Hero

Talking about heroes, I got one of mine :)

HTC Hero. It is the best phone I've ever owned. I'm in simple words amazed by this device. May be its cause I jumped generations of phones, my previous was a shameful Motorola Rokr (even Steve Jobs got pissed at it :P)

You'll find all sorts of superficial and in-depth reviews about this device. But to summarize it has good hardware, has a great UI(HTC Sense), a stable platform(Android) and a great app store (off-course nothing beats Apple's app store).  I was so much sold, I decided to switch to Sprint from AT&T for that, which can now be regarded as a wise move considering Sprint's network and plans.

Recently I wanted couple of things, a GPS, a pocket camera, a portable music player and a new phone, and this sweet device does it all. Why not iPhone you would ask, wouldn't you?

Well, my hatred of iTunes ranks first in the reasons I have. I don't use iTunes even on my Mac, simply don't like it. Secondly, background apps. This phone(Android in general) has background apps that can do magic, like put the phone on vibrate when at work, turn wifi on at home, mute notification sounds in sleep time. And the not so magical but essential things like listen to internet streams while doing other stuff, have notifications for tweets/facebook/whatever-you-want, chat without getting logged off on switching the app, and use a GPS/maps app while using other apps. Thirdly, iPhone is just not cool. There, I said it.

There are fourth, fifth and some more reasons, you may have a look at the fantastic Droid ad to get a hold.

Heroes

I'm back to watching Heroes again after almost a year. Just done with season 3.. and I'm surprised that it still manages to keep me entertained without sucking. The story is actually well laid out, and like how they suddenly introduce lots of things in a single episode and then pace it out over the next couple of them.

For me the best part of Heroes has been the voice-over by the character 'Mohinder Suresh', sounds like a punjabi born in a southie household :P, but interesting character nonetheless. His monologues are outstanding for TV quality in terms of content and delivery. Here are some excerpts:

The Earth is large. Large enough that you think you can hide from anything. From Fate. From God. If only you found a place far enough away. So you run. To the edge of the Earth. Where all is safe again. Quiet, and warm. The solace of salt air. The peace of danger left behind. The luxury of grief. And maybe, for a moment, you believe you have escaped.

Where does it come from? This quest? This need to solve lifes mysteries when the simpliest of questions can never be answered. Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream? Perhaps we would be better off not looking at all. Not delving. Not yearning. But that's not human nature. Not the human heart. That is not why we are here. Yet still we struggle to make a difference. To change the world. To dream of hope. Never knowing for certain who we'll meet along the way. Who, among the world of strangers, will hold our hand. Touch our hearts. And share the pain of trying.

Inertia

I'm dead tired. Tired with this thing called inertia. And its not the Newton's inertia, that is slightly better. There, if you are in motion, you keep being motion. The inertia I've currently makes me stop if I'm in motion, and makes me stoop if I'm stopped.

It is damn difficult to get out of it, has an over-powering omnipresence of sorts. Now all this sounds pretty whimsical, but heck it is true. I lose my initiative, my excitement and my enthusiasm, pretty soon after it gets back. Not being able to maintain it, I'm tracing the root cause. And I have a strong feeling it is "motivation".

My posts these days are mostly coming out of random conversations with friends. In a recent one, the conclusion was that, there is no motivation because there is no goal. Then again, there is no goal because there is no motivation. In this typically, what you could call, a vicious cycle the thing getting killed is 'progress'.

To break the cycle need a strong, equally over-powering, momentum that can guarantee an uninterrupted supply of motivation without really having to have a goal or a set of goals. The deal is to find it, and google doesn't help. There is a spoon, and there are forks and knives too, if you care to look the other side.

Dhan te nan!

On a literally infinite loop of the new track from Kaminey, Dhan te nan. It is so energizing. Vishal Bharadwaj is back with powerful music, and I hope an equally intriguing film, looking at his track record. I admire such multi-talented people. The lyrics, by Gulzaar, defy age and convention:

koi chaal aisi chalo yaar ab ke
samandar bhi pul pe chale
phir tu chale us pe ya mein chaloon
shehar ho apne pairon tale
kahin khabrein hain
kahin kabrein hain
jo bhi soye hain kabron mein

unko jagana nahi

....

chal chal sadkon pe hogi
dhan dhan dhan te nan - 3

Blue Jeans

I wear a blue jeans
That me seldom cleans
I already have a slew
And then I got two new
Blue jeans!

Dark and light
Cross hatched - stone washed
Loose and tight
But that doesn't hide
That its just a blue jeans!

Day in and day out
Otherwise or when in doubt
I wear.. a blue jeans.
Shirts, tees, rounds and V's
But underneath it is
the same old.. blue jeans.

And its just not me,
the world is at its knee
Everybody is stuck with the blue,
many a man tried to unglue
The blue jeans!

Some say, free your mind
Some say, free your soul
I say, unzip and unwind
There are more colors
than the squalid blue!