Waiting on the internet!

After waiting on Ikea to get my furniture and then waiting for O2 to provide me with an internet connection, I can write a whole book on waiting. I'm just glad to be back in the world of surfers and what seems to become the real world: The virtual reality.

Have you noticed sitting in the train that no one really talks to each other anymore except the really really old people out there? Everyone is so hooked to their smart phones, it almost makes you feel like an outcast!I felt pretty odd having a good laugh with a friend on the train, everyone looked at us as though we were alien apes from another planet.  I can also tell you about a recent trip I had to a small village, where I found myself having such a good time, no there was no internet just data packets (:P)! Fine give me that, I'm not that old! I walked with my 60's companion in to the woods, got lost, had no network and guess what, we could still find our way out, apparently she could track the tractor tracks! I was pretty amazed. Also it seems, she didn't really need the "Accuweather" App because she almost always knew when it was going to rain by smelling something in the air, which thankfully our Apps are not equipped with! I could also enjoy the red wine, the food, the music and of course her company minus my cell going brr...brr..

I wonder if we all are just hooked on to our cell phones to look busy? I know we smokers smoke to look busy and of course killing the boredom of waiting and waiting... but I guess we're all so lonely that we almost need our gizmos like cocaine for an addict. The lonelier you are, the more you see online vomits. Well whatever it is, it is definitely a catching phenomenon. I'm not sure which side I'm on?Hmm..

I'm just so glad to finally have my internet connection and just connect my ipod, get new music, check out on books, movie, events and book my tickets and get out of here every once in a while! Amen to the internet!

whiskey eyes

It's back to the writing board after a breath-taking break in Scotland. It's hard to imagine a place so untouched by human hand. Our first day in Scotland was all about exploring the place and taking in its beauty....so the first day was pretty touristy after a 6 hour drive from london to Scotland. The music in the car was so peppy, it was hard to keep down our spirits...Rihanna played her famous "We found love" about 8 times...followed by David guetta..who helped us keep up the speed...

One of the first places, we saw was the jedenburgh castle welcoming us. The next day we took off to the Edinburgh castle, which was built in the year.....although u know I'm not really the castle types, so we saved up the money for the whiskey tour. As it turns out, there are 4 types of whiskies...highland...lowland...speyside and is lay....im apparently the highland types ;) which is vanilla...its funny how you can wear the smell that you like to drink..kinda weird...the whiskey tour also includes drinking and trying 4 types of whiskey including the whiskey type that you are...after a drunk tour and whiskey eyes..we explored the city with whiskey eyes...which included the pub we made local..the whitemann hart pub, the oldest pub in scotland since 1517....

the next day via the forth bridge....an architectural wonder...was the st.andrews..the oldest golf course and the place of romance..oh yeah..kate middleton and prince william met here...the place has such a sweet and serene feel to it..the harbor in the corner...the greenery...the lil village...perfect and then heading off to a lil coffee shop for a carrot cake and cappuccino...one can see its easy to fall in love here..not just with a person but the place itself...

the next day was the drive to the national park...via glasgow....we stopped by the loch lomond...the view is so breath-taking...with a tea-shop facing the oldest hydraulic power plant...the lake in the middle and surrounded by the little hills....the rain..washing away the ground...the sun coming out of the grey clouds..it makes all songs till date so believable...the picture perfect....the drive..the music..the company...i had a thought too at that moment.."long journeys don't require conversations just good company..."

And on that note...we ended our drive with all the beautiful....

Yes..What if God was one of us?

Listening to Alanis Morisette asking this questions again and again, I had to answer her. I do think that there is a God that exists in all of us. Whether we address it or not, he’s just in us. He is most often seen when we perform acts of kindness and create any kind of art, music, or literature and just make this life worth living for ourselves or for someone else. I think he comes with a smile from one face to the other and sometimes as a hug too.

Every once in a while when I look up in to the skies with those bright stars shining their light in cloudless nights, it seems to suffice as a proof that beyond this life of ours exists this unknown beautiful and I could call it God (it could also just be science and I love science!Science is a form of God in my little world too!). And I think each of us has the ability to reach something deep and unknown in ourselves each day. I think it's that positive liberating feeling most days that's a reminder of the unknown magic. At times it could also be the darkness. I don’t think that darkness has to always last too long. It  mostly depends on what we do with our dark sides, whether we acknowledge our weaknesses and let them destroy us or we turn it in to a challenge and create a miracle out of it. I find my darkest side to be my loneliness and my not being able to accomplish all the colors and dreams that fill my brain each morning. But accepting my fears and that dark side has given me a chance to explore a new world, I let my colors come alive each day on paper and no I don’t feel that lonely anymore or let that feeling of unaccomplishment take over me.  I feel stronger each day and what I find is the God in people who help me believe in myself. The angels that guard me and let me explore my horizons are my Gods.

So, yes Alanis Moriseette , God is one of us. He is in the pure, beautiful and above all the kind and forgiving. As Oprah says he’s a live stream through your music and amen to your music for girls around the world who have had your jagged little pill. Amen to you.

Meins

He said 'Meins' and till the time it remained to 'Meins', her world remained perfect. It meant he would take care of her and the world was her little wonder to play in. What I didn't get is the word meant by playing with someone else's rules and there is that problem I face with rules. Artists don't live by rules infact if it all, they make new ones by which the society abides, adheres and follows. Just by the way for those who don't know artists in my definition are creators and visionaries not just painters and musicians. You need the art to rise.

In a world of mergers and acquisitions, everyone should watch out for what really is theirs and what really never will be. So a Facebook bought a Whatsapp, so is Whatsapp theirs...in a fools fantasy sure. Snapchat turned down the offer but is still making it work right. Guess why? It doesn't quite follow the 'Meins' philosophy. What I find amazing is that ownership of a company, individual and their potentials is a joke on paper and real life. In real life, the real mergers should be collaborative, symbiotic relationships which don't just work on a give and take but on realising real potentials and making a kill for the creative and passionate space. In the business world, it means one word: innovation. What no one could ever think off or believe in and you come create dreams for others to follow. When one tries to curb a spirit and ambition, one will only be met with the most ultimate disappointment in life.

Ownership has a new meaning in the world we live in today. You could only own, merge and combine what has the potential. Say you take someone else's debts and try to balance it with your own credits: Bad investment.

I guess I made many and now it's time to learn the new from the scratch. 'Meins' exist..it exists without limitations, compromises and control otherwise you're doing it wrong. Or so says my experience. Go defend. 

Dominique

They told me fountainheads can't and don't exist anymore. In this fast world of speed and momentum, we as people are constantly evolving, setting up goals, achieving them and moving on to the next best goal. And then on a constant repeat mode of excellence. I wonder if everyone out there moves as fast as I think I do?

Why do I find myself more and more away from crowds and closer to my inner self. Why do I find places, people and small talk rubbish unless it brings something in to my beautiful and peaceful world? Why do I push the underdogs, the bores, the depressed and the cruel away? Have I become the cruel and heartless?

It may have started by being turned away too much and being roughened up too often. My situations have made me who I am today and I follow a discipline I find many people lacking today. Inspite of my order in life, I've come to a point where my heart longs so much more and I feel I can't settle with just anything that comes my way. First I'm afraid I'll hurt the weak in the longer run and second may be I'm still not that heartless.

The fountainhead propagated a theory which fit my vision and imagination of the future. Cold, clean and beautiful structures. I imagined it more colourful honestly but still done to perfection. I did imagine in that bright and cold world, a Howard Roark and a Dominique who never compromised on their ambitions and visions. Yet they could find each other. The book didn't talk about an ending but it did say they were on the way to build up their empires. I'm on that search of finding that empire and my Howard Roark. 

Why am I writing and publishing this today..because I want you out there to remind me if I forget all this in my red wine frenzy and dare to slip again. I have to be strong and I need friends to hold me together and protect me in this time from falling from grace. Help me in my search to find myself again and never lose it again. 

Sommerfest in Stuttgart and the samosa trail

Stuttgart will never cease to surprise me..the same city which lay barren at nights a few months back..is now so crowded..it looks like a midnight sinful carnival. The star-lit streets, the smell of different perfumes mixed with food and beer..wahhhh..so intoxicating.
On Friday as we decided to take a look at our favorite thirst quenching joints, we were met with a surprisingly full city..the usual guitar player playing 'everything's going to be alright'..the parakeet man, the violinist..the street dancers and street artists...so the first thing we did was to take a frozen cappuccino and sit on the stairs to get an overview of what's happening where..soon enough..you could hear the chant of what's on where. The Sommerfest, the screens, oddly dressed foreigners in an Indian attire..so the Indian film festival and the never ending music on the streets. As we paved our way to Palast, we were greeted by the BIG plastic elephant, a sign of the Indian film festival and as luck would have it, my friend just had to have an Indian samosa. It was such a home away from home feeling, drinking a beer at Palast and enjoying a samosa..OMG..absolutely Geile!(The Germans would say that now!)..From the way from Palast to the schlossplatz, we just couldn't ignore the lights from the old library building anymore. We had to stop by there, where the coolest of the coolest sit. It's such a different crowd there too, everyone sitting on the steps under the colorful lights enjoying the same view, enjoying the same music, some humming, some drumming, some silence, some words and the beer. Even under those colorful lights, we could enjoy the starlight. It's such a peaceful and beautiful feeling. Definitely a must try for the romantic! Luckily the S-bahns that day gave us a chance to romance more since they were all cancelled in to the wee-hours..wow..

One would think that the adventure would end on a Friday night but it only got better and bigger on a Saturday night..the latin american bands played along their tunes, the crowds got louder and decided to dance on the Marktplatz! The food variety got bigger and bigger..from Columbia, Cuba, Romania, Ecuador, India, China..and you could name it..it would almost be there..As usual my friend had the usual Samosa craving but guess what they ran out of it..which started with the next adventure..to look for the Samosa in Stuttgart!..A trip through the schlossplatz, where people decided to jump in to the fountains, the Hans im Glück thronging with people and back to the Palast! It's like all roads lead you to the pee-house, yes that's what Palast was or so I have heard...and guess what we found there..SAMOSA!..

It's always so interesting to find what all they could pack in to a small city like Stuttgart. I love the spirit of the city where you could be what you want to be and do what you would want to do (culturally ,creatively and constructively)..you could sing, dance, do a lil jig and no one would really mind :) The full-moon helped with the looniness of course!

Till next weekend..

Cheers..

The crazy times of silence and hackers

In all these times of web blasts, twitters, face book likes and other social media platforms, what catches my attention most is the silence of firms and certain forums.

Recently I attended the less publicized events like a "Silent Friday" which took place on a Thursday and was less than silent. It was one of these concerts held by the owners of one of my favorite coffee houses in Stuttgart called the Galao. The concert was also on a less than known cafe, Cafe Merlin. The concept was simple, it was targeted at office goers, who didn't want to get sloshed on a week night, the place was a bar less known, and the performers were less airy, a group of young musicians caught in a city less public too. Sweet and simple. There were cushions on the floor as a seating arrangement. No food and a pint of beer or a glass of wine were the only little options you had. The night turned in to an overwhelming evening as the music flowed through the small room and the whispering crowds drowned in to the strong music of the struggling artists in Stuttgart.

Another such event I found worth mentioning was the work of the nerds! Yes, I love the nerds as I consider myself as one. It was the work of our hacker community in Stuttgart at a place called "Shack's space". Another less than known event. The nerds gathered in a dingy place painted by street artists, surrounded by computers to hear another newbie in town. The music wasn't of my taste but the evening was so awesome as the hacker's took us in to their labs and showed their abrupt experiments. A new definition to the “cool” factor in Stuttgart.

In a city where the word "culture" and "bio-" never seems to go un-noticed, the little less publicized events seem to take the cake-away. So you have the art galleries, the museum nights, the high-flying concerts, the animation film festivals and then you have these small events that just make your evening worth grinning about. You feel a little cooler!!

This city will never end to surprise me and the opportunities it offers if you have the right spirit ;)  .Can't wait to see what 'less-publicized' event I end up in tonight!

Cheers to a wonderful Friday evening!