AR Rahman Jai Ho Concert 2010 @ Fairfax

I just saw the ARR Jai Ho concert 2010 at Fairfax, VA yesterday evening.

The day he announced he was coming back on a concert tour in dc, i knew i had to be there. I was there when the last time he visited, i think 2007, it was too much fun that night.

I kept delaying buying tickets, and eventually bought expensive tickets to the show. I reached the show 10 minutes late thanks to the traffic at the entrance of the college. Anyway I hate to miss even a single minute of the show, but what can i do........

The show was much more polished, very well organized (choreography, tempo, dances, graphics, backdrops, everything......).

Loved
1. Contortionists who simply stood in one hand.
2. The other aerial acrobats
3. Loved MJ tribute, oh never expected to see that............
4. Loved "Mehendi hai rachne wali", "Only You", "Khwaja mere khawaja".
5. Loved the young kid (Mcnala or wat his name was from the promos).


Fan gripes
1. No Sivamani (not that the other guy didnt do an excellent job, but still sivamani.........).
2. No Sukhwinder Singh (His heartful renditions were missed this time)
3. No Songs from (Yuvraaj, Ghazini, Raavan), why????
4. Hello Mr. Puchkottu (or watever from Iruvar), It was great, It was for a diehard arr buff like me(I listen to tamil rahman songs as well, without understanding a single word of tamil) but you have many more gems especially (Aaromale , god that song is out of this world).

Some sanskrit

I just realised i have been postponing some of my exam dates every now and then. And then the best way to tackle it is, just do it. Yep, Nike ran that logo and has inspired a generation. The words are simple but profound. "Just do it", heard from the creator that he was inspired from a convicted felon in colorado, who was getting executed and just asked the guards to "Let's do it".

Well i just ran into some sanskrit which was going through my head for long. Like some of the lines were so easy and had deep profound meaning underlying those lines. And the one that really used to inspire, and has inspired me for long has been this..........

अलसस्य कुतो विद्या अविद्यस्य कुतो धनम् ।
अधनस्य कुतो मित्रम् अमित्रस्य कुतस्सुखम् ॥

alasasya kuto vidyaa avidyasya kuto dhanam |
adhanasya kuto mitram asmitrasya kutassukhaM ||

In other words, if you are a lazy, you will not be able to get knowledge and education. Without an education it is difficult to earn money. If you do not have money, you will not have many friends. And if you don't have many friends you cannot be happy.

If you liked the above sanskrit sloka then do visit this site

So where does the above take me. I remember in class X, XI, XII, i use to study like crazy and again back in syracuse university. Posted long study hours every day and was pretty focussed on things on hand. I need to get that discipline and dedication back in my life. I still can't believe i use to sleep less than 5 hours everyday and was studying more than 12 hours of my own during that IIT entrance craze..... I wish i didn't go for that physics tuition, it just killed my appetite for any physics in my life.

Somerset Maugham "The Painted Veil" I got to reread this book. There was a very bizarre line about love in the novel. I may be wrong here it read something like " Love is a very selfish act, when you impose yourself on to the other person, and hope that the other person is okay with everything that is thrown at her", something like this. I know the movie was different then the novel. I had a very different view of the world he created through the words in his novel, the movie was spoiling all those imaginations and i had to literally stop the movie midway.

Interesting Quotes

I often read articles here and there and run into some very meaningful quotes.

This will be a placeholder for all the quotes.

Inspirational Quotes
1. “Barriers don’t exist when one decides to reach a goal in life”

Lets run!!!

In one of my earlier blogs i did mention about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico. Yes its there down below.

I just ran into one more good article on running in nytimes and i thought it might interest you all as well. How humans are superior to other animals in running? How we have evolved over generations(feets, joints, toes etc) to outrun other animals?

Here's some more

Spitballs and Goofers

So i ran into "Rationale Saurus" last night. He didnt look all that hunky dory so i thought i rather sit down with him and straigthen some things.


Me : How are you?
"Rationale Saurus" : Well lay off....... I am not in the mood to answer anything.

Me : So what happened? You can't get away without telling me.
"Rationale Saurus" : If you so insist. We just played spitballs.

Me : SpitBalls?
"Rationale Saurus" : Oh yeah.

Me: Whats that?
"Rationale Saurus" : Well for starters, someone spits, you make a ball, catch that, spit some more, throw it again, spit some more, till you make a huge spitball. And you keep playing there's no time limit.

Me : Sounds fun?
"Rationale Saurus" : Yep, it is when other people are involved.

Me : So what actually happened last night?
"Rationale Saurus" : Nothing, a huge spitball was generated yesterday noon maybe, and became a huge one by the evening.

Me : And who were playing this?
"Rationale Saurus" : All the goofers, me, myself, irene and the whole battallion.

Me : Does spitball solve problems?
"Rationale Saurus" : Heck no!! It leaves bad taste in everyone's mouth, since there is so much spitting involved especially if you care about all the people involved.

Me : How do you stop playing spitballs?
"Rationale Saurus" : Well for starters, dont react emotionally(which is pretty pretty hard, if the goofers involved are from the family). There's tact and then there's forgiveforgetaus and moveonlifesaurus.

Me : What's forgiveforgetaus, now you are confusing me?
"Rationale Saurus" : Well its simple forgive and forget. Thats a gothic word, has deep meaning(maybe asterisk comics would love to patent this word). It has deep ramifications often misunderstood by all the goofers in the world including me, myself, irene and the whole battalion.

Me : And whats moveonlifesaurus?
"Rationale Saurus" : Its just Move on with life, again very simple, but very very hard to follow.

Me : Did you take the blue pill/ red pill when Morpheus offered you one?
"Rationale Saurus" : I took the blue pill unlike neo who took the red pill. But I do try movonlifesaurus and forgiveforgetaus.


Me : So it seems you dont like spitballs
"Rationale Saurus" : Oh yeah!! No wonder i keep watching tv, all these goofers contact generate lots of not so constructive spitballs.

Me : Wow you have a spitball cure, watch more tv
"Rationale Saurus" : Yeah, every one of us goofers has some vices. I have this. I am not sure watching tv can eliminate all the spitballs.

Me : How can you eliminate the spitballs?
"Rationale Saurus" : Take the red pill. Drink lots of fluids then implement forgiveforgetaus and movonlifesaurus. Again easier said then done. Remember only Neo took the red pill, everyone of us has taken the blue pill.


Me : So you mean to say your last night was not fun?
"Rationale Saurus" : Nope, made me write this whole thing in third person.

Me : You love writing in third person and interviewing yourself?
"Rationale Saurus" : Oh yeah, thats the fun part.

Me : But it doesnt make sense. Looks like you are rambling to yourself?
"Rationale Saurus" : At 5 am in the morning, having not slept all night, writing in third person helps.

Me : So who gets these?
"Rationale Saurus" : My niece would have loved it. Because i and her connect on these spiritual mundane inane things. She will get my spitballs and goofers and the asterisk comics, others would say eeks weird, whats wrong with this one goofer.

Me : Who else will get this?
"Rationale Saurus" : I dont know if i throw it out again to the batallions, they wont get it again, and generate a huge spitball again.


Me : I just googled didnt find your deep meaning word (Spitballs, goofers, forgiveforgetaus, moveonlifesaurus), did you just make them?
"Rationale Saurus" : Oh yeah, i do get creative at times.

Me : Who's Irene?
"Rationale Saurus" : The girl in red dress(remember the matrix).

Walkman vs MP3 player

Walkman, well if you were growing up in 80's, i am pretty sure you must have owned one up. I remember my elder sister had a walkman(when she went to medical school, dad bought it for her). Whenever she would be home on vacation all other siblings(4 of us) would go after the walkman like anything. Walkman had short battery life(often 3 hours) and the tape would start playing slow once the battery starts dying. I am sure still no one would give up listening till the battery actually died. I had many great moments in my life with walkman.

Today's mp3 player are more sophisticated, better battery life, and holds thousands of songs with the shuffle functionality. Shuffling songs is the best part of the whole experience.

Recently, BBC gave one teenager the walkman to carry for a week and write the experience. Here's more

Running with walking breaks

Here's the marathon list for this year....

1. New York City Marathon (11/01/2009)
Check out the interactive maps of the city for the marathon

2. Chicago Marathon (10/11/2009)
Registration has already been closed

3. Washington DC Marathon (03/20/2010)

Here's some more link on to getting started.

Run - walk - run helps marathoner achieve great results.

Races happening around harrisburg area.