Know me...

March 17, 2009 – 6:30 PM

1. Last beverage→ Water
2. Last phone call→ Jay sir
3. Last text message→ Nitesh
5. Last time you cried→ Always less than a month
HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice → Yes
7. Been cheated on? → I don’t know, I don’t care.
8. Kissed someone & regretted it? → Never
9. Lost someone special?→ Yes
10. Been depressed?→ Check my blog
11. Been in love? → Yes, I think…
LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:
12. Blue
13. Black
14. White
THIS YEAR HAVE YOU:
15. Made new friends→ Yes, so many
16. Fallen out of love → Did not fell in…
17. Laughed until you cried → No
18. Met someone who changed you→ Yes
19. Found out who your true friends were→ Yes
20. Found out someone was talking about you→ Yes
TRUTH:
21. How many kids do you want to have→ I don’t see any future here…
22. Do you have any pets → Only stray dogs and cats, for few minutes
23. Do you want to change your name→ I want to make my name
24. What did you do for your last birthday→ Cut a dougnut with a ruler
25. What time did you wake up today → 8:11 AM
26. What were you doing at midnight last night→ Chatting
27. Name something you CANNOT wait for → a phone call I am expecting
28. Last time you saw your father→ Few months back
29. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life → I wish, I can be as innocent as a child
30. What are you listening to right now → Mixed sound of Birds and Traffic
31. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom → Yes, more than one Toms
32. What's getting on your nerves right now? → My eyes
33. Whats your real name → ___________
34. Zodiac sign → Virgo
35. Male or female→ Male
36. Elementary→ Nutan
37. High school → Virani
38. Hair color → Black & some white
39. Long or short → Medium
40. Height → 5’ 7”
41. Do you have a crush on someone? → Yaaaa
42. What do you like about yourself? → I genuinly don’t like anyone to be unhappy
43. Piercings → No
44. Tattoos → Coming soon…
45. Righty or lefty → Righty
FIRSTS :
46. First surgery-> None
47. First piercing → NA
48. First best friend → Myself
49. First sport you joined → Soccer
RIGHT NOW:
50. Eating → Nothing
51. Drinking →Nothing
52. I'm about to → Reveal few more things about myself
53. Listening to → Nothing
54. Waiting for → Freedom or Love, whatever comes first
YOUR FUTURE :
55. Want kids?--> May adopt
56. Want to get married? -> Everyone should make this mistake only once, I did long ago
57. Careers in mind? -> Artists dont build careers
WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE ?
58. Lips or eyes → Eyes
59. Hugs or kisses → Hugs
60. Shorter or taller → Taller
61. Older or Younger → Older
62. Romantic or spontaneous → Romantic
63. Nice stomach or nice arms → Nice Stomach
64. Tattoos or piercings— Both
65. Sensitive or loud → Sensitive
66. Hook-up or relationship → Companionship
67. Trouble maker or hesitant→ who me?
HAVE YOU EVER :
68. Kissed a stranger → No
69. Stayed up til 5am→ So many times
70. Lost glasses/contacts → Yes once, and don’t wear after that
71. On first date → Bike ride to a river bank, lots of talking, holding hands, dinner and a kiss
72. Broken someone's heart → Yes
73. Had your own heart broken → What you give, comes back
74. Been arrested → Almost
75. Turned someone down --> Yes
76. Cried when someone died → No
DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
77. Yourself → Yes
78. Miracles → No
79. Love at first sight → No
80. Heaven → No
81. Santa Claus → No
82. Kissing on the first date → Its not mandatory, it just happens
83. Angels → No
ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
84. Is there one person you want to be with right now? → Yes
85. Had more than one girlfriend at one time? → I don’t understand the concept of Girlfriend
86. Do you believe it’s possible to remain faithful forever?→ It is very much possible to remain faithful at any given point of time
87. What's the one thing you cannot live without?→ Companionship
88. One thing that most people don’t know about you → That I can kill someone, if need be!

Dating

Every day is a new date, isnt it!!! :)

Expectations

Expectation is the mother of all depressions!

You keep expecting something to happen, but it doesnt... The moment you stop expecting, it does!!!

Who am I?

I am an experience... live me!

The deeper you go the better you enjoy and more you cherish :)

VIRTUAL REALITIES!!!

The term “Virtual Reality” is not comparatively old, just like the Internet. But suddenly with the advancement of social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and many more, it just became so REAL. Limits between the VIRTUAL and REAL world are blurring and new horizons are appearing, new dimensions are getting added to this ever popular term by the minutes. In this article, I have tried to take a fresh new look at this term and tried to redefine it in the context of today’s REAL world.

I was born in the late 70’s, I can say the old world. And the term “virtual reality” at that time was associated with some fancy electronic gadgets, a big goggles, a metallic hand, a shiny body suit, a 360 degree revolving chair etc etc. It was seen only in Hollywood movies (if at all they were available for us to watch in India) or some high end video games.

The world around me has changed many times since then. Be it in the 80s with the entry of TV in a common man’s life in India or opening up of Indian economy and introduction of the Internet during the 90s or the rising of India Inc. in early 21st century. Well, I have tried my level best to keep up with the change and I would say, I have done fairly good so far. But one thing that completely baffled me and continues to do so is to cop up with the emerging new VIRTUAL world of social networking and blurring limits between the VIRTUAL and the REAL world around me.

I took the plunge into this new and emerging world very early in 2006, or should I say, quite late may be, as timelines are becoming so relative now a days (A complete new breed of people emerge every two years and five years age difference is considered “generation gap”). Since my first encounter, I have been trying to establish myself, trying to build my identity in the virtual world of Orkut just like I have been trying to do so in the real world ever since I was born. However, I realized soon that it is much more difficult, much more competitive and much more challenging to establish myself and create my own identity in the VIRTUAL world than there in the REAL one. I felt so, may be because I have a mind that is adapting and flexible to change as per the new world but a heart that was born and a value system that was practiced during the late 70’s. Nevertheless, let me share some of my “Experiments with Virtual Realities”...

It all starts by creating your profile, giving a face to your personality. This is the acid test. This is where your value system gets tested. Your hidden desires come to foray because there is so much scope for imagination, honesty and untruthfulness at the same time. You can portrait yourself as someone you are or you are not, and the choice is entirely yours. There is no one to validate but your inner self. This is where you decide to bare yourself or hide behind a mask in front of the VIRTUAL world. This is where you create a VIRTUAL you. This is where you choose from one of these – “Jo hai woh dikhta hai”, “Jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai” and “Jo bikta hai wohi dikhao”. This is where you decide to draw a line between the REAL and VIRTUAL you or you decide not to have any such line at all. This is where you imagine, you assume, you contemplate, you think and you create. What more, you can create multiple copies of yourself!!!

Next comes, joining a community (or a group) or creating your own. I can join any community I want to, or can create one of my own. A community is a group of like minded individuals joining hands to work in a desired direction. And finally, you start building relations - Friends, family, activity groups, love and hate too.

But then, it is not as easy as it looks. There are so many unanswered questions like - Who controls a community? How like minded people really are in a virtual world? Who is projecting his/her true self and who is not? How can you judge someone? How can you get into the REAL mind of someone operating a VIRTUAL profile?

So the universal rule followed, it seems is - “do not trust anyone”. Well, if you do not trust anyone, how can you call it a “community”?, because a community is always based on mutual trust, understanding and courtship in the REAL world. But, that is where the VIRTUAL world differs. It has its advantage. One can pretend to be in a community but remain an individual – a true self. Something that is totally unacceptable, if not banned, in the REAL world. This is where you find thousands of profiles and hundreds of communities being created about alternate lifestyles – gays, lesbians, swingers, nudists, drug addicts, terrorists and many such activities that are considered to be the dark side of life in the REAL world. The social networking sites have no longer remained a place for “meeting your old friends from the REAL world and keeping in touch with them”. It is widely being used to create new contacts, new relations, new personalities, new communities a completely new VIRTUAL WORLD. A world full of contrast – possibilities vs. traps, opportunities vs. risks, freedom vs. addiction, fun vs. threat and so on.

It is a brave new world out there. But who are the members? Mostly youngsters. Indians, it seems, are one of the biggest users of these sites. I ask myself, “Is it just because we have tech savvy young generation?” And the answer is - No, it is not just that. It is because the young generation is changing. They are demanding a change in REAL world through the means of a VIRTUAL world or may I say, they are already changing the REAL world? The world around is surely changing faster than we can think of or imagine. If not, than a person like me from the old world, adapting nicely to the changing REAL world, would not have felt the need to write this article.

Time is not far before we see a new disease being added to the books of psychology called “Virtual Reality Disorder” or a new religion being introduced as “Orkutva”. May be, I myself, would like to open a commune for the people “affected positively or negatively by the effects to Virtual Realities”. Ultimately, it is the experience from the REAL world that counts in the end!!!

Four biggest mistakes of Humans

that we invented...

Society
Money
Religions
Borders

Can you imagine, how beautiful this world would be wothout these four things???
I can :)

Nostalgic Freedom

15th August 2008
1:45 AM

I am seating in my room in Koregaon Park with the first ever (and the only) printed copy of FLOP Magazine in my hand. I got it printed today evening only. And I am thinking or may I say, my mind is full of thoughts on which I have no control. I don’t want to control. My mind is free, after all it is Independence day today. And it goes to exactly the same time, but 2 years back. 15th August 2006. I started my tour of India then. And I was on top of tiger hills that time… and I exactly remember those words that I used to describe that moment on my tour of India blog...

"I have spent the first night ontiger hill (lonavale) in the midst of darkness, fog, rain and wind.. in the presence of fire and in the company of some very good friends (who came from Pune on bikes in zero visibility) just to spend some time with me,,,, it was like fusion of all five elements - fire,water, air, earth and sky!!! with mother nature at its best, it was one of the most most memorable night of my life!! Thanx to Abhay, Amit, Anish, Saumik, Mr.Wagle and Samarth. In Pratapsan's terms "It feltlike I was enjoying honeymoon with myself :)"

So, I write a sms to Abhay, a witness and part of that nostalgic moment. And I start writing again. But, don’t know where to start. Thoughts are so fast, I am trying to cope-up… so, don’t try to find any flow or logic in it. "LOGIC" is a big word, "KNOWLEDGE" is another…. I think, these words have killed my innocence somewhere in my life… now I am trying hard to unlearn and get that innocence back…If I could wish one thing from God, I would want my innocence back. But, I can’t wish. I can try for sure. So, I am trying…. Trying hard. For past two years now. I don’t know when exactly I realized it but I now know for sure that leaving my job and traveling across India was my shot at getting my innocence back and not peace or happiness… peace or happiness is simply a by product, or a permanent state of mind when we are innocent. I now remember clearly, I got inspired by not the happiness but innocence of those workers by the roadside when my car was hit by a landslide. I now know. Not know, but I now feel. Knowing is knowledge, is unreal. Feeling is real. I now don’t "know", but "feel" life. And what a life it has been in past two years….

The tour – the accident – coming back home – the Internet, flickr and orkut – the PCA – first exhibition – International Photography Award – first assignment – coming to Pune – FLOP and now the first issue. And in between these milestones, those “fill in the blank” moments…… so many of them – friends, family, loneliness, groups, activities, sleep, dreams, thoughts, depression, triumphs, feelings, contemplation, realization and freedom.

The milestones are not that important as the “feel in the blank” moments. That is what life is. FEEL. The road, the journey and not the destination.