Journey of life!

I am wondering about this journey of life which has so much so for us, to unfold things at every step and realize that things are hidden and unknown; probably beyond its actual scope.

I captured a moment in this picture at the entrance of some unknown village near B'lr.

The broken pieces of my life consisting the moments of my strengths & weakness … the tears & smiles ... loved & unloved … joy of begin there with the loved ones, the sorrow of going far away from them … the unknown smiling face of a friend, the known scary face of an enemy … the twists & turns … the ups & downs … the good & bad … the lost & found … the failures & successes, the darkness of sleepless nights & the brightness of sunny days and many many more of them. I believe all theses things in life always mark a change when it is least expected. A change that helped me to walk alone under the infinite sky, which given me a chance to learn and realize what I am today and brought me everything I wished sometime back, but then the very next moment it took away all those things it had given to me once. Perhaps an indication that life has found a different meaning, and you need to give it back the things that you really didn't find one by yourself. And the un-identified meaning remain as the sole guide to teach me how to move on with this endless journey once again. A reminder, that I have to travel the multifaceted paths until I identify the last destination and lose myself to it for the first time with the single piece of my soul.

To be continued …

Linked Post : Journey of Life Continued ...

Kesava Temple in Somnathpur

Somnathpur is small village located around 130 kms from Bangalore. This place is particularly famous for the Chennakesava Temple (also called Kesava temple) built in 1268 under Hoysala king Narasimha III.

The architecture of the temple is one of the finest in the history of Hoysala dynasty. Its beautifully carved sculptures, amazing art work are beyond any comparisons.

Form inside out view of the entrance .

A wide view of the temple.

The pillars outside the main temple tell a different story of the history.

Black & white tells the story of the amazing architecture of this temple ...

A closer look of the delicate art works on the stone ...

The six bands sculptures around the temple consisting of elephants, horsemen, floral scrolls and demons etc...

Idol of ganesh

The consequences, from Maktub

From last few days I am reading a book Called Maktub by Paulo Coelho. It happened so he is one of my most favorite authors so far and I really adore his writings. The depth of knowledge/information given in his books can’t be measured but everybody can realize it at some point of time. And Maktub as it means in Arab “it’s written”… is a book filled with short but inspiring stories.

The book says - The Arabs feel that "It is written" is not really a good translation, because, although everything is already written, God is compassionate, and wrote it all down just to help us.

The idea behind this post is to share some of those short stories that I came across while reading the book which is indeed not only interesting, thought provoking and points out the invariant value of life but also guides us to listen to our soul …

So here I am with the 1st story in my list and more to come in my next posts ...

The master says: "If a decision needs to be made, it is better to make it and deal with the consequences. You cannot know beforehand what those consequences will be. The arts of divination were developed in order to counsel people, never to predict the future. They provide good advice, but poor prophecy. "In one of the prayers that Jesus taught us, it says, 'God's will be done.' When His will causes a problem, it also presents a solution. If the arts of divination were able to predict the future, every soothsayer would be wealthy, married and content."

I Am Legend

So here I am back again, this time with ‘I Am Legend’. The story of the movie revolves around a man struggling to survive in a world where normal human beings are the things of past. It's a pure science-fiction story and I woudln't suprise if people start comparing it with Resident Evil or even with 28 Days Later. For a movie maniac like me, it’s a great movie with the right sense of everything - the special effects, Will Smith’s acting, the dog, the direction, the background scores and everything that makes a movie blockbuster :)

I picked some of the interesting lines from the movie that was a pointer for the making of this legend …

“Neville (Will Smith) talking to Anna (Alice Braga) about Bob Marley (In real) - He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate... literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people's lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. And when somebody asked him why - He said, The people, who were trying to make this world worse... are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”

And finally, the lines that sum-up the legacy of this legend called Neville …

“In 2009, a deadly virus burned through our civilization, pushing humankind to the edge of extinction. Dr. Robert Neville dedicated his life to the discovery of a cure and the restoration of humanity. On September 9th, 2012, at approximately 8:49 P.M., he discovered that cure. And at 8:52, he gave his life to defend it. We are his legacy. This is his legend. Light up the darkness.”

The Heart Never Lies

Some people laugh, some people cry,

Some people live, some people die,

Some people run, Right into the fire,

Some people hide, Their every desire

But we are the lovers,
If you don't believe me, Then just look into my eyes,
Cause the heart never lies.

Some people fight, some people fall,
Others pretend, They don't care at all,
If you wanna fight, I'll stand right beside you,
The day that you fall,
I'll be right behind you, To pick up the pieces,
If you don't believe me, Then just look into my eyes,
Cause the heart never lies

Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhoooh
Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooaaahhoooh

Another year over, And we're still together,
It's not always easy, But I'm here forever,

Yeah, we are the lovers,

I know you believe me, When you look into my eyes,
Cause the heart never lies,
Cause the heart never lies, yeah,
Cause the heart never lies

Silence of Love, from The Alchemist

You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love … the love that speaks the language of the world.

No reason is needed for loving. One is loved because one is loved.

"When you want something, the whole Universe conspires to help you realize your dream".

- The Alchemist

Weekend Movie Mania

Another weekend and I am back with some great movies. I am really glad to get hold of these movies, they were inspired so much from the real life and presented superbly on the screen. After all the purpose of a movie is not just to do pass time or have some fun instead this time, it is to learn & take away the important messages of life.

The first movie in the list was “An American Crime”, one of the hard hitting real life stories that I have seen ever. In short the movie has everything that will blow you out from your feet. The director Tommy O'Have has done a great job, absolutely superb direction & screen play and Ellen Page, yet again proved she is one of the most talent actress.

A terrible crime, cruelty, inhuman treatment, fear, frustration, anger, madness, lies and death everything bundled in 112 mins. When the movie finished I was not able to believe that something could have happened ever like this, shocked but accept the fact that there are people who are involved so much so with their own life that for them another person's life is just so damn. It was not an easy going movie, the story's lead character Sylvia had only one thing to say "every situation God always has a plan. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what that plan was ...".

The most touching line that came from Sylvia which says it all - “She sacrifices me to protect her children then sacrifice them to protect herself.”

I am not writing anything more about this movie because I want you to watch this movie and allow your blood to rush into your head and find out whether it can burst ? If it didn’t you have still a little life left with you.

The other movie that I watched over this weekend was “The Man Who Cried” which is again a beautifully crafted movie. The story of the movie was simple but presented in a very classy manner. No need to mention that Christina Ricci had fully justified the lead role in the movie. Now you guys go and grab the copy of the movie to have some quality time watching it … The movie have had its chance to say much more than the audience expected - Suzie's struggle as life had its own twist and turns, she had to decide between the loving relation she just fallen into recently or the loving father ..

VIT - A place to learn; A chance to grow

Whenever, or wherever we talk about Engineering & Technology Institutes present in India, the first thing that comes to anybody's mind is IIT. Now saying IITs, they are India’s premier Institute and there is always a degree of inclination to the quality of education it associated by itself and also it is one of the toughest tasks for anybody to get a admission there (needn't mention anything about the growing quota system at this point of time). The expectation level and competition is always way too much, I am not against the competition but it has a very limited scope while reaching out to the thousands of aspiring students. I have read an article about How Not To Build New IITs, which is again raising concerns when demands placed in front of the government to increase the no. of IITs/seats. But I am not here today to talk about all those things, today I am here with this post to share a good news about a college other than IIT :)

The growth that we have seen in the recent past in almost all different sectors is fabulous, to add to that gone are those days when only handful of Engineering Colleges were present to allow somebody to engineer the dreams. The situations has completely changed with the time and now hundreds, thousands other colleges come into picture to cater the future need of young engineering minds and for those young minds its more than just a ray of hope. All around, the competition has its own increasing speed with the assurance to the students who didn’t get a seat in IIT that they needn't worry about their future just because they didn't make it to IIT.

The impressive thing noticed here is that some of the Colleges / Universities are slowly but gradually following the path that IITs once started. And to name such a college, VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) is one among them. This year there are more good news for this Deemed University that one can expect. The first one was India Today ranked it 10th all over India, read here. And the second one TCS created a new placement record all over the world by selecting whopping total of 1,075 students. In news ...

Indeed it’s a big achievement for VIT and as the university’s alumni I am really proud about it. I know still a long way to go but not to take away anything from the people out there doing their part of good work .

Congratulation & Good Luck for the future endeavor to all those who successfully cracked the interviews and All The Best to those who are expecting / awaiting their interview calls.

VITians Rock :)

Athirappilly Falls

The memory is still fresh and it was not a difficult task for me to scroll through yet again a memorable trip to a waterfall called Athirappilly Falls in Thrissur district of Kerela. The interesting thing about this place is that it is located inside a forest region, Vazhachal and you have an option for going a jungle trek in this region which is again a treat to your eyes but prior to that you should take the necessary permission from the forest department officer. This place is a well know picnic spot in this part of Kerela.

Probably, the best time to visit this place is in-between the months of September to February, and that’s exactly what we badly missed on the trip. In the end, it was a tiring day for us but by then we have accomplished the purpose of the trip, a fun filled trip.

There you go with the pictures taken along side the Chalakudy River and the pictures of the waterfall.

Dil Chata Hai (!!!)

I strongly believe – “Life is a meaningless search until you find the meaning of it, but it wouldn't give you any guarantee for its existence!”

I wouldn’t surprise myself; there are those some movies that show the different or rather changing meanings of the life. Does it mean life is changed for the every new meaning you discovered? This is never answered unless you are the one who live the life, dream for it and find out what it is … and ‘DCH’ as the short form says; is a perfect example of it.

A must watch movie :)

Shivanasamudra Waterfall

On a lazy weekend I was out with friends to a near by place known as Sivanasamudra, which is around 120 Kms from B’lr. And there you go, one more waterfall is added to my trip memory. Perhaps this is the second most beautiful waterfall after the mind blowing Jog (Jog Falls) inside Karnataka. I enjoyed the trip as much as I did in that trip to Jog Falls. Now here goes some of my clicks on that day ...

The first Hydro-electric Power station in Asia.

Rail Curves - Part II

Linked Post : Rail Curves - Part I

The Moment!

I always believe I have a reason to smile for 'today' because it is giving me a chance to learn and also I should thank the almighty for the simple reason that HE has given me this life. If things are always so simple and predictable then there is no point of expecting anything from this life; as you might have already lived it. What more left? What if nothing makes you to wait for the next moment?

If the time passes by you as if it will never change then probably you are living a life of a dead. If you are alive then you have to face the challenges that come with the day to day changes. It is impossible task to run from your life; you have to fight for it to make sure you live up to it, and for that unless you are ready to allow the change your life will never change, only the time will change which is un-stoppable. So expecting the unexpected is what gives a meaning to your dreams and fills the reality with all possible colors; the colors that describe the journey of your life.

For me it’s the journey and not the destination which sums up how the life is going to be ... ‘THE MOMENT’ – is where you live your life and it’s entirely yours and nobody can take it away from you or can change it for you. But there are times you prepare yourself may be mentally or physically for that ‘moment’, when it comes and stand right there in front of you sometime the meaning started changing and you see there are various other moments that effecting it as a whole, mindless or meaningless or just enough to knock you down. However, it’s completely in your hands to identify that ‘moment’ of yours where you want to live; in many ways it shows the character of an individual. And probably this is the time you see yourself at best making a decision and living up to it thereafter without the fear or the frustration chasing you.

If you are not able to part of the moment you are preparing for, then move on...; why blocking the way? its not yours anyway ... and backup plans are for people who live in a world of predications and fears; the fear of losing things and predicating the control over things that they never had …

I can associate the entire thought that is going inside my head right now with one of my favorite quotes - “I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.”- William Allen

The Genius!

What makes you a genius ? that’s the first question that came to my mind after reading the article published in Telegraph (U.K Edition), The 100 living geniuses. Thanks munmun for sharing this piece of information in her blog, otherwise I would have missed it. And what if I never come across the list then it would be the end of my thinking process about genius people :) It’s interesting to know about people who have crossed the extra mile in their respective field but still going on … and on … as if there is no end of being a genius. And genius being absolutely free from gender, color, race. If at all then they are far away considerations without having any basis.

If you go through the list of people and if you have a little knowledge about what they have done in their lifetime then probably you could figure out some of the qualities that are invariably attached with the word genius. As per Telegraph, they have considered the following criteria to decide the best of the best that includes paradigm shifting, popular acclaim, intellectual power, achievement and cultural importance. The list of people are from various background and fields starting form scientists, writer, musician, historian, poet, publisher, spiritual leader, sports person, film maker, psychologist and the list is real big. Which indicates that it can never be limited to anything … and it goes the same with the people listed in it. That being a pointer to the fact that genius is not directed by certain boundaries or limit. And as rightly said - "There is no great genius without some touch of madness."

The very next moment, out of my mind; It kicked me how a nation with a population of around 1.3 billion failed to produce a single among them? or its another reminder to me that, although genius is not limit by any boundaries but many times it is over shadowed in the race of the basic survival process. In the and it dies lacking the sweat & blood that it requires.

And finally I have left myself with few questions that caught me more than the usual time, just after going through the profile of Kirti N. Chaudhuri (the only Indian in that list); how well we (Indians) know ourselves? And how well the work done by us here is appreciated by the world outside ? Those questions are just moving round and around me and not ready to leave me now. But somehow I am convinced that there is a long long way to go and we still believe only in gifted things?

" Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others." -Mark Twain

Crazy or Crazier thoughts ??? Haaahhhaa !

• If time doesn't wait for you, don't worry! Just remove the damn battery from the clock and ENJOY life!
• Don't walk as if you rule the world,walk as if you don't care who rules the world! That's called the ATTITUDE …! Keep on rocking!
• Every lady hopes that her daughter will marry a better man than she did and is convinced that her son will never find a wife as good as his father did!!!

He was a good man. He never smoked, drank & had no affair.When he died, the insurance company refused the claim. They said, he who never lived, cannot die!!!

Only 10 percent boys have brains, rest have girlfriends or wives!!!

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the lion not to attack because you are a vegetarian. Think about it.

• All desirable things in life are either illegal, banned, expensive or married to someone else!

Images & quotes Courtesy: WWW :)

HAL Aerospace Museum

After couple of failed attempts to visit this place finally I made it on the 3rd week of May. The HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum is the first of its kind in the country.

It was really fun exploring some of the aspects of Aerospace and one of the most sophisticated sciences. And a visit to this place is a most spectacular thing for the eyes. HAL has given Bangalore an unique status as the City of Aeronautics.

The museum was opened to public in way back Aug 2001. In News; you can find more information about HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum here and also some more information at War Birds of India.

Dove (Devon), designed & developed by DE HAVILAND, UK.

The Light Combact Aircraft (LCA).

LAKSHYA, Pilot less Target Aircraft can be reusable for 10 missions.

A view from the back side garden ...

There Center is divided into 2 halls, Hall 1 : exhibits various models of aero engines, highlighting various functions and features of the engines. It has its own part of history holding way back from the 2nd World War. Hall 2 : again sails through the history of and milestones of the Indian aviation industry with good no. of photographs all around the place.

Inside the Hall 1. the aircraft - BASANT.

The history ...

Air traffic Control Radar & Antenna; RADAR – Stands for Radio Detection & Ranging. It provides positional information of aircraft.

The heat-shield of PSLV, and how it looks like from the inside :)

I spent good 3 hrs inside the museum; a first kind of experience for me and looking forward to another round of visit to this beautifully organized place.