The Sane Lunatic

When I was informed that my college is going to be holding the convocation/graduation ceremony this month, I wasn't sure if it was worth the effort of flying home. But having shared that information with the people around me, they made me realize that this was a one of a kindin a lifetime event. So, I went, this past weekend. The ceremony was scheduled on Saturday morning (23rd July) and they asked us to reach at the rude hour of 9 AM. But, being the punctual sort, I reached a lil ahead of time. The only people there at that hour were a couple of students and a few of my teachers. It was especially nice to meet my class coordinator and favorite teacher through college.  As the time passed, more and more of my friends and batch mates arrived at the venue. Some I'd met on my Delhi trip last month, most whom I hadn't seen in over a year. We got our rental graduation coats & hats, cheap stuff but served its purpose. We were all seated over an hour before the chairm...

Aaallllriighty then!! I have NOT been riding for quite some time now, for a variety of reasons ranging from illness to laziness. But this morning I finally went for a cool early morning off-road ride with the group again. There were a total of 11 riders and a few new faces which always adds to the experience.  We went to our favorite-nearby off-road trail, the one near the Gunjur plantations & farms. We loaded up all the bikes in the cars and headed off. Most of the guys had rented off-road cycles for the ride and boy did that come in handy for them. Oh, and for the record, the cycle used by one of the riders, a variant of the brand Mongoose, a total beast! Its been about 2 months since I last went on that trail, and the weather has been a bit...rainy, as it should be in this city at this time of year. What I didn't know was that this was also the time when those farmers till the land for the next batch of crops. So, that meant the trail we used to ride, instead of fla...

Yes, I know, I know. It's not an imaginative nor an intelligent title, but it about sums up what is happening around the world. You have Donald Trump as the Republican Nominee for the American Presidency, up against Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton, and the scarier thing is that Trump might win. Not because the majority supports him, but maybe because fans of other democratic party candidates dislike Hillary enough to vote for Trump (WTF?!). The UK just recently held a referendum where the people voted to leave the EU. This decision was so obviously fraught with economic and social repercussions  that may never be repairable, yet it happened. Thanks to the ignorance of the populace and to the delight of the leave campaign supporters Nigel Farage & Boris Johnson. Of course, not long after the results of the referendum the value of the pound against the US dollar plummeted and threw various stock markets out of whack, across the globe. There has been a growing frequency ...

This has been my first year without a summer. At least one without the kind of summer I'm used to. In terms of weather, being a Delhi kid, the only summer I know of is the one with days so hot that it feels like you're being slow roasted and other days when the warm breeze would hit your insides through your clothes and make you ill for a week. The summer where rainy days were the best and became a cause for celebration.  The summer where you would enter an air conditioned room and instantly feel happy for a moment. In Bengaluru, except for that one relatively hot month, the weather is perpetually pleasant. Why or how is that a negative may not make sense to some of you, it does not sit well with a body tuned to deal with comparatively harsh extremities of weather in terms of hot and cold. The constant damp and rainy weather has thrown my body's adaptive mechanisms of balance somewhat. But, thanks to my trusty hoodie jackets, I'm coping with this annoying pleasantn...