Check your DQ...dumb quotient...take this test...and laugh aloud at the results ;)

At last the day arrived and I was at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers yesterday. It was a wonderful experience, the film I must say was much better than the first one and the element of suspense was better here than what it was in the first part. Just cannot wait for Part 3 now :)

This is indeed the war of worlds, where gallantry is seen as glorious and wickedness spits fire. The sage of quest has now turned into one of battle for survival. The utterly confused Frodo protected and encouraged by Sam are marvelous in their roles. And the twin tongue Gollum keeps you wondering what the hell is this creature up to?

The sets amazing, the scenery marvelous, the graphics would make u wonder if they are for real. Its a treat to watch and you would be kept wondering to what great heights can Technology, innovation and imagination go further.

And thanks Harris for the wonderful company…:)

Capricorn is the leader of the Earth signs. Here is a stabilizing force, one of the hardest-working signs of the Zodiac.

The Mountain Goat has intense powers of self-concentration, but not in an egotistical sense. Members of this sign find a great deal more confidence what they do than in who they are. Earth hangs tough when it comes to stabilization, so achievement provides that stability and structure.

Capricorn is one very high-achiever! Without balance, however, Capricorn can become too rigid -- as in the tall palm tree, falling to the ground, under heavy wind-gusts. To be able to move with the winds of change, the Mountain Goat must bend and flex a little bit! That makes life much easier.

Capricorn can also focus too much on achievement. Then they forget the little joys in life. When the Goat finally relaxes and enjoys life, his or her most delightful secrets emerge. No one has a better sense of humor than the Capricorn. Oh, that Cap might let us bask in that warm smile! :-)

Its rightly said, "Where there is a will, there is a way". Read this news article and the reports of the Iraqi blogger.

To my few "why's" y'day, Sampada and the rest of them gave me some answers. But as Khushee rightly pointed out, life is full of questons without answers. Not that i was looking for some perfect answers, these were thots that were at abundance at the moment and they went prompt on the blog. A formal note of thanks to all of u who found time to leave your comment and also to those who could not.

One of my q's y'day was Why do always want to win? Isn't defeat another way of winning?...not many may agree. But i still feel that when u don't win, u learn a lot in your defeat and that a big victory by itself.

A bag full of questions

Why do we always want the world to go according to our terms and conditions?
Why do we force our views and thoughts on the world?
Why do we always expect our loved ones not to hurt us?
Why do always want to win? Isn't defeat another way of winning?
Why do you always want your friends to call u, why not u take the call first?

Am a big bundle of if, buts and whys today....my idea of monday blues ;)

Yipppeeeee....am on top of the world, Reasons

1. India is in the finals, Sunday aayega maaza....
2. The TGIF feeling....yeap its frrriiiidddaaaay,
3. Am going for the Lord of the Rings - the two towers, premiere next thursday....

Uhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooo....cannot wait for Thursday :)

There is a strange silence in the air, a certain worried look on every face, uncertainty written large over the entire world.
Is it due to the ensuing cricket match or the war, which is happening in the gulf?
I donno.

May God save all those unfortunate lives who have to face wrath of war for no reason whatsoever.

A cute little story, but with a big moral...Pray, Aim High & Stay Focussed

There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old shotgun and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out and kill something for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit and he shot at the rabbit and missed it. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. As he went further, he saw a wild turkey in the tree and he had only one bullet, but a voice came to him and said "Pray first, Aim high and stay focused."

However, at the same time, he saw deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattle snake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattle snake. Still, the voice said again to him, "I said 'Pray, Aim high and stay focused."

So, the man decided to listen to the voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat. The snake was dead simply because the man listened to GOD

Moral of the story: Pray first before you do anything, Aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on GOD.

The boss is back...aab aayega maaza...

This was the Most Beautiful Flower
by Cheryl Costello-Forshey

The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read,
Beneath the long, straggly branches of an old willow tree.

Disillusioned by life with good reason to frown,
For the world was intent on dragging me down.

And if that weren't enough to ruin my day,
A young boy out of breath approached me, all tired from play.
He stood right before me with his head tilted down,
And said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"

In his hand was a flower, and what a pitiful sight,
With its petals all worn down not enough rain, or too little light,
Wanting him to take his dead flower and go off to play,
I faked a smile and then shifted away.

But instead of retreating he sat next to my side,
And placed the flower to his nose and declared
with overacted surprise, "It smells pretty and it's beautiful too.
That's why I picked it; here it's for you!"

The weed before me was dying or dead. Not vibrant of colours, orange, yellow or red.
But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave.

So I reached for the flower and replied, "Just what I need."
But instead of him placing the flower in my hand,
He held it mid-air without reason or plan.

It was then that I noticed for the very first time,
That the weed-toting boy could not see, he was blind.

I heard my voice quiver, tears shone like the sun,
As I thanked him for picking the very best one.

"You're welcome" he smiled and then ran off to play,
Unaware of the impact he's had on my day.

I sat there and wondered how he managed to see,
A self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree.
How did he know about my self-indulged plight?

Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight.
Through the eyes of a blind child, at last I could see,

The problem was not with the world; the problem was me.
And for all of those times I myself had been blind,

I vowed to see the beauty in life, and appreciate every second that's mine.
And then I held that wilted flower up to my nose and breathed in the fragrance
of a beautiful rose. And I smiled as I watched that young boy,
another weed in his hand, About to change the life of an unsuspecting old man.

It is indeed strange that, small incidents or you may say view can get you back to your spirits, recharge you with unbounded energy and gear you up for the rest of the day.

Last evening as I was driving to a dinner party, I was not in the best of my moods and I did not want that to be very prominent and spoil the party. I was telling myself cheer up cheer up, but the adamant me was not relenting to the inner me’s plea to smile. At that minute, I was driving on the ring road, which is perpendicular to the runway of the Bangalore Airport. I was witness to the take off and landing of two aircraft’s, the one which was on the way out of Bangalore was quite far away, but the one which was landing, literally, flew over my car, I could see the tires and the lights blinding me for a while. It charged me up and I thot, it will land on my car. But that did not happen (else u would not be reading a blog written by me ;)), what happened was that I was wonder stuck by the way the aircraft landed, have been a witness to many landings and take off, but not this way. Phew! It was lovely. I was as excited as a kid is after seeing something just out of the world, laughing with excitment and like a magician waving his wand over me, I was back to my normal self, thrilled to bits that I saw such a wonderful view. Also led me to imagine what the scene must be at JFK, where aircraft’s land by the minute.

Not to mention we had a wonderful party last night. :)

Not very long, a group of people meet, to exchange more ideas and to see who is the face behind the writing...or do I say behind the blog. The group dispersed with the promise that they shall meet again, very soon. But then like the promise of a politician, this too passed away.

Arise awake the bloggers of Bangalore, when are we meeting again? Am sure there must be quite a few more people from Bangalore, who have joined the bandwagon...

I suggest we meet this Sunday for the 2nd session of BBC...what say?

Bahut mayoos baitha hoon main tum se, Kabhi aa kar mujhe hairat mein daalo
Saari raat to sapne dekhe Subah ko ye mehsoos hua, Hamne apna sar takraya ik pathar se saari raat

----------------------
kuchh din to baso merii aa.Nkho.n me.n - phir Khvaab agar ho jaao to kyaa

koii rang to do mere chehare ko - phir zaKhm agar mahakaao to kyaa

ik aaiinaa thaa so TuuT gayaa - ab Khud se agar sharmaao to kyaa

mai.n tanahaa thaa mai.n tanahaa huu.N - tum aao to kyaa na aao to kyaa

jab ham hii na mahake phir saahib - tum baad-e-sabaa kahalaao to kyaa

jab dekhane vaalaa koii nahii.n - bujh jaao to kyaa jal jaao to kyaa

-- Obaidullah Aleem

“There is fire within…nothing burns brighter, nothing radiates more brilliance, nothing kindles her being…nothing makes her what she is…Strong, Passionate, Driven and…she loves who she is - The Woman of yesterday, today and tomorrow

Easygoing and Charming
Serene and Sensitive
Happy and Free spirited
Confident and Comfortable
Motivated and defined by an Inner Voice
With dreams and Beliefs are kindled by an inner fire!

Happy Women's day to all the Women of the world...

Mythri and me are friends for nearly a decade and keeping in tune with technology, our communication has moved from snail mail to e-mail to chat. A couple of days back she sends me this long mail, which is a review of The lion king broadway musical. For a staunch fan like me of Lion King, i felt like jumping out of office and watch this musical, but i wonder if i would ever get the opportunity, eitherways here is the review for u to read and relive the sensation of Simba. Thanks Mythri for the wonderful description. :)

"Last sunday, we were at the lion king musical. i can't praise it enough. my mind is still in a whirl. it was exactly the same story as the movie. but had more songs and dialogues. for eg, the monkey wizard is a well nourished african woman who sings long lovely songs in some african dialect all the time. and she makes fun of things, she walks in front of the stage, sees the curtain and says "hmm..looks like a kmart shower curtain". she mooned(ok, she had her costume on but the costume had a large red patch like the backside of a monkey) simba when he refused to go back to the pride. imagine a 50+ inch backside mooning. She did it with so much panache, the audience roared. It was 2.66 hrs long. it is an amazing adaptation. There is a mixture of true-to-animal-world as well as pretend-animal-people. i.e. people actually having animal costumes and prancing on 4 limbs and people with masks walking around like humans. the hyenas were played EXACTLY like the cartoon ones, 3 young men who had extensions on their arms and jumped around on them rather feeble-brainedly. the lions were real people with masks who danced human jazz like dances. young simba and young nala were little kids who somersaulted. zazu was a clown in a blower hat with a hand puppet that looks like the bird. he moved that puppet around so realistically(i mean, so true to the cartoon) and managed to somersault while doing it. There were 320 animal props--toys, etc. the stage
set up was amazing, lots of remote controlled toys gliding across the stage to show things. and a huge (60 ft diameter) round orange silk cloth that they slowly unfolded on the stage to show the sun. and this lovely set of steps that curved around itself to make pride rock. if you get a chance to see it, DONT MISS IT EVER. its the best musical i have seen and i have seen quite a few.

The acting was amazing, the voice production and the singing simply superb. the costumes were nice. not too garish, not too simple. the sets was GREAT. imagine
translating the wildbeest stampede. and making it look like the beast are heading towards you. There were people flying in the air dancing like sprites for the "can you feel the love tonight" song. Check out the Disney Site for some pix and descriptions better than mine."

First things first...Many Happy Returns of the day, to the F1 crazy fan...

The Driver of the Auto I came in today called me Cousin of Vasco-Da-Gama...he literally had me jumping out of the auto with the compliment.... And why did I get the compliment, because I showed him a new route to reach the great Airport Road in Bangalore. There I was enriching someone early in the day and am feeling good after transferring some good info to a fellow being :)

Success and Failure are according to me two faces of the same coin...you either face success or u end up with a failure and each failure is a stumbling block for the next try at success...Same goes for being happy or sad and ofcourse, life is all about being happy, sad, success and failure. This reminds me of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson....

" To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

Have been doing loads of research these days, topics range from Banking to Insurance to places of visit. On one such jog over the net, found this site, Lonely Planet which is wonderful one giving details of all the countries blah blah. while i was enjoying the site, one bit of information made me shiver with fright...read on, let me tell u it might not be very digestable reading...take care