Dhaulagiri. Khaja House

 The time I reached here , I was on the way to the Sarangkot hilltop and boy was I hungry.
Had a few croissants and danish from the famous German bakery in Pokhara before starting off.. 4 hours of trek sure made me feel jumpy in my tummy. It was a small joint which seem overcrowded even at 1630 hrs in the evening. Came to know that it was run by a 64 year old woman and her daughters. Being hungry and desperate ordered for a plate of BUFF MOMOS..... well yeah that how Beef is spelt here and throughout Nepal.
8 pieces of steaming hot momos were on my small rickety little table with a bowl of the most amazing coriander flavored meat clear soup I have ever had in my life. A hint of spicy chilies and major aromas of coriander root. HEAVEN......    Spoke to the owner in my broken Nepali and came to know that the soup is a kind of a master stock ( similar to that of the Chinese Cuisine) . It is the steaming liquor that sits at the base of the Mamcha( momo Steamer) n starts off at 5 in the morning. and keeps getting reduced and replenished with meat stock.

Road Trips and more.....

GORAKHPUR TO SUNAULI

Wow... What a way to grab a bus.. Got off one and ran at full speed after the other one with my rucksack swinging all over. After all I had not expected to get a bus to Sunauli at 0420 hrs in the morning..... Jumped in and sheer luck , i got a seat of the co driver next to Mr Madan Kishore who apparently had been driving this bus since Delhi ...... and by the time it was 0530 I could see him drifting on the road.
One thing that travelling has sure taught me, when seated next to a driver ( and a really tired one in my case!) NEVER EVER GO TO SLEEP !!! Or for that matter even look at him showing him your puppy dog droopy eyes. It will totally fuck up his concentration .
So traversing along the plains we  reached this spot with immense forestation and a sign saying " Uttar Pradesh Van Vibhaag". Loads of monkeys( the normal brown looking ones which my mom often ends up calling me ) and those wise looking langoors trotting all over the place esp near the local dhaba called " THE FOREST TRET" , wonder what he was trying to imply. Eventually managed to cover the remaining stretch in 2.5 hours without Mr Kishore dozing off.

SUNAULI

The moment you get out of the bus at the station which was about 10 mins away from the actual border,  even at the time when I would generally be sleeping, you are bound to be hoarded by these rickshaw pullers screaming " BORDER PAAR" . Abe aise bol rahah hai jaise Pakistan jaane ki baat kar raha ho.  So caught one and reached the no mans land and a smart looking uniformed BSF jawaan came to me to check my rucksack and ask the regular "Where from? Where to? Who you ? " questions.
Promptly I pulled out my Dependent Card and told him about my intentions...... of going to Pokhara.He wondered what ID proof had I just given to him, so i pointed it out to him that it was issued by the Indian Army. Man, you should have seen him. Full on attention and a curt " Jai Hind Sahab". Hahaha the 25 year old me played along and responded " Jai Hind, Araam se". Talk about national security, he didnt even check my bag and allowed me to proceed.!!!

..... The curious story of the bus shall follow soon~~~ !!!

ZUGUNRUHE

The sun rises on a new dawn. Yet few of us realise the debt we owe to those responsible for this. To those who dwell among us. Anonymous, seemingly ordinary, whom destiny brought together to heal, to save us, from ourselves

CHANGE , JUST LIKE THIS ANCIENT MONUMENT SOMEWHERE IN THE FOOTHILLS OF THE ARAVALLIS WAITS IN SILENCE FOR THE DAY TO CHANGE INTO DARKNESS AND AGING FOR THE SUN TO EMERGE TO SHED SOME LIGHT UPON ITS STRUCTURE, WE ALL SO HOPE FOR IT IN OUR LIVES....

When we embrace what lies within, our potential knows no limit.

The future is filled with promise.

The present, rife with expectation.

But when we deny our instinct, and struggle against our deepest urges...

Uncertainty begins. Where does this path lead? When will the changes end?

Is this transformation a gift... or a curse?

And for those that fear what lies ahead...

The most important question of all...

Can we ever change what we really are?

When evolution selects its agents, it does so at a cost, makes demands in exchange for singularity and you may be asked to do something against your very nature.

Suddenly the change in your life that should have been wonderful comes as a betrayal. It may seem cruel, but the goal is nothing sort of self-preservation, survival.

When a change comes, some species feel the urge to migrate, they call it zugunruhe. "A pull of the soul to a far off place," following a scent in the wind, a star in the sky.

The ancient message comes calling the kindred to take flight and gather together. Only then they can hope to survive the cruel season to come.....

You do not choose your destiny, it chooses you.

And those that knew you before Fate took you by the hand cannot understand the depth of the changes inside. They cannot fathom how much you stand to lose in failure...that you are the instrument of flawless Design. And all of life may hang in the balance. The hero learns quickly who can comprehend and who merely stands in your way

To survive in this world, we hold close to us those on whom we depend.

We trust in them our hopes, our fears... But what happens when trust is lost? Where do we run, when things we believe in vanish before our eyes? When all seems lost, the future unknowable, our very existence in peril... All we can do is run.

You can run far, you can take your small precautions. But have you really gotten away? Can you ever escape? Or is it the truth that you did not have the strength or cunning to hide from destiny? That the world is not small. you are. And, fate can find you anywhere.

In the beginning there was discovery. A confusion of elements. The first snowfall of impossible change. Old lives undone, left behind. Strange faces, made familiar. New nightmares, to challenge sleep. New friends, to feel safe with. Only then comes control. The need to impose order unto chaos, through determination through study, through struggle. All in defiance of a thundering truth. They're here, and the earth shudders underfoot.

"Without music, life would be a mistake."

Really feel like playing my synthesizer today but sadly it isnt wid me here in delhi...... so started to think.....

What makes me want this music to be such a living and breathing part of my life???...

And I started to search the net( dont we all do wen we need the answers to life's petty and trival questions) and found so many people who had something very wise to say about this amazing invention called music.

If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.

And that is exactly what is happening to me.. i look for music when i listen to someone talk, while travelling in the typical delhi autorickshaw, i look for a rhythm to hum along to( i think Mr Rahman was doing the same when he composed Chaiya chaiya or the more latest creation of his " OOOOO SAAYA" from slumdog millionaire..... love the way the train tracks can add to the beauty of a simple melody... So here goes nothing.....

And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence."

~ Paul Simon ~

2 A.M. and I'm still awake writing this song.
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer
Inside of me, threatenin' the life it belongs to

Anna Nalick.

All aspects of musical practice may be disengaged, and privileged, in order to give birth to new forms of variation: variations on the relationships between the composer and the performer, between the conductor and the performer, between the performers, between the performer and the listener, variations upon gestures, variations on silence that end in a mute music that is still music because it preserves still something of the musical totality of the tradition...all elements belonging to the total musical fact may be seperated and taken as a strategic variable of musical production. This autonomization serves as true musical experimentation: little by little, the individual variables that make up a total musical fact are brought to light. Any particular music then appears as one that has made a choice among these variables, and that has privileged a certain number of them. Under these conditions, musical analysis would have to begin by recognizing the strategic variables characteristic of a given musical system: musical invention and musical analysis lend each other mutual aid.

With a guitar in our hands, and rock in our hearts! And in the words of AC/DC: "We roll tonight to the guitar bite, and for those about to rock, I salute you."

Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST..."

Frank Zappa

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

and this one is just amazing.... I totaly feel u Mr Chesterton...

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.

G. K. Chesterton

adios amigos...

I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU.....

I thought I knew you.

But I guess it's easier to see what we want than to look for the truth.

You think you know me but you don't.

And that means you don't know what I can do.

You see me as someone who's popular and who has all the answers but that's not true.

I may not always know what I'm doing but I'll try to make things better.

And when I make a mistake, because face it, we all do, I promise I'll ask for your help.

I can't do this alone, but if you'll take a chance on me, we can do great things together.

I promise if you believe in me, I'll find the courage to reach for your every dream.

John F. Kennedy said,

"The courage of life is a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.

A man does what he must, in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers

and pressures. And that is the basis of all morality".

Let The Reigns Go Loose......

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said:
Many people die with their music still in them.
Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live.
Before they know it, time runs out.

So true these words are...... been a long time since i opened this blog and never managed to post anything onto it.......
Well i guess the above lines say a lot about my late girlfriend Divya.....

Man she had so much more in her than wat she expressed...... n thats exactly wat happened with her.. She died unfortunately with her music in her.... her songs... her feelings.... her tunes.... her love.....


And i was thinking wat was worrying me so much today.... ... so i felt the need to let my music out.... for all the world to see...
thought and pondered while playing my guitar on the rooftop to the tune of " Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam n it so reminded me of her....

" Oh where oh where can my baby be....
the lord took her away from me....
she's gone to heaven , so i gotta be good
so i can see ma baby when i leave this world"

and realised that I had to live the dream for her too.... rather than just PREPARING TO LIVE and living a pseudo life....

and so this gentleman here said....

Nathaniel Hawthorne

"No man, for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

So this is the time to decide which face i wish to wear for life so that i dont end up getting bewildered like you Mr Hawthorne...... till next time.....

REST IN PEACE BABES ! ! ! ! !