"it · was · a · dark · and · stormy · night..."

Its raining.

The window in my office affords an expansive view of Pune and the nature around. Some where in the distance, sunlight is playing on the slopes of the far-away mountains. The passing clouds form a beautiful panorama on the undulating terrain.

There's a drizzle where I stand. The sky is laden with blue and grey.

Elsewhere, you can almost see the sheets of rain falling from the skies. They look like curtains hanging in mid air. Up north, it is dark. Flashes of lightening seem to make an evolution-esque effort to cook up the elements and create that first form of life all over again.

In good old pune, if your attention shall ever be allowed to wander, when on the streets, the trees that dot the sides of the road, at least the ones that are left, are in bloom. Reds, Yellows and splash of whites. Everywhere. Even in a god forsaken place like the range hill signal on university road, where people are struggling with the long lines of traffic and dust and scores of law (non)abiding fellow denizens, if you look around, the trees are showing the colors :)

and other planning to, here is an excellent book:
Couplehood by Paul Reiser.

I was really really hoping that our country would help out the affected people post Katrina. $5 Million and a military medical team is on its way! link(via boing-boing)

Us gunga din's have done the right thing!

I sha'n't forgit the night
When I dropped be'ind the fight
With a bullet where my belt-plate should 'a' been.
I was chokin' mad with thirst,
An' the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din.

'E lifted up my 'ead,
An' 'e plugged me where I bled,
An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water—green;
It was crawlin' an' it stunk,
But of all the drinks I've drunk,
I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.

I felt this article growing upon me as I returned from my last trip to mumbai. All those phrases and play-of-words that suddenly took shape in my head, as swiftly as the clouds that appear on a hot summer afternoon and pour their hearts out, now elude me. There were some rather juicy things I wanted to say to the world then. But its been such a long time since I wrote last, I will only say "its good to be back and blogging"

fellow bloggers who look in here occasionly: a happy new year to you all :-)
no lame excuses from me for being so absent from the blog world. i'm kind of caught up.
will be back to more active blogging soon.

the sun goes down the other side of the hill. there is a straight line in the sky. its a cloud. you could mistake it for a neon sign hanging in the sky. the setting sun has lit it up. the sun goes down. sunset. the glow of the neon sign slowly lessens. and then after some time is just resembles the ambers in a furnace. waiting to go out.

here is a tip for folks installing required patches on any machine. these things have a tendency to procastinate. you go and try installing the patches and the system gets too enthusiastic. it nudges you to keep installing more and more patches under the ruse of dependencies. me thinks installing patches must be akin to slow music, champagne and tub of hot water and steam. and these solaries and aixes must be loners. you tickle them and they want more.

as an aside, keep jotting down how you started. viz: patch a -> (patch b, patch c), patch b -> (patches d, e, and f)...it gets a bit confusing after a patch gets installed to figure out what to do next.