Feeling good..

Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun inthe sky you know how I feel
Breeze drifting on by you know how i feel
Its a new dawn, its a new day its a new life for me and i'm feeling good

Fish in the sea, you know how I feel
River running free, you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel
Its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life for me and I'm feeling good.

Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don't u know
Butterflys all having fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when the day is done, thats what I mean
And this old world is a new world and a bold world for me, and I'm feeling good.



Stars when u shine, you know how i feel
Scent of the pine you know how i feel
Ohh freedom is mine and i know how i feel
Its a new dawn its a new day its a new life for me

and i'm feeling gooooooooddddddd.

by Nina Simone ( originally)

Wotang!!

Friday nights.. 13 years ago. A Few rounds of Old Monk XXX Rum and a few beers to wash it down and we are ready for our Chillums. 7 of us, in my room, a very small room. A cot with my “Rajaai”, pillows and a cotton mattress, an easy chair, a reading table and a chair. 7 of us in the room, a very small room. We light up the chillum, Bholenaath ki prasaad, you see. My Friend, SP and I were trying to come up with a term for the state of our beings and I said “WOTANG!!”. The feeling of being catapulted into space.

SP said..”Its like being catapulted onto Neptune’s orbit Man! I feel like a moon”. I really was agape thinking why he did not say Pluto. But I think I just laughed, agreed and let it go at that.

Fast forward to the present times, Friday last, 3 of us strapped into a rocking chair like contraption. A sudden burst of fog like gas, a sweet smell of jasmine, the sound of stretching rubber and WOTANG! Catapulted into the Singapore airspace, approximately 150 feet into the air, twisting, rotating, upside down, sideways, the lights of Singapore seemingly beneath us, and then suddenly above us and then all around us. I was holding onto a round metal railing, my feet tucked underneath me, my eyes wide open as I saw them stars first and then the sea and then the stars again.

This 3-seater contraption, going round and round at incredible speed, the stars and the lights of the city meshing with each other in a single continuum. WOTANG!

Its tough to write something at 38000 feet, with three glasses of vodka in you at 10:00 AM over the south China sea, on my way to Tokyo, on my way back to San Jose. It is WOTANG! all over again.

WOTANG! – The feeling that you get when you are lost in orbit around Neptune, after 3 bottles of beer, 2 quarts of Rum and 3 chillums.

WOTANG! – The feeling you get when you are lost in space, no reference point, gping round and round, lights all around you, water below you and you are SCREAAAMINGGG!!

WOTANG! – The feeling you get when your two month old nephew wakes up at 4 AM plays with you, before you are lost in space again.

WOTANG! – Life!