What type is my blog!

I found this a while back and thought of trying it out.  But let us examine their disclaimer first.

Note: Writing style on a blog may have little of nothing to do with a person's self-perceived personality.

That is a nice way of saying what we say may not be true but that shoul not keep you from believing it. 

So here is what it says :

The analysis indicated that the author of http://johney.blogspot.com is of the type:

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are expecially attuned to the demands of the moments, they are master of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. they generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts. 

The mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like to seek fun and action, both in their work and personal life. 

They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters. 

I wonder if I would make a good policemen though. I would not like firing a gun to anyone, or beating anyone up.

Firefighter perhaps. 

Anger Management

We have all heard about the counting down from 10 method. Though more people now advise 100 these days. 

I was reading up this Wheel of Time series, and I found a very interesting way of containing one's anger. It is called the "River contained by the banks" technique. The book only tells of the name of the technique, and mentions that it is not uncommonly used by novices of the White Tower. I think the process of the technique would go something like this: To contain all your thoughts and give them a direction to flow, intead of anger letting your thoughts go haywire into many directions. 

It is not a failed safe method though. The River cannot be contained by the banks when flood happens. I have come up with a few others, though more practical research needs to substantiate the hypothesis. 

If one have a more controlled mind, then perhaps the "Mirror's true image" technique  would work best for you, where you see yourself in the mirror, a calm and pure yourself, devoid of any anger or discomposure. This will calm your frayed nerves and cool your heated mind.

Or one may try the "Catterpillar transforms into butterfly" technique, where you see yourself immerse from the current umcomposed state into a calm, composed and elegant person, where anger transformed into forgiveness and warm hearted.

All these depends highly on the person's ability to remember to do these techniques before lashing out their anger: to remember to count for the count method to be successful, to remember the techniques of containment for the River to be contained, to remember the Magic Mirror to see your improved image, to remember to transform into a butterfly before the anger takes over you. Because all these have the technique have the fatal flaw of being forgotten at the most crucial moment: the heat of the moment when it is most required. 

A palette of colours ( Chapter 3 of Broken Ice series)

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2

The humming got louder; everything around seems to quiver with a hidden disturbance. The stranger had a fraction of second for the fear to register on his face before he exploded into thousands of bloody pieces; all splattered on the ground he was standing a second before.

Silence screamed.

Lei lay sprawled on the ground knocked by the force of explosion, drenched with blood and pieces of flesh; too shocked to move or speak. His mind was not yet ready to comprehend what just happened, his muscles not yet ready to obey. Then he heard it: footsteps, behind him, coming closer.

His every instinct was to run away. He urge his unyielding muscles to move, but they refuse to respond; deserting him in his hour of need. He forced his neck and slowly looked behind, wondering what form of horror approaches him; but he saw only a lady dressed all in brown and green, blending with the background of the clearing they were at. She passed where he was lying, and went over the ground splattered with blood and shredded flesh and seems to search for something among the mess. She seems satisfied with something and turned back to where he was.

She smiled to him as if this is the first time she noticed him. A spell seem to break, he can move now and tried to stand up. The lady was not very tall, he noticed, but enchantingly beautiful, and she wore a cloak that was between green and brown, and she seems to hide a tremendous power inside that cloak.

The lady seemed to beckon him without speaking, to follow her. His shaking leg moved forward on its own accord towards the path the lady pursued,deep into the wood.

~tbc~

Unjust! Unjust!

I was wondering, as I most often do when I have nothing better to do, why do I write blogs.: I like reading other people's blogs, but surely, if I were to peruse my writings, I would find it undeniably depressing, moody and suicidal.

Coming to the title of the piece ( as I like to call my ramblings as), I remember Charlotte Bronte using this particular phrase, "Unjust, Unjust!" in Jane Eyre, when the protagonist was shut in the Red Room during her childhood.







Gawd help us!








Mr Manish Sabharwal, of Teamlease mentioned about the ovarian lottery in his guest lecture today, and I can't but help myself ponder upon how name games play an important part of our lives ( and for an unlucky few, deaths as well ).

Why do we have to blame the ovaries when the testicles are equally at fault! Surely I have not been taught the wrong life science lessons in my school classes: that it takes unfaltering effort from both of them for procreation!

Had I been Mr Warren Buffet ( then I would have been unimaginable rich, but that is beside the point here ), I would have rather chosen a more hygienic and unbiased name for the 'world is unfair' concept of his : perhaps "The game of the Winning Wombs' would have been more suited: though it is not totally unbiased to gender, it sounds a tad more hygienic and clinical.

To those of us who got the wrong ticket in the ovarian lottery, it would have been a consolation had we had a chance to play a game in the winning womb; that way everyone would have at least have a chance, however insignificant, to prove themselves and carve their t; and if we lose, then we would have had walked away proudly, with our head held high, saying, 'we tried' at the same time mumbling about sour grapes.

Those were the Halcyon days

"Five were the years
that we had to bear!'

These two lines made me smile in retrospection, for it contrast wit the very image and impression these last five years left on me

We used to complain a lot about how things works in the institute, especially the pedagogy - fewer classes and more self studies, more projects and cases rather than firm theories. Now that I can look at it from an objective point of view, being no longer in the system, I realise what this particular method of pedagogy meant: rather than confusing the professor and making their life miserable, we have more time to question ourselves and reflect and go forward in a journey of self discovery and actualization. And that is as it should be, the teacher must only guide and the student must do the walking.

Not surprisingly, students go to all sorts of direction with their interest, and not only from the academic point of view. Exams are no longer of importance, for it is the gyan that takes front seat. It is funny how they manage to pass exams by studying just the day before the exam. But then, on deeper thought, exams are not to test our knowledge, but our cleverness. I wished I were still at school where all these things are straightforward: they ask questions and we answer. It was not so simple in engineering or mba: they ask questions and either we remain silent or we rant. lol

Well, that was what we wrote on our answer papers: rants. I wonder if any of our answer paper got checked; to get through all the 'diatribes on paper' of each and every student would be excruciatingly painful, even for the most patient of professor; my sympathies go to the professors and their assistants who actually does the checking of answers. Who in their rightful mind would want to read through boring tirades of shares and bonds from 50 different viewpoints? But that was the beauty of it! Multiple different viewpoints; we were not marshaled to think in only one direction or one solution, as we would have otherwise, in a formal theoretical pedagogy! That is what we called innovative thinking! Edison did it, we did too.

In reflection, I see a wholesome experience abundant with freedom, liberty and equality in terms of what we want to learn and what we actually learned. And I believe that such quality of education I would not have found anywhere, and that is why I am glad as glad can be, that I once walked in those hallowed hall of freedom learning!

Tryst with Tyranny

Perhaps I would not call it 'tyranny' but, yes, it has been a hard time. I am exhausted both mentally and physically. To be alert all the time, to be always on the lookout, to be ever in attention, to be physically present, mentally there, an keep frothing forth words of wisdom. Is that what life is all about?

Dear Reader, all I ask for, in life, is to have a quiet, normal and peaceful life. Is that too much to ask for? Have I no right to wish something for myself? But no, I have to always keep my eyes open, to always look right and left, with a feeling of being targeted and preyed upon. Is this the life I asked for?

The answer does not come that easily. And I am not sure if it will ever come; with whatever knowledge I have, along with the EYE that SEES, I can only steer myself from all these things, and hide in a cocoon of my own formation.

But is that what I really want? And does anyone knows what they really want? Perhaps some enlightened soul does, but when I look around, everyone is as it should be - full of ignorance and uncertainty. If we know all the answers, then what is the meaning of living? If we have already discovered the meaning of life, what is the purpose of living at all!

The Road ahead and the road behind

The Road ever goes on an on,
right from the door it starts
and leads to other roads.
And I with weary feet,
tread upon these roads,
footprints that I follow,
footprints that I left behind.
Fellow travelers that I met,
One dearer than the next,
but must always part
when the road divides.
And wither then? I do not know.

A better world

If we smile a little more than we usually do,
If we wave as we say goodbye a little vigorously
If we sing a little loudly
I believe the world would be a better place.

A little smile as we pass by, someone hopeful,
brightens every passing soul.
A little word of comfort makes the burden lighter.
A little voice to the music, makes the heart fonder.
A little familiar touch makes life worth living.

This is not to be a regular poem, for it is not to be. As we come across everyday, people, unnoticed, unfelt or unheard... makes me wonder about life's small things. When I see a little smile on a stranger's face, it makes me want to smile too. Smiles are contagious. And so is singing. If I hear someone humming a song, I feel like joining the tune.
The world would be a better place to live, if we are not too miser with our smiles and words and touches. If we are little less selfish, maybe the world will be a little less wretched.

Passed by

A bicycle rolled by, the child riding it expertly, half pedaling, half pushed by another child running behind, half laughing, half gasping.

The warn morning breeze of spring greeted Ketan, as he looked out of the only window of his 2nd floor apartment. How long has it been? 22 springs? The same breeze, the same warmth. The same empty street below. He took a deep breath of the freshness that is spring.

The minutes whilst away, as he lay by the window gazing out to the barren road below. What passes through his mind, none can tell. It has been 22 years since he finally got a job and moved out of his parent's. And ever since, in this small two room apartment, alone, living a quiet life.

Maybe he is looking back to his life; two and twenty years ago, he might have had dreams.; maybe he is dreaming about his old dreams, dreams that never came to pass. Maybe he is thinking about life, and how many more springs he have to endure, lying there, by the window gazing out to the empty street, until he can meet the final embrace of mother earth.

The two boys were arguing whose turn it was on the over-sized bicycle.

Tagged by Akshay Unplugged (

I didn't see the tag before, otherwise I would have used this as an excuse to make a post. Well, and to make the previous post less conspicuous, otherwise, people may think I am suicidal and may start recommending counseling.

Yeah... Right...
So...
Eight things I am passionate about:

Books
Comics
Anime
HexRPG ( it is a role playing site I spend half my life time there )
Mythologies
Fairy tales and Happily ever afters.
Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings ( they are books but they totally deserves a separate mention )
Bats and Supes ( you won't know if you don't read comics )


Eight things I want to do before I die (In no particular order):

Live?
Shout out loud (I have never done so )
Write a song and Dedicate it to someone (anyone)
Write a Poem. I have never written a poem.
Write a book
Try not to become old
Plan my funeral
Leave everything I own for an orphanage.
I want to adopt a kid, but since I am dying young, I don't want to leave the child an orphan again. So, I gave up on that dream.

Eight things I say often:
The wheel weaves as the wheel wills.
I mean...
Actually...
lol
What must happen must happen because it cannot happen any other way.
Death is but the next great journey.
I feel old.
I am doing very well.

Eight books I’ve read recently:
Three men in a boat
Jane Eyre ( re-reading it for the nth time )
Tom Jones
Little Women
Mrs Dalloway
A hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy
Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance.
Life of Pi

Eight songs I could listen to, over and over:

Everyday I love you ( Boyzone )
Teer-Nazar- Dekhenge ( pakizah )
Start of something new ( High school musical )
Good morning Baltimore ( Hairspray )
When there was you and me ( High School Musical )
May it be ( LOTR-FoTR )
In dreams ( LOTR-FoTR)
A new day has come ( celine deon )

Eight things that attract me to my best friends:

Honesty
Good mannered
Trust
Sharing
Goodwill
Wishes
Dreams
Plain

Eight people I think should do this tag:

I could wish were it of any avail, that I could tag them. But they don't exist in this world of blogosphere.


Ketan
Kheroda
Kelvin
Arunjit
Ayo
Shashikanta
Ravikanta
Kanta

lol, I can make wishes, can't I?

'To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure"

I was wondering, whether I have lived for too long, and the time to rest has come nigh. Well, some say they want to live for 120, or forever or such things, but I have no such desire. I just want to live, a few more years, that's it. Or maybe a few days. I think I have lived my life. I can proudly say that yes, I lived. It brings a smile to me when I say that. Because truly, I feel as if I have achieved what I lived for.

You may get the wrong idea that I am suicidal. No! Absolutely not! I shall never... when I am mentally sound, would not commit such a cowardly act! But you know, what I am saying is like, if something bad to me happens, and I am no longer there, I would happily pass away. And there will be no such thing like, 'if only' things.

I don't know what make me think of these things. When I was a child, I was afraid of death, that one day I would die. I was so young and childish. It makes me smile every time I reminisce those childish thoughts. I thought the moon keeps following me every night.

I have lived a happy life. I have experience what I could. I see a happy past. I livea happy present. I do not know wither then? Shall I be reborn again? Or pass on to nothingness? Shall I become one with the One? I do not know. But yes, I am ready for the next great adventure.

Chapter 2 - Captive (Broken Ice series)

( contd. from previous chapter, try to overlook the tense conflict, was trying out present tense first person narration )
I walk in a trance like state, both my hands bounded with some thick rubbery ropes. My mind is in too much shock to absorb the abnormality of the circumstance. My captor, a hideous giant of a catman covered all in fur, walks a few feet before me.
It must be that I am dreaming, otherwise, there is no way such abnormality can exist in this world.

We reach a clearing, not unlike a large football field. The ground feels soft and the grasses are wet from the morning dew. The sun was blazing and the sky is yet to boast of the cloud.

The nightmarish creature turns back to me leaving me with a strong desire to cringe. His strong cat like feature retracts into subtle human form.
"Is this more comfortable for you to look at?"

I try to speak but not word would come out.

"I know this is an anomaly, a living full human, in bright daylight, in the middle of meedeel forest. I learned about your kind. I am Shin, high warrior of the Kaan Tribe, it is our duty to remove all anomalies out of this realm."

Accepting that the dream has gone too far to be unreal, and that this is really happening, I resign to the present.

"I am Lei, Lei Cha. Can you please tell me where I am, and why did you hit me so hard on my head and why have you tied me thus?"

It seems as if this person could change his look as he pleases, he now have a more shapely nose, the black dot he had for a nose was not becoming on his now humanlike feature.

"You are an anomaly in this world, and must be eliminated. Those who cross over here should have some kind of magic, dangerous magic and it should be prevented before it consumes us all."

It is hard to comprehend what he said, with the head throbbing madly from where he kicked me.
"Er... Can't I just go back and forget all about this? I promise I won't read any more fantasy." I smile weakly at my own joke.

"No, This clearing is as good as any for the cleansing." And he chants in a low voice, it sounded like an incantation or some kind of invocation.

A sudden feeling of urgency creeps up to me, and before I know what was happening, with lightning grace, a blue light engulfs around me. I dimly hear the low grinding sound before the blueness overcomes me.
( tbc)

Chapter 1: In a strange Land (Broken Ice)

( contd from previous post )

...Little did he knew that the sunstone would suddenly enveloped him in a bright light. Any amount of struggle would not let him disentangle his finger from the stone. Suddenly something jerked in his navel. His last thought in this world was that he feels strangely light and airborne.

It was a few moments later that he collected his thoughts and found himself in his room, the sunstone now hanging warmly from his neck. He shook his head thinking he must be imagining things and deftly stomped on a crawling insect.

His noticed that it is unusually dark outside; and concurred that it must be late in the night; they never turn off the street lamps unless it is very late in the night.

Without changing his clothes, he went to bed, thinking he must be losing his mind and should stop reading so many fantasy books.
No Harry potter for you, Lei he reprimanded himself.

The next morning found him lively and cheerful. Unfortunately it didn't lasted long. As soon as he went out of his room, ready for whatever business he has with the world, his jaws dropped: there was trees everywhere... and insects.
"HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THOSE THAT WAS ONCE MERCIFUL!"
and promptly he feigned fainting, if those tricks in all those books he have read have taught him something, that is fainting makes everything back to normal.
They usually wake up in the normal world when they faint and regain consciousness, was his logical conclusion.

After a while he slowly opened one eye, he saw a tall leg of someone just in front of him.
Damn, who or what is this? I didn't heard anyone coming!

Suddenly, a foot kicked him and he reeled under the unfriendly contact. A sudden pain at the back of his head made sure that his wish for unconsciousness was finally granted.

(tbc)

Prologue: Little did he knows... (Broken Ice)

Life goes on as it has always gone on ... that is ordinarily. And that is as it should be, he thought as he retires to his bed. He dreamt many ordinary dreams with ordinary beings. In the morning his alarm rings, exactly at 8:30 in the morning. He put off the alarm and tries to fulfill his eyes for another half an hour before his day finally starts. The same sun creeps up to his room through the wide window that his room has, and the same late morning breeze blows through it.

But little did Lei knows that today would be like no other day.

When he looked in the mirror, his usual thought crosses his mine, that 'he is growing old', an unusual thought for a 20 something. Then he notices the first deviation from the ordinary world that he knows: the sun stone he usually wears around his neck is missing. Dismissing it that it might have fallen off while he was sleeping, he searches for it, his bed, then he ransacks his room but to no avail. A curse or two came up to his mind but he dismissed them thinking they as not bad enough for the situation.

At half past eleven, Lei goes to his usual class; gave a surprise test; performed rather feebly in an interview for a job; and comes back to his room rather disgruntled. As he opens the door, and places the key on the table, he notices the sun-stone lying on the table. He gives himself an imaginary smack on his head, and picks up the sun-stone.

Little did he knows...

( tbc )

Die!

I shall thrust you down into the dark depth of hell and crush you with a knife and twist it to my satisfaction, if you falter from your path.

I shall not have you turn tyrant on me. So if you value your worth, do not turn into the vile charms of passion. Instead, let me lead you to the promised land, with Reason and Conscience walking on your side.

The true path of freedom lies not in the stormy road that is filled with throes of passion, neither on the path of denial, but only in the path of surrender. Surrender yourself unto me, and you shall be free. Our quest stands upon the edge of a knife, stray but a little and we will fail. But hope remains when you are true.

Heart, listen to me and heed to my counsel, for I speak with Reason and Conscience by my side. Let us show you the true path of wisdom.

Sleep

The night is getting old, and I must retire to bed, otherwise, tomorrow may forsake me.