Music and Lyrics

Music, directly or indirectly is part of everyone's life. Every one looks at it from ones own point of view. Some like the lyrics, some the background...the whole package to others.

While Music is important part of me, I confess, I am not a lyrics man. But there are some of my favourite songs, where there are brilliant lyrics. Those 2 - 3 lines mean the whole song to me. I would like to share a few, let me know what you think about it.

I think there are two such lines in every song, which define a song to you. To me, these two lines and the music of it make a song.


Ghulam Ali,
Chupke Chupke ....


Khench le na voh mera parde ka kona daffatan - 2
Aur dupatte se tera voh munh chhupaana yaad hai
Humko ab tak aashiqui ka voh zamaana yaad hai
Chupke chupke raat din aansu bahaana yaad hai

Jagjit Singh - 

Tum itna jo Muskura rahe ho...

Rekhaon Ka Khel Hai Muqaddar

Rekhaon Se Maat Kha Rahe Ho

Jhuki Jhuki si Nazar -

teree ummeed pe thhukaraa rahaa hoo duniyaan ko

tuze bhee apane pe ye ayetabaar hain ke naheen 

Aapne Hoton pe Sajana chahata hoon - 

Aakhri hitchki tere zaano pe aaye

Maut bhi mai shaayerane  chahata hoon..

aapne hotope sajana chahata hoon

Swanand Kirkire -

Bavre Se Is Jahan Main Bavra Ek Saath Ho

Is Sayani Bheed Main Bas Haathon Mein Tera Haath Ho

Bavri Si Dhun Ho Koi, Bavra Ek Raag Ho

Bavri Si Dhun Ho Koi, Bavra Ek Raag Ho

Bavre Se Pair Chahen, Baavron Tarano Ke, Bavre Se Bol Pe Thirakna.

Bavra Mann, Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna

Running Shoes

I have started running quit recently. There is a lot to running if you want to understand how yet its as simple as just getting out and start running.

I had a pair of Nike which i started running in. I thought these were quite a pair of shoes that I had and had bought them UK in a Sale.

Till the last weekend, my shoe shopping was quite simple. Go to a multi brand shoe shop, see the shoes on the wall, see the shoes at the sale. Get the one I like in my size (Size 10UK, 11 US) and done with it.

Only after i started running and then hurt myself running, I realised that I need a pair of running shoes. So the search (read re-search) started onilne, as it does always for anything I buy. I realised, buying running should seems a little different than my earlier routine. Learnt a lot of words - mid foot, heel strike, pronation, supination, minimalistic!

I realised that even for a amature runner like me, i need to know what kind of gait I have and need to buy shoes accordinly. Reached a runningn speciality shop near my house on a saturday morning.

Their they examied my gait and i was declared -Neutral. That means I had normal arches and I have none to little pronation. Now I have been told I am one of those lucky people that have a choice of shoes to go for. I realised there are completely different types of shoes companies that make shoes. This time the wall had shoes that i had never seen before.

Sucony, Brooks and New balance make Running Only shoes, while Nike and Adidas were also part of the wall. The Puma, Reeboks were no where to be seen. The sales person showed me New Balance, Adidas and Brooks. I liked the Brooks better becase of the cushion and Fit.

Finally bought the Brooks Ghost 4 Size 12! Breaking in the shoes now. Lets see how i feel running in them.

The simple running is not as simple anymore!

The 220 Story

This story is completely imaginary, with no facts. This has not connection with any company or person alive. A product of my imagination.
Scene: Jajab Design centre, Pune (The design centre actually looks like the lab shown in the recent Bingo Add on TV. Someone told me that it was shot there only with the real staff). Few chief designers breaking their heads, working on a new design. Target to develop a never before design for a new bike, biggest from Jajab, 220 cc bike! Then designers have been working continuously for days for this design. After many months and days and nights and all that, the design is ready!

Designer1 (D1): Yippiieeeeeeee….
Designer2 (D2): kya hua Sir??
D1: Khatam hogaya design! We are all done
D2: superb Sir! Fantastic work! Sir can you explain me the plan pls
D1: sure Chotu, look here, we here are using a fuel injection engine. What an achievement, first in India!!
D2: But sir, I think some smaller bike already has it…
D1: oh! Is it, are we late again? Doesn’t matter, first Indigenous FI engine, isn’t it? This will give more power, faster pickup, better fuel efficiency! What else would one want about it?
D2: Correct sir, nothing like it.
D1: I just cannot wait to show it to our Boss! Is bas to CRR1 leke hi rahunga! Chotu just have a look at the design today, lets sit and see if we missed out anything.

After 2 days….

D2: sir I have checked everything, the bike is perfect. The best ever, all the electronics working fine, a top class engine, super seating position, a sporty fender! Best so far from us Sir,
D1: let’s take the design to the boss.

Six months have passed, boss had approved the design and the bike goes into production. A very aggressive marketing makes sure every one is eager for the bike launch. First load of bikes were produced and ready for dispatch. Today the bike is planned to be inaugurated by the president of the company.

President: it gives me a great pleasure to present to you, the best bike in the market….
Curtain goes up and the bike is on display…
President in a grave shock calls up D1 and D2, are you sure you did check everything? D1 and D2 nod their heads, still not able to understand the whole thing. President takes them to the corner, whispers in D1 ears…’you forgot to add the rear view mirrors you ******’

With wind in my face…

A weekend always posses a question, “Kya karneka?” And this weekend, we found an answer. We had been planning for a trip for quite something. Well to be honest, I am always planning for a trip but due to thousands of issues (at the age of 25-27 we have managed to make our lives quite complicated, I would say), my plans never actually materialize.

This weekend also, when Angel asks me, ‘is weekend ko kya karneka’(what do we do this weekend), very causally I said ‘Mahabaleshwar jate hai’ (lets go to Mahabaleshwar). “Bike pe?” “Haan bike pe jate hai” so it was decided. Mahabaleshwar it is then! Checked up with Kayn, he said yes without hesitation.

The day before we were suppose to get going, all three of us topped up our tanks. The next day 5.45 am, we were on our steeds near our house. The list was as follows:

• Honda Activa(Angel)
• Bajaj Pulsar 200(Kayn)
• Hero Honda Hunk(yours truly…)

As one of our friends once said, one black cat and two black panthers…Sami, we missed you

So there we were, six of us, revving and raring to go, the riders revving more than the bikes. Exactly at 545 hrs left Pune and took the national Highway 4 (NH4) via Baner. It was a beautiful dawn. Just little bit of light and chill making the atmosphere pleasant.

All of us started great and crossed the Katraj tunnel in no time. Now I was not crossing the 60Kmph mark as my ride was in the run-in. So I was trailing and Angel leading the triad. Just as we passed the tunnel, Kayn signaled us to halt. We pulled over to the side. That’s when he told us that OIL LO indicator was flashing on this dash! Bit of a scare for all of us. We checked through the obs window and the oil level was 50%, so we decided to go ahead and top up the oil at then next Petrol pump. In about 10mins we were at a petrol pump topping up the P200. We also topped ourselves up in a near by tapri. That was a wholesome Misal Pav (quite Delux presentation of the dish, more than what we expected) and Chai.

After the ‘Top-ups’ we left for the destination. Soon after that, we found ourselves on the Khambatki Ghat. This Ghat had always been infamous for its twisters. None of had every ridden on any other ghat than the Mumbai-Pune one (doubt one should call it a ghat anymore after the expressway). Once on the ghat, I soon realized, It’s a completely different ball game when riding a ghat on a bike. Cannot say whether it is easier or difficult with the bike or car but just completely different. All of us did well on this one and were averaging about 40 Kmph. After about 2 hours on NH4, we left the NH and took an arterial road to Mahabaleshwar. Here we encounter another ghat, though not as tough as the earlier one and we pass it easily. This road was beautiful and picturesque. Trees flanking the road through out, the sun rays playing hide and seek in them. It was almost 11 am and we were not feeling the heat at all. The place was very cool and pleasant.

We entered Panchgani after a ride of about 3 hours. This is when we decided we take a break and visit the famous Table Land of Panchgani. We do a little clicking on the table land, a few of beautiful portraits of ourselves and a little bit of landscapes and hit the road again. This time the break is at the Mapro Gardens. Now this was nice little place to visit. This place was a small eatery sponsored buy Mapro (Maharashatra Agricultural Products…I think). This place had a small Green House with lot of beautiful flowers and juicy strawberries. We had refreshing Strawberry Punch, a few clicks here and there and leave for Mahabaleshwar.

We reached Mahabaleshwar at about 1pm. It was almost lunch time. We decided to roam around the place a little bit and then have our Lunch. Went to the Wilson Point and roamed around the place. Then decided on a restaurant. After the hearty lunch and lot of time pass at it, we started on our way back, deciding to halt at a few in between. We topped up Activa before leaving and off we go…

On our way back, we halted in between and Angel said she wanted to try a panning picture. Kayn was our model, making him pass us a couple of time on the bike and we try taking a couple of shots. Angel takes a super panning shot, satisfied with that, we hit the roads.

All of were expecting another round of fun on the Khambatki Ghat. We had loved to ride on that when we climbed it and wanted to have another go at it. But when we reached that place, we realize, the Ghat is only one way and going back all we have is a LOOOOONG tunnel which passes under the ghats J

Rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I crossed 1K km on my bike J On my way back I was allowed to go upto 70 KMPH now...thats wicked...:)

We reached back at pune at about 6.30PM. Fully drained of energy and full of joy. This was our first ride. We checked our trip meters, 270KMs start to end. This was the longest enyone of us had ridden. All of us had only one thought in our minds, “lets do it again” and then I said, why do it again, lets plan another ride somewhere else….

Jeetam Jeetam....(we won...)

A fantastic end to the long pending and biggest controversy in Cricket. Today morning, the judge ment to the Bhajji-Symonds racism row came to an END. Just yesterday, after the end of the Adelaide test, BCCI had announced that if Harbhajan Singh was not freed of the Racism charges, India would withdraw from the upcoming Triangular one-day series.

This definitely must have sent shivers through a lot of people. To name few – ICC, the sponsors and the advertisers in the series and the Australian cricket board. India withdrawing from the series would mean, a huge financial loss to all these listed above. In no case ICC would have let this happened.

Now the ICC was in a fix, if it let Bhajji go scot free, it would mean that, BCCI is stronger (which is true) and ICC had scrummed to BCCI force. It also could not charge Bhajji under the racism act, that would mean going against BCCI (hehehehe) and losing a lot of money. Again favoring Australia, ICC would attract new charges of racism towards itself, which again ICC would not like to have.

So what does ICC do?? ICC appoints a smart New Zealander as a neutral judge. In the hearing, Symonds, actually forgets, what Bhajji said to him. Bhajji sticks to the fact that just abused Symonds on Symonds provocation, but nothing Racist about it. Now the Judge’s Verdict is…

Bajji Cleared of the Racism charges! He still is found guilty of abusing a fellow player on the cricket ground, hence attracts a fine of 50% of his match fees.
That’s all!! Tats all that was the outcome of probably the biggest controversy in Cricket  that was an extremely well planned decision. Now everyone got what they wanted

ICC: ICC still pressed charges on Bhajji, so it showed that it still had the authority, but at the same time, made sure it pleased BCCI by dropping the racism charges. What it saved was a lot of money and little bit of credibility what was left to them

Australian cricket board: Saved a lot of money, izzat to waise bhi bachi nahi :P

Bhajji: Happiest man! Who knows what he said to Symonds? He got to say whatever he wanted to Symonds and also got away with it. For that he became a Hero. Probably face of NEW INDIA (as mentioned in one of the Indian Daily)

BCCI: Any ways, they had nothing to loose, they got to flex their muscles, they showed who the boss is. They got what they wanted. They created a HUGE good will in India and in the cricket players, which is going to help them in upcoming IPL. Also they showed that, Indian Subcontinent teams are not going to take shit from Australia anymore
Promoters, sponsors, Broadcasters: Very very Happy ppl, finally the series is not going to be called off, so they still get the money.

Me: very Happy, India won, expecting a great series ahead!!!

"Oops we did it again..." - Aus Cricket team

“Nonsense...utter Nonsense” these were the words Sunil Gavaskar described it on the live television and NO other non-abusive words would have described it better. Today India witnessed yet another BLACK day in Cricket.

Today ended the second test match of the India-Aus series. India lost this test match by about 120 runs. This kind of result is not new to India and definitely not to Australia, who equalled their own record of winning 16 tests in a row. Then what was so special about the match. Well, the special thing about this match was that, the match was not lost because India didn't play well, or not because Aus played better, it was because, the Umpires decided that India lose this match.

As many as 8 decisions were incorrect, most against India. The Umpires of the match were Benson and our dear Bucknor. India faced the worst opposition attach of its all time, but from Umpires. Very dishonest game play by Australia was aided by utter crap Umpiring.

I am not going to enumerate all the wrong decisions by the umpires or sad and untrue appeals by Australians, as you can find that on any news website or tv channel. But would definitely condemn the way cricket was played today.

I would, but, applaud Ricky Ponting for one thing, he stands to his beliefs. He took a catch of Dhoni and Grounded it! Then he appeals for the wicket. Thankfully ( i guess the Umpires were not pay attention, Dhoni was NOT out, and they didn't give him out!!!) umpires didn't give it away. But the post match press conference, when asked by a Indian reporter, on why he appealed for a grounded catch, he accused of challenging his integrity of the match and he still thinks he took that catch right. Well, i think there are not TV in Australia for him to see the reply, guess we should send him one from India as Gift.

To add to all this utter shit, Bajji is charged of pelting out racist comments to Andrew symonds. And it turns out, Bajji called him “Monkey”...hehehehe.....is it really racist?? I thought we all evolved out of Monkey! Sad part is, when the match referee held the hearing, it turned out that none of the umpires had heard anyone saying anything to anyone. Proctor believed Symonds and Hayden on the fact the bajji said that to Symonds (read “monkey”) and banned Bajji of 3 test matches. How can a neutral referee take word of one player against another of opposing team??

I strongly feel, India should walk out of the test series, as well as the forth coming Triangular series with Australia and Srilanka. I definitely think that if India walks out of the onday series, SriLanka would also support the team. Its not the first time that a visiting team has been cornered by Australian team Pakistan, SriLanka and WI have faced similar problems.

Just imagine, the day when India walk off the oneday series and then SriLanka also follows the suit, imagine the losses incurred by the Australian cricket board. Imagine the losses to the sponsors of the series, Imagine the loss to the ICC!!! All India has to do is walk out of the series. That will serve the Aussies a lesson, that will make them realize,they will always not get everything the way they want it.

Whole of India is in a wave of rage against the Aussies and give a 100% support to the team. I would be extremely happy to hear this from Anil Kumble “We understand the fact that Australia desperately need to win the series. And we are really moved by their commitment towards it. I take his occasion to walk off the series and donate this Cup to Ricky and the team. Have fun guys, we declare you winners!!!”

Shame on the Australian team, all their records are worth nothing if they do not know what sportsmanship is....!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL....

wish you all a very great new year ahead. May you get all the happiess in life and may all your wishes come true.