And they play on...

(Mon ami Rajan loves the way devil says "throw away that stupid lance,It's really not your style". I agree. Listen to it. Mail me if you want the song)

Chris De Burgh - Spanish Train

There's a spanish train that runs between
Quadalquivir and old saville,
And at dead of night the whistle blows,
And people hear she's running still...

And then they hush their children back to sleep,
Lock the doors, upstairs they creep,
For it is said that the souls of the dead
Fill that train ten thousand deep!!

Well a railwayman lay dying with his people by his side,
His family were crying, knelt in prayer before he died,
But above his head just a-waiting for the dead,
Was the devil with a twinkle in his eye,
"well god's not around and look what i've found,
This one's mine!!"

Just then the lord himself appeared in a blinding flash of light,
And shouted at the devil, "get thee hence to endless night!!"
But the devil just grinned and said "i may have sinned,
But there's no need to push me around,
I got him first so you can do your worst,
He's going underground!!"

"but i think i'll give you one more chance"
Said the devil with a smile,
"so throw away that stupid lance,
It's really not your style",
"joker is the name, poker is the game,
We'll play right here on this bed,
And then we'll bet for the biggest stakes yet,
The souls of the dead!!"

And i said "look out, lord, he's going to win,
The sun is down and the night is riding in,
That train is dead on time, many souls are on the line,
Oh lord, he's going to win!.."

Well the railwayman he cut the cards
And he dealt them each a hand of five
And for the lord he was praying hard
Or that train he'd have to drive...

Well the devil he had three aces and a king,
And the lord, he was running for a straight,
He had the queen and the knave and the nine and ten of spades,
All he needed was the eight...

And then the lord he called for one more card,
But he drew the diamond eight,
And the devil said to the son of god,
"i believe you've got it straight,
So deal me one for the time has come
To see who'll be the king of this place,
But as he spoke, from beneath his cloak,
He slipped another ace...

Ten thousand souls was the opening bid,
And it soon went up to fifty-nine,
But the lord didn't see what the devil did,
And he said "that suits me fine",
"i'll raise you high to hundred and five,
And forever put an end to your sin",
But the devil let out a mighty shout, "my hand wins!!"

And i said "lord, oh lord, you let him win,
The sun is down and the night is riding in,
That train is dead on time, many souls are on the line,
Oh lord, don't let him win..."

Well that spanish train still runs between,
Quadalquivir and old saville,
And at dead of night the whistle blows,
And people hear she's running still...
And far away in some recess
The lord and the devil are now playing chess,
The devil still cheats and wins more souls,
And as for the lord, well, he's just doing his best...

And i said "lord, oh lord, you've got to win,
The sun is down and the night is riding in,
That train is still on time, oh my soul is on the line,
Oh lord, you've got to win..."

Mom's Worries

Uncle lands in B'lore.
We wake up in the morning and I ask "So where do you want to go?"
"To the Barber's"
"What?" I smell a school of salmons.
"I want to go to the barber, lets go together"
Mom's sent Anna kaka on a mission.
Guess when your son refuses to chop the crop and insists that he is aiming for the Jesus Christ look and daugther cuts hair shorter than him, its a matter of great worry in Mommydom.
"At least a shave" kaku tried to negotiate, I refuesed.
"You never said anything to Tai"
"But you look as if you are ill (And she looks cuter)"
The the part implicit in the statement, I agere.
What say you?

Before	After

Atheists

"Some people say God died during the Partition in 1947. He may have died in 1971 during the war. Or he may have died yesterday here in Pondicherry in an orphanage. That's what some people say, Pi. When I was your age, I lived in bed, racked with polio. I asked myself every day, 'Where is God? Where is God? Where is God?' God never came. It wasn't God who saved me--it was medicine. Reason is my prophet and it tells me that as a watch stops, so we die. It's the end. If the watch doesn't work properly, it must be fixed here and now by us. One day we will take hold of the means of production and there will be justice on earth."

"This was all a bit much for me. The tone was right--loving and brave --but the details seemed bleak. I said nothing. It wasn't for fear of angering Mr. Kumar. I was more afraid that in a few words thrown out he might destroy something that I loved. What if his words had the effect of polio on me? What a terrible disease that must be if it could kill God in a man"

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

Expectation!!!

All excited about my weekend visit to Pondi, plans cancelled, lamest of lame excuses by a friend. Get invited by kids for Christmas, tied shoelaces for Kiran, Elisa and Alex.
Whole of east coast hit by tsunami. Me in Bangalore. Called up Pondi and BBSR.
Started for Sri Sri's campus, took a different turn, landed at some lake in the middle of nowhere. Birds, Blue and Quiet. Peaceful.
Trousers wet and rolled up, finally land at "Art of Living", smile at everyone extracting just one "Jai gurudev" with an affected simper.
Hard work, percentile of 99.18 and not a single call.
Disappointed?
Waiting for the positive to surface...










(Snaps taken with my phone :)

Survived

If you get my drift....: Apposition#comments: "Constricted francophile byways. The barren sea, the sodium winds of its womb, a dilapidated jetty holding on to hope. Walking within. Jaundiced bars of bonhomie - some canopied, some celestial. Apparitions, renegades, saints and the adolescent moon. Long shadows and dark skins.

Pondicherry."

Over a hundred dead.
I survived.
So did Le Cafe, and Qualite Bar.

Yellowing pages of an old book

A thousand years, you said,
as our hearts melted.
I look at the hand you held,
and the ache is hard to bear.
~Lady Heguri
(Translated from Japanese)

Is there anything wrong?