Monday, December 31, 2007

I Dream to Fly ....







Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight—how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.—


Richard Bach, 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull'

I see a young 18 year old lad, rimless specs, blackish skin, height of 5 ft 8” ,his weight would never have crossed 55 kg in his really happening lifetime ( As if it really was happening !!!! ), I presume his whole body could have been compressed to fit into my junk trunk. He would walk as if there is this ‘Shaggy’ from Scooby Doo walking, although his ht wasn’t as the latter’s. But one very notable thing about this Indian bloke was that he always showed a sign of self esteem and high confidence his body stimuli.

Do I hear someone say this person is Vishwa??

Well as most of you lovely readers don’t know who he is and I admit he has hardly in his lifetime done a single important job, I will throw some light on him. Vishwa Talati is 18 years old, comes from Ahmedabad. He is presently in Miami. But I think the hitch in his biodata is that how come a person like Vishwa (a dumb king!! ) be in a place like Miami?

I believe there is a plane for everyone. It depends on us whether we fly it or are we mere passengers in someone else’s flight. This is what I believe when I now see Vishwa. Flying a Boeing 737 simulator for the very first time at the age of 18 and that too first hand experience of flying at 60 kts (nautical miles per hr ) with only a trainer sitting besides you in the pitch black place eating out your head and ready to chop you and your head off for a single mistake when you are trying to land the big momma without any engine from around 2500 ft up in the sky !!!!

v got d prmission n now v r on d runway...in my mind praying 2 God dat v take off immediately.....i was lukin outside d window still rowlin n rowlin n den aftr attainin d speed pul d yoke n den at higher speed it goes up....pppphheewwww atlast v take off....climbin at 1000ft per min.....in 30 secs v were at 500 ft so now its tym 2 take a rite turn as it is d traffic pattern....n now climbin 2 1000ft as soon as v reach a certain distance bout half a mile agen take a lft turn so now v r alignd parallel 2 runway n as soon as v reach half d runway v start descendin n den wen v r bout a certain distance take a right turn agen n den half a mile behind d runway n on proper glide slope n den wen at 100 gt above ground v start flaring....n yes dis was my 1st takeoff n landing....




I have quoted here his first full flight training experience. He was on top of the world after this experience as he talked to me that day. He is in Panam International flying school doing his CPL training (Commercial Pilot License). He is due to be there for 6-8 months to complete his course and have an experience of 250 flying hours. But that’s easily said than done. Staying alone in a place where you get frozen food to eat, no friends or family, and a place that is situated in wilderness. But at the same time you know that if you crack this from head to tail it surely is going to be the best bet in your life, earning 2-3 lakhs min. per month and at the same time going around the world with you at the top.

One cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow

When Vishwa was yet to leave for his Dream role, we friends would never leave an opportunity to tease him and taunt his ideas for he was thinking of a mammoth thing, boasting about his ideas. But it takes huge amount of investment and heart to firstly to think about this. You are risking your lives and career online and finally you are in a situation where you have nothing in your hands and no option other than going down the Hole and wait for Wonderland to appear.
Vishwa is now 2 months old there, learning all he can and wants to about his love of aircrafts. He eats food made by himself, or mostly frozen Pizza’s. In his pastime he sits on his Lappy and interacts with one and all, whether it be me, our other friends, his parents, his G.F, a Pilot from any other airways or even the sexy and beautiful air hostesses there.

"flying is d 2nd mst thrillin thng known 2 mankind...landing is d 1st" as Vish says.
Actually i really used to wonder how the pilots who use to fly would be ? I mean their body languages and attitude. But since following Vishwa's experiances i have really been looking them with awe and frankly speaking the Air hostesses are my favourite.( No offence to vishwa....).


But really its been a long journey for me and vishwa or rather i should now say vishwa and me. I know this blood sucking person from 13 years and God knows how many days, but seeing him evolve through the passage of time and experiance has been a treasure to me. I remember the fragile and expressive boy and now i know the everconfident,dare devil AVIATOR !!!!

Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be.

This my friend is for you !!!


PS : Friends this is my point of view about this person and flying. You may follow the link below to contact him.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

BLUE ROSES ....


Roses red and roses white
Plucked I for my love's delight.
She would none of all my posies--
Bade me gather her blue roses.

Half the world I wandered through,
Seeking where such flowers grew.
Half the world unto my quest
Answered me with laugh and jest.

Home I came at wintertide,
But my silly love had died
Seeking with her latest breath
Roses from the arms of Death.

It may be beyond the grave
She shall find what she would have.
Mine was but an idle quest--
Roses white and red are best!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

IIM-A’s aesthetics- An out(inner)side view



The number 1 B school in India , in Asia, providing one of the toughest MBA programs in the world and every year shortlisting around 200 peoples from 2 lacs recipients. This is Indian Institute of Management –Ahmedabad.
The stark and majestic buildings in brick have simple forms and bold openings, creating monumental spaces with minimal decor. Powerful beams of light and strong shadows create a dramatic and serene ambience that has inspired generations of students to achieve excellence while retaining humility. It hosts one of the largest management libraries in the world extending over 5 floors.
This is but a short summary of what engorges and sculpts our nation by providing a few but foremost and front running Entrepreneurs.
Well let me tell you something more about it and its milieu. It’s a 108 acre lush green stretched and very well designed area. Opposite to it is PRL (Physical Research Laboratory) ,leading science facility for ISRO. ATIRA, which in earlier times was considered as the revolutionizing step in Ahmedabad Cloth industry lies facing it. Then there is one Blind Man’s Association Institute opp. to it. In short it itself defines a landmark in the city and it would not be wrong in captioning it the lifeline of the whole area.


Now IIMA renders itself a host to MBA aspirants from all over the country and comprise of !% of the most elite from among the country. The other day I decided to tour the area of IIMA. As I have a love for cycles, I got onto mine and had a really good experience. Now, what I saw outside the heavily guarded gates of the campus under the orange misty street lights and really ordered garden was that it didn’t seem to me that the place was special at all. For a moment I wondered whether is it really entitled to the covetive prize of best B school. As in there was no sense of sophistication one would think or vision. There are tea stalls outside, Sandwich and Bun thela’s with a heavy roadside traffic.
Yes, it feels like any other place.
But one thing that’s different is the people that make the party there and their peculiar aura. Definitely you wouldn’t see a businessman driving a semi-automatic Camry or Mercedes E class drive up to have a cutting tea at the thela.
One thing I must tell, the food there although not certified hygienic, is very famous. You have an array of Chinese food caravans with names like- ‘China King’, ‘Habits..’, ‘Masti’, China hut, etc. All preparing delicious and quite cheap Chinese food. Then there are thela’s giving out Maska buns. One of them prepares buns with several spices and types. It in itself is a specialty. Then there is omlets and Maggi which draw enough crowd in regular days such that there are queues. Well I will describe a few striking snaps I observed. I saw 5-6 hunks in black jackets and goggles with guitars in their hands sitting outside, doing their regular practice on songs. Then a group of youngsters were casually sitting on the footpaths and discussing various topics like companies, their mergers, Films and names of their future MNC’s. But most of all, there were many pretty girls (one of the plus points I thought for boys to come) and I really mean it. I guess that’s why the annual placements would go up by leaps and bounds or that’s why many people come in the morning to walk in the vicinity.
As I sat near one stall and relished a bun and elaichi tea, I heard a conversation among two guys. One bald with rimless specs and Louis Philippe shirt and the other French beard and thick black rim specs and a denim jacket. They were talking about classes. The one with jacket asked the other to give some material he required in the next lecture. The other replied in affirmation and asked him to come early at around 3.30 A.M !! Man don’t they have to sleep at that time. Although here in my college too we learn to stay awake at nights and sleep in daytime but attending classes at 3-30 A.M? Are we out of our minds ??

Well then I left them all to their errand and devoured my favourite manchow soup and dry Manchurian at one of the Chinese stalls. At last I left the place at 10 pm having a glance at the artistic Louis Kahn plaza.
To think and analyze about my experience I realized that the actual institute I saw was not the actual institute. The softer power actually makes up the place and gets a credit. The pool of intellectuals a college comprises of determines its place among all. In short the Maharaja Tea stall or China Hut do not hamper the name or the status of the place but infact vivifies and livens the whole place. A visitor shall not reagard this above description as short comings of the place but in fact they are points which favor its Status as Pride of the City . This is what I concluded by a short visit.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Come Let's go on a Walk...



Main roomie no. 124….
Subah jaldi uthh,apni balcony se dekhta hoon,
Din hafte mahine main badalte dekhta hoon…

Kabhi dekhta hoon un walkers ko,
Jo subah shayad walk karne aate hain,
Koi kehta hain who walk karne nahi, lekin kuch aur karne aate hain…..
Gorgeous ladkiyaan buddho je saath main dekhta hoon,
Woh mujhe apni Moti hindi teacher aur unke Activa ki yaad dilate hain….

Main roomie no. 124 …
Apni hostel main rehte rehte,
Ek nayi subah hote dekhta hoon …..

Well for many a reasons(including the above..) I truthfully confess the early morning time is my favourite among the 12 periods of the day.
Early morning is a symbol of strength.. of a new beginning.. to ward of all sorrows.. a sign of Hope.. End of yesterday.. a Bright road ahead.. a day more older and mature.. and many many more philosophical reasons for a person. Now if you are interested to read them then don’t worry, I am shortly writing a book- “A Thousand reasons to wake up…”

But for a student like me the reasons to get up in the morning may be listed as, A day nearer to weekends.. A day full of bunks.. A day when I will look forward to eating good food (am an absolute food maniac).. A day when I will meet my G.F .. A day when I can again set out to play.. A day again to meet my gang.. etc… Well I don’t think am writing a book on this one.

But seriously I do wake up early and like to see the blue serene sky and the radiant golden Sun and the feeling of its warmth on your back is just amazing. Well so once I decided to get up early and go for a walk, just before the end of semester exams. Boy that morning my alarm struck at 6 A.M. I got up and hastily clad myself in a T-shirt, Jeans and a Jacket. As soon as you get out of the hostel you get an impression of night still falling and a strange whisper calling you back to sleep. But I stood firm and started one of those those serious walks. After i walked, say a couple of minutes, I really woke up and could now see people walking all the way. Well the college campus is the HUB for morning walkers.

I could see a group of some old people marching ahead of me, all clad in sweaters. You could feel they are really taking the walk seriously because they didn’t notice anyone or anything else in any direction , discussing key political issues or topics on filmstars and what not. The other day I heard them discussing the lack of sugar in tea!!

I slowed myself to stay away from the discussion. Next my eyes caught a beautiful young lady clad in grey jog suit, a long pony tail and a black hair band, hoping along her way and listening to her music player. Man did she look awesome or what !! As she passed me, she gave a glance and I stupefied gave a wide recognizing smile in return. I think she smiled in return as well. I never saw her again in life !!!
Well you get those hiccups in life when you start something new I thought. But seriously when amidst young boys (except me ofcourse.. ) you talk of morning walks… they visualize the only thing I said above.

One of the many reasons I am fascinated by morning walks is that I come to see many diverse kinds of folk coming to burn out their calories for an hour in a green campus. There are many reasons ofcourse of their initiatives. A fat person comes to burn his fat, a young lady may come to stay fit, to make a new boyfriend or she already has one and she doesn’t want him to feel that she is fat. Old people come to walk to have some company, whether be it amusing or not. The other day I also saw a businessman doing a light jog in his trousers and shirt and he was narrating his views to one of the fellow walkers on FDI’s and his industrial capacity. I certainly think now that his capacitance would be in some Mega Farads!!! Well that’s not all, you also see couples walking together, sometimes hand in hand and sometimes one’s hand on his/her back.(embarrassing others …I mean please carry that at your home,would you ?). Then there are absolute Arnold type muscular guys in their shorts and Tshirts jogging (Maybe practicing for the next half marathon..) and all this guys on one side and people like me coming around once a life time, on the other side.


Well to continue with my experience that day, I almost got passed PMC, Senti-bridge and got outside the campus. Well no offence but you get a whole different angle of things there. The uncle that I saw pushing himself very hard for the jog was enjoying what was a Bread role. Now I can understand that the bread role outside my campus is world renown and people come from diff. parts of the city to have it, but this was just too much for his part. Burning a 100 calories and gaining a double of that. This was but a common site there. Having tea, vadapav, omlettes , all gushing through your stomach after a nice walk.
Well I remembered the Roothraj Tea stall back at home, where I had a nice maska bun after a short walk. It was absolutely tasty! But that was when I was small.

Hmm.. I stayed there a while to take some rest. Apart from the normal crowd a group a small skaters practicing on the main road. I went nearer. The instructor was on some topic shouting on one of those kids. The next 10-15 minutes had made my day. I then returned to my hostel. I took my bath and continued my normal routine that day. But all around people asked me why I was very fresh and lively that day. I told it was nothing. Actually it was.

Actually you see I have a tendency to look out for interesting instances in life and to enjoy them. When I heard the instructor speaking, I remembered my P.T teacher in school. He used to speak rather hindi with English phrases. He used to speak a loud “Buddhu…” which means stupid in a very long tone. The same was the case with the instructor. The instructor then spoke-“Only for you boy go… and one round more do !” I am not sure whether you can understand that. It was a laugh riot for me. I will enact the part personally if you ask me later.
Now coming back to the topic of morning walks. That afternoon I told my friends that it was a good experience and asked them if they would like to accompany me the next day,I got very ‘humane’ answers. KK complained about his less sleep of about 6 hours and denied. Kake denied telling he had trouble not with waking up but was feeling lazy to get up and get ready. Venu, a big elephant as he is said, “I will definitely come to walk if I can wake up” laying a big emphasis on his ‘IF’. Well I couldn’t ask Pappu as he is one of those guys who would sleep late in the night.
In short I think its like ki whether Morning walks are good or not, interesting or not people believe in this short snippet.

“Laziness is our biggest enemy.”- J. Nehru.
“We should learn to love our enemies.”-MK Gandhi.