Highway to Hell

Highway to Hell

Not the AC/DC song, but the tale of hell on our highways.

I feel I must acknowledge that there are probably VERY few exceptions.


Buses 

Constituting the major chunk of public transport oft gives them the right to stop anywhere on the road. Leftist, Rightist or center, you dare not question them. More often than not they realize at the last minute to take a turn and of course end up taking a mute turn.

Bikes

Zipping across the roads at speeds not less than 90kmph is considered an insult. They have superpowers to squeeze through gaps which even mice would find daunting. Add the callousness towards traffic rules and the compelling need to demonstrate their dexterity in biking skills by driving with one hand, wheeling etc ,  you have a disastrous mixture for perennial accidents ready!

Horns 

Jarring sounds resonating throughout the road effectively masking the direction of origin. Best way to get on someones nerve on the road. The power of this is truly felt when the traffic doesn’t move despite the green signal.

Potholes 

Disrupts the social hierarchy of power. Whether you own a Benz or a Bajaj scooter or whatever be the horsepower of your ego, potholes don’t flatten. A scooter simply overtakes a truck by swinging left and the latter is left behind lagging.

Pedestrians  

Ever deaf, non-caring jaywalkers. Given that the roads come from the tax payers money, they somehow have it in their heads that they are to be proclaimed "kings of the road" and every one else HAS to stop to give them way!

Traffic lights  

It is hard to believe that these 3 small round lights can be such tortuous testers of patience. The mad acceleration to just make it to the signal and the cussing and the anxious wait that follows for the signal to turn green. Sometimes ignored by the users of road who seem to follow the lights flashing in front of their eyes.
 

Animals 

The roads belong to man and animals alike; Such is the reverence shown that, the entire traffic diverts itself to accommodate a family of cud-chewing buffaloes/cows out on their evening stroll. In effect the holy cow becomes the cop and the cop a holy cow.

Parking Facilities  

Eternally full and even if you are lucky enough to spot a vacancy, one needs to be cunning to snap the place. If you think getting in is hard, getting out of these is even worse. Searching frantically for the parking slip and cutting across lines of parked vehicles, you would heave a sigh of relief to be out of these.

Roads 

With the combination of all the above, they know no bias. These maligned roads with their potholes, manholes and speed breakers are strict enforcers of liberty, equality and fraternity. Also, they seem to serve those who stand and wait, the best!

Long live the roads!

Tell Yourself

When the white snow drips

From the bare wooden branches,

When the cold wind rises

Set to expose your very soul,

Never stop, tell yourself

This journey, long and winding

With no seeming end in sight

Footsteps across cracking white

When entombed in the darkness,

Never be afraid, tell yourself

Sounds of wind, like a dirge

Flustered thoughts crowding the mind

What if you cannot not make it,

Embrace the possibility of defeat but,

Never give in, tell yourself

Longing for the winter heat of stars,

Listen to the tune in your bones,

Give it your all to rise above

And if it happens that you cannot,

Love yourself for what you were, are and will be

As the curtains come crashing down

There will be light, tell yourself

30 Years of (Near) Perfection....

“The very best of sport — in this era easily capsulated in two words, a given name and a surname, Roger Federer — not only transcends the mundane and offers us a seat on a flight to stratospheric heights of creativity and genius but also its memory remains with us forever. “ wrote Nirmal Shekar, a renowned Indian journalist. But what remained with us, all these years, is not just this memory, but a realization – a realization that when passion, sweat and intrinsic talent blend, we have sheer magic.

Federer gave us this realization. And much more. On this day when he enters third decade of life, we wanted to put in words about how much of an impact this has left in our lives (this turned out to be the toughest task in our lives! :P ).

We said Federer had nothing more to do after be number one for the 285 weeks, we said he had nothing more to do after finally winning Roland Garros. But this man keeps coming back again and again. Now, that’s called passion. Who else would play a match today, on his birthday, when some of us prefer to chuck work and get drunk on such days? Similarly, it pushed one of us to pursue a kind-of-unconventional career path, just for the sake of passion.

And when we started following our passion, obstacles followed us just as faithfully as the Hutch dog. And many a times we wanted to give up cause we couldn’t take it anymore. For example, when one of us went to another new continent for studying, we became a victim of chickenpox within a week of landing there. The easier option was to just pack bags home, but we just tried to hang in there, and it did get better from there on! This process certainly became a bit easier when we had an idol to look upto, who is an epitome of optimism and never-say-die attitude. Federer once said, “I don’t quit once I step on court” and until today, he has almost never retired from any match, once it got underway.

Another important ingredient for his success according to us is of course, his hard work. He was the number one for 285 long weeks! Complacency never found a friend in Federer – he says that he has always ‘been hungry’ . He even hired some of the best coaches like Tony Roche and Paul Annacone to get critical opinions. So, a lot of friends have asked us on why we are over critical about our work, you now have your answers ;)

Several sports journalists and tennis legends have often called Federer a ‘complete gentleman’. He accepts that he played under his potential on some days, and that the opponent had outplayed him if he loses. The ease with which he pulls this off just leaves us awestruck, especially cause, we ourselves would never be able to agree to the fact that Federer could ever be outplayed. This ability of Federer to be in peace with the reality keeps him focused on his goals. No loss however big it is, doesn’t throw him off track. Similarly, one of us had a dream of studying masters in US, that couldn’t materialize. But we did learn that everything isn’t lost because of this ‘one game’ and we are doing good in our careers, to say so.

Now, since, we have quite a few friends who love Nadal as well - this one is specially for you guys :) The friendship that Nadal and Federer share is probably the friendliest that tennis history has ever seen. Even though they have met several times in the past few Slams, they share an immense respect for each other. Fanatic fans of Federer and Nadal need to learn a lesson or two from the warmth they share. And that does include us both as well. For sure.

And those were the days when Federer was the best player in tennis. Now, he seems to lose many more matches than he has done in the past. Earlier, we both used to be so depressed about his loses that we led the a cocooned life for a whole week after Federer lost a grand slam final – boycotted newspapers, text messages and facebook wall posts from friends. But now, it really doesn’t seem to matter. That maybe due to the fact that we have gained the maturity to look at the bigger picture. This has gotten us calm about his life as the deep seas now - we are more than happy with him just being a good human being (like that of being a key organizer of the flood relief match right before the Australian Open this year) and a good player, which we still believe he is. Its just that the other guys are getting equally or more better than him.

In case you know us pretty well, you know how amazingly impulsive we are. We get happiest for the smallest of the things and depressed for even more trivial matters. But this maturity with which we look at Federer right now is slowly spilling onto our lives as well. Like how both of us are learning to become immune to what others say about us.

And this fall of Federer has made him much more of an inspiration, for us, at least. Federer was considered infallible - the wall that could never be broken.He is just as vulnerable and human as any of us and not immortal. And our comparisons of his life with ours seems a tiny little bit more realistic that it did, in the past. Finally, if 16 grand slams have come, can 17th be far behind? ;)

Authors: Rohini Raman and Karthika Ramanathan :)

Brew it.. Drink it.. Live it..

Dedicated to all the coffee lovers...

Well the blog had to be revived after its long hiatus and what better way to do it than a post about COFFEE. The very thought of it makes you close your eyes, filling your nose with the exotic aroma of coffee seeds and you can almost feel the taste of it on your tongue (of course you have got to be a coffee addict to experience this bliss!).

All great things seem to surface from a mistake or two; well looks like coffee is no exception to that. Legend has it that coffee was “discovered” by a sheep herder in Ethiopia, who saw his sheep become hyper when they fed on the red “cherries” from a plant ( now known as coffee). This plant later went on to become an inseparable part of one and all. In any South Indian household, the day does not begin without the traditional filter kaapi and devotional songs. No better way to commence one's morning than sitting in a chair with the newspaper in one hand and hot coffee in the other.

Nailing down the technicalities, Coffee is basically a drink brewed from roasted coffee seeds, called coffee beans. Brasil is the world leading producer of this wonder drink seed. Based on the aroma, flavor and size of the coffee beans, there appears to be a classification. With a little help from Google, here is a list of the most popular ones :

Americano: A single shot of espresso with about 7 ounces of hot water added to the mix. The name for this coffee drink apparently stemmed from an insult to ‘uncouth’ Americans who weren’t up to drinking full espressos.

Black Coffee: A drip brew, percolated or French press style coffee served straight, with no milk

Caffe Latte: Essentially, a single shot of espresso in steamed (not frothed) milk where the ratio of milk to coffee should be about 3:1

Cafe Macchiato: A shot of espresso with steamed milk added where the ratio of coffee to milk is approximately 4:1

Cappuccino: Usually equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and frothed milk, often with cinnamon or flaked chocolate sprinkled on top

Espresso Con Panna: Your basic standard espresso with a shot of whipped cream on top.

Frappe: Originally a cold espresso, it has more recently been prepared putting 1-2 teaspoons of instant coffee with sugar, water and ice. The brew is placed in a long glass with ice, and milk if you like, turning it into a big coffee milkshake.

Iced coffee: A regular coffee served with ice, and sometimes milk and sugar.
And last but certainly not the least presenting our own :)

Madras filter coffee: A common brew in the south of India, Indian filter coffee is made from rough ground, dark-roasted coffee Arabica or Peaberry beans. It’s drip-brewed for several hours in a traditional metal coffee filter before being served. The ratio of coffee to milk is usually 3:1.

With this wide variety to choose how is it even possible to resist this amazing yet addictive drink. It sure does warm you up on a cold day, grinds away the rough edges after a tough night and makes the hours at work seem like minutes(personal experience!). There is always the eternal debate of how much of coffee is too much and is caffeine good, so on and so forth. Maybe too much of anything is good for nothing. But I say screw them all, get a cuppa and enjoy it :)

P.S. Anything can happen over a cup of coffee as well ;)

Not just a journey….

I remember how I used to wait to journey by train when I was a small child! We do become jaded in our ideas as we grow older, but in truth, there is no other mode of transport that gives so much satisfaction and joy as a train! Trains have existed since time immemorial and are the best ways to take an individual from one destination to another.

Watching the world outside as it moves backward in a trice. The beautiful landscapes to be replaced by newer ones. Ever seen the early morning sun rise while sitting in a train?? It is one of the most beautiful sights.The far away foggy hills acting like a veil to conceal the crimson glow. Birds flying across the amber sky leaving trails of songs and happiness behind. The misty ground vanishing below the wheels of the train. Dewdrops settled over the flowers sparkling as the first beam of sunlight hits them. Lined trees, the sunlight playing hide and seek between the leaves, vast expanse of lush green fields, backwaters. Watching the clear smoke from the engine line up the sky (electric trains are boring) .The smoky patterns which slowly merge with the clouds. Those long river bridges to gaze at our reflection in the clear blue water below. Cuddled away in one of the seats sipping on a cup of hot tea taking the sights in…Sigh!!!

Next, the co-passengers. Well that depends on whether lady luck is smiling at you or not. If she is, you will find yourselves amidst friendly people with whom you can have fun with the entire journey. If not, then well, less to talk about what is in store. Whatever be it you get to meet new kinds of people and you get a chance to widen your social circle. When you reach your destination you are thrilled and eagerly waiting to get started again. A train journey can be called an adventure in itself given to the amount of thrills and excitement it holds.

Our life is also like a train journey which has a start and a destination. At the start, when we do not know what is in store for us, we are filled with anticipation, excitement and enthusiasm. One has to plan out his/her life just like any other journey. One is accosted by so many varied situations and people and from that one can learn quite a lot of. After crossing several obstacles and experiencing joy and grief, when one reaches the destination, the happiness felt is unparalleled.