How i wish to live a pheasant's life - but for the nomad in me.

Its a confusing experience to be on a train, but surely not always. At times the noise and the speed and the wind and the dirt and the smell, it is all too overwhelming and brings out such memories too, and the mind slides into that amalgam of feelings. While on other occasions the fast but constant and steady rocking and the sway along with the ever repeating typical sound can slowly take you to another world of detachment and your thoughts assume a different level from where it feels as though the rest of the world’s business is nothing and suddenly nullified and one goes into a trance of complete blankness.

If this sounds too weird then probably you ought to travel more distances and take you along alone. Let the travels weather you new climates. When the wind blows your eyes close, let the eyes of the mind lead you to places and senses and hold them close to your heart.

Finally it turns out, its not the distance one did travel. Instead, it is how well one did enjoy the travel. Same applies to life as well, the learned have said.

THE NEW CIRCUS MONKEY

The new monkey in the circus..............

So it will jump and summersault and walk on two hands and eat a banana with the free legs.

World over most of the circus acts are the same. The monkeys always jump to get a

banana, some peanuts or on the swish of a whip. This one too will get its share. At the end of every act the crowd cheers or mocks.

The tiny flickering night stars are out and the monkey walks to the other end of the cage where it has a large opening with barbed wires, with a shiny apple in its one hand and the other gripping the barbs , it looks up to the sky over the trees and wonders if somewhere out there, is a small tree with wild berries to trade the apple for.

Dreams are nice. Especially when they remain as dreams.

The apple lies on the cold iron cage floor, the monkey practices for the next play.

 

AFTER THOUGHTS- IHM KOVCATS 2011 MEET

Getting serious –

Its time to kick up some serious dust from the reunion dance floor !

Starting a page with immense thanks and gratitude to all those souls who made the event possible both by organizing the event and by joining the event as active members to see it through the way we all had hoped – a success.

We never miss stepped all throughout except at the way we expected a larger turnout and the way we wrongly anticipated the numbers, we have only ourselves to blame or we may blame the light of pride that blinded us from the real world for a while .

We all are not from the same batch !

Not all may take the same pride being an Alumni as the initial batches did. Our pride of being an IHM ite comes from what the schooling at IHM gave us and how it influenced our later lives, how we felt grateful to what IHM did greatly depends on what we are NOW when we compare to what we were THEN, and the difference, for many decides if they want to turn up at the reunion or not. I seriously doubt if the Institute did the same magic to batches which joined in the later years and it is debatable for sure as we saw only increase in facilities and expansion of premises, so was there a wrong doing some where?

Different levels of career ladder.

The majority of the crowd were either seniors who were well settled into their careers and who could afford the time and money or those who just finished academics and college and has not really started with the grind.

All those who passed out around 2002 and after, if they are still with the “hospitality industry” they might be in the middle of their career growth plan or happily negotiating a promotion or even fighting for a survival somewhere in the globe and it will be devilish from our part to expect them to turn up for a night’s meal and a dance, though it was more than that and one had to be at the scene to find out .What an irony!

Migratory Birds

Birds fly (Cocks don’t. ha….) and migrate too. We too had many birds from among our batch mates and they have migrated. The visas and citizenship procedures keeping them busy and many wont surely be here in India to meet some guy or girl (now that’s arguable) who stole their potato peeler years back from near a quantity kitchen burner. Sure we can spare them for not being with us here, after all we are just some bloody Indians yeah.. mate? !!

The FB clickers

We sure are happy to see the immense presence of our IHM KOV mates at the FB. Just one request though, when an event is announced and an invitation is send, you see three options- “Yes, No and Maybe”. Please do not click on all three, even if you have downloaded an application to do just that. Please ..don’t. You don’t need to have balls of steel to choose one, but if you still think you lack any thing there try Nerolac’s new steel coat, but choose only one. (This is a special request from the organizing committee).

Our  e GO!

If I were still working as a captain at a local restaurant it would take iron like confidence and selflessness of predatory nature to shake hands with a hotel general manager who was a class buddy years ago. You might want to intervene and say this happens either because you were not friends or the writer has an incurable level of low esteem. We all can have opinions a million, but there will be only one truth and that is – Size DOES matter ;).

There can be a few who shy away from being seen at a place where it can be a dress parade, when donkeys and cheetahs steal a tiger’s stripe. C’mon … it’s a world out here at IHM KOV and if you were a part of it some time, you are very well a part of it NOW. So welcome!

The organizing committee I feel were all based at Trivandrum, may be not entirely by their choice but by destiny, but it worked for the good anyway. The challenge of the committee was and will be in future to address issues like this and still be able to manage quality Alumni events with optimum representation.

Let me earnestly thank all those who did travel by a flight or a train or a bus or a car or by all of these to reach the venue and share their presence with other similar souls, for it is you who made the laughter merrier, the music louder and sweeter, it is you who made the moments last longer and memorable. We don’t mind a banquet hall not being filled, cause it is hearts that we intend to fill, now and forever.

Cheers Buddies…! Life is once. And no rewind button too.

Demons of the love kingdom

It would be a crazy idea to dissect and  try to comprehend how a touch at the finger tip is transformed into that big joy filled nice confusion in the heart, which only love can induce, and then  starts the rise of the demons too.

When the eyes met and it read what had to be read, then from that moment onwards doubt never interfered their meetings; not once. It was a relation almost like the sea and the sailor. Both awed by the other's uniqueness. One, by its vastness and the other with its equally unique courage to conquer. They both were ready to consume each other or be consumed by each other while deliberating the different logical sides of what love could be to us all.

It was not a war, with love we have already related the term much too often and have killed its punch to use it again. It was more like two independent people who were ready to shed their dependencies just to be with the other. They deliberately hid their real self just to be loved. Thus it became an unexplainable pain with in themselves, the hiding of the self and the loving of the other. But they hung on to the ways of life and intrigue it offered while they held their arms firm as if they were on a coaster ride.

The lights started to dim slowly, the curtains set for another scene. May be because she judged their ways faster or differently, she stepped in first. When he joined her at the scene it was already too dark to decipher their faces and she thought it was most convenient, now that she was about to reveal her real self, let least the face be covered. Instead of telling how she felt she just advised him on the positives of being apart and being far, and how that could transform themselves to the real.

He stood still, sinking within himself, all the while hiding the face in some dark shadow. Was it over? Is she gone? Is this real? Will there be light? Has the knife come out from my back yet? There were a lot of questions that he asked him that night. And he got a lot of answers the same night, about demons and their kingdom.

Whispers with clouds

 

I ve never been challenged on a trek like this before. The smart and intelligent guide from the Department of Forest informed us that there are just 7 hills to pass before we can reach the top. Chembra mountain popularly known around as the Chembra peaks looked big enough to mark as a success if one could climb it, also small enough to challenge one to the task.so we started out with a casual approach to it.

Once you reach the footsteps of one among the seven hills to climb you are welcomed by the Forest Dept's notice telling you about the timings and what to expect.( but no really :) We ( me along with 3 of my friends and the guide) started off though a little late, were all systems go as we started the happy stroll along the clear tarred path.

As we crossed the first view tower and stepped into a semi thick real tropical forest,it was a sudden change from the rest of it all.Almost like in a flash the terrain changed to very narrow, gravel and dusty sand laden 60 degree climb.Took our breath away.From there on its was pathetic panting after every 10 minutes of climb which only worsened for the next four hours as the way was only up and up inbetween just a 5 minutes plain land for a catching of glimpse and swallowing a ton of air.(will there be a day when we can carry a spare heart and a quick shot of oxygen?)

We carried water ,candied peanuts, boiled eggs and bread. But considering the fact that after the first 45 mints you could eat any thing even grass, that is once you stop panting like a dog and have enough strength to bring your hand to the mouth.

The water finished as we reached less than half way through the climb and thanks to the smart guide, who is used to such nasty surprises like a water bottle giving off just air, and who went off the track and disappeared into some rocky crevasse to emerge later on with that crystal clear mineral tasting water from among the rock trail.

The hill top can be seen from far but we never could settle the distance with our eyes as it always went further off from our reach. It sure was tiring mentally.

In the above picture you can clearly see the top where we have to reach and the walk trail where we actually were standing. After each small climb from those seven small hills before one could reach the top it felt a never ending drill.

Less than half through the way, not really, infact this is at about one fourth the length if one measures by the total tiredness, is the heart shaped lake. But I would call it a really huge pond? A natural water hole for the animals and all other bigger stealthy visitors of the night. The guide showed us the carcass of a deer, an old meal for an older tiger perhaps. It was not scary though. The terrain never looked as if we might be surprised by a leopard but it sure had some places where it was a possibility.



The picture with the close up of a tea plant and distant mountain is from the start of the trek when we could get a view of the lower plains.






From the start of the trek

 The picture above is to give you an idea as to how much is in scale were we when compared to this great climb. Here you can see one of our colleague resting near a walk trail and the red mark shows where we finally have to reach.- The Chembra Peak.

 

Once we reached a large plain we showed off, but only after a very long rest period.The guide almost killed us for our slow pace. Probably he has no idea how far we all been running in life with all those extra burdens and surely from the previous nights cheap brandy and stuff.
To those cigarette smoking ( i mean heavy ones) and alcohol loving enthusiasts:-please stay away from attempting this one unless you are really prepared ,as this one is not for those quick bursts of energy but more like an endurance race. I used the old  tortoise tech, slow n steady.

The peak at the top right side of the frame posed more challenges than we were ready for
 

From here on we were forced to take a break every 15 minutes or less. I t really told us to go back to earth and start a rightful living. We were made to look so cheap for our age. The guide told us that when he took groups of tourists from other countries on trek, they would finish it in about three and a half hours. Mind you:- all the way up and back to camp in that time. We took exact four hours and half :) - just to reach the top.

Honestly I was not in a position to stand up and click so i managed this.

Once we all landed up at the top after those hard hours of climb, we were elated not by the view that was on offer but more by our own sense of achievement and were glad that none of us were needed to be air lifted by a rescue crew, though that ll be a never ever possibility in that place, and when I compare my bungee jumping from a crane almost 5 years back to this, that was almost like eating a Jujube.

 



Dont ask now ,as my friend here has already donated his teeth to a cow named Karumbi.