The Meaning and Purpose - Time's soliloquy

Read Bjørn Stærk's moving rendition of what the year meant to him. It touched me very deeply since it has so much truth. I urge you to read this too.

Mystery Spot, Santa Cruz

It was an option for us to visit this place on our way back to Los Angeles from San Francisco. And by golly, thank godness we opted to check this out. It is a perfect example of how amazing certain laws of persistence affect our being.


It starts with the legend of how the area came to be known; how the peasants were more than willing to part with the land since it was a bearer of mis-fortune, etc. What is striking is the sparseness of the enterprise which later makes logical sense. The twisted trees, the oddly balanced and designed cabin and the lack of vertical and horizontal references. Once you are in the midst of a forest hill where objects provide a different symmetry and there is no artificial level to gauge by, the mind starts falling prey to visual stimuli. Thats all that I could manage to force my brains to agree with. Since the visuals and the feeling is too loaded for the mind to understand, I gave up trying. Some of the snaps here leave you with that funny feeling.



What was more shocking was the apparent difference in heights of two people depending on where they stand. When the places of the two people are exchanged, all logic goes missing. Check these out!

Viral Detention

The city beckoned. And I relented. So did nature. For a guy who is generally hale and hearty most of the time, nature decided to even the odds and get me sick. Have not been in the best of health of late (old age catching up ;)?) and yesterday was the pits. Extremely depressing climate of showers all day aggregated into a fit of watery eyes and running nose. Excellent time for a soup and rest. But not on Christmas day. Not in San Francisco!!
Thats how merciless life can sometimes be! Nevertheless, here is a snap of the juxtaposition that is SFO - ancient blended with the new. Cheers!

If you're going to San Francisco!

You gonna meet some gentle people there... I was remembering the strains of this song as I left for experiencing the magic that is San Francisco!

Whatever you've read about it, nothing can prepare you in any way for the sight that you will behold when you enter this place. The air is ancient - the streets smell of a culture that is so metro yet understated. The people are welcoming and the style quite european.

The crookedest street in the world is right here - with twists and turns that leave you agape.


Then "Fisherman's Wharf" on Pier39 is another gem - meant to separate tourists from their money. The prices are outrageous here, but the place is really beautiful. With sea lions making it their resting place, its about natural beauty all along.


We also visited the dreaded Alcatraz. The place where no prisoner could escape. We travelled there by ferry and it was a lovely experience.


From there on to the mystical Golden Gate bridge. I cant say any more.. u have to see it to believe it..


We also visited a small quaint neighbourhood called Sausolito. We had soup and coffee there to the strains of piped music..


Finally there was the fabulous Christmas Mass at Oakland. A celebration of joy!

San Diego - Seaworld

SanDiego was another blip on my radar that had to be marked and photographed. The opportunity presented itself Saturday when Yogesh proffered to take me there. His homely parents joined us on the trip to SeaWorld, which was our destination for the day. Its a two hour drive from where I live and the journey was a rather quick one. We grabbed a home made 'aloo paratha' to satisfy our cravings for the moment and made along.


We did the scene for a day - its wholesome fun for the entire family, especially kids. For me, to touch the dolphins was what i cherished most. They feel like smooth but dry rubber and they loved being caressed. It was too precious a moment to capture on film, so my minds eye has the snap.However, this is of one of the little beauties at the scene.


Shamu's show was the most definitive of where the US stands in terms of showbiz. A dollop of patriotic ferver by giving an ovation to families of US troops and an add sponsored by Budweiser during the show to thank US troops . The added bonus were adverts in all toilets encouraging people to drink Budweiser and not Miller so that "your dollar stays with us"?!!!! So much for patriotism.
However, the show was rather cool. With histrionics and stunts that leave you thrilled....

Comparatively the dolphin show was not that grand, but more direct. The dolphins were the stars here and the trainers did a real good job with a good story line.
But for the "piece de resistance" it was the Pets Rule show that won my heart. Completely dominated by pet animals, brilliantly choreographed, and superbly executed.

The various aquariums and viewing galleries were also decent. Similar to the Seaworld in Sentosa, Singapore but not better.
All in all a wholesome day spent well :)

Hollywood Christmas Charade :(

We rushed to the event that occurs just once a year when all the stars come out for a couple of hours on a road that streches from Hollywood Highlands to Sunset Boulevard. And we reached just in time to see the cleaners in action. Talk about bad planning and bad timing. This Sunday had it all. Plus some more.
Starbucks served me my first lukewarm cappachino ever to start the day. Followed it up with Gingerbread cake that didnt go down too well. And then tried for some last minute shopping that went strangely wrong. A friend blew his car battery and called for help. By the time I thought that the worst was behind us, the ordeal began again. Late trains, lost routes, everything that could possibly go wrong just did!
And to top it all, I rushed back home to a 2 hour offshore call :(((
Only to learn today morning that if only we would have dropped off in a metro station that was on the way of the parade, we would have caught almost an hour of it!!!

Self Portraits - Santa Monica !

This could be taken as incredibly narcissistic, but whats the big deal ;) Tonight was a sudden visit to the kaleidoscopic town where life brings on a whole new meaning. The carousel, the rides, all memories as ancient as time - old town splendor. A sudden fleeting thought that i want to be a part of the event grabbed me by the collar and wanted it captured. The remains of the adventure were frozen for posterity. A snap of the lit Ferris Wheel with me in the foreground caught my eye and hopes to catch yours too!

A gentle chilling breeze at the Santa Monica Pier

A trip to the Getty Museum

Fossils in Stone

The organic architecture of the Getty Museum built from a budget of $1 billion has to be seen to be believed. No matter what you've read about it, the site in its physical view is awe-inspiring. You've got to see it!
To be frank, none of the photos you would see either in this blog or on the many sites on the internet or in books can ready you for the experience that greets your arrival here. Your artistic senses will revel in gay abandon - such is the mystique and the splendor that encompasses you!
Such is the beauty of Richard Meier's white expanses and geometric patterns, that you almost forget that even more precious exhibits can be viewed inside the glorious structures he creates.

A cafe on the edge of the World

A place for lovely coffee, and discussions on everything!

Vista Magnifique!

Where grass learns what green means. A meadow lush with vivid saturated green, clean and trimmed.

Roman Cup

A sculpture of a Roman relic. The gardener has his likes too!

Garden of Permanance

Metal trees to show permanence; Bougaenvilla to bring life to it; Colors to breathe soul into it everyday! Captured in Black and White to show its agelessness!

The Garderner's Love

His wife and daughter. An embodiment of love.

Criss Crossed Paths

Typical Richard Meier's passion with geometry and triangles.

LA Kings - The Team

Bruised bottoms and arms. After some time the white ice seemed friendly to me. Longing to hug me time and again it brought me down to it. Sometimes my rear, and sometimes my hands. It was a love story that never ended. A one hour ordeal! But we survived to tell the tale ;)


Team Ice Skaters


Try and Smile


Snap Shot

LA Kings - A tryst with Ice Skating

Thanksgiving was Ice Skating for me and my friends who didnt take much trouble convincing me! Here's the proof of the pudding...

LA Downtown at Night

We strolled the city at night hoping to spend sometime before the event. We had reached too early/too late for the session.

Yogesh and his better half

After all the drama, it was after all Happy Holidays!

Before the madness!

And we thought ice skating was easy. The white ice beckoned us.

So this is what its all about!!!

Hitesh takes his first embarrassing baby steps on ice. It starts with a fumble, then a clasp of the bar, a relentless slipping on ice and a desperate clinging onto the railing for dear life and the effort to take another step to start it all over!

Beatific Pacific!

You cant go wrong with the Pacific. Blue skies and even bluer seas. A misty sea breeze with memories of centuries past its choppy coast. The rustlings of weeds and the dominion of nature. The magnificence of the bounty nature really is!

I had been on an impromptu trip to see the ocean splendor yesterday. Its called Paulo Verdes. On the coast of Los Angeles.

The Photographer

 


 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
The cult of the photographer.
A moment to be captured. The fluid becomes still and is framed for a lifetime. A frozen moment in disorienting silence. The grand scene is curiously something that we are not given a choice to see - the photographer is viewing it much to our chagrin. I wonder what could be more beautiful for him?
The Photographer - Vinod KN on one of his "sudden trips!"

Weekend Action

Well there is always something interesting happening over weekends. For instance, the latest fad I’ve discovered is DVD “archiving” if you know what I mean ;)

Well to make things a little more clear, I have been learning all there is to know about DVD media and creating DVD backups of movies, audio, data and software.

The first stop was to own a respectable DVD writer so I chose the best there was in the market (check the confidence I’ve shown in that sentence – its all because the best there is costs under a hundred bucks ;)). The best part is that writers today come with dual layer DVD writing support that really helps either copying DVD movies that are dual layer or saving nearly 2 DVD’s in the space that would allow just one.

Next stop was the software that helps write the DVD’s. Here, Nero and Roxio Easy Creator 7.5 are the best that are available. So as long as the movies are not encrypted, I could now make legal backups of movies. Songs and software were as easy as they come ;)

There are software’s that help you decrypt CSS titles as well, but I won’t delve into that for obvious reasons. The web is big and free and is open to discovery!

The other thing that dominated proceedings this weekend was the immense hair loss I’ve been having of late. There’s hair, hair everywhere!

Apparently I’ve three alternatives: Do something about it, Lose it and keep smiling, Go for the bald look before I actually look bald! (If you thought I would have quoted medicine names, you don’t know me well yet ;). I have kept the last option till a little later when my tennis is pro-quality which might take a few centuries. The penultimate one is something I would never do- ok the smiling bit is me all the way, but that’s carrying things a bit too far. As far as the first option; after trying numerous things like mud from a pig sty, the urine of a desert scorpion, and a medicine prepared out of a hummingbirds dandruff, I’ve decided I will try one last thing. Duh, how can I tell you before I try it. So shut that gaping mouth and wait till I reach a conclusion. Give me some more time, okay?! The things I tell ya….

Hmm… I am also into quality music of late. Please, not in terms of award nominees and such! I was talking purely about the quality of recorded sound. Digitally. I’ve discovered the best that digital can play. Its AAC 192kbps. There is no need for anything more. Its essentially MPEG4. The format of the future and as expected the format Itunes is pushing people to use. If only they listened. The sad part is that music originally coded into MP3 from CD audio when converted into AAC will not benefit much since the data has already been deteriorated. Though you will find a drastic reduction in file size without loss in audio quality one-on-one. So either way it helps.

Unfortunately, except for Ipods, very few other players actually support this format. And most of the world has all their sound recorded in MP3. MP3 at highest qualities is also good, there is no doubt there; but takes far bit of extra space. So it’s a simple decision to convert to an AAC 192kbps for any future imports to ensure that you get the very best audio that there is!

The times they are a changin'

The weather is getting cooler quicker than expected. When I had arrived here, it used to be nice warm sunshine till around 8:20 in the evening. Felt like there was so much we could do. But quite abruptly, the evenings are darker by 7pm. It’s funny how the presence of sunlight in the evenings can impact the way we think and act. You feel more alive, more cheerful and gung-ho when it comes to going back home when there’s still some daylight. As if there’s a whole lot of things you can set out to achieve. And the funny part is that the body is fooled into doing more than it actually can! Tells a lot of how much our mind can impact our body.

Airline Drama

A wednesday that had it all! An airline that’s taken off with a large number of people has its nose wheels stuck and is attempting a forced landing at LA airport. Chances of a safe landing– nigh impossible. A possible worst-case scenario expected.

I can only think of the chances that those people in the aircraft might have thought they had. With live television showing exactly horrific details of how their end might come!

It’s a miracle that the landing was so well done. The piloting skills top class. The technical check extremely poor.

Examples that miracles still take place on a day to day basis. An event that renews your faith in God above. And a scorching reminder of the fragileness that life constitutes.

The Lone Leaf

Shiva's Masterstroke. I just dont know how he did it - capturing this amazing piece of art! Shiva lives in Denmark and is a close friend.

A solitary leaf with its veins and
green. Like an echo for the lonely heart. You know it
feels like its saying, "its ok to be alone - you're
always in good green company" as suggested by the dim
fuzzy background of its family members that contrasts
against its super sharpness. Its like a coming of age.

My Stay in Los Angeles

The hotel had it all! It was a sweet small place - a home away from home. When you touch down with the extra baggage called jet lag, what better way to start things off than getting into a place that makes you feel immediately comfy. This was one of those places.
I have since moved into an apartment but this snap leaves me feeling good just thinking of the cosy-ness that place had.

On Afternoon Siestas

The sonorous strains of time that resonate from an old grandfathers clock fill the chambers of my mind. It’s the time where I fight my biggest battles. Its close to 2:30pm where the mind loses to the body. Sleep is all-encompassing. The fight is futile. The resistance meek. The resistance once consisted of doses of caffeine, Lift-off, hot water, general time-wasting chats with friends and pursuing of a hobby. The resistance continues to fail. What is it about the noon hour that makes the mind numb, the senses weak, and the lids heavy? Is it the food we take, the body clock, the weather, the demands of the body, or simply the boredom? Questions as deep as life itself. But I can wait for the answers – till I wake up!