...One Year...

This post is specifically dedicated to my lovely and loving wifey who has judiciously jhelo’d me since a year now…

Just last Friday we successfully, courageously and very blissfully completed a complete year of being married to each other. One year! Can you even believe me? Okay for the people who don’t know me… I am a very terrible person to live with, I actually make you go mad… and this woman has lived with me without losing any screws! In fact, she managed to actually tame me and bring me down to an acceptable ‘sane’ level!

I can vouch on being married now… this is one of those amazing experiences that I’d suggest everyone to go through at least once in their life… I am so happy and thankful to god that he hooked me up with my loving wifey and so thankful to my wifey that she agreed to get married to me.

Ours is a traditional ‘arranged Indian marriage’ with a strange twist! I had always been a staunch believer of going through a serious courtship for at least six months before you decide to marry any person. Against this, the wifey and I dated an exact five days at the end of which we had realized that we wanted to get married and spend the rest of our lives with each other.

Its just so much of peace that I feel when I am with her… life does start taking a specific shape and your actions are for a reason… suddenly you start ‘living’ instead of existing or surviving… life gets its meaning and you live and love for a reason.

Sounds like too much mush from me, no? I know… the wifey usually has this effect on me, every time I’m with her or I talk about her I usually get all mushy… she’ll completely deny it though…

Just wanted to publicly profess that I love her a lot and she is the reason that I’m sane, grounded, (almost) human, and the person that I am now… she is the reason for all my smiles and laughter, for my joy and my glee she is the one who made me turn into me!

Finally, a song by the Beatles to end this blog… just love the mush factor in this song… if you haven’t heard it yet, I suggest you give it a hear…

I give her all my love
That's all I do
And if you saw my love
You'd love her too
I love her

She gives me everything
And tenderly
The kiss my lover brings
She brings to me
And I love her

A love like ours
Could never die
As long as I
Have you near me

Bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her

Bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her

funny tag

Got a hilarious tag from -XH-… Found it so funny that I have to do it right away! :D

1) Have you been on a date in the last month?
> If going out with the wifey counts as a DATE then I’m going on a date every other day since a year now, :D

2) What was your dream growing up?
> I was a chronic day-dreamer… had too many dreams, started from being a pilot, moved on for a hotelier then a rich playboy… now I’m married and dream to get a job of being a travel show host (anyone interested in giving me a job?)

3) What talent do you wish you had?
> making people happier with my presence.

4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
> Depends on the mood, if I’m tired and in a hurry, a pint of beer; if I want to enjoy the drink, a long island iced-tea; if I want to be a snob a bottle of some fine wine…

5) Favorite vegetable?
> Veggies? EUWW… they give me the heebie-jeebies

6) What was the last book you read?
> The Afghan by Fredrick Forsyth

7) What zodiac sign are you?
> A perfect GEMINI

8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercing? Explain where.
> A lot of tattoos on my arms and torso, you can read more about them on my older post here

9) Worst Habit?
> I piss people off too easy

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
> I know you dude, you’ll prolly be ‘riding down’ not walking down… but if my pillion seat is empty, you are always welcome!

11) What is your favorite sport?
> playing videogames?

12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
> I’m optimistically negative :p

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
> depends on the situation, and how drunk I am :p

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
> Nothing REALLY WORSE has happened till date (touch wood) a lot of bad things, but hey! That’s life!!

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
> My passion is riding but I’m perennially scared of twisties and ghats when I ride

16) Do you have any pets?
> Had a loving dog, he passed away… will get some pets once I get a status check on my life :)

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
> That’s so old-skool… I actually wait for people to show up at our house

18) What was your first impression of me?
> A very reserved person who didn’t talk too much, but as time passed I met the real you and am happier every time I meet you again! :D

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
> At this age, clowns are stupid :p

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
> have more hair (its falling too fast) and try and be a bit more ‘in-shape’

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
> What’s the crime?

22) What color eyes do you have?
> Brownblack

23) Ever been arrested?
> Yes

24) Bottle or can soda?
> SODA? Not sure, anything goes

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
> Get a few upgrades for the bike, get some more riding gear and invest whatever is left of it

27) What's your favorite place to hang at?
> Home with my better-half, or if she is with me, anywhere

28) Do you believe in ghosts?
> I do. But they don’t believe in me :(

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
> laze in front of the TV, movies, books, music…. This list is unending, only effup is that I don’t have spare time

30) Do you swear a lot?
>started cutting down on it now.

31) Biggest pet peeve?
> There are a lot of things that annoy me, I try and ignore those :D

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
>simplyconfusing (is that one word?)

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
> I’m romance personified

35) Do you believe in God?
> YES, and he sometimes believes in me…

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
> would you really wanna do it again?

I’m running out of names of people who would want to do this… please pick it up if you like it just let me know so that I can read about you as well!

Stress Busting - the new way

It’s been a while since the wifey and I have started something new for our weekends, it’s called ‘Krav Maga’… the official explanation in Hebrew is contact combat. An effective, easy-to-learn, battle tested Israeli system of Self Defense & combat tactics trained in realistic scenarios with 'no rules' & muscle memory based instinctive techniques to eliminate or escape from the threat.

For me the interesting factor for this was the increasing deterioration in the quality of people in Bangalore… off late I’ve seen too many news and incidences of women getting eveteased, molested or worse raped and murdered in our so called developing country. I’ve been perpetually petrified when I personally witnessed two or three different counts of women being teased, grabbed, groped and felt-over on the crowded streets of Bangalore. Sad part is that those women didn’t know how to react or defend themselves in such a situation!

What Krav Maga teaches is not something hyper like most of the martial arts, its the use of your basic common sense and muscle reflexes in different situations, not only this! This is probably the only form of self defense where a woman can easily inflict enough damage to her attacker and get out of a situation even while draped in a saree! Here are a few of the situations that many women can find themselves in and probably use KM to get out;
>What do you do when you’re pinned to the ground? (Classic rape scenario)
>When someone holds a knife to your throat? (Kidnapping anyone?)
>How do you fight back when someone grabs you from behind? (A lot of women experience this in clubs and on the crowded streets)

Well not only will you learn how to get out of all these situations and more… you’ll also burn around 800calories in every one hour session of rigorous KM training; which means really toned muscles and perfectly figured bodies.

The wifey enjoys these sessions so much that she actually looks forward to our weekly weekend sessions of KM… and trust me, she is one of the most aggressive students in the class… most of the guys there are so scared to spar with her! Coz they eventually get beaten-up by a frail looking woman.

What started as an experiment to see if training for self defense can be useful anywhere in life has now changed into a weekly stress busting session for us. We punch the $h^t out of the boxing pads there, do so much of workout, and every week we learn something new that can help in tight spots. I also notice a good improvement in self confidence, reflex and attention levels in both the wife and me. I also notice a growth in the overall awareness of surroundings when we are somewhere out of the house.

Well, this might sound like a paid advertisement for KM. but honestly, after personally witnessing and experiencing the before/after effects of KM I would want to recommend it to everyone I know…

Go ahead people! At least go and see what this thing is and try out one introductory session… I definitely see it an amazing stress buster and a way to keep you safe and sane in today's unsafe and insane world.

you can check it out here:

http://www.kravmagabangalore.com
http://www.selfdefensebangalore.com

Live safe!

P.S. KM is going to arrange a session on Road-Rage. This session will be on February 24 in Bangalore near the Old-Madras road. If you want more details on this do let me know.

Happy Birthday dearest RedEye!

Last year Valentines Day I got the best gift till date! I got myself my loving beauty, my RedEye.

She is now a year old…
So many adventures we’ve accomplished together!
She’s already done more than 13Kkms, averaging to more than a thousand kilometers of running every month! Now, that’s some good running :-)

I still remember the day I got her… out of the showroom… she was all prissy and prime, shining in all red and silver with lotsa chrome… just like a new bride! :D

In this one year, we changed so much! She got a pair of better and brighter headlamps, louder horns, free-flow ‘goldie’ exhaust, more cushioning on the seats, a bigger tank and loads and loads of love from me!
And I; well, I became calmer, older, more mature and more loving, more adventurous and lastly MARRIED!



The wifey also loves RedEye as much as I do, sometimes though she thinks that I think more of her than her… ;)

We’ve explored so many different destinations and did so many rides! The last one being my ride from Bangalore to Ahmedabad… and yet, there are so many rides still to be done, so many destinations still to be explored and so many horizons yet to be chased…

Hopefully, this year we’ll do Leh-Ladakh (Khardung-la pass, the highest motorable road in the world) and maybe some more!
Sometimes I wish if I was paid to just travel and write about it! (Anyone out there looking for a not-so-good-looking travel show host?)

I just pray that our relationship deepens every kilometer covered and our love and loyalty for each other doesn’t fade… that we ride on and on and on and chase all the horizons we see…
Amen!

"Tag of Names"

-XH- sent me this funnily hilarious tag... i'm rolling on teh floor reading his answers and how putting in mine!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Johny Don’thaveone
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) chocolate bourbon
3. YOUR “FLY Guy” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) L-Jos
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Black Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) LJ Ahmedabad
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Jos Lo
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Black Bournvita
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Madhu Himmatlal (muahahahahaha)
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) sorry, we hindus are too restricted on ‘middle names’
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Pandya Pondicherry
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Winter tuberose (sounds more like a diesease!)
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Mellon pantshirty
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) cereal banyan
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)The reading snow Tour

i don't know if you guys want to do this but i'll tag gunj and shre to pick up from here and do the honors :D

Reviewer of the month

i had been a member of the Hungry Bangalore website since a while; been conttributing also a bit of the reviews of a few of the restaurants and places that i like to visit quite often...

guess what? they chose me as the reviewer of the month for February :D

here is the weblink for the same... http://newsletter.hungrybangalore.com/february-newsletter.htm

feels good to brag ;)

cheers!