makes you do weird things. Calling oneself an ant… for example. But I am not to be blamed. I am not free. There are habits ruling over me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But it would have been all a different life to live had I not been an ant. When I say a non-ant, what I am basically referring to is a “human”. All other categories can be collectively referred to as ants. I would have thought of building an anthill. But I would have had reasons for it. Whatever bullshit, but reasons atleast. A reason for eating; for smiling; for crying; for walking; for shitting; for puking… for writing. A scum of values all around. Trying to adhere to those values out of a habit to do so… but with the blanket of reason.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But it wouldn’t have been that bad either.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But I cant help it. If I don’t have faith, I don’t have it. That’s it. Full Stop.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/Sisyphus.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Originally posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 &lt;a title="permanent link" href="http://twilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/random-rambling.html"&gt;4:21 AM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114754757561114127?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114754757561114127/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114754757561114127' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754757561114127'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754757561114127'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/random-rambling.html' title='Random rambling'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114754713577151221</id><published>2006-05-13T12:01:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-13T12:05:35.773-07:00</updated><title type='text'>25 minutes to go...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/Jan-1-Small.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/Jan-1-Small.1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They're buildin' the gallows outside my cell.&lt;br /&gt;I got 25 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And in 25 minutes I'll be in Hell.&lt;br /&gt;I got 24 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, they give me some beans for my last meal.&lt;br /&gt;23 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And you know... nobody asked me how I feel.&lt;br /&gt;I got 22 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, I wrote to the Gov'nor... the whole damned bunch.&lt;br /&gt;Ahhh... 21 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And I call up the Mayor, and he's out to lunch.&lt;br /&gt;I got 20 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, the Sheriff says, "Boy, I wanna watch you die".&lt;br /&gt;19 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I laugh in his face... and I spit in his eye.&lt;br /&gt;I got 18 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well...I call out to the Warden to hear my plea.&lt;br /&gt;17 minute to go.&lt;br /&gt;He says, "Call me back in a week or three.&lt;br /&gt;You've got 16 minutes to go."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, my lawyer says he's sorry he missed my case.&lt;br /&gt;Mmmm....15 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah, well if you're so sorry, come up and take my place.&lt;br /&gt;I got 14 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, now here comes the padre to save my soul&lt;br /&gt;With 13 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And he's talkin' about burnin', but I'm so damned cold.&lt;br /&gt;I got 12 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now they're testin' the trap. It chills my spine.&lt;br /&gt;I got 11 minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;'Cuz the goddamned thing it works just fine.&lt;br /&gt;I got 10 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm waitin' for the pardon... gonna set me free&lt;br /&gt;With 9 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But this ain't the movies, so to hell with me.&lt;br /&gt;I got 8 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now I'm climbin up the ladder with a scaffold peg&lt;br /&gt;With 7 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've betta' watch my step or else I'll break my leg.&lt;br /&gt;I got 6 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah... with my feet on the trap and my head in the noose...&lt;br /&gt;5 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, c'mon somethin' and cut me loose.&lt;br /&gt;I got 4 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can see the mountains. I see the sky.&lt;br /&gt;3 more minutes to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And it's too damned pretty for a man to die.&lt;br /&gt;i got 2 more minutes to go&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can hear the buzzards... hear the crows.&lt;br /&gt;1 more minute to go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now I'm swingin' and here I gooooooooo....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Originally posted on Sunday, May 07, 2006        &lt;a title="permanent link" href="http://twilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/25-minutes-to-go.html"&gt;5:52 AM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114754713577151221?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114754713577151221/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114754713577151221' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754713577151221'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754713577151221'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/25-minutes-to-go.html' title='25 minutes to go...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114754687765890577</id><published>2006-05-13T11:56:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-13T12:01:17.663-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Wildfire...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/wildfire.3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/400/wildfire.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a ride!” somebody really stupid said this. Really stupid he was. How can he even dream of such catastrophic things with this delicate mortal body of ours? How could he erode the importance of “homeliness”, safety, “sanctity”, and serenity… by equating life with a roller coaster ride? How could he make life… so damn rocking? &lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/purgatory.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here I go again. I ramble. I irritate. I assume that after all that I have said and done, you are still reading what I have to say (I am referring to you as “you”, again assuming that there is somebody reading all this).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We fight, we struggle so hard to chase our dreams. The chase very often becomes a mania; a brutal endeavor wherein nothing except the destination is acceptable to sight… it revolts if we show it anything else. We run like mad. Taking wild turns. Taking pains. Hoping that this journey would soon come to an end and we would rest in peace at the “Chapel”. But what happens when we reach… if ever we do. The magic is gone. We have got addicted to the pain. With pain goes the magic, the urge, the passion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Going back into childhood, I remember the month before the summer vacation when the countdown would begin. 30 days to go… 29… 28… the day would come and the passion would be at its high. And what then… the first day at home would make you realize that all the plans that &lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/purgatory.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/purgatory.1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;you have been making are not that “holidayish” as they had earlier seemed to be. The magic is gone. Those 30 days of hunger, or wait used to be more fun. The placing of the order is more delicious than the dish itself. That’s because when the dish is served, it is no longer a fantasy. Its &lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/purgatory.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;reality. And reality is not fun, because its USUAL. Fantasy is the unusual. Fantasy is the drive. Becomes just a brick-n-mortar destination when the journey ends.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Things have changed in the last few days. I had been quite excited for the last few days in anticipation of these changes; spent many a sleepless nights, watched many a sleepless dreams. But this new realm doesn’t seem to be as “holidayish” as I thought it would be. It all seems to be thrusting me into the chasms of serenity. I guess its time to pull up my socks; time to make things happen; its time for thunder! I’ve got to say at the end of it all… WOW! What a ride!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don’t want the heavens. They are too calm for me. It’s the damn purgatory that I miss…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Originally posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006     &lt;a title="permanent link" href="http://twilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/wildfire_04.html"&gt;10:52 AM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114754687765890577?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114754687765890577/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114754687765890577' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754687765890577'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754687765890577'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/wildfire.html' title='Wildfire...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114754638831666767</id><published>2006-05-13T11:49:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-13T11:55:18.223-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Tra la la...</title><content type='html'>Tra la la… tra la… la la la… Strange things happen in life. Things as miniature and stupid leave such everlasting footprints on the mind that neither the “wind mighty wind” nor the “storm mighty storm” can wash them into oblivion. Tennyson couldn’t have imagined that a simple hymn (tra la…) would float him into the realms of imagination, the realms where the distinction between art and realty become a horizon; you can feel it always in front of you, but more you explore it and try to reason it out, the more it seems to be immaterial. One small event and you are an all new person, the life is an all new ball game! Butterfly effect should I call it??? Maybe…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reminds me of the new Airtel advertisement “an act of defiance can spark a revolution”; one of the images of the phantasmagoria that plays in front of me when I think of my moments of &lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/sweet%202.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/200/sweet%202.1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;inspiration. Then dreams become. Then plans become. Dreams huge enough to scare the wildest &lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/sweet%202.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;of my instincts on being thought over the second time. But then, they don’t go away. You dream once and you’re trapped. Forever. No matter how much you run away from it; no matter how much you try to forget it, it would always come back… first as a memory of what you are trying to forget, next as a dream you once dreamt and now are running away from it. It would titillate you, seduce you, but it wont go away. No matter how much you try, somewhere deep within, you would start considering chasing that dream, maybe just to try your luck. Trust me, you’re trapped.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jerry the mouse is not happy. Jerry the mouse is sad. Jerry the mouse has a dream that one day he would move freely with no Tom the cat to fear. People come and go… Jerry the mouse seems to be the only one to be scared of Tom the cat. “What can he do, poor mouse?” people think. Jerry the mouse doesn’t think so. Jerry the mouse knows that a day will come when he would feast on Tom the cat and then he would be the king of the world. Then unlike others who never had a Tom the cat to be scared of, Jerry the mouse would be someone who got over the adversary and succeeded. No spoon feeding please.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Its been quite some time now that I, seemingly, have not moved towards my destination (so to call it). But what if I say that Jerry the mouse is yet to play his cards? What if I say that he is on the way? What if I say that he is not going milestones… coz he needs to go up, not straight!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Originally posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 &lt;a title="permanent link" href="http://twilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/04/tra-la-la.html"&gt;1:56 AM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114754638831666767?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114754638831666767/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114754638831666767' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754638831666767'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754638831666767'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/tra-la-la.html' title='Tra la la...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114754528643656992</id><published>2006-05-13T11:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-13T11:34:46.440-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The strings of passion...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/cacophonix.3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/320/cacophonix.3.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Bonjour&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Welcome to the twilight.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just wondering why I chose this name for my blog. Twilight…The diffused light from the sky during the early evening or early morning when the sun is below the horizon and its light is refracted by the earth's atmosphere. Hand in hand goes another meaning…A period or condition of decline following growth, glory, or success. What glory, what success… what am I talking about? It’s a long story… the story of me. Perhaps the reason behind my choosing to blog.&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7267/2699/1600/cacophonix.2.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Things I see, things I don’t”. As a child, I always loved Asterix. But more than that, I loved Cacophonix. Still remember, at the end of every Herculean event that Obelix performed, the whole Gaul community would feast and celebrate, but Cacophonix. He would be either belled like a bat from a high tree, or cannoned into the wilderness by the mighty Obelix. He would not be allowed to play his music. The glory ends there. That’s the twilight. Its not the Gauls who have won; its Asterix and Obelix. But the glory hasn’t ended yet. He (Cacophonix) never gives up. Its still not dark. Its twilight. Because, whatever cacophony he creates, Cacophonix is still passionate about his music.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These strings of passion are the strings that have pulled me towards being in the shoes to be welcoming you all here. Its these strings of passion that have made me blog.. There would be lots of people around who would be tied by the same strings as I am. We are the twilight of the ages.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am imagination. I see what the eyes cannot see. I hear what the ears cannot hear. I feel what the heart cannot feel. I see the web by which many of us are tied to each other, or would be tied to each other. It’s a vast network. Reminds me of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The same threads that connected Clarissa and Peter Walsh. They dint know each other. Hadn’t ever met. But there was something between the two. The strings of passion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere”. The world’s a hilarious place. Just turn around and you see so much of comedy happening all around you. As a kid, I thought I would be able to touch the sky only if I would be allowed to climb up the water tank on the tall building across the road. As I grew old, I started wondering if I would be able to do so. Now I know, I wont be able to. Not many think so. Ahh, how involved the world looks in its petty activities. How I feel when my boss suddenly turns up to enquire about an unfinished battle, and gives me that look as if the earth would leave its orbit and crash into some other galaxy if I dint reach office at 9:30. So much of “Masala” around, what do I do if not write about it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why do I write? Hmm… good question. Writing gives me freedom. More than that it gives freedom to what I write about. Its like the framing, polishing and finishing of day to day activities which otherwise don’t even qualify to catch our attention. A great piece of art is one, on every time being seen, evokes a blend of excitement, ordinariness, and a blissful feeling of being stupid enough not to understand it the last time. A new discovery every time. Out of that piece of art which might depict nothing more that a candle lit next to a flush pot. That’s the hidden beauty in the ordinary world we are all surrounded by. There is so much to be said, written about, painted, sung, and brought into reality from the abyss of the uncreated. As Michelangelo puts it “I saw an angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I guess there is a lot more to be said and done. But let me not go on for ever. Will get back soon.&lt;br /&gt;Till then… let the music play.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Originally posted on Monday, April 17, 2006    &lt;a title="permanent link" href="http://twilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/04/strings-of-passion.html"&gt;8:50 AM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114754528643656992?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114754528643656992/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114754528643656992' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754528643656992'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754528643656992'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/strings-of-passion.html' title='The strings of passion...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28049161.post-114754495296996700</id><published>2006-05-13T11:15:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-05-13T11:29:12.976-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Reincarnation...</title><content type='html'>I dont know what happenedto my blog but the page isnt opening....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I guess the Blogger people are a little too pissed with me. All other blogs opening but only my isnt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But not to worry. Here I come with again... I have posted everything that I had put on my blog (with the original date written with the post).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Welcome to the twilight... again !!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/28049161-114754495296996700?l=thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/feeds/114754495296996700/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28049161&amp;postID=114754495296996700' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754495296996700'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/28049161/posts/default/114754495296996700'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thetwilightoftheages.blogspot.com/2006/05/reincarnation.html' title='Reincarnation...'/><author><name>Sumeshwer</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07244627602231148090</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ6EvWh9bqQ/SfyULDh-saI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ZfviDB0uuOA/S220/S5000868.JPG'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
