'TAG !!! Your It !!' And Other Assorted Posts.

Well it seems like I got tagged, so am supposed to write/blab/reveal 8 secrets. Unfortunately, these have to be pertaining to me (yeah, I know, takes all the fun out of it doesn't it ?). Anyways, before I begin, just a explanatory note about the title. I've decided to amalgamate a few posts, which I've been meaning to write, but were put on the backseat due to the dubious responsibility that being tagged has thrust upon me. Since the only thing I like on my backseat is a hot chick, hence I write all in this one post. Now, the secrets....

• Well, I am a big solitude fan. Though I have never shirked the company of people, my daily Nirvana is generally achieved by spending a few moments with myself. I guess this is manifested in the late night walks, the constant blaring of the mp3 player (heavy metal's awesome, cause it has a beat, and it's loud enough to make you forget everything) etc. I guess that is one thing that pisses me off about Mumbai, is how there are so many people here. I mean, why in the good lord's name do we have to open ourselves to every Tom, Dick and Harry ( 1000 squatters enter Mumbai.Daily). Just for once I'd like to spend a day in Mumbai not fighting for my inch of space, in a city that has none to spare.

• Whenever I meet someone new, I generally find faults with them. It's just this thing I do, I meet someone, we talk, and the next 15-20 minutes are devoted to my brain just coming up with as many first impression faults as it can. While most people tend to do the opposite, this is me. Sure, I'll become friends, and maybe even more (if it's a member of the opposite sex) with the person, but for starters I just find faults. It generally doesn't affect the future relationship much, but heaven forbid if I meet someone new, without trying to discover faults.

• I am naturally inclined to left-ees. Being one myself, if I meet someone who's naturally left handed, then I am generally agreeable towards that person, and would even risk overlooking some of the more obvious character flaws. All said and done, I like left-ees.

• I am an eternal romantic at heart. While most people who THINK they know me, will now fall off their chairs laughing, and confidently state, that my idea of romance is a king sized water bed and a contraceptive, I know that I like to hold my sweetheart's hand, go for a walk, come up from behind and kiss the nape of her neck et all. Sure, I don't aggressively promote the fact that I am a romantic (when you pass out from a boy's school, you tend not to do such things), but then, that's why it qualifies to be on this list.

• I am like this total movie freak. I download a movie every two days. It doesn't matter how it is, whether it's an unrealistic fantasy, or a love story with a bitter end, or an action thriller, or a total feel good teen romance movie, but I just need a movie. Movie's are a more integral part of me then most people realize. I don't only see them, I get totally engrossed in them. I generally try to incorporate what I've learnt from them in my daily life, I keep seeing them over and over again, or only once, but movies are generally my life.

• When I grew old enough to realize what direction I want my life to take (Ironically enough, I still don't know the direction. I know the destination, but the path eludes me), I made one promise to myself, on which I live my life, and that was to live life without ever regretting my actions. No, it's not that cliched way of living, in which I live like a loose canon, without looking back, without feeling sorry for what I've done. The crux of my promise was, that come what may, I am gonna live my life in such a way, without any preset notion of right and wrong, that all my actions which I take, I will never ever look back and be sorry for what I did. So all that I do, all my questionable vices that certain powers that be would like me to give up, I won't, cause I know that it's my choice, and I don't regret that. Hence, I am what I am, because I made a promise, that whatever I do, I'll think it over completely so that it's something that I won't regret later. However, despite my best attempts, I've made two stupid mistakes, that I really feel sorry for now. The newest one I will not divulge, it's been mentioned sporadically in the last few posts and I will fix it, come what may. The second thing that I am sorry for is something that happened in the first year, when I was caught, and which I deeply regret now. Apart from this, my life is guilt-free, and I am generally a happy person because of that.

• I am a total night owl. I love the nights and can stay awake for as long as it takes. I don't need much sleep, a 15 minutes nap is enough for me to survive the day. Whether this is due to staying awake at nights, or I am capable of staying awake due to this, I can't say. What I do know is that, I generally stay awake at nights, go to sleep from 4 to 8, but am capable of falling asleep at 11 P.M. and sleeping soundly till 10 the next morning. I love sleeping for 10 hours, but am equally efficient when I sleep for 10 minutes also. I am thankful for this gift of total control over my sleep, it enables me to catch up on a lot of stuff.

• I am a coffee fanatic, a dog lover and a connoisseur of rock music. Just to clarify, I hate tea, I'll pick a dog over a cat any day (though am not averse to the company of felines) and am mostly musically intolerant to anything except good old rock.

So there you have it, my 8 secrets, those are definitely not all of them. I think these are the most fun one's, to satisfy the voyeur in all of us. So now, I have to pick out 8 equally daft people to continue this exponential game of TAG. Right, so the usual suspects are :

1. Raj
2. Sukanya Doshi
3. Raghav
4. Pratap
5. Dimple
6. Ankur
7. D
8. Sneha (Right back at ya dudette. Sorry, didn't have anyone else to complete the list)

Some of the people in the above list are there to fill up the list, some are there cause I don't know them so well (Dimple, Pratap, please don't stop visiting my blog after this), some are there cause I know them too well (Ankur, get writing mate) and some are there cause I really dig their writing and wanna see what they can come up with (Raghav, Sukanya and Pratap).
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Life, As We Know It.

So I got up from a quickee (nap you pervert, a quickee nap) yesterday afternoon, and this idea for this image came into my head. I don't really know what inspired me, maybe a dream I was having or something (blank), but the idea was there. So I drew this silhouette, it represents my idea of what life is like. See, the woman on top is Fate, who sits on top of the donkey, that's us, and all our dreams and aspirations are represented by the carrot dangling from the stick. So all our life, we spend chasing the carrot, which hangs some distance away, the distance controlled by the stick fate is holding. It's just that some have to realize that the faster we go, the carrot is not going to come any closer, that the faster we move, the faster the carrot also moves, and at all times the distance is the same. While if we move slower, we can stop, relax, enjoy and then continue our pursuit of the carrot. If we get the carrot or not is immaterial, that depends on the lady, but what matters is how we chase it. That's all we can control really, how we can chase. And I like to believe that there is a god, who in the end rewards us all with our carrots, provided we have chased it hard and true.

Do I sound like a self help book? Yup. Have I blabbed along for far too long. Definitely yup. So I guess I'll stop here today, thanks a ton for reading.
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Death Of A Blog

This is a petition, a formal request to one Raj and a certain Miss D, intellectual copyright holders of the blogs "Twisted Intelligence" and "Glimpses" respectively. It has come to my notice that the above mentioned blogs have been suddenly and inexplicably removed from the blogosphere. It is my sincerest request that the blogs be revived at the earliest possible, not only because the owners are amazingly gifted writers, but also because they made the blogoshere a better place to write in. All supporting parties can leave similar words of encouragement in the comments section of this post. Thanking you.

Me, The Drug Addict.

A little conversation I had with my parents today evening

Background :
The conversation is played out in two parts. My mom was cleaning out my room today, she does this like thrice. Monthly. Seriously my mom's cleanliness drive will put Monica (from F.R.I.E.N.D.S) to shame.Anyways, M - Mom, A - Alok, D - Dad.

( Alok is on his way to the football field from the gym at roughly 8 P.M. when the phone rings)

M : Alok, where are you ?
A : On my way to play. Why?
M : Alok, what's this packet of RED HEART SHAPED PILLS (yup, you read that right) in your drawer ?
A : Mom, did you say red, heart shaped pills ?
M : Yes, and they're called 50 - 50 (just gets better, doesn't it?). I found them in your drawer.
A : Where in my drawer ?
M : In this little plastic pouch, with Benzer (that's a famous shop, in Breach Candy) written on it.
A : (Trying not to laugh)(Can you blame me, I mean little heart shaped pills ? What is this, left over candy from Valentine's Day.) Mom, I don't have any such pills stored anywhere in my drawer (and if I did, I wouldn't leave them lying around, on the day I know your gonna clean my room !!!)
M : (Slightly raised voice, never a good sign) Alok, I found these in your drawer. Where are you, can you come home right now ? What are these pills ?
A : No mom, I'm on my way to play, can't we do this after I finish playing ?
M : Why can't you come home, where exactly are you right now ?
A : Ermm...I'm somewhere between the gym and the ground, not too far off from reaching and in a small bye-lane, from where I'll reach in a few minutes, but not too far from the gym, so I can't come home. (When you can't convince, then confuse!!!)
M: Oh okay, come home soon

(End of act I, act II commences after the football game)
(I see 2 missed calls on my cell, needless to say whom they were from, so I call back)

M : Where were you ?
A : I was playing.
M : Where's your iPod ? I can't find it anywhere. (Clearly, the hidden secret of how I funded the purchase of these pills was being pondered upon.)
A : Mom, my pod is in my bag, so just relax naa.
M : Okay, come home quickly.
(I enter my house fifteen minutes later, Dad's having dinner. I am, of course, being scrutinised)
A : Hi mom. So let's see the pills. (When you're innocent, you can afford to be cocky)
M : They're upstairs.
( We climb up the stairs, me and mom only. Mom brandishes a packet in her hand, removed from her drawer)
M : What are these ? (And lo, there they were, little heart shaped pills, with the number 50 stamped on them and coloured a particularly hideous shade of red. It was enough to make anyone think they weren't ordinary.)
A : (Cockiness quickly evaporating. I mean, strange pills in my drawer, the gravity of the situation just hit, and it hit hard.) I've never seen these in my life before.
M : Alok, they were found in your drawer.
A : I've never seen these before. (When in deep shit - deny, deny and then deny some more.)
M : Wait, I'll ask your dad.( Dad is duly summoned.)
M : (To dad) Do you know what these are ?
D : (Looks at them, and then answers, cool as a cucumber) Yes, they're some headache pills that the doctor gave me, when you were out of town. Where did you find them?

( End of Act II )

Epilogue :

As it turned out, they were some harmless headache pills, a variant of the more common aspirin. Whether the manufacturing company were love struck idiots, or just possessed a poor (read : Warped) idea of what an aspirin should look like, I cannot say. Needless to say that Mom was suitably abashed at this, and dropped the matter there. Oh, and as far as the story of the number '50' goes, that was the simplest part of all. It was just printed, as is done in some tablets, to indicate the strength of the dosage. In this case, it simply stood for 50 mg.

So there you have it, of how I was accused of being into substance abuse (which, for the record, I am not. Yet.), and of how it ended, with an embarrassed mom, an unfazed dad (the doood that he is, he's still as relaxed as if nothing ever happened) and my untarnished reputation intact (rather, it was protected from massive amounts of further tarnishing.)

Walk On....

Seems like I misplaced (mentally that is) the predetermined opening line for this post. So all you poor souls will just have to make do. Anyways, seems like I have picked up my latest weird habit, not an uncommon occurrence, you might say. It seems that I derive great pleasure by going for walks late in the night.

I am, of course, not talking about the traditional late night walks, taken at round 11 in the night. Nope, it seems I get my daily Nirvana these days by walking out at 2, or sometimes even 3, in the morning, with only my driving license and my mp3 for company. While the need for the mp3 is self explanatory, the driving license is required to let any inquisitive cops know that I am not a jay walker and do possess a place I call home. It's not that difficult to blame the good police for being inquisitive about a 6 foot man wandering aimlessly at 3 in the morning, while dressed in his night suit.

However, leaving aside inquisitive cops, lusty prostitutes, shady gangsters, homeless pariahs, speeding cars driven by adrenaline fuelled youngsters and a regular dosage of pavement junkies (How badly do you want to walk at 2 in the morning now? However, I must confess I haven't met all these characters. Yet. But I am sure I will), I feel at my calmest when I am on these nocturnal sojourns of mine. In our daily hustle-bustle, we often forget how beautiful Mumbai actually is, how the sea can be calming and violent at once, how many people call this city home, and how lucky we actually are to be coming back to a roof over our heads, how this same place which is so tense during daytime, is equally placid during the night. Most importantly, I love these adventures of mine because it allows me to make sense of myself, gives me the time I need to think (It's a totally different experience from the thought process when you lie awake in bed), and makes me realize about my mistakes of the recent past (Okay, so it's only one mistake, but it's a massive one).

I don't actually know what prompted me to start walking at nights. Maybe it was the effect of books like 'Shantaram' and 'Maximum City', or just plain old restlessness, but I am glad that I do what I do, if only because I see another (a much more calmer, relaxed) side of my beautiful city, which is a paradox for the other side of myself which I am trying to understand. I am a much better, rather a much improved, person because I realize that what I was, was not out of malice, but out of fright.

Though I need many more walks, the habit looks to be nipped in the bud, by the fact that I told my parents about this, and as expected, they are now totally paranoid.

Oh well, lets see how it all pans out. Till next time,

That's all folks.

P.S. : "Everyone has their own weird habit, their own little source of joy, of escape, from this mad, mad world. Mine is that I like to go for walks in the night" - That was the original opening line.

Plenty to write about.

Mom came back to day morning, so holiday is officially over. Man, the past few days with my Dad were pure bliss. Didn't have to worry about money, or freedom, as both were provided in enormous amounts. It was awesome, I guess I gel better with my Dad, cause never have I had so much fun, and got so much work done (Yup, that's me, allow me to play, and I'll work. Force me to work, and I'll rebel).

Went to see a counsellor about studying in the UK yesterday. It was good, and also I got attached to this cute counsellor :-). Apparently I'm not as much of a useless bum that my teachers led me to believe, and there might be some august institutions left in the UK who actually want to take me in. Let's see, early days yet.

Went to a friend's place for an overnight yesterday. Permission and money were officially a breeze, I wish I had to refer to him only for all matters domestic also. Anyways, drank copious amounts of alcohol (1 quart of Smirnoff +1/2 quart of white rum + 1 miniature of Romanov) and inhaled copious amounts of Sheesha. Was genuinely sloshed after a long, long time. Note to self : A combination of different types of alcohol + Sheesha are all that is required to get you really, really HIGH.

On the downside though, had only a few hours of sleep, and got up with a MASSIVE hangover, could barely open my eyes, any noise above 20 db was enough to send me scurrying for cover and some creep had definitely stuffed excessive amounts of cotton down my throat. As if that wasn't enough, I had to go and pick up mommy dearest from the airport. So I leave house at 10:30 A.M., with barely enough sense to remain on my two feet. I arrive at the airport at 11, sharp on time with all my thoughts concentrated on greeting my mom in the next fifteen minutes and getting the hell home, and to my beloved bed. The shock that I got when the flightboard told me that the flight was landing at 12:30 P.M. (it also had the cheek to append 'provisionally' at the end) was beyond description. So there I was, stuck at a airport for the next one and a half hour, with only my mp3 player (filled choc-a-block with heavy metal music, which in my current state, effectively renders it useless) for company. I spent the next few hours, sifting, searching and listening to songs as slow and obsolete as "Chitthi naa koi sandesh" by Jagjit Singh and drinking magnificent amounts of pure black coffee (Six cups in two hours). The blessed flight finally landed at 1, and then at 2, I fell into a deep slumber, and that was my Nirvana for the day.

Self Control

..... a.k.a This Turned My World Upside Down.

WARNING : HORRIFIC PICTURES AT END OF POST. DUE TO THE EXTREME GRAPHIC NATURE OF THE PICTURES, DISCRETION IS ADVISED. THIS IS NOT A JOKE.

The following story, true in every sense, made me realize that there are some beings, who have achieved a higher level of control over themselves than I can ever hope to achieve. While it is impossible to emulate him, I hope that we can pay homage to his memory, by knowing, that some idea's are greater than us. And while a man may burn, ideas are immortal.

Thích Quảng Ðức (1897 - 1963) burnt himself to death, on 11th of June,1963. His act of self immolation, later repeated by many others,was in protest of the persecution of Buddhism by the South Vietnamese administration. The act occurred at the intersection of Phan Đình Phùng street and Lê Văn Duyệt street.

The image itself is more popularised by featuring on the cover of the self - titled album 'Rage Against The Machine'

Reports of eye witnesses state that, Thích Quảng Ðức got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position, and the two accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He then lit the gasoline by striking a match, and burnt to death in a matter of minutes.

After his death, it transcended that his heart, though shrunken, was completely intact, a whole. It has since then been treated as a holy object, and currently lies in possession of the Bank Of Vietnam.

I end this post, quoting the words of eye witness David Halberstam, a New York Times reporter, who worte :

“

I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think.... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.

”

PICTURES :

And God Said, "Let There Be Light"

Awesome day today. Finally decieded today morning, that come what may, am gonna fight away the blues. So called up all my friends, met a group for lunch, met one more of 'em for Sheesha. It's so nice to be surrounded by a group of people whom you can totally lose yourself with, it's even nicer when the abovementioned people are themselves surrounded by hookah, aaaahhhh heaven!!!

(At this point, the author is rendered speechless by the fact that spell check accepts 'hookah' as a word.)

Also had the BEST chicken roll at Hershey's Bakery today, ( 2 of them, Gluttony is not a sin, it's a misunderstood virtue) and then played football in the rain, yey!!!

Suddenly, Life's not so bad anymore, heck in fact, its wayyyyy awesome. Yup, I've been at the edge of the abyss of boredom, but I am back, filled with smoke....errr....I mean, enthusiasm.

Cheers.

Life Can Be Such A B#$ch

A sample of my Life :
I am writing this at 1:00 in the morning.
I am supposed to be studying for GRE, less said about that the better.
I haven't had my Sheesha for 4 weeks.
My friends, and my Sheesha partners, are puffing away on the other side of town.
They're letting me know how good the Sheesha is.
Unless it snows in hell, I won't be having Sheesha tommorow also.
I am missing my best friend cause we ain't talking.
No one has bothered to update their blogs, so am out of reading material.
I am out of stuff to download.
I am writing about how ridiculously bored I am, to cure myself of the same boredom. Talk 'bout a viscous circle.

It's Better To Burn Out, Than To Fade Away.

Kurt Cobain rules. I am like in this total Nirvana mood today. Just been blaring their songs into my eardrums all day long, and it feels good too. Well, anyways to satisfy the more voyeuristic amongst you all, my favourite vocalist are, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. When I was a child, all I wanted to do was grow up, live my life in the fast lane and then commit suicide when I turn 28. Incidentally, that was the age at which Kurt Cobain blew his brains out, and thought I am temporarily over that fantasy of mine, his suicide letter remains fluttering on my soft board. It's a brilliant letter, as could be written only by Him. It speaks of how he wants to end it all, because he doesn't enjoy, doesn't believe in the music he creates, and when all his fans go wild around that music, he feels like he is cheating them.

The letter has remained a source of inspiration to me all my life, cause it's taught me that whenever I want something, to go for it all out, to not

To Boddah

Speaking from the tongue of an experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complain-ee. This note should be pretty easy to understand.

All the warnings from the punk rock 101 courses over the years, since my first introduction to the, shall we say, ethics involved with independence and the embarrassment of your community has proven to be very true. I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music along with reading and writing for too many years now. I feel guilty beyond words about these things.

For example when we're back stage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begins., it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love, relish in the the love and adoration from the crowd which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact is, I can't fool you, any one of you. It simply isn't fair to you or me. The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I'm having 100% fun. Sometimes I feel as if I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on stage. I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it (and I do,God, believe me I do, but it's not enough). I appreciate the fact that I and we have affected and entertained a lot of people. It must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're gone. I'm too sensitive. I need to be slightly numb in order to regain the enthusiasms I once had as a child.

On our last 3 tours, I've had a much better appreciation for all the people I've known personally, and as fans of our music, but I still can't get over the frustration, the guilt and empathy I have for everyone. There's good in all of us and I think I simply love people too much, so much that it makes me feel too fucking sad. The sad little, sensitive, unappreciative, Pisces, Jesus man. Why don't you just enjoy it? I don't know!

I have a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy and a daughter who reminds me too much of what i used to be, full of love and joy, kissing every person she meets because everyone is good and will do her no harm. And that terrifies me to the point to where I can barely function. I can't stand the thought of Frances becoming the miserable, self-destructive, death rocker that I've become.

I have it good, very good, and I'm grateful, but since the age of seven, I've become hateful towards all humans in general. Only because it seems so easy for people to get along that have empathy. Only because I love and feel sorry for people too much I guess.

Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I'm too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don't have the passion anymore, and so remember, it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Peace, love, empathy.
Kurt Cobain

Frances and Courtney, I'll be at your alter.
Please keep going Courtney, for Frances.
For her life, which will be so much happier without me.

I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!

Rest In Peace, Kurt Cobain.
Amen.

I Love My Blog

Well, finally got my blog reviewed. Man, it feels good to have such cool stuff written about you. I read the review frequently, it's a great pick me up. I am feeling unusually reticent today, so do excuse the short post. Anyways, I'll let my review do the talking for me.

" Brand new to the blogging scene and brilliantly written is this blog about the life and times of Alok from Maharashtra : India. I particularly like the post called Sanity Lost that is a cool list of things that has gotten our blogger "through" some stressful times. Fantastic and look forward to watching this blog grow into itself! Keep up the good work."

Hot And Cold

My brain is zonked. I swear it comes up with this totally eccentric thoughts inspired from eclectic sources. However, has anyone ever noticed how people from different countries will USUALLY (not always, so don't be crazy on me for this) use opposite temperature related words, to describe something good, with respect to the usual temperature of the country they live in. The effect, I think, is more pronounced when they actively dislike the general temperature of the country they reside in.

For example, people living in cold places (Alaska etc.) will usually use "HOT" to describe something they like. For example, if they like Ocean's Thirteen, or a ride at Disneyland, they'll go like "Man, that movie/ride was hot."

However, people living in hot places (Mumbai, so hot, that they call it a melting pot.) (Sudden afterthought : Please don't hate me for cracking that, my humor generally settles itself in a higher plane that that). Anyways, people in hot places tend to use adjectives like "COOL" or "CHILLED OUT" to describe the good things. For the above example, most Mumbai-ite's would say "Man, that was a cool ride" or "Man, Ocean's Thirteen is one chilled out movie."

The above should be enough proof for my readers to realize what wierd notions are entertained by my thought process, thus lending credibility to my theory, that I AM BORED.

America

"The first thing that hits you about Bombay is it's Heat. It's present everywhere and at all times. Nowhere in Bombay can you escape the humid heat" The above lines, taken from Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram", aptly describe my feelings when I stepped out of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Monday Morning.

Well, sorry to be updating so late. But my net's been conked since I've arrived. Anyways, my bad but moving on...Man, America was decent alright. I don't quite love the country but I am definitely not hating it though. Just a word of advice - Don't ever go to Los Angeles, It's bloody the boring-est place in America. See, basically the entire city's hot spot is this 1 mile long road called Sunset Strip and if you have cash to burn and no parents to stop you, then you can go and chill out there. Man, I stepped out of my hotel at 8 in the night to just take a walk and Jesus, I was like "What a ghost town".

On the bright side, I got to visit Universal Studios Theme Park and also Disneyland. That WAS amazing man. I love theme parks and rides et all. I guess I am still a child inside. But that was like the only bright spot in L.A.

After L.A. came the sinful Las Vegas. Oh man, this place rocks. Basically it's a city of Sin. You can get anything you want there - Booze, Cash and Sex, and cheap too. It was a wild time there. I like used to step out of my hotel at like 8 and come back at 4. Man, the city lives during the night. I love gambling too, I was quite the hotshot at Roulette. Too bad my parents didn't let me really get into it, I could have made a killing. I like Las Vegas, it's a city of extravagance and of wealth. Everything is so larger than life there. It's a city to lose yourself from reality.

Well, after that came the best part of the trip, The Cruise. Oh man, THIS WAS FRIGGIN AWESOME. I love cruising. I'll say one thing, Alaska is beautiful. It's a virgin land, untouched. And I love the open sea. I used to sit out on the deck till 5 in the morning. On board, there was this magican, Shawn Farquhar. I swear, he was the best magican I have ever seen. Like he did a couple of illusions, you know, the cutting the pretty assistant in half and all, but then he did this close up magic trick with cards. It was....simply put, It was the greatest magic trick I've seen in my life. Here's the video link to it. The trick will remain with me for the rest of my life. The song is "Shape of my heart" by Sting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkYNAwdFH9M

Also, at this one port I did America's largest Zip Line. See, a zip line is this extreme adventure sport, where they hang cables from the top of a mountain to the bottom, following the slope of the mountain, but above the trees and all. Then, they drive you to the top in a bus (the ride itself is 50 minutes) and strap you into a literal 'jhoola', a swing, with only a helmet and a seat belt between the two pieces of rope and then, they release you. Words are hopelessly inadequate to describe the experience, so am sending you a video link. See the entire video, as in after some time there's a first person point of view. Link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhQchdegof4

Man, this is the best. This thing is 5600 feet long and drops me 1400 feet in 90 seconds flat. the speed is approximately 106 kmph. Its not even funny this one. And thanks to a massive spring, it comes to a stop in 0.5 seconds flat.

SONGS :
On my trip I was lucky enough to come across some good songs. The lyrics of all these songs are what sets them apart.
1. Shape Of My Heart by Sting

2. Luck, Be A Lady Tonight by Frank Sinatra (A wonderfully apt song to be heard in Las Vegas)

3. Son Of A Sailor by Jimmy Buffet

4. Country Road, Take Me Home by John Denver

5. Piano Man by Billy Joel

Humour :

Finally, on a jocular note. While I was in America, I came across these two totally howlarious snippets.

First, was when I was using a Public Restroom in the airport at Alaska. It was a wonderfully practical rhyme from which one could sense the author's anxiety. It goes like :

"Here I lie in deadly stupor,

Waiting for some toilet paper,

I wonder how much longer shall I linger,

Before I am forced to use my finger."

Secondly, there was this amazing inscription on a T-Shirt, which was made like an Master Card Advert. It goes like :

"3 bottles of beer : $21

4 shots of tequila : $26

2 shots of vodka : $12

6 Yeager bombs : $30

Taking home the girl who drank all this : Priceless."

On a brighter note, I met a group of people who made my cruise not only fun but unforgettable thanks to their quirkiness. I would like to thank them for their company and presence, they transformed the ride from a memorable one to an unforgettable one.

To Vas, Peter, Dominica, Rasiaka : Thanks for the best games of pool and Karaoke and large doses of fun.

To Cindy, Nancy,Marleen : Thank you for teaching me the importance of taking time off to smell the flowers, for giving me one of the biggest shocks of my life, and for silencing the cynic in me. I had some wonderful times with you all (P.S. : The cynic will be back).

Cheers for now people.