The sky is crying today...

I woke up this morning to a shock. MJ no more. I was bathing when my brother pounded the door of the bathroom to give me the news. I was shocked! MJ no more! What? And then, I cried. [It's very unusual for me considering the fact that I never wept even one single tear when people in my family expired one after the other] No MJ! Are you really gone?...

It's very difficult for me to type all this out. On one hand I HAVE to blog about this. And on the other hand my brother is playing MJ songs on the music system. This is very very difficult...

...You never said goodbye
Someone tell me why
Did you have to go
And leave my world so cold...

[You are not alone]

Michael Jackson songs have virtually shaped my life.. My childhood, my teenage, the first CD I ever bought was "The Best Of MJ". It had 2 parts. And the 2 cd's played all the time. I remember when MJ had come to India. I was 9 years old that time, and I used to live very close to the Sports Complex in Mumbai, where his concert was held. My elder brother was a die hard fan of MJ. He was cool 'coz he listened to english songs. He told me and my 5 yr old brother all about it. He used to train us to dance like MJ. It was so much fun! And then, on the day when the concert was to happen, all 3 of us stood on the building terrace, and saw the chopper fly right above us. We were so excited! Jumping, screaming, running, dancing... And the chopper had actually stopped at one spot between our building and sports complex. We actually thought it stopped so MJ could wave at us. Those were the days!

And then we watched it all Live on TV. MJ landed on the stage in a "Spacecraft" and then he came out and gave the best performace I have ever seen of anyone in my entire life. We had recorded it all on a video cassette. All the noise, the blood rush, ladies fainting, enter ambulance, the policemen, every thing. And after the concert was over, the 3 of us played the video cassette in slow motion every single evening, after we returned from school, and practiced all those moves. We never got the moonwalk right, except for my bro who did it almost like that!

That was just the beginning of a love affair. The love affair with pop music. The love affair with a superstar. When I was 13, I still remember, my elder cousin sister had gone to the extent of cutting her wrist with a compass needle to carve "MJ" inside a heart. The carvings on the wall of the terrace of my old building, nothing can erase them. They're still there. I will always love you MJ.

Yeah, so what if he was accused of all the wrong things? So what if he did get into all that? We all make mistakes! He was punished so much because he was so good at heart. The man who shot his documentary actually frauded MJ and released it on worldwide TV. MJ had trusted him. Isn't that wrong? But that doesn't matter. Nothing matters. 'Coz MJ is no more :(

... I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far ...

[Earth Song]

I love you MJ, We love you, Mumbai loves you, and I am sure India does too... And Mumbai skies are crying 'coz we have lost you today. Rest In Peace. This is not the end. You will stay in the millions and trillions and gazillions of hearts of people like us all around the world.

Celebrating Monsoon :)

Hello Everyone!

Well, so finally, the monsoons are here! They have announced themselves with thunders, heavy showers and drizzles in Mumbai. Within a week or two, they should be covering the whole of India.. I guess. I really wanted to post something related to rains. But then I read a couple of posts in the last 2 days and the mood with this rainfall seems to be more sad and depressing as opposed to being relieving and happy [considering that hot summer this year].

It rained heavily in Mumbai this afternoon, and I had my lunch sitting by the window, and it was a treat. To all the 5 senses. I could see the rain fall, I could hear the showers, smell the wet ground, taste the freshness [literally! plus there was food too :|] and feel the rain drops on my skin. An added one or two treats, there was this ultimate relaxing feeling, a twinkle in my eyes, and an automatic smile for someone special. Bliss.

I will be celebrating the monsoon of 2009 on Memoirs. Rains, and the various moods. I will try not to get to the hurtful and depressing part. Many bloggers are taking care of that department very well. And hey, if anything from my side makes any one of you smile, I will be the happiest person :)

I tried to write a poem. I did manage to complete one too. But nothing, nothing can express the relationship between raindrops and life better than a song, which was playing on my laptop continuously for about an hour. I am also adding the video here, because the girl with the honeybee costume in the video is a source of inspiration for me, and if it inspires me, it can inspire any one and every one. I would love it if you watch it! So here I dedicate this song to each one of you... Happy Monsoon!

No Rain - By Blind Melon

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watchin' the puddles gather rain
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two
And speak my point of view but it's not sane, its not sane

I just want someone to say to me
I'll always be there when you wake
Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I'll have it made

And I don't understand why I sleep all day
And I start to complain that there's no rain
And all I can do is read a book to stay awake
It rips my life away but its a great escape...escape...escape

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
You don't like my point of view
Ya think that I'm insane
It's not sane... It's not sane

I just want someone to say to me
I'll always be there when you wake
Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I'll have it made

......

Heres the video:



Nanana... I love this song! Whenever I feel low and I listen to this, I am up and running in no time. I feel bad that I neglected this song so much, hence it has made it's place on my desktop now! :P

Parlez-vous anglais?

Hello Everyone,

I have been meaning to blog about this for a long time now. But I always held back because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But I have to do it, because since I am not blogging a lot, I read a lot, and sometimes what I read, is well... Let's just say it's difficult to sum up within the boundaries of words.

The following post is meant just for fun. No hard feelings anyone, and please, please correct me if I am wrong. Here it goes:

Blogville is full of talent. Some blogs have changed my life, the way I think, and made me a better person. Personally, I started blogging because I wanted to write, read, and improve my vocabulary and learn new things. I think I have been steadily accomplishing all of that.

I know of people who have studied in vernacular mediums right from their childhoods but they speak very fluent English. I also know of people who have studied in English medium and convent schools right from their childhood but cannot speak and/or write basic English. And these are the people who hate to admit that they make mistakes :P I mean, it's okay if it's a typo. And hey, I make mistakes too! Every one does. But if you correct me, I won't feel belittled by you and would be very happy to admit that I am wrong if you prove me wrong.

[ Psst.. I have a really tough time spelling these 2 words: "achieve" and "maintenance" :P ]

Let me get straight to the point:

- "I didn't knew/went" and "I didn't told/said" is wrong English. It's always "I didn't know/go" and "I didn't say/tell". You cannot use two consecutive words in past tense like that, even if you're talking of things in the past.

- "I said her to do this" is wrong English. "I told her/I asked her to do this" is correct.

- It's not "A Umbrella". It's "An Umbrella". Read this, and you will know what I'm talking about.

- BTW is By The Way. It's not Between. I have seen so many people use this! At one point of time I actually felt that I was wrong. Click here if you want to know more about this and more about these abreviations and what they stand for.

- You never "ride" a car, and never "drive" a plane or bike. You "drive" a car, you "ride" a bike, you "fly" a plane.

There are a few more things like... "Using The Beginning Letter Of Every Word In A Sentence As A Capital Letter". That is okay for titles etc. But actually, to each his own. Some people like it, some don't. Its' personal choice. I really don't know whether it's right or wrong.

Let me stop this list here for now.

Another interesting thing I have observed is that some people with extremely good vocabulary commit these hineous crimes of grammatical errors. The vocabulary v/s grammar match is a very close call, and in my case, a person with a mediocre vocabulary with the right grammar wins anyday over a person with an extra ordinary vocabulary with grammatical errors. I was telling someone the other day, that these grammatical errors just break the beautiful string of words that you build with your vocabulary, from a readers point of view.

I have nothing against anyone whatsoever. But I personally believe that blogging in itself is an experience of growth and expression, and learning is a part of it. 90% of the blogs I read are written by the author keeping their readers in mind. Hardly do I come across bloggers who actually write what they feel, when they feel, how they feel, irrespective of the people who read them. Readership is just a consequence of your writing. Comments are just an added bonus. That doesn't mean I hate comments :P Everyone is welcome to read my blog and put their view forward. Healthy discussions are a part of growth. I am proud to have some of the best readers on my blog, who really read the post completely and comment whole heartedly.

I have to admit that I have been overdosing myself in poetry too. An overdose of Acrostics to be specific. Eversince I started with acrostics, I am finding it difficult to get out of that box. I love the style of poetry, but not so much that I lose my ability to compose normal poetry itself. Speaking of Acrostics, I have to also specify that I have been reading an awfully large number of these poetries in the past week. Seems like I am not the only one going through the Isolated with Acrostics phase, aye! ;) Oh and while I'm at that, I also have to admit that I find poetry with simple words which is straightforward more easy to understand than a string of complicated words which are difficult to understand and perceive in the picture of poetic imagination [Remember? I am learning :P]. And I don't feel any bad while I'm admitting that.

I really don't mean to hurt anyones feelings, directly or indirectly, with this post. But if any of you relates to any of the things I mentioned above, I will take it as a successful expression from my side. And if you feel hurt, I am very very sorry! But I don't think I would take these words back.

To Err.. is just human! No one is perfect :)

....


Phew, I really need to stop preaching!

Celebrating Love with my 50th post :)

Hello Everyone :)

On my 50th post I want to dedicate this song to all those who have ever been in love, are in love, and will be in love, and to all their special someones!

Brad Paisley - Then.
[You know it's dedicated to you :)]

I remember, trying not to stare the night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
And three weeks later, in the front porch light
taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
but I thought I loved you then

Chorus

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

And i remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
Got down on one knee right there once again,
I thought I loved you then

Chorus

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

I could just see you, with a baby on the way
And I could just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then

:)

Never fall in love, always rise with it :D

Dead and Gone...

I turn my head to the east, I don't see nobody by my side
I turn my head to the west, still nobody in sight.....

Lately I have been approached by a couple of my old friends from school, they are my close friends. They say, I have changed. From what I was before. It's a drastic difference in how I have been behaving in this span of 4 years. I agree with them. But does friendship change?

I was a complete "Filmy Character" till I was 18 years old. I used to talk a lot [endlessly], trust people too easily, love people unconditionally, expect a lot from everyone around me, and blame things a lot on every body else. My life was like an open book. I used to live in a reel life world, where I am running in a dark forest, when a knight in shining armor comes to rescue me on his white horse and then takes me away on a land far, far away.. I used to imagine myself in every movie that I watched that time. Every single movie. I used to even dress in loud tacky ways with temporary tattoos on each arm [One with a cupid and the other with a heart]. Sigh.. Those were the days when I could just be as stupid as I liked. And ofcourse, friendship back then was like.. Sharing everything! Right from the sizes of our everything to how many times we went to the loo to every thing about our love lives. Those were the days!

And then, I went away from home, away from friends, at a land far,far away, hoping to find my prince charming there, with a million dreams in my eyes. Enter the real life. I got a smack on my head every single day. I learnt new things. I had to "judge" people now. I had to worry about right and wrong all of a sudden. Most of all, I had to be responsible now. I still tried to be the same one, trusting every one, caring for every one, loving every one, and letting every one know every thing about me. But well, I learnt what life is in a very very hard way. I learnt, I lived, I coped up, and eventually I got good at it. It is what I am now.

In the 4 years that I was away, I spoke to my friends back in India a handful of times, and according to me, it was the same old conversation, atleast from my side, and it felt like we had spoken just yesterday. I spoke and spoke and spoke, but I could feel the reluctance in their voices, wanting to say things but not being able to, just because I was calling from a long distance. Ah well, inspite of me asking, the answer was always, "Everything is fine".

I got back to India last June, as a changed person, and I have been having trouble adjusting eversince. I am still adjusting with every thing around me. Especially friendships. I have stopped socialising. One reason is because I love being alone, second being that I will feel left alone in a crowd. After a lot of coaxing [from their side] I met my close friends last November. It was just like before [from my side again] and we spoke endlessly. The reply from the opposite end was still "Everything is fine".

Oh hey, I've been travelin' on this road too long
Just tryin' to find my way back home
But the old me's dead and gone
Dead and gone

After 6 months, I come to know that there was nothing fine. Things were harshly wrong with this friend of mine. I think she decided herself that it was time that she stopped sharing stuff with her old buddies. We just stood amazed and wondering, as she threw bombs of shocking realities one after the other on us. I thought that things were supposed to be the same.. But they weren't. Nonetheless, we thought this was the incident that would bridge the gap between us and things would be hunky dorie again.

Now, I receive a call, last month, and my friend [the same one] says that I am not the same anymore. She thinks I have changed. She thinks I hide stuff. She thinks I don't tell her things. Really? What were you doing wandering on the streets last night in Mumbai all alone all night, when you told me you would be reaching home? Why did you tell me that you wanted to meet me, when really you wanted an excuse to meet someone else? Is this your friendship? Really? And I have changed...?

......I turn my head to the east, I don't see nobody by my side
I turn my head to the west, still nobody in sight
So I turn my head to the north, swallow that pill that they call pride
That old me's dead and gone but the new me will be alright...

... I love this song.

Friendship is nothing less than a Love affair, and a Love affair is nothing more than friendship.
-As said by the great Satans Darling™

AF 447 - This is going to be a long one!

I am in a state of minor confusion right now. I don’t know what to think or feel. On one hand there are feelings of ecstasy, excitement and happiness and on the other end there is shock, sympathy and devastation. But after numerous attempts to write about this topic yesterday, I am finally going for it now, hereby taking the side of the shock and sympathy.

I have been constantly following the news since last evening, and I was shocked to hear that an Air France Airbus 330 flight, AF447, flying from Rio-De-Janerio to Paris, carrying 228 people on board including 12 crewmembers, 1 infant and 5 children, went missing. Now I know that I am related to this news in a slightly more important way than usual people, but when I shared this news with some of my friends online, they were least bothered about it. I mean they were like, “Oh, yeah.. okay…” and one of them even made fun of it by saying that the airplane was lost in the “Bermuda Airangle”. Well I have nothing against them, but it could strike anyone, anytime and anywhere, and people should really start to know what’s going on around them. If you don’t know what happened, you might as well Google it and get some information before you read this post.

Like I mentioned earlier, I am related to this incident/accident [I don’t know what to call it yet since they found no dead body, but death is inevitable in this case] in a slightly different way. While the whole missing theory was being shouted over and over on the news and internet, I was thinking of what might have happened. I am not an airline pilot yet, but I will try to speak about it from whatever little I know about airplanes and weather. Firstly, I am so glad that it did not happen in India. And I say that because the French government handled the situation pretty well at that time by setting up a different cell for the relatives of all the people aboard the flight and took care of them and made them as comfortable as possible.

I was watching news when they said that the flight had been missing for over 4 hours, and that the SAR [ Search and Rescue] operations had begun. Military planes from France, Brazil, and even Britain began searching for the airplane. News officials said, the plane must have been struck by lightning. Now first of all, this plane is said to have been flying well over 40,000 feet above mean sea level, and this is the height above the Earth’s Tropopause [All the weather phenomena occurs in the Troposphere which is of the order 40,000 feet to 45,000 feet depending on the time of the year.] and rarely any adverse weather occurs there. And also, airplanes are designed to withstand forces of lightning in their structural design and it is not easy to knock out a huge Airbus 330 just like that. So I would like to dismiss the lightning theory there itself. But yes, at high altitudes there is CAT [Clear Air Turbulence] and it cannot be detected by weather radars installed on the airplane.

Then there were reports that the airplane transmitted a short circuit message 4 hours and 14 minutes after it had taken off from Rio, just before disappearing. They were predicting that the aircraft must have undergone electrical malfunction. So for all of you who do not know, an airliner would never run an airplane these days without a backup system. And A330 is a modern generation aircraft fitted with several electrical systems. In a case of complete failure, there is a last backup system called the RAM rise system which runs purely on air pressure and keeps the instruments working.

The route of the flight was over the Atlantic Ocean, and it is difficult to have ATC facilities there, besides there is no low level air traffic over an ocean so there are radar services provided to airplanes for flying these kinds of routes. These are like imaginary rings extending at a high altitude level which provide radar services to the pilot. Also, the vertical and lateral flight profile of the plane is tracked automatically and fed to the nearest ATC operators so that they can track the flight. The plane is reported to have been flying smoothly before the electric malfunction. So I believe that there was no engine failure or so. I earlier mentioned that there are rings of radars at high altitudes to track the airplanes, and the radar has tracked this plane diving abruptly and then going missing somewhere over the Atlantic. Now anything with wings, even a paper airplane that we make, cannot just sink below this way. If it has wings, there will be aerodynamic forces acting on it which will make the airplane glide. Even without an engine. If this plane sank abruptly, it probably would have undergone an explosion. Or even more accountable would be a structural loss, say a wing or an elevator. Although the A330 is a new airplane, this particular aircraft [which was just 4 years old: in service since April 2005] had last been serviced in April 2008. It could have been a technical malfunction too.

The French government has been ruling out possibilities of terrorism. I ask, why not terrorism? There could be a bomb on board too! How can you just rule such possibilities out?
Another interesting thing I observed is that, the route of this flight passes through the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone [ITCZ], where the tropics meet and the winds change drastically. This area is known for violent thunderstorms and really strong winds. So maybe the plane came under one of the thunder clouds, and got pushed down drastically in what we call a down draught.

Now, if any of you follow the Air Crash Investigates on Discovery, then there is an episode about loss of cabin pressure. If you guys don’t know about it, read this [Helios Flight ZU522, 14th August 2005]. The same could have happened in the case of this flight too! Of course followed by other malfunctions too. Maybe everyone was unconscious and that is why the ATC must not have received any signal from the Pilots! I am just trying to analyze the situation from my point of view. I could be wrong. But I am wondering what went wrong!

Nothing can be investigated till the Black Box of the aircraft is found, which in this case, will be somewhere on the bed of the ocean, approximately 300 meters under water. And it must be in a pretty good condition since it is designed to withstand very heavy forces. The latest I heard was that another pilot of another airline spotted “Orange Spots” over the Atlantic, just after the plane had disappeared. The French Air Force team is being said to have sighted wreckage 650km (390 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando do Noronha island. I hope they find the Black Box soon.
The purpose of this post was to tell all my readers to not fear or dread airplane journeys. The rate of an air accident is 1 as compared to 10,000 accidents on road. And anyway, whatever has to happen, will happen. That does not mean you stop traveling by air. I know many people who stopped air travel, especially in US and Canada, after the 9/11 story and I have been trying to convince them too.

I offer serious and heartfelt condolences to all the people who are even remotely connected to this incident. I am really feeling devastated. May the souls of all the people who lost their lives, rest in peace. For them, this was probably the journey back home to their loved ones, maybe for some it was a trip to Paris, for someone it was visiting friends and relatives, and some of them were just at work. I have been shedding tears on and off, looking at the worried friends and relatives at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

10 things about me

So well, this was saved in drafts for a long time and I decided to post it since it was making my post count 50 but was not visible since it was in drafts :P

10 things about me:

1. I love cooking. That explains why I love eating :D

2. I value friendship a lot. I hate traitors. That explains why I find it difficult to trust people.

3. I am very reserved. That explains why whenever I make friends, they are friends for life.

4. I drink less water when I am outside. That explains why I don't like using public convenience :P

5. I cry a lot. That explains the secret of my watery eyes :D

6. I brush twice a day. That explains why my smile is my asset.

7. I have colored my hair 7 times. That explains why I went berserk when I was away from home.

8. I love traveling. That explains my profession.

9. I cannot speak a lot on phone. That explains why not many people call me.

10. I love to be alone, and that explains my silence.


I had to mention 10, I guess I doubled it :P



Feel free to do it on your blog :D I tag every one!