Suresh Chandrasekaran's Blog, page 57

The Upper Mustang Trek - II

You can read the first part here

Homo Sapiens is certainly a most peculiar species. I am certain that most of the denizens would, if told to take time to smell the roses, say impatiently,"Well! Bring the roses to me soon so that I can smell them. I have a zillion things to do." So, it is no wonder that when the group was being split into the 'fast group' and the 'slow group', the first time

The Upper Mustang Trek - I

The problem with being called a veteran at anything is that
it automatically creates the pressure to live up to the tag. I mean, just
imagine someone calling you a veteran cook with eight years of experience in
the kitchen. Even as you are scraping the half-burnt pieces of carbon on to
your plate and hypnotizing yourself into thinking of it as dinner, you
simultaneously swell up in pride and

Heighho to the Himalayas, again

It is that time of the year again. A time when all my long-suffering readers eagerly look forward to, when I vanish into the mountains and give them respite from my relentless flow of words. AND, may I say, a small ray of hope which probably fills their days with roseate thoughts - that I may be seduced into trying to 'find' myself in some remote cave there, leaving them in permanent peace.

Empowerment

"You are simply wasting your time. You should be working for the empowerment of those less fortunate than you."



"Ah! So, you really can give to others what you do not have yourself?"



"What do you mean? That I try to give wisdom when I do not have it myself?"



That's always the problem. You mean one thing, the other guy takes it in some other sense. At least this chap openly said it and

Tomorrow never comes

A decade and a half, nearly, of working together daily. Of practically living in each other's pockets for days on end. Of finding, thanks to his company, that life can be lived with irrepressible joie de vivre. Of observing, though not learning, that provocation can be brushed away as less than pinpricks. Of finding that, if you are capable of ignoring the prickles, most people can be sweet.

Fifty-one and kicking (and screaming too!)

My life has always been full of ironies. When in my twenties, it was tough for me to get to first base with any woman. After all, when the conversation starts off with her calling me 'Uncle', it becomes sort of difficult for me to think that it is a promising start of a budding romance. Talk about getting friend-zoned, I was getting uncle-zoned. And, now at fifty-one, when the 'Uncle' would

Mangalyan - So what's the big deal?

Apparently ISRO shot off a rocket and it put a satellite around Mars. Now, unless that satellite can take a top angle shot of Deepika Padukone's assets and get the Nation's largest daily to tweet about it on the lines of "OMG! Deepika's assets are visible from Mars", what is the big deal? The way it goes these days, ISRO needs to arrange for Mangalyan to do exactly that if it is to get TOI to

He was a nice man

"Hey! Not coming to the party tonight? Heard that you are saddled with an urgent job?"



"I am coming, no fear! I will request Akash to make this presentation for me."



"This is the fourth time this month that you are tapping him. Will he agree?"



"He is a nice guy. He will certainly help."



* * *



"Amma! I want two months salary in advance."



"You cannot keep asking...."



"Nitu!

Helpless Lines

We live in a very helpful world these days. For almost everything, there is always a helpline. So, if you run into a problem, you can always dial a helpline. Once you do that, the problem that you have with the helpline is guaranteed to make you forget the problem you thought you would solve by dialing it. Or, maybe, I exaggerate.

Truth be told, I have found helplines handy on a few occasions

Generation Gap?

The one thing that every young person is sure of is that the old suffer from 'generation gap' sickness. The old, of course, are equally as sure that what the young suffer from is 'chronic disrespect'. Despite the fact that I belong to the 'old', I am here to prove, conclusively, that 'generation gap sickness' IS the truth. What is more, I shall call upon my good friend Billy, the Bard, also