See you there ...

the Transit Passenger has arrived.

picture me

Thats me on the extreme left with my colleagues at a pub / restaurant in Sakai, a small town in Japan. we tried the japanese drink sake that night. a little trivia i picked on the net.
Made from rice, "Sake" is an alcoholic beverage peculiar to Japan. The Japanese Liquor Law defines Sake as, "made from rice, rice koji and water using fermentation and filtration processes". This is a definition in principle and refers to the traditional type of Sake peculiar to Japan. In 1944 during World War II, Japanese Sake manufacturers started adding alcohol in the process of Sake brewing in order to add volume to their Sake production. This addition of alcohol was to make up for the shortage of Sake, caused by the decrease in the amount of rice grown during the war. In short, all Sake can be divided into two groups: that with added alcohol, and that made with rice only.
We had the one with alcohol in it ( tee hee hee ) .
cheers.

mind of the beholder

... it was early evening, stars were beginning to peek out. and what was i doing on the deck ? cursing ! I was a gas engineer then and was technically 'on-call' 24 hrs. we had to do some internal cargo transfer and i was summoned to be stationed at the tank dome to monitor the cargo transfer. lines were being set up, while i waited. the constant drone over the walkie talkies ...
" ... charlie 601 open, golf 503 shut ... "
" ... confirm aft liquid header isolated "
" ... affirmative."
poor chap, that cadet, he was out on the deck like me, he was moving around setting valves at the chief officer's command.
i was not really in the best of moods. nobody likes to work after hrs. it was toward the end of my contract and my efficiency graph was dipping pretty seriously.
" B ... u ready out there, starting the pump."
" roger that, standing by"
well, there really wasnt much for me to do, except check pump parameters or lookout for leakages. we stopped for a while. lazy bum, that i was, started looking for a place to sit. we had wooden planks on the tank dome and there was enough place for me to lie down, staring at the sky. my mind was clouded with thoughts of my sign off
the starry sky, the cool breeze ...
will i be relieved on time ...
the moon, the object of desire for many ...
what is taking the company so long to reply ...
why would so many people think the moon was so beautiful
i wonder if my mail reached the office
" B ... one more time, stand by"
yeah right, back to work. was desperate to get it over with.
a few days later, when the captain informed me that my reliever was on his way, it was not a moment too soon. and yes, i was back on the planks staring at the sky. my, it looked awesome. so many stars and the moon, yes the moon, it was so beautiful ...
beauty and the mind of the beholder

howdy myte

thats how they greet over here in Fremantle, Australia.
sorry and all that. bin a long time, i know. dint have access to the net. i did try to get in touch with some of you, though. I still have to sail for 2 more months. For those who dont know, i am on a gas carrier ( our cargo is primarily liquefied propane / butane ) ; my ship's route does not allow us the luxury of internet or much of shore leave. but we do have a mail service. 9VIC4@globeemail.com . there you go, thats my ship's id. feel free to write to me. put "3rd engineer" on the subject line.
oops, i must rush. gotta a little shopping to do, a little chow-chow and then back to the ship.
cheers then.

leaving on a jet plane

" ... am leavin on a jet plane,
dunno when i'll be back again ..."

sad but true. am all packed and ready. will be joining a ship soon and well i honestly dunno when i will be back to blogging. this is pretty rotten timing, i mean, my blog is only just getting noticed and all. thanks everyone for putting up with me.
its bye-bye-land for me. a sailor's is meant to be at sea. hopefully, i will have enough shore leave to come and blog. i'll be back (did i sound like Arnie).
" ... men dream more about coming home, than about leaving ! "

seems like yesterday

seems like yesterday that i wanted to fly and kiss the sky. seems like yesterday that i wanted to run away and be a gypsy. seems like yesterday that i made a soap solution and blew soap bubbles all afternoon. seems like yesterday that i wanted so badly to buy my own car. seems like yesterday that i fell in love and dint know what it was. seems like yesterday that i threw skimming stones into the lake and thought there was nothing more to life. seems like yesterday that i first tried on my naval uniform and thought nobody looked better. seems like yesterday that i cried when we had to give away our dogs. seems like yesterday that i was willing to give up forever to be with her. seems like yesterday that i wanted to race with the dolphins. seems like yesterday that i was playing my air guitar and thought one day i'd be a rock star. seems like yesterday ...

manic monday

" Six o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin' Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can't be late 'cause then I guess I just won't get paid
These are the days when you wish your bed was already made.
Have to catch an early train, got to be to work by nine
And if I had an air-o-plane, I still couldn't make it on time
'Cause it takes me so long just to figure out what I'm gonna wear
Blame it on the train but the boss is already there.
It's just another manic Monday (oh-woe)
I wish it was Sunday (oh-woe)
'Cause that's my Funday (oh-woe)
My I don't have to runday (oh)
It's just another manic Monday."

wonderful song, aint it. Bangles. god, i love them.
never did think something like this would happen to me. slept late last night, as usual, one of the advantages of a bachelor's apartment, u just dont look at the clock. woke up at 7.30, surprisingly, i reached for the remote, still in bed. the oscar ceremony was on Live. ok so i will just go a little late to office. was cool cos i wasnt in a 9 to 5 job. i went to office only a few days in a year. today was to be one of them. the oscars were dragging on. why cant they just announce it all at once. dont they know people gotta get to office. quite reluctantly, i got up from bed and got ready. as i was stepping out, king kong won an oscar for something. caught a train and reached Mumbai's corporate district. so far so good.
was never so good with the dress code. a nice formal shirt and trouser is definitely in. add a tie. with this i am usually wearing a cap and a reebok. well, quite a few friends have tried in vain to improve my dress sense. why do they even bother. i was wearing a nice tie today, though. hailed a taxi. as i was getting in, something caught on my trouser and it tore. i swore out loud. ( censored ). "mayday! mayday! houston, we have a problem". what the f. i just sat in the cab, afraid to look. i felt for the tear. perfectly placed on my ass. what do i do now. a hundred and seventeen options came to my mind. abort mission. it wasnt so important anyway. we had reached my company by that time. i paid the guy and quickly ducked into a nearby restaurant.
i asked my neighbour how bad it was, he just showed me all his teeth. right then. i took out my shirt to cover the tear. decided to walk back to the station this time. i was feeling a little uneasy. all around there were lovely ladies and gents in the best corporate wear. but as i walked i realised nobody really cared. they were all too busy with their own lives to notice one unlucky bugger on the streets next to them. blogtime i thought, with a coke, perhaps.
i dont like mondays ...

speed breaker

i have to stop the world and let this be known. it had gotten me very excited. this is about pal who was with me at college. now he's a software programmer in bangalore. its a proud moment for me to announce what he has done. he has provided a one-stop-shop for two of the most celebrated literary works to come out of India. a very commendable job. three cheers pal.
Gitanjali is a nobel prize winner by Rabindranath Tagore. its an anthology of poems originally written in the Bengali language. this site offers the english translations of all of the 103 poems in the anthology.
Thirukural also known as sacred couplets is a collection of aphorisms written by Thiruvalluvar originally in the Tamil language. now this site provides the english translations of the thought provoking lines.
truly amazing.
talking about one-stop-shops check out Dear Al. here is the one-stop-solution-provider for everyday problems, already with an enviable clientele.
while you are checking out all those links, here is the last word. Big in 05. presenting the annual weblog awards. time to wonder why you dint make it on that list.

wuzzup

WUZZUP .... WUZZZZZZUP
oh hell, this aint no ad for Budweiser, true, it sounds like one, but its just that i am in a good mood. quite a surprise, considering the fact that i am attending a couple of boring 'intercourses'. yeah right, thats what we are calling it. i've never bin inclined towards studying, it amazes me, how i managed through school and an engineering degree afterward. ha ha.
well, most of the time, i sail on ships that carry crude oil (why does everyone's eyes light up at the mere mention of the word 'oil' ) i dunno how the oil lobby works, but fuel prices seem to have a one way ticket, skywards. anyway, this specialisation course aims at providing a better understanding of oil tanker operations and hazards. all we can remember are the numerous ways we could get killed working on such ships.
dint i say i was in a good mood. yes i am. cant explain why. am just feeling good, humming my favourite tracks, trying to smell flowers, smiling at everyone passing by, realising life is beautiful ...
life has always bin beautiful, funny how we feel it only when we are happy too ...

all in the name

i kinda like this game. i guess it is turning out to be quite popular.
u can find out how ur name can be defined. u wont believe what happened. i typed in my name and look what i got ...


Balls --
[noun]
A master of Storytelling !


wow. aint it cool !
u too can try it. How will you be defined in the dictionary at www.quizgalaxy.com

one more time ?

... and then she sat up and cuddled against me. i gave her a little squeeze. was she feeling cold. or was is just the urge to cuddle. either way, it felt so good. i'll just hug her tight. on second thought, maybe i should give her my jacket.
"why dont you offer me your jacket and maybe i shall think you are a gentleman"
she always knew what i was thinking. wish i could too. right then. i took off my jacket and helped her pull it on. she had this little wicked smile on her, which turned into a giggle as she got up and walked a few steps from the park bench. she turned around. looked straight at me. it was one helluva freeze frame. what do i do. what do i do now.
with a graceful toss of her hair, she turned and started running across the park. i quickly picked our shoes and started after her. i caught up with her somewhere down the middle, grabbed her arm and swung her into an tight embrace.
"you are crushing me"
she said it slowly, but i knew she liked it. i wasnt going to let go of her. not just now.
"take me home, please"
_______

... i put her into bed, adjusted her sheets. she handed me a book. it had become a ritual these days. i would read to her every night, till she slept. The Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. i wasnt such a fan of Hemingway, but she liked this book, it spoke of spring and how there would always be one. i sat next to her and started reading. she locked her arm into mine tightly. i would read and she would turn the pages.
after a while, i felt her grip break loose. she was falling asleep. careful not to wake her, i tucked her into the sheets softly. i got up, fixed myself a drink and sat on the chair by the bed.
"honey, i will always be there when u wake up", blew her a kiss.
oh, how lovely she looked. a chill ran down my spine. there was a rush of blood inside. heart beating faster. i was falling in love.
can you fall in love again with someone you already love ...

its a phony !

enough with the mushy stuff - my friends are screamin
how much mush is too much, i ask u ? my roommates cant tolerate the dreamy look on my face and hate to hear someone, who worships rock 'n roll, singing mushy tracks, yet again. Again ??? u ask. well, they know me to fall in love easily and am always in love with someone or the other. they are but a juicy kick away from bringing me back into reality. well, what do they know, they are just a bunch of frustrated blokes, who would ogle at anything that moves and has breasts. i beg to differ.
i am the sort of guy who would just like to covet from a distance. actually, i am shit scared. god, u have no idea, how difficult it is to approach a girl and actually say something intelligent before she thinks you are some blithering idiot or some serial-rapist and quickly reach for the pepper spray within her bag to blind you in an instant. did try it though, while i was in Bangalore. we were at a traffic signal. i kinda liked the girl alongside us on a scooter. i mustered up all the courage i could, leaned out of the car and told her i found her very pretty. that did it. she just took off. ran a red light. can u believe that. my friend who was driving, just freaked out. luckily she made it across without getting hit. obviously, traffic signals are a strict no-no for handing out compliments, especially if the recipient would take off instead of saying thank you.
(phew)
(sigh)
on to more interesting and critical-to-the-world issues. phone sex. yes. and why not. check out Sandi here. she wants to know people that have done it. go on, now leave a comment. she hasnt yet found one guy who would claim, he'd done it. now, c'mon guys. save man-kind from the shame of discovering that women are having more fun than us.
and yes ramblings, Narnia was quite entertaining. it was a bit of a drag somewhere in between, but then was good in terms of stunning visuals. kids would enjoy it.
off i go now, singing "romeo and juliet", hey, atleast its a Dire Straits number. cheers.

the park bench

... and we were walkin barefoot on the grass, holdin hands, shoes on the other hand. we werent saying anything. just walking. a quiet evening. moist grass. starry night. moon playing hide and seek with the clouds. there was so much i wanted to say. but no. it was one of those comfortable silences. very reassuring.
found a lonesome park bench. steered ourselves toward it. i sat on one corner, dropped my shoes. she decided to lie down. stretched out on the bench, with her head on my lap and feet over the armrests on the other side. took my arm and held it tightly across her like a seat belt. i pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear and started to play with her hair.
she was just looking straight at the starry sky. would have given anything to know what she was thinking. was just going to ask her, when she spoke.
"beautiful."
"yes, u are."
"i was referring to the sky above."
"and i was referring to u."
"u are crazy, u know that."
"yes, i know that."
everything was quiet save a few insects in the bush, probably urging me to say something romantic or just something stupid like 'i love you'. i opened my mouth, but she beat me to it.
"i also love u, u know that."
"yes, i know that."

so whats cooking ?

"lets cook", said S.
K and i looked up, half surprised, half in awe at the suggestion.
well, i was back from my little trip down south. All being well with my family, i started back, happy that i had found time for some old fashioned rock 'n roll and a few hilarious novels that i had enjoyed during my wonder years. Had to make a short stop at Bangalore to attend a colleague's wedding. Its was swell and everything worked out so perfectly for the merry couple. I called up everybody i knew in Bangalore to let them know i am in town. After a few hours, there being nothing more i could do to screw up their lives, I called up everybody i knew in Bangalore to let them know i am leaving town. so there i was travelling back to Mumbai, little did i know what awaited me.
had settled into the apartment, met the guys and the spent the whole day watching the Australian Open and the much delayed India-Pak encounter. we were just back from dinner.
"lets cook", said S.
K and i looked up, half surprised, half in awe at the suggestion. we had just finished dinner but were still a shade hungry. there was a pack of noodles.
S: lets cook
K: u mean, now
S: yes, lets cook
B: u mean, now
S: i feel like it
K: u feel like cooking
S: no i feel like eating
B: we have Tang
S: we'll have that too, with the noodles
To ordinary men, such an ordeal might be quite the third instalment of mission impossible, but not to us marine engineers. we like challenges and believe me, this was one of a kind. surely, i must add, this was a giant leap for mankind.
That started the discussion on thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, convection currents and so on. we discussed whether the Rankine cylcle was relevant to our discussion. after so much of brain storming, we hit upon an idea, and quite successfully managed to boil water. It was simple and efficient. All we did was take water in a pan and placed it over a-recently-procured-electric-stove and plugged it to a 220 volt a/c supply and switched it ON. voila, after a few minutes, the water started to boil. simple and efficient like i said.
K: (looking at the pack) it says here, that 100gm of this noodle would fulfill 20% of our dietary requirement for protein and calcium
B: wonderful, wonderful
S: open it then, make sure u tear along the dotted line
totally enthusiastic, we decided to use up 200 gms from the pack, confident that 40% our dietary requirement for protein and calcium would be fulfilled. so out of the pack and into the pan, went the noodles. we watched in awe as the noodles melted in the hot water.
S: it says here, that we should stir
B: then stir
S: it also says, it would be ready in two minutes
K: damn, i forgot to time it, do we have a stop watch
B: no sweat, that was the test bed results, in actual, it would take more time, owing to actual weather conditions
everything went in an orderly fashion. grand finale - a mixture of assorted spices was added and the whole thing was stirred again, first in the clockwise direction and then when that got monotonous, in the anti-clockwise direction.
K: we did it
B: yes, we did it
S: oh my god, we did it
yummy. it tasted so good, we were left wanting for more and what an experience it was. it elevated the standing of cooks, wives who cooked, moms who cooked and other helpful souls who would cook to a whole new level. so let me summarise quickly the ingredients that go into the successful cooking of some yummy noodles:- a pack of noodles, ofcourse, vegetables (optional), mixture of assorted spices, one electric stove, 220 volt a/c supply, 3 marine engineers and a bottle of fire extinguisher (just in case u wanna play it safe)
wouldn't go to the extent of saying that it was a nerve-racking experience, but would surely appreciate if someone would just invite me over for dinner everyday !

yikes

if i lived anywhere near ramblings i am sure a juicy kick on the butt would be the order of the day. yikes.
i presume, everybody had a wonderful festive season, without my help and all. mine was good owing to a bottomless glass of Port. wonderful what these things can do to you. then i decided to make a trip.
hey, i am just home with my parents. i've just bin diggin up all my old music collections. yahoo, found some of the old beatles records. god, how much i miss them. guess what else, found some P.G. Wodehouse books. yahoo again. so excuse' moi, for a change i am reading books. rest assured, i'll be back to giving blogs a similar treatment.

oh well

well, here i am, in T. Its not a bad place. I am not having a bad time. Everythings not bad. The weather is not bad either. cheerio then.
p.s. : what the fuck am i doing here ?

27

another reminder that i am getting older. just turned 27, yesterday, and was reminded in no subtle terms that generation-next started the day after. screw him!
as usual my mom was the first to wish me a great year ahead. friends called up later, with the excuse, 'hey i thought u'd be wakin up late today'. yeah right! spent the day hangin out with friends and planning a party that would never happen. saving grace - delicious punjabi food at a lovely restaurant. (sorry to disappoint u - no booze would flow). the grand finale was a trip to the nearby theatre to watch a movie. please, the real hero of the movie was the push-up bra.
later, lying on the bed i was wondering if i had a good year.
hey that reminds me of a joke.
what do u do with 365 used condoms?
melt them, make a tyre and call it good year!
well, i wasnt so impressed with mine. last year around i had decided to accomplish certain things. never did. i see so many of my friends slogging it out, working hard so that one day they would find themselves relaxing on a rocking chair. hmmn, i have bin doing just that - lazing around on the couch, scratching my one-week old beard. maybe its time to get my lazy butt off the chair and do something for chrissakes. but hey this time i am not going to set any impossible goals. i will just quickly learn some passable spanish and then get down on my knees and beg Shakira to marry me. any 'objection', Shakira ?

oh is it

"what are u doing ?"
"picking out some cards for this christmas and newyear"
"isnt this the electronic age. why dont u send an e-greeting"
"well, its not the same thing, is it?"
No, its not the same thing ...

its not about the words

"... u say it best when u say nuthin at all ... " Ronan Keating couldnt have been more right.
saw KingKong last night. must add that it was one of the most romantic movies i have seen in a very long time (2 weeks actually, had rented the movie LoveStory). Kingkong was a poignant tale of the unstated love between a beauty and the beast ... something for the ol' fashioned romantics like me. was dressed totally in black from head to toe, hoping some beauty would fall for this beast too ...
was glad i dint take a girl with me ... well i wouldnt want her to see me crying (isnt there something abt boys not crying). it was so moving, there were tears in my eyes. my favourite part in the movie is when kingkong tries a little tango on the frozen lake in central park and when kingkong slipped off the empire state building, the tears just wouldnt stop. Naomi was so bloody beautiful (it killed me too).
what can u say abt a love that was so tangible, yet unstated. wished i was a poet or some such chappie who could put what i felt in some really eloquent words. but the movie made me realise that its not about the words.
sure enough " ... it was the beauty that killed the beast."

relatively speaking

population explosion. i might have a solution. inspired by birbal.
Birbal. brilliant chap i am sure. here's what happened. the king drew a line and asked if anyone could make it smaller without erasing or defacing it. so our boy drew a bigger line adjacent to it. so in effect the line that the king drew had become smaller. smart. Birbal was the actual proponent of the Theory of Relativity and not Einstein as the world supposes. ok, so u heard it from me first.
back to our problem. so what we do is increase the population of the other countries to a value more than India. its time for all good sailors to 'stand up' and be counted. here's the plan. we sail off to different countries and screw around, spread the seeds, so on and so forth. in the not so distant future the other countries would have a population greater than that of India. problem solved. i can even imagine me receiving the Param Vir Chakra. ( hey i got a doubt, hmmn ... , i better ask someone, will call up J )
J: whats up da
B: am cool. had a doubt.
J: shoot mucha.
B: tell me abt PVC
J: awarded posthumously
B: thought so, thanks da
hmmn ... well, what did u think. after all the screwing around, u dint really expect me to be alive, did u ?

guys night out

was goin to meet friends M and S for a drink. J and me wanted to pick up some cds first, so M & S went on ahead and ordered some beer. Soon we joined them.
M: u guys are late. just missed a real gorgeous chick sitting up there, with her boyfriend.
J: why dint u tell her J was coming.
M: We did, thats why she left.
B: Why dint u tell her Balls was coming.
S: We did, then the boy got up and left too.