Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Quiet, Inside!



This is from the flick, The Jacket, Starring Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson and others. (2005). A military veteran goes on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death and is left with questions that could save his life and those he loves.

Now, it's not only the movie that's interesting, but also one of it's soundtracks called Quiet Inside by Andy Tubman of Jane Doe's. Co-written by Keith Gattis, this is perhaps one of the most powerful tracks (in terms of personal description) that I've chanced in a number of years.

(Although a number of folks believe that the words suggest a tone of repressed anger........Dr.T .................... I wonder if this is the same kinda 'repressed anger' you attributed to ............ just kidding! I've come to respect your judgement Doc!)

Check out the lyrics and decide..............................................

I couldn't make colors match today
I don't know what else to say
except I tried and they can't say I didn't
I don't like the stuff they are feeding me
they don't like the things I say
but I don't think I need to be forgiven

But I am quiet inside
though they drag me by a wire
through the storm that cracks the sky
I am quiet inside

I used to be so hart to find
rage and tears filled my eyes
but now i believe I see much clearer
my clarity did not come easily
my sell was knocked into me
but now at least I know who's in the mirror

I am quiet inside
though they drag me by a wire
through the storms cracks the sky
I am quiet inside

I am quiet inside
though they drag me by a wire
through the storms cracks the sky
I am quiet inside

ye I'm quiet inside
I am quiet

I couldn't make colors match today
I don't know what else to say

Vows being Unbroken!



Here's another masterpiece by Kenny Rogers, it's called Vows Unbroken.
Wonderful lyrics touched with very good music.

A good feast for the ears and much more!

From the moment I met you,
you made my life complete.
This wave of pure devotion,
has swept me off my feet.

And tonight when we kissed,
you still took my breath away.
It goes without saying,
but I'll say it anyway...

The vows go un-broken - and you still know I do.
Love, keep and honor - always true to you.

Though I have been tempted,
oh I have never strayed.
I'd die before I'd damage,
this union we have made.

The vows go unbroken - and you still know I do.
Love, keep and honor - always true to you.

I knew from the first - that for better or worse,
I'd stand by you all my life.

And the vows go unbroken - and you still know I do.
Love, keep and honor - always true to you.
Love, keep and honor - always true to you.

Jamir, many thanks once again. You are an excellent storehouse of some of the best work of art!

Time after time after time!



This is one of my all time favourites.

Reminds me of my hay days, those mid summer afternoons, as a kid, those aimless meanderings without knowing what I needed (or wanted), the warm sunshine, muddy roads, chill mountain winter winds, the lush green, the once in a while fastidious ball game, those peach trees which were always on the 'other side of the fence' ..................................

Folks, check out Time after time by Cindy Lauper

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick,
And think of you
Caught up in circles confusion -
Is nothing new
Flashback - warm nights -
Almost left behind
Suitcases of memories,
Time after -

Sometimes you picture me -
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said -
Then you say - go slow -
I fall behind -The second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting
Time after time

After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows - you're wondering
If I'm OK
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time -

If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting
Time after time

You said go slow -
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds -

If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting
Time after time

Time after time
Time after time
Time after time
Time after time
Time after time
Time after time

Friday, September 15, 2006

Yellow & Lime



Continuing my chain of exce-super-llent tracks and their lyrics, here is another mega-treat from the yesteryears, something that we have most certainly heard not very long ago..............

Check out the Yellow Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden

I'm sitting here in the boring room
It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I'm wasting my time
I got nothing to do
I'm hanging around
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder

I'm driving around in my car
I'm driving too fast
I'm driving too far
I'd like to change my point of view
I feel so lonely
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder

I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree

I'm sitting hereI miss the power
I'd like to go out taking a shower
But there's a heavy cloud inside my head
I feel so tired
Put myself into bed
Well, nothing ever happens and I wonder

Isolation is not good for me
Isolation I don't want to sit on the lemon-tree

I'm steppin' around in the desert of joy
Baby anyhow I'll get another toy
And everything will happen and you wonder

I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
And I wonder, wonder

I wonder howI wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see, and all that I can see, and all that I can see
Is just a yellow lemon-tree

Diamonds are forever!



Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun,
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

Another of my favz.........this track is simply awe-fantastic, because of it's lyrics, music and most characteristically it's being so successfull in telling you of a person (then & now)!

Brij, thanks, once again, for introducing me to this magnum opus
Folks, that's Shine on you crazy diamond for you!


Thursday, September 14, 2006

The World, with You and Me!



Here is another sample of a track which I came to love instantly on hearing it!
Wonderful music, fantabulous lyrics..............straight from the docks of Nirvana.

It's called The Man who sold the world.

Read on and tell me if this ever tells you what you are or what you can be!
Sounds chaotic / confusing? Read on......... & do listen to the track when you get the chance;

We passed upon the stairs,
We spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there
He said I was his friend
Which came as a surprise
I spoke into his eyes -- I thought you died alone
A long long time ago

Oh no, not me,
We never lost control,
You're face to face,
With the man who sold the world

I laughed and shook his hand,
I made my way back home,
I searched for form and land,
Years and years I roamed,
I gazed a gazely stare,
We walked a million hills -- I must have died alone,
A long long time ago.

Who knows, not me,
I never lost control,
You're face, to face,
With the man who sold the world.


My friend Jamir -
Many thanks for this superb work of art!

Friday, September 08, 2006

Reactivation confirmed! 27 years later!

September 8, 1979 - Saturday - 08:50 am IST

About 10 minutes to 09:00hrs that morning, another human life was added to the near billion strong Indian population.
Prime Minister Morarji Desai's government had crumbled and Charan Singh became the next occupant of the Prime Minister's Office.
Somewhere in Kannur, a town which is part of the Northern expanse of the south Indian state of Kerala, a family witnessed the coming of its newest entrant.
63 days later that little being was shipped off to Ooty, a hill-station amidst the pristine mountains of the Nilgiri Biosphere where he continued to live for nearly the next two and a half decades.

Since then to now, life has been source a multitude of experiences for me that have helped shape my actions, values, ideologue, attitude....................in short my entire person.
My parents decided to call me Rakesh which symbolized light that eradicated darkness and brought about peace and tranquility. Apt choice I must say, something which I have always been very proud of all along. (Except that there probably are more than 1 million Rakeshs across the globe today!)
As a child, I took immense pleasure in being addressed by my first name and responded with a firm and very definite manner pronouncing my name for those who queried.

Ooty has been a wonderful place to live, in the midst of high rise mountains studded with pine and eucalyptus plantations dotted with miles and miles of tea estates often touched by an ever lasting curtain of mist complemented with warm sunlight and chilling breeze which would make any person call it Heaven on Earth.
Kerala too played a huge role in shaping the person that I now am for it is there that I learnt the true essence and meaning of being part of a family that traced its roots back to 700 years.
The vast acres of plain land filled with coconut groves and mango trees are part of my earliest memories that I very vividly remember even to this very date.

And then all of that changed barely two years into being! I contracted a severe form of dysentry that endangered my very existence a great deal. Folks took me lengths and breadths seeking appropriate treatment to rid me of my affliction.
When all doors stood closed and it was apparent that nothing could be done, except let the 'little one' succumb to the malady, a good soul suggested the name of Fr. Muller's Hospital, Mangalore where I was promptly taken for what turned out to be a near four month long treatment following which I emerged cleansed and ready for a new beginning. It was the first of many many times that I would come close to being pulled back from the edge!

Raising me was an agonizing process as my folks recall for I was more or less the exacted yesteryear version of Calvin (Calvin & Hobbes). As a child, I was hyper-active which led me to do many a thing which was not considered normal, such as chucking live chicken into the well, metting out some attrocious treatment to cats, dogs and other known four legged creatures. My subjects of experiments were not limited to animals alone. Human beings of all sizes and shapes came as easy samples considering my schemingly cunning naughty experimental nature.
My folks were traumatized raising me during my early years and the amount of pain and embarrassment were a constant source of worry to all those near and dear. Extra measures of precaution had to be taken and enforced considering my volatile nature which meant keeping most potentially dangerous substances way beyond the area designated out of reach. It is with a great amount of regret and remorse that I sincerely apologize to all those who have been victimized my my acts of outrage. I am sorry to all you folks who have had buckets of water falling on them from the sky, those of you whose eyes were covered with turmeric powder while asleep, some of you who have lost half their moustaches while asleep, many of you who have been electrocuted in one way or the other...........................I'm extremely sorry!
I know the list goes on and on. And to the souls of the many tens and tens of animals that have been a mute testimony of my inhuman acts of savage brutality, God, please do not consign me to the vast expanses of hell. I was merely a kid who had no track of what he was doing and therefore lacked the understanding of comprehending the seriousness of the act that was being committed.

My folks were extremely concerned about one particular habit of mine which involved my piling of papers and burning them down for no apparent reason. Doubts were cast about the possibility of me turning into an Arsonist upon growing up. Thankfully with time, I shed all my unusual traits which can at best be described as the actions of a bored kid!

Schooling was a lot of fun although I was never a good student. My record of sleeping in classes dated upto days of college! Lazy as I always have been, folks at home invested a great deal of time, money and energy in stabilizing my career which failed to match the wishes of my folks for all reasons that were a cause of my actions. Later years in college past with lightning speed and no subtantial achivement. To date, I regard them as some of the darkest moments of my life. I have learnt that life is more of a circle which contains both good and bad. Actions that have shaped at one point of time do certainly have a long drawn set of consequences that extended to a deep future which in turn shapes the manner in which life develops.
"Take care of your thoughts and actions, for what you think and do, you become."
This has prehaps never been so true in any case other than mine. I say so with unflinching conviction because I have witnessed over the time how one's thoughts influences one's actions and therefore results in related consequences. It is therefore very important to think with a very positive frame of mind desiring positive results. However, due to being a critical Virgo whose elements have been related more to practicality and less of anticipation, I have forever been a little more pessimistic in my approach towards anything in life. Negative thoughts lead to negative actions, negative people, negative approach and finally negative consequences. Negativity is in itself a huge well whose depths are unfathomable and largely unknown and if trudged into one over a period of time, it becomes a latent impossibility to get out of the same.

Having lived some very dark years in Mangalore, Kannur and Ooty during the period 1996 - 2005, I set foot into Delhi and Gurgaon where life has taken a turn for the better.
I have learnt a great deal from the rich experience that I have had being part of the wonderful organization that I work at. People and inncidents have helped shape a better perspective of life and a certain focus that helps understand oneself better before embarking upon a journey of sorts.

Reactivation Confirmed! 27 years later, is my attempt to forget the past and look into a better future while more importantly, living in the present. Your greatest competition is your own view of the future and the future will be here sooner than later, so why bother?
As I step into another personal realm, having crossed a major milestone in life, I feel a sense of relief and joy for I have for the first time made an attempt to know my own person with a very genuine effort. I am extremely thankful to all those who have helped me and stood by me during my times of tribulation and testing. I have been fortunate in enjoying the company of good friends and folks who have helped me get better by the day staving off a great deal of negativity that was once a large part of my psyche.

Almighty God, thou art the creator of all matter - living and lifeless, far and beyond, small and big. I realize that you have created me with a definite purpose as you have created every other being. I realize that if I have had bad times, I will enjoy the good ones too and that life is in itself a journey of experience that comes with time and effort. I shall continue to strive to be better in what I do and will henceforth abandon my irrationality of pessimism.

As I close this post, I would like to highlight a small comment that my dear friend Adi left on my post a few days ago.

It reads "The best is yet to come.....just watch! Have gratitute towards the creator, live the moment to perfection. Have patience & perseverance. Never give up & never ever lose hope!!!"

Adi, as always, you have been a source of encouragement, goodwill, courage and vision like no one else. Today, you have redifined your role by being someone who has induced a change for the better of something that would ordinarily not matter in life. Words fail me a great deal as I thank you for your continued efforts and unflinching resolve.

Today is a new beginning, something very very new, I promise.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Quarantine Matters! A Steve Irwin, like none other, ever, forever!

These Hitlers use the camouflage of science to make money out of animals. So whenever they murder our animals and call it sustainable use, I'll fight it. Since when has killing a wild animal, eating it or wearing it, ever saved a species?
There are people who butt out their cigarettes in gorilla-paw ashtrays, with wastepaper baskets that were once elephant feet, who have ivory ornaments, who wear cheetah fur. Don't buy these things! Then there'll be no market and the animals won't be killed.
We have domesticated livestock raised for consumption and perfectly good fake leather and fur, so why must we kill wild animals to satisfy the macabre taste of some rich person?

Quarantine Matters!

- Stephen (Steve) Robert Irwin - 22 Feb 1962 - 04 Sep 2006

Strange are the ways that death visits some of us, equally shocking and appalling too!
The world famous Australian Naturalist, wildlife expert and television icon known across the globe for as the Crocodile Hunter is no more.
Swimming close to a stingray, he was stung in the chest by its barb (dagger shaped tail) which reportedly left a hole in his heart.
When I saw the news on Google at 6:43pm IST today, the news was already well past a day and a half old.
Like millions of fans across the globe, I was shocked beyond comprehension at this freak accident and took a few moments to regain myself! It seemed unbelievable and when I did realize how true this actually was, I frantically searched and read more and more news off the internet!
A wasted death, that has significantly weakened the championing of a genuine cause.

At a time when this legend was the face of television via the Discovery Channel & Animal Planet, his death seemed an incident that could not be imagined.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard in his condolence message exacted that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son" while Prime Minister Peter Beattie of Queensland extended the offer of a state funeral.

The man as we know him (and will continue to) shot into fame in the year 1991 when he took over 'The Park', a family business which he renamed 'Australian Zoo' in 1992. During the same year he met Terri Raines whom he later married.
Crocodile Hunter first hit TV screens in 1996 in Australia before it gained publicity world over, and when it did, it was soon and electric. By the year 1999, Steve had gained immense popularity in the United States and made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Around the same time, the already famed series was being beamed in more than a 125 countries. His pronounced Austrlian accent combined with a wonderfully articulated presentation style and trademark khakis came to be recognized as iconic.

Perhaps to best describe Steve, behind his vibrant nature that attracted millions, there existed an iron-will to fight poaching, smuggling and endangering of any and all widlife, irrespective of species, geographical location and so-called importance.

He founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which was later renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, and became an independent charity. He also helped to found a number of other projects, such as the International Crocodile Rescue, as well as the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, in memory of his mother, with proceeds going to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

With fame came a great deal of criticism and flak. Steve was accused of venturing too close to animals and disturbing their peace and was also rapped for a so called unsophisticated view of conservation in Australia which seemed more linked to tourism than the problems Australia faces as a continent.
In 2002, the Sydney Morning Herald reported lines from Steve's public statement which read "Here is my greatest gift to the world," he cries. "We need to stand proud of what is Australia … the greatest grazing nation on the face of the Earth! The whole joint is grazing land … and by crikey we're good at it! We should be … [eating] beef and lamb, not kangaroos and crocodiles.They're why tourists come to Australia. They are tourism icons!"

Most of us recall his brush with the media when on 02 January 2004, he was filmed feeding chicken to crocodiles while holding his then one-month old son Bob. Stark comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson, who dangled his son out of a hotel window in Germany many years ago. Several child welfare and animal rights groups attacked Steve for what was supposedly (labelled) as child abuse and an unprofessional act that could have been a big disaster. However, despite mounting pressure from far and wide, Steve refused to categorize his actions as uncharacteristic and refused also to apologize calling the media's outcry as uncalled for while saying that there was no danger to his son other than perceived danger!
While the entire episode quickly died down, it prompted the Queensland Government to change its crocodile handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures.

In November 2003, Steve was filming a documentary on Sea Lions off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula when he heard via his boat's radio that two scuba divers were reported missing in the area. Steve and his entire crew suspended operations to aid in the search. His team's divers searched with the rescue divers, and Irwin used his vessel to patrol the waters around the island where the incident occurred, as well as using his satellite communications system to call in a rescue plane. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers, Scott Jones, perched on a narrow ledge of rocks over waters with dangerous currents. Steve and a crewmember escorted him to Steve's boat. Jones reported not recognising his celebrity rescuer as he had never seen Steve on television.
The other lost diver, Katie Vrooman, was found dead the following day by a search plane not far from Jones's location.

In 2001 Steve was awarded the Centenary Medal for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism".
In 2004 he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year. He was also nominated in 2004 for The Australian of the Year; an honour which was won by Steve Waugh. However, following the little Bob incident, his nomination did not materialize.

During the course of his life, he funded and presided many conservation efforts that have helped save many endangered species of reptiles, birds and other animals. It is very unfortunate that a person of such stature should have succumbed so tragically and most of all at a time when the world needed him the most.

Steve, whatever you have done to make the world a better place for all its creations has always been a magnificient effort, something that has been a result fueled due to superhuman effort and unparalleled commitment.
You have remarkably described how powerful the power of one is!
Your legacy will continue for ages to come.................................................

Australia, worry not, for the death of your beloved Son shall not once diminish his dream of a just and free planet where human beings understand and recognize their existence as co-creations and not the superior species!

Friday, September 01, 2006

Windmills of time.

Some stories are legends and there are times when I live the life of a drifter.
Renewing commintment with newer words, actions and increased gusto,
I wait for another new day in the hope that life will change for the better,
and time slowly yet steadily moves forward, taking age along with it.
And memories echo in the distance of what wonderful times I lived in,
while hoping above all else for the best that is yet to come.
Life is indeed a stage where every act somehow matters in some way or form.
Travelling through the dust storms of fate, enjoying an unexpected oasis in the middle of the vast desert, bracing the bitterly cold rainy lonely nights and sometimes the excruciating heat of the Sun.
In an endless wait coupled with hope, I expect that someone and something to be a part of my life, blinded by all emotion and feeling that rule me.

Life always goes on, it's the living that stops!

Folks...............check out the following words that are the lyrics of the monumental "Soldier of Fortune" from the stables of Deep Purple.

Does it somewhere say that "Fortune favours the brave?"

I have often told you stories
About the way
I lived the life of a drifter
Waiting for the day
When I'd take your hand
And sing you songs
Then maybe you would say
Come lay with me love me
And I would surely stay

But I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune

Many times I've been a traveller
I looked for something new
In days of old
When nights were cold
I wandered without you
But those days I thought my eyes
Had seen you standing near
Though blindness is confusing
It shows that you're not here

Now I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Yes, I can hear the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune

Do listen to the track sometime...............It is a wonderful source of relaxation and a superb treat.

Brij, my friend, thanks a million for this masterpiece.