Dimaag ki Dahi - thoughts at 12 17 am

my life is going thru a totally confusing phase where everything seems so convoluted i cant make out head or tail of anything anymore. the more i think about things, the deeper i find myself in shit. my biggest enemy (my brain) has launched a massive assault on itself. if i have ever been on the verge of insanity earlier, i am a tad closer this time. and there is no running, no escape, no hiding from itself, only sporadic bursts of anger at a self inflicted nightmare which i know i have to live thru. while my mind is busy wrestling its own wretched thoughts from a thousand different angles with a million tentacles filled with blood thirsty fangs, it has the audacity to think in between if it happens to everybody. is everybody so damn f***ed up sometimes everything seems a waste. but as someone said somewhere else for something totally different in an entirely different context which i still find relevant enuff to quote here "in baaton mein kya rakha hai.....iska anjaam jo hota hai...wo dard hi deta hai dil ko". i am pissed off at the disability of the mind to concentrate on the f***ed up things and its wandering into such irrelevant thoughts. determined to take my mind off that horrific labyrinth of thoughts and its paraphernalia of gargantuan proportions, even if only for now cos i know i cant run away from it for ever, i decided to sit up and write. But i guess it ll have to wait till tomm....right now there are so many races for the mind to run ... and lose, so many dark corners to explore, another night to spend wondering WHY!!??. sorry Gattu, teri story kal subah likhoonga yaar...abhi dimaag ki dahi ho rahi hai

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 4

The Googlie Rounds
--------------------------
Recap: Prompted by Nattu's mail, Gattu has given his intro and has asked Nattu for hers.

so our man Gattu is waiting for Nattu's intro. and it comes in like this...

"i dont give my intro to strangers".

???? Gattu is confused. what the hell is that supposed to mean!!? dint she say he had reached the right person and asked of him to tell a lil bout himself ? and now, ma'am says she doesnt give her intro to strangers!. I am as confused by Nattu's response as Gattu is and at a loss what shud be done. But the email has to be replied to cos Gattu is a hard core optimist and is not ready to entertain the thought that Nattu has just blown him off like that. So he writes back..

"unless we talk the stranger status is not going to change now, is it? may be if you gimme your intro we wont be strangers anymore and can talk"

to this came Nattu's reply
"For starters i am a fresher from BLAH BLAH and am working with BLAH BLAH "

Gattu is happy to get a response and i am laughing at him as well as at her. what the hell is going on!...really!!...dint she just write she doesnt talk to strangers...what the hell was she thinking when she wrote that
OR
how did Gattu become a non-stranger now??.

Gattu is telling me she is intelligent and i am telling him boss you are a damn fool. He is impressed with her being from that college and i am telling him colleges do sometimes take girls in to dress up their sex ratio. (feminists dont start hunting me down...this IS true..we can debate separately on this). all of you who have ever been in the state where you think you are getting attracted to someone from the opposite sex (or maybe the same one for some of you), would vouch that reason is never a party at the table at such times. Knowing Gattu, i am sure had she been from any damn place with any damn background, that wud have been immaterial to Gattu. He was smitten and thats what mattered to him.

Looking at Nattu's last name, Gattu is under the impression that she might be from UP or Bihar. So he asks her in his next mail and she clarifies she is from neither. she is from some other state altogether but her family is in UP at this time.

After a few emails both ways, Gattu thinks its bout time to meet once. I congratulate him for sense having dawned on him for the first time in his whole sorry life. So he asks
"do you like coffee?"

Nattu replies she loves coffee and can live on it for days. Now going by Gattu's presumption that Nattu is intelligent, i tell him she would like to go out for a coffee or something, else she would not have replied like that to a straight question "do you like coffee?"

Gattu right now is in a state he would agree to anything which hints towards Nattu's being interested too and so asks her
"I know a few places in this city where they make really good coffee. If i ask you out for a cup of coffee sometime, would you come?"
and the reply came
"i dont go out for coffee with strangers"

is she ok at the top floor!!!??? what does she want? ...or hey wait a minute!...may be she is just enjoying the chase right now. i dont think i need to tell you which of the two options Gattu was going for. so he plays on. there was a series of emails which i abridge and narrate as a conversation, but i request the reader that while reading these, keep in mind these were short emails from both persons and each email was preceded with anticipation/excitement (from Gattu's side at least), opened with a lot of expectation and followed by ever growing confusion.

Gattu (trying his best to be funny): We have been communicating on email for quite some time now...i think we know each other enuff to be able to go out for a coffee at a safe place :)
Nattu: i cant go for coffee with you. i dont go out for coffee with anyone.
Gattu: email is ok for a mode of communication for a while. i think meeting would help us get to know each other a lil better.
Nattu: may be after some time.

now, this 'may be' thing is what Gattu got glued to like FEVICOL and wudnt let go of.

my take on things: she is playing him or may be she herself is not sure what she wants. either case...waste of time. He needs to get out of it RIGHT NOW.
Gattu's take on things: she is enjoying the chase but is surely interested why else would she reply to his emails otherwise.

Gattu doesnt want to see reason..doesnt want to listen to me, doesnt want to think any other way than that she is interested. the sweetness i talked bout in the last episode is all gone..at least in my mind.

Now lemme tell you a lil bit bout Gattu<though everything bout him is boring i think>, a couple of things which are relevant here. He has a big Ego, would never go to a place he is not invited to, would never stay somewhere he feels he is not getting his due respect or space <how the hell is he going to grow professionally..he cant even kiss ass>. so somewhere inside, he does have a doubt if he is coming on too strong or if he is imposing himself and the girl is just being polite and not shouting FO in his face. so he writes

Gattu: i hate ppl who act as chipku lotion. i have always hated such ppl whenever i have had to face them and i would really hate to be one of that kind to you. Your past couple of mails are giving me the kinda impression you are not interested in talking. If thats the case, please dont reply to this email and i ll take the hint and stop bothering you. If not, i am sorry for thinking like this...its just that i hate to be an uninvited attendee at any party. <somewhere in this email which i have abridged, Gattu had used the words 'tacit indication of intent'..i ll come to their relevance with Nattu's email>
Nattu: tacit indication of intent!! are you prepraing for CAT or something..your email looks like right out of some passage in RC.

Ladies and gentlemen, what would you think now that Gattu has received a response to his email in which he was more than clear. So Nattu IS interested after all....and Gattu is happy again. and i am also kinda thinking Nattu might be really intelligent after all..she dint give away anything in any mail at the same time she replied back too. smart girl!!..may be she actually IS enjoying the chase. nothing wrong with it now ...is there?

ok...i know i promised we ll cover the first meeting with this episode...but somehow in my rotten habit of blurting out things in detail, i have already written quite a lot. so much so that i think i ll have to jot down the first meeting in the next episode. but the first meeting is going to be a heartacher, if not a heartbreaker for Gattu..i can tell you that much right now :).

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 3

ok!..i got my first comment on these episodes yesterday and invigorated by the joy, i am using precious office time typing away the next episode (yes i agree i oughta be fired :)). wont ramble on unnecessarily too much today and go straight for the kill. So here goes...

Gattu is keeping his fingers crossed after having sent that email. He has no clue what is going to happen and is racing up and down...smoking rate increased to twice his normal just hoping and waiting for a response...lungs taking the brunt for the gallivanting of the heart. he is finding it difficult to walk cos he has crossed his toes too..hoping to get a response, a favorable one at that. He has spent a few hours toggling again and again to his inbox window and staring at his inbox to find that one name he is waiting to hear from, staring at his computer screen so hard it starts feeling shy and conscious ;)). Gattu is the kinda guy who generally doesnt get excited about anything easily, is very difficult to embarass and i have rarely seen his emotions getting the better of him in all these years i have known him. Mostly he is cool, composed, calm and serene. But today things seem to be a lil different...and for what!!. i am disgusted with him for acting like this but then its a matter of the heart..there isnt much one can do to wake up one's dear friend.

finally that much awaited email arrives. with his heart in his mouth(am sure it dint taste good), he opens the email and reads. It goes something like this...

"i think you have reached the right person. I dont reply to anonymous emails as a rule..but your email was very different and straightforward, thats why i am replying. tell me a lil bout yourself".

you dont need to know rocket science to figure what Gattu felt like after reading that...especially since he had mentioned it clearly in his first mail that the recipient reply only if she too is interested. Knowing just enuff of company law to figure this can be taken as an implicit acceptance of a proposal (no indecent one this, since its just bout intros right now), Gattu is already planning his next mail. he jots down all the plebeian details bout himself as concisely as he can and shoots it across to Nattu asking of her to introduce herself too - 'anything that you would like to share' - as he put it.

and with this, ladies and gentlemen, Gattu has embarked upon a journey of long waits for Nattu's replies followed by his prompt responses. destiny had made me an unwilling witness to what attraction can do to an otherwise really sensible guy, one who generally doesnt give 'ghaas' to girls but is completely bowled over with this one. this, he says, is the girl who made him change his belief that there are only two kinds of ppl in hyderabad - males and walruses...though i fail to understand how his opinion changed cos this girl is no hyderabadi native either (no offence meant hydies..personally i love hyderabad). She is from...aah..writing this would give away who the girl is actually to anyone who knows her and might happen to read this.

So Gattu's intro is given and the wait is on for Nattu's intro. By this time i too have kind of started enjoying this whole thing that is going on. certain kind of sweetness to it which i havent witnessed ever since leaving school. Nattu's intro comes in...which we cover along with a chain of emails and telephone calls leading to their first meeting...............in Episode 4.

My GirlFriend - My Character Certificate

Something happened the other day that really really pissed me off. It takes most ppl A LOT of effort to piss me off so much...but this one bloke managed to do it with just 6 words. and boy o boy..my face could have looked like the sun at dawn..Redd. And the place where this happened happened to be Redd too...a place on Rd No.1 at Banjara Hills called Cinnabaar Redd.

It started like this..one of my ex-teammates and a very close frend is leaving for higher studies and he was treating us (yes i know a farewell is a more appropriate thing to do at such times ...we did that too..but that is no reason to let go of a party). So 6 of us decided to meet up at this Redd place for a rendezvous one of these evenings. Now the sex wise breakup of our coterie was 5 guys and 1 girl. Now that the place was decided, we fixed up a time and reached that place. 3 of us(all guys) reached a lil earlier than the others and entered the place. This place has a restaurant and a separate retro bar / pub. So we entered the restaurant and nicely sat our asses down on a table (thats just the way it is said..actually we sat our asses down on chairs) for 6. By the looks of it, the place looked pretty OK (it was my first....and trust me the last..time there). and we could hear the loud music pouring into the restaurant from their pub nearby. Once we had settled down and were ready to place our order for drinks, i generally happened to ask the waiter out of curiosity "Is that a Pub or is that a Disc" ? and there came the reply "SIR STAG ENTRY IS NOT ALLOWED THERE". Damn!...what the crap!. That felt like a slap in the face as i was not carrying my character certificate(my girlfrend) with me. It took the waiter a second to realise that i had asked a simple question (of course he was prompted by the look i had on my face...the bugger could have wet his pants there and then) so he said after a few secs "Sir it is a Pub". But the slap was already sounding loud and resonating in my ears.

Being treated as a second grade citizen for not having a girlfriend in most clubs is enough of an insult already. What are stags like anyway?? Do they stink of characterlessness..you gotta have a nose better than a dog to smell that then. Or is it just written on their face "this guy is without a girl...so this guy should not be allowed a good time". For all you dumbasses out there who tag a stag as evil, beware guys..may be next time i see your girlfrend the only thing on my mind is to see her naked. For all you know, having committed the dark sin of being a stag might have given me the evil powers to actually do it. so i see your girlfrend naked..haha. Or is it your f***king insecurity dude? Cos i am a stag, i might have also acquired the power to hypnotise girls !...you never know...being a stag is like being the Satan's hand after all.

Having travelled around the world and seen different cultures and how all categories of singleness can coexist peacefully wasnt helping me at that time either. My rage was showing on my face. Now it was pointless to argue with that waiter so i just got up and walked to the door. One look was enuff for my frnds to get up and follow suit. They were feeling pretty bad themselves but then, stags are accustomed to such insults. We left that place silently and the waiter had his jaw touching his feet.

Now i know most of you would quote umpteen reasons for why stags are not allowed or should not be allowed at such places. They come in and they create nuisance...they misbehave...they spoil the fun..and all that. I am not saying that is not true...many guys do that ..i have seen that myself. And i am not questioning the right of club / pub owners to not allow stags inside their premises. Their shop, their rules. But figure this - do you think if i had a girlfrend my character would change? Of course you would say if one is with a girl one would behave at least for that time (as if girls are the best charactered ppl on the planet). may be you are right - you would behave yourself during that time. but then, many places do allow stags inside if they pay more...more for a single guy than you pay for a couple together. a very popular pub in lifestyle bldng does that...a very popular disc in one of the hotels on Rd no. 1 does that. probably if i spend more, i would not misbehave...but then if my objective is to misbehave..would my urge to derive value for money increase after paying more??

i have been on both sides of the fence at different times in my life. I dont think having a girl on my arm ever changed my character or values or the way i act...i am the way i am, girl or no girl.


argument is endless. in the end, pub owners do whatever helps their business better. we left that place and went to a family restaurant across the road. Needless to say, since 3 guys arrived in that restaurant and asked for a table for 6, they expected more guys and seated us in a corner ;-))...i dont know if they did that intentionally.

on a lighter note..if they keep us out of such places where the good looking girls are at, where the hell are we going to meet them and get out of our STAG status :))

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 2

OK!..i know its been some days since i posted Episode 1. Just dint find the time to type out the story further though i have been wanting to, but looks like my job is getting very possessive bout me - doesnt leave me with any time for other things...THIS JOB IS KILLING ME!!. But now that i have sat down to punish the keyboard, here goes...

Gattu has Nattu's name and knows which co. she works in. So Gattu takes a smart man's (obviously mine) advice and decides to use technology to his advantage. He writes an email to Nattu. Though he doesnt know her email ID, he finds out the naming convention for email ids in Nattu's co.(ab thodi mehnat to karni padegi naa) and takes a chance by constructing Nattu's ID accordingly. though he doesnt know yet whether the email would reach the intended destination or not, he does it anyway cos he wants to talk and feels Nattu would not initiate herself. So he writes, and he writes and he writes. After composing the email some gajjillion times (after all its the first email), he decides to dump those gajillion formats and go by his instincts. so he writes an email which is straightforward and honest (Gattu's style). And the email goes something like this (it might not be accurate verbatim but more or less it was the same)

"Hi
As you read this mail i dont know if it has reached the right girl. I saw you in the eatery (name omitted) the other day and felt you were looking at me too.after that a few times when we crossed i have been looking at you and i think you know that. I felt like you also look at me and would like to talk but there is no common thread for us to start communicating. and so am taking the liberty of writing this mail.
If this mail has reached the wrong person, please delete it and pardon me for sending it. and if it has reached the right person, please reply only if you too want to talk
Gattu"

would Gattu get a reply to this email ? What wud Nattu have to say bout this? ....find out in Episode 3 :)

Less Cursing, Better Pictures

Hi All
Got my hands on this very very basic list of tips on digicams. So thought would post it here for the benefit of the less initiated who keep asking all the time...whoof ! Ab dubaara mut poochhna!!!

Here goes the FGA (Frequently Given Answers) list:-

1. End shutter lag. If your camera has a shutter-lag problem, the prefocusing trick (click the button half way and hold to let the camera focus, then click further full way to get the pic) may be your best bet. Another option: many cameras offer a continuous-focus option that eats up your battery faster but also reduces shutter lag by focusing constantly as you aim the camera (or as the subject moves).
   Newer and more expensive cameras tend to have the least shutter lag, and digital single-lens reflex, or S.L.R., models (the big, heavy, $900-ish cameras that take interchangeable lenses) have none at all.
2. More megapixels do not make a better camera.
   Megapixels measure the maximum size of each photo. For example, a four-megapixel camera captures pictures made up of four million tiny dots. Trouble is, camera companies hawk megapixel ratings as though they are a measure of photo quality, and lots of consumers are falling for it.
   In truth, the number of megapixels is a measure of size, not quality. There are terrible seven-megapixel photos, just as there are spectacular three-megapixel shots. (Lens and sensor quality are better determinants of your photographic results; too bad there are no easy-to-compare statistics for these attributes.)
   Meanwhile, more megapixels means you have to buy a bigger, more expensive memory card to hold them. And you have to do a lot more waiting: between shots, during the transfer to your computer, and opening and editing.
   Megapixels are something to think about only in two situations: when you want to make giant prints (20-by-30-inch posters, for example), and when you want the freedom to crop out a large portion of a photo to isolate the really good stuff, while still leaving enough pixels to make reasonably sized prints.
   But if you don't edit your shots and don't need them larger than life, don't get caught up in the megapixel race. Four or five megapixels is a nice sweet spot.
   (Bonus tip: Photos intended for display on the screen - the Web, e-mail, slideshows - don't need many pixels at all. Even a two-megapixel photo is probably too big to fit your computer screen without zooming out. High megapixel counts are primarily related to printing, which requires much higher dot density.)
3. Ignore digital zoom. In a further effort to market their way into your heart, camera companies also tout two different zoom factors: the optical zoom (usually 3X) and digital zoom (10X! 20X! 30X!).
   Digital zoom just means blowing up the photo. It doesn't bring you closer to the action or capture more detail; in fact, at higher settings, it degrades your photo into a botchy mess. For best results, leave this feature turned off. The optical zoom number is the one that matters; it means a lens that brings you closer to the subject.
4. Ditch the starter card. Unfortunately, it's a universal practice to include a very low-capacity memory card with the camera-a teaser that lets you take a shot or two while you're still under the Christmas tree. But it fills up after only four or five shots.
   When shopping for a camera, therefore, factor a decent-size memory card - 512 megabytes, for example - into the price.
5. Beware the format factor. Memory cards come in an infuriating variety of sizes and shapes. The least expensive formats are Compact Flash (big and rugged, about $55 online for a one-gigabyte card; available in capacities up to eight gigabytes) and SD (about $70 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum two gigabytes).
   Most Olympus and Fuji cameras require XD cards (about $85 online for a one-gigabyte card, the maximum), and most Sony cameras require either the Memory Stick Pro (about $90 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum four gigabytes) or the smaller Memory Stick Duo (about $115 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum two gigabytes).
   Note, too, that you can also find memory-card slots built into laptops, palmtops, cellphones, game consoles, printers, photo-printing kiosks and other machinery. They are most likely to accommodate Compact Flash or SD cards. Memory Stick-compatible slots are less common, and XD slots are downright rare.
6. Do your research. Fortunately for you, the prospective camera buyer, the Web is filled with sites, including dpreview.com and dcresource.com, that do elaborate testing and reviews of every camera that comes along. Look them up before you buy; if you're pressed for time, at least read the intro and conclusion pages, and look at the sample photos.
7. Know your class. Please don't ask a technology columnist, "What digital camera should I buy?"
   That's like asking, "What car should I buy?" or "Whom should I marry?" There just isn't a single good answer.
   Cameras now come in several different classes with different pros and cons. There are card cameras, no larger than a Visa card and less than an inch thick (gorgeous and very convenient but with few manual controls and short battery life); coat-pocketable cameras (bigger, but still self-contained with built-in lens covers, longer battery life and more features); semipro zoom models (too big for a pocket but with built-in super-zoom lens ); and S.L.R. models (endless battery life, no shutter lag and astonishing photos).
8. Turn off the flash. A typical digital camera's flash has a range of about eight feet. In other words, using it at the school play does nothing but fluster the performers.
9. Turn on the flash. On the other hand, here's a great trick for when someone's face is in shadow: turn the flash on manually. Forced flash or fill flash brings your subject's face out of the shadows, and rescues many a portrait that would otherwise turn into a silhouette. (On most cameras, you turn the flash on or off by pressing a lightning-bolt button.)
10. Turn off the screen. The back-panel screen is, of course, one of the joys of digital photography. But it's also the No. 1 consumer of your battery power. If you're comfortable holding the camera up to your eye and peering through its optical viewfinder, turning off the screen while shooting can double the life of each battery charge.
    There you have it - the 10 habits of highly effective digital camera owners.

Save That Seat

While we in India struggle to provide a basic metro-rail system to the most visible of our cities (Delhi has one which probably would be overloaded the day it connects the entire city and ppl actually decide to use it and Mumbai: with all due respect to Mumbai and the Mumbaikars, if you are have ever visited Mumbai you would know what a torture trip a ride in the local can be), our brethren and sistren in developed US of A have another concern - the middle seat. People are actually debating whether the middle seat shud remain or go. Here is an article from NY Times June 5 issue. Am pasting the content here as the paper's site needs a loginID and pwd to be able to read such valuable and enlightening opinions. Here goes...


In the gently rolling landscape of the suburban commuter train, the middle seat is forsaken territory. Unloved and overlooked, doomed never to be a favored aisle or beloved window, it is always empty, except at rush hour, when it is a refuge for losers - for the people who are too late, too slow, too tired to object to being cold-shouldered by sleepy strangers left and right. Should you ever feel the perverse desire to relive the childhood misery of losing at musical chairs, just get on the 5:41 p.m. to Hicksville at 5:39. You'll have to stand. Or take a middle seat.
None of this, however, is any reason to make the middle seat go away.
In a front-page article last week, Patrick McGeehan of The Times reported that transit agencies around the country are eliminating middle seats, having decided that they are underused and a waste of space. Cranky commuters sometimes like to complain that railroads are run by stupid people, and with decisions like these, the officials seem almost desperate to prove them right.
What has been ignored in the quest for maximal passenger-packing efficiency is that the commuter is not a tomato. The commuter is a human being, and the suburban rail car a delicate psychological battleground, a society of sleepy, depressive people jockeying for scraps of comfort and solace. In this confined world, 18 or 19 inches - the width of an empty middle seat - is a sanity preserver, a cushion against oppression, a bit of emptiness no less necessary or precious than a landscaped highway median, a deserted beach or the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The meager pleasures available to a commuter include being able sometimes to stretch out, to place newspapers and coffee cups somewhere besides the lap, and to retreat into the quietude of one's own thoughts. There are, too, people who travel in groups of three or more - families with children, neighbors, card-playing work buddies. They also deserve the option of a convivial three-seat ride.
Going two by two is fine for Noah's ark, kindergarten recess or a wedding procession. But in a two-seat-by-two-seat car full of snarly business types, cellphone jabberers, sneezers, wheezers, and extra-large people with shopping bags roaming the aisle like a flotilla of fat-bottomed boats, the heavens cry out for justice.
For mercy.
For three seats across.

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 1

Awlright..i have been thinking about some time now to narrate this story of a very close frend of mine who happened to get attracted to a girl and made a complete fool out of himself. The story is not too funny (doesnt look funny to me from where i am standing but you may have a different opinion after you've read it). Keeping in line with my blog's policy of maintaining privacy of characters mentioned the names would be changed...but if either of the characters of the story happen to read this, they wud surely know its them. The guy i know would surely read this sometime...the girl i doubt would. Not that she is too busy or something...but then she ll have to stoop down real low from her standards to go to some stranger's blog and read. Now dont say i am biased even before i start the story, i am the guy's frend!!..so what do you expect? :) but i promise to put down everything in true facts as it happened. Some very minor details might be airbrushed though..just ot keep things interesting (to whom!!??). If either of the girl or guy feel the facts have been misrepresented, feel free to yell at me. The story is long and winding, since i like to tell things in detail. So i will probably not be able to finish it in one go..so we' ll use episodes here.

The story starts somewhere near the place i work in hyderabad. This guy, pretty much OK on all counts of attractivess (he is no Arnold, no Einstein, no Tom Cruise, no millionaire, no human rights activist, no 'protect the stray animals' enthusiast either) but like i said...pretty much OK. This girl, conventionally not the most beautiful, but attractive and graceful. this guy finds an air of attractiveness around her, probably becos of her aloofness, not to mention that she is intelligent or so he thinks. Before we get into the details of ths story, lets put some names on our characters..i ll call the girl Nattu and i ll call the guy Gattu. Both Nattu and Gattu work in the same bldg, in diff cos. though.

Scene 1
---------------
This guy, Gattu sees this girl, Nattu somewhere in an eating place and is attracted immediately. Nattu, wearing blue jeans and white T Shirt is looking pretty. Nattu catches Gattu's eye. Now, knowing the constraints of just going and approaching a girl in our country (you know the stereotyping that happens if someone does that, unless you re a girl whos mentally as mature and open minded as girls generally claim to be or unless like you are in college...work life is a lil different), doesnt want to go and strike a conversation immediately there and then. But he does want to talk. Since he cant do that immediately, he satisfies himself with observing the name of that girl (Nattu) on her ID badge and comes out.

Gattu is interested in talking and wants to strike a conversation. But for the time being, he just has a name and thats all.

Scene 2 (a series)
------------------
Gattu is leaving office one day. He is with his frends, going outside to celebrate something that happened with one of the guys, and there, he sees Nattu again. But things are a lil different this time - he feels Nattu is giving him 'the look' too. He feels there is 'that spark' and his heart races thinking what he had in mind is being reciprocated. Gattu is overjoyed, but taking my advice, doesnt want to jump to conclusions either. So he controls himself ...tries (the bugger barely ate anything at the party). And trust me by the way they both looked at each other i would have felt the spark too if i was him.

Since Gattu and Nattu are in the same bldg, their paths did cross once in a while. Gattu wud be sitting smoking with his frens somewhere and suddenly wud see Nattu. He could see Nattu checking him out while walking there, the last 'turn and look' before sho took a turn and all that...you know what i am talkin about.

After this happened a few times, Gattu gathers the courage and is ready to move in. We think of an appropriate manner since Nattu doesnt seem like the kinda girl you can just go and talk to anywhere if you dont know her. So Gattu is racing his mind how to go about it.......

Hip Hip Lurrrray!

Now that i have decided to share my pics with the world (only for the fear of avoiding the tag "recognised as a great photographer posthomusssly"), i begin with some of the realll beautiful ones (the credit form some of the best ones goes entirely to Handy Baba), which were shot in late 04 in Virginia near Luray Caverns.
Handy Baba, that was a wonderfulll trip dude !!!!
Here go the best ones...


This is just outside the entrance of Luray Caverns. Get the full size here

A HUGE tree on skyline drive...plus the valley behind. Get the full size here

The play of sunlight in a valley. Get the full size here

If you like these, you can check out the complete set here
You are invited to leave your dumbass comments about any of these.