And I flew to New York and back... Part 1.

Departure: 9:20.

8:20 : Brother and friend have dropped me off at Terminal C of San Jose Airport.

Me: Do I check in here for American Airways flights?
Officer: No. That's in Terminal A. You can take the inter-terminal bus from there [pointing in some direction].
Me: Oh. Can I walk there?
Officer: Yea, but it'll take you about 15mins. You'd better take the inter-terminal bus.
Me: Oh. Ok. [Note to self: Strangle brother and friend on getting back]

9:30 : In inter-terminal bus
The only other passengers are an Indian family. They are having a conversation about earthquakes and California. Mother talks of how buildings in California are capable of withstanding earthquakes of up to magnitude 7 on the Richter Scale. Father seems to be in a world of his own. Son asks random questions. Spaces off when mother talks. Then asks another random question.

Terminal A Bus Stop
Both me and the Indian family get off. Both me and the Indian family begin to walk in the same general direction. I'm rushing of course and leave the Indian family behind. Then I get lost and can't decide where to go. Then I stop and wait for the Indian family to pass by and begin to follow them. It's just that they seem to know where they are going and well.. I don't. I'm reminded of Dirk Gently's theory:
"When trying to get somewhere, follow a random car.
You may not end up where you were going.
But you'll certainly find yourself somewhere you needed to be."
I reach a point where road crossing is involved. I decide that this probably isn't the best time to put Dirk's theory to test.

Me: Excuse me. Are you are traveling by American Airways?
Lady/Mother: Uuh.. No. [Weirdo]
Me: Oh..

Check-in counter
I finally find the place. The check-in counter says I can carry one carry-on bag plus one personal item with me.
Me: [Hmm.. Why was I planning on checking-in this bag again.. I could just carry them both with me and save on all the baggage-claim time. :) I'm so smart]

Security Check
Remove shoes, remove jacket, remove laptop. Put them and the 2 bags through screening.
Officer: Ma'am. Could you remove all liquid items from that bag.
Me: [Oh. That is why.] Hmm.. I'm sorry officer. Could I go check it in now?
Officer: Sure. [Weirdo]
Me: [Sigh]

Flight
The plane takes off. A window seat and the view outside is... captivating. The city, with all its lights, looks like a huge PCB. Shiny yellow lights look like pins of ICs and the roads look like interconnects. Hmh. I think of all the other things the view makes me think of. Once the plane gains some more altitude it looks like an open jewelry box or like elaborate work on a sari.. Sigh

That is all I have energy for today. Maybe more about New York in a future post.

Freedom of expression - a myth?

The number of unfinished posts mounting in my account is astounding. So there is no telling when and if this post will actually get published.(OK, calling the process of clicking the 'publish post' tab "publishing", might be pushing it).

I was spending a lazy Sunday morning doing all those things I plan on doing during the weekdays but never get to (gym, catching up on news, making progress on that novel that seems to be growing bigger the more I read it, updating this blog, etc etc) when I got to know of this and this that disturbed me somehow. Left me wondering and muttering, 'I don't understand'.

Here's how I look at it. She writes criticizing the believes of a section of people. The section of people get pissed off. The next thing you know, people are offering money to anyone who "blackened" Taslima's face and are accusing her of being a "Jewish spy". Hmm.. Something doesn't add up here. I try to draw an analogy. To see if that would bring more clarity. If someone was to criticize you, how would you react to it..

1. Their criticism is not misplaced. You either correct yourself or turn a deaf ear.
2. The criticism is biased, misplaced and inaccurate. But people are dumb. Most people who listen to dumb people are dumb. It's pointless explaining the correct version of things to dumb people.
3. Go out there and let people know your side of the story. The other side of the coin. You might not have as much success of course.
4. Announce a bounty for the head of the person? Hmm.. I don't think so.

My conclusion, fight a pen with a pen, not with a sword.

As for the song lyrics.. My first reaction was "huh" (followed by"whaa" I think). The song had lyrics which translate to, "even a cobbler wants to be a goldsmith". It was considered derogatory to the dalit community since all cobblers used to be dalits.. Hooww does one draw such conclusions. Hats off to Mayawati. It must take a genius to make the connection. I say vote for Mayawati in the next elections as well. If only the makers of the movie knew this was to happen they wouldn't have spent as much on it's publicity.

At this point I got really bored and stopped thinking. And writing. It's a good thing to stop writing when you stop thinking. I do good things. I feel like Mayawati. As you may see the date on this is ..., I don't know, very old. To prevent this from adding on to my list of unpublished posts I put this up now.

Trivia of the post:
Click fraud

Double standards?

"Could you tell me the train I'll have to take to get there", she asked. I looked it up online and confirmed what I doubted. There were no direct trains going there. A while later she came down and asked me if I knew the number to a taxi service. I didn't. Told her who she could call to ask for it. Not once in all the while did the thought of driving her there cross my mind.

He said he walked down to work from his home everyday. Oh, do you want me to pick you up I asked. I drive down the same way.

Sigh. It's not just this. Maybe we(you are more than welcome to count yourself out of this generalization. I just feel better believing there are others with me on this) are also more tolerant to the quirks and qualms of the opposite sex. I'm not very proud of it. But guess that's just the way things are. Flirting someone called it. I'm not so sure about that. This is what I would call flirting..

[Girl bumps into guy]
Girl: Oh! I'm sorry.
Guy: [Smiles] I'm not.

Of course, if not said the right way and by the right person the guy would come out looking just plain creepy. But we're assuming the guy has the class and style to carry it off.
Not my original. Courtesy him.

This that and other.

Ever had this strong urge to write despite the fact that you have nothing to write about. It's similar to the urge to talk when you have nothing to say. This, would be a very good time to stay far away from any form of writable media, especially if there is a possibility of it being read by others. This being said, what's life if you don't do something stupid once in a while.

Since I don't have anything to say (which I'm guessing you've gathered by now. If you haven't I'm not particularly excited about you reading my blog), I'm going to take this opportunity to promote these posts by a friend who got into a blog updating drive recently. I also came across this and this (the first post - A quick tale 194 and the third one - Cult of Bad Mamas) that I rather liked.

I read 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' recently. And I think, (yes, I tend to do that sometimes) to be able to see the funny side of life and the ability to be ourselves and not let others tell us who we ought to be are a mans greatest strengths. "You have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy” says Chief Bromden in the book.

Moment of the month:
Phone conversation.
Him: A great man once said, "thanks to all the mediocre men in the world, if it weren't for them, how would we appreciate a genius".
Me: [distracted] Another great man once said... "Burp". Great men say a lot of things.

Moment in another guys month.
After rear-ending a car and a really short guy(avoiding the M word here) getting off of it.
Short guy: I'm not happy.
Him: So which one are you??
Me: [salutes]

A trip to Reno.
A bike ride with sweet guy through beautiful roads.
New people.
A new roomie.
Peace.

And another year passes...

I grew an year older recently. (Is it a year or an year?) Lots of thoughts crossed my mind..

This post I'd read a long time back came to mind. (The second one. 'One cloudy Tuesday afternoon on a motorway').

Thoughts of growing old and wrinkly were there like a hard to ignore extra in a movie. But like Person B once said, "if you're gonna get raped, might as well enjoy it.." :).

But the hero of the moment was the fear that as the years pass I'll loose the passion to learn and discover. That I'll grow too lazy to exert myself to do new things and that my mind will grow closed to new ideas.

Aaah.. Whatever.

I say life is worth living as long as there is a new person to meet and get to know, an old friend to go back to, an unexplored place to visit, an unread book to look forward to and someone to dedicate this song to. I'm grateful to them all.

Hmm.. Lesse what I have to say when I turn 24.. Sigh.

Hop skip and jump

Warning: A more than tolerable number of "I"s are to be expected in the post that follows. Readers are warned that reading the following will probably be a complete waste of about 5 minutes of their time that could have been spent admiring Maria Sharapova or Bard Pitt or both.

I met a bunch of rather delightful guys from Standford over the weekend. Conversation:
Guy A: It(the cinema) was so crowed the last time I was here with Person A(another guy), they didn't even have 2 seats together. We had to watch the movie sitting apart!! 2 seats together.. That's all we wanted..
Guy B: Which movie?
Guy A: Die Hard 3..
Guy B: Oh just cruel that you had to watch Die Hard all alone..
Guy A: I know.. The whole movie. No one to hold my hand..
Me: [Hehe]

Hmm.. I also learned how to say "I am an egg" in German.. Sounds something like "Ekh binn ein eii" .. :) Now all I need to do is find a German to show off. I also taught the German and Austrian how to say "I am an egg" in Hindi. Though it sounded like they were saying "I am inside" :D. Delightful Austrian..

I also went to a shooting range. Ah.. The feel of a shotgun plowing into you as the bullet hits its mark. Like sweet love making.

I also went to laser quest. Yes, the very same Barny and Robin play in HIMYM. I wasn't as good but that's besides the point. Sustained a self inflicted war time injury. It was a full one centimeter :D

Add to that my very first traffic ticket and I'd say it's been a pretty happening month..

Finally reading Harry Potter 6. Ginny has become all cool and caring and popular. Like the penultimate Hindi movie heroine. WTH. I want awkward, foot shuffling Ginny back. I like awkward foot shufflers.

Apparently, great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people. Mine probably lives in my knees..

Much ado about me. :D

I believe God gives us exactly what we ask for and then laughs His head off.

I believe God should have been made in the image of George Carlin.

I believe to be happy in life you need to know and accept the two indisputable truths - life can be a bitch and shit happens.

I believe living life is like walking a tight rope with the balancing pole growing shorter as the years pass.

I believe the man who wished for the world and got it has nothing more to live for, unless he has the courage to go on and wish for a star.

I believe the theory that if an employee is indispensable, fire him should be extended to life as well.

I believe I'm searching for something but don't quite know what.

I believe tough times make you both stronger and softer.

I'm back from my long sabbatical from blogging. All that I've mentioned above could be interpreted in several ways. It's left that way on purpose.