The flight was to Spokane, estimated time around over 5 hours; the airlines was ‘Frontier‘, and it was my first time flying with them (which eventually became the last too, as you will learn shortly). Now, as you know, each flight company has different sets of rules for customer care, food/drinks being served on board etc. It seemed, that Frontier had decided that they’ll serve only tiny packets of chips or pretzels, and that too, only one packet per customer – so said the book of rules given to the stewards and stewardesses.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I had rushed out of office in the evening, and had nothing since a short lunch I had at noon. I was already a bit hungry by the time I got out of office, and it had risen to quite an alarming level by the time the “fasten your seatbelts” sign flashed inside the airplane. Now, for me, ‘hunger’ has a bit of a ‘medical thing’ associated with it – If I don’t attend to my hunger within a certain time period/intensity, it would trigger headache and then dizziness in me. If at this stage, I get into a closed moving vehicle (anything from cars to airplanes), the condition changes into nausea, and if still left untouched, vomiting.

The airplane started taxiing, and I used all strength of my mind and body, to control the nausea which started showing its ugly teeth. I held on hard, and waited for the moment they’d server dinner (yeah, since it was late evening, and since I didn’t know the policies of Frontier, I hoped for dinner), withering each moment. And at last, there I saw the stewardess, at the end of the aisle with the trolley. I was at the window seat towards right side of the plane, and there was another 20-something chap at my left. His girlfriend sat at the other side of the aisle right beside him.

The stewardess came near, and it was then that I realized what they were serving – a tiny packet of chips/pretzels??? What is it gonna do to me – I could just sniff them up my nostrils, and forget they ever existed… but anyway, something is always better than nothing at the stage I was… The stewardess came near us, and asked the chap beside me about his choice. He was quite busy talking to his girlfriend, and he politely declined the offer with “Nothing, thanks.”

She then turned to me, and with an obsequious smile, asked my choice.
I felt heaven at last, and said “Thanks, chips please; and may I have two?”
She seemed taken aback by my question, and replied “Sorry, sir; but we can serve only one per customer”
I couldn’t just believe what I heard, and just exclaimed “eh?”
She took a packet of chips, held it out for me, and smiled. With a vacant expression, I took it from her. It was then that I noticed, that the chap at my left turned to me and noticed my face. He sure had heard my little request to the lady, and it seemed that he too was a bit taken aback by the answer.

He shot his hand forward, and said “I’ll have a packet of chips”

The stewardess stared at him for the fraction of a second, and gave him one. He just took it, and passed it on to me, as she watched. With an air of resent, she moved ahead to serve the next row of seats. I thanked the chap near me; he got back to his business after a courteous “Its cool, man”.

And never since have I flown on Frontier, neither have let any of my friends or acquaintances.

Now, that was a real story, on how for a tiny packet of chips, which costs them around a cent, Frontier airlines lost a customer, and a bunch of other potential ones.

So, last day, I see this dream: A fine Saturday morning at Ipswich. I get up from bed, open the door to the balcony, and I step out to watch the beautiful scene that’s seen from our apartment. But, what do I see??? I see a railway track instead, laid out just outside the apartment complex… and there is in fact a train approaching around the corner… I could hear the sound… the train came around, and what do I see??? Its me, at the front of the train, and I’m cycling a pedal, which is pulling the entire train behind me!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, the engine is a cycle-rickshaw kinda thing, and I’m pedaling it!!!!!!! :-O
Now, how the heck does my brain cook up all these stuff?! Did it just get confused on how a train is powered, or was it just checking out the possible idea of using renewable sources of energy to power a train??!!! I mean, I’d never think of this – whether it be rational or fantasy – when I’m awake! I mean, its the same brain right..? How come it starts thinking ‘out-of-the-box’ once I’m asleep..? Forget whether the idea is plausible or not – but, just the thought itself is marvelous!!! We all get such dreams, right..? Friedrich Kekule dreamed of benzene’s structure, and that was one heck of a dream!!! God know what else around us is the product of a dream…

Tell me… if I could just do this consciously, couldn’t I just become the coolest professional around…? I mean, I’m a technical artist – if I could just dream and find out what’s the best design for my clients, couldn’t I just boom up my marketing potentials..? But how…?!!!!!

What if I spend more time sleeping, and less time at office..? Can I increase my productivity with these brilliant dream-ideas..? But, there is no guarantee that I’ll have these ‘high-performance, ‘cost-effective, bleeding-edge’ dreams How… how… how!!!?????

To cut a long story short, we reached Madame Tussauds at around 4 PM, after much roaming around in London! This in fact, was my second visit to a Madame Tussauds; the first was the one at Las Vegas, back in 2004. To be frank, I kinda liked the London one more… may be because its been four years since, and I don’t really remember much of my previous visit now… but anyway, that’s not the point here. Btw, before I get to the point, lemme just shout out just this one piece more – Nicole Kidman’s statue!!!! Oh boy!!! From the entire statues sitting/standing/dancing/lying out there, there is only one that keeps coming back to me – Nicole Kidman’s!!!! Astounding!!! Beautiful!!! Captivating!!! Well, I did take a snap with her – (man, she is tall!!!!) psst… its her’s statue that’s featured for London branch at the official website. (Additional snaps of the statue: one here, another here)

Coming to the point atlast! – I too want my statue erected at atleast one of the Madam Tussauds!!! whew!! I’ve said it!!! Is it too much to ask for..? Well, people would get a chance to take snaps with my life-like statue even if I’m not around… you know… kids would ask “mamma mamma, who’s statue is that?” and parents would say “Idiot, can’t you read what’s written there..? Its the great Arián Kenobi’s!!!”… and kids will ask “mamma, mamma… who is he?” and mom would say “ummm… ummm… don’t you have anything else to ask…? Go google it!!”

Anyways, leaving the fantasy part out, the fact is plain – I want my statue there!!! And, how can I get it there..?

Well, they seem to show only world leaders, top sports men, and top celebrities… well… I’m unfortunately none of those (at the moment)… unless I can get to be one in the next few years…! hmm… interesting!!! Are there any shortcuts..? What if I marry some celebrity…? and then maybe act in a few films and become a celebrity myself…? hmm… not a bad idea… but… where do I find a celebrity first of all…? and that too, one without a boyfriend?! (hey, does anyone know if Emma Watson’s already got a boyfriend or not?)

Or, you know, what if I become a revolutionary world leader…? (honestly, I have no idea what that is!!!) Or, is sports the best..? blah… I guess I’ll have to have some luck like the Kung fu Panda, for that to happen!!!

Everything seems to be difficult!! But, I still have an idea… not the last one, for I shall keep on cooking up ones till my statue gets there… Well, this is the deal: (now, don’t you dare laugh – many have made that mistake of ignoring great ideas)

IF… ie, If…, I can get the Tussauds folks to open a gallery at Alappuzha…, will they heed to a demand, that my statue too be put up???

hmmm….

Well, day-before-yesterday, I tried to reason with myself on why I don’t make it there, and to my own surprise, I came up with cartloads of reasons, and at last my conscience sighed and exclaimed, “brrrrrrr… I think its impossible to do it in my current circumstances… may be I should just cancel my membership”…!

In early 2006, when I was in Irving, there came a phase where I started loosing control of my eating habits, and I started putting on weight… so much, that one day, I stepped on to a scale, and it showed a freaking 210 lbs!!! (that’s around 105 kgs)… I was sad… and I ate more… and I put on even more weight… and then I thought may be I’ll workout, and I’ll get back to shape… I tried for a few days… tried getting up at 7:00 and hitting the gym… couldn’t get up… tried hitting the gym in the evening… was too tired after work… and at last, I gave up… I blamed my ‘circumstances’…

And then, one night, I went to bed after watching the movie Sahara, and during the last five minutes before I slipped into slumber, a cataract of Matthew McConaughey images flashed in front of my eyes… My mind went blank for a moment… my lips pursed for a moment… and then, it was like in the ‘terminator’ movie, when Arnold was ‘rebooted’. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

At 5:00 am the next morning, I jumped out of bed, pulled on my jerseys, and walked straight to the gym. I jogged for 30 mins straight on the treadmill ( 8-| I know!!! ), I did weights for 15 mins… walked back home, grabbed my tennis racket and kit; jumped into my car, and drove to Northlake college’s tennis courts. I practiced rallying on the half-court for one hour straight… came back, and got on to my day’s affairs. I was back from office at 5:30 pm, went straight to gym again, worked out for one hour, grabbed my tennis kit and joined my friends at Irving Public school’s tennis courts, played for two hours, came back, had dinner, watched Sahara again, and went to sleep.

Two months passed, and I had lost 40 lbs (around 20 kgs)!

I wonder where that mystical switch is, which just turns my impossibilities into ultimate possibilities…! and I wish it does its magic again

1. I jump up from bed no matter whether it is 4 am or 5 am
2. I get up from bed at around 7 am
3. I force myself up from bed at 8:00, 8:30 or even 9:00 am

Observing, analyzing and interpreting these patterns have been extremely interesting, which ultimately I could relate to steering parameters. Surprisingly, a generic representation of all those parameters comes in a simple question – “Is there something to look forward for, in your day?“.

1. When I had something happy or exciting to look forward for in the day, no matter what time, I used to jump up from my bed, and get started with my day with all enthusiasm I could gather.
2. When my life was going just normal, with nothing exciting happening around, I used to get up at the ‘normal’ time, though with a drowsy head, and started off a ‘normal’ day.
3. When my days were going bad, say, work was traumatizing, or a relationship was stinking, I always felt reluctant to start my day, tying myself to the bed till logical reasoning couldn’t afford to let me anymore.

Now, the way we start the day metamorphs into how we carry out the day, and ultimately how we end the day, and in turn, how we start the next day. In other words, this goes on in a cycle, a catch 22 situation, and unless we take charge, we are not going to solve our problem; or else we’ll have to just leave it to time and fate to work out its magic in due course…

Well, all said and done, technical analysis wouldn’t be of any use unless we could articulate the facts, derive a solution, and put the solution to work, would it?

Now, when things go bad, and you feel helpless to take control of them to put it right, how can you bring the enthusiasm back into your day? The answer is simple – you just have to bring something exciting back into your life, which you probably forgot in the midst of all your troubles. And what are those exciting things? It could be anything that demands your attention and involvement – so much of it – that you start to forget the trouble lurking around you. E.g: Did you every like painting..? how long has it been since you painted – why don’t you pay a visit to your local store, get hold of some crayons or color and brush, some paper and spend your evening painting… Or, say you always wanted to learn guitar.. Pay your local music store a visit today, check with them on tuition sessions, get a guitar and spend your evenings in music… Say, you wanted to learn clay modelling… do it… Did you love writing, and lost touch because of your busy schedules..? C’mmon, grab some cofee, get a pen and pad, or your laptop… go sit on the verandah, or the park… and start scribbling… Just find something that you wanted to do… or something which you enjoy doing… and just jump in…

Adding joy and excitement, even if forcefully, into your normal or damaged days can kick the humdrum or sorrow out, or atleast make up the damage, and make each of your mornings special… so special, that you couldn’t just wait to jump up from your bed, and greet those baby rays with an equally bright shine – the one from your eyes!

The cinema was around half full, and considering it was a Saturday, and that a week since the movie was released here at Ipswich, UK, and of course, that the reviews had been suggesting negative, it seemed pretty good.

The movie started off with a classic clouds ‘screen saver’ and 80′s style music, and it seemed that it was so designed to set the mood for the rest of the movie… and the rest of the movie progressed over a main theme – on the ability of vegetation to wage a war against its enemies, the ‘natural’ way. It also had a side-theme , an age old one, where two people rediscover each other, at the face of adversity, when they had to depend upon each other.

The movie reminded me of Hitchcock’s The Birds, and Shyamalan had been successful in transforming the otherwise most beautiful and refreshing experience of wind blowing against the trees as one that raises a storm of fear in your mind. Remarkable was the scene when Wahlberg suddenly finds a plant in the room, which arouses in you a sense of insecurity and fear.

Did I like this movie..? hmm… yeah, may be… in a 1 to 10 scale, I had liked it at around 5; but probably most of the people wouldn’t really enjoy it. That explains the reviews.

Two points I took home from the movie:

1. Nature’s mechanisms to regulate and balance what’s happening in it, is still in play… Reassuring against it, that natural selection is something of the past, which the unfortunate dinosaurs experienced, wouldn’t really help. Reminded me of the Sanscrit sloka, “Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavathi bhaaratha, abhyudhanam adharmasya, thadaathmanam srjamy aham” (Whenever and wherever there is decay of righteousness, and a rise of unrighteousness, then I (The Lord) manifest Myself! )
2. The living beings around us, whom we disregard as utterly unimportant, might really be not what it seems to be!

Not a full waste of time if you are a thinker; else, you are not gonna like it