….in the middle of the road, that the bourgeois seeks to walk. He will never surrender himself either to lust or to asceticism. He will never be a martyr or agree to his own destruction. On the contrary, his ideal is not to give up but to maintain his own identity. He strives neither for the saintly nor its opposite. The absolute is his abhorrence. He may be ready to serve God, but not by giving up the fleshpots. He is ready to be virtuous, but likes to be easy and comfortable in this world as well. In short, his aim is to make a home for himself between two extremes in a temperate zone without violent storms and tempests; and in this he succeeds though it be at the cost of that intensity of life and feeling which an extreme life affords. A man cannot live intensely except at the cost of the self. Now the bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self (rudimentary as his may be). And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he does comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire. The bourgeois is consequently by nature a creature of weak impulses, anxious, fearful of giving himself away and easy to rule.

….pause to test the soul of the Steppenwolf, we find him distinct from the bourgeois in the higher development of his individuality–for all extreme individuation turns against itself, intent upon its own destruction. We see that he had in him strong impulses both to be a saint and a profligate; and yet he could not, owing to some weakness or inertia, make the plunge into the untrammelled realms of space. The parent constellation of the bourgeoisie binds him with its spell. This is his place in the universe and this his bondage. Most intellectuals and most artists belong to the same type. Only the strongest of them force their way through the atmosphere of the bourgeois earth and attain to the cosmic. The others all resign themselves or make compromises. Despising the bourgeoisie, and yet belonging to it, they add to its strength and glory; for in the last resort they have to share their beliefs in order to live. The lives of these infinitely numerous persons make no claim to the tragic; but they live under an evil star in a quite considerable affliction; and in this hell their talents ripen and bear fruit. The few who break free seek their reward in the unconditioned and go down in splendor. They wear the thorn crown and their number is small. The others, however, who remain in the fold and from whose talents the bourgeoisie reaps much gain, have a third kingdom left open to them, an imaginary and yet a sovereign world, humor….

small excerpt from steppenwolf – Herman Hesse

Quantum Fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Particle-Antiparticle Annihilation. Deuterium and Helium Production. Matter Domination. Recombination. Blackbody Radiation. Local Contraction. Large-Scale Structure Formation. Violent Relaxation. Virialization. Galaxy Formation. Turbulent Fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Massive Star Formation. Deuterium Ignition. Hydrogen Fusion. Hydrogen Depletion. Core Contraction. Envelope Expansion. Helium Fusion. Carbon, Oxygen, and Silicon Fusion. Iron Production. Implosion. Supernova Explosion. Metals Injection. Star Formation. Universal Acceleration. Supernova Explosions. Star Formation. Planetesimal Accretion. Planetary Differentiation. Crust Solidification. Volatile Gas Expulsion. Water Condensation. Carbon Dioxide Solution. Water Photodissociation. Escaping Hydrogen. Ozone Production. Ultraviolet Absorption. Polymerization. Coacervate Formation. Molecular Reproduction. Protein Construction. Fermentation. Photosynthetic Unicellular Organisms! Oxidation. Mutation. Evolution. Cell Differentiation. Respiration. Sexual Reproduction. Multicellular Organisms. Evolutionary Diversification. Fossilization. Trilobite Domination. Land Exploration. Comet Collision. Dinosaur Extinction. Mammal Expansion. Homo Sapiens Manifestation. Language Acquisition. Glaciation. Innovation. Religion. Animal Domestication. Fermentation. Food Surplus Production. Inscription. Civilization! Exploration. Warring Nations. Empire Creation and Destruction. Expansion. Scientific Explanation. Colonization. Revolution. Constitution. Mary Jane. Vaccination. Industrialization. Emancipation. Invention. Mass Production. Urbanization. Migration. World Conflagration. Suffrage Extension. Penicillin. Depression. World Conflagration. Fission Explosions. Computerization. United Nations. Space Exploration. Population Explosion. Environmental Degradation.  Superpower Confrontation. Liberation. Terrorism. Lunar Excursions. Resignation. Inflation. Internet Expansion. Globalization. Reunification. Dissolution. Union. World Wide Web Creation. Stock Market inflation. Elementary Education. Composition. War. Invasion. Work. Friendship. Labour. Athletics. Toil. Academics. Homework. Finals. Graduation. IT Invasion. Terrorism. US Invasion. Extrapolation?

Shucks …
//Basic from Eric Schulman @ improbable research

My years ran wild and keen
lurking in drab doorways and shady tails
where languorous with lust and venal luck lives
The Green fairy that drives me

Wondering with wanton abandon and a sensual strut
under indigo skies tinged with a gossamer harvest
With sweet dulcet tones of pyrrhic victory she burns
The Green fairy that drives me

The bile comes with the anvil
The walls of charred paper and callous
It saved me and will kill me slow
The Green fairy that adores me

I dream of the irascible ire of that earthy cadence
Of mongrel caresses and hellion desires
despite parched darkness of those searing lamps
beneath the Green mush and swamps

Fleeing the woman from vestigial isolation
A curtain of red, perhaps sunshine in offing
Tardy vicarious extract of an eternal dawn
The Green fairy was evermore stillborn.

Remember when you were a kid and used to imagine all sorts of scenarios about people around you. I mean I used to know what people were saying about me since way back. What I imagined the people around me were saying when I was -

Twelve
Conversation at Dinner with Mom and Dad’s friends
Loud Friend – “I’m Loud”
Drunk Friend – “I’m really really drunk.”
Dad – “I’m pissed off at POLITICS ! “
Grandfather – “do u know how much money I have ??”
ALL – nodding yes
Father – “Dont give it to kids ! “
GF – “You think ! I’m an old fool”
ALL – “yes” , nodding
Hot Friend – “I had sex. I dont need food”
Mom – “i had sex too but i’m eating”
Loud Friend – “I’m still the loudest”
ALL – laugh
Hot Friend – “Oh I get it.” Laughs

Thirteen while playing cricket
“Oh man, I cant believe that kid Nipun missed that simple catch. How pathetic ! “
“Wait. He’s staring at his hands with a confused expression and rubbing his temple.
Probably something wrong with him. He’s hurt or something. That’s why he messed up.”
“Yeah, that’s probably what happened.”

Fourteen
“Did that kid sitting behind us on the bus just give us a leer ?”
“I don’t know. For a while, I thought that was the case, but now that he’s so engrossed in his
book, its impossible to tell.”
“I guess we’ll never know what the situation was.”

Fifteen
“Why does that kid have a black ‘X’ on the back of his right hand?”
“I bet it’s because he went to some kind of cool rock concert last night.”
“Wow. He must’ve stayed out pretty late if he didn’t have time to scrub it off.”
“Yeah, and that’s probably why his hair is so messy and dirty—because he cares more about rocking out than conforming to society.”
“Even though he isn’t popular in the traditional sense, I respect him from afar.”

Sixteen
“Hey, that kid is reading Che Guevara”
“Wow. He must be some kind of rebel genious”
“I’m impressed by the fact that he isn’t trying to call attention to himself.”
“Yeah, he’s just sitting silently in the corner, flipping the pages and nodding, with total comprehension.”
“It’s amazing. He’s so absorbed in his book that he isn’t even aware that a party is going on around him, with dancing and fun.”
“Why aren’t any girls going over and talking to him?”
“I guess they’re probably a little intimidated by his brilliance.”
“Well, who wouldn’t be?”
“I’m sure the girls will talk to him soon.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”

Seventeen
“That kid is so lame”
“He’s come to the farewell all alone without a date”
“Oh, but he’s that same kid who sits in library all day long and wrote that
scathing poem about the school.”
“Ah, I bet he thinks all girls are phonies.”
“But we are ..are’nt we ?”
“Oh yes. But I’d like to go out with him for sure”
“But he wont ask, you know”
“I know, but then I’d have to refuse him if he asks only because then he’ll be like all the others”
“yeah, wish there was some way I could go out with him”
“yeah, me too”

Do good? I? No! Evil anon I deliver. I maim nine more hero-men in Saginaw, sanitary sword a-tuck, Carol, I — lo! — rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero-men in Miami. Reviled, I (Nona) live on. I do, O God!

Commies, Hippes, Liberals, WMDs, Iraq, Mushroom Clouds, 911, 911, 911, 911, 911, Iraq, Nukes, Russia, Muslims, Death, Destruction, Pot smokers, Iran, Iran, Iran, Britney spears, Shahrukh’s 6 pack, 911, 911, World war III, Emergency, Elections, Emergency, Elections, Google, Google, 123, copyright, DRM, open, open, open, Iran, Iran, Iran ….

I think I’m sick !

Let me sleep, let me be
Let me not feel your tender touches, let me
Not hear your whispered nothings
You and I are free if we have no lover
For love consumes time which is more dear to me
Now you are equal to me and at sea
So let me not feel the ache and irrational longing
For we had our nights and untenable delights
The daylight put an end to it.
So we agreed and the choice was clear
We accepted the day and the veer.

Now only the smoke curling up moves at all
And the lonely stars I see are all in the dark
You cannot read this for I am alone,
with all the others around me .
Take my hand and quash this choice
Or I’ll dive headlong again.

Some snide today remark about my bull got my hackles up again today. There we were sitting peacefully at the top of my office roof at around 11 in the night watching all those Genpact girls (well we have a GE, ICICI, Verizon, HSBC call centers at my workplace) walk across and were into a serious discussion into the merits and demerits of a view from the above, when the talk veers off to books and beers and this guy from my floor whom I barely even know, starts dispensing advice ….

“Hey, why in the hell do you keep riding that bull of a bike. It has no mileage, weighs a ton…. yada yada yada … ”

“Cause I like it dipshit.! ”

“But u’ll save money and this is bad for your health and this is how you should talk and …..yada yada, yada….”

“I don’t believe it ! Look where you are standing. This is a fucking 7 floor drop.”
Apparently that fazed him a bit and he moved off but he still kept giving me those injured looks from way across. So I started staring right back. My evil intentions must got through to him and he went out of sight. Well he was sitting just on the edge and I’d always believed in yielding to all my temptations.

I really have a good mind to start the guy on a monthly stipend for babysitting. Only thing is he’d have to clean up after me as well. Don’t think he’d be interested though. Why I ever care to respond to these free dispensers of advice, I’ll never know.Seems there are always people telling me “Don’t do this. This is bad. That is bad. You should do this ….”
What possible reason can I have to ignore that wonderful piece of unsolicited advice ??? The fact that I’m a full grown male primate ? Or the fact the I have a fully functioning brain in my body or at any rate some greyish squishy thing which is no less than theirs squishy thing for that matter ?

And the fact that I am doing that so I think I might have a good idea what it is doesn’t seem to register for even a nanosecond. In all my hunts, I havn’t found one single effective way which might conceivably stop this bulletin like flow of gab pouring out except for clobbering a guy. You can stare em’ down but never stop them form coming back. It’s like a bad morning which keeps coming back.
Really I have no beef with friends ( read equally inebriated friends) or my ex-girlfriend yakking all day long, cause well, first, um.. I do it long enough (okay, I admit its fun riling a guy) and second we did break up cause well i never seemed to listen. but only sometimes even then. ( Funny, it seems people even like my advice in that state so much so that they’ve started asking me to stay like that permanently… )
I wouldn’t mind going back to the days when u could challenge a guy to a duel if you wanted to get rid of him and it wasn’t considered such a crime to drop someone from your window. I was holding forth on these views and ruminating on the techniques used in Saw III, when my friend who was looking sympathetic all along said,

“Dude this attitude wudn’t get you anywhere. You need to think positive….”

That fuck ran off before I could clobber him but he’ll get what’s coming to him when he finds his mouse and keyboard missing all day tomorrow. My advice to whoever wants to dispense with their pearls of wisdom is that release them all you will, just take care you don’t end up as an odious piece of meat instead. Anyways I hate pearls and would rather eat the oysters instead. Advice ain’t free my friend. Someone’s gotta pay for it. And bad…

A few songs combined with a ride can tell you a lot about yourself.
Harley Davidson came up with a compilation of road-trip songs, but we I don’t see eye to eye with them for many of those…. I’ve added songs that either put you in the rhythm with the ride or those which reflect a lot of grind required ….
Here’s a list that’s a must have for any trip

Absolut
Renegade – Styx
The Outsider (Resident Renhold) -Apocalypse OST
Keep Yourself Alive – Queen
The Unforgiven 2 – Metallica
What The Hell Have I – Alice in Chains
Grind – Alice in Chains
Highway Star- Deep Purple
Stripsearch – Faith No More
Wanderlust- Megadeth
Wherever I May Roam – Meatallica
This Is Shangrila – Mother Love Bone
Sea Of Sorrow – Alice in Chains
Social Parasite – Alice in Chains
Summer in the City – Styx
For Whom The Bell Tolls – Metallica on Cellos
Master Of Puppets – Metallica on Cellos
Harvester of sorrow – Metallica on Cellos
Home – Dreamtheater
I Am I – Queensrÿche
Pull me under – Dreamtheater
Forty Six & 2 – Tool
Don’t Follow – Alice in Chains
Stranger In A Strange Land – Iron Maiden
Ride – Joe Sat
Motorcycle Driver – Joe Sat
Heading Out To The Highway – Judas Priest
When the levee breaks – Led Zeppelin
Don’t Need Religion – Motorhead
Keep Us on the Road – Motorhead
ACDC Tribute – It’s a Long Way – Motorhead
Cat Scratch Fever – Motorhead
Hellraiser – Motorhead
Roads – My Dying Bride
I Don’t Want To Change The World – Ozzy
Road To Nowhere – Ozzy
See You On The Other Side – Ozzy
Shot In The Dark – Ozzy
Brighter than A Thousand Suns – Iron Maiden
Street Spirit [Fade Out] – Radiohead
Theme Song – Requiem For A Dream Soundtrack
Yard Trip #7 – Screaming Trees
Locomotive Breath – Styx

Ethos
In A Gadda Da Vida (Full Version) – Iron Butterfly
Piece Of My Heart – Janis Joplin
Boom Boom – The Animals
I Shot The Sheriff – Bob Marley
Trouble On The Road Again – Bob Marley
Roadhouse Blues – The Doors
Riders on the Storm – The Doors
Ride – Joe Sat
Piece Of My Heart – Jefferson Starship
People Are Strange – The Doors
Late Goodbye – Poets of The Fall
hollow years – Dreamtheater
Engines of creation- Joe Sat
Easy Rider – Janis Joplin
I Fought The Law – Springsteen
Freebird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
I Ain’t No Nice Guy – Motorhead

PS: This list may biased a little in favour of Alice in Chains and like, but can’t help it, They rock !
Also there’s a lot of stuff missing from here ….
I’d expect a lot of Joe Sat and even Enigma on some compilations, but my experience suggests leave those for early
morning rides with dew and all…

found some prank calls floating over the net -

You kicked my dog !
Simply hilarious ! Some guy messing up with a punjabi family in us.
‘kisi dog noon kick kitta se ?? ‘

and here’s to Becky the cutest prank caller ever even though the site owner’s brazen self promotion pissed me off, this deserves a mention !

Anyways with all the hoopla over Harry pothead going on …. took great restraint not to rant on
this stupid obsession with most people … think i like this here much better

Update:
Complete Dilbert archive from 03-01-97 . Hats off to the guy !