Experiencing it all!

Knowing Pt. Bhimsen Joshi.

2011-01-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

Born in the house of a teacher, his strong attraction towards music didn't go well with his father. His father wanted Bhimsen to study either medicine or engineering. This conflict of interests persuaded the 11 year old Bhimsen to run away from home in 1933 and travel to Gwalior, a city well known for its musical treasures.

Cash strapped and going without food at times, Pt. Joshi traveled a lot in and around north India to listen to great singers and players like Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Vazebuva, Kesarbai Kerkar, Ustad Bismilah Khan. Initially Pt. Joshi started learning under the guidance of Janappa Kurtkoti, student of the great Hazrat Inayat Khan. Later, Pt. Joshi continued learning with various singers like Pt. Mangatram of Jalandar, Rajabhaiya Punchvalleh of Gwalior and Mushtaq Hussain of Rampur.

While travelling these cities, he at last met his father who had set out to find his boy. Witnessing Pt. Joshi's love for singing, his father took him to Rambhau Kungolkar of Kundgol village in Karnataka. Rambhau better known as Savai Gandharva, accepted Pt. Joshi as his student.

Rambhau was a vocalist of the Kirana Gharana, whose tradition and foundation can be traced back to Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and his great grandfather Ghulam Ali and Ghulam Maula, the brother of Ghulam Ali. Rambhau made Pt. Joshi practice Todi, Puria and Multani raag for almost 8 hours everyday. After learning as much as he could from 1936 to 1941, Pt. Joshi moved to Pune (in those days learning and practicing continuously for at least 5-8yrs under a guru was a must).

Pt. Joshi used to practice as much as 16-18 hrs everyday. He had one very important principle in life, "If you want to become an outstanding artist, a 'one in a million', then even your health has to be 'one in a million'." Daily exercise was part of his schedule and he also used to spend time playing football and hockey.

One other passion of his life was cars. Riding a cycle, motorbike and then buying his own car, he went on to buy his very own Mercedes-Benz. He has been noted to love driving his cars a lot.

Words I write about Pt. Joshi are nothing but dry drops of ink, which would otherwise flow gracefully if he himself were to talk or sing. So I leave you with these two exquisite interviews of Pt. Joshi (one marathi and one in hindi), very insightful and a lot to take away. And of course my favourite Raag Yaman Kalyan.

Data courtesy Maharashtra Times.

Be your own lifeguard!

2010-08-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

All ya land lovers!! Listen up and listen up good. This post is specially for people who either want to learn to swim but "do not have time" to do so, or are dead scared of getting in the water. One way or the other you will sometime in your life find yourself in water that is deeper than you can stand and breath in. And then instead of feeling 'If only I could swim' at that "drowning" moment, its better to know some basics.

Well, if getting rescued is all you care about, technically you don't need to know how to swim, you just need to float and not drink water around you, till someone gets to you and drags you to dry land. So here is the scenario, you just fell in water, what is the first thing you do? You reach out to the water surface and try to get your head out so that you can breath. Head first or feet first doesn't matter, whichever way you fall the general human tendency is to orient themselves so that their head is out. Now, while doing this people generally push the water up and down as if cycling in water and do the same with their hands, which is natural. The position of the body is upright at this point.

The first and most basic thing for "never-swam" people is NEVER try to stay upright. You always want to sleep on the water, like sleeping on a bed, looking up at the sky. That is your best bet at saving your life. Its like a small sheet of metal, if you keep it flat horizontal on the water surface its going to float but the moment you make it vertical... 20,000 fathoms awaits it.

This turning your body from vertical to horizontal is possible only if all your body parts work together. We will go in a body part sequence that is hydro-dynamically effective.

Your legs are a very unique part of your body, which if not used efficiently are going to drag you down. For one, your thighs are heavy and two, they are shaped so that they can easily submerge and go down if vertical. So the first part of your body that has to get up to the surface so that you can get into the sleeping position are your legs. To do this start moving both your legs up and down, like the pair of blades of a scissors. When doing this try and keep both your legs straight from your waist down and point your toes away from your body, so that even they are horizontal. This makes your feet act like flippers, helping you lift your legs up easily. It will be hard to keep your legs straight and at the same time move them up and down. So, bending your legs a bit in the knees is okay, but just a BIT. So how fast or how deep does the leg movement have to be? Well, until your legs are straight, your legs should move with a higher frequency, but a lower amplitude. So move them with an intermediate speed but not deep inside the water, just near the water surface.

As your legs start coming up, you have to push your HIPS and your STOMACH up, up above the water surface. Believe me its not at all hard. Push it up as if someone was poking you from the water below. Its every body-part for itself when you are in water. Just imagine... you are upright in the water, you started moving your legs like a scissor... they are coming up slowly... but they are only going to bring themselves up, the hips and stomach have to push themselves up, so that you attain a horizontal position.

As far as your hands are concerned, just skim them on the water surface, with your palm facing the water. Just like lying flat on snow and making a snow angel.

By now (looking sideways) nearly whole of your body has been rotated from being vertical to a horizontal position, but there is one more thing to remember. ALWAYS look up at the sky. Do not try to look what is in front of you, because that is going to bend your body and make it vertical again, pushing you down into the water.

That was a lot to remember up there, but it seems a lot because of the explanation. Its very simple even for a non-swimmer and anyone can float on their back in less than 15 seconds. Just remember these 3 points:

1. Keep both your legs straight and move them up and down like a pair of scissors.

2. As they start floating up, push your hips and your stomach up towards the sky.

3. Keeps moving your legs and maintain your hip and stomach position. No need to push hard now. Keep looking up.

Now that you are quite stably flat on water you are free to scream the hell out. Hopefully if someone nearby knows how to swim they might come to save you, unless all they too know is just to float!! Practicing this in a shallow 4ft pool won't harm you. Try it!

Well, now that you know a survivor skill do you feel like its okay to NOT know swimming? You will be missing out on an opportunity of a lifetime if you are thinking on that line! Because when you know how to swim, you don't only make sure you are confident in deep waters but also pose as a lifesaver to someone else who might be drowning. So think it out. You won't be much different than a doctor, the only other person who is a lifesaver and consequently at the same stature as god, to people who are in a helpless and agonizing situation, waiting for someone skillful to come and pull them out of deaths very own hands ;)

Keep Swimming!! \m/

Eak kavita Babansathi...

2010-02-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

This one's for my Baba's 60th Bday from what I know him for the last 25yrs.

शब्द कित्ती गोळा करू, बोलू तरी केवढे आज,
साठी पूर्ण झाली आहे मित्राची माझ्या खास.

वार्यावरती येतो तो अन वाऱ्यासारखा जातो,
गप्पा अश्या करतो कि आम्ही हलत-डुलत राहतो .

डोकं सारख आपटत राही, नव्या शोधांची त्याला खाज,
इंजीनियारही झक मारेल अश्या आयडिया त्याच्या खास.

रस्ता माझा बनवेन मीच, असो वाळू किंवा बर्फ गार,
पाणी असेल तर झालाच कि, पोहून जाईन नदी पार.

हृदय म्हणतो "थांब जरा!", "घेउडे कि जरा श्वास".
कधीतरी विचार मला, कित्ती देशील असा त्रास!

शब्द कित्ती गोळा करू, बोलू तरी केवढे आज,
साठी पूर्ण झाली आहे मित्राची माझ्या खास.

A "Date" to remember!

2009-12-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

Dark black skies... tiny stars flickering like diamonds... cool gusts of winds... and only the sound of splashing waves.

He was still looking up at the sky...amazed at the wonders god created up there...and then he turned his head to the side to find her sleeping besides him, '...and the beauties he created down here!'

This was their first date away from the chaotic city and the usual "date venues". Somewhere unique, somewhere quite is where she wanted to go.

"Why not!", he thought, "A private yacht, the open seas and just the 2 of us!"

His eyes were stuck on her, just couldn't take them away. She was nothing less than a Mermaid sleeping on the yacht deck. That Long Black Dress... her shoulder long wavy hair bouncing with the wind, and those eyelids like petals, flickered everytime the wind blew kissing them. Just looking at those red lips made him feel warm.

Turning on his side he smiled and kept staring at her.

"What?" she asked with a puzzled tone.

Giving an innocent nod, he ran his fingers through her hair and pushed them behind her ears. Quickly kissing her cheeks he slid himself back and started looking up at the stars.

"JAYY!!" she screamed.

Sliding near him she went up and looked in his eyes. Their eyes locked for a few seconds as if they were meeting each other for the very first time.

'How I would love to look in those eyes...every morning I woke up', she thought. 'Hmm, only if he ever proposes.'

With a big sigh she rested her head on his chest and opened up her eyes at the sky.

"You know what Jay, I like your eyes."

"Really?? Just my eyes? Thats it??" came a quick reply.

"Well, I don't want to go into the 'DETAILS', you know!!", she said tickling his tummy.

Both of them went on laughing for a while.

Taking his arm in her hands she hugged it tightly and kept gazing at the stars.

They continued looking up at the sky... no words... just the waves.

"You like the stars and the skies don't you?", he said holding one of her hands and playing with her fingers.

"Ohh I love to gaze at the skies, the stars, the planets... everything up there!" she said in excitement.

"Did you ever dream of going to the stars then? Or better, bringing them here?"

"Ohh, come on now Jay" she started, "don't start the 'I'll bring the stars for you' line. Thats too cheesy".

"Ohh NO!" he replied, with a devilish smile, "I am not going to. You are going to catch one for yourself."

"WHAT??" she yelled, "Are you serious?!" and started laughing.

"Come on. Play along this one time will you!" he said lifting up her hand.

"Open up your hand, grab the star you like the most and close it tightly!"

She looked at him. His eyes were pleading... something she couldn't resist.

"Is that kid in you ever going to grow?" she gave in, opening up her hand.

Looking up at the sky, she rolled her eyes a bit trying to choose a star from the millions up there. With a big 'Ahh' she closed her hand as if grabbing one.

"Here!" she said, showing her hand.

"Now give it to me", he wrapped his hand around hers as she smiled and opened her hand.

"Now what??", came a quick question, like a 5 year old.

"Now... about my eyes... You love them don't you! How would you like to look at them every day and every night... No one else... Just you and them!", he said opening up his hand.

"Will this star do??" he asked with a wide smile. He was holding a bright glittering Solitare Diamond Ring.

She wanted to smile and laugh, she really did, but her eyes couldn't hold the tears back. It was something she had always hoped for but this was too real, too surprising to be JUST happy.

She closed her eyes and started nodding as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I want those eyes to look at me for the rest of my life Jay!", she whispered with her eyes still wet.

He kissed her forehead and touched his nose to hers looking deep in her eyes. Sliding the ring in her finger he hugged her tight enough to feel her heartbeats. They were louder, much louder than the waves now!

Never old for Diwali

2009-10-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

I sit in a small, room of mine and look out of the windows big and fine,

The weathers cold, and we have grown but has the kid inside us flown??

Do you feel like lighting a diya or two,

when the sky for fest of lights is blue??

Or do you just send a mail around,

wishing Diwali without a sound.

Can you still get up early on that day,

when you know its time to be "cracking" your way!

Do you feel like eating all the sweets,

the karanji, the laddoo and the chivada bits

Do you miss friends coming around the house,

with a bag full of crackers and going to the grounds

And dont you just want to visit the gods,

to tell them how happy and thankful you are?

But I still sit in a room of mine,

looking out to the clouds through the windows fine.

Yes I think we have grown,

but the kid in us is too young to have flown!!

So dress in your best, go out in the crowd,

open your mouth for Diwali shouts.

Have some potlucks, give some gifts

make sure your loved ones are always blissed!!

Something to bring back from India

2009-07-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

What should I bring when I come back here,
Asked me a friend who flew to her dears

Bring me those smiles I left tingling back
A jar full of laughs I shared with my pals

Those fights I had with my lovely Sis
That sharing with her of Ice-cream treats

Can you grab some grass on the garden I slept
while gazing at the stars and moon abreast

A handful of tears that dropped rolling down
when I fell off the swing or bursted laughing loud

A kilo of good times with friends in the park
and a litre of cold wind that felt like a spark

Can you bring that feeling of a big family
That makes me miss them like I never did

"These are all but feelings" she said
What else do I need from the land of bliss!

A smile, a cry, a culture to flaunt.
A reason to go back is all I want!

Know your Decepticons!

2009-07-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

People told me that it was hard to make out who’s an Autobot and who’s a Decepticon as we came out of the theater…TRANSFORMERS 2! So I couldn’t stop myself from writing this down, not to mention the fact that I totally enjoy doing this. So here goes…

Symbols! Just about every Decepticon or Autobot introduced in the movie first has his symbol shown, which is a way to make things clear to people.

Decepticons

Autobots

The wolf looking face covered symbol is for Decepticons. And the “looking straight into your eyes “confident symbol for Autobots. Most of the Transformers have their respective symbols on their hoods/chest.

Even I misunderstood that the Gray and dull colored machines are Decepticons, but that isn’t the case. There are a lot of them who have transformed themselves in the first machine they can scan and get transformed into. That’s why the green, yellow Decepticons.

Lets move according to the movie so that its easy to recollect the movie and relate the characters to the scenes.

Demolisher

Transformation mode: Construction Equipment

This is the first decepticon you’ll come across in the movie. The one which is sited in Shanghai and is the reason for a lot of devastation. Also he’s the one who references the “fallen” while dying, “The Fallen shall rise!”.

Sideways

Transformer mode: Audi R8

The second Decepticon to be tracked, this one doesn’t get time to transform and is killed in its Car mode, by Sideswipe (Chevrolet Stingray), again in Shanghai.

Ravage:

This is the cat like Decept which puts small balls of robots through the air vent of the US Naval Base Stronghold to steal the only remaining fragment of the ‘All Spark’. Ravage returns in the last battle of the desert.

Megatron

Transformation mode: Cybertronian Jet

Megatron as you might already know was thrown into the Laurentian Abyss to be frozen. But is brought back to life using that very last piece of the All Spark stolen from the US Naval Base.

Starscream

Transformation mode: F-22 Raptor

He maintains a simian body shape with a large, triangular chest, large shoulders formed by the jet's distinctive twin tails and small bird-like feet. His chest is formed by the jet's nose. The jet's powerful main engines end up on his back, allowing him to leap great heights into the air and take flight. He is first sighted in this movie when Megatron shoots from the Laurentian Abyss to the Planet Cybertron.

The Fallen

One of the earliest transformer from Cybertron can also be termed as the founder of Decepticons. He tries to go against the Cybertronian rules of ‘not destroying suns which have a planet dependent on it’, and so named the Fallen. He can be only killed by a Prime (here Optimus Prime).

Wheelie

Not exactly the destructive Decepticon, he tries to steal the All Spark fragment from Mikaela’s shop safe. Sam and Mikaela then use him to find more about the truth of the hidden energy.

C-35 Helicopter

This helicopter too doesn’t get a chance to be transformed. You’ll see him taking Sam & Mikaela to Megatron, who are driving a silver car trying to get away from the female Decepticon.

Scalpel

This “bug” is also known as doctor and he inserts a small robotic worm through Sam’s nose which goes inside and gets info on Sam’s head projecting a holographic image of the location of the hidden energy source.

Devastator

A giant robot formed by joining a bunch of construction machines together. This one you’ll see in the dying moments of the movie. It tries to uncover the Energy making machine made by the earlier ancestorial transformers under the Pyramid. Individually the Decepticons are:

Bonecrusher (Demolitions)
He transforms into a bulldozer.
He forms the left arm of Devastator.

Scavenger (Mining and Salvage)
He transforms into an excavator.
He forms the right arm of Devastator.

Scrapper (Construction Engine)
He transforms into a wheeled front-load shovel.
He forms the right leg of Devastator

Hook (Surgical Engineer)
He transforms into a crane.
He forms the head and shoulders of Devastator.

Long Haul (Transport)
He transforms into a dump truck.
He forms the lower torso of Devastator.

Mixmaster (Materials Fabrication)
He transforms into a concrete mixer truck.
He forms the left leg of Devastator.

Rampage

Transformation mode: Bulldozer.

You can recall him when Sam tries to talk to him in the desert battle while Bumblebee attacks him from behind.

Scorponok

This awesome bug started the first movie, and comes to help Megatron in this movie’s desert war too.

Mixmaster

Transformation mode: Concerete Mixer

First "Starring" on one of the NY Bridges taking out a flag on that bridge when Megatron tells every Decepticon to come out in the open. Mixmaster is then destroyed by Jetfire, the SR-71 Blackbird old decepticon-turned-autobot.

All the other transformers you see in the movie are Autobots. So all the other green, yellow or any other color are not Decepticons. Any more questions are welcome, I would love to answer each and everyone!!! :D

My Real Life Hero.

2009-06-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

You taught all that you could to make me and Amruta good swimmers and I know you had big dreams.

I still remember the times you used to give me a Rs.2 bill each time I went for a swim in 2^rd Grade, so that I swim at least for that. What a waste I was! :|

I get hungry after every swim even today, thinking about the wait for that Sunday swim session to get over so that you would buy me and Amruta a Frankee at Tibbs.

I want to go on that ride again standing just behind the scooter handle and revving the motionless handle sleeve as you used to speed up.

Its summer here now but I am still waiting for you to bring a BIG watermelon and I miss the Watermelon Mocktails you used to make.

Will you bring Kababs on Monday or Sankasthi even here and innocently tell mom you forgot about the DAY, while blinking one eyelid, signaling us the situation is under control :D

But at the same time why do you clap your hands and chant the Aarti during Ganapati at Aatya’s house?

I am happy that you trained me to eat everything. “You should be ready to eat anything that won’t kill you if need be and if you want to survive.” is what you said and I do.

I know how much you wanted to pursue engineering but couldn’t because of your love for swimming, but I am happy that I am able to pursue your dream.

You made me study hard for a motorbike and encouraged me to ride one and never bogged me down with safety issues or being overcautious about it, you can't imagine how lucky I feel about that!

I was stunned when you said “You can even play an Electric Guitar now that you play an Acoustic one”, without a hint of sarcasm in it. I was expecting being yelled at :P

I miss the times we used to fight with Aai and Amruta to watch those Sci-Fi movies together. I want to stay awake watching those movies again.

You are my real life hero, I am inspired by your decisions to go off track and explore new avenues, and be ready to face the downs.

I won’t call you the Best Dad in the WORLD, you are my dad and that’s all I need…and really speaking the WORLD is not enough!

Honestly this was a something for Father’s Day, but neither of us felt anything special about wishing Fathers Day. “We enjoy every moment together, then why do we need a different DAY for that?!” is what he said. And I can’t agree more.

Skipping a beat!

2009-06-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

She tried to walk away from me. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to me. Pushing her firmly against the wall I slid my hand over her waist and looked into her eyes. She was trying to avoid looking straight at me, trying to push me away. I went near her, near enough that she could feel my warm breath on her neck. "Do you still love me?" I asked her, expecting an answer I already knew. Suddenly looking in my eyes as if searching its depth she asked "Why would you care!", and tears rolled down her soft, rosy cheeks, like dew drops falling off a Rose petal.

Holding her hand I took it up and pressed it against my chest. "Do you feel that? It beats for you and you only. It skips a beat every time you smile, every time you laugh, when you are angry at me or when you cry. Because it cares, I care! And it will beat no more if you aren’t there to care for!"

She wasn't trying to push me away now. She just closed her eyes and cried. Putting my arms around her I hugged her tightly, tight enough for her to feel I will never go away from her, ever. Kissing her on the neck I let her rest in my arms till she stopped crying. With a soft ticklish blow of air in her ear I held her back, kissed her on the cheek and held her chin up. Sliding her hair behind her ear I wiped her wet cheeks and made her eyelids flicker with a soft blow of air on her eyes. She gave a soft smile, and it skipped a beat again.

Growing young.

2009-05-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

As we grow old so do our parents. But did you ever notice that they not only grow old physically and in age, there's a stage after which your mental growth ceases. Call it the mid 70's or early 80's. This is a time when the brain stops developing any more, rather it slowly starts switching off its sections. To put it in a simple and beautiful way, after that peak period everyone starts growing younger mentally, they start their journey towards becoming a child again, naïve and everyday is new for them.

There are short term and long term memory losses. Normal talks could be a problem to listen to from a distance. Vision starts to die away. The body has already started giving up. They are going to be slow now. Don't expect them to give the same reaction time as you do. This is the time when you have to be patient...as patient as your mom and dad were when you were a baby or sometimes even more than that. Think about them as a small child.

Can I even compare them with a child? A child is so full of energy, everyone is delighted and overjoyed with their presence. The aged can barely jog and I know how much they are "welcome" at the parties and gatherings.

The only difference... well you would say, they don't seem as cute as a child, do they? Just go back in time for a moment and think of those days when your mom/dad used to tell people how cute, sweet and intelligent you were even if you were slow amongst most of the kids, dark in complexion, too fat to run or too skinny like a dry twig and god knows what. They don't even expect you to do this, but at least don't look at them as if they have committed a crime.
Go slow with them on certain matters. And for those who don't want to accept the fact get this straight, life is a cycle and you are a part of it. Do your Karma or face the consequences...what goes around comes around!

Getting pissed off won't do the work faster, would it now?! Do you remember how often they used to repeat stuff till you got it right or till you were satisfied, all that with a childish and godly tone.

For some time forget they are your mom and dad! She’s the most beautiful, sweetest girl; he’s a bit boyish at times but still your chubby, cute boy. They are your kids now! :)

The Roomie Hunt!

2009-05-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

And so the database on Orkut’s RU Fall 07 starts filling-up with people trying to show how I am a “roomie material” :D
These are all 4 of us:

Name: Siddharth Wagh
Age: 21
religion: Hindu
I stay at: Borivali, Mumbai
Currently pursuing: Sem 8, Electronix engg, VJTI
Program in Rutgers: MS in ECE
Housing preferred: Off-campus (one which is cheaper)

Languages i know: Marathi, Hindi, English
Eating habits: Non-veg. esp SEA FOOD. am an absolute foodie. can eat almost anything. Karwari style food at home.
Cooking: Am learning.
Smoking/ Drinking: Social drinker (3-4 times/yr) Non-smoker
Any eccentricities? none.
Hobbies: Singing, reading fiction/non-fiction, drawing, travelling

Yahoo ID: callwhitetiger
Gmail: siddharth.wagh@gmail.com
MSN: talkwithsid (rarely used)

Compatibility??
Preferably males. Good sense of humor as well as ability to withstand a bad one. Smokers who dont smoke in my face are ok. non-smokers are welcome. Basically, i cant handle people with moods varying in extremes. A balanced persona is a must.

Name: Indraneel Kulkarni
Age: 22
religion: Hindu
Currently pursuing: Working. passed out in 2006
Program in Rutgers: EE Control syst
Housing preferred: Off Campus

Languages i know: Hindi, English, Marathi
Eating habits: I love Veg, non-veg both, though stictly no sea food, but i dont have problem with people eating it.
Cooking : Under training......
Smoking/ Drinking: Occasional drinker(once or twice in 3-4 months) strictly no smoking....
Any eccentricities? No eccentricities (found yet... lol)
Hobbies: Sports,Playing Violin, reading etc...

Yahoo ID: neel_24_2000@yahoo.com
Gmail: neel2407@gmail.com
MSN: neelsteer@msn.com

Compatibility room-mate)
Sensibility is a must...level headed..with reasonable tolerance... no naggers please...
social with at least a little sense of humor.....
I Stay at: Santacruz(W)...Mumbai..

Name : Prashant Jadhav
Age: 21
Religion: Hindu
Currently pursuing: Last sem of Electronics and telecom. Engg in FrCRIT,VASHI at Mumbai University
Program in Rutgers: MS in ECE
Housing preferred: Offcampus(bcoz it is cheaper)

Languages i know: English , Marathi , Hindi
Eating habits: Veg/Non veg
Smoking/ Drinking: NO
Any eccentricities? : none
Hobbies: music(listening as well as singing), Reading , Sports(cricket,football,table tennis(amateur),badminton!)

Yahoo ID: prashu_8519@yahoo.co.in
Gmail: prashant.mjadhav@gmail.com
Compatibility?? : Preferably non smoking and non drinking.
Cooking : Still learning
I stay at: Koparkhairne(Navi Mumbai)

Name: Jay Takle
Age: 22
religion: Hindu
I stay at: Dadar, Mumbai
Currently pursuing: Working, Passed out 2006
Program in Rutgers: MS in MECH
Housing preferred: Off-campus

Languages i know: Marathi, Hindi, English
Eating habits: Non-veg/Veg (I mean anything, but am a Non-veg freak)
Cooking: Basic training under way.
Smoking/ Drinking: Once or twice a year, Non-smoker
Any eccentricities: None.
Hobbies: Swimming,Travelling, Watching & reading fiction, Exercising.

Yahoo ID: jaytakle@yahoo.co.in
Gmail: jaytakle@gmail.com
Compatibility??
Jolly & lively people are my best friends I must say. Smokers & occasional Drinkers are no probs with me. And did I mention that HUMOUR is my middle name!

We even had Taj certified Chefs in that database :O The only thing that was highlighted for me in Siddharth’s info was ‘Non-veg. esp SEA FOOD. am an absolute foodie. can eat almost anything.’ and ‘Good sense of humor as well as ability to withstand a bad one.’ Now that’s where we started talking on yahoo messenger and the lines are still fresh in my mind “Tula masey avadtat, arrey malapan avadtat" (you like fish? Me too!), "khup jamega rang jab mil baithengey 3 yaar, tu, main aur apna paplet fry!” Not that we cook fish everyday, for that matter in these last 2yrs we have had fish at our house just thrice. It’s the feeling that someone else too shares your interests that makes you happy.

Now time to search the other two. There were long conversations of visas, general info on the orkut community but none of roomie meets.
Finally Tejas started the meet venue and time post after which everyone confirmed on Infinity Mall.
Quoting the Orkut post:
“Mohnish:
23rd Infinity Mall
So then its fixed finally. For rutgers ppl --> 23rd June at 3 pm at Infinity Mall in Andheri. Anyone not frm Mumbai who can manage to come are also welcome”

Siddharth was going to come from Vile-Parle (marriage) and I was coming from Dadar. So we decided we’ll go to the mall together. Incidentally I was gonna go to Vile-Parle & Siddharth to Dadar after the meet :P I had seen Siddharth only on orkut. After almost a wait for 10mins outside the Andheri station McDonalds, Siddharth called me to tell me he’s coming to the front gate and that he’s wearing a white kurta. In 5 mins I saw someone coming towards me. “What the hell is that?” :O A white kurta alright but with long hair and a hair band. I was stunned for a moment and was picturising siddharth as a rock band guitarist head banging. He came up to me and started talking in Marathi. Phew then I came back to my senses :D

We took a rickshaw to Infinity and went up to the food court. I could see around 20 people chatting and smiling at each other. From what I recollect Akshay Shetty, Askhay Jog, Mohnish, Bhushan, Shahil, Tejas, Puneet, Ronak Shah, Melville, Jayant and Indraneel were there. Me and siddharth were going up to people introducing ourselves as roomies & searching for 2 more. It was only after this that I could relate them to their Orkut profiles :P Ahh the first match we found was Melville & Jayant, both Universal Non-vegs like us, and Melville also had a same G-shock as mine :P

My phone started ringing as I was talking with Melville. Prashant called me to ask where exactly we were in the mall. I started giving him directions till he reached the food court ‘safely’. He was…well 30mins late I think.

Just as we were moving around there was a discussion about a VEGGIE group being formed to make it easy for veggie roomies. Then there was Akshay Jog telling people which hard-disk to buy and what all “Important Stuff” we need in the Disk….in 10s of GB’s mind you ;)
After almost an hour of telling which Univs we rejected and which rejected us, everyone started feeling hungry. Siddharth and me still had our reserves in the tummy, Indraneel was going home. Prashant was the one most pissed off, he was there for only half an hour now and we were leaving. “Shya, I had to come all the way from navi mumbai yaar, for just half an hour!” Since Prashant too was going by train we 3 went to the station in a rick and had a talk with prashant on the roomie issue. Someone, some idiot took up the task of noting down everyone’s cell phone # and was supposed to post them on the Yahoo group, it never came up there :X

Alright so the meet was a good one, time to go through everyone’s profile. Of course! What do you mean by ‘why stalk others profile’, more than half of the people had tried to make a good “Roomie Resume” in the ‘About yourself’ thread. Some might have even gone to the extent of changing their profile info. As an example I had a totally different profile for my friends in Siemens. They were one of my best friends and I didn’t want them to hate me so early (I knew they would, once I told them about my MS plans). When I did, I shifted them back to my original profile and I am happy I didn’t lose them, they still remain my best friends. Yes I am selfish, I don’t mind being selfish for friends.

After going through a lot of possible and eligible roomies, siddharth and I finalized 5 people amongst which Prashant clicked us the day we had a talk in the Rickshaw and the way back to the station. Indraneel was in too because of the fact that he was going to get trained in making chapattis (sense our joy when we picturised hot chapati’s being served :P)

06/28/2007
This was a common format sent to both Indraneel & Prashant asking them if they would like to join us.

Prashant saheb kay mhantay? Roommate confirm kele ka?
Nahi tar, kya aap humko aapke sath rehnekey layak samjhenge?
Kay boltos? Do reply.

Regards
Jay Takle &
Siddharth Wagh

Prashant replied with a simple yes. Following was the conversation between me and Indraneel:

wah, aab toh maja ayega! Jab mil baithenge hum 5 log.... aap, mai, sid, prashant aur hamare jokes!!!

indraneel kulkarni wrote:

Namaskar Saheb..........
thank u for the offer....I m obliged.......
Will join u all for sure.

Thanks & Regards
Indraneel Kulkarni

jay takle wrote:

Neel saheb kay mhnatay? Roommate confirm kele ka?
Nahi tar, kya aap humko aapke sath rehneke layak samjhenge?
Kay boltos? Do reply.

Regards
Jay Takle &
Siddharth Wagh

And so was formed, my new family away from home. We had one meeting in a Borivali park where Siddharth used to do his marathon practice. This one was to finalize stuff that would be used by all of us and to avoid any redundancies. And this one’s to show how naïve we were then….
Indraneel: Arrey which all languages do you know?
Siddharth: I just know Hindi, Marathi & English. Why do we need to know any more??
Me, Indraneel & Prashant were laughing literally rolling on the floor. It didn’t click siddharth till Indraneel told him “Arrey I was asking about Computer Languages :P”

It started raining then and we had to move in under a shade. We were the only ‘all boys team’ there, the other people around us at that time were couples. As we were murmuring about utensils, clothes, household stuff the couples started looking at us in a racist manner. Wtf can’t 4 boys ever be just friends….I am asking you…..you who’s reading! :D

But I doubt if I could have found anyone more perfect than these 3. When I want to talk about any Tech stuff or go to the Gym, indraneel is always game. When I want someone to sing on my bad guitar notes or want company to take out the trash and then roam around a bit in cedar lane, prashant is ready with a devilish smile. And if it’s being passionate about food or having a lot of similar interests (which I don’t want to disclose :D) Siddharth is the first person who comes to my mind!

There's only 1 Formula!

2009-04-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

My idea of a perfect sport is one which has power, team work, style, strategy, thrills, full of surprises & demands a lot of passion from you. If you know what I am talking about you must be a die hard Formula 1 fan. I had a craze for cars as all boys would, but I never thought I would end up like this, trying to recognize every car that passes by. I am a freak they say, hell yeah I am and I am proud of that. Gasoline runs through my veins not blood!
F1 has been in my life when they started showing it on DD Metro, thanks to Mr. Mallya and then came the problem of no alcohol advertisements on DD. No more F1 broadcasting. But I have my resources and am happy to be still in it!

Tell me one sport which gives the sports person more power than a 800bhp F1 car. Although the whole team is never in lime light, a F1 team has the most number of members related to it...more than even a Football team. You don't know when your car might give up or someone behind you might crash into you. The driver has to focus so much for the whole race, no breaks, no points in between, its a race to the end. If you survive you win, there's no second chance. And do I need to say anything about style? F1 drivers define the most powerful, stylish & inspiring people. For auto enthus the car in itself is a style quotient.
All this said Formula 1 has its share of downs, some badly written rules & some not at all sporty drivers. Who cares, its those drivers who make their way from the rear of the grid to the podium that make F1 what it is today!

If there's one sport I love & haven't still tried, its Formula 1 racing. "Ofcourse!" you would say. But its one thing I live for and want to try before I die, drive a F1 car, atleast for half a mile. You know what try this, put some fast music once you are in your car or on your bike and rev your babe each time the song goes upbeat, feel it, live it, and believe me its worth dying for! This video should help ;)

Express it!

2009-01-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

'I love you', I said.
'What? Why this now?'
'Because, I love it when you stand up for something that you feel for. And that you do such a horrible job of acting like a CBI inspector. I love it when you want to order the cheapest dishes only because I'm paying for them. I love the kohl in your eyes. I love it when your eyes lit up when you have gossip for me. I love it that you say you don't want dessert and then ask me to change mine so that you can have half. I love your stories about your mother. I love it that you believe in me and are patient with my career.'

25 years of Togetherness

2008-12-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

A small line of thoughts about Mom Dad's 25yrs journey together...

2+5 is seven,
seems like a road to heaven

But the path is full of thorns
to teach you many a norms

Step on them with love in your heart
and each one will blossom like a flower

Take turns to clear the road
cos sacrifices will be core

Take pains to understand the other
and gains my dear will be forever

Reach the end of this path
the 7 colors of life will brighten your heart

And you will think again that 2+5 is 7
and yes it was a road to heaven!

More years to come

Mumbai......meri jaan!

2008-11-30T01:21:00.000-08:00

I came back from my fluids lecture at 3pm. Switched on my computer. I signed in to Gmail amruta was online we had a casual talk, I asked her whether she saw my Diwali pics, and then she says “Arrey there were a couple of blasts & firing incidents here CST,Gateway of India, Colaba, Taj, Sahara Star, Bmc office. “OMG, are you guys alright, baba aley na ghari?” She tried to soothe me “Sagley barey ahet!” I opened a new window, Times of India, just a sliding BREAKING NEWS bar which had very minimal info. I went back to Gmail, there Sneha had a ibn live NEWS link on her status message. It took me to what I wanted. A live account of what was happening in my city. Scared people, confused people, a lot of police, out of the blues comes a Police Toyota Qualis and starts firing at the people at a junction. What the hell was that. People ducked down, some got injured others helped them. I was glued to the Laptop for 2hrs now, and all I could see was helpless people outside & I couldn’t think of the people inside the hotels. I felt helpless, helpless because I was here, when my city needed me the most. What could I have done you ask me? Yes surely I couldn’t have had a chance at those Chickens hiding in the hotels, but I could at least help my people, donate blood, help the injured…..there were more than 100 casualties for god’s sake. Who do you look up to when god says it’s my time out. Help each other not the terrorists to terrorize you!!! But no, I was just sitting here in my cozy chair, 10k Kms away……I cried…yes I did, just couldn’t control it, it’s my city, streets I used to roam around without any fear & now I watch all those roads turn from black to red, red blood of my people…MY BLOOD! :’(

Yes, my family was fine but the city is also my family. I love my city as I love my family & I want to make sure no one plays around with someone I love. One, just one chance at the terrorists, I give my word that I will slay them personally to limits they can’t imagine! PEACE.

The Dark Days

2008-11-24T01:24:00.000-08:00

These last 2 weeks have been one of the most grueling for me. Midterms, Tyco Interview, RIGSA Diwali Dandiya work, Dance practice, Swim lessons, Lab Work and some thing that I couldn’t believe…my mama’s death. I couldn’t handle any of these, everything just kept dropping on me one over the other, as if pushing me down & down further into that depressing state when I fail in something. I messed up the grades for the exams. The Tyco Interview was all based on knowing how good you are as a person, which I am sure ‘Jay as a person’ did not impress the Managers. All my colleague’s worked really hard for the Dandiya Diwali event. Siddharth, Arjun, Vaidehi, Manasi, Mohnish, Shrinivas & Ram hats off to you. I just couldn’t give enough attention or become a part of all the work these guys did. I was also dancing in the event. Not to mention the fact that I could not do justice to my dance steps either. Dr. Silvers work in VizLab is pending for 3 weeks now, and its part of my thesis. She has been very considerate for all that I do, I just don’t want to lose the trust she has in me. Ambreen was about to cry on sunday when I told her I won’t be there to teach her for the pre-school lesson because I had to go for the Diwali event. But my sweet 3yr old nodded when I told her that I would give her a big candy next time. Ahhh, I felt job done when she was ready to go with the substitute(Troy). Waman mama was the eldest amongst the 3 mamas. Since he used to live in thane we used to meet only on family events or functions or an occasional visit. I had a talk with him just 3 weeks ago on Skype when everyone was at my house for Bhaubheej. Death won’t knock to ask you whether you are ready or not, it will only tell you that its time to go…

Many of you may find this to be stupid but the only way I could come out of all this was dance, dance till I was out of breath & my lungs pump so fast that my ribs start paining. And of course keep smiling, keep it in your heart, you don’t want people around you to feel bad because of you. A lot of people may think ‘How randomly he dances’, but that helps me forget all that has just passed by & things I shouldn’t keep thinking too much about, to try & move forward. Ha, although its only for that moment. Your feelings & mind will make you pay & make you spend time to recover. I just want to rest now, at least for a day if not for eternity. But I am confident my time will come, I will have my chance and it will be Pay-Back time then!

Testing times....when duty calls!

2008-11-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

There may be times when you will have small verbal fights over certain matters. You may be wrong, he may be wrong…..all may be wrong, but everyone can never be right. These relations with your friends have grown over months of trust & honesty. They are like a rubber band, if one stretches it beyond a limit, the other has to step back. Don’t hesitate, one step back will later help you go two steps forward.

You will be performing & organizing at the same time. You want to play something but you cannot, you won’t, because someone wants to do that too. Let him, the happiness on his face will make you feel even better than you yourself playing.

You will be having exams, personal matters, lab work but you’ll have to do what was yours, it’s your dharma which is part of the work that you had taken up as a karma. It won’t be easy but try it & you will be done with it as if it wasn’t there at all.

You may have interviews, yes they are the most important part of your career, but if you co-ordinate your work & do what is yours on time, you will be even more confident for the interview.

There will be decisions that may not make all happy, rather they’ll make some feel sad. But then decisions never make everyone happy, sacrifices are an innate part of it. You may have to be strict on some, some whom you love more than others but then its for everyone’s good.

Work as a group, chain everything together and you will be the hardest diamond to crack!

You have been given the power, the power to make everybody’s life happy, jolly & unforgettable. Give reasons & you will keep regretting till you die, do good and this very power will be a blessing to you for the rest of your life!

In doubt!

2008-11-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

God does show you the way when you really need him to doesn’t he! I had applied for this job here at the Graduate Student Association for an Events Coordinator, the pay a whopping $16 as compared to $10 at my swim job. This was one of the reasons that I had applied there. I was also done with getting in the water to teach, surprised? I am not bored of teaching, no way, but each time I have to go to a swim lesson I am a bit reluctant because I am not swimming, I just have to float at one point, not to mention the fact that the swim lessons tire me a lot. That’s why while the other instructors do their paper work in the 15min break, I swim as much as I can.

But then after I applied for the GSA job I thought I have made such good friends at the pool. They have so much confidence in me, when it comes to taking swim lessons others are not able to, or helping out in general. How could I just leave them in the middle of the semester. What will tell them! Believe me I was in doubt, is it money I should go for or friends? And what do you know, I didn’t get the GSA job. Yeah, many people may probably say that I am saying all this right now because I didn’t get the job, believe me its not the case, I have experienced a lot of relational emotions in the last few months!

Today whatever happened made me feel even better that I did not get the GSA job. In this marathon 6hrs Sunday swim session, my second to last class is a Pre-school lesson, in which I have 3 really beautiful & cute girls, Aishwarya, Ambreen & Agnika. Ambreen was with me for 2 earlier sessions and wanted to be with me for this one too. 5mins before the swim lesson was about to start I ran into Ambreen’s father. We had a casual ‘Hi how are you’ and then he says “You better not fall sick, because I asked Ambreen what if Mr. Jay falls sick, then you’ll have to go with some other instructor. And she said I don’t want Mr. Jay to fall sick! Else I won’t go.” Being loved by small kids is the best thing that can happen to you.

Now I feel, although I am away from home and missing my Aai, baba & amruta’s love, I am being loved by so many people here & we cherish each and every moment of it, be it with my roomies, with all the Cedar Lane friends, you who’s reading this right now, the swim instructor friends at work or the kids I teach in the class. Could I ask for more! Now, I am not in doubt. :)

Falling Colors

2008-11-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Its fall now & nature has started changing colors. Pink, red, Maroon, yellow, green as if the trees are showing off their mood. I look out of the window and I see trees in red, trees in yellow & yes trees in green too! The sky isn’t dark today its bright & blue, making sure the trees can flaunt their colors easily. They look like a bouquet made of Red lilacs reaching for the sky & Yellow roses gazing at them. The greener trees as if helping the red & yellow look even more distinct. I am on the highest floor of the stone ‘CoRE’d tower & all this seems so small from up here that I feel like taking out the whole bunch of 'flowers' with my hand and giving it to you....if only you were here! ;)