Everybody's gone to war

If love is a drug, then I guess we're all sober,
If hope is a song then I guess it's all over,
How to have faith, when faith is a crime?
If God's on our side, then God is a joker,

For every man who wants to rule the world,
There'll be a man who just wants to be free,
What do we learn but what should not be learnt?
Too late to find a cure for this disease.

She's new. But she sings interesting stuff...tip from Brenda. 

Guapo guapo guapo

Yo se que he escrito acerca de estos antes....pero perros...what a beautiful game this is. Did I sleep at all last night? Or not? I vaguely recall some present subjunctives and imperatives..a beautiful goal in between....a song by Juanes as well...heck maybe I did attend class this morning. Pero estoy no seguro...no seguro...

"remember nada de futbol until you finish the work you have..."

Keep Dreaming

Last night, it felt like a big, deep hole had been violently gashed right about where my solar plexus would have otherwise been. For a while, I couldn't move and finally Aneesh's call at 3 AM brought me back to life. The dream was over...the pain very real. Sport shouldn't conjure such emotions in people but then I guess, it wouldn't be sport otherwise. Euro 2008...I'll be waiting for that. In Robben, Van Persie and Kuyt, we have dangerous ability. Robben is only going to become stronger and when both the Rotterdam boys get to a more mature level...we shall see....Euro 2008.

Morning Song

The monsoon is setting in across India...by far the best time of year to be in Bangalore for me...waking up...the sun is peeking out of the clouds and there's a light drizzle outside. A hot cup of tea....watching the rain fall, contemplating your life with Jewel crooning "morning song" in the background....Jewel has to be one of my favourite artists; because she can conjure an entire magical setting for me and all I must do is close my eyes...beautiful.

Beagle, Belur & Shravana Belagola

The person from my AI team nearest to Bangalore came a visiting this weekend. It'd been two years since I met with Mr. Beagle and 2 days were too short a time to catch up but nontheless. First time I drove on the Indian high ways; but Espera (my car) pulled us through. Lots of culture, lots of history and some great conversations.

The Gomateshwara monolith which is the central location of the Jain faith in South India



The Chenna Kesava Temple at Belur


Signage at the Gomateshwara Temple - pacifism & peace are two of the central pillars of the Jain Faith


The road...how we love the road


Peace of mind atop the Shravana Belagola Hill

Nederlands 2 - 1 Ivory Coast

Bring on Argentina!

Oranje!

Social life...??!

Esto is increible...como nuestros cambios de vida a causa un deporte. Hay una pelota redonda pequena....manana en la clase, tengo que presentar un informe en partidos de futbol de esta noche...hay partidos entre Espana y Ucrania; Tunez y Arabia Saudita, Alemania y Polonia
A mi no me gusta cualqiera de estos menos Espana. Bueno!

All my plans, meeting friends, going to places on the weekend et cetera are being wholly and completely governed by the matches as shown on my Outlook calendar. (yes I have the entire world cup schedule on my Outlook...sue me)

As I was telling Challa yesterday, I'm glad I am witnessing this world cup filled with the ability to appreciate football and the passion that is necessary to keep the adrenaline pumping even at 2 in the morning.

Es realmente un juego increible.

A good start

A good start so far:

Nederlands 1 - 0 Ser. & Mon.

England 1 - 0 Paraguay

Portugal 1 - 0 Angola

All 3 of the teams I support got off to a good start. Allow me to explain my allegiances:

England: They have the collection of many of my favourite players: Lampard, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Neville, Cole, Cole, Beckham...not to mention the guy who's still on the bench

Portugal: Mainly thanks to a few monkeys who I worked with and thanks to whom I always scream when watching Benfica play

Lastly & most importantly:

Nederlands: BECAUSE THIS IS THE TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oranje!!!!

Ok...outburst of emotion over....you get the point. Ivory Coast up next...mustn't let Drogba score....Van Der Sar needs to be top of his game.

Como se dice...?

Diploma Inicial...las clases empiezan
De el lunes el viernes 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM ....yo me siento que necesito la dedicacion no?

Road Trip?!

"Towards the end of his life, Chandragupta gave up his throne and became an ascetic, ending his days in self starvation at Shravanabelagola, in present day Karnataka. A small temple marks the cave (called Bhadrabahu Cave) where he died"

Dude, we have to visit this place soon!

Email

When you receive a mail from the artist formerly known as Nikhil Gurjer, its always of interest, but when you receive a mail from Pablo titled "Rules of Boozing" you know its serious stuff!
Some of the gems from this email:

- Buying someone a drink is five times better than a handshake
- NEVER ever tell a bar tender he made your drink too strong
- Drink one girly drink in public and you will forever be known as the guy who drinks girly drinks
- If you owe someone $20 or less, you pay them back in beer
- Learn to appreciate hangovers, if it were all good times every jackass would be doing it

The list goes on...:-)

Did you know?

The Spanish word for "soul" is Alma
The Hindi word for soul is Atma, derived from the Sanskrit Atmam
The Latin word for soul is Animum

Fascinating how languages are connected...

Rediscovering

I'm currently reading a book title "India Discovered" by John Keay, given to me by my reference for all things historic. I'm more than halfway through this book but already, I have learnt more about my own country, her history & culture in these 100 odd pages than I have through 7 years of the best possible secondary school education in India.

For anyone interested in learning why the emblem of the Ashoka Pillar is on all our coins & currencies, who Ashoka was, when Alexander came all the way till Sindh and went back, how Megasthenes was one of the biggest reasons why we have our history today & most importantly, to read about the indefatigable spirit, single minded drive & mindless passion of several different Englishmen such as William Jones & James Prinsep who spent the best years of their life uncovering these buried treasures & how much we owe to them: pick up this book.

For anyone visiting India or planning to live in India for the first time, this is a must read. Sometimes we forget how rich our culture is, how much there is still to learn from it...these are just the kind of reminders one needs.

Living

Leo Rosten, I have recently understood was an American teacher, academic & humorist. I have never stumbled upon Mr. Rosten's works before but I did stumble across Sarah's blog where this quote by the gent is prominently displayed:

"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all"

He must have been one cracker of a teacher.

un paso más cerca...

Buenas noticias! I have cleared my 2nd level Spanish. I just heard from the institute to that effect. Consequently I can move to the next level which will (espero que) prepare me for the Nivel Inicial exam in November conducted by the Cervantes Institute in Delhi. That will in turn qualify me as someone with "sufficient linguistic ability for understanding and responding appropriately in most normal day-to-day situations and for expressing desires and needs in a basic way."

Pasos pequeños...creo que tengo poco de sangre americana no? Escuche la cancion por Bacilos.