Over... But Out!?!?

A long time since i've really felt like doing some activity here. But this stuff...! i should be mentioning it here... for it has been something so very dear to me...

It all began formally in 2005, when the big-guns gave a go ahead. By Nov 2008, it had reached it's culmination... Ever since, it's been something so fascinating... something that's redefinened, in short, ourselves. and then, sometime by April this year, a small snag developed somewhere and brought in problems. Things were still alive until last week. Everything was still somehow under control. Some minor activities had already been stopped, but the important talk still continued. Last week, just past the mid of night, for some unknown reason, everything stopped. There was no response. It was game over for a long standing relationship. so to say., mission control could no more communicate with the spacecraft. It was all Over!!! But so goes a saying: "well begun is half done."., and here... it went to more than just the beginning... It was far more than the beginning, a journey, that was not intended to end so soon... (Read a journey that should have not ended!)

But again, all good things come to an end... And this was such a beautiful thing... Built on the faith of so many! As it all terminates, it opens up newer avenues... leaving for us, its share of lessons... to be incorporated into the future...

No Regrets! the job is done... and this will stay in memories for ever...

and then i missed it...

it all started on the 24th of October 1995... days when i did not know anything about superstitions or omens... at 11 years, all that i cared for... was the hand held video game that my ajji's neighbor's daughter had lent me.. i was happily spending time at my "Ajji Mane" in Padmanabhanagar.

The Precedence:
the day before., the 23rd of Oct 1995 is etched into my memory for ever... it was this day that i asked my first question in science. Prof Ramachandra Rao was giving a 2 day seminar on Vedic Chemistry at Aksharam. little did i understand that Chemistry and Physics were different... after that day's session, i walked up to him, and this was the conversation...

"ಅಂಕಲ್, ನಮ್ಮಪ್ಪ ಹೇಳಿದ್ರು light speed 3 lakh kilometers ಅಂತೆ... ಹೌದಾ?
"ಹೌದಪ್ಪ, ಅದು ಒಂದು secondಗೆ ಅಷ್ಟು ದೂರ ಹೋಗತ್ತೆ."
"ಹಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಅದನ್ನ correct ಅಂತ ಹೆಂಗೆ ಹೇಳ್ತೀರಾ? ಅದನ್ನ ಹೆಂಗೆ check ಮಾದಿದ್ದ್ರು? ಭೂಮಿ ಅಷ್ಟು ದೊಡ್ದದಿಲ್ಲ್ವಲ್ಲ..."
he said he'd let me know about it the next day. (i don't know if he did not know the answer at that point, or did not want a 11 year old to be confused with such "Weird" stuff...) but i was not there the next day i.e. on the 24th... my dad told me he mentioned me more than once on that day...he'd just got back from the seminar at Aksharam.

The First:
My dad came back and woke me out of my reverie... and took me out to watch the sun with a shard of brown glass...
it was the first time i was looking into him. i could see him slowly being engulfed by something that was not visible through the filter. when i removed it, i saw the moon eating up the sun. it was my first solar eclipse. i could not contain my excitement, and saw the partial eclipse that was in Bangalore all through from the begin till the end.
a celestial love was kindled within me... ever since, i have been a faithful follower of every eclipse that could be seen from wherever I've been... unfortunate though, that I've never been in the path of a total solar eclipse...

This July 22nd, when i heard it would be a 60-70% eclipse for Bangalore, i was excited. for it would be the maximum eclipse i'd have seen. after having seen clear skies around 5:15 AM, i pulled out my T-scope and prepared myself to follow the sun. less than 5 minutes later, nothing but gray could be seen... the clouds had already pulled down curtains on a spectacle before it had begun... :(
thought it was just another of the lost opportunities.,(the fourth so far...) and went ahead with the day... that night had something really big for me. the news channels were all busy showing the "Diamond Rings"... mighty, beautiful, and sparkilng rings before the sun was completely eaten up...After having known so much over the years about eclipses, i felt so miserable for not having been able to take a glimpse of all this... miserable to such an extent, that a morsel would not go down my throat... still convincing myself that all that happens, happens for a reason...
doesn't it hurt when you lose the most romantic of rings...???
here's a glimpse of it...

Varanasi, 22ndJul 09
Image courtesy:ToI.

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Three years and a spect...

It's 3 years since i've taken my first appointments in a few hours from now... and like anything else, it's been ups-downs-ups all through... after all the while, here's what Anon had to say of it.
It seems like it were only yesterday,
that an opportunity came along his way.
He's one with a quest to know, never to saturate.

Just days after he'd been called a Graduate,
someone had offered him a job so big.
However, today it all seems to be a jig.
Even after three years of retrospect,
he wonders at his own prospect.

Responsibility for him's been a sacred task,
and he's taken them all behind a happy mask.
For having done his duties, he still feels proud,
but keeps searching for the silver lining in his cloud.
He'll be himself after living through a drought,
the day his passions will overcome his thought.

-Anon

realizations of a "Ridetime"

Is something wrong?? I don't know. I only realized what I'd been doing at home. I was a schoolboy riding on the city roads. Some silly things I did... absolutely silly...

Fired somebody with a double barrel at a traffic signal for being a nuisance...
winked at her when i received a friendly smile...
rode like a small kid riding on an empty road, making "wheeee"stlinging noizzes...
got my bike to a halt at another traffic signal like a "Car"toon choking to a halt...
stopped all of a sudden to thank someone for letting me pass...
caught a few raindrops after getting back home, and sipped them... They were nectarine:D
intentionally went out and drenched myself head to toe...
and the silliest!!! well, felt i should tell the world all that i did today...

Does anyone know what's happened to me???

Dawn.

The Sun has not yet appeared in the horizon,
people around this place have still not arisen.
Another beautiful bright day breaks in town,
as Ms.World comes out of her darkness' gown.

The colors of dawn are so astounding to see.
Wondering if this is how heavens would be...
In a while everything will be like it always is,
the ruffled sounds and sights, as another day proceeds.

-Anon

Himachal, the Mystic Snow peaks...

No Image editors... this is as my 3.2Meg SE-K series cellphone cam captured the Himalayas in its most serene form. and as someone pointed, there was a touch of Mysticism in this photo... the top left shows the formation of "OM", which was also mentioned by one guide with us before we actually reached the camping site.

The "couple " rainbows welcomed our team of 53, as we reached the first of camps after touching a height just short of half the Highest @ 4207mtrs ASL, drenched in rain and snow...

WOW!!! i luvved the blend of green, white and maroon (from the mosses) after a stint just beneath the peak... that image was captured forever in my memories...:) unfortunately not in my cam.:(

Another memory with this trek was the encounter with a glimpse of how an avalanche begins., scarring 2. What if???

यादें जब वापस आए!

Another one, that flowed down Anon's pen in the Mighty himalayas, seeing a face that reminded of someone else. Here it goes...

सालों पहले देखा था हमने उन अदाओं को,
पल पल उन्हें याद कर के जीते थे हम तो।
आज जब हम ने देखा किसी और चेहरे मे उन्हें,
खुल आए फिर से बीते दिनों के वोह हसीं लम्हे।