Creating a podcast has been on my TODO list for sometime now, and today i created my first podcast with audacity, iphone and soundcloud and some songs which were recommended on twitter. Do encourage and listen pliz. 

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In this city of Mumbai, you can desire anything and can achieve
everything, it promises nothing less. Well that's what
they(marketeers) want you to believe!

Wake up?

But on the contrary as millions of lives in this city tell a tale of
squalor and grime. This is not a city to achieve maximum but it's only
tempts you to work harder and harder, till you sink into oblivion in
your ashes.This is the sin city of Mumbai of free markets and
multinationals and the powerful middle class (in terms of purchasing
power).

Desires are intrinsic to us humans, if you are an old hag - you desire a
young woman/man, if you are a middle class you want to acquire status
symbols, if you are rich - you want comforts and security. The shiny
malls and billboards tempt you with their latest mobile phones and
iPads. The ubercool night life of the upper middle class yuppie in
this city makes the people of slums aspire for the same by robbing and
pilfering goods so they can enjoy prostitutes and alcohol.

The question is how do you avoid those shiny beautiful objects? Can
you be a minimalistic as the trend is? Can you fake it at least? Do
you really know what is the anatomy of a desire?

Don't these vey shiny objects make you lose your very focus from what
you want to achieve in your life? Do you really desire what you want
to achieve in life or is it all just aspirational bull crap? Presuming
all you want to achieve is stupid aspirational bullcrap compared to
these beautiful objects of desire, let's focus on the shiny beautiful
objects! Ok?

These shiny objects promises to fill in the very empty space inside
us, or does it create more emptiness? This is an attempt to understand
desire by turning inwards, when we can no longer turn inwards for
solace we need some external manifestation in the shape of a shiny
beautiful object, am I right? Are you with me on this ?

I'm personally tired of these desires, the more I desire, the lesser
the time I have on me. (unless I am reincarnated!) how do I get rid of
these desires (transcend or bypass) as I want all or nothing at all.

Please advise in the comment box below.

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I have been lucky in this lonely journey of life to find these angels,
taking my hand and talking to me and being my friend.

Thank you beautiful new friend.

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Yeah, this is ostentatious handmade salsa shoe bought about 5 years
back is out of the closet and getting ready to be worn for some home
practice.
It's actually very embarrassing to be seen in this anywhere except the
dance floor!

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A little knowledge and a lot of experience and made me a bit of an arrogant prick, time and again i shut myself out to any persons who doesnt reach or measure up to my so called imaginary bench marks. This has caused me immense loss in terms of friendships and relationships, also has made me anti-social, and a counter culture freak. 

I wonder why I was so blind not see my own stupid arrogance which came out of my insecurity and pettiness.

Here is a cheers to being a better and a person with more humilty! 

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Today a old friend from the Salsa days called. He was an ace dancer plus a Salsa Instructor. He said I dont teach dancing anymore.

This brought back the happy memories of the MUMBAISALSA MEETUP GROUP group. 

My (self)claim to fame in Salsa is not my poor Salsa dancing skills but the because I used to run a community for Salsa right from 2004-2008 organising Salsa parties across various clubs in Mumbai. I wasnt the only one, I had more than ample help from others, but rain or shine every Sunday i showed up at the place to take care of the guests and newbie Salsa enthusiasts who wanted to learn Salsa and dance. As a part of this group, we managed to host more than 150 Salsa parties in Mumbai. 

I call this period the Renaissance period of club Salsa dancing. 

There were other people organising Salsa dance party, but the Mumbai Salsa Meetup Group with me as the Organiser was the only community driven Salsa event happening every week (after week). When I look back I wonder why I did it. I was thinking I would make some money, no I didnt make any. But lady luck shined on me with lady love. I asked her "Why does a beautiful woman like you want to be with me", She answered, "cause you are the organizer, leader". Well I guess that was reason enough for me to continue doing what I did as a Organizer of the group.

But like all good things come to end, the energy required to keep the parties were too much, as club owners bickered to us, as Salsa dancing is a loss making proposition for them. They said "no one drinks much". 

I never made very good friends inn the group, as there is no one in group I met outside our dancing meetups. But they became more like brothers, where a silent relationship with salsa music and salsa dance connected me to them. I love them without having to say so and they probably know about this. Also there are so many newbie boys and girls whose hands I have held and forcefully (bullied) them into dancing with each other. Seeing newcomers on the dance floor, gives me a lot of JOY. I like to see them losing their inhibition and becoming one. 

BTW the club where this all happened majorly was placed in JUHU called BOHEMIA! If you have been part of the MUMBAI SALSA MEETUP, please leave a comment. 

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Thanks a ton to Rakesh Tailor for uploading this on Facebook! :) 

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I get up late to avoid myself
I get engrossed in work to loose myself
I talk to others to make sure I have company so I can avoid myself.
I flirt, I fight, I abuse the other, just to know that I am not alone to face myself.

I got a fancy book to read, got myself all wrapped up in the author's 
tale, (as you know) books are the best companions. But now it's the
end of the day and night is the longest, there is nowhere to go OR no one
to hold on to.

As I lay with my head on the pillow, there is the ceiling fan, which
reminds me of the countless people who chose death, cause it is too
dangerous, painful and lonely to live! The distance between life and
death in this case can be measured by the length of the rope and
of-course a little help from the beloved ceiling fan.

Staring at the ceiling fan is profound act of facing oneself. How many
of us have the courage to do it regularly? I call this ceiling fan
meditation, works best at night.

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Here is a story about my childhood. 

Every morning during my school days I was dragged out of my bed at 6.30 am , given a bath and hair oiled and sent to school to attend at 7.30 am. I HATED IT!!! 

The point I want to make is, it is not really important to wake up in the morning, the phrase "Early bird catches the worm" is a medieval quote and not relevant to our times. During medieval times, there was no electricity and people had nothing to in the late evening so they went to BED early and woke up at dawn, continuing to do so in the INDUSTRIAL AGE, where a person had to reach the factory before the bell rings.

The whole sleep cycle was invented for people to work and be better in factories assembly lines. So unless you are a working in assembly line, there is no need to wake up on time. 

So the question to ask PARENTS is

Do your parents want you work in factories when you grow up? Is it the reason they are spending all their HARD EARNED money on your education. If the answer is NO, tell them to leave you alone and let you sleep it out. 

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So watch whom you pay attention to, and don't bother with things you
shouldn't be paying attention to.

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If you are rich, the woman will agree to be your mistress, muse,
companion or anything you want her to be.

But if you are poor, she will want to get married to you, have lot of
kids and make you even poorer.

Dad.

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I wish it was the "screaming for attention" kind of love, maybe then
we could have hit the right notes.

if I inked your name on my skin, will you appreciate
or cut my nerves to write your name on the wall.

Should we paint the city red in my car?

I am figuring how to turn this "silent love" in to a "screaming love"
so you can feel loved.
I will serenade you with a song and Our love will have all the bling
of our current times.

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The usual ideology of a marriage is what she believed in, I had
fresher ideas. We parted our ways, she gave me a chance, she asked
"will you behave" . I said I love my freedom more than anything else.

I love our shared past and I love what we share and always will.

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If someone ever commits suicide, the right question to ask is not "Why did she/he commit suicide?" but to ask what hurt his/her pride?

The Maharashtrian Pride (popularly known as "Marathi Gaurav" ) is hurt by the fact that Maharashtrians are not really doing good in Mumbai as compared to other communities. There are only 2 ways to make money

1. To use your intellect.(Education and lawful behavior)
2. To use your might. ( Brute force or illegally)

If there was no boom in IT, where would the Maharashtrian stand? The flim industry is dominated by Punjabis, the media is dominated by bengali's, the railways are dominated by the UP' ites and Bihari's.

As long as people continue to make money by use of their "Might", (and I dont see that coming to an abrupt halt) its very fine for Mahrastrians to use brute force. I dont advocate it, but I can see the Marathi pride being hurt. I would claim I am more human.

The Lovers Pride is hurt everytime you are lied at or cheated or taken for granted. Remember love never hurts, only the Pride is hurt. 

The Commuters Pride: Everytime I am stuck in traffic , my pride hurts, by the sheer complacent attititude of the government. My Pride is severely hurt when I have squeeze myself in a crowded train or a bus. 

So Pride is what distinguishes you from others in terms of your sensibilites. There are some people who can live in slums and somepeople can never imagine of such a thing.

Pride is not greater than Love, however its a bench mark, which can be lowered or Upped. I am wondering where I am going.  

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Hindus think muslims are violent people, they cite the example that the fact that in last 10000 years, Hindus have never invaded any country. 

Hindus say thats its the Muslims who have always started the riots or incited each and every time, and all Hindus have done is reciprocated resoundingly.

This time the Hindu pride has been restored and the Muslims have been thought a lesson and since then they have been nursing their wounds and their bazzookas! 

The Hindus are overwhelmingly confident that they will be successful in giving the Muslims a resounding thrashing everytime, I being a Hindu am not sure ! 

Surely we have 80% majority in the India, but when the war escaltes on an international scale we will become a minority and might be thrashed.

What we fail to see is, there is no Muslim or a Hindu, its just some rich politician or a Builder or a industrialist who wants to elimate a problem without the lenghty recourse of the time, just a hugely greedy person who strategises the communal war. 

Are communal wars inevitable? Do we have to as human beings desentisize ourselves in the name of progress and development? ( Progress and Development doesnt really mean you are much happier with better cars and highways) 

Its a bit diferent being killed on the battle-feild than being dragged out of your home, garlanded with rubber tyres and doused with Petrol and killed. Wars on the battlefeild are more humane, atleast the soldeirs are given a decent farewell. 

Can we make it more honorable to be killed in a communal riots and spare the humilation? Oh! I forget its all about finding the best possible means to humilate. All the propoganda talks and the bullshit has become a huge ball of fire in you, ready for consumption. 

I sometimes ask myself when push comes to shove, (I.e when I see a Muslim standing in front of me with a bazzoka (metaphorically) in hand) will I stand with a sword in one hand and a petrol bomb in another hand and kill the muslim before he kills me?

Afterall everyone must die one day or another, afterall we learn more from death than we do from life. 

I would love to connect with an intelligent muslim and clear my muddled head. Drop me a line. 

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The love between you and me is as simple as a song,
No mystery beyond the present ,
No striving for the impossible,
No shadow behind the charm,
No groping in the depth of dark,
This love between you and me is as simple as a song.

Simple love poem by Rabindranath Tagore by Manoj Nayak. Uploaded with SoundCloud iPhone

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It's the never say die attitude, never giving up and bouncing back
still higher, each time you hit rock bottom.

It is generating ideas at the speed of thought in face of extreme adversity.

It's what makes you " hard" like a New Yorker or closer home a true
blue Mumbaite.

It is spinning magic or at-least doing some kind of "Jugaad".

It's the difference between the spirit of a pet dog and the street dog.

Well, I just realised I lack in the GRIT department?

So developing GRIT.

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Teens - some guys have all the luck - Rod Stewart , like a virgin,
beat it, I am bad, dancing on the ceiling, we are the world. Wham, I
want your sex! Faith.

Late 20's : Insatiable - Darren Hayes. My name is luka , kal ho na ho

Late 30's- The thrill is gone - B B king , I was born under a bad
sign, beatles, rolling stones. Dylan. farida khanum.

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One of the most abused relationships is Son in law (SIL) and Daughter in law (DIL) relationship. Sometime's we love someone because it fulfills one of our wants or needs. We love someone because it fits the hole in ourselves, and we feel complete.

But soon the round peg turns square and it no longer fits in and there is anger and resentment.

We have been cheated, when we loved that new person, it was expected to fill in the vacuum in our hearts and in our lives. Someone has reneged on their promises. 

The same love turns in to anger, resentment and estrangement, and most successful victim of this kind of conditional love are our beloved SIL and DIL. We love our SIL/DIL because they take the shit dished out by our Sons/daughters , they are there to feed and wash and look after our Sons/daughters children, or to facilitate the earning by being a Double Income family. As long as this happens the Saas & Sasur love their SIL/DIL's.

Its no wonder that TV serials have capitalised on this abused relationship, by feeding in to the insecurities of these SIL/DIL and made so much money.

Its time we love SIL/DIL for what they are and who they are, and not merely because they suit the role of the perfecto Bahu and Damad. 

Lets stop this nonsense on TV!!!! 

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