Awesome Nature

Just returning back from a tour of exotic places like Wayanad, Coorg, etc, thoughts keep reeling upon the stunning beauty of Nature which has been praised upon from the time of Man.

Still, there can be no words enough to describe a breathtakingly beautiful scene, ephemeral or ever-lasting.

Among the visceral appreciation that one attributes toward Nature, flowers are the beautiful ladies. Here are some pictures that I couldn't resist sharing. To me, each one tells a tale. I be a lone audience? I do not know.

A beautiful red. Red is a colour of different shades. Bright red is flashy and cute. But the deeper shades are more beautiful. Just like love. Red hearts.

Those really great moments of life that are cherished forever are like dew drops. Life, in itself, may be beautiful, but along with these dew drops, it gets compounded and is definitely a sight to behold.

Cheerfulness is a virtue that, not all possess. It is contagious. A full blossom is very cheerful. In fact, it brings a smile to the face. Doesn't it?

Silence is golden. Humility transcends silence. Beauty, combined with humility is something that cannot be described. Bashfully, the flower looks down, so people would bow and awe its beauty.

Standing tall. Head held high and inspiring. What is sometimes missed is that, this is not a single flower. It is a cluster. Alleviates the whole meaning of 'togetherness'.

A beautiful shade of pink and a gorgeous flower. Though this flower will wither and fall off shortly, that is not what you see when you look at it. Death is permanent, but life is not spent expecting it. Now is (a) present.

Sometimes, looking forward can be a warm feeling. Hope is a good thing, probably the best of things. Sometimes, people deserve to get their faith rewarded. When they are, thankfully they look up to the sky, believing in some power - God, luck, probability, conscience, karma, something.

No man is without faith. It is what keeps us going. Inspiration exists. It is only in the perspective. An unpolished diamond is a rock in the gander of an artless fool.

I like the word, 'beautiful'. It has got a nice ring to it. Nature is beautiful. Flowers are only a part of Nature.

A State of Mind

A state of mind. Happiness.

Looking back, it was pitch black. Not that he hadn't seen dark places before or in the recent past, but this was different. Earlier he stood in the dark while looking at it. Now however, he was standing in light. Funnily, it occurred to him that, in light, darkness seemed darker. His mind went on reeling. Backward. He looked sideways.

A state of mind. Relief.

He saw his friend. He had a famished look on his face. Both of them had never parted ways. Always being together, was something that hardened both of them; to the point that, one would feel incapacitated without the other. Funnily, it occurred to him that he didn't feel that way about anyone else. His mind went reeling. Backward. He strained his eyes.

A state of mind. Disappointment.

He did reach out, though there was nothing to prove it. No one to prove it? No, you couldn't say so. There was proof standing beside. Still, disappointment pervades relief. He thought someone would follow through. The two stood there, waiting for a very long time. Were they in a hurry? No, not at all. Still, no one came through. He thought it was his fault no one else came. He felt bad. His mind went on reeling. Backward.

A state of mind. Guilt.

It was a tunnel, a long and dark one. Really long and really dark. He had determination. Frustration would mount sometimes. Pain was no longer the driving force there. Pain was meaningless. Whereas frustration meant that sooner or later, giving up would follow. The abandoned sailor, out of uncontrollable thirst, turning to salt water. He tried his best. In all ways. To motivate, communicate. A frustrated mind doesn't listen. Still, he tried. His only consolation was that he could reach out to at least one. His eyes were moist. His mind went reeling. Backward.

A state of mind. Diversion.

The dark tunnel however was a tantalizing one. Not the sort of tantalizing that would tempt an ignorant creature venture into it, but the sort that feeds a spoon, just a spoon of hope, when almost all was lost. There were these really small holes on the walls of the tunnel. They didn't have a pattern, they didn't serve any real function, but their aim, their purpose was to tantalize. Light, like hope, pervades. Creeps up into the most unreachable of places. The frustrated few, got excited now! "Oh wait, I can dig through. I can get out." Valiant attempts, but in vain. He, however knew that the only way to get out was to move forward. But they wouldn't listen to the two! They really believed what they thought.

A state of mind. Illusion.

They thought what they liked to think. When faced in a dilemma, we always take a side. Impartiality is overrated. "I hope its not so." in itself, is choosing a side. Acceptance is clouded by illusion. They dug, and the only thing that happened was the bruising of their hands. They continued, saying, "I can't give up now." There is no worse illusion than false hope. Some complained and continued, whereas some gave up. What they all didn't understand that they forgot to move on, to move forward. His friend placed his hand on his shoulder. His thoughts vanished; he couldn't judge them; for they had already met the consequences.

A state of mind. Reality.

There is no escaping reality. The two knew it. Solutions come with progress, and the only progress was to move forward. They held hands and walked out into the light; they felt sorry for those didn't make it, more importantly, they felt grateful that they made it. He felt compelled to speak. It had been quite a while since anybody spoke. Happiness, fogged by many other emotions, that he only managed to utter,

"I thank, whatever gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul."



P.S.: The quote is from a poem called Invictus. Wonderful poem, do read it. Inspiration for this post is also the same.

If you're reading this line, thank you for your patience. I will take the liberty of saying that, you would've related yourself in some circumstance, to at least one of the states of mind described above. Thank you :)

The Difference

Out of nowhere, he heard a voice.

"Walk with your eyes closed. Walk, not a mile, not four score yards, just ten feet. You'll realize what your real fears are."

He tried. It was terrifying. When he opened his eyes, tears started gushing out like a broken dam. Those were the worst moments of his life.

"It, truly is terrifying.", he cried to the surrounding emptiness.

For a few moments, a ghastly silence. Not even minutes, just moments. But never so dilated, lengthened, uncertain.

"Hold someone's hand and try the same.", was to be heard again.

"What difference does it make?"

"All that's needed."

Contraction, Irritation and One very pissed off fellow!

*cough* *cough*

When e-mails and SMSes were first introduced, their length was limited by the size because there wasn't enough sophistication to send large messages through networks. This led to the coughing up of various short-forms or contractions such as,

Btw - by the way
Fyi - for your info
Imo - in my opinion and some reasonably few to mention. But lets not get into all that.

That very pissed off fellow here, is me. Yes, me only.

Somewhere along the road, these contractions seemed to lose their purpose and began to indicate bad manners. I'd like to point out some examples here.

First of all, please. 'Please' in itself is short for 'if you please'. Now, you people go and further shorten it, in vicariously varied versions like 'pls', 'pl'. If we let, you will further do even 'p'. Why so? You're asking for a favour only, no? Then ask properly. Put your pleases fully. Someone should come and teach this and all?

Second, sorry. Ok, its understandable that you don't want to use 'I beg your pardon', because it, sort of indicates that the other person is your superior. They have invented a wonderful word called sorry na? 'Sry', 'sowwie' are some lame forms of it. Feeling half-sorry eh? Yen da ipdi?

Coming to thanks! Oh my Blessed Goodness ! Quite a hellhole of trouble this thanks goes through. You are thanking somebody, means that he/she has done something for you. A favour, obligation whatever. Can't you even say thank you properly? 'Ty', it seems. Be the case that please and sorry be excused, shortening thanks is nothing less than idiocy only. Idhula, 'tanks', 'tanx','tanq' vera? :-/


Leaving all these trivial things, I recently having had my b'day, was replying to my wall posts on Facebook, when to my shock, somebody had posted,


"hb"

I mean, "Happy b'day" is fine but "hb", what the fuck?  You take all the pains to reach my home page and post "hb"? HB what? You want pencil ah? First get some manners. Then go looking for pencils; or oh wait, he meant to say, "Happy birthday"! Well, Mr.I'm-so-busy-to-type-a-few-extra-chars, keep your wish to yourself. I'm fine with 2 lesser letters.


Don't cut back on courtesy and favour please. Very bad impression, it gives.

So this is what it feels like!

And, so finally, I can sleep peacefully. If Christopher Nolan's very good at something, its living upto people's expectations, no matter how great they are.

Two years of maddening hype finally culminated into a 2 hr 45 min spectacle which, could rarely be improved upon. Still, this movie doesn't surpass its predecessor. Heck, no movie can surpass something like "The Dark Knight".

Dark Knight Rises isn't more about Bane as Dark Knight was about Joker. It is about Batman, Bruce Wayne and Gotham City. Bane lacks the intellectual insanity of Joker and though physically dominating Batman in every aspect, Bane just isn't Joker, neither Tom Hardy, Heath Ledger.


Dialogues give the movie a grandeur, that makes it humorously very rich! For a popcorn grinding machine like me, to be so absorbed in the movie as to forget about the popcorn, happens so rarely that this is only the 2nd time. You could guess the first.

There are a few unanswered questions, but they can be drowned in the awesomeness. Nolan shows his connective brilliance throughout.

Dark Knight Rises = Begins + Dark Knight

An awesome performance by Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Anne Hathway and Morgan Freeman. Marion Cotillard brings her mencaing charm from Inception along with her to give a superb performance.


"So this is what it feels like" to have watched Dark Knight Rises. This is unarguably the best conclusive trilogy that could've ever been made.

No spoilers guys! Go watch and be amazed :)

A Realization

Knowing me, I'm a person of lots of opinions. Some strong and some feeble. One thing that I do definitely believe in is that, 'A classroom is not a place.'

Yes, "A classroom is not a place."

According to me, a classroom is an experience. What goes in, and what comes out, are different things, unless you have a queer and unbeatable habit of sleep and lethargy. Ignoring all that, a good class is enjoyed, a tedious class is pulled through whereas a bad class is enjoyed.

Might sound queer, but there's nothing more a vexatiously funny fact than a teacher being unprepared for class. Its almost, if not definitely, an oxymoron.

Anyway, even there, some realization happens. And, that something is,


"இவனுக்கெல்லாம்  வேலை கிடைக்கும்போது , எனக்கு கண்டிப்பா  கிடைக்கும்  டா !" 

ஒரு பயனற்ற பொருள்

Before I begin this post, let me say two things.

1) I'm not a male chauvinist. In fact, I dont know even how to spell it! :-D

2) As you can see, this post is gonna be in Tamizh.
 
காலை 9 மணி . ரயில் நிலையத்தில் சில பேர் ட்ரெயின்க்காக ஆவலாய் காத்திருப்பார்கள் . அவர்களுக்கு அலுவலுக்கு நேரம்  ஆயிருக்குமோ என்னவோ ! சற்று தூரத்தில் சிறியதாய் தெரியும் , ட்ரெயின் வருவது . "ஹப்பாடி !" என்று  நினைப்பார்கள் . ஆனால் கிட்டே வந்தவுடனோ , "செ , இதுக்கு ட்ரெயின் வராமலே இருந்திருக்கலாம்!" என்று நினைப்பார்கள் . அவர்கள் நினைப்பது முற்றிலும் சரியானதே ! நானும் அவ்வாறு நினைப்பவன் தான் .

ஏனென்றால் , அது ஒரு பயனற்ற பொருள் . வெட்டி பெருமை பீத்திகொள்வதற்கு விடப்பட்ட ஒன்று . லேடீஸ் SPECIAL  ட்ரெயின் . எப்பொழுதுமே காலியாக செல்லும் . அதில் இருக்கும் பெண்கள் எல்லோரும் கூடி உட்கார்ந்தால் 4 பெட்டிகள் கூட முழுவதும் நிரம்பாது ; கடுப்பாக இருக்கும் . அதுத்த ட்ரெயின் கூட்டமாக வரும் . மேலும் தாமதம்  ஆகும்.

சரி , லேடீஸ் SPECIAL தான் விட்டீர்கள் , அதை நன்றாக கொட்டை எழுத்தில் போட வேண்டியது தானே ? ஏன்  இந்த கஞ்சத்தனம்? சிறியதாய் ஒரு பெண்ணின் முகம் கொண்ட ஒரு வரைபடம் MSB  என்பதற்கு அருகில் வைக்கிறார்கள் . ஏன்? இன்னும் சிக்கனமாய் ஒரு பாஸ்போர்ட் சைஸ் போட்டோ வைக்க வேண்டியது தானே?

இதை காணாமல் , தெரியாமல் ஏற வருபவர்களுக்கு ஒரு போலீஸ் அம்மா அங்கே வாசலில் ஒரு குச்சியை வைத்துக்கொண்டு , "தோப்பு, தோப்பு" என்று தட்டும். ஏதோ மந்தை ஆதுகளை விரட்டுவது போல ! மிகவும் கேவலமாக இருக்கும் !

"ஏன் டா? ட்ரெயின் SCHEDULE  பாக்க வேண்டியது தானே?", என்று நீங்கள் என்னை கேக்கலாம்.. பார்த்து என்ன பயன்? தாமதம் தாமதம் தானே? தலை தெறிக்க ஓடி வருபவனுக்கு SCHEDULE  நின்று பார்க்க நேரம் உள்ளதா  என்ன?

அப்படி பெண்கள் சிரமம் இன்றி பயணம் செய்ய வேண்டுமென்றால் , 9இல் 6 பேட்டிகள் பெண்களுக்கு ஒதுக்க வேண்டியது தானே ?


எதையும் சிறிதும் யோசனை செய்யாமல் வேலை செய்யும் மக்கள் ! சிரமம் என்னவோ , 'சிறிது' அதிகமாய் தூங்கிவிட்ட என் போல் இருப்பவர்களுக்கு தான் ! இவ்வாறு சில யோசனைகளும் , இந்த ட்ரெயினை விட்டவர்களை திட்டி சில கொச்சையான சொற்களும் வந்து செல்லும் நேரத்தில் அதுத்த ட்ரெயின் வரும் . நிரம்பி வழிந்து கொண்டு .

"நம் தலை எழுத்து ! நாம் தானே லேட்டாக எழுந்தோம்?", என்று நினைத்துக்கொண்டு தொங்கிக்கொண்டு செல்லும் பிழைப்பு ! கொடுமையடா !