my dream of getting a bullet will come true soon. i’ve been bullet hunting for more than a month now, hopefully i’ll own one in december then a DSLR camera, and off i go. thats about everything i want from life now. get all that and take off. nice to hear and tough to do i know but i will, some day.

my current project is almost over and i’m gonna be in support and testing for the next 3 months. only thing that i hope is not to have a lot of work to find time for all the crazy things my crazy head is planning. i might leave mangalore soon, but before that i want to do crazy things. make new friends. talking about that, i’ve started doing crazy things already!! i sang in the group song for independence week in office. eat that – world!! ‘desh mere, desh mere, meri jaan hai tuuu’…. i went on stage to sing for the first time and by god, what a song it was!! we got second prize thanks to a nightingale whose voice was soooo sweet. so much so, that our voices were not noticed by the judges and we got second prize

i am on my way to dileep’s brother’s marriage reception in trichur. hope to see everyone there. but i gotta come back to mangalore on sunday too. will post photos of the reception till then, leaving u with snaps of the scenic beauty of mangalore, uriyadi held on sri krishna jayanthi and a cultural fest at our office

someone told me few days back, that the anticipation of what is to come is the thing that keeps you going.. the anticipation of something better, something surprising.. i’ve been thinking of doing a lot of things lately, but in the end nothing happens.. i’m returning to mangalore from home, in a train now..

the only thing i wanna say now is that this blog is not dead.. there will be lots more travels, portraits and ramblings here.. keep all the comments coming till the next post, i’ll continue to be a being stranded, there on the cosmic panorama in the pic is shanthakumar – one of my new friends in mangalore..

17th January 2008.. 00:44hrs..
sukhwinder singh screaming ‘bas bas bada bole, ab kuch kariye…’ in my ears.. i’ve entered corporate life.. i wake up at 8 and brush my teeth n then bathe.. get into my armour which includes a tie on mondays n tuesdays.. smelly shoes.. n ‘walk’ to the big colloseum for what everyone calls training.. the walk to the place is just around 400 metres, but it sends some kind of sweet pain from the toes up till the knees.. the pain i call sweet as its the fatigue caused by that which helps in idling thru the session till noon.. after december 18th, each working day of my life was the same.. i never reached the colloseum earlier, but left the place later than 6pm a number of times.. complains mostly stay confined to my head, but for some very close people.. but i gotta live this life anyways..

16th March 2008.. 11:52hrs..
slept long yesterday.. its raining heavily in mysore these days… training has reached its ending stage.. things have eased up a little lately.. we dont sit at office for long hours nowadays, unless we have a training project.. n the fact of the matter is we have one of those, every other weekend but i’ve started to like the work here.. mostly because i’ve tried hard to do that we get net in the evening from 5 to 9.. we cant access any public mails, so who needs net anyways.. walking to the foodcourt to have some food.. the umbrellas were kept to dry near my hostel.. it was refreshing to see the colours amongst the artificial lawns n gardens.. life goes on naturally..

6th April 2008.. 21:48hrs..
i’m home after more than 3 months.. lot has happened in these days… i couldnt blog much, even after the many times aana tried to make me… wanted to write about the first marriage in our batch.. our own amar govindan aKa Comedy cant digest the fact that he has done it.. wanted to write a lot.. but nothing surfaced.. everything just lost somewhere.. so i’ll be silent till the next time.. silence is countless sounds combining to play in a rhythm… silence is a symphony…..

Anyone who cares enough to read this boring blog might know that i was planning to go to Malaysia.. To get my Visa extension and to see the new country.. But guess what, only the former happened.. We went to the nearest Malaysian city of Johor Bahru.. Its like, we cross a bridge n we’re in another country.. As simple as that.. But, believe me, there’s nothing to see there.. At Johor Bahru..

We went to a Beach Resort called the Danga Bay.. Even the people working in the nearby shops didnt know english.. (njan vann Malay aayathondu rakshappettu).. The only things that place is good for is shopping and eating out.. Food is so cheap that people from Singapore near the border go there to eat.. We absolutely owned the Pizza Hut at the Kotaraya Plaza that night..
After that long eating session, we walked toward the malaysian immigrations and checked out of the country.. At that moment, i was wondering which country i was in!! Cos i had checked out of Malaysia and didnt get into Singapore..

With that thought, i boarded a bus to the Singapore Check Point n from there, they refused to let me in.. N i was like Wat the?! The little girl sittin at the counter gave me ghastly glance and asked me why i wanted to stay thirty more days in Singapore.. I was supposed to leave singapore before oct 10th at that time, but i said i wanted to spend Hari Raya (Eid) with my brother n family in Singapore.. Then this cute lookin girl asked me to sit in the seat next to her n wait.. Obviously, I didnt mind..

I was sittin there like a VVIP when suddenly a heavy built officer in uniform came near me n said ‘this way!’.. I did not have any idea wat was happening, but soon i was in a room filled with lots of seemingly grumpy old officers.. But in that same room, my bro, sis n ehan were sitting.. N then one of those officers went thru my passport and called me to ask the same thing that silly girl had asked me few minutes before.. I told him the exact answer i had told the girl, only this time, i pointed at my bro n family while saying it.. Must’ve been the smile on Ehan’s face, he gave me an extension straight away.. That too for a month.. Hihi..

After reaching back to Singapore that night, i could hardly feel my hands n feet.. Hihi.. (Over aakkaling ~ Exaggeration).. Slept long that night n the most part of the next day.. On monday i went to the Indian Airlines office to change my return ticket date to the 17th..

Deepak Benny has been in Singapore for quite some days now.. I’ve not been able to meet him cos of all these n nombu.. He joined the Worley Parsons office in Somerset.. Decided to meet him after Eid.. Eid was pretty ordinary.. With no usual friends n things like that.. But the Foodings were extra ordinary.. Spent the evening at the east coast park with lots of malayali families.. I was watchin people skating there, most of the time.. Met a small girl who had sung with ‘kavi’ at singapore.. For those who doesnt know, The last years Idea Star Singer Kavi was my classmate!!

Toward the end of the trip, i had ran out of things to do!! So it was either shopping at mustafa or sitting online.. Bought a lot of stuff.. Including an ipod classic.. But in between all this, i’d not yet seen the famous Singapore Zoo and the Jurong Bird Park.. So the day i finally met Benny.. We decided to go to the zoo..

But i forgot to take the cam that day.. So had to take snaps using my good old mobile.. The zoo at Singapore is the best i’ve seen.. So far that is.. Because in all the zoo’s that i’ve visited till now, the animals never looked happy.. But this place is different.. Most of the animals r not caged.. N those that are, dont seem to mind.. Hehe..

The white tiger was the best thing we saw in there.. A big chunk of muscle and sheer power.. The best way to explore the zoo is to get the free zoo map which has all the details n the feeding times of different animals.. N go to those animals when they are being fed.. Only then do you get to see the animals doing wat they do best..

The whole day in the zoo was very tiring n after that, benny went to his hotel at Clarke Quay.. N i went to mustafa for a final shopping session.. We got back that day n i planned to go to the Bird Park the next day morning..

I’ve seen only very few mornings in Singapore.. Most of my days there started just before noon.. So it was after noon by the time me n bro got to the Jurong Bird Park.. N i loved it from my very first sight.. So many colorful n rare birds moving freely in there..

But my joy was short lived as it began raining heavily.. N we sat there in the balcony of a closed restaurant watchin a group of Flamingos below us.. We lost about 2hrs due to that bloody rain.. So we had to rush through the park to finish seeing every section..

There was a show in the Pools Amphitheatre with two parrots showing off their talking and singing talents.. One of the birds even sang songs in the 4 national laguages of Singapore.. But they had to cut short the show because of the heavy rains..

Then we walked into an Australian Coffee Shop without knowing the great surprise that was in store inside.. A big enclosed area filled with hundreds of extremely colorful birds called the Loris.. They were flying around coming near the visitors and making hell of a lot of noise.. N boy did i love feeding them?!! One of them even jumped onto my shoulder.. I fell in love with the park.. Hihi..

I’ve been spending loads of time finding music n other stuff on the net.. Most of the days at home i’d sit hours on end on Youtube searchin and listening to random songs.. Found a great malayalam ghazal ‘Neeyum Nilavum’ by Shahabaas and fell in love with the song.. Its a great song to check out for hindustani lovers..

N finally the next day, the 16th of october was to be the last day of my Singapore trip.. Was just sittin at home n packing all the stuff most of the time.. Its been more than 45 days here.. N i’ve experienced almost all feelings during this trip.. There have been times i’ve felt ecstatic, desperate, content, numb and also very lonely.. But when it comes down to it, i loved the whole trip.. As the sun sets now, on yet another journey, all i can think of, is my home, n the feeling of home..