Jean e Maraysa dancing Zouk.

Zouk

Swing Latino 2007 Champions

Swing Latino, 2007 World Salsa champions
Music: "Kimbara" Celia Cruz

Columbian Style Swing Latino

Columbian Style Swing Latino

Zouk

Zouk

Zouk

Zouk

3rd World Salsa Championship Swing Latino Tigo 2007

3rd World Salsa Championship Swing Latino Tigo 2007

Sexy Bachata

Sexy Bachata

The Wrong side or the right side?

What is right or what is wrong? The answer is random. It really depends on what a person thinks, which in turn is governed by the upbringing and the people she/he has be surrounded with.

What we perceive as correct is what we see everybody doing around us. What ever they do not do is what we perceive as wrong. If we are instructed to do something and are told that it is correct, even though everybody else does the exact opposite, we kind of hear it in utter disbelief and never do that.

A very good example is what I always find on the roads and yet again today.

The road has three lanes, right most for overtaking, leftmost for the slowest and the middle one for usual.  That piece of road is called the Inner Ring Road, a 4 kms of beautifully, evenly paved road; so I speed up.

As I am riding, zipping past the traffic, there is this guy riding slow enough to slow down the traffic behind him. I am on his right and honk, "I am about to pass". The gentleman cooly looks over his left shoulder and moves to the right. 

Damn!

Screech. Brake. Brake harder.

I move to his left and pass him, giving him one really furious, "Condemn you to hell" look, which incidentally I am so sure from behind my helmet is not visible to anybody else.

How many times does that person ride on the road? Given the old make of the motorcycle, I guess almost everyday. For how many years, well many. But still why this odd out of place judgement?

Well, that is what he learnt from his parents, that is what he sees around him, that is what his friends do, that is what people around him do. So he probably believed that this is the right thing; even though what he did was grossly wrong.

And how many times would the same thing have happened to him? Man y a times and he still does that?

Well, if you happen to read this, just don't take right as right and wrong and wrong, use your brain to think, judge for yourself. Learn from around you and make your judgements and keep revisiting them.

Rain and rain coat

For last 4 years, ever since I bought my motorcycle, I have been a lazy fellow; one of the laziest in the world if not the most.

The city where I live, it rains and it rains as if there is no tomorrow. The worst part of the whole rain thing is that it rains whenever it is time to leave for office or time to go back home after a long day.

For past so many years, every year the same story used to repeat. Whenever I was about to leave it was raining or it would start raining; and every time I used to get drenched. Dripping wet!

So this time I thought it is time to shun this laziness and get proactive. Proactive, after getting drenched for like 5 days in a row and no, the precursor was not the act of getting wet 5 days in a row, but the fact that I do not have those many pairs of shoes. After 5 days, all of the 4 pairs that I have were wet and I didn't have anything to wear to office other than the bathroom slippers. I was so much wet, wet to the soul. Even now I am waiting to find that person who said, "Fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, weapons cannot pierce it... " Crap find me that man and I will put him in this rain and ask him, "Kyon, bachoo? Ab aatma bheegi ki nahin?"

So the coming weekend I went to nearest store to buy a raincoat. Interestingly, everybody in the city thought that the day was good to visit the store. There were more souls in the store than the number of items on display or ready to be sold. With nobody to assist, it took me 20 minutes to find the right place to look for raincoats.

I bought a decent one and came back home, smiling. No more getting wet. No more stopping on the way under a tree, no more of this rain.

And ever since that day, it hasn't rained! One day it was drizzling and I thought it to be right time to wear the rain coat and leave in the rain. By the time I could get my stuff and get my motorcycle out of the parking it has stopped raining. 

The other day, bright sunny day, no rain for like miles, I went out without my rain coat and it started drizzling. Luckily I was at home before it started pouring.

What use is a raincoat when it doesn't rain!

Now I know. If you have to stop rain in Gorakhpur, Kosi, let me go there with my rain coat. If you want it to pour in Thar desert or Sahara, let me go there without my rain coat. 

I sometimes feel I kind to glue this rain coat to my skin, and I walk in the rain, it will stop raining, just where I am. Like a cylinder of dryness, right in between the falling drops of rain.

I don't know who is the nemesis of Bhagwan Indra, but for some reasons I believe that she/he is with me in the form of my raincoat.

The mom's delight to kid's plight

.
Well we have seen it all in the movies and the advertisements on the TV. I sometimes feel that it is all because of that idiot box. Probably that's the reason why I still do not have that one at home!

It is all over the place; the movies like Because I said so, the matrimony website advert where the dad runs, with the groom's turban in his hand, after every guy he sees , and so many others of the kind.

I graduated from the college with not so high flying colors and finished my PGDIT. My director always referred to it as M.Tech, all the time clapping his hands. Those who were present there will know what I mean to say. Anyways, that was in 2004. It has been 4 years since.

Given the age that most people complete there masters you can do the math, whatever.

So, where was I?

Yeah. Now that I have been in the job for 4 years, I truly qualify as an eligible bachelor. At least everybody else feels so, if not me. My neighbors at home for certain. "He is educated, earns well and is till not married!. There must be something wrong with him!". I guess that is what driving my parents bonkers. Why don't the old women of the neighborhood have any thing better to do than to talk about why somebody is married, why somebody isn't and why somebody's daughter/son eloped with somebody else.

Well I understand the pressure that my parents would be going through. Even though those who talk, seldom look at their own household and those who don't know the reality, that things take their own merry time to happen, even marriage. But public hai....

So, this Saturday, while I was cooking something for my lunch, Rajma masala and rice, I got a call from my mother.

Who is this girl XYZ (name changed).

Well she is so and so.

She mailed me. How did she get my e-mail address and that too the official one.

Mom! how am I supposed to know. Google around and you'd find that your e-mail address is listed in so many place. Anyways what did she write about. But I still do not know why would she e-mail you. We worked together like 3 years ago.

The mail talks about an invitation to ABC.com (website name change). that was in fact a professional networking site.

Oh! You can safely delete that e-mail. And I explained what that was all about.

Ok. But I did visit that website. The girl looks good and is Assistant Manger. To my scientist mother that was a very educated girl in a good profession and in a good company. Well here, in this part of the world, the word manager certainly rings bells and for sure event the fused light bulbs also become very radiant, and what we have here, she is a mega watts of search light.

Mom! Come on.

Well the snap of you and your friend wasn't that sharp and good, and this one looked like her. So I just thought if she is the one, she looks good and lets talk about it!

Mom, she is not the one whose picture you saw. And I don't want to talk about her. And if this how you will talk about all my friends one by one, then I will stop telling you about my friends.

Nah! It is not like what you think. I just thought if you have somebody in mind, lets talk about her!

Ma, if I really did have any, I would have told you and dad about it a long time ago.

As you say. But I did see her profile there.

Ma, that profile will tell you nothing about what you are looking for, that a professional networking site.

But you can find a lot about a person, can't you?

And then the conversation enters that never ending circle, where you have to say, "Oh my God! The rice is on fire, I better go and take care of my lunch!"

But keep your eyes open!

I love you mum. :)

Sneha Kapoor

How can God be so ;cruel, sometimes and so many times. The only saving grace that He has is the while being cruel He has and shows some signs of sympathy and good.

Sneha Kapoor. She is one of the best Salsa dancers I have seen over here in Bangalore; and it wouldn't be wrong if I said one of the best in India. You can argue my opinion, no issues with that.

So much has changed in the last 2 weeks. I remember just this last Saturday we had a party at Ugly Duckling (on Miller's Road). We were having loads of fun dancing all the time. She in particular, being a professional Salsera, was enjoying every bit of the moment. Following perfectly the leads of good dancers on the floor as well as the novice ones.

The petite lady, with her contagious laugh was making the whole place very lively.

Today I heard that she had met with an accident. The bone of one of her legs is broken into three. The doctors have to insert a rod and clip the bone to it. It would take her a year and a half for her to recover. The other leg also has a fracture and it would take six months to recover.

Meaning no dancing, something that she so very much enjoyed, for next year and half. Richard Tholoor, her partner, was all tears when he told us. The excitement of the class vanished in thin air. Suddenly the whole atmosphere of the class was gloomy. There wasn't that excitement, that eagerness to practice the shines. But as they say the show must go on and so we started. The awkward way we did the shines at least brought some smile on Richard's face.

Poor Sneha, what wrong had she done?

I for one and all, pray to the almighty that she recovers much faster and comes back with all the vigor and enthusiasm that she has.

We wish you luck and speedy recovery Sneha.

For those who are still wondering who is she, watch the two videos (or google).

1. World Salsa Championships 2007 - Cabaret - Richard and Sneha -

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2. Richard and Sneha salsa at MSF (Mumbai Salsa festival) 2007

Cry of a famished soul

Disclaimer: This work is purely, to the extent a pure can be pure (like pure Ghee), a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person dead or leaving (Oops! living), any event or place is purely incidental.

I am hungry, famished and starved to be true. Haven't eaten anything since last night, well never actually had breakfast in a long time. It is 12:30 pm and I head for the cafeteria. Okay kind of food, doesn't titillate the taste buds to any extent and has the look of being hygienic.

Now given the fact that India is a 1 billion plus democracy and by the time you read this must be a trillion plus democracy, not discounting the illegal immigrants and those came on visa but lost or missing Pakistanis, crowd is expected everywhere anywhere much before you can expect a molecule of oxygen.

So there's a queue and I simply tag along the tail. Fortunately not many are hungry at this time.

There are just a handful of people before me, shouldn't be long before I can serve myself a belly filling quantity of whatever is on menu today. Taking a big shot, may be.

There is this bunch of ladies ahead of me. Gossiping, a no great guess given their laugh and intermittent "Oh! is it?" "How nice" and all that stuff. There is this gentleman standing in the queue with no acquaintance close by, bidding his time to get a plate for himself. There is this another person happily talking to somebody on the phone.

So here is how the story goes on when people actually reach the point where they can serve themselves something to eat.

1. The gentleman on phone. With the mobile phone safely ensconced between his shoulder and the ear, he picks up the plate, the spoon. but forgets to take the chapatti. Comes back after like half of two seconds, realizing that something is missing is from his plate. A Sheepish smile to the person standing behind him.

2. The guy who was standing all alone, takes half a spoon full of veggie. Takes a moment to think, decides he needs more so he takes a quarter full of spoon and serves more. Still he needs some more, so he serves himself one single instance of that on single identifiable vegetable is that potpourri of vegetables. Same goes for almost all of the things on the menu. Indecisive, or weak in estimation.

3. The ladies of course.
Lady 1: While serving herself a chapatti "Well did you know, yesterday,...."
Others make a funny face and fake a laugh. The one at the last is confused as to how many tissue papers she's need. The one before is busy cleaning every square millimeter of surface on the spoon, the plate and all the utensils thinking the tissue papers are more clean.
Lady 2: Serves herself the veggie, stops, and joins in, "But...." A little more chat when they realize people behind are almost red-faced.

Without warning there is this guy who join in the middle "Excuse me! and serves himself world full of veggies, bucket full of yogurt, pockets full of salad" and is gone before you can "What the *uck do you think you are doing? Jumping in the middle of a queue (well at least in name. Didn't your parent ever taught you some manners or the concept of the queue? Didn't you ever understand the difference in being satiated and over eating? Haven't you ever heard of the saying 'Do to other what you'd like other do to you'."

All this while, I was standing with my cheeks pulled in deep in my skull, my stomach sucked in back all the way towards my spine, I legs have no energy to hold me up. I crumple on the floor, cannot make a sound.

Somebody just stepped over me to get his share of food.

Dogs of God.

I am very much a religious person. I believe in the institution of religion and the faith. But then I cannot understand the fanatics of religion.

Every day of festivity and celebration is a tool in hands of these kind of jerks who make the life of others miserable.

Ganesh Chaturthi came again.

And everything was back to square one.

The length of the access road to my house is just a couple of meters less than a kilometer. Never would have had imagined the enormity of this 1 kilometer, if not for these days. There are 5 pandals which have idols of Ganesh in them. The first person is an ardent follower of the Elephant-head-God and wants the other to know and understand how feverishly he worships the God. The second, person, not to be bogged down by the intensity of the first person’s worship, makes his offerings, chanting of hyms all the more loud and audible. Well the fifth one cannot go beyond the maximum volume the speakers available in the neighborhood can give. Poor chap doesn’t have much of an upper hand.

Also, there is this procession on the road. The traffic policemen have cordoned off the road. If is peak time in the evening, people are returning from offices, some leaving for offices, all the vehicles that were at some time parked are now on the road. The traffic piles up for kilometers; the procession is the fastest to move, rather the only thing moving. The devotees in the procession light fire crackers, who cares if it hurts anybody, God will take care if he wants to and the injured deserved the care. The drums, the loud Bollywood music, did Ganesh ever fancy the Bollywood music especially ‘Aashiq banaya aapne…”. God knows.

And petty mortals like me wait, asphyxiating in the smoke of fire crackers, shove the silencer of the tractor into me ears, pull out my eyeballs and squash it on the road, chew off my own tongue and do what not, apart from holding that urge to take a piss.

And what do others like me do, just pray that either these kind of people go and meet their God before the next year’s Ganesh Chaturthi or the God puts some sense into these nonsense and make them understand worshiping is not about disturbing others.

Key Take away: Whenever you know there is high probability of traffic jam which nobody knows when it will clear, always wear a diaper.

Salsa your way to fun ...

Been too busy off late.

Juggling time between practice, office, practice and parties. And on last Saturday and Sunday it was the big show, performance, workshops and also the competition.

What practice, what performance.

Well we had our annual India International Salsa Congress.


Will write in detail about it in the next post when I am done with all that fatigue and sudden lull after those awesome parties, wonderful and exciting workshops.

To let you savor the moment:




Well we didn't win any prize, just got the participant cup. We were offbeat off and on during the entire song that was played. We lost, no surprise, but our stage presence was good and appreciated. That is the reason why probably we are just in the photo but not in the text. :)

At this point I thank my partner Vandana for bearing me for the practice sessions and surviving the disappointment. Sorry Vandana we lost, I ,for many a times, couldn't find a fix that bloody 1.

We will try next year!

We had plenty of international instructors:

• Eddie, the Salsa Freak
• Knzo
• Rozana Maya
• Maria Del Sol
  
• Ricardo and Vivianna
• Junior and Emily
• The fabulous Swing Guys
• Dave Paris and Zoe Klein
• Akhila Venkatesh
• Alex Diaz
• Ara Hwang
• Katherine Wilson
  
• Deepak and Hazel
• Katyee Namgyal
  
• DJ Joseph Enin
• DJ Gataloca
  
• Anup Thomas
• Richard Tholoor and Sneha Kapoor
• Ashwin Mushran
  

It was a fun event and I eagerly wait for it to happen next. Just with the time flies in fast forward.

.

Foot in Mouth Disease.

"Welcome on board Sir"
"Yeah Hi. Thank you"
"What is you seat number Sir"
"Hmmm... (Flipping the boarding pass) It's 13A."
"That would be towards your left Sir."
"Yeah Sure. Thanks"

She is standing there, holding a pillow to her chest. Ear to ear smile, lots of mascara and other stuff. Eyes gleaming with all the hospitality that can ever exist in a pair of eyes.

"Welcome Sir."
Nod in approval.

"Amm! You have a yellow spot on your shirt (points towards his left shoulder). You might have spilled something on it; pickle or something with turmeric maybe." Looking at her expecting probably a thank you.

Change of expression to a bad one.
Change of expression again to a good one.
"Oh this (removing that pillow)! This is our logo (SpiceJet)."

Damn why did I not notice this before? Was it necessary to be my usual self? What a noble git I am!
Sheepish Smile. "I am sorry I didn't notice this before, first time with Spice"
"Well that fine Sir. Which seat Sir."
"Well I guess you will have to move. Mine is 13 A."
All smiles. "Oh Yes, this is 13A. Sure Sir."

Okay this doesn't happen that often.

Mutual Screwing... I screw you... You screw me...

It is a vicious circle; more of co-habitation because of lack of options rather than consensual.

And just why is it a circle? Well what goes around comes around. I screw you, you screw me, simple.

The only difference being that the ‘I’ here has the option of screwing this or that, one among the many (well in many cases one amongst atleast two). But the ‘You’ here does not have that choice of whom he/she/it might choose. There is there only instance of ‘I’ available here. So whose is the one who gets the pleasure or say pain of getting screwed every so often? No prizes for guessing the answer. It is the deplorable ‘I’ here.

Now you guys must be wondering who is the ‘I’ here and who is the ‘You’ here. The ‘I’ here is the crowd, the common people, the aam junta ( the mango people), who choose the ‘You’ here which are the politicians, the corporators, the bureaucrats, the local municipality etc. So you see the ‘I’ here has many options to select from and to who takes the seat, gaddi, of power and screw them. The ‘You’ doesn’t have that luxury hence the ‘I’ has dilated muscles and you know where.

By now I am sure you guys won’t leave me alone until I (this is the real me and not the ‘I’ here) tell you where does this whole theory comes from.

Take an example.

The citizens choose the government, let’s be limited to the local government. Then the citizens ask for improvement of basic infrastructure, basic amenities, parks, clean drinking water, decent walk able footpaths, trees on the sides of the road. Essentially screwing the government, making it do thing which are most likely on the lest priority list; they being busy with milching the citizens, the government machinery to get wot not, trying to do as many nonsensical gymnastics with the law, rules so as to make sure that they get an assured chance the next time they get to the polls.

So this in part explains the ‘I’ screw ‘You’.

Of the many ways the ‘I’ screws ‘You’ (leave the Kamsutra aside) let us focus on one "trees on the sides of the roads footpaths". Now it is the time for the ‘You’ come back and screw the ‘I’. So they plant the trees with the rusted tree guards to guard them when God only knows how long the guards themselves can live the beat of the weather. And just what do they plant? Coconut trees! The ‘I’ here is happy, takes comfort in the pleasure. But the pain follows not too late. The trees grow, the coconuts hang from the tree, ripe full with the coconut milk. Then one day an ‘I’ is on the footpath walking his/her way home, or to where he/she is heading to and BANG! There falls a coconut and the nut is split open in the two halves; both the coconut and the head of this ‘I’.

So this in part explains the ‘You’ screw ‘I’.

Many may argue, "statistics prove that the probability of a falling coconut hitting a person is as low as nothingth of nothing*". Well how many times do we really get to hear from a person explaining that the hump on this head is a result of a coconut falling on him; nothingth of nothing* times! Just because no crimes are logged with the police department does that really mean the area is crime free? Not really.

But then who am I (the real I and not the ‘I’ here) to say anything. Both the ‘You’ and ‘I’ are happy and satiated. The max I (the real I and not the ‘I’ here) can do is make sure I (the real I and not the ‘I’ here) choose the ‘You’ who can screw me in less number of ways or not screw to the ‘You’ and expect the same favor in return.

* Inspiration (Anu Malik's style) from Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

My, Myself, My Poems!!!

woh hume tarka ke chal diye,
bole kaam hai jana hai.
hum intezaar main baithe hain ,
sadiyaan guzar gayin.
unki tasveer bhi dundhli ho gayi;
voh aayenge isi intezaar main hum,
apani baaki zindagi jee lenge.

Two friends, one father of a new born baby girl, one still single

beti ki sewa main raat aur din dono barabar!
woh uska raat main uthna,
madhur hi awaaz main kutch kahan
humara na sun pana
uska rona
beech raat mera main uthna
zombie ki tarah apne hi ghar main anjaan sa ghoomna
kisi tarah kitchen main pahunch kar doodh garam karna
Office se thake hue ghar aana
beti ko bahon me leke jaise sansaar ka sara sukh sara aanand paan

In sab ka mujhe intezaar hai

What wierd poems?

What wierd Poet?

Words of Wisdom

Fewer words of wisdom have been in said in lesser words:

Man proposes, God disposes; and either way the woman doesn't agree.

Family and Friends ...

When the waves are high,
When the sea is rough.
Shed no tear,
Have no fear.
It is time to buckle up.
Be tough.
The sea wasn't calm always,
It just having fun,
Just for today.

Your family is the raft,
Your friends are the sail.
With this raft and sail,
You will not fail,
For sure you would sail.

But raft and sail know no sea,
They know no wave,

But Remember

Author: Can a poem have some chorus? Like Here ... Sure

Reeeemember. Buuuuuuuuttt
Rememmmmmberrrr
Know no sea, know no sea
Know no wave, know no wave
Family and friends, raft and sail
Family and friends, raft and sail
But Remember


They only know
To keep you afloat,
You know the sea,
You see the wave,
Call upon
Your family and friends,
'Cos they will save.
You know the sea,
You see the wave,

But you need to call,
And call you should.
They are high waves,
Not a high wave.
Call you should and
Call you must
Just whisper;
"I need you. Are you there?"

The big raft,
That huge sail.

Kids... One too many... One too less...

I love kids. There are so many of them in my family and they are all dear to me. And so are the kids of my friends. They are the best beings to have around you. They give so much of a relaxing, rejuvenating feeling to anybody around them. No matter how much tired one is but as soon as there are kids around, you have tones of “Red Bull” in you. Their untiring series of “Whys, Whats, Hows” are one amazing thing.

But given all this, there are some things which are ….. well read on.

What is it? Why is it?

Scene 1, Take 1.

You are watching a very interesting movie, a very captivating documentary on NGC/Discovery. And it is time for their favorite cartoon, which has a stupid looking railway engine talking to other engines in the most unanimated way. Then there is this “Blues Clues” where an over excited grown kid of late 20s teaches what alphabets, shapes, colors are. If you insist on not switching the channel, there is wailing and if the kid is smart like my younger niece you get blackmailed "I’ll complain to grandpa". Since the kid doesn’t know or more likely will not change channel on his/her own, you have kill your curiosity/interest by your own hands and say "Ahhh! Okay."

Disclaimer: It another story that once you start watching these you too get a hang of it and start enjoying it for the sheer simplicity of these cartoons. After all "Tom and Jerry" is never boring.

Scene 1, Take 2.

That tricycle. That one tricycle. Why do they have to make is so small and so low. They could atleast have a bar which rises all way until say 3 feet so that you easily push it.

Kid wailing, kid sits in the tricycle, more of wailing at high pitch, cannot push tricycle, you push it, get a backache.

Scene 1, Take 3.

The kid knows you have a back ache, you are lying down on the bed trying to get some sense into that back. “Does it hurt?” Yes. “Is it bad?” No, don’t worry I’ll be okay. “Shall I give you massage?” That’s not necessary, thank you. “No you need one.”

And then you can feel the whole Roman army, with as many soldiers as there were in the entire lifetime of the civilization, march on you back not to mention the those so many hooves of cattle, horses and maybe sometimes elephants.

Back ache. Make a line shorter by drawing next to it a line linger that it. I am all right, “pink of health!”

Scene 1, Take 4.

“I’ll ask you a question? There was a brown house, next to it is the green house, behind it is the black house, in front of it is the pink house, and above it is the grey house. Tell me where is the white house.”

Hmmm…. Hmmmm. Pretending to think. Hey, there wasn’t a white house anywhere. Oh! Wait. Yeah, it is in Washington DC.

“Geee. You got it, now your turn.”

There were two friends Nobody and Anybody. Anybody had a cousin Somebody. Once Nobody calls Anybody:

Tring…. Tring…. (… yeah the joke goes with the sound
effects…)
“Hello”
“Hi, is Anybody home?”
“No”
“Who’s
this?”
“Somebody. Who’s
calling?”
“Nobody”
“Nobody!”
“Yeah. Well when Anybody comes let him know Somebody had called. Bye”

Haaaa….. Haaaa… Why are you not laughing?
I got all confused. What was the joke?
That was the joke my dear.

And you embrace the kid, hug her/him and both laugh.

Now these are those some things which are indispensable and I just so wish there were many kids around or may be the kids always stay as kids.

Not too much to wish I gues.