On The Road Again..

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin' our way
And our way
Is on the road again..
(Willie Nelson)

Recession..

> Knock Knock...
< ..Who's there ?
> "Recession"..
< Recession... I don't care...
> Hmmm... "You are Fired" !!
< ????????

Dream..

Its indeed depressing to watch whats happening in Mumbai today.. alas..In India since last 8 months.. ..failure of everything.. from administration.. to humanity..its painful..indeed !!

but still...

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream."

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

"I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

"This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

- "I have a Dream" ..Martin Luther King Jr. August 28th 1963

Iron Mountain...

Hiked to Iron Mountain, last Sunday.. Its been a while, I have been for a hike.. so Iron mountain was refreshing..

Approx 20 mins drive from home, next to Poway, 5.6 miles round-trip and 2500 ft high (1000ft gain).. so it was an easy hike.. still we returned with some body achings :) !!

The long hill range on east indeed gives the feeling why wildfires can become so scary.. Small patches of burnt dark-colored land, next to our trail, are indeed reminiscences of witch creek fire from '07.

From top of the peak, the view is marvelous.. 360 deg panoramic view of SD county. With clear sky and sunny day, anything from Pt Loma on west, Tijuana on south, San Vincente reservoir on south-east to Ramona on east was visible. Also QC bldg AQ was an easy catch thru binocs. The never-ending pacific ocean on west was simply breath-taking.. I wondered how the skydiving view from 15000ft would be..

Back to pavellion within 3 hrs :) !!

Can We? Yes.. We Can !!

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

- Barack Hussein Obama

New Eyes..

On Diwali, bought a new telescope. time to upgrade from 6" bazooka to 10" canon. I was using Jon's 10" dob for a while, but now.. bought my own... Orion Intelliscope XT10 Dobsonian.

Mirror: 254mm, 10"
Focal Length: f/4.7, 1200mm

I have realized that, for a beginner, lil bit experienced, the dob with 10" aperture is perfect. It can fit all my needs and will serve me well atleast for couple of years. More objects I learn abt, dob always gives me a glimpse... More magnification I put, dob always show me details.. atleast to keep me satisfied.

After learning heavy star-hopping thru Jon's 10" dob, I have realized that for some of the objects it was lil bit tricky to locate few that don't have any reference stars nearby.. or bumping accidentally into new objects while star hopping and wasn't aware abt what i am looking at.. so I also bought a object locator.

Today I tested the whole system and its pretty good...

Time to begin cosmos hunting soon thru my new eyes.

Burnham's Night..

Midnight.....
There is no sound in the forest -
only the phantom murmur
of the far wind
and the wind's shadow drifting
as smoke
through ebon branches; there a single star
glistens in the heart of night....
A star!
Look skyward now...
and see above...INFINITY
Vast and dark and deep
and endless....your heritage:
Silent clouds of stars,
Other worlds uncountable and other suns
beyond numbering
and realms of fire-mist and star-cities
as grains of sand....
drifting...
Across the void....
Across the gulf of night....
Across the endless rain of years....
Across the ages.
Listen!
Were you the star-born you should hear
That silent music of which the ancient sages spoke
Though in silent words...
Here then is our quest
and our world
and our Home.
Come with me now, Pilgrim of the stars,
For our time is upon us and our eyes
shall see the far country
and the shining cities of Infinity
which the wise men knew
in ages past, and shall know again
in the ages yet to be.
Look to the east....there shines
the Morning Star...soon shall the sunrise come...
We await the Dawn,
Rise, oh eternal light;
Awaken the World!
With trumpets and cymbals and harp and the sound
of glad song!
And now...
The clouds of night are rolled away;
Sing welcome to the Dawn
Of the bright new day!

- From Burnham's Celestial Handbook, by Robert Burnham Jr., 1978.

Berkeley campus..

Visited UC Berkeley campus last weekend. After visiting impressive Stanford or Princeton campus, I was really eager to see Berkeley campus. Standford campus is really beautiful.. full of palm trees and lush green lands... while Princeton campus is full of old architectures and somehow I saw too many things related with "theology" on Princeton campus :)..

The UC Berkeley school campus itself is really good.. next to mountain, with lush green land.. The campanile, a bell-tower, erecting from center of the campus. They have some interesting things on the campus. e.g. There is piece of circular land next to bookstore which says its not owned by any country :) OR they had all world newspapers headline page, in poster format, outside library..so it was fun standing there and reading some of them..from Indian newspaper DNA, they put up colorful advt of Jodha Akbar movie :) OR there were just too many Fraternities buildings on the campus.

There were few weird things also. When I visited auditorium, I saw a crowd of long-hair guys & gals in filthy appearances, attending a rock concert (Sector9). They seemed to be really young.. obviously being in Berkeley, I was expecting too many "geeks" around, but considering their appearances, I was really confused if they were really UC geeks or Hippies...They must be students.. But, when I was passing by football stadium, there were so many real hippies..some of them staying on the sidewalk.. that too next to a business & law school.. I was lil bit shocked.. Quick googling confirmed that Berkeley is indeed a hometown for hippies since 60's .. and students mentality is also changing into hippies :)

There is really something spooky abt Berkley..or probably..I am not used to it !!

Blackhole In The Sun..

Did u watch the solar eclipse? Obviously you didn't.. Me neither. I wish I would have been on north pole or in china atleast..

Here is the (live) webcast of the solar ecplise from China. Check the one with 60 minutes & the commentary. Start around time 35:00 and enjoy next 10 minutes.

The celestial event of 132 seconds is so impressive that the mere video of it poped up a "wow" factor in me!! The corona is fabulous... Its like... black-hole with wings :)

Have u seen movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which mentions abt precise moment of planetary alignment, where all nine (?) planets line up perfectly... That must be the "greatest" view (really ??).. hssh.. but Angelina Jolie wastes time in the cave fighting with stupid people :)

Any way, any such nine(?) planetary alignment is never possible (stupid movies :D) so lets just enjoy our two neighbors aligned, atleast next time, on 22nd July 2009 from India.

The Red Pill..

...I wish it would have been as simple as taking a "red pill"..

The quest for matrix is hard.. Forget the realization.. Its hard to focus on it while "experiencing" it... there are so many "interesting" things within it, that an "abstract thought" of the "illusion" is really agonizing & piercing.. But.. the "red pill" is "probably" the right way, like warmhole in cosmos.. who knows... and quest for it, itself destroys all "practicality"... seems like, loosing both ends..

..Where the hell are you Morpheus??

Malhar..

San-diego weather is excellent these days.. summer time.. but occasionally going thru May gray.. June bloom period..

Any way, during my last india trip, 4 months back, I bought bunch of Indian classical records, but I didn't get a chance to listen to them all.. Yesterday I opened Sanjeev Abhyankar's Miyan Malhar.. ...and guess what... despite the clear sunny weather since last 3 days, it rained today.. heavily !! It didn't rain since last 3 moths and suddenly it poured today..

Its surprising.. possibly coincidental.. probably foolish to say, but... Malhar indeed brings rain :) !!

"Umad Ghumad Garaj Garaj Barsan Ko Aayo Meha"

Phoenix Touchdown..

Phoenix has landed.. This is first time I tracked Mars probe landing "Live".. NASA tv was broadcasting activities in JPL mission control room during phoenix landing... Commentator was mentioning the status of phoenix probe, its location, trajectory, signal strength continuously ... Tension in the control room and the excitement after flawless landing was indeed breathtaking..

This Hollywood style video shows the Phoenix landing drama !!

Phoenix is already active and sending photos.. Lets start digging.. let's quench our thirst, hope we will find "water" !!

नसतेस घरी तू जेव्हा..

One of the masterpieces by Salil Kulkarni and Sandeep Khare॥ The poem does magic with simple words.. music is fabulous.. and Salil's voice is indeed touching !!

Listen here..

नसतेस घरी तू जेव्हा..
जीव तुटका तुटका होतो
जगण्याचे वीरती धागे
संसार फाटका होतो

नभ फाटून वीज पडावी
कल्लोळ तसा ओढवतो
ही धरा दीशाहीन होते
अन्‌ चंद्र पोरका होतो

येतात उन्हे दाराशी
हीरामुसून जाती मागे
खीडकीशी थबकुन वारा
तव गंधावाचून जातो

तव मीठीत वीरघळणाऱ्या
मज स्मरती लाघववेळा
श्वासावीण ह्रुदय अडावे
मी तसाच अगतीक होतो

तू सांग सखे मज काय
मी सांगू या घरदारा ?
समईचा जीव उदास
माझ्यासह मीणमीण मीटतो

ना अजून झालो मोठा
ना स्वतंत्र अजुनी झालो
तुजवाचून उमगत जाते
तुजवाचून जन्मच अडतो !


- संदीप खरे, सलील कुलकर्णी
आयुष्यावर बोलू काही (२००३)

Into the wild

Into the wild.. The movie..story of Chris McCandeless indeed appeals to me.. not literally, but philosophically.. A wild landscape without traces of civilization are spiritually necessary, but Happiness is only real when shared.. so there should be balance of both isolation and society/relationships in human life..

I want to experience this "wilderness" by myself.. philosophically.. but I guess I am too weak to start my search.. Someday I will !!

Eddie Vedder's music & words precisely reflects this philosophy in the soundtrack..
"Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you..."

Checkout the complete lyrics..

Also checkout the soundtrack.. Guitar piece is simply too good to touch your heart.. It won the Grammy !!

NY times review and "Chris's" character analysis is indeed thought provoking..

Tilak Shyam..

Attended an Indian classical concert by Pt Vishwa-Mohan Bhat today.. He played for almost 3.5 hrs. A great feast after a long time... To my surprise, Pt Ravi Shankar ji showed up for the concert, probably being native San Diegan. As per his request, Pt Vishwa-Mohan ji played a composition in Raga "Tilak Shyam".

"Jaane Kaise Sapanon Mein Kho Gaee Aakhiyaan
Mai To Hoo Jaagee, Moree So Gaee Aakhiyaan"

He mentioned that the piece is composed by Pt Ravi Shankar himself and whenever he played that tune, he always cried. I didn't understand what he meant by that... Initially, he sang for couple of minutes and then he played the whole composition for a while. But, at the end of it, Pt Vishwa-Mohan ji literally cried. I was really shocked by what I was witnessing.. I have attended so many concerts, I have seen/heard/read, artist describing the philosophy and emotions in a composition.. but this is first time I witnessed a big-shot being so heartfelt. Probably, Panditji must have plucked few notes deep in his heart, Old memories must have popped up in his mind and he just wasn't able to control himself in the end !!

It was truly one of the best concerts, I have ever attended in my life. I guess, "Tilak Shyam" is now imprinted on my brain for lifetime now..

> The "Tilak Shyam" song originally composed for movie Anuradha, sung by Lata: Here on YouTube
> The "Tilak Shyam" composition played by Pt Ravi Shankar: Here on MusicIndiaOnline.

At the end of the concert, I got a chance to look at his "Mohan Veena", slide guitar.. I never got a chance to look at it so closely.. I knew that it has 20 strings, unlike regular guitar of 6 strings, but I was unaware abt the complexity of the instrument itself. These strings are not just parallel but in mesh format. Out of twenty, 7 strings are in parallel (like regular guitar), while remaining 13 strings are tiny in length and in a mesh format running diagonally, to upper 3 strings. All these 13 strings have a small stone woven in it, which can slide on it. It must be really heard to control these stones to play notes on that string... With an impulse, I really wanted to touch panditji's guitar, but... :) !!

Along with "Tilak Shyam", he played "Maru Bihag" at length, a composition in "Des", piece from his Grammy award winning album "A meeting by the River", and one of his latest composition recorded in LA.

Rounders..

These days, I am really hooked to the game of poker.

Around six months back, Shaan gave us first glimpse of poker.. Obviously at that time, we didn't know anything abt it.. and we kept on loosing... but more you play or more you loose, then more you grasp the game.. and now.. we are not doing bad...

Qualcomm had a poker tournament last week, and all of us played there.. Around 200 people signed up.. and guess what... I survived in top 40 people. :) .. thats not bad considering only my 6 months poker experience.. Infact my buddies Dilip and Sarath were in top 10 players... that was simply unbelievable... I am sure, if Shaan would have been there, he would have been a champion :) !!

In AZ, I used to browse thru some poker games on TV, but I always felt that who the hell watches these things? what's so interesting in it? Or whoever watches these games, probably they don't have nothing better to do... but guess what.. my perspective is totally changed now.. Its not only the cards or money you are looking for, but its the psychology, with which these poker geniuses play, is worth to watch...

Poker is indeed one of the best psychological games of life.. probably like Chess...but in Chess, Strategy outplays the Psychological aspect.. In poker, I think, playing cards is just a backdrop.. Its the mentality of your opponent you are indeed dealing with... If you can judge your opponent.. Bingo.. you have earned yourself a "Big Pot"... But if you have mixed your emotions, grudges, vengeance in your play... then..Oh Boy.. you are in trouble.. Poker "Tilt" always "sucks" you in the game towards devastation... and I have experienced it closely...

If you haven't played poker yet, then you are indeed missing something in life... At-least start with Rounders and get inspired :) !!

Sometimes I feel that, God (??) is playing poker against us... against all of us... He not only knows his own cards, but he knows my cards also... so obviously he can not loose in the game.. He is already aware abt the outcome of the game, but its me who is fighting for my own survival.. and keep on trying to make a good judgment to find out the outcome of this play....

Somewhere I read abt an essay, where Author successfully compares the teachings of Aristotle with Poker.. "The correct approach, whether it's to poker or life, is to focus on making correct decisions rather than on favorable outcomes that may be dependent on other factors"

Indeed...... These days God (??) is playing heads-up with me... trying to put me in "Tilt", but.... any way.. Let's not get into details :) !!

Here is the video of last few rounds of championship in Qualcomm tourney.. Audio is intentionally disabled.. You can see me and Dilip standing behind the dealer.

Sunset with "Green Flash"

Hiked to Torry Pines hill, on Saturday. Its just a mile walk.. but gains elevation pretty quickly.. Wide view of ocean from top of the hill is indeed marvelous.

I was just in time to see sunset. On west side, near horizon, there were few clouds and beautiful "red ball" was passing through it. Obviously there wasn't anything different than usual sunset, until I pointed my binocular. Binoculars revealed a totally different view of sunset. Because of clouds on the horizon, top part of the red sun had a "green tinge". The green tinge remained for 5-10 seconds and vanished.. Again, when sun passed through next layer of clouds, the green tinge reappeared on top part of sun above clouds.. Seemed like for every layer of clouds, green tinge appeared..

when I was a kid, I remember reading an article in physics magazine about: how a scientist caught a glimpse of violet color in the setting sun. To have a longer view of that "violet tinge" during sunset, he drove from mountain top, downslope, watching sun. Thus he saw the violet color for almost a minute. Obviously the article was pointing to highly improbable view.. means.. first of all its really difficult to see violet color in sunset because of our eye limitations (RGB sensors in retina) and additionally catching the glimpse for a minute and driving at the same time is hilarious :) ... but still... it made me realize that you can see different colors in sun other than typical red and yellow during sunset.. So out of curiosity, at that time, I also tried to see violet color in sunset from a nearby hill across my home in Pune, but I never saw any colors other than red and yellow.

..and today, unexpectedly, I saw green tinge in the sunset.. With naked eyes, I didn't see anything, but binocular revealed this green tinge. To confirm that it wasn't binoc optical aberration, simple google search revealed wealth of information.. People have not only seen green tinge, but they have witnessed "green flash" and "blue flash" ..

Indeed a "earthly" event to witness..

PS: Think before pointing your binocs to the Sun.. With normal Sun, it will surely damage your eyes, but I felt the brightness of Setting sun also, through binocs.. but "green tinge" sight was too beautiful to control myself :)

(Photo credit : Galax Lux, Mario Cogo)

Anza..

Last weekend, went for a hike in Anza Borrego Dessert State Park. Spring wildflowers are bloomed heavily since last one month.. it will probably go down in couple of weeks.. so.. visited the place on time..

Five of us went to Borrego Palm Canyon Hike.. We walked more than expected.. probably 5 miles round-trip. Though our initial objective was to see wildflowers, I guess our instincts (or stupidity :)) pushed us to hike more than browsing through wildflowers... still.. wildflowers were all over the trail.. Dessert Dandelions, Chuparosa, BeaverTail Cacti, Barrel cacti flowers.. bla bla.

The Oasis at the end of the palm canyon trail is fabulous.. its surprising to see a dense population of palms on a stream in the dessert.. must have been planted artificially 10-15 years back..probably.. who knows.. but nice place to sit and have some snacks..

On the return path of hike, at around 5pm, we faced heavy rain.. Obviously thunderstorms were estimated overnight, but I didn't expect that it will start so early... but.. it was fun.. first of all, after a long time, I went for a hike and that too in rain.. awesome .. infact its fun to see "Elephant running in the rain thru mountains.. Isn't it Shaan :) ?" surely something to remember by :) ..

On the return drive to SD, Anza mountains were full of snow.. while going to Anza, these mountains were lush green and on the way back the were as white as milk :) .. had a quick stop to have a snow ball fight !!

btw, Happy "Vernal Equinox" !!