small emotional piece of travelling and travellers

Its really tough to describe human emotions in writing. I've never written about these chemical reactions of our complex brain (atleast that's how science defines emotions).

Now when I am struggling to find appropriate words, I can't imagine how likes of Paulo Coelho and Eric Segal write their stuff.


A few days back I was reading a travel blog and I said to myself that "omg! she is correct with every word".
When we travel or meet a traveler we make instant connections in just a few days which nearly impossible in our daily life. Where we see the same faces while commuting or working but never take efforts to grow this superficial relation into something more than acquaintance. There is something extra-ordinary about human interactions made while travelling.
And when I say travelers, I dont mean tourists. Tourists have their judgements  and opinions  glued to their eyes and brains. While a traveler creates an opinion after seeing your city through your eyes and listening to your opinions. They don't travel for only sightseeing rather they travel for an experience.


Somewhere around mid of january this year I was bored as hell with my life. The same boring college routine, movie or eating out with friends over weekends. A very monotonous life.
Then I came to know about couchsurfing and I am not exaggerating if I say that it changed my perception of life. (No kidding, it really did)
I had been making a goa plan since January last year, but each of the time one of my friends has been cancelling it out of some reasons. On the night of 20th jan, we were having a party in my apartment. Obviously I was high and then out of nowhere someone said,
              "hey! you should go to goa."
               - totally, someone else replied.
And I said "yeah, it would be fun if I go alone, without any of my asshole friends (yup, they are). That way I'll meet new people and explore more."
Next thing I know is, I was on internet booking tickets. Around 4AM, when everybody went to sleep I was splashing cold water on my face so that I don't miss my early morning train. In the mean time I sent a couch request to Mr. Harbans Sharna. By that time, little did i know that this experience was going to change me. In and out.


I met some nice people on the train, still remember that Punjabi guy and his thick punjabi-hindi accent. The way he was offering sweets to everyone saying I've got a job in Goa, very innocent chap.
That photography group and the dance we had on the moving train (like a slice out of bollywood movies) over few songs on their loud (too loud, wait a sec it was excessively loud) laptop.
Then waking up to the mountain range of 'western ghats' passing by the window. I thanked heavens for not taking an AC ticket and settling with a sleeper class. Green mountains and rivers with crystal clear water, AHH!! never seen anything like this in north India.
And the crazy long tunnels- amazing. 
Walking off the train at Thivim station, I could really feel the warmth and freshness of goan air unlike Delhi. First thing I did was to buy a polybag with "MOKEMBO KHUS HUA" printed on it. (only an Indian can understand its worth). Rented a scooter, switched on gps and i was on my way to Harbans's place. Where I was introduced to Atsu (actually Atitshu Morita) an accounted from Japan, who had a moment of truth, left his job and set off to see the world.
When tsunami hit Japan last year, he was working and felt the quake. When he checked the news, thousands had died in few moments and that made him think about what is he doing- sitting on a desk daily, spending hours of his life and he could die too. Any moment in a similar accident so, he thought he should not wait and just do what pleases him in the moment.
There-only I met Tom & Kit, from England and we had nice bonding. We used to talk politics, economy, history, religion..practically everything for hours. I took my first ever ferry ride with them (yeah 1st ever) when sun was  about to touch the water. A very special moment for my life. We went to the bird sanctuary, sat on the rocks  in mid of a swamp and saw sunset while we had joints. I will never forget those relaxed and calm moments.
I met Bruno and Yusti  and their idea of travel. Whenever I asked what's the plan, the said "plan, is to have no plan. we like Goa so, we are staying here till we like'


I went to Goa for three days and stayed for twelve, only because of those amazing people I met . Not to forget Dan (the drinking and party master), Yammur (very friendly, and beautiful girl from Turkey), Adrian (Irish chili eater), Mischal (slovakian traveler,  intellligent guy), Anasta(ukranian photo-film enthusiast). Ah!! and the dog in harbans's society.
And many more people.


Now comes the worst part, saying goodbyes (the emotional part). U already know that they will  be with you for only a couple of days, still you cant help feeling like 'keeping them beside you' (selfish and emotions). Saying goodbye to Atsu, Tom and Kit on the same night was really heart rending. In simple words emotionally heavy. We  have opened up really well like old friends. It was strange to go back to harbans's place, now I was the only surfer. From six to one. The house felt empty, there was nothing to do. So, I went to the beach, spent two days with Bruno, Yammur and Dan. Finally I said goodbye to them and to Goa.
Journey back was like a high tide in my mind. Emotions. thoughts and future prospective were churning. And when you are alone emotions do amplify. I really thought in deep about my future and I must confess that I have changed a lot, on emotional and personal level, after my Goa trip. And it really shook the base of my future plans. My priorities have shifted, lets hope its for a greater good and god (whom I not so believe in) has a plan for me.


Back in Delhi I hosted quite a few people, enjoyed their company and connected well. I liked the Bulgarian couple Joro&Meli, we talked a lot of  greek mythology. I liked the company of Jaimey (Australia) & Philipp (germany), we had the proper Indian lunch and bought each other rounds of  sweets and then beer at night. Lovely time. But I never felt emotionally weak or lets say sad, saying goodbye to them. Probably because in these two months I had grown very used to of  saying good-bye. So I started believing that it happens only when you meet people while travelling, they become like a part of you travelling family and so you feel so emotionally attached  to them.
And then like a tv drama my theory changed again. In walks Olga.


Let me mention first, every traveler friend (yes they are not just travelers, they are friends now) that I met , were all older to me.  She is the first one of same as my age. And man! she is like a female carbon copy of myself. Very beautiful and charming girl. 
she mailed me while she was in Goa, and we exchanged  a few before she came to delhi. It felt like I already knew her, we had some sort of soul connection (don't know its literal meaning but what I meant was a deep connection. Clicked instantly) And I did a few things which I generally don't - like shopping for long hours, getting myself photographed (alone, like a model). We had a lot of fun and then again it was the saying good-bye time.
Honestly I wanted her to stay a little longer and felt a strange a strange emptiness the following day. Maybe because the last two days were full of walking, shopping, photography and a lot of talking. But yeah I missed her and then it was monday, college time. No time to think of emotions.


Coming back to the topic of good-byes and emotions, you know that they are going to leave at some point soon so  you generally open up to them. And when two people open up and share, emotions do fly. And then you feel of them as really close friends and understanding toward your feelings and thoughts. So, you don't want them to leave.
For example, I shared a few things to olga about my childhood which only my brother knows and she reciprocated, so I felt  really close to her.
But at the end you  do have to say good-bye with a heavy heart. I met and bid farewell to many travelers but Olga (and a few others) left a very deep and life time impression upon me.


so I say thanks to all of 'em for everything and changing me.


(ok this is the first time that i've not been completely honest with my blog. and by not being honest i mean, i have left out one paragraph toward the end of article, which i wrote in my draft. actually, it turns out that i am not all comfortable in sharing all of my feelings. Infact I would not have published it too, its just that i wanted to write a little somthing about feelings
kr.) 

Ra.One : disappointingly good

DISAPPOINTINGLY GOOD. The title must have got you confused but that's the feeling with which i came out of theater . Disappointing because i expected a real superhero movie and good because considering  the kind of movies indian cinema is making these days (normal human beings doing action stuff that may scare the hulk) Ra.One is better.

Now, having watched hollywood movies specially the superhero movies, i can say there are two approaches while making a superhero movie. Either you take the Spider-man (2002) road or you take the path of The Dark-Knight (2008). while Spider-man was all about a fast paced story with great special effects, Batman was a masterpiece which dealt with character (emotionally & psychologically) of a superhero.
Also there are a few key points that a superhero movie must have

• good story line
• secret of super power 
• a great villain 
• mind blowing vfx

lets see how Ra.one has performed on all the levels,

story : the weakest point for Ra.One were the loop holes in the story. The basic story has a lot of potential : a twisted father-son relationship, father builds a game to impress his son, the game's main program has artificial intelligence, it goes rouge chasing the son. But the way they dealt with details made the story lousy and unconvincing.

Powers : every superhero has some sort of logic behind possessing superpowers (atleast in hollywood) and his powers are well defined. Like superman can fly and has immense strength but he is not as fast as the flash, this was the problem with krrish (2006). In Ra.one there is no problem with powers possessed by G.One or Ra.One, but the question many people like me will ask is "how did a powerful game program materialized and entered physical world?". The movie lacks explanation.

Villain : there is no batman without joker, beacuse joker presents a twisted evil character which is balanced by the Batman. A villain should be mesmerizing, which srk and Rampal managed to achieve, given the conditions that it is a game program with one motive "to find and defeat Lucifer". But a villain has shades in his character, while Ra.One was plain kind of a one way train, there was never a point that it surprised (remember The joker got caught, but it turns out that he wanted to get caught).

VFX : one area where Ra.one will get 5/5. I remeber watching those military choppers in Lakshya and saying that "VFX n animations in bollywood sucks", while watching Ra.one today i was impressed with vfx.

COMPLAINTS: why do indian movies try so hard? why not keep it natural? this is a general complaint to bollywood (EXCEPT RAJNIKANT  AND SALMAN KHAN, they can do anything). Why putting songs where there is no need? Mr. Srk its evident that u worked on this movie but this movie could have been a roller-coaster ride if you had worked on details and cut the bullshits like CHITTI, hanging g.one upside-down n make a fan. 

In one line movie lacked details and could not grab viewer's attention. If they had hold the movie in one intense direction "Ra.One coming after the boy, and G.one protecting the boy n his mother" it could have been awesome. 

Ratings : considering only Bollywood standards 3.5/5

                considering Hollywood standard 1.5/5

If movies like Dabangg n Bodygaurd can be blockbusters then this movie deserves to be same.

i recommend this movie for kids, they will love it. And for the crowd which has only seen krrish & shaktiman in name of superheroes.  

Aryan Invasion and Indo-Aryan culture : My Views

it depends on the fact that how u look at it, either u looking at it with the prejudice of Indian culture being superior to all (also to state that Britishers were racially motivated) OR with another view that history is not absolute it changes with new findings n time.

Rigveda mentions a lot about a drink called SOM drank by all, n especially by INDRA >> som is not an Indian plant, its found in central asia, and now som is not a part of Hinduism. again because its not found in India. If u try to search hard enough then u can find som in old markets of Peshawar by the name of MAHOO (Peshawar is the region around which Aryans settled first)

secondly Rigveda mentions about horses, which are not native for India..they came from central Asia. Russian Archeologist VICTOR SARIANADI has found remains of a lost civilization in deserts of Turkmenistan (which at that time was a fertile oasis) where there are remains proving a civilization which used to make som (evidences) do rituals with fire (ALMOST EVERY HINDU RITUAL INVOLVES FIRE) n remains of horses n wagons ( RATH =wagons not chariots). then there was a big climate change n river flowing through that area changed its course so they were forced to migrate.This civilization was around 4000 BC, that's the same time around which saraswati river was drying due climate change.

these so called Aryans migrated from central Asia through Turkmenistan n hindukush range ..few went towards Iran others came towards India. they reached by the time sarasvati was almost gone..but here is the point i want to be focused...they were not invading..they were migrating. BY 1000 BC Aryans were well settled in northern India, WITH the people of Indus valley civilization who moved east because of drying of sarswati river. During this period these various Aryan settlements were fighting among themselves A BIG EXAMPLE IS WAR OF MAHABHARATA, (which we Indians believe that took place around 3000 BC). Prof. B. B. Lal  found the hastinapur site of mahabharat n evidences that mahabharat was REAL NOT A MYTHOLOGICAL WAR. But the HOLY GITA or Mahabharata was composed (orally and then in script) during a span of 800 yrs dating 400 BC to 400 AD so there were quite a lot of modifications BUT THE SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS OF GITA ARE ABSOLUTE AND PURE AND OF HIGHEST ORDER THAN ANY OTHER RELIGION (but that's a different discussion altogether).

MY point is Aryans were foreigner by the time they came but then they became as much INDIANS as the MUSLIMS who came as invaders THAT'S THE GREATNESS OF INDIA - LOVE AND SHELTER TO ALL, PEACE AND HARMONY ( of which u find written account in Greek n Chinese ancient scripts: other two contemporary civilizations of that time). Now when the BRITISHERs came to india they regarded VEDAS n VEDIC culture as primitive which was a part of their agenda to make indian hate their own history. EXAMPLE : MAX MULLER initially criticized Vedas (but later he was among the scholars who glorified Vedas). it was a racially influenced propaganda to introduce the theory of ARYAN INVASION n prove that english culture is superior.

ARYAN INVASION theory states that aryans came from central asia, conqured north india and brought with them VEDIC culture. Which is not correct, YES, aryans came from central asia but NOT AS INVADERS but as settlers, they brought their culutre and language which EVOLVED into vedic culture n SANSKRIT after coming to india..basically they had seeds which bacame trees ( not a great metamorph). These ayans were the same people who spread in west n then evolved as a different culture n languages there BUT THEY ALL HAD A COMMON ROOTS THATS WHY THERE ARE SIMILARITIES IN LANGUAGE AND THAT'S THE REASON WHY INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE IS CALLED MOTHER OF ALL LANGUAGES.

novel that i never finished.

guys..here is the prologue of a short novel that i once started writing but never finished. i wrote something like 2 or 3 chapters. Anyways, here it is. hope u’l enjoy it….

Who says rock is noise? After a whole week of courtroom drama coverage, on the channel. Finally the case has ended and channel is looking forward to another hot story to make shows and burn TRP. So, i can enjoy some free time indulging myself in those rogue lyrics of AC DC.
i parked my car by the road side, without even worrying for traffic police. not even police cares in CP after 10’o clock in night. i took a beer out of my car, uncapped it and dropped the cap there only. i wasn’t enjoying the beer or the song playing on my ipod, hell i didn’t even look back to those two foreigner chicks who just passed by. All that was going through my mind was about that boy, the boy who today was declared free of all charges, by the court. Innocent, but dead. He was only19.
As i continued with my beer, i raised to a toast. A toast to friendship. All of his friends stood by him in the court, testified to prove his innocence. And my respect for police increased a bit, for that honest policemen who made efforts and saved that boy and his family from ill repute. I finished my report today by interviewing his friends..and rushed for a beer, but one thing kept on hitting me again and again – 19 is not an age to die.
anyways i shook my head, finished the remaining beer in one go, hit the the volume max and started walking to my car. as i was walking i didn’t realise that i was singing the song out loud. When i saw someone sitting on the bench ahead waving, i checked behind to make sure he was waving to me..yup, he was waving to me. i went up to him.
i said “ yeah, how may i help you.”
-the song you were listening to,it was Highway To Hell. right?
-yes, why do u ask?
-can i listen to it, please?
someone at 10:30 in cp, asks you to let him listen to a particular song from your player. Thats odd..very unusual.
he was an young boy, decent. Looking very sad. i gessed it was breakup or poor results so i let him, while i browsed through few emails on my phone.
after a while he handed me the ipod back and said – thanks, it was long since i heard any classic rock. that struck, what’s his problem, why is he so sad. so i thought i may engage him in talk.
hi i m nitin, probably u know me from live-24 X 7.
he replied- hi, i am ankit. And yeah, i know u…i am a big fan
he was speaking with great zeal .
- infact i am also doing…
he stopped, suddenly all the passion in his eyes was gone. he stood up started walking away..i put my hand on his back
- hey what happened?
and when he turned back, i saw his face for the first time in light. and i was struck with unknown fear, not that horror movie fear. it was indescribable.
i knew who he was, i knew this boy. he was ankit, accused for a murder and then was shot dead in public. he was the boy on whom i was making news reports for about a week.
And i was sitting with him on a bench in cp.
i was in a total shock – dude, you are dead? woh woh..man which brand was that, i am high in a beer only. I need to call a cab, no driving tonight.
-wait man, wait. i am real. real but dead, you are not hallucinating. u dont need to be afraid i haven’t learned those ghost tricks yet.
i was motionless, should i laugh on his joke. What if he takes my laugh in wrong sense, and what if he  gets angry if i dont respond to his jokes. what the fuck !! does ghosts crack joke? shut up nitin its not a ‘curious case of nitin bhatt’ but ‘the fucking case of mr. ghost sitting right in front of you.