Status, Status everywhere and lots of lines to think..

The title is inspired from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Status messages have become such an integral part of our lives. A substantial part of our time daily is spent on updating our 'Status’ on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Buzz, Orkut and what not?? We humans are social by nature (as I read in textbooks during school days J ) and not so long ago people were complaining that the internet is isolating people and killing the very social fiber itself. But, like all great things, internet did its own thing, evolved its own solution to the problem - the Social Media (SM) tools and right now is flooded by them. And at the very core of this SM phenomenon is the ‘Status’. People update their status, look for other person’s status, comment on it and love being commented upon. So everybody has something to say and everybody has a 'Status' message.

You'll find lyrics of popular songs, lines from some poem or famous quotes from somebody as the status for most people. I, myself often, use them to share the links to the new posts on my blogs apart from sharing other messages which can at times be "just utter nonsense". Then there are status messages that want you to listen to a song, watch a video or read some interesting article on some random website. Well, I like most of them, but what I find interesting is the way people use the status messages to share the mood or the state of mind they are in. I am pretty sure that most of the times the status reflects the mind frame of that person, even if it is not in plain words. The more artistic ones choose a line from a song or quote or poem while others just mention a few words and leave the rest to your imagination. With due respect to all my friends, sample a few status messages on Gmail chat for some of my friends at this time:

"On iPhone with IM+"

“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A38LH9JvkiI&feature=related”

“Time and Tide waits for none”

"RANJHA RANJHA kardi ve main aape ranjha hoyi" –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky..."

"Work, work n more work"

"where the hell is my status message.........."

"There is no point in living if you cannot feel alive!!"

"ek simple si coffee bhi kick deti thi, tere sang..." –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"Why is God after my life????"

Note: For all my friends whose status I have mentioned here, I took the liberty of using these without permission because most of them are not original in the first place J. And for the ones which are originals, they are meant to be shared.. right?? I just shared them with a few more people, knowing that you all are my good friends and won’t mind the "free publicity" a bit ;)

In my personal opinion and with all due respect and love, I like the bottom half in the list more for the simple reason that they generate a curiosity and prompt the readers to initiate a conversation. Conversation is what we crave for; the need to vent out the feelings. Just go through each of the status messages once again and try and figure out the state of mind of the person, I am sure you will make many interesting observations J

OK..so how many times has it happened that a simple status message on your Gmail chat window or your Facebook homepage has lead to an interesting conversation with a friend? In fact, most of the times I start the conversation by saying something relevant to the status message of the person. Recently I had one such conversation, most conversations are interesting but this one took an unexpected turn. It was simply innocuous and never intended to go in the direction it went and even ended abruptly but I wish we can pick up the threads someday and continue from where we left J. It has been mentioned below; I hope you find it interesting too. Also, please do share any incidents where you had a similar experience; I am sure it happens a lot of times to each one of us.

DearFriend’s Status: I am what I am.

me: I know  what u are J

DearFriend: you know me as **********. I am more than that

me: hmm.. for example

DearFriend: To you My “ I” could not be more than a friend. My "I" or close buddy but My “I” cannot be more to you

me: see there is nothing kept in these topics close your eye(I) and just remember God ;)

DearFriend: if ever get a chance i would like to recommend a book "I am That"

me: aur main kehta hun ki “that is me”. its all perception :)

DearFriend: perception is a term when we tend to look at others and compare...there is nothing more than I. so where this perception could exist

me: wrong! perception is what we perceive, it's “my” vision it has 'I' written all over it that's why i said that is me :)

DearFriend: :) so whats your me ?

me: The world is how I see it what I see is what I am :)

DearFriend: thats so true

me: If all I can see is wrong then something is wrong in me If I see good there is something good in me :)

DearFriend: but there is something beyond  that as well. who is judging ... right or wrong. to you .. drinking may be bad.. for me its good

me: there is no judging everything is relative, relative to what I am :)

DearFriend: i live by one word.. experience..whatever comes

me: correct!! when a child comes to this world he is blank, he has no sense of right or wrong, his experiences make him draw his line of reference from which he measures right or wrong

DearFriend: i asked a prostitute.. what is love.. she said. its fucking Rs 1000 per hour.

correct ? right or wrong??

me: depends who is deciding. what his/her line of reference

DearFriend: you just use experience to avoid what you have already faced and didnt like.  but accepting that its all experience and keep on moving, that is what brings you closer to your SELF

me: sorry..I am enjoying the conversation ..but need to take a break..getting a call

DearFriend: same here. need to take offshore call :( cya later

me: tc bye :)

Note: Due permission has been taken from the person involved in the conversation before mentioning it here.

Flight, Clouds and Rainier

Yet another flight .. Check-in, security, boarding announcements, boarding.. slow..the line moves at a snail’s pace .. Smiling attendants.. I wonder if their cheeks hurt from those smiles all day long.. Window seat yippee!! Flight takes off.. all regular procedures .. then the Captain announces.. "Flight time is 3 hours 18 minutes .. we are expecting a lot of storms on the way .. so wear your seat belts and sit tight (giggitty!!)".. you listen with disdain and then turn your gaze outside the window.


There is something special about flying. Up above hundreds of feet in the air a layer of clouds separates you from the reality of life down under and you fly in a cocoon safe sound cutoff from all that is below. A layer of white serene clouds with shades of gray, crimson thrown in small measure and the blue endless sky above .. As you go higher distances diminish, things get closer and differences decimate. There is something nice about these white clouds that you see below, lumps of soft fluffy cotton thrown sometimes in patches against a blue horizon and sometimes stretching for miles trying to cut you off from the world below as if you are in paradise. I sometimes feel like getting out and jumping like a mad man in those clouds .. of course that is impossible but a fantasy :)

That reminds me that the topmost point up to which you can drive up on Mt. Rainier is also called Paradise. We got a chance to visit the place again this weekend and when we reached there the first thought crossing my mind was .."No doubt this is Paradise".. everything that you see around is white (snow!!).. the grand Rainier (Uncle Rainier as I call it), the surrounding mountains, the trees, the lonely visitor center which never seems to open .. Everything!!. What is it about white color that makes it look so divine and heavenly?? Maybe because it is an amalgamation of all the colors brought together, blends and encompasses all the colors and the emotions that we relate to them or because it resembles cleanliness, purity, peace, happiness, all good things...

Anyways that brings me back to the flight and the clouds, so looking from above they form a blanket over the earth, you at times get glimpses of the snowcapped mountains but not much and then appears Uncle Rainier in full glory standing up and above the clouds with head held high and no other mountain daring to match the splendor and the royalty that the Rainier enjoys. Those of you who have lived in Seattle know what I am talking about. It's not Rainier’s height that makes it standout that much but there are no other mountains around it that dare match it so it appears like a huge giant always overlooking Seattle maybe guarding it or who knows keeping an eye on it…

You are still lost in thoughts when sleep takes over and you doze off ..only to wakeup to the announcement that you are approaching landing unexpectedly much ahead of time with no storms encountered just minor turbulences… C’mon get your stuff and get out!!

A Tribute to my Hero...

I read…felt overwhelmed…guilty about my behavior…tweeted about it…. but couldn't just stop at that.


So I sat down to pen.. rather key in.. my thoughts about this phenomenon - Big B as we fondly have grown to call him. We have held him in high esteem.. have greatly respected him, have been entertained by him for years and years now. Yet the era lives on .. the legacy continues.. having immitated him as a child.. doing mock fights with friends..aah..dhishoom!! aah…dhishoom!! Having lived his angry young man avatar in those teen years..Having his famous screen name as my real life name have prompted people to call me "Don", "Inspector Vijay" (some even promoted me to SP), "Vijay Dinanath Chauhan" over my growing years... Having adored…loved..his style, his cool demeanor, the wiseness on his face , the grace of his age...He's always been an eternal hero..while others have come and gone ..He has stayed ..solid as a rock!!!

(Image Coutesy:Chakpak.com)

I had heard/read a lot about his accident during the shooting of Coolie, of how the whole of India prayed for his well being, of how hundreds of fans used to gather outside Breach Candy to pray for his health.. But having read his account of the medical ailments he has been facing over the years (http://bit.ly/d5rHmp), how he has been transforming some of the disabilities into 'Styles' in his films; I am overwhelmed and the respect has grown a thousand times.

How many times do we complain about the problems that we face everyday and forget to count our blessings..Here is a man who has been fighting his health but never complaining (atleast in public) and going about his duties of entertaining us and keeping us in good spirits..

And I thought I was in a mess and had all the problems in the world and that God has been unfair with me of late. Thank you again, Big B, for being my hero, for inspiring hope in me, giving me the resolve to stand up against odds, for opening my eyes to the blessings I have and for letting me know how trivial are problems bothering me. Thank you!!

Of thoughts, books and irritating news readers..

Doing a little bit of an experiment today using the LOG feature of the notepad to write the BLOG :) Actually it happens often that when you sit to write something, you draw a blank and at all other times of the day thoughts keep jamming in your mind and keeping it busy. So thought of jotting them down as and when they come up. Please note that this is not a "Dear diary.." type of a blog on how I spent my day. But it's more a collection of various thoughts throughout the day that I feel are worth sharing. The timestamp below is just to emphasize that these thoughts cropped up at different times of the day and may be in part if not completely unrelated to each other.

12:32 PM 4/27/2010

"The price must be paid and the process followed. You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut."


4:27 PM 4/27/2010

Thought of buying a voice recorder so that I could capture my thoughts on the go. Because there are times when interesting things are going on in your head you are discussing, articulating, arguing with yourself on something but then soon you are jolted back to the reality of life and everything vanishes.Looked for some on the Amazon. The first one that a picked had a bad review, the other didn't have any review. Then thought if iphone had a voice recording feature. I know it does record videos but I just want to record the voice and keep the visual distractions at bay. Still can't make up my mind :( For those wondering why would I want to record my own thoughts, I have always had a secret ambition (not so secret now that I am revealing it
 now) to get a book published of my own. And I am not a natural writer who can come up with ideas at will but a more instinctive one the idea, the thought is there but it disappears as quickly as it comes, thus the need to capture it... 

4:47 PM 4/27/2010

How fascinating is the way a good book provokes your thoughts ..sets the train of thoughts running..I think that the mark of a good book is that it lets you sit back and introspect, evaluate what you just read..after every few pages.

11:09 PM 4/27/2010

While watching an old interview of Amir khan yesterday on youtube available in 5 parts (http://bit.ly/dx3Wza) I felt the lady taking the interview was rude and insensitive at times so much so that it looked as if Amir was left in tears. And a blog entry from Vir Sanghvi ( http://bit.ly/aR8nP0 ) set me wondering about the old Doordarshan days when celebrity guests were held in awe. The person taking the interviews were polite and cultured. The interview often started with the host giving the glittering details of the achievements of the guest. Questions were short and often open ended which left the guest with ample time to speak his mind and his heart. And the viewers got more insight into the mind scape of the guest. obviously if a person is worthy enough of being invited for interview on national television he must have something special.
The interviews were more focused on the positives of the person so that "the aam junta" could see the person as a role model. Nowadays, the hosts speak most of the time, are not afraid/ashamed of interrupting the guest, are loud and more importantly bent upon ridiculing the guest so that they can create sensational stuff at the cost of civility. Leave alone interviews, most news channels have news readers shouting at the top of their voices as if that would  make the news they are reading more credible. The Shrill voices and over-enthusiastic clumsy reporters clamoring for their two minutes of fame have forced me to stay away from news channels forever. I rely more on the Internet today at least I can choose what I want to read and filter out the junk.
But still often I wonder will we ever have anyone close to the Shammi Narangs and Ghazala Amins of yore..

Ankit International Sports

Thought of dedicating a blog to Ankit International whom I support.

Ankit International was established in 1993 and has ever since been into creation and marketing of sports and lifestyle products. They are committed to creating products that reflect the desire to constantly bring out the best in everyone. Based out of Meerut, the Sports City of India, Ankit International manufactures and supplies a huge assortment of quality Sports goods and equipments for a wide range of sports including but not limited to cricket, football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, badminton etc

Ankit international has more than 17 years of experience in the Sports Goods industry. They manufacture and supply a large range of sports and lifestyle products and accessories with the best quality. They offer the best services for their customers at very reasonable and competitive prices.

Go to http://www.ankitinternational.net/ to learn more about them :) 

The site is still being worked upon and these guys are adding stuff gradually but basic idea is in place. Do let me know if you like the website or not. If it sucks let me know where? If you like it..tell me what's cool about it??.. Brickbats or bouquets..all kind of feedback is welcome :)

Full Circle

Today life seems to have come back a full circle. Around 3 years ago, I landed in the US in Seattle for the very first time and today it was like a home coming when I reached here this morning.

Seattle -> San Francisco -> Boston -> San Francisco -> Seattle

This has been the summary of the approx 3 years that I have spent in the US. But Seattle has always been special probably because this was the very first place and first ones are always special. Or may be because we had such a big group of 16-17 fun loving fantastic people which made living here very very special. Or may be because it is one of the most beautiful and livable cities of the US. Or may be because my lovely wife is also here :)

Whatever the case may be but I am delighted.....Chalo I am tired after almost 44hours of journey..I 'll catch some sleep..rest a while before I am "Sleepless in Seattle"