Madhushala

one of my favourite poems (especially the last para) - Harivansh Rai Bachan
And my philosophy in life - let bygones be bygones.

जीवन मैं एक सितारा था
माना वेह बेहद प्यारा था
वेह डूब गया टू डूब गया
अम्बर के आनन को देखो
कितने इसके तारे टूटे
कितने इसके प्यारे छूटे
जो छूट गए फिर कहाँ मिले
पर बोलो टूटे तारों पर
कब अम्बर शोक मनाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन मैं था वह एक कुसुम
थे उसपर नित्य निछावर तुम
वह सूख गया टू सूख गया
मधुवन की छाती को देखो
सूखी कितनी इसकी कलियाँ
मुरझाई कितनी बल्ल्रियाँ
जो मुरझाई फिर वह कहाँ खिली
पर बोलों सूखे फूलों पर
कब मधुबन शोर मचाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन मैं मधु का प्याला था
तुमने तन मन से डाला था
वह टूट गया तोह टूट गया
मधिरालय के आँगन को देखो
कितने प्याले हिल जाते हैं
गिर मिटटी मैं मिल जाते है
जो गिरते है कब उठते है
पर बोलो टूटे प्यालों पर
कब मधिराल्याँ पछताता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

मृदु मिटटी के है बने हुए
मधु घुट फूटा ही करते है
लघु जीवन ले कर आए है
प्याले टूटा ही करते है
फ़िर भी मदिरालय के अन्दर
मधु के घट है मधु प्याले है
जो मादकता के मारे है
वेह मधु लूटा ही करते है
वेह कचा पीने वाला है
जिसकी ममता घट प्यालों पर
जो सच्चे मधु से जला हुआ
कब रोता है चिल्लाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

Pleasure of riding

I am often asked as to why I prefer to ride and not drive. I have also been asked why I went on the biking trip and not gone in my car. I have been giving them various reasons (lesser time, not getting stuck in traffic etc) but the biggest reason is PLEASURE of riding. Pleasure of riding is best described by Sachin Rao in "the pleasure principle" and OldFox in his recent post on xBhp as:

The pleasures of riding:

• The pleasure is in doing three-digit speeds for hours on end when most consider 60 as dangerous and 80 as fatal!!
• The pleasure is in tying the luggage so well on the back seat that the bike seems to have come fitted with it from the showroom!
• The pleasure is starting your bike's engine for a long-distance ride on a cold morning and listening to its steady comforting idle while you prepare for the ride.
• The pleasure is in listening to the crackling clicks from the hot engine and exhaust as they cool after a fast blast on the road.
• The pleasure is in watching a row of several single headlights trailing in your mirrors, the group on the move.
• The pleasure is in knowing a split second before the car in front panic-brakes. You were more focussed than the driver of that car. You survive and smile!!
• The pleasure is when your upshifts and downshifts are so smooth that the bike feels auto-geared.
• The pleasure is in tooting a salute to truckers who safely wave you past on a blind mountain curve.
• The pleasure is in riding with a bug splattered visor for long, trying to look from between the squashed mosquitoes.
• The pleasure is in cleaning the visor at a tea stop and seeing the world clearer through it as it had never been before.
• The pleasure is in greeting a dhaba-owner you meet after 2 years on a remote highway, like you greet an old lost friend.
• The pleasure is in washing your muck-covered bike beside a cool mountain stream.
• The pleasure is in being treated as special because you are on a bike, something that would never happen if you arrive in a car.
• The pleasure is in knowing that your wife loves riding as much as you do, even as a pillion!!!
• The pleasure is in the easy companionship of a riding group.
• The pleasure is when the group gets together weeks after a long ride and talks about it like it happened just yesterday.
• The pleasure is in smelling spilled diesel on the road before your tyre hits it.
• The pleasure is in watching other road users gawking wide-eyed as the group does three-digit speeds together in formation.
• The pleasure is in entering a road-tunnel on a bright day with your sunglasses on and remembering the fear of riding blind for even a few moments.
• The pleasure is in having just the right tool and spares at hand when something goes wrong with the bike in the middle of nowhere.
• The pleasure is when you finish your day’s ride, and reach in one piece. You’re the smallest vehicle on the road, and you’ve survived.
• The pleasure is when you take off your wristwatch, and see a band of untanned skin.
• The pleasure is when your motorcycle and you move as one single united form. Whatever shape the road takes, whichever end of the compass it leads to.
• The pleasure is when you use your hands, arms, thighs, knees and feet to steer.
• The pleasure is when you take off your riding jacket for a break, and feel the breeze dry your sweat.
• The pleasure is when you sing to yourself on an empty road. You’re the world’s best rock star.
• The pleasure is when your rear wheel slides, and you bring it back, when the front wheel lifts, and you take your time bringing it back.
• The pleasure is when you cut through air, at 50 kph or 100.
• The pleasure is when you reach a place you’ve never been before, and someone you’ve never seen before asks you for a ride. And comes back grinning.
• The pleasure is when you wave to village kids, and they wave back.
• The pleasure is when you almost, almost fall. But don’t.
• The pleasure is when you fight the wind, and win.
• The pleasure is when you get up that narrow path for the view you’ll never forget.
• The pleasure is when you view the world at an angle.
• The pleasure is when you eat bugs at 90 kph.
• The pleasure is when you look at a dust-streaked face in the mirror after a 8-hour ride, and don’t want to wash up.
• The pleasure is when your pillion moves with you.
• The pleasure is when you can see the petrol after a top-up.
• The pleasure is when your throttle hand has calluses.
• The pleasure is when you jump a speedbreaker.
• The pleasure is when you stop to help push a stranded car to the side of the road when you had the choice of riding past but didn’t.
• The pleasure is when you stop at the smallest of towns, and somebody asks you deep technical questions about your bike.
• The pleasure is when your roadmaps gets dog-eared, rain-splashed and tea-stained.
• The pleasure is when you give a stranger a lift and he loves it.
• The pleasure is when you have battle-scars, each one a lesson in survival on two wheels.
• The pleasure is when you can feel the cool morning and the hot afternoon, the light rain and the damp fog.
• The pleasure is when you leave four-wheeler traffic standing in a jam.
• The pleasure is when you aren’t lulled by an air-conditioner.
• The pleasure is when you are free. Open. Independent. Liberated.

and more so for me "The pleasure is to not be responsible (for once), to only live for oneself - to zig zag through traffic at high speeds, to race with race happy kids on new age bikes, to brake suddenly after reaching perilously close to the four wheeler in front, to not care anymore - to be really free"

Rangla Punjab

Rangle Punjab di sift Sunava
Vae jithe rab vargian maawan
Dharti panj Dariya di rani
Jis da sharbat varga paani

Sikh lo nachna khedna gauna
Vae ethe vaar vaar nahi aauna
Jagg jiwen chaar dina da khela
Jana vichar bhrawo mela...

Rangla Punjab Mera Rangla Punjab

My honeymoon in the times of Tsunami

This was posted on my other blog in 2005 - now since I intend to keep just one blog so posting it here...

I had earlier thought of putting the title as "My Honeymoon" but then thought it would be really misleading for adventurous souls looking for some erotic reading.... I got married in December 2004 and was wondering where to take my wife to HM... we have known each other for years.... and had long discussions where to go.... and like most others we had our monetary constraints... We chose Sri Lanka... since my frequent flier miles could get us almost free air tickets to SL... and business class at that.... and thus we could use the money to stay at better hotels...

We left for SL on 22nd Dec and it was cursed from the beginning... the flight was 5 hours late and that meant that we reached Colombo late evening and thus could do no sightseeing... the next day we were off to Kandy via the Elephant Orphanage.... and after a couple of days.. we went to Nuwara Eliya (a Hill Station)... so far so good... was enjoying the SL hospitality, the great weather and the company of my wife... but what I was looking forward to was our stay at the beach... after all... that’s the best part of having a HM in SL...

We left for the beach from Nuwara Eliya on 26th morning and were on our way when we came to know about Tsunami... at first we could not comprehend the extent of devastation and were not too worried... since our chauffer's home was at a beach side... he was receiving calls from his family and came to know about the incident... but then the phones were not working that well.. actually it was really difficult for him to make a call... he could only receive calls... and then slowly we could gather that things are seriously bad... We then realized that the news would have started flashing on the TV at home and that our families and friends would be worried... we made calls to our homes to let them know that we are OK... By this time we had realized that it would not be possible to go to the beach and that we would have to make our arrangement elsewhere... and we decided that we should stop at Colombo... we reached Colombo in the afternoon at around 1:00 PM and the city was deserted.... we could hardly see a soul on the roads...

National emergency had been declared.... we were still unaware of what has really happened.. only thing we knew that there were some giant waves... we had no idea what 'giant' was till we saw it on TV at a restaurant (the only one we could find to be open).... and there we were.. looking at the videos / photos of such large scale destruction... such devastation...

It made me thinking that how aloof we were just a few minutes ago... not aware of the size.... of not being a part of the suffering... we were just not able to comprehend... but slowly.. it sank... and with it was a feeling that we were extremely lucky to be alive.... the hotel we were supposed to stay had suffered major destruction.... and that it was only by one day that we were saved... as were earlier planning to start our HM on 21st instead of 22nd... had we done so... I am not sure I would be writing this today...

Though I did not see the actual destruction (not that I want to)... but could see the total disarray the things were in.... In the hotel we met a family (European tourists) who were coming from the beach... all there belongings lost... but they were thankful to the God as they were safe and so were theirs kids... the younger of the two kids was less than year old while the elder was around 3... and it gave me shudders just to think of being in their position... with my kids... I could just feel the tension they must have gone through... and they were the lucky ones.... just think of those who lost their loved ones... of being in a foreign country... on a holiday... enjoying one minute and having lost so much the next... I can not claim to be able to understand their dilemma of whether to try to save their life or look for their loved ones... and once things subsided... of looking through the debris... for dead bodies of their loved ones... such a loss and no one to turn to... cause all around would be people like you... trying to get their lives together...