I can't describe the pleasure that my olfactory senses bring me on winter evenings. It is first a smell that I discovered in madras, one that I still relate it to the evening walks with my doggie and my thoughts..And after more than 4-5 years, I've rediscovered this amazing smell and the magic that it adds to an otherwise regular evening/winter night...
I don't know what flower it is from; I do not know which tree it belongs too...all i know is that catching even the slightest whiff of that mild and refreshing smell makes me so happy and so energized...For some reason though i've come to associate "jacarandas" to this amazing scent...I am probably so off the mark associating the smell and the flower...but...well...ignorance is bliss!! :)
Although I can't really describe this scent or feeling...every chance i get..i shall spread the cheer and make introductions new to others ill informed :)
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wear Sunscreen
This is a song that came out a very long time back...back when i was in school...i really really like this song...calling it a song even is probably a stretch...its not even rap...its more like a guy telling you the thoughts on life with some background music...Its very true...very simple...very my take on life...and a very nicely done summary i should say...
For those of you that do not know Baz Luhrmann...he's actually an australian movie director...and this is his only piece of music..he's done movies such as Australia and Moulin Rouge...
Anyway here are the lyrics to this song...
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh nevermind, you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now, how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked, you are not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy, sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind, the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults, if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, Maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary What ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can, don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Be nice to your siblings, they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard, Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, Maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen
For those of you that do not know Baz Luhrmann...he's actually an australian movie director...and this is his only piece of music..he's done movies such as Australia and Moulin Rouge...
Anyway here are the lyrics to this song...
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97
Wear Sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future,sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience, I will dispense this advice now.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future,sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience, I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh nevermind, you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now, how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked, you are not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy, sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind, the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults, if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, Maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary What ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can, don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings, they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard, Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, Maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen
I love the part about advice...and about living in new york city ( although thats primarily coz it runs very similar my thoughts on delhi :))...you know it primarily talks of nothing but letting go...enjoying life and throwing away all those silly hang ups! i think i shall try...:)
Friday, October 02, 2009
Serendipity
Serendipity, luck, chance, fortuitous. There is no other way to describe such a meeting and all that followed…
Our little party traveling to Varanasi that day had been just in the nick of time to catch our flight out. Of course, being just at the nick of time doesn’t let one be very choosy!
So the lot of us got seats at different parts of the craft and most of them the middle row seats that no one actually prefers!
Well anyway…All settled into my seat, I promptly dozed off (having discovered that this is a great way to catch up on lost sleep!). Next thing I know, I was being woken up by the hostess to be served, except that she has only non vegetarian meals left and would I be so kind as to eat one of them! Being a vegetarian and a stickler for service, this just plain ticked me off! And I think I said something that amounted to “ this isn’t how things are done!”, not the greatest of conversation starters maybe but what followed was one of those really really nice conversations.
Just to clarify, I didn’t end up talking to myself! I was after all seated amidst two people and the person who actually chose to respond to irate me was sitting to my right…Late thirties, early forties and a geologist! From that moment on we had a two hour flight where we spoke of so many many things, everything under the sky from customer service to corporate social responsibilities to the environment, our respective jobs, companies…it was brilliant! Anyway, at the end of the flight we introduced ourselves!! And me being me, googled him! It was more curiosity than anything….
I am usually such a misfit for the way I think and the way I argue and few people stimulate me to argue, think and give me broader views and encourage me to be such a nut! Well I’d just met one such person and if I could, I was certainly going to get in touch! And get in touch we did…writing mails…again about everything under the sun and some on crafts orbiting it, books, movies and life in general….And then we met again, although this time it was planned and not left to lady luck…and had as riveting a conversation as any other time!
What else would one call such a chance encounter turning to such an interesting friendship?
Our little party traveling to Varanasi that day had been just in the nick of time to catch our flight out. Of course, being just at the nick of time doesn’t let one be very choosy!
So the lot of us got seats at different parts of the craft and most of them the middle row seats that no one actually prefers!
Well anyway…All settled into my seat, I promptly dozed off (having discovered that this is a great way to catch up on lost sleep!). Next thing I know, I was being woken up by the hostess to be served, except that she has only non vegetarian meals left and would I be so kind as to eat one of them! Being a vegetarian and a stickler for service, this just plain ticked me off! And I think I said something that amounted to “ this isn’t how things are done!”, not the greatest of conversation starters maybe but what followed was one of those really really nice conversations.
Just to clarify, I didn’t end up talking to myself! I was after all seated amidst two people and the person who actually chose to respond to irate me was sitting to my right…Late thirties, early forties and a geologist! From that moment on we had a two hour flight where we spoke of so many many things, everything under the sky from customer service to corporate social responsibilities to the environment, our respective jobs, companies…it was brilliant! Anyway, at the end of the flight we introduced ourselves!! And me being me, googled him! It was more curiosity than anything….
I am usually such a misfit for the way I think and the way I argue and few people stimulate me to argue, think and give me broader views and encourage me to be such a nut! Well I’d just met one such person and if I could, I was certainly going to get in touch! And get in touch we did…writing mails…again about everything under the sun and some on crafts orbiting it, books, movies and life in general….And then we met again, although this time it was planned and not left to lady luck…and had as riveting a conversation as any other time!
What else would one call such a chance encounter turning to such an interesting friendship?
Monday, June 22, 2009
Soul Food
Today was one of those days. Bummers. No other way to describe it. Actually that describes my last week perfectly as well. But today as I was out in the evening catchting up with a friend at 'our' Costa coffee, i say "our" with full rights considering the amounts of money we give these guys to feed us chocolate tavolettas and hot chocolate and afagatos at the drop of a hat! they know us so well! anyway to get back to the actual point i was trying to make.... We sat nursing our Hot chocolates and just musing in each others company when these guys played some of the best music I've heard in sometime! Its actually pretty old stuff...some 5-6 yrs old, some recent, some older still...but what a mood booster, better than the company, better than the medium cup calorie filled chocolate better than having someone telling me it was all going to be alright... so we just sat there listening to J.Lo sing waiting for tonight and louis armstrong tell me it was still a beautiful world...and james blunt and dido and shania twain...
I had a terrible headache leaving work, but now its 11:40 pm, more than 3 hrs since i left work, i was so energized after that little bit of music, i carried home my hot chocolate (by now, cold and stoved into the refirgerator), freshened up (instead of the usual plopping on the bed and going to sleep), and made, here's the best part...pasta!!! and good pasta too...one of my better turned out experiments with food! :) enjoyed my pasta and now...happily blogging about it...oh, and listening to so much more music...its almost like i've re-discovered music and the pure joy and happiness and energy it gives you!
Well...all i want to say is, corny as it is, Music is soul food...!! :)
I had a terrible headache leaving work, but now its 11:40 pm, more than 3 hrs since i left work, i was so energized after that little bit of music, i carried home my hot chocolate (by now, cold and stoved into the refirgerator), freshened up (instead of the usual plopping on the bed and going to sleep), and made, here's the best part...pasta!!! and good pasta too...one of my better turned out experiments with food! :) enjoyed my pasta and now...happily blogging about it...oh, and listening to so much more music...its almost like i've re-discovered music and the pure joy and happiness and energy it gives you!
Well...all i want to say is, corny as it is, Music is soul food...!! :)
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
To every rule...
When you are a kid, uniqueness is treasured. It is what makes a child so special to a parent, it is what makes one stand out in a class of fifty. It is that ability to stand out in a crowd that companies and headhunters look for in their candidates. That something which makes one unique, special and a perfect fit..
After a couple of years of working now, I think I have seen enough to comment on certain aspects of the irony that I find in the above thought…
Selection of people to work for an organization is done on various criteria-competitive, smart, confident, a good fit into the company and a little extra something….but over the years I’ve begun to discover that the “Fit” seems to include various definitions and all of them somehow more important than the ‘spark’ or that extra something…that which set you apart from all the rest..
Because at the end of the day there exists a set of rules or/and a framework, either set by an organization or by an influential individual in the organization that more often than not everyone is expected to conform to. And if you do not conform, well the consequences may range from funny to severe, single to multiple….I don’t know that part yet although I’m sure I will in good time!
What I fail to understand is, why look for the people who stand out in the crowd when all you want is someone who is going to bend over, listen to the rules and follow them as commandments, someone let a hair fall out of place or ever make you uncomfortable and someone who will actually enjoy micro-managing!!! Why would you need someone with a little extra spark to do all that unless you were sadistic enough to want to suck the cheer and the want for freedom and intuition and spontaneity out of a person? I mean, Why? What does it do for people?
If everything could be followed up in figures or in set parameters, if everything could be done within set rules, the world would be one big monstrous tragedy!
It is true that you need basic rules, they give direction and sometimes guide….they were never meant to stifle. It is also true that rules were made to be broken. If everything could be done by following a rule, there would be no scientists in the world, no innovators nor any artistes…
Why do people grow up and forget that it is that special something that makes one feel good, if you don’t try and nurture that in yourself and in others, you’re just going to turn out to be a strong contender for the Mr./Ms. Dull-as-Hell contest!!!
Yeah well…I guess there will always be those who hate rules and those who can’t live without them…and I will never understand why there have to be such sticklers for rules and why they have to be so maddeningly infuriating…yeah well…guess one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do!!!
But…aren’t exceptions the rule?????????
After a couple of years of working now, I think I have seen enough to comment on certain aspects of the irony that I find in the above thought…
Selection of people to work for an organization is done on various criteria-competitive, smart, confident, a good fit into the company and a little extra something….but over the years I’ve begun to discover that the “Fit” seems to include various definitions and all of them somehow more important than the ‘spark’ or that extra something…that which set you apart from all the rest..
Because at the end of the day there exists a set of rules or/and a framework, either set by an organization or by an influential individual in the organization that more often than not everyone is expected to conform to. And if you do not conform, well the consequences may range from funny to severe, single to multiple….I don’t know that part yet although I’m sure I will in good time!
What I fail to understand is, why look for the people who stand out in the crowd when all you want is someone who is going to bend over, listen to the rules and follow them as commandments, someone let a hair fall out of place or ever make you uncomfortable and someone who will actually enjoy micro-managing!!! Why would you need someone with a little extra spark to do all that unless you were sadistic enough to want to suck the cheer and the want for freedom and intuition and spontaneity out of a person? I mean, Why? What does it do for people?
If everything could be followed up in figures or in set parameters, if everything could be done within set rules, the world would be one big monstrous tragedy!
It is true that you need basic rules, they give direction and sometimes guide….they were never meant to stifle. It is also true that rules were made to be broken. If everything could be done by following a rule, there would be no scientists in the world, no innovators nor any artistes…
Why do people grow up and forget that it is that special something that makes one feel good, if you don’t try and nurture that in yourself and in others, you’re just going to turn out to be a strong contender for the Mr./Ms. Dull-as-Hell contest!!!
Yeah well…I guess there will always be those who hate rules and those who can’t live without them…and I will never understand why there have to be such sticklers for rules and why they have to be so maddeningly infuriating…yeah well…guess one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do!!!
But…aren’t exceptions the rule?????????
Monday, April 27, 2009
Speed devil..
Speeding at 430-431 km/h the train is the ultimate in speed!!! One helluva experience..I strongly recommend anyone coming to Shanghai to take the maglev...its brilliant..well it covers a one hour journey in 7.5 minutes...thats something right? It would probably take you a bit of up and down before you actually know where it is to get on the train but well considering you don't know the language, thats a very trivial thing!! :)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A New Year resolution!!
Its been ages since I've written- my blog, poetry, prose, criticism, anything!! And i figured that its gone on long enough ( a year and more), so long so long, that i truly hope that my ability to write hasn't seeped through the pores of my body and been blown away by the dust laden winds of gurgaon...(is this an indication that what i fear has already occured??)!
Well, I'm going to try and write, and hopefully no one (including me) will feel like killing me because i did! So, This is my New Year's resolution, my tamil new year resolution...well i figured there is no time like the present to start...and hence..
Well, I'm going to try and write, and hopefully no one (including me) will feel like killing me because i did! So, This is my New Year's resolution, my tamil new year resolution...well i figured there is no time like the present to start...and hence..
Sunday, July 23, 2006
am i confused?? or am i??
endless space, endless time
is it really so?
is really mine?
shouldn't there be milestones?
what about memories and pictures?
is money that important?
or is it the people?
arguments can be so confusing
arguments can have no conclusion..
do they really need to?
why can't continuum be permanent?
why does everything have to lead to something..
do decisions really help?
are there any decisions that are right?
how sure are you that it is right?
it can be wrong,right?
then again, that's a personal view...
it is true that one man's bread is another man's poison..
but how does one know?
where do we learn?
all those teachers...who taught them?
one tiny crick and all of maths and science will topple over itself..
so what is it that we know?
is it concrete?
is it enduring? will it help us?
who do you ask?
is it really so?
is really mine?
shouldn't there be milestones?
what about memories and pictures?
is money that important?
or is it the people?
arguments can be so confusing
arguments can have no conclusion..
do they really need to?
why can't continuum be permanent?
why does everything have to lead to something..
do decisions really help?
are there any decisions that are right?
how sure are you that it is right?
it can be wrong,right?
then again, that's a personal view...
it is true that one man's bread is another man's poison..
but how does one know?
where do we learn?
all those teachers...who taught them?
one tiny crick and all of maths and science will topple over itself..
so what is it that we know?
is it concrete?
is it enduring? will it help us?
who do you ask?
Friday, May 12, 2006
This is how we feel!
its been quite a while since i last blogged...but read this forward and thought man thats so true... the thing is, its not just men who want to slap the person telling them how better to drive... when my parents tell me what i should do or what i'm not doing...i wanna scream!!!!!!!! well anyway..here's what i read..
A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.Suddenly her husband burst into the kitchen."Careful. CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD! You're cooking too many at once. TOOMANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MOREBUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me whenyou're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forgetto salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!"The wife stared at him. "What the heck is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry acouple of eggs?"The husband calmly replied, "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving."
A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.Suddenly her husband burst into the kitchen."Careful. CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD! You're cooking too many at once. TOOMANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MOREBUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me whenyou're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forgetto salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!"The wife stared at him. "What the heck is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry acouple of eggs?"The husband calmly replied, "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving."
Thursday, March 02, 2006
natural highs.....
the contents of this post were a forward. i generally click off and delete most forwards barring few which catch my eye. this one caught my eye and when i read it, i realized it was bang on spot. every line of it true. just reading through the mail had me smiling, feeling good and i needed that yesterday. it just so happened that yesterday was one of my days of self comtemplation...where i was going..whats in store for me...what do i have to show for twenty one years of life on this earth...i didnt feel too good at the end of the day but this mail had me smiling and feeling so much better than i had felt all day. i figured i'd rather post it on my blog rather than forward it..so here goes..
1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8.. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake. (or vanilla or strawberry!)
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke.
24. Friends.
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38. Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
although i haven't run around sprinklers...i've been hosed down with a garden hose..but the beach, the chocolate chip cookies, the puppies, eye contact, sunrise and sunset, roadtrips, phone calls, milkshakes and icecreams, getting mail, getting compliments, laughing at the fall of the hat and laughing for every single thing....its all just so me..i just couldn't help cheering up...and i do hope that whoever stops by this post of mine is smiling by the time they are done reading it...
1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8.. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake. (or vanilla or strawberry!)
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke.
24. Friends.
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38. Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
although i haven't run around sprinklers...i've been hosed down with a garden hose..but the beach, the chocolate chip cookies, the puppies, eye contact, sunrise and sunset, roadtrips, phone calls, milkshakes and icecreams, getting mail, getting compliments, laughing at the fall of the hat and laughing for every single thing....its all just so me..i just couldn't help cheering up...and i do hope that whoever stops by this post of mine is smiling by the time they are done reading it...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Q and A
there is a friend of mine who is quite, i'd say prejudiced, against indian authors. she isn't against indians writing, she just doesn't have the same inclination to read them as she would agatha christie or jeffery archer. i don't subscribe to this view because for me that's like putting yourself down. so if wrote a book in my name and not a psuedo then the number of my readers would would be short of her. but that's inconsequential here as she would read a book written by me in any case, because it would be written by me- thats just how friendships work.
but there are cases where the indian writers make you want to slap them. arundathi roy and shinie anthony.i happened to try the god of small things and kardamom kisses. terrible. i couldn't get through five pages. sure there probably are people who like them, otherwise ruskin bond wouldn't be praising shinie anthony and arundathi roy wouldn't have got the booker. but really...those are two unbelievable books..
but there are some indians who can write and write rivetingly well at that. one of them is vikas swarup. he isnt brilliant...he is good.
Q and A, for those who haven't heard of it, is a book that is about how an eighteen year old waiter at a bar wins a quiz show and wins a billion rupees. but he isnt given the money but arrested for winning the show. you get curious. then you find that his name is ram mohammed thomas. an uneducated boy, whose orphaned life sees him through situations that are hard but not so hard to imagine.
i read the book over the day yesterday. it wasn't the amount he was winning at the quiz show that made me read the book in a few hours but the tales of how knowledge assimilated in fragments through life serves a purpose. it isnt profound or a book that is heavy reading. it just lets you see what things can be and sometimes are in today's world. just because we don't experience them or see them doesn't mean incidents and things don't exist. though a bit cinematic, i'm glad for the ending.
well...i happened to read the book..really like it and wanted to write about it...so there...
but there are cases where the indian writers make you want to slap them. arundathi roy and shinie anthony.i happened to try the god of small things and kardamom kisses. terrible. i couldn't get through five pages. sure there probably are people who like them, otherwise ruskin bond wouldn't be praising shinie anthony and arundathi roy wouldn't have got the booker. but really...those are two unbelievable books..
but there are some indians who can write and write rivetingly well at that. one of them is vikas swarup. he isnt brilliant...he is good.
Q and A, for those who haven't heard of it, is a book that is about how an eighteen year old waiter at a bar wins a quiz show and wins a billion rupees. but he isnt given the money but arrested for winning the show. you get curious. then you find that his name is ram mohammed thomas. an uneducated boy, whose orphaned life sees him through situations that are hard but not so hard to imagine.
i read the book over the day yesterday. it wasn't the amount he was winning at the quiz show that made me read the book in a few hours but the tales of how knowledge assimilated in fragments through life serves a purpose. it isnt profound or a book that is heavy reading. it just lets you see what things can be and sometimes are in today's world. just because we don't experience them or see them doesn't mean incidents and things don't exist. though a bit cinematic, i'm glad for the ending.
well...i happened to read the book..really like it and wanted to write about it...so there...
Sunday, February 05, 2006
communicate to the central government in hindi????
yesterday's bussiness line's front page article was on the possibility, a not-so-far-off possibility that all companies in india including the MNCs would have to correspond with the Govt only in hindi, the rashtrabasha.
india is a developing nation though the lines are blurring and development is fast coming within our range of vision. its just when things start looking up that the politicians decide its going too fast for them to comprehend and decide to slow it all down as fast as they can.
first you decide to call bangalore bengaluru. then you decide that all companies operating in india need to correspond only in hindi. how stunted are the brains of the politicians? and it isnt as though there are only a handful of them...there are hundreds of them and each one with an equal say in the happenings on of the country.
it isn't as though every indian speaks hindi. then again it isn't as though hindi is as simple as switching on a switch. i know..really profound..'switchin on a switch' but isn't it so much simpler to tell someone that when you click the switch one way the fan starts whirring or you have the television working or just plain and simple..there is light! is it going top as simple teachiong every one of india's growing populace the nuances of the language? and in a country like india where there are hundreds of languages and a higher number of dialects to each of those languages it would be forcing hindi on the actual non-hindi speaking masses.
our mother tongue, we learn from the day of our birth for that is the language we hear so much. english. it is a foreign language. but one that integrates the people of india. gives them a platform for addressing issues, for making suggestions, for equity in thought. there is nothing wrong with having to communicate in english. it brings the people of india together amongst their differences at the same time enabling the nation to have foriegn ties.
if made a concrete law, it would only go to show the childishness, vanity and joblessness of the men we've put to power to govern us with our best interests at heart.
how much time do these people have to waste? thinking up ways to regression when the population growth is still largely unchecked. when literacy still needs a saviour. communal harmony is still hanging by the thread in numerous places. oppurtunities are still going unchecked. brain drain is not a thing of the 90s, it is still highly prevalent. research can do with a boost, no not nuclear research or arms research, lower cost of medicines, better living conditions, higher yield of crops- research has no limit. the various sports can get a hand up. a little nudge and a little recognition. there are issues aplenty that need more attention and immediate action and none of it has to do with the language of communication.
if language is a hinderance, we'll find a way. it can be worked around. the men at the centre need not worry about that, they can with the blessings of every indian turn their attention to the rural, the poor, impoverished, sick and illiterate.
india is a developing nation though the lines are blurring and development is fast coming within our range of vision. its just when things start looking up that the politicians decide its going too fast for them to comprehend and decide to slow it all down as fast as they can.
first you decide to call bangalore bengaluru. then you decide that all companies operating in india need to correspond only in hindi. how stunted are the brains of the politicians? and it isnt as though there are only a handful of them...there are hundreds of them and each one with an equal say in the happenings on of the country.
it isn't as though every indian speaks hindi. then again it isn't as though hindi is as simple as switching on a switch. i know..really profound..'switchin on a switch' but isn't it so much simpler to tell someone that when you click the switch one way the fan starts whirring or you have the television working or just plain and simple..there is light! is it going top as simple teachiong every one of india's growing populace the nuances of the language? and in a country like india where there are hundreds of languages and a higher number of dialects to each of those languages it would be forcing hindi on the actual non-hindi speaking masses.
our mother tongue, we learn from the day of our birth for that is the language we hear so much. english. it is a foreign language. but one that integrates the people of india. gives them a platform for addressing issues, for making suggestions, for equity in thought. there is nothing wrong with having to communicate in english. it brings the people of india together amongst their differences at the same time enabling the nation to have foriegn ties.
if made a concrete law, it would only go to show the childishness, vanity and joblessness of the men we've put to power to govern us with our best interests at heart.
how much time do these people have to waste? thinking up ways to regression when the population growth is still largely unchecked. when literacy still needs a saviour. communal harmony is still hanging by the thread in numerous places. oppurtunities are still going unchecked. brain drain is not a thing of the 90s, it is still highly prevalent. research can do with a boost, no not nuclear research or arms research, lower cost of medicines, better living conditions, higher yield of crops- research has no limit. the various sports can get a hand up. a little nudge and a little recognition. there are issues aplenty that need more attention and immediate action and none of it has to do with the language of communication.
if language is a hinderance, we'll find a way. it can be worked around. the men at the centre need not worry about that, they can with the blessings of every indian turn their attention to the rural, the poor, impoverished, sick and illiterate.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
do you ever really get your thoughts together when you grow up?
within a period of four years things have changed. i left school, chose to pursue an engineering degree and pledged unchanging friendships. my college life is nearing completion and i'm now on the threshold of making decisions that are going to most certainly determine the rest of my life for me, more or less.
i look back and see such a carefree period of my life in school. i had nothing to worry about. no complicated relationships. no undue growing up. friends, excursions, mid term exams, board exams, teachers, the principal's room, maths, muthu ma'm, geography, tutions and best friends describe my school life to the dot. what makes school so much more precious to me is that in the twelfth, when most students study judiciously, those of us in my school had the best days of our lives. we went out for movies, the sleep overs, the chalk fights in class, the best friend fights, the class party for our teachers and we were the only twelfth standard batch to pass out with no principal in attendance. sure our fun and prank playing didnt secure us stupendous marks..but i have such unbelivable memories that no numbers could ever come close to.
then leaving the until-then granted familiarity of school i walked into college. any notion of fun at college was diligently squashed by the academic luminaries of svce. we were left with no doubt of the drudgery we'd unknowingly though voluntarily let ourselves into. and to it was quite a transition from the class oneness of the twelfth to the bitching and back biting and race for friends in college. the closest friend of mine from college today, i made for she was from the same school and nothing else. i knew nothing of her and she knew nothing of me and there were quite a few people who watched as we got to know each other, being as we are as different from each other as possible. but then again that was three years ago. though grudgingly accepted, svce inclusive of everyone from the security guard we zoomed past without outpass to my hod with whom i love to get into arguments purely to annoy him, to my english professors who i love arguing with, the canteen accountant who asks me if i'm ill when i buy only one tiffin token and the clothes vigilance squad of two i owe them all my broadened horizons, my introduction to public transport, my insatiable hunger for food of any kind that is vegetarian, my ability to go to sleep on any vehicle in motion within a half hour and my liberation from stage fear.
the funny thing is i've wanted out of college since the day i stepped in but now that that day is nearing i think these years have flown by too fast. ha irony!
well that specifically leaves me 5 months approximately from having to figure out if i'm going to go get a job, apply to some institute for design or management or turn an entrepreneur or just get myself hooked. and however much tempting it is to say hey let me just get hooked...it'd probably kill me within the month to have to do nothing but mundane homely things when i can't cook to save anybody but myself. and getting a job? i wish there was one tailor made for me with awesome remuneration and travel too. but thats wishful thinking. applying to a university is the simplest. but then again i dont find anything in my line of study to interest me enough into an MS. an MBA is still an option. so is design, the performing arts and literature. the one thing about being exposed to too many things is you get confused. i love too many fields to be able to pick the one that i want to give my all to.
well..i started this post in reminiscance and have come to my predicament today...and if any of u who read this have any advice to offer..your welcome to...but then again i might just do what henry higgins finds most annoying in women....listen to everyone, nod and then go do exactly what i want to do..:)
i look back and see such a carefree period of my life in school. i had nothing to worry about. no complicated relationships. no undue growing up. friends, excursions, mid term exams, board exams, teachers, the principal's room, maths, muthu ma'm, geography, tutions and best friends describe my school life to the dot. what makes school so much more precious to me is that in the twelfth, when most students study judiciously, those of us in my school had the best days of our lives. we went out for movies, the sleep overs, the chalk fights in class, the best friend fights, the class party for our teachers and we were the only twelfth standard batch to pass out with no principal in attendance. sure our fun and prank playing didnt secure us stupendous marks..but i have such unbelivable memories that no numbers could ever come close to.
then leaving the until-then granted familiarity of school i walked into college. any notion of fun at college was diligently squashed by the academic luminaries of svce. we were left with no doubt of the drudgery we'd unknowingly though voluntarily let ourselves into. and to it was quite a transition from the class oneness of the twelfth to the bitching and back biting and race for friends in college. the closest friend of mine from college today, i made for she was from the same school and nothing else. i knew nothing of her and she knew nothing of me and there were quite a few people who watched as we got to know each other, being as we are as different from each other as possible. but then again that was three years ago. though grudgingly accepted, svce inclusive of everyone from the security guard we zoomed past without outpass to my hod with whom i love to get into arguments purely to annoy him, to my english professors who i love arguing with, the canteen accountant who asks me if i'm ill when i buy only one tiffin token and the clothes vigilance squad of two i owe them all my broadened horizons, my introduction to public transport, my insatiable hunger for food of any kind that is vegetarian, my ability to go to sleep on any vehicle in motion within a half hour and my liberation from stage fear.
the funny thing is i've wanted out of college since the day i stepped in but now that that day is nearing i think these years have flown by too fast. ha irony!
well that specifically leaves me 5 months approximately from having to figure out if i'm going to go get a job, apply to some institute for design or management or turn an entrepreneur or just get myself hooked. and however much tempting it is to say hey let me just get hooked...it'd probably kill me within the month to have to do nothing but mundane homely things when i can't cook to save anybody but myself. and getting a job? i wish there was one tailor made for me with awesome remuneration and travel too. but thats wishful thinking. applying to a university is the simplest. but then again i dont find anything in my line of study to interest me enough into an MS. an MBA is still an option. so is design, the performing arts and literature. the one thing about being exposed to too many things is you get confused. i love too many fields to be able to pick the one that i want to give my all to.
well..i started this post in reminiscance and have come to my predicament today...and if any of u who read this have any advice to offer..your welcome to...but then again i might just do what henry higgins finds most annoying in women....listen to everyone, nod and then go do exactly what i want to do..:)
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Cause and Effect..
it never struck me. the extent of that tsunami last year until exactly a year after. i don't know how or why but yesterday i was so grieved and then you read about survivors and their memories of the waves...it was disturbing to say the least.
and then i saw this song, an effort by usha uthup and other singers from tamilnadu...their way of showing support with those affected...but the lyrics of the song were pleading with the sea. how can you plead with nature? and just when a group of experts have surveyed the seabed and told us the faultline has yet to be fully corrected and when it does...tehre will most likely be another such earthquake near sumatra and trigger off another bout of the tsunamis.
well...i just wrote something..more to put into words my thoughts than anything else...
The morning after Christmas
The morning after a girl’s night out…
How different could it be?
How more eventful than those morns of past?
Sound asleep when the seabed changed position…
After years in one place, you would want to move…
If only by inches
Someone said there had been a mild tremor
Its happened before, and the roofs didn’t fall…
So what now?
Ripples of waves from the sea to inland waterways-
Geography though long forgotten the order of nature is assumed constant, usually..
Why then?
There are times to thank the media and
One such had come…roaring and tall…
The impact, the devastation- how else
Would I’ve known?
The terrible hand dealt to so many.
So many lives washed away unlived.
Homes and livelihood swept away,
The fury and spirit, the awe and splendor
Shadowed and shrouded by destruction and pain…
A year to the day,
Do we take and accept a scientific outlook-
Nothing untoward, just some tectonic plate movement.
Or do we deserve it?
Isn’t it just that nature vent her fury?
Fury and growth, that we’ve
Chopped and killed, cut and long curtailed,
Mercilessly and unrepenting.
Faults aplenty and with no atonement.
How benevolent can one be?
Even science advocates and agrees to
The theory of cause and effect.
How to then can we plead nature?
How to can one be guilty and pardoned?
And how can we expect,
If we don’t give?
and then i saw this song, an effort by usha uthup and other singers from tamilnadu...their way of showing support with those affected...but the lyrics of the song were pleading with the sea. how can you plead with nature? and just when a group of experts have surveyed the seabed and told us the faultline has yet to be fully corrected and when it does...tehre will most likely be another such earthquake near sumatra and trigger off another bout of the tsunamis.
well...i just wrote something..more to put into words my thoughts than anything else...
The morning after Christmas
The morning after a girl’s night out…
How different could it be?
How more eventful than those morns of past?
Sound asleep when the seabed changed position…
After years in one place, you would want to move…
If only by inches
Someone said there had been a mild tremor
Its happened before, and the roofs didn’t fall…
So what now?
Ripples of waves from the sea to inland waterways-
Geography though long forgotten the order of nature is assumed constant, usually..
Why then?
There are times to thank the media and
One such had come…roaring and tall…
The impact, the devastation- how else
Would I’ve known?
The terrible hand dealt to so many.
So many lives washed away unlived.
Homes and livelihood swept away,
The fury and spirit, the awe and splendor
Shadowed and shrouded by destruction and pain…
A year to the day,
Do we take and accept a scientific outlook-
Nothing untoward, just some tectonic plate movement.
Or do we deserve it?
Isn’t it just that nature vent her fury?
Fury and growth, that we’ve
Chopped and killed, cut and long curtailed,
Mercilessly and unrepenting.
Faults aplenty and with no atonement.
How benevolent can one be?
Even science advocates and agrees to
The theory of cause and effect.
How to then can we plead nature?
How to can one be guilty and pardoned?
And how can we expect,
If we don’t give?
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
do you want me to take you??
well....we just had our first chemical company turn up for campus interviews.
we knew a week in advance. but me being me prepared my resume the day before the actual event. i din't look through one book. din't read one jot. actually i went to sleep at nine, woke up at midnight..read a novel and then went to sleep at four. waking up the next morning at 7..i sure didn't feel like going..i mean really..what were my chances against the engineering bookworms? but i did..what did i have to lose..so i got there and like clockwork...everyone is revising..asking doubts..refreshing..and madam walks in like i have no care in the world..well yeah..
so ok..they give us a low down on their company and then take us through the procedure of how they'll pick less than five of us(not mentioned) from the 300 in attendance..so anyway..first the written..general aptitude and technical..verbal was a breeze..the numericals sucked and logic was ok..and technical..that which i did not prepare for..i actually did pretty well..and guess what..i got through that round..i mean everybody MUST have been worse than me!!
ok..so i go through to GD...a topic as mundane as automation in industries...really!!! how many points of view are there? and how many different points can you come up with? well whatever it was..four of us from that GD got called for the personal interviews..me included!!
ok the interview...i just walked in there again with not much prep at all..i know my basics but specifics of subjects...i'm pretty bad..and how many subjects can you revise overnight? so i just went ahead slept and got my beauty sleep...atleast i'd look fresh!! so i was there waiting to be called and grilled..and who comes and sits next to me???? this guy with an awesome voice and looks pretty good too..sorry..not naming him..ok what the hell..he was called tony..like the frosties tiger...and a nice too..so when your sitting next to a guy with an awesome voice and are discussing the refrigeration cycle with him..your butteflies just fly away...
so when my turn came...i walked in..four uncles..two of them smiling...and two a tad too serious..well they asked me to introduce myself..talk about what i like..din't like blah blah..when did i want to get married blah..why a chem company and blah...anyway that was the nice part..then came cooling towers..distillation columns..the number of plates you need..absorption and then NPSH and the types of pumps and how i determined the diameter of a distillation column...truly..i messed..i told the the basic process in each equipment..technically..i was blank...and no surprises..i didn't get through...
well i ain't in the least bit feeling bad..my dad actually thinks i didn't prepare for the interview..coz i didn't want soda ash manufacture and gujarat or fertilizers in UP..he's right.
we knew a week in advance. but me being me prepared my resume the day before the actual event. i din't look through one book. din't read one jot. actually i went to sleep at nine, woke up at midnight..read a novel and then went to sleep at four. waking up the next morning at 7..i sure didn't feel like going..i mean really..what were my chances against the engineering bookworms? but i did..what did i have to lose..so i got there and like clockwork...everyone is revising..asking doubts..refreshing..and madam walks in like i have no care in the world..well yeah..
so ok..they give us a low down on their company and then take us through the procedure of how they'll pick less than five of us(not mentioned) from the 300 in attendance..so anyway..first the written..general aptitude and technical..verbal was a breeze..the numericals sucked and logic was ok..and technical..that which i did not prepare for..i actually did pretty well..and guess what..i got through that round..i mean everybody MUST have been worse than me!!
ok..so i go through to GD...a topic as mundane as automation in industries...really!!! how many points of view are there? and how many different points can you come up with? well whatever it was..four of us from that GD got called for the personal interviews..me included!!
ok the interview...i just walked in there again with not much prep at all..i know my basics but specifics of subjects...i'm pretty bad..and how many subjects can you revise overnight? so i just went ahead slept and got my beauty sleep...atleast i'd look fresh!! so i was there waiting to be called and grilled..and who comes and sits next to me???? this guy with an awesome voice and looks pretty good too..sorry..not naming him..ok what the hell..he was called tony..like the frosties tiger...and a nice too..so when your sitting next to a guy with an awesome voice and are discussing the refrigeration cycle with him..your butteflies just fly away...
so when my turn came...i walked in..four uncles..two of them smiling...and two a tad too serious..well they asked me to introduce myself..talk about what i like..din't like blah blah..when did i want to get married blah..why a chem company and blah...anyway that was the nice part..then came cooling towers..distillation columns..the number of plates you need..absorption and then NPSH and the types of pumps and how i determined the diameter of a distillation column...truly..i messed..i told the the basic process in each equipment..technically..i was blank...and no surprises..i didn't get through...
well i ain't in the least bit feeling bad..my dad actually thinks i didn't prepare for the interview..coz i didn't want soda ash manufacture and gujarat or fertilizers in UP..he's right.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
well........
ok...looks like my comp's back on track and so hopefully my blog will have a lot more posts than it has had these past few months..
and i've got to say....there are few things during this time that i've noticed with some satisfaction..some with a little fear..some i've already forgotten but yeah..
and i've got to say....there are few things during this time that i've noticed with some satisfaction..some with a little fear..some i've already forgotten but yeah..
- service...service as a whole has improved in most companies..the government ones included..
- the fact that the roadworks department repair roads in the dead of the night is quite heartening..i mean i never thought i'd see the day when public inconvenience was even considered...but then again...they did pile up tons of earth onto the road so they made quite a natural speed breaker coupled with a roller coaster..
- then airtel...kudos to sunil mittal...his company provides me brilliant service...comlaints are attended to within the day and so many cross checkings...it feels good!!!!!!! and let me hope i haven't spoken..or rather typed too soon..
- and then the no parking zones...i never actually realised they WERE no parking zones, until the cops came and locked up a couple of car tires...i wouldn't like it happening to me, especially not when i'm out driving on my own and have to go back to my dad for the cash...but i (i know its gonna sound stupid) like the locks they use...these huge iron squares with locks....yea well...if i go on anymore...
- rains...the kind i've never before seen in madras.. and scary in its wrath...sure we've all wanted a little more water down here but this torrential amount!!!! and water in houses...people displaced..the kind of thunder and lightning...dams being opened...water over the kotturpuram bridge!! yea well...i hope we've seen the end of them..
- the weather satellite images...i never ever have paid any attention to this black and white image on the paper...but these rains made sure i learnt to..
- tamil movies...i've watched more new tamil movies off late than i have ever before...sure mani rathnam movies are something i've missed but more due to the parents than my intrest in them...but now...there are actually some awesome tamil movies...
- ABHISHEK BACHAN in bluff master!!!! he's just unbelievably hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- indian cricket!!! they have improved and thats an under statement...and dravid as captain just rules!!!!!!!! he is the best!! i don't wanna diss ganguly....but DRAVID!!
- exams....well my exmas just keep getting postponed due to the unprecedented rains that have taken to hitting madras off late...
- cross words....though no pro at it and frequently blank...i've taken to doing the crossies most days...and i do think thats a good thing..
and i'm bloody sleepy.......so.....
Sunday, October 09, 2005
ghajini..
its been quite a while since i did blog...a couple of months actually...and i dont have any excuses for not posting anything...but then again i was busy...i know it doesnt make sense but yeah...it was one thing after another but not so rushed that i couldnt blog...well...bottomline..i didnt blog!!
anyway..friday night we had a girls night out..four of us drove down to mayajaal and watched ghajini. the tickets are a bloody rip off and the chaat u get there is stale!! i mean really!! u spend so much in petrol and then u pay 25 for a bhel puri thats soggy and the puris are old...really!!
but it was fun..its the first time my mom has said ok to a night show and that too not in the city and with us driving around on ECR at 1:30 in the night...so...
well...the movie..overall its brilliant...an amazing adaptation from memento! to have actually been able to get the basic concepts of memento and use it in a commercial tamil movie and make it work is work!! and kudos to the director!! surya is unbelievably cute and him and asin are so cute!!!! i mean all four of there were swooning over the guy man!! he is so so cute!!!!! th other woman-nayathara is gross!!! ugh!! all that fat on display is repulsive!! i dont have a clue wht kind of a guy would actually like her!!! yuck!! the villain was ok...nothing exceptional..and none of the songs are needed in the movie...they are just there for the people who'll come to watch the whole song-and-dance routine but really, so unnecessary!! finally...the violence...there is just so much of it!!! it gets to u after a point..so many fights..when u actually see memento having no fight sequence as such...and in bits u get a scare..such tactics as u see in every other movie but the direction and camera are real good here that u actually push back into ur seat with fright..overall.....its a good movie...u could watch it a couple of times(not 4 times and 5 times like friends of mine do!!)
after ghajini..i went to the landmark sale yesterday...oh its such a brilliant sale and i so didnt have enough money!!! books...i wanted so many of them and i ended up getting only 4..:( then dinner at cornucopia..lasange and mud pie..lunch at residency today..and if dont get off now...my mom will kill me!!!
anyway..friday night we had a girls night out..four of us drove down to mayajaal and watched ghajini. the tickets are a bloody rip off and the chaat u get there is stale!! i mean really!! u spend so much in petrol and then u pay 25 for a bhel puri thats soggy and the puris are old...really!!
but it was fun..its the first time my mom has said ok to a night show and that too not in the city and with us driving around on ECR at 1:30 in the night...so...
well...the movie..overall its brilliant...an amazing adaptation from memento! to have actually been able to get the basic concepts of memento and use it in a commercial tamil movie and make it work is work!! and kudos to the director!! surya is unbelievably cute and him and asin are so cute!!!! i mean all four of there were swooning over the guy man!! he is so so cute!!!!! th other woman-nayathara is gross!!! ugh!! all that fat on display is repulsive!! i dont have a clue wht kind of a guy would actually like her!!! yuck!! the villain was ok...nothing exceptional..and none of the songs are needed in the movie...they are just there for the people who'll come to watch the whole song-and-dance routine but really, so unnecessary!! finally...the violence...there is just so much of it!!! it gets to u after a point..so many fights..when u actually see memento having no fight sequence as such...and in bits u get a scare..such tactics as u see in every other movie but the direction and camera are real good here that u actually push back into ur seat with fright..overall.....its a good movie...u could watch it a couple of times(not 4 times and 5 times like friends of mine do!!)
after ghajini..i went to the landmark sale yesterday...oh its such a brilliant sale and i so didnt have enough money!!! books...i wanted so many of them and i ended up getting only 4..:( then dinner at cornucopia..lasange and mud pie..lunch at residency today..and if dont get off now...my mom will kill me!!!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
passion...just something i thought about...
Passion….
Isn’t that what most of us look for in our lives? Look in the hope of finding that one thing in our lives that brings us such immeasurable amounts of joy? Don’t we all search to find the one thing that makes the world go round for each one of us?
Be it a loved one, music, the birds, nature, food, or for the more adventurous- bunjee jumping, paragliding, mud wrestling or for the more the eccentric and genius- math, atoms, ants and anything, just about anything you might be passionate about…..even designing bathrooms or repairing computers or whacking somebody even(if u really enjoy it…not necessitating the victim too though..).
There was a felicitation programme conducted for a Mr. kundrakudi vaidyanathan, a maestro violinist, that my grandfather was watching. While watching he happened to say that there were artistes, violinists better than him but none as a crowd pleaser or as entertaining as him. Most of the others, he says are almost mechanical.
I am of the opinion, as are many others, that music is capable of breaking barriers as no other one thing. But it is never just the music. The emotions conveyed through that music, by the artiste, the link between us and the experience, is only ten-fold more conducive to us enjoying that music. Passion for any one thing when witnessed by one can, if not make you so, move you to edges.
To live and breathe and become one and indistinguishable with that which almost symbolizes and sounds synonymous with you is something that cannot stay locked up in one person. It is an energy capable of wonders. It is so powerful that it can move you to tears, to make your stomach clench with emotion, a rollercoaster ride that tires you so but rejuvenates you even more. Such emotions are shared. They can never be bottled within a person. To cork and put up away such love would be equivalent to killing a part of oneself, to deny the world the chance to bear witness to something spectacular.
We have all gone through school not liking, literally hating, one subject, atleast. Ask for a reason, and its readymade to say ‘the teacher can’t make it interesting…she puts you to sleep…so monotonous…so unbearably dull’. Why? Math was never my favourite subject. If I did well it was because of hardwork and no hidden genius or latent love for the subject. It is true that once you do well in a subject, it is encouragement enough for later but it is never the same as having someone who loves the subject teach you. To want to make you love and understand the nuances of that tricky subject. To actually love tough problems.
I had a professor, Suchitra ma’m, last semester to teach me numerical methods. She loves mathematics. She doesn’t care too much for the respect you have to give her, she’d be happy if you just sat and listened in her class, and nothing made her so happy as students asking doubts. I suppose that is the mark of a teacher who considers himself/herself a advocate for the subject, taking it upon themselves to spread the joy of their subject to one and all. And suchitra ma’m actually got me to do work(homework!!!) because of the respect I had for her. She doesn’t treat you like a disdainful kid either, she treats you like a friend and doesn’t have even the tiniest qualms about saying ‘I am wrong’, of accepting improvisations on her methods, unlike most college professors.
To find something that would fill all your waking hours with joy is something beyond wonderful. The number of us who in our lifetimes will find such subjects that just engrossed us such that it gives us reason to live, a voracious appetite for knowledge, will, I’m afraid, be few and far between. But it is always the hope that this might be it, the one thing in your life that makes everything else fade into oblivion, that keeps each and everyone of us going…
It might not be a conscious quest, but it is a thirst, sub-consciously atleast….
Isn’t that what most of us look for in our lives? Look in the hope of finding that one thing in our lives that brings us such immeasurable amounts of joy? Don’t we all search to find the one thing that makes the world go round for each one of us?
Be it a loved one, music, the birds, nature, food, or for the more adventurous- bunjee jumping, paragliding, mud wrestling or for the more the eccentric and genius- math, atoms, ants and anything, just about anything you might be passionate about…..even designing bathrooms or repairing computers or whacking somebody even(if u really enjoy it…not necessitating the victim too though..).
There was a felicitation programme conducted for a Mr. kundrakudi vaidyanathan, a maestro violinist, that my grandfather was watching. While watching he happened to say that there were artistes, violinists better than him but none as a crowd pleaser or as entertaining as him. Most of the others, he says are almost mechanical.
I am of the opinion, as are many others, that music is capable of breaking barriers as no other one thing. But it is never just the music. The emotions conveyed through that music, by the artiste, the link between us and the experience, is only ten-fold more conducive to us enjoying that music. Passion for any one thing when witnessed by one can, if not make you so, move you to edges.
To live and breathe and become one and indistinguishable with that which almost symbolizes and sounds synonymous with you is something that cannot stay locked up in one person. It is an energy capable of wonders. It is so powerful that it can move you to tears, to make your stomach clench with emotion, a rollercoaster ride that tires you so but rejuvenates you even more. Such emotions are shared. They can never be bottled within a person. To cork and put up away such love would be equivalent to killing a part of oneself, to deny the world the chance to bear witness to something spectacular.
We have all gone through school not liking, literally hating, one subject, atleast. Ask for a reason, and its readymade to say ‘the teacher can’t make it interesting…she puts you to sleep…so monotonous…so unbearably dull’. Why? Math was never my favourite subject. If I did well it was because of hardwork and no hidden genius or latent love for the subject. It is true that once you do well in a subject, it is encouragement enough for later but it is never the same as having someone who loves the subject teach you. To want to make you love and understand the nuances of that tricky subject. To actually love tough problems.
I had a professor, Suchitra ma’m, last semester to teach me numerical methods. She loves mathematics. She doesn’t care too much for the respect you have to give her, she’d be happy if you just sat and listened in her class, and nothing made her so happy as students asking doubts. I suppose that is the mark of a teacher who considers himself/herself a advocate for the subject, taking it upon themselves to spread the joy of their subject to one and all. And suchitra ma’m actually got me to do work(homework!!!) because of the respect I had for her. She doesn’t treat you like a disdainful kid either, she treats you like a friend and doesn’t have even the tiniest qualms about saying ‘I am wrong’, of accepting improvisations on her methods, unlike most college professors.
To find something that would fill all your waking hours with joy is something beyond wonderful. The number of us who in our lifetimes will find such subjects that just engrossed us such that it gives us reason to live, a voracious appetite for knowledge, will, I’m afraid, be few and far between. But it is always the hope that this might be it, the one thing in your life that makes everything else fade into oblivion, that keeps each and everyone of us going…
It might not be a conscious quest, but it is a thirst, sub-consciously atleast….
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
are we sane???
i just finished chatting with a friend of mine...one of my school friends and one of my closest....it just occured to me that our conversation to someone else who would have read it would have been something that might you might hear between two people gone cracked...really...so much of mindless banter....leading to no conclusive or monumental end....
but then again isnt that what the best of friends are there for?? to provide the respite in life when everywhere else u are required to be polite and formal and tolerant and nice or atleast feign these dispositions instead of setting of waves of 'that arrogant girl' or 'who does she think she is' or any other remotely animosity radiating thought...
isnt it a fact that the most times we laugh...the most times we enjoy without a thought for whts to happen in the next five minutes....they are all with your closest friends..the ones who know you best.....the ones who look out for you....the ones who are gonna be there when u have moods when you dont want to talk to even person who is alive...when everything in this world schemes to test the limits of your patience...when you go all hyper over a cute guy...when you have this irrational wishes for going to the beach at 1 in the afternoon...when your dead broke....when in the process of becoming broke...when falling off the bike in the middle of the bustling road....when u go through a break-up...whining about weight....whining about the dearth of decent guys in the city...whining....just plain whining.... arent your friends the only ones who'll stick around? not judge you? let you be crazy mad old you...make fun of you but still be there for that hug when u need it....
it wouldnt surprise me to think that if people saw me and my friends walking down the road and thought we were loony...but those are times when i dont care wht the world thinks...so wht if we are loony? u are just jealous!!!! and know wht? i've caught myself seeing other bunches of friends do the same things and think man if i didnt know how it felt like to be where they are....i'd either be jealous or annoyed..
ok....so coming back to the title of my post....my mother personally thinks that when the bunch of us get together....we are just so much noise and so full of it....she thinks everybody on the road must think we are a bunch from the asylum out on parole....well it just struck me as to how true she might actually be..so hence the post... and well...let me not subject my intellectual skills for comment on this post...so all those of u planning on telling me how i am crazy....save it!!
but then again isnt that what the best of friends are there for?? to provide the respite in life when everywhere else u are required to be polite and formal and tolerant and nice or atleast feign these dispositions instead of setting of waves of 'that arrogant girl' or 'who does she think she is' or any other remotely animosity radiating thought...
isnt it a fact that the most times we laugh...the most times we enjoy without a thought for whts to happen in the next five minutes....they are all with your closest friends..the ones who know you best.....the ones who look out for you....the ones who are gonna be there when u have moods when you dont want to talk to even person who is alive...when everything in this world schemes to test the limits of your patience...when you go all hyper over a cute guy...when you have this irrational wishes for going to the beach at 1 in the afternoon...when your dead broke....when in the process of becoming broke...when falling off the bike in the middle of the bustling road....when u go through a break-up...whining about weight....whining about the dearth of decent guys in the city...whining....just plain whining.... arent your friends the only ones who'll stick around? not judge you? let you be crazy mad old you...make fun of you but still be there for that hug when u need it....
it wouldnt surprise me to think that if people saw me and my friends walking down the road and thought we were loony...but those are times when i dont care wht the world thinks...so wht if we are loony? u are just jealous!!!! and know wht? i've caught myself seeing other bunches of friends do the same things and think man if i didnt know how it felt like to be where they are....i'd either be jealous or annoyed..
ok....so coming back to the title of my post....my mother personally thinks that when the bunch of us get together....we are just so much noise and so full of it....she thinks everybody on the road must think we are a bunch from the asylum out on parole....well it just struck me as to how true she might actually be..so hence the post... and well...let me not subject my intellectual skills for comment on this post...so all those of u planning on telling me how i am crazy....save it!!
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