...non periodic oscillations...

As you turn the throttle ever so gently, she purrs between your legs almost begging you to to set yourself free...to let her take you to places you've never been to before. Her gentle purring is frequently broken by an urgent roar and then, she she just starts to hum a steady tune as the world flies past and it's just you and Her and the Road.

“The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time.” Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode at the Indian Military Academy on 10 December, 1932. December 10: IMA'S Red-Letter Day | Jaskiran Chopra | 10/12/2013 | The Pioneer | http://bit.ly/1e1N2wN For most civilians, life in the Armed Forces is characterised by valour, glory and sacrifice. Those soldiers, who give up worldly comforts to protect the Nation and our way of life, live a life full of hardships, struggle and the constant threat of death. Far removed from their families, friends and worldly comforts, they are trained to face any adversity at a moment’s notice and we should thank them for it. However, as true as it is, we often tend to overlook the fate that the families of these brave soldiers face every day. It is not easy to let go of your love k...

Sometimes I wonder how the human spirit endures on. In spite of adversity and pain and challenges and situations which can break one's very belief in oneself. Every day I encounter people who exist because they were born. Each day they go about there lives taking this gift, the gift of life, for granted. Just because they were born? Just because they happened to be present on this planet in a human form? Why don't they not want to use this gift in a more meaningful manner? What's meaningful, you ask? Honestly, I wish I knew. Every day, I try to fill my waking hours with activity and purpose. Each day I look around and wonder how they can just while away their existence in things which add no value to themselves or the world? How can watching "Big Boss" add to the quality of one's life? Why are we trained to study hard, get a good degree and then work hard for the rest of one's measly life eking out a living? If one cannot give one's best in whatever ...

Every day of our lives we are told what to do, how to do it, when to do it, that we must do it or that it is the only way to do it and countless more things of the same nature.  Seems like there is manual for everything one can encounter in life. In between all these questions, did you ever pause to think? “Think what?”, do I hear you say? Who on earth has the time to stop and that too, for thinking! Why think when there is someone to do that and of course, take the fall in case something doesn’t turn out right.

Everytime I listen to The Masterplan by Oasis , something inside relates to it so strongly that I drift into the song from whatever I am doing. The need to make sense of it all resonates deeply. Why do we need to make sense of it anyway? I sometimes wish I could also carry on numbly like most people do but then I wouldn't be honest to myself and that is a very difficult thing to do. I can "sleep" over it although that hasn't been very successful in the past. So here it is. Listen to it if you can. It's a lovely song. The Masterplan Take the time to make some sense Of what you want to say And cast your words away upon the waves And sail them home with acquiesce On a ship of hope today And as they land upon the shore Tell them not to fear no more Say it loud, and sing it proud today And then dance if you wanna dance Please brother take a chance You know they're gonna go Which way they wanna go All we know is that we don't Know how it's gonna be ...

I used to be a regular train traveller till third year of architecture school. At that time I used to make frequent trips between Delhi & Calcutta (not Kolkata yet). Of course, frequent for me and frequent for my apartment mates in NICMAR mean completely different things. Those journeys would be in the Howrah Rajdhani. Most of the other train journeys have been with family with food for the road and other miscellaneous things that happen during family train trips. After that, flying has always been the preferred mode of transport – get in, get out mode. Who had the time to sit through a long train journey, endure (or ignore) co-passengers and eat what was served in the name of food? Student concessions on Indian Airlines (not Air India yet) were a nice bonus that had to be used too. Once I moved to Bangalore (not Bengaluru yet) there was no way I could take a train to and fro Calcutta. It was a journey of over 36 hours! During those years, I rarely took a train. I can only recall ...

I was sorting some old data and happened to come across this classic we worked on while in NICMAR for the Vegetative Proposals. God! We should have printed these :)