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A Butterfly Life


Have you ever heard of the concept of ‘Butterfly life’? I’ve seen it in a movie some years back. I forgot the name of the movie. But it really touched me. That movie is basically a narration. The narrator always carries a stop watch with him. Some times he clicks it. His lover once asks him why he is carrying it always. Then he replies, “ I am adding these moments to my butterfly life. Let me explain. Have you ever noticed butterflies? How beautiful they are? How lovely and happy they appear always? Ever wondered about how long they live? After coming out from the cocoon, some of their life span is only around one day. In that one day, they do everything. They drink honey, fly and play a lot, fall in love, mate with their partners, reproduce, enjoy their life, do everything they can do in one day and go to a peaceful sleep by the end of the day. A sleep from which they will never wake up. Yet they enjoy their entire life, our single day, or 24 hours. They take the maximum out of it. With no complains, no worries, they spent their whole life happily. We, the humans, our life span is around 70-80years. Yet how many years, months, days and hours we waste worrying or planning over the silly things which may mean nothing to us in the end. So whenever I think I am spending my time truly happy, like a butterfly, I click this stop watch to add the time to my share of butterfly life”

Saying this he checked his watch and said “I have lived over 19 hours of butterfly life in the last 30 years since I have started this”

This touched me deeply. That was one of the situations, I really thought about how I spend the time of my one typical day. One day mean nothing to us, most of the days we spend meaningless doing nothing of much importance, without even realizing the value of the time we ware wasting. Only when I heard this that I realized the value of each moment in our life and wondered how precious moments can be. Later there should be no regrets. Because I have read this some where,

“Dream what you want to dream
Go where you want to go
Be what you want to be
Because you’ve only one life
And one chance to do all the
Thing you want to do”

ps: What I have described here may not be exactly same as in the movie [the dialogue], but the sum and substance is the same.

Mission to Mall

The time was around 1830hrs. I was walking really fast to get to the basement of my building. I looked back to see whether anyone was following me. None was there to be seen. The place was almost deserted. I walked fast to the direction where I parked my bike. I had a feeling that someone was following me. My contact was waiting for me. The scheduled time was 1845hrs and the rendezvous point was a mall near by. I switched off my mobile. Just for a moment I got a glimpse of someone just disappearing around the corner. But I couldn’t let that happen. I can’t let anyone distracting me from this assignment. I have waited long for this day to come.
I started my bike and got out of the basement and slowly entered the courtyard. Suddenly I sped my bike in to the road in front of me ignoring the “Dead slow: High speed traffic ahead” sign board. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another bike getting out of the basement. There was heavy traffic in the road. I took a left turn after sometime and entered in to a less crowded road. I wanted to reach the mall in time. I can’t afford to let my contact go away. He traveled half way around the world for this meeting. He had some computer discs with precious data I had custom ordered him to bring from the country he was doing his previous assignment.
I decided not to use the mall’s parking facility. No records [parking tickets] of me being there are to be found. So I parked my bike near another building behind a construction site. I started walking towards the mall. The mall was heavily crowded. I tried to merge in to the crowd. I took my mobile, switched it on and called the contact.
“I haven’t had my lunch, so I will be there in the food court”, heard the voice from other end.
“Ok, I will be there soon”, I said.
I again checked whether I reached there in time, I was not too late. I looked around and started towards the food court. The time was 1900hrs. I scanned the area for any immediate threats and also to find out my contact. He was waiting there at one of those tables, eating some thing, some continental dish I guess. I made sure no one else was watching us and decided to proceed.
I joined him. “Hey man, how are ya?” I asked.
“Nice to see you man, its almost half an year”, he smiled.
“You got the data I asked for?”
“For sure man, I do”
“Show it to me then”. I took my laptop and switched it on, used its finger print scanning facility and logged in. He gave me a small baggage. My mind was racing. This is the moment I have been waiting for the past 6 months. I opened it. Yeah! The discs were there. I inserted the DVDs one by one in my laptop to see if it was for real. Yeah, all of them were for real. A smile came in to my face.
All of the computer games I asked were there. The games I dreamed having. My friend, who just came from Japan after his onsite assignment, brought me those. Bioshock, Crysis, Lost Planet Xtreme Condition, Shadowrun, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, HALO 2, Half Life 2, DOOM 3, Need for Speed Carbon, Age of Empires III etc.
“So are you happy?” He asked me.
“Ofcourse man, you are my best friend”, saying that we hugged each other.
Later we had a nice talk over the dinner together, after 6 months.

ps: Except for some minor details, all the incidents in this blog are true. Thanks to him, one of my best friends who gave me this idea. :)

Steps to take a BSNL Broadband connection in Bangalore - Part II

I have been waiting for one week after my last blog to continue my quest of acquiring a BSNL broadband connection. Below are the milestones which I covered during that.

19 Sept 2007, Wednesday
I tried many times to connect to the contact number given at the time of application. Finally I made it through. Some one at the other end answered. She said at least it will take 2 weeks, i.e. one more week from now. When I asked about the process and status of my connection, she tried to explain the process, my application has to undergo before finally [magically] turning in to the broadband connection. But, she preferred the language Kannada, which is alien to me. I only understood some words like, telephone exchange, connection point etc. Those too were heavily accented.

21 Sept 2007, Friday
My friend who went to another BSNL office got another form, though the contents are same ;) How many forms do they have? Now itself I have seen the one from Internet, the one I filled and the one my colleague got. I guess the BSNL people don’t even know what exactly to do. Also, they said to him ‘frankly’, “It will take one month for you to get the connection”.

29 Sept 2007, Saturday
I wanted to call them last Wednesday, but I was not well and also busy preparing to go to my home town. Today morning while I was on my way, I got a call from a guy. He started off with Kannada, but when I heard the terms ‘Internet, phone connection, BSNL, broadband’ etc, I understood what it is. I told him that I don’t know Kannada and we settled on Hindi, which neither of us knew perfectly. I told him I am in Kerala and gave my friend’s number to contact. But somehow he conveyed me the message that, phone connection is ready [couldn’t understand what he said about Internet] and he needed me personally [with my id proof] there to give the connection. He gave me his number and said to call him once I am back.

3 Oct 2007, Wednesday
I asked one of my friends, who knows Kannada to call him and ask what is the status. When she called he said he will come and ‘install’ this Saturday. I don’t know whether he will give only the land line or both broadband and land line.

5 Oct 2007, Friday
I wanted to confirm about him coming to my apartment tomorrow. So I told my friend to call him again. [Thanks to her] He said we will meet in front of a hotel near my apartment tomorrow at 11:30am and I should have the receipt and id proof then.
In the mean time, I talked to a colleague of mine who took BSNL connection. He actually applied for the Home UL900 plan, but he got the Home 500 plan with a download limit of 2GB per month. He applied for a plan change, but it took him one month. He told me that the Home 500 plan was having really good speeds as compared to UL900 plan. The 2GB download limit for the Home 500 plan is very tight to maintain, but that plan has got unlimited connectivity between 2am and 8am.

6 Oct 2007, Saturday
Again the magical moment got postponed. I guess the BSNL people made it their policy that you have to realize the value of the broadband before having it. I called the guy and gave the precise location of my apartment. He said he knows the place and he will be here with in 12noon. I waited till 11:30 and called him again. Then he said some problem about the telephone number and it will be finalized only by today evening and that he will draw the cable on Monday. [Last Saturday when he called, he said everything was ready] Also he gave me the number of another person to call on Monday. I will have to come back to my apartment from office when he comes.

8 Oct 2007, Monday
Finally!!!!!!!!! I didn’t get the Internet connection. It is not a typo, I didn’t get it. I contacted the new guy [from office] and found out that he doesn’t even know Hindi. He said something to me in Kannada and all I understood was a telephone number and a name with a suffix JTO. I managed to convey him that I applied for a new connection and didn’t get anything and asked him when he will come. He said he will come to my place at 12:30pm. Later I called again to confirm that I will get both the phone line and Internet connection. But communicating with this guy was completely impossible. All I understand was that guy saying “sub kuch milta hain aaj” [You will get everything today]. My mind jumped with joy. But I told my friend [who know Kannada] to talk to him by around 11:30pm. He said he will be there within 15 minutes. So my roommate and I rushed to the apartment. We waited and waited. Called him two times in between and he say “10 minutes sir, I will come in 10 minutes”. We waited for around 1 hour. Finally he came. Then only I realized the actual situation. He came to install the phone. After installing the phone and activation [which will take another 2 days] only, the broadband connection process will be initiated. The telephone connection is supposed to be installed & activated at least with in 10 days from the day of application. The line man said something about the entering data to computer, shortage of modem and all. But I called the JTO [Got his number from the line man] to confirm all these. He said to call him after the activation of the land line. It will then take around 10-15 days [so he told] to get the broadband. [I am expecting a delay of one more month]. So that’s the story till now. All I got till now is the land line. Once again I am in to a waiting state.
Above all of these, when I called a friend of mine, he said he bought the wireless gadget of BSNL directly from the customer care centre. It got activated within one day. But I am trying to convince myself, broadband is better, as it will give you 256Kbps of speed [exceptions are there] while the other will give a max speed of 146Kbps. The other details are it has unlimited wireless connectivity all over Bangalore and up to 5Kms outside the city limits and the equipment cost is Rs7000/- [either one time payment or Rs200/- per month] and a usage charge of ~450 per month.
There will be a final part of this. [Trilogy] But I can’t guarantee when. It depends on the BSNL people. I hope it will be soon.

How to unscrew a Pulsar 180 CC Petrol Tank [2006 Model with Digital Meter]

It is recently that I had relocated to the city of Bangalore. The first thing almost everyone whom I asked said about Bangalore was its traffic. Everyone was so tired because of the traffic blocks it seems. Some of my friends say it takes around 1-2hrs even to cover 1-2kms in the peak traffic hours. The public transportation is almost pathetic and the auto-rikshaw drivers think they are above the law. [That is a subject for another blog]
I own a Pulsar 180, 2006 model, with the digital meter. I was planning to bring my bike when I relocated. However, first I wanted to experience the traffic conditions of Bangalore for myself. With in one week, I understood a two wheeler is a necessity here. After 1 month of successful survival in Bangalore without a 2-wheeler, I decided to bring my ‘machine’ to the garden city. The question was how? I had 3 choices.
  • Train [Too many formalities + railway station far away from my both my home town and place of stay in Bangalore]
  • Ride all the way [which I preferred, but my parents don’t]
  • Volvo Bus [Easy, but have to remove the tank]
Considering all the cons and pros, I decided to go for the option of Volvo. When I enquired about this, I came to know that Pulsar is ‘taller’ than usual bikes. So I may have to unscrew the petrol tank. I went straight to a Bajaj service centre and asked for help. They told me its no big deal and showed me how to. It really is very easy. I will demonstrate it here.
  1. Unlock the left side panel, only then you can take out the seat. For that, insert the key in the keyhole, unlock it, and pull it from the left side first and slide it to the left as shown. [The left side of the side panel is inserted in to a hole in the tank]
  2. There you can see a small loop. Pull it gently and pull up the seat simultaneously.
  3. Unlock and take out the right side panel also, just like you did with the left one because it is also attached to the tank as shown before.
  4. Now we have to switch of the petrol valve from tank to the engine and pull the tube out from the pipe. Make sure petrol is not leaking. Note: You can choose whether to empty the tank or not. But it is better to empty it if you are transporting it. Always Safety first.
  5. The tank is fitted to the chassis with a screw and a bolt. This is the only part were you need any tool. Use a no: 12 [I am not sure whether its 12, the guy at the service centre told me so] spanner to unscrew it.
  6. Slowly pull the tank to the back side [the side of the seat as shown].
  7. Do not pull it out completely. There are 2 more connection under the tank. Raise the tank so that you can see the connections. One is an air hole [As told by the mechanic], which is connected directly to the tank. The other is an electrical connection which I guess is used for the fuel indicator. Retrace the wire from the tank and you can see a black connection. Simply pull it out.
  8. That’s it! You have successfully dismantled a Pulsar 180CC petrol tank and now it is ready for transportation.

Colours

I always loved colours. The way they change the moods, always amazed me. I even used to associate colours to common thing like actions or letters or numbers and all. I know it may sound crazy to the readers. But I use to do it and I liked it. It’s really amazing how we can make new colours out of mixing some basic ones, right? Somehow almost always, I knew which colours to mix to get the one colour I want.

The picture on the right side of this page [my profile picture] is the result of such an experiment by me to create a colour combo. I think I succeeded up to some point. If you ask me what my inspiration for all these, I don’t know. But I do know this much, whenever I see something beautiful, like a landscape, or some beautiful lights or a path or anything of beauty, the first thing I feel like doing is to copy it to a paper using colours. [I mostly do landscapes] The feeling/satisfaction you will get after such a creation is unexplainable. You feel enormously proud looking at your creation (if it is a fine one). Simply you can say “I feel like God”. I can imagine how He may have felt after creating all his creations [according to The Holy Bible]. God may have felt immense satisfaction seeing all his creations. It surely does need a lot of imagination to do all these. Here are some of my experiments with colors.

The Dream - Watercolor
Harbour Dusk - Watercolor

The Mystery - Glass Painting