"I'm not a slave to objectivity. I'm never quite sure what it means. And it means different things to different people." Peter Jennings
Thursday, June 21, 2007
What I've learned (??) about women
1) She wants me to know what she wants - The most important lesson I've learned. Never get frustrated and say "Why don't you just tell me what you want?". If I have to ask her what she wants then I have failed.
2) I'm doing it because you want it vs. I'm doing it because I want to - This is another absolute no-no. If I'm doing something just because she asked (read: told) me to, I'm in trouble. I better be doing it because I wanted to in the first place. If you haven't seen The Break up, watch it to get your Relationship 101.
Brooke asks Gary to help her do the dishes. He's busy playing video games . Brooke gets upset.
Gary: “Fine, I’ll help you do the damn dishes.”
Brooke: “That’s not what I want. I want you to want to do the dishes.”
Gary: “Why would I want to do dishes?”
3) Women want to forgive - This one I never realized until I watched Riding in cars with boys:
She'll get over it, women want to forgive.
Even a total screw-up, they'll help, It's in their nature.
You just gotta remember, you gotta tell them you need their help.
I promise you I have tried this and it works. No matter what I do, if all else fails, I just need to tell her I need her help and then it's all OK. Let me give you an example: You blew up a bunch of money on a "little boy" fantasy like a sports bike. How do you tell her?
Wrong way:
Honey, I bought a new bike today, it rocks !!
Right way:
Honey, I bought a bike, but now I realise I spent too much money on it. I'm sorry. The next few months are going to be a bit hard. I really need you to stand by me to get through it. Will you ?
Always works :-) Anyway, please pass on any valuable lessons you might have learned. On my part, I will update this list as time goes by.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Love is….
One day the two of us sat down and tried to list out the things we have in common. It turns out she loves big cities; I’m more of a small town / suburb kind of guy. I love reading, she loves TV. She’s an artist; I can’t draw a straight line. I play the guitar and sing, she can’t hold a note. I’ve been described as being “quietly confident”; she’s got all the bubbly charm of Priety Zinta in Dil Se. How do we get along? Bear with me as I quote Simon Green (Played by Ashton Kutcher) from the move Guess Who “That's just it; she's everything I'm not. You know, she's my other half. Without her I'm not whole.” Now I’m not sure if I would go as far as to say I’m not whole without her, but we do bring out a different side in each other. A side neither of us knew existed. The fact that we don’t always like the new side we bring out is a story for another post ;-)
So as we go forward, the two of us don’t have all the answers. We know we have our differences. We know it won’t always be easy, but we also know as long as we are together, we’ll be better off than well…. not being together.
Friday, June 08, 2007
DWA - Desis With Attitude
The first guy is .. well missing. Abir didn't come on the trip so we missed the founding member of the group. However, going from left to right
1) Rahul - Always the tail gunner. He's normally a mile behind the rest of the bikers because cops seem to have an affinity towards him. He rides a Ducati Monster, 625.
2) Surya - That's me. I usually ride in the middle of the pack but ever so often I like to break away when I feel the need ... the need for speed :-) That's a Suzuki GSX R 1000 I'm on.
3) Shyam - He talks alot faster than he rides and alot more as well. If you want to be entertained 6 hours straight, he's the man. The newest rider to the group, he got his motorcycle just 2 weeks before the trip. He's rides a Suzuki Boulevard M 109R. The biggest bike in the group (1800 cc).
4) Pradeep - A slightly dangerous and temperamental rider. Hates being passed and normally regains his position by overtaking you in the same lane. Scares the hell out of me when we are averaging 70 - 80 mph. I like his bike it's a Yamaha R1.
5) Srinath - My roommate from college, have known him for 10 years now. He used to drive a 75 cc kinetic honda back then. He's graduated to a Harley v-rod. The safest rider. Doesn't take off his helmet even when he's not moving.
6) Jayakar - The dare devil of the group. Amazing control and confidence while riding. It's always fun when he is leading the formation. He's rides a Suzuki Hayabusa. The fastest production bike on the planet.
There are just so many reasons to ride a motorcycle. While I love cars, motorcycles ooze passion. You can be "one" with a motorcycle in a way that you can never be with a car. Apart from that, it's just such a liberating experience.
But the number one reason to ride -
Tag - 8 things about me
1. I figure out new things about myself every day, sometimes not very pleasant.
2. I have an insane need for all arguments to be logical and reasonable. Doesn't go down very well with my girl friend.
3. I have a bad temper, but over the last few years I have learned to keep it on a very tight leash. Most newer friends would never know that.
4. When I was 17 I wanted to quit studies and form a rock band.
5. I'm scared of fish. I don't know why.
6. I am a speed freak. I Have 4 tickets in the last 18 months, but I only speed when I'm alone.
7. When I came to the US, I laid out three goals for myself
a) Own a Porsche and a Supersport bike
b) Watch Metallica, U2 and Pearl Jam live
c) Go on a date with Salma Hayek
I've achieved two, still waiting on the last.
8. I procrastinate. (That's why I'm responding to the tag so late)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
The best things in life …. can kill you !
Is life unfair? If you believe in God, do you think He purposely attached a higher price tag to things that he knew we humans would love? Or is it human nature to want the things that are bad for us. I think it’s neither. I think we go looking for the dangers in everything we enjoy. Our conscience doesn’t allow us to simply enjoy the things we do without worrying about consequences. So each time we find something we love, we start looking for reasons we shouldn’t be doing it.
Fortunately for me, I don’t care :-) I think abstinence is for people who give in to the temptation of denying themselves pleasure. So I’m going to listen to my grand mothers words of wisdom “Take what you want from life.. Take it and pay for it”.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Speak Up
Sure, we do speak up once in a while like in the Jessica Lal case, but only when the issue is close to home. With most issues, as horrifying as they might seem, we (I include myself here) just don’t feel the need to speak out. There might be a genocide going on in The Sudan, but it doesn’t affect us. Civil War in Iraq, but it doesn’t affect us.
With extremists however, Richard Gere kisses Shilpa Shetty and they protest all over the country, burning effigies. Say what you want about extremists, but at least they stand up for what they believe in. We liberals just seem to lack the courage of our convictions.
I leave you with a short poem written by a man who survived the Nazis.
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
-Martin Niemöller