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 I spent the whole day driving and walking.I drove fast and rash. That doesn't reflect too well on me. I know that.The problem is i know too much ..arghhh!
I drove up to the hills of Mussoorrie. Spent my time clicking pictures, watching people of varied kinds doing their thing.Walked passed so many shops, all of them selling invariably the same memorabilia to take home.Even the rest of the stuff was same.
The view down of the doon valley was great as usual. Semi-telescopic view of the same available from a dozen such money makers. People selling corn were lined up all along the mall road. The air was infused with horse dung, though horses were few. Rickshaws as usual wanted to take you some place were you never wanted to go. They never have understood what "no" means.
I walked passed it all and in a funny way. Noticed it all,even when i wasn't paying attention.My mind was elsewhere.
Saw many elderly squatting along the sides of the road ,enjoying the sunlight. Saw tourists making a mess of the place, littering the  queen of hills . Families from out of the station making a mockery of themselves with their usual and expected behaviour. I kept clicking my pictures and my mind wasn't focussed.
Finally arrived at "Kalsang". Spent time eating and thinking nothing.
Had a brief conversation with tenzing. Interesting lad. Made me wanna visit him in Sikkim, where he comes from. The music and food were good as ever. Good, at least something was good !With a satisfied stomach i continued to walk, rather mindlessly. Kept and finally came to this church. I love the British for some of what they did back here.Gothic architecture with  lovely woodwork  .  Finally  found  some focus and took a few shots. That was good time. Interesting i told the pastor that i was from the Vineyard in doon. Pat came the question, Protestant or Catholic ??.. How hollow and very sad. I wish .. and i wish all the time. I wish a lot. I wish so much. Anyways the pictures i took managed to get my mind off that.
Just realized that i haven't written in paragraphs...and also that i haven't posted now for over an year !!! Never mind. there a bigger mistakes and slip ups i need to tend too.

Well after a few hours and just before it was starting to get a bit chilly, i drove back.


I drove up searching for something and drove down still without that something. Maybe another place tomorrow or the same again. The problem is that i know that problem. Again, i know too much.....

This was posted to me as a testimonial by Shagun on Friendster on 20-Oct-2005. As we talked over dinner today about it, i felt the urge to read it again. When i came home and read it, i was thrilled and filled with joy to the brim. What a delight!! ...
Truly a thing of beauty is a joy forever...
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When you said write a testimonial for me, seriously man I never knew what to write, but I thought I should give it a try and so here I am writing a testimonial for you.
Hey! First of all I am so sorry buddy, that I kept you waiting for so long, but you know something, these few words would never really explain what I feel for you, its so indescribable and hence I kept on delaying it for no reason, but then I realized today, that I am really being selfish in doing that.
So finally heres your testimonial.

Lemme start from the very beginning, I know, I know it looks like I am telling a story but cant help it! It is a story, a story of our friendship.
Well! When I first saw you in D.Y.C, wearing this white t-shirt of yours with that baby on it, and Gosh!! With that  funny earring put on it, remember that favorite T of yours. Anyway I am not getting into that, so there you were standing in the hall, though with the crowd but still not with them.
That was enough of a trigger for me to be curious, to know you more and then you said HELLO!!!
Well rest is history after that!!

Time went by so soon and when we became such great friends I don't know. Though I would say theres still a lot to know about you but by whatever I know, I feel you're one of those very few guys with such a beautiful heart, you care for people and you don't hesitate expressing it, the transparency in you is so admirable and probably the best part about you.

With you I don't have to plan things they just happen. With you I don't hesitate saying things and I don't have to think before saying coz I know you would understand my feelings and even if you might not approve of em or not agree with me sometimes, but you always care to listen. This sensitivity is rare to find in a guy. I would say you're sweetness personified and mind you this is not sugar coated.

There are so many shades in our friendship, we are not just the haha hehe bunch who meets just to enjoy and pass time. Sometimes we share a laugh, most of the time we talk serious, sometimes we fool around and we even share some quite and weak moments. I think Ken was right to say that we four share a unique bond which is so special. Four different funny people fitting together like fingers of two hands fit together, as if we are specially created to fit the space. Its about the unconditional love, support and acceptance that we give to each other. Oops sorry!! I know, I know, this testimonial is about you. Maybe Ill write about us freaking four sometimes later.so lemme come back to you...

Well!! Do I really have to tell you what youre like in inverted commas you are exactly what you have written about yourself above, which I discovered all this while after spending time with you, I wish I would have read your description about you much before, and I am sorry for not reading it up till today, it would have been easier and quicker for me to know you Or maybe NO. there wouldnt have any charm left in knowing you then.what do you say?? But you know something the amazing part is, this is exactly what I thought youre like, which kindda makes it more special because I discovered, what youre like naturally. So nothing is more worthwhile than putting time and effort for building friendship and knowing your friend. Ok!! Ok!! That was easy I know, so lemme tell you something different.

I have seen you in times of intense struggle and confusion, known you when youre were very relaxed and happy, seen you upset and depressed, irritated and cranky too sometimes but the more I come to know you the more I am amazed by the kind of truthfulness you have. Ill always remember the way you run in front of the traffic cops, thats sooooo funny really, but it also reinforces the fact that you know when youre wrong and you it beautifully, which require a lot of guts to do and I havent really seen many guys with that kind of guts.
So youre a rare species honey!!! Hehe.
Being with you at the times of your struggle this time, have actually helped me too in a lot of ways, for which I am thankful to you. With you I have started working on my level of commitments and with you I get a strange kind of strength to stand for my values. With you I can be what I am. So it speaks volumes about our relationship and off course about YOU.

I think now I can even say that we know our each other very well, even our dark sides which are not that good. Rite!!!
Well do you want everything to be put in black and white or lets leave something for me to tell you in person, because I can go, on and on and on like this forever, as our friendship is not just about the moments weve shared up till now, theres a lot more to come.
Last but not the least, Looking at you I see a man who can do amazing things to the world; you have the capability to make a difference to so many lives around. Remember you asked me once why would God choose you, well frankly speaking I dont know the answer to that but I definitely know this that God is never wrong, and if he chooses to work on you, then he has enough solid reasons to do so. So hold on to your Faith and carry on for the love of God and Jesus will take care of you always, I am dead sure.
Well as it is, Spider Boss Man Ken has opened his mouth and the bible has fallen in your hands now hahahahahah..Hey!! Rememba Kunals tag God loves you and God loves me my goodness that was so funny Wow!! Didnt we have lots of fun this time; I would always cherish the memories of it!!

Hey before I sign off heres a little poem for you.

I prayed for you before we met,
Not knowing who you'd be.
I asked the Lord to send a friend.
One chosen just for me.

I asked that they'd be Godly,
With wisdom of His ways.
A friend to help and guide me
In the troubles of these days.

So often in life, we need someone
To listen while we talk.
Someone who will not condemn or judge,
But encourage us as we walk.

The narrow road we choose to follow
May sometimes make us stumble.
But to have a friend to catch our fall,
Teaches us to be humble.

When I asked the Lord to send a friend,
Though many came and went.
He gave much more than I ever asked,
For you are the friend He sent.

With lots of Love and prayers for you Hoggy!!!

Shagun!!    
                                                   

Shape of things now and in the future ahead...... !!!!!!!!!

 “God, please don’t send me to Africa”

What do you love to do? Chances are that love can be tapped into as service for the Lord. This kind of thinking may seem obvious, but it is radical at least to my Christian upbringing.

 

I grew up with a kind of warped Christianity that taught that if I was passionate about something, it was probably wrong. God was the great killjoy in the sky. Virtue was painful. The good usually felt bad. The bad (we were told) felt good. Denying yourself meant never doing anything you really wanted to do. Conversely, if you hated doing something, that was most likely what God was calling you to do. “God, please don’t send me to Africa” was a prayer you’d better not pray, because that was the first place he would probably send you if you prayed that prayer. As you might imagine, this kind of thinking turned out a generation of very dull, boring Christians who were always suspicious of having fun. Where do you think the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live came from, anyway?

 

Actually, God is one who delights in giving us our heart’s desire. In fact, he’s the one who gave us our desires in the first place, and he gave them to us not to frustrate us but to help us be useful and fulfilled in our service for him.

 

Think of what you know about King David in the Old Testament. Now here’s a guy who obviously loved music, poetry, women, and war. So he became a warrior/king and all his passions, in their proper places and under the Spirit’s control, drove him to be not only a great king, but a man after God’s own heart. God didn’t give him all these passions and then tell him to spend his life being a scribe in a cave somewhere. (He saved that for me!)

 

As a child, I had a passion for music. I would spend hours doodling on the piano, and when I got my first guitar, it became the goal of my life to make the same sounds I heard in my favorite songs. When, as a young adult, God put the idea in my head to use all these passions and skills to write and perform music about his Gospel and his truth, I thought I wasn’t hearing correctly at first. That couldn’t be serving God; that would be too much fun! It took an adjustment of my understanding of God and his ways to really believe God was in this. Now I know that this is the way he works. If he wants us to do something, he’ll put a desire in our heart to do it.

 

God is not in the frustrating business; he is in the fulfilling, joy-filled business. So if you are desirous of serving God, think first about what you can do and what you love to do. Serving God will be along those lines

--------------------------------------------- Author Unknown-----------------------------------------------

23 year old Grant T. Stanley, a network administrator for a peer-to-peer Internet file-sharing system has been sentenced on October 17th to five months in prison along with five months of home detention, three years of supervised probation and a $3,000 fine for copyright infringement. The Elite Torrents network, for which the youth worked as a network administrator, had more than 133,000 members and allegedly facilitated the illegal distribution of more than 2 million copies of movies, software, music and games using the BitTorrent sharing technology.

Stanley is one of three people convicted through Operation D-Elite, a federal crackdown on suppliers of pirated works to Elite Torrents, which agents shut down in May 2005. Federal officials said that Elite Torrents network offered 'Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sixth', six hours before it even debuted in theaters. U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said that he hoped this case sends the message that cyberspace will not provide a shield of anonymity for those who break copyright laws.

Peer-to-peer file sharing sites and networks have been under the scanner, particularly in the US, by authorities and have been constantly targeted for closing down due to pressure from the copyright owners.

Final exams ended two days back. Results will be out on 13 Sep. So this brings me to the end of my study here at Singapore. Only 2 more exams to go and both of them won't be written. So in another 2-3 months will be bidding farewell to Singapore.
 It's been quite and experience with the 10 months or so stay here, not to forget another 2-3 months more to go. As i look back and reflect on my time here, I get surrounded with mixed feelings. Numerous. But not all happy.Certainly not. But the show must go on and so I will carry on. Well, let's not get into that, that which is embossed in my heart.
I will carry with me sweet and sometimes painful memories of this place.
Well, I am not even in a mood to type anything more. Just don't feel like. Weired. What a rubbish of a post. But totally heartfelt !
Yes.
Totally. 

Hi.. this is a very different post.... Let's just pause for a moment and think for once

about everything that we somehow (subconciously) manage to avoid thinking about;somehow thinking subconciously that it doesn't concern us.

Think about the current Israel-Hezbollah crisis; think about the families in fear in Iraq

because of the Shia-Sunni conflict... think about the people who were hit by typhoon in

China recently; think about the Tsunami the recent one and the one that hit some years

back...think about Africa where in many nations pharmaceuticals majors are treating

people like Ginuea Pigs,experitmenting on them with various drugs, treating them as

expendable, like their lives were cheaper than any other lives!! Think about the millions

of people at this very moment who live in fear of their lives; who are dying from

hunger;who are suffering from pain of lost loved ones to conflict,war,atrocities;who

cannot claim to own their own lives !
Every now and then, with so many images in news, newspapers, magazines about pain,

suffering,loss, do we feel anything ? Anything at all ? Do we even have time for this ?

Does this mean anything to us ? Does this have any bearing on us ? Are we related to them

in anycase? Do we need to be bothered? Are they equal human beings or we think of them as

lesser human beings ? DO we think at all? What is most important to us ? What should be

rightfully most imporant to us? Why is there suffering in the world ? Why is that poor

child in Africa born to such conditions of famine and hunger and war,whereas my child is

living a life of comfort and care away from all sorts of discomforts ? Did the creater

differntiate inbetween that child and mine ? Why why why? there are millions of questions

.....i have thousands more, myself.. What the HELL IS HAPPENING IN THIS WORLD ?
WILL SOMEONE TELL ME ? WHAT AM I DOING HERE? WHAT IS EVERYONE ELSE DOING HERE? WHAT IS

THIS WHOLE THING ABOUT? WHAT GOOD IS COMING OUT OF IT? WHY DOES ANY GOOD NEED TO COME

OUT OF IT? WHAT IS "GOOD" IN THE FIRST PLACE ?.....     Darn.. darn... let's not get

started...I could go on endlessly.... here's the point... i came accross this rather very moving and shocking video.... and here's how I plan to contribute my 2 cents to the cause of helping out ! All i ask is your little time .. please watch the video...and make people aware of it ... and if you are privilged enough then please do help out with money !...
Let's get this started then.....

Back from an 11 day hault ! Hi then all of you. Come September and I am off for a spin to Malaysia and/or Russia ! Man, two countries in a month  and that too, not  in the course of PROFESSIONAL WORK !Boy, now that is something !
    Okie okie... the details now...Well have been chosen by my nautical school to attend a Youth Leadership Camp onboard the Super Star Virgo. And that being operated by the famous , Star Cruises Company. Well, that is slated for 3 days , from 6-8 September. Moreover, it's higly subsidised ! Yahooooo ! I am so bloody excited now ! Plus my buddy, Anil might be accompanying me !
Well then later that same month, from 14-19 September, will be going to Vladivostok,Russia. That, to attend a Sports meet of the Youth Captains of the World ! Well, but then, here we are talking in terms of big money !My school has already subsidised it by 50% , but even with that the payable amount is steep. Well , I am on the hunt for sponsors ! Hope can come accross some good people out there, willing to help a poor soul.....  So let's see how things turn out to be !

It's interesting to note that in the aftermath of the Zidane head-butt incident, there have been numerous theories as to the cause of it ! The incident has become the rave of the internet with e-mails, videos, blogs and numerous other mediums of discussions over the world wide web. Just recently , I myself uploaded a video of the incident in the previous post. Now again this particular e-mail has left me wanting to put it up for all to see. So here it is !