Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
Where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun....
Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime

Random-Thoughts..
How do you create music like Pink Floyd.. I have no idea, I guess drugs play a large part in it. I should try it someday.
Ever noticed the way kids have such bright shiny eyes and most adults don't. Hows that? Do we just lose some part of ourself when we grow up?
Some people (like me) are just driftwoods, moving from one place to other, taking life as it comes. Experiencing the endless possibilities universe throws at us. Some others with fixed goals, fixed plans in life work hard to realise them closing down any other possibility that life presents them with. Does any of this baloney really matter in the end. Aren't we all killing time until we have to say goodbye :) Anyway, I killled my time this weekend with a ride through the beautiful Columbia river gorge and mount Hood.

I-84E - 35S - 35N - I-84E - 30E (diversion from Mossier on I-84E) - I -84E - 97N - 14W - I5 S
I-84E is a very scenic ride through the gorge. I love it specially during sunsets. The mountains, the silent river. Its romantic, melancholic, beautiful all combined into one. Mount hood is the tallest in Oregon. Its a pretty mountain, really. Notice the loopy road pic. I've seen that in a magazine cover and was curious where that was. Rowena Loops on the historic columbia river highway (30E from Mossier till Dallas). Amazing roads with scary twisties perfect for sportsbikes. During the ice age, massive slabs of ice came down from Canada through Montana, Idaho and carved out this spectacular gorge we have now.

Crossed over into Washington at Maryhill. Took a break for a while at the state park recreation site. The history of columbia river gorge is closely entwined with the Indians who lived here. It was Nichi-wana (the big river) for them. Its kinda funny that all the modern names of any mountain, river, lake are all English. Mt. Everest, Columbia river, St. helens.. pick any. The western explorers just kill all the local names with names of their own leaders and the like. All those local names atleast had a meaning associated them, now most of them just remind us of some badass English generals and the like. I think its pretty sad, but hey.. life is like that. take it or die! ;) The europeans have pretty much massacred and looted almost all of the countries they have colonised and buried the history so that these guys would look all nice and wonderful later. The following is posted at the state park in Maryhill.
The local Indians who lived in the columbia river gorge and surrounding areas depend heavily on the river for most of their food and water needs. When the western explorers came in, there was a clash of the right of usage and so eventually a treaty was made so that both the Indians and the whites could live off the river amiably. Amusingly enough, the Indians later find out that all the reservation lands allocated to them are nowhere near the river banks!
The massacre of American Indians by the europeans is one the worst in the recent history. How many millions, I dont know. But my heart goes out for all of them. I hope they can live peacefully in their own land today. I am not just saying that the europeans have been the badass guys. History has repeated itself with the invaders slaughtering millions of the native population. The Islamic invasion of India from about 1000 AD to 1600 AD when they plundered, slaughtered and looted the local Hindus. It is funny how Islam came about in about 700 AD in middle east and by 900 AD, these guys were waging wars, conquering lands, slaughtering locals with a passion. I wish India could've been strong enough to resist. Any nation should be able to protect its own civilians and interests from anyone form of aggression. My kudos to Israel in that respect. Ghenghiz khan, another hero who erased local population from Mongolia till eastern europe. I guess no one could match that brutality. Anyway, all I guess we could do is to learn from the past and not let history repeat itself. India never will, I guess. The way Pakistan and its allies have systematically organized terrorist acts on Indian soil, waged war for Indian territories, taking away chunks of Indian soil.. all this is history repeating itself. But no one sees and we still, being the good guys talk about peace with neighbours. Please look at Israel and learn something.

The return trip is along I-14W and its a nice, winding road through the mountains and the gorge. Columbia river in this area is like the Mecca for windsurfing and kitesurfing. I am not much of a watersports person, but hang-gliding is something I wanna pursue. Someday, I'm gonna be this guy ;)










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