Driven By Cars

Well, this post has taken five and a half years in the making. This one, I am particularly proud of, not because of the content but the memories this brings me.

It is a well known fact that there is an affinity between men and cars. A bond that defies logic, a desire that fills many a heart, an adrenalin pump that surpasses expectations. Over the past few years, I have been fortunate enough to drive a bevy of beauties, women who respond to the slightest touch without a whine but more to the tunes of a grunt. Carnal pleasures aside, a bug called Wanderlust propelled these desires to ecstatic levels.

Over the past few years, I have taken many a road trip, burning miles and fuel to conjure up some classic journeys with good company. As a trusted ally, the car was the fulcrum of these trips. Over these trips, the joyous occasions and memories that were spent inside the vehicle all became an attribute to the vehicle, and the trip itself. It is difficult to explain how much of the burden of long haul trips the car has withstood, giving me only pleasures and comfort. Much of the success of these trips can be strung straight to the car and a part of me desired that the car could have been with us longer than the trip itself. To add to this, my own vehicle had been a brother-in-arm on many solitary journeys either in the heat of the day or the cool of the night. Somehow, a good car always produced good trips which, in turn produced great memories which, in turn strengthened the bonds of friendship. Oh what a perfect full circle! This actually overshadows the desire to try new vehicles each trip, which believe you me, coming from a guy is a testament to the magnificence of the car!

To this day, aside from my vehicle, three more cars come right to mind when I recall some memorable trips.

BMW 325i: Well, what can I say about this car that has not been already said by many? My first car ever and boy what a machine she was! A true driver's car combined with some kick-in-the-nuts German sturdiness! I have clocked more than 35000 miles spanning across 5 years and not once has there been complaints from her end. She has sheltered some of my most introspective moments all the while engulfing me with the warmth of the orange light emanating from the instrument dials that has duly given her a face. A five year relationship truly platonic! Thank you, Maya!

1) Toyota Sienna LE/XLE: Three words come to mind...Oh my God! Rental agencies call this a mini-van. I prefer to call it mini-memory. It is quite amazing that we have used this car over a couple of road trips fit for a king! This car has accompanied us across the stretch of America (well, almost). We have clocked close to 7000 miles across different road trips on this one and every bit of it has been wonderful to say the least. This car has taken us via Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa and California. Spacious interiors, good sound system and a comfortable ride were some physical highlights. I fall short of words when it comes to mental highlights.....

2) Nissan Altima 2.5S: Again, a wonderful machine that is very close to the heart and wonderful to drive. This has taken us across the length and breadth of California over multiple trips amidst some great company and unforgettable times. Quite peppy despite it's size, great high quality interiors, large boot-size, quality sound system are some highlights.

3) Mazda 6: This machine was part of recent trip with friends and family thrown in. This car pretty much came out of the factory when we rented this. And, what a christening it received! We had clocked almost 3500 miles across 10 days over a wonderful wonderful trip. This was very special since it was driven by only two people for the entire duration of the trip. Again, very spacious interiors, smooth engine and a fantastic audio system were some highlights.

Having given due credit to the above special four vehicles, here's a full list of ALL the cars (and events in them!) I have driven over the past five and a half years.

1) Dodge Neon -My first drive in the States, in Texas
2) Suzuki Grand Vitara -My driving test
3) Pontiac Grand Prix -First freeway drive
4) Toyota Corolla
5) Nissan Sentra -Had only 8 miles on it when I rented this one! The newest car I have driven
6) Hyundai Sonata -First drive in Minnesota
7) Honda Civic -Friend's first love
8) Toyota Camry LE
9) Honda Accord GLX
10) Lexus SC400 -First drive in Seattle. Again, friend's first love
11) Mazda 3 -Seattle again, first female friend's car I drove
12) Subaru Outback
13) Pontiac G6 -Driven during my interview time with Qualcomm
14) Chevrolet Impala -First car after a full time job
15) Volvo XC90 -First drive in New Jersey
16) Ford Focus -Last car driven after graduating Masters
17) Acura TSX
18) BMW 530i -First stick shift in the States
19) BMW 135i
20) Chrysler Pacifica -First drive in California
21) Infinity G37 S -First all guy road trip!
22) Ford Fusion
23) Volkswagen 2.5 Rabbit -First Mark Knopfler's concert
24) Ford Escape
25) BMW Z4 -First to clock 100 mph
26) Hyundai Santa Fe
27) Toyota Sienna LE/XLE
28) Mini Cooper S-Zippiest car I drove
29) Honda S2000
30) Nissan Altima
31) BMW 328i
32) BMW 335i
33) GMC Yukon
34) Volkswagen Jetta -Car with the best road trip mileage
35) Infinity G35
36) Mercedes Benz E-Class -First super luxury car
37) Mazda 6
38) Toyota Prius -First Hybrid
39) Ford Mustang -Beast of a machine. Last car driven in USA
40) Lexus IS250 -Smooth as silk
41) VW Golf GTI -Wolf in Sheep's clothing
42) BMW 325i - Maya-My only love

Memories

New beginnings, and old memories often go hand in hand. I have been hit by an idea and will try to give it form in this entry.

Every human being undergoes change in life, be it professional, personal or spiritual. Some get the gift of all three. Some try to fight with just one. In the end it all boils down to acceptance and dealing.

I'm not very fond of change. Mainly because it shuts down the current state of being, a state of happiness and opens up a state of surprise, a state of unknown. More than anything it merges the present into the past, turning it to memories.

Everyone has memories, good and unpleasant. One might remember incidents dating to their childhood while others may be content with the recently concluded past. I do not have any fond memories of growing up, of my school life. Back then, I was trying so hard to fit into the classroom to ignore the lessons life had to teach outside of it. Back then, I was surviving to stay afloat when I should have ventured to find out how deep the water was.

Over the years, I have striven to develop maturity, not only to understand the bigger picture of life but try to delve into philosophical aspects of my existence. Over the years, I have experienced love and tried (and still trying!) to understand it. Over the years, I have been tempered by events that test character. Over the years, I have tried to break away from the cocoon of comfort to dive into the unknown.

Today, as I try to paste an identity on myself, I can only define myself by the events that have occurred in my life and how they serve as memories. To that end, as I close my eyes only two periods in my life come to mind. First- my estranged, albeit glorious days during undergraduate studies and Second -my time in an unknown land whilst groping in the dark for my destiny. I, still have not found my destiny but am hoping to unite with it sometime during this lifetime.

Across these two periods, what has remained constant is the circle of friends. People who have identified me as an entity and people whom I have accepted as my state of being. With them, occasions have been aplenty, joy has known no bounds and memories will forever remain etched.

Today, I urge you to close your eyes and identify your memories because, they will define you. They, will string your past to your present and teach you to identify yourself for the future!

Engulfed in an Enchantment

We constantly play cat and mouse in our daily lives. Each day where dog eats and rat eats rat. We don't have time to stop and take a deep breath, fill up our lungs with air and breathe all worries and problems out. But, sometimes we resort to the dark confines of our minds to pick out memories...Memories locked up and buried deep down.....

The flight announcements for boarding were underway. I grabbed my backpack and proceeded for security checks prior to boarding. Armed with a magazine and my ipod, I tried to come to terms with a mind tired from the past journey. It was a long one. Caffeine consumed did not seem to help. They never seem to. Lazily, I stood in line and emptied my pockets of it's belongings to their routine scan and passed though the human scanner myself. The procedure was over before I realized it. I had close to an hour before boarding the aircraft. Aimlessly, I wandered around to find a seat and proceeded to read, having found one. Uninterestingly, I scanned through my ipod to find a soundtrack to relieve my weary mind. Suddenly there was a faint thud right next to my foot. I turned to see a passport case lying right next to it. Out of spontaneity, I picked up the passport case and looked up to hand it to it's owner.

She was still fumbling with the lot in her hand but stopped quickly to thank me. She proceeded to the seat opposite mine. I continued to follow her actions as she put her passport case back in the purse. She had a novel in one hand and a beverage in the other. She looked up to acknowledge me once again with a smile. I was transfixed on her. She must have been in her twenties, was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Her feet were covered in knee length boots. She had some sort of scarf loosely wrapped around her neck. Her face was resplendent with a glow indicating that she was not fatigued by her previous travel. Her reading glasses were thick rimmed and oozed some fashion sense. She had lovely blue eyes which complemented her blonde hair. Her tresses, unevenly spawned across her shoulder had twists and curves at their ends. She started reading her novel, stopping occasionally to sip her beverage. Her lips adorably tightened and closed after each sip. Frequently, her fingers swirled around her hair-locks in a beautiful waltz. She looked absolutely stunning and her actions, quite bewitching.

As I continued to observe her from head to toe, I could sense a free kindred spirit. I concluded that she was either a journalist or an environmentalist....

....She looked up to hear the announcement meant for boarding and stood up to join the growing line. I followed suit, my mind no more weary and completely transfixed on her....

My joy knew no bounds when I realized her seat was right next to mine.During the course of the journey, I learnt that she was from Sydney, Australia. She worked as a freelance journalist with a popular newspaper and was quite smitten by the wanderlust. She was heading to Goa to meet up with some friends. She was looking for some suggestions and I offered some. Our conversations were interlaced with bits and pieces of anecdotes and did not result in anything gripping. How I wished for something more!

As the plane touched down, it was time to bid adieu...To this ravishing lady who had simply stolen my breath away. We stood next to each other waiting to claim our bags. For one last time, I turned around to look at her, at her beautiful blue eyes, at those golden locks gently resting on her shoulder....For one last time, my mind heaved a huge, pitiful sigh as I walked away....

Her face turned into an image etched in my memory. It surfaces now and then to serve as a cold breeze wafting into an otherwise mundane life. It must go back now....to the deep confines, hopefully to resurface soon.....

Wishes

-> On that hot afternoon on the Mumbai local, he was there
-> On that worn out audio cassette tape, he was there
-> On the day 12th board results were announced, he was there
-> During the days of adolescence, he was there
-> Over arguments on rock and roll, he was there
-> On the Sony walkman, he was there
-> During my days away from home, he was there
-> During the days of failure, he was there
-> During the days of discovery, he was there
-> During the times of friendship, he was there
-> When I spent hours staring at the wall, he was there
-> While preparing for exams, he was there
-> After my first rejection, he was there
-> On that February evening, he was there!
-> During the days of lonely travel, he was there
-> During long drives into the night, he was there
-> In foreign lands, he was there
-> On trans-continental flights, he was there
-> In my life today, he is there

Happy birthday, Mark! You have crafted my life to the tunes of your guitar. I'm still picking up the chords.....

Dare To Dream

I do not like reviewing movies. This article, though embodies a movie in it's context, is not a review but, more of an after thought. I might seem to be treading on the borders of both, nevertheless.

I saw Christopher Nolan's Inception yesterday and am scrambling to write this when musings are fairly fresh in the mind. This movie, in its simplest explanation, is a journey of an estranged man trying to re-join his little daughter and son. While most artists would choose physical modes of transport to complete the journey, Nolan chooses ideas and dreams, and indulges the viewer at the speed of thought. The Master has truly become the Maestro!

I walked out of the dark confines of the hall into the light not knowing what had just hit me. I remember my lips bore the distinct shape of a smile. An idea was revealed, a concept materialized and the mind tried to decipher. Nolan chose a point on the circumference of a circle to start his story, comes back to the same spot and then takes off tangentially to complete his narration! I am still trying to answer most of the questions but am eager to get this post away, purely because of the raw joy I am experiencing. A drunken revelry, if you must.

I have oftentimes wondered about some of the questions Nolan asks but, have only managed to grope in the dark. Of-late, my belief in humanity and it's materialistic goals have only gone into a sour state. Plants and beasts would pull off living in harmony with Nature better than humans can or will do. Growth, efficiency and prosperity will not be at the cost of destruction. The so-called extra sense that apparently separates us from them is merely a farce. If spiritual sense were to be compared among the same sample set, observations and inferences will be different.

Then this movie comes along...A two something hour epic that engages every grey cell. It felt wonderful to be part of an intellectually challenging task to which, there were no absolute outcomes. Forget about strife, oil-spills, global warming, pollution, depletion of natural resources. Go-ahead, and indulge in this masterpiece, in this idea, in this dream -and it's Inception!

Vision

-> I see the beauty of creation
-> I see the power of destruction
-> I see corrugations on hard rock
-> I see uniformity in the sky
-> I see the shadows of rocks caused by the setting sun
-> I see shrubs with foundations laid on solid rock
-> I see shapes and colours
-> I see stillness in vast areas
-> I see giant arches formed by erosion
-> I see snow covered mountains
-> I see colour of the sky change it's hues during sunset
-> I see the little squirrel prancing on the rocks
-> I see striations of green amidst brown
-> I see rocks rocks and rocks
-> I see that once a mighty river had it's surface thousands of feet above where I am sitting
-> I see the little hummingbird and it's flight of fantasy
-> I see rows of tiny ants marching in a straight line

I see....
I see....
I see I am nothing.

Rambling -The Way It Is..As Is

"The Week That Was"

Remember this TV programme? As a kid, if you needed information about current events occurring across the country and globe, this was the programme every teacher and parent would swear by. A no non-sense programme conveyed brilliantly by Mr.Prannoy Roy.

That was then..the simpler times. Today, well, that's an entirely a different story. Journalism as we know it is more focussed on dirt, scandals and partisan views. Today, what underwear Katrina Kaif favours or what how many milligrams of mass Shilpa Shetty has developed on her belly is of more concern than Maoist insurgency or the Financial Budget. News agencies have forgotten to focus on state of affairs of national importance as fulcrum and treat these as and when they arise and forget all about it. One thing that stays on is bloody entertainment news, if one dares to call it that! Unfortunately, as a reader I am to blame as well. If titillating images are displayed to me right next to matters of home security, your guess is as good as mine as to where the little mouse pointer would go. As a two-way street, efforts from both ends needs to come. If given an option of pure, unadulterated news, I will very gladly soak it up.

This post will be mostly a medley of coherent and tangential thoughts. Bear with me...

Social Networking:
That's what everyone is apparently doing these days. Ever since the advent of Facebook, people are wanting to put themselves out there....literally!

Oh my God, I just farted...Status update
Oh my God, I just took a shit....Status update
Oh my God, I have a fucking bad head-ache...Need some coffee..like now!!...Status update

This is what we have come to being. Vanity is an inherent quality man possesses but keeps under check (well, most at least)! Now we have a medium to expose it. What is worse is hundred -million people replying to all status messages. Lots of constructive time and bandwidth into super productive use, really.

Tweet...Tweet...No no no..it's not Tweety, that cute little bird that kept us glued to TV sets. Twitter is here. I think everyone from Obama to Tharoor...from sexygirl765 to cooldude99..from the guy next to me to Batman, "tweets" (yes, another one to the Lexicon).Apparently, micro-news is macro-news today. Assimilation of text more than 140 characters is too much for the brain today. Looks like micro rather than macro brain is here to stay!

An interesting afterthought to this is the desire of man to submerge/indulge in what someone else is "up-to". Good point for discussion, that!

IPL:
Picture a scene where thirteen men dressed in whites occupy a ground playing cricket. Well, of course you can't! I'm a fool to paint this illusion. Today, what you see is thirteen men in snazzy outfits trying to play a power game. Of course, please let your mind wander to some girls clad in clothes that'll rip your fly apart.

The gentleman's game is dying. I am actually part of this revolution and it's not a good feeling. I probably will be part of the last generation of people talking about deft flicks, unimaginable late cuts, the art of loop and flight. More importantly, I will be one of the last people to watch Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid play test match cricket. Men, whose on-field revelry has scripted many a life!

Even with the cloud of controversy engulfing IPL, people will stick to it..Not for the game but for the celebrities frequenting matches and late night parties. Players are enticed with moolah never seen before..will the arrogance and cavalier attitudes be far behind? With players being fought over, used and abused like condoms, honour, pride, hard work, spirit of the game will be left far behind. Men of honour will be just merely photos on the wall and with them will die my memories and comfort zone.....

Legends of the past and present are crying out to save the unadulterated form but all I can hear is the "TWEET" of Mr.Franchisee and Mr. Politician....

Spirituality:
Ah, the tangent topic! I have been thinking about this for a bit and came up with this...

- A woman who travels 80 KM a day to wash dishes
- An old man who can't hear well chauffeuring and getting people home safe
- A man whose presence makes you feel secure
- A man who drives a van to feed the poor and homeless relinquishing a fat paycheck
- A social worker working with old neglected people, orphans and abandoned children
- A man who unites an entire nation each time he steps on the cricket ground
- The same man who takes the effort to meet with and seek the blessings of an elderly lady
- A man who raised an unimaginable amount of money purely on trust when up against the wall
- A mother who bestows altruistic love on her kid

This to me is spirituality and I have made my peace with that.

Water:
The most precious reserve. Dwindling away fast....Man's materialistic desires into foray once again in depleting water. I shall reserve my thoughts on this and instead request you to read the April 2010 issue of the National Geographic magazine.


I have rambled on for a bit here. A feeling of self-righteousness has engulfed every Indian away from his motherland. I am no exception. I liked being part of the system within the failure rather than wander away to point fingers at it, good or bad. I liked being in a comfort zone no matter how ruthless it appeared to be. I liked being part of a system where order and method was not a daily dose. I liked not to be faced with an identity crisis everyday.

Maybe, if I still were in India.....