There's A Whole Lot Of Lot

Yup, there is. I've been fidgity, restless and mostly bored. Hence, I needed to channel my energies to avoid being engulfed by ennuie since I'm bordering scared of knowing either- a) I have nothing to do or b) whatever I do, bores me. I've been busy yes, but I need to be happy busy. And so I put my credit card at work. I've been reading like a famished, uncontroable, sickeningly crazy book worm. I might've eaten bits of the stray pages too (don't new books smell so edible? No wait, old books smell even better..either way they're all delicious).

Apart from that, music, that I had been not keeping up with, finally decided to keep up with me. Dewarists attracted me as a screenshot on facebook, with the face of Monika Dogra, from Shair and func, which I happen to like. Curiosity made me want to watch the entire link. I was amazed, and I ended up watching the entire season of Dewarists. I'm badly hung over them, oh yes. The two tracks that are just unbelievable are the ones made by Shri, Monika and Rajasthan roots. Also, Agni, Saumya Rao and Parikrima. Sonam sir went completely ballistic on the guitar. I remember meeting him long back for a college documentary we were making. We were so silly to have interviewd him by asking him lame questions like, "What is music to you, how much do you enjoy playing the guitar," etc. I mean, watch him play it, and you'll feel like that isn't even an act, a hobby, a skill. Music is his second nature. How stupid of us. Some people said the Dewarists are better than Coke studio. I agreed too, but then I went back to Coke, just to be sure, and I am back tracking from what I said. Leslie might've screwed up Coke Studio towards the end, but the music they've made over time, is really, quite, QUITE nice.

Christmas is just two days away. This year, surprisingly, I have no plans. What I do plan to do, however, is to decorate the underfed, more twigs-less leaves, sad christmas tree look-alike at home, just to be in tune with the spirit of the festival. I remember at school, we used to be taught all the Christmas Carols. All of them. Jingle bells, Silent night, Three kings, Away in a manger, Rudolph the red nose reigndeer, etc. Practice after practice after practice later, we'd be sick of singing them. The teachers would scream and pinch us if we went out of tune. That's why, we loved singing Rudolph. Why? Because of the line- "Then all the reigndeers loved him, and they shouted out with glee, YIPEEE". And at the 'yipee' part, we'd go out of control, scream our lungs out, and make it a stretched line. That's why the music teachers hardly made us practice Rudolph. Ever.


I'm off to Bombay for New Year  and what a truly happy feeling it is. The only thing I've been looking forward to for the past....2 months.

Anyway, more later. Work calls.


Love.

SOCOOL

So its' one of those fail monday mornings. You know, one of those when you reach office and think of all the important things you could've done instead of coming to work. And then you feel that the morning is a bigger fail because of all the things you could've done, were quite possible, if you had the no-guilt syndrome of taking unnecessary leaves. And then you feel like an even bigger fail because you realise that the people around you, well, they go ahead and do what their early Monday morning mind tells them to do.

Then there are the smaller, less consequential feelings of feeling the days's a fail because you find yourself relatively free. And so you decide to catch up with friends on gtalk.  But what happens is that, a) either they're too busy soaking themselves in the monday morning blues, which is to say, they're on a cribbing spree, which you don't want to hear about because, your day is already a fail, or b) they want to talk about things you definitely don't want to talk about and vise-versa, or c) they deliberately try not to laugh at your AWESOME jokes, because, they're probably not as awesome, or, its just a fail day d) they answer every question with the youtube link, which they KNOW won't open on your P.

Anyway, we were talking about how fail a day can be. Fail it is. Fail fail fail. You know how annoying it can be with someone peeks into your screen and comments? Or when you open your blog and see recent updates by people that are so fail. Or when you go to the wash room and find it infested with faces powered with white paint and your way through the crowd of bimbets and wash your hands, while rolling your eyes, listening to their negatively graphed intellectual conversations.

Fail morning. You know what also really fail? When you put up a status that says something personal like, "miss my life!" Or, "my eyes feel scratchy" and some moron you've never spoken to asks you "whyyyyy?" Or "vaaat you mean", when that status really wasn't for them. What's also fail is when some attention-seeking-jobless-idiot puts a facebook status saying, "I'm so saaaaaaaaaad! I'm so lonelyyyyy even though I only have some 2538 friends on my fb list and I'm a party animalhhhh I'm so saaaaad" and some equally attention giving-jobless-idiot will comment on it saying "oooh don't worry, I am there na! Please don't be sad. Heart".

Sofail. I have many more things to say this fail morning. But I've got to get back to work and such like.
More later.

The Daily Riff Raff

To begin with, they all wrote off Ra. One. Yes, they all thought it was a piece of trash, copied, duplicated, influenced and all of it, unsuccessfully. To all that I say-SURE. I know I’ve seen Spy Kids, Demolition Man, Terminator, Iron Man, He Man, Hanu Man, etc. However, this guy, this man, Shahrukh. He still makes me skip a beat, blue eyed or not, ra one’d or not. And till the time that skipping continues, I shall remain faithful. And I shall also whistle, scream and hoot in the hall, even if no one gives me company (as happened recently). Who cares. Who care who cares I say. Who cares, traaa laa laa laa…

Coming back to life. I’ve realized something, over ten months. Actually, two things. One. Life is nothing without work. And the moment your work becomes your life, you have no life. So basically. The two have a symbiotic-cum-parasitic relationship. One must die to let the other live. Kind of like Harry Potter and Voldermort. “Neither can live while the other survives.”

Secondly, when it comes to books, nothing and I repeat, nothing can beat the classics. I mean, seriously. Can you imagine how these writers came up with a Rhett Butler, Howard Roak, and Heathcliff, in those times. These are the creations of a fertile, creative and non-confirmist mind. Today, as I read more and more contemporary literature, I realize, that no matter how gripping, exciting and over-whelming the plot may be, my association, lingering memory is always latched to characters. For example, when I think of ‘The Quiet american’, by Graham Greene  more than the Vietnam war and the Third party controversies, I think of  Thomas Folwer, his cynicism, his ideologies and his  non-challance. Either the latest books have some fundamental problem with weaving the plot with the personalities, or they’re too busy telling a story. And this format, has me lost and distracted. Ofcourse, not every author is not worth all the fame, there are some. But let’s just say. If I walk into a library (virtual or real), I will invariably walk into the moldy, rusting section of the books long forgotten.

New year is round the corner and plans are all up in the air. Let’s hope this new year too, turns out to be as good, or better as the previous year. For now, there’s a piling stack of unending work glaring at me. I must battle with it. I must win, and I must win fast (before 7 PM, atleast).

For later, tchus

Athithi kab jaoge, seriously!

OMG, I just found this unpublished post in my old drafts. Sigh. Brings back memories


I hate unwanted guests, who land up without informing. Period. No point being diplomatic about it. I detest it. And I'll probably not entertain you, so you will eventually have to show yourself the door. And leave. Vanish. Pooof!

So we're more than just 4 people in this PG, I realized. And that's not a very happy thought. Because our unwanted guest is A. Devoid of all any etiquette B. Cursed with a huge appetite. C. Fat. D. Stnky E.Slimy F. Pro at hide and seek.

So this fat, rat of a thing would scamper around the house when you're least expecting to see a huge black blob whizzing past you when you're getting ready to go somewhere. Has found the perfect hide out, which we have been unable to trace. Ate my potatoe which was being used to hold up the incense sticks. Shat on my room mates thaple (gujrati roti's). The deification was done in a very precise manner too, mind. 'Smack' in the middle. We let out an "eww", in unison, I remember. For the longest time I thought our PG was haunted, when I saw my stuff missing or brutally chewed on, since there never was any sign of another human or animal existence.And it used to give me the chills. And nightmares. It used to frustrate me to no end. "I'd rather have that, than this. An unknown ghost is truly better than this known devil," I thought.

Funnily, though, now. This activity has been going on for some time. So much so, that we needed to name.. "it"... Raju, he was christianed. And Raju has become an important part of our daily dictionary. Our PG life. An equal party to all the going on's, and ofcourse, has equal authority over our food. He believes, truly, in sharing. We share our food, he shares his shit. We share our room, he shares his...never mind. A symbiotic relationship, has thus emerged.

Raju, however, will have to leave, some day. Maybe he'll just grow old, and die a normal death. Or take his adventures and travels to new destinations, plunder other rooms and lives. Who knows.

P.S- I remember Raju having left us right after this post was written. Maybe he found a new home, maybe he was literate and was deeply hurt. Maybe he died, maybe he vanished. All we know is that his (over)stay left us deeply moved and affected our lives to a great/grave extent.

Keralafornication...

Hellouu. I wish we could re-do the map of India. So Delhi and Mumbai could be neighbours. And Kerala could be a weekend get away. Perfect, right?

This is where I recently was. And while I was in the land of green, green and more green, spices, water, boats and fish, I did not want to belong to the north. What an easy snap-off from my daily life and identity. South is so wonderfully unbelieveable. There were other things that gave the view company, however. A magical marriage, family time and my photography (ameature), all in the disctict of Kottyam.

When a Hindu weds a Christian, one of two things can happen. You are either confused, lost and blank, and disapproving. Or, you become an intrigued and smiling spectator, who isn't wary of the 'new'. We comprise the latter, ofcourse. The service wraped up in precisely two hours. And while the Priest spoke about their religion with some scattered undercurrents of cynosure for their religion, we were mesmerised and also, inspired. We do miss some eloquence in our wedding rituals, which after a point seem like a drone that inflicts distraction. For now, this is the first cultural mesh resulting in a wedlock. Let's see if we have more of those to come in the future. Seven more cousins remain unmarried. :)

We sailed over the unnaturally silent Back Waters. No bobbing heads, no humans seemed to be inside the great waters. The shores were, however, decorated with dream-like houses and the susurrous wind gave us company, for all four hours.

I'm glad dad decided to take the night flight to Delhi. We were off to Kochi for the day, a place that definitely should not be missed, if you step foot in the sands of Kerala. The entire city, especially Fort Kochi has very obvious and striking relics of being born during the Portuguese time. Rain never stops and the trees seem to have grown to wild heights and in wilder shapes. Fort Kochi has four famous places to see- A church, a temple, a mosque and also, a synagogue. How religiously alive that place is. Our driver seemed to be re-living his city too. At regular intervals, he'd tell me "foootoo madam....footoo."

I'm back to the grind and the word 'grind' is just so apt. The increasing files, stories and products are non-exhaustive. I know I need another vacation. I am planning one, yes :) It's all a maybe though.

So that's the update for now.

later!

Love

The Month that IS

The last month sort of faded away, almost like a hazy-whiz that zoomed past with pages, filing, editing, writing, co-ordination, calls, stress and ofcourse, money. I was looking forward to August, and July, very gracefully and silently closed its chapter.

This month started with a series of good events, which I won't list down explicitly, but it just made me feel great about myself and with the world at large. Let's also just edge slightly towards humbly accepting that the situations and events around me seem promising, and may have a longer life-span than I would've thought.

I'm glad I chose this profession. Atleast it seems like one of the gates towards my career tunnel of light. I'm even more pleased with some of the significant decisions I made and people I chose to be around, in the past one year. Honestly, it's better if you can count the number of people who matter to you and vise-versa, than having an endless list of inconsequential people.

I went back to my hometown this weekend, to meet my over-hyper family. As J and T put it, "We're a weird family, but we can be addictive, together." The four sisters met and it was a riot. There was a lot of noise, cheesy one liners, unnecessary gossip and adjectives for each being thrown around the house, throughout the two days. How I love it. My family's mad, and even though the over excitement and drama can get a bit overwhelming for a stranger, I'm still happy with the way we are.

This is a picture I took on my way to Jaipur. Delhi-Jaipur drive is beautiful. Although, right now is not a very good time. The entire road has been dug up; numerous pot holes with humongous mouths are ready to be ridden over, so they can splash their stored water on you and smirk. It's been years and years since I've been going to Jaipur, and everytime we drive there, I wish we could stop and go a bit of rock climbing. Never happens. We don't stop to even chance a run in the open fields.

More later.

Love. 

Clickety-click(s)

Let's begin with a little blast from the past

Photos: Ria Bhatnagar

The first two pictures are our scribblings at Ghetto. A place that most don't like because of it's rather OTT set-up, with the neon lights, walls full of random writings, loud music, etc. I loved it, though. I loved the place. I loved not being able to see faces, except when one decided to smile and you got knocked off by the lights reflecting back from their teeth. I thought it was hilarious. I loved how they had personalised the entire place, with the walls open to be scribbled on, so everytime I went there, I'd spend ages trying to find my writings, squeezed in some corner, mostly over-written on. I liked that it was close to my work place, hence, the perfect place to rush to, after a hard days work. I liked the stools at the bar too, though I never sat on them. The pool table at the side, where I never played. I remember spending my first salary there, however, feeling so liberated and proud. My handwriting is horrendeous, which is why I won't be able to completely decrypt that lines of the second picture. The first picture's drawing is done by hotness. The third picture is of Blackie, when we were riding home in an empty bus, from Worli to Bandra, and Blackie was being her usual grumpy self. We decided taking sly pictures of her was the best thing to do. Oh, and also, to laugh behind her back, loud enough for her to hear and come around :) 

Yep, that's us.

Anyhow. This weekend was good. There was a photoshoot for a Times magazine. While the pretty models turned gorgeous inside the lenses, I hung around, behind the abominable looking lights,. It's an art, when you slide the glam and glitz away. Getting the right angle, the perfect expression, timing, clolurs, lights, etc. Infact, there is so much that goes on behind the camera, that the world in front of it, seems a little dull, and surprisingly, seems to lack lusture. Behind the lens, it's more colourful!

The wedding month has almost  begun. I'm, really REALLY looking forward to a nice vacation (of 3 days :P) and some fun time with family.

This month is going to be good, I can feel it. :)

later!

HARRY POTTER - it's never over

Obviously, like the title screams and all my facebook posts suggest, I've seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2). It's been 10 years since I've been a potter fan. TEN years. Nothing in my life has lived to be that constant- neither interests, nor hobbies, nor schools, not even my looks. Harry Potter has. Yesterday, after the movie got over, Rudy said, "Now what are you going to do? Harry Potter is over, nothing to look forward to." And I told him, "I'm going to read the books again, what else! That way, Harry Potter never dies, and is never over." Yeah, I've read each book atleast 15-17 times. So much so, in most movies, I could tell I already knew half the dialogues, cos I was so thorough with the books. I've never been so helplessly addicted, never been so horribly dependent on any book to keep me entertained and maintain an interest level that spans over a decade. A DECADE. Wow, that sounds weird. Inside the Potter world, I don't think I've grown up at all. And when I say grown up, I mean a state which is defined to be in proportional relation with getting 'over' things, fixations, and addictions as the number of years increase. When I picked up the first book, I was a little over 11. So was Harry. And since then, we grew up together. But me and neither did the Potter world grow out of the magical cocoon we were so comfortable in. I've never been embarrassed to admit that I still read Harry Potter. Well, maybe yes, of what I have 'grown out' of, is the squeamishness related to being old, and still being a Potter fan. I am one, and I say it as much.

The movie was more than just a 2 hour show of effects that zoomed across the 'reel' boundaries and came charging towards our fascinated faces, or the -wham-bam-show of curses and magical blood strewn over the black screen. It wasn't even seeing the characters walloping in sorrow and drowning in the world drenched with dark activities and defeat. It was the end of a part of me, when it comes to watching the book become a relatively tangible reality. The book and the characters still live inside the pages of black and white. The world of moving frames is, however, over. I was sitting with baited breath, my nails sinking deeper and deeper inside the huge Big Cinema's chair, waiting for the real WAR to begin. The three greatest characters that have ever lived were all going to be wiped off from the screens forever- Dumbledore, Snape and Voldermort.

The war was epic. The directorial choices for all the major characters were excellent, seeing them fitting their characters with a brilliant ease and conviction. Seeing Snape, for the first time, in a position which was vulnerable and pitiable, and his final end, was something that, even I was stunned watching. I remember after reading the second book, I was thoroughly convinced that Snape was a good man. I even remember defending him on various fan sites. :P The guy was so convincingly dark and yet had serious  undertones that suggested not. Voldermort was more dangerous than ever, although, far more scared and insecure.

The hall was charged with energy and excitement, you could almost taste it. When Neville slashed Nagini's head with one swing of the Griffindor sword, and its head went spinning across the dark screen, the hall erupted, and the clapping was deafening. When Mrs Weasly wheeled around, seeing Bellatrix Lestrange shooting a curse at Ginny, she screamed, “Not my daughter, you BITCH," showered a series of red, green and blue sparks at that maniacal Bellatrix, who finally got hit and crumbled in the most melodramatic manner, the hall was full of screams again. I was so excited, I might've cried a little. When the movie got over, I started clapping, and the hall followed suit (HAH!).

I'll never be completely over the books, or even the movies, I know.  It's not everyday you see a cinematic masterpiece of classic literature of wonderfully and powerfully woven into fantastic movie adventures in 7 films that complete one saga that will never be forgotten.

Weekday

Goodmorrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnning DELHI (in a very and I assert, VERY un-Vidhya Balan way). I thought I'd make a quick update here, before I get down to working.

I watched Delhi belly on saturday. What a KICKASS movie, I must say. The best part being, it was commercial cinema, alright, but made in the most non-commerical, almost parallel cinema-ish fashion. No interval, 2 hours, no songs, very natural, great humor, and fantastic acting. Esp the fat one who's digestion was mostly the main plot, running throughout the movie. All in all, good fun, great time spent.

There is a family wedding coming up, next month, which is going to take us all across the country, right to the land that apparently God calls his own. I'm excited, yes, and I really hope we can make a quick tour to the hill station Munar. I'm not much of a beach person, you know. Munar is beautiful with sprawling tea gardens, through which I can run , and sing a random bollywood number and feel I have achieved something out of the trip. Also, a christian wedding is not something us Hindu's get to see very often. A hindu-christian wedding is going to be so wonderfully confused and mixed up, with some vows here and a bit of pooja there, in Mr. Burns words, I'd say "Aaaaaeeexxcellent".

I've been very interested in tarrot, palmistry and astrology recently. And I make sure I always get it done by someone who is NOT a pro. Why? because people who are professionals are always scary. They just have that all-knowing look, look at you like your life is ending and they are just full of bad news. Every predication has a "but" clause to it, whether good or bad. "YOU are going to be RICH!"...and just when the person is ready to feel great, comes the "BUT, only when you are ninety" *fake grin and the all knowing nod*. Then there's "YOU are going to DIE", and when the person is about it break down and tear his clothes and hair comes the "BUT, it'll be painless",*fake grin and the all knowing nod*. So, we're better off with those who don't know their elbow from their ass and are just predicting for the fun of it.


Well, that's it for now. More to come, very soon

P.S- Can't WAIT for weekend :D

A Little Bit of Nothing At All

I like this template. It's colourful, it's bright and it makes me want to keep openinig my blog page to see how it looks.

I've been cooking, lately. Nothing heavy-duty. Just desserts. So I bought a cookbook by Asha Khatu (who has been the field of gourmet vegetarian cooking for 20 years) called Delectable Desserts of the World. It's pretty interesting. I started with the simplest dish, called 'Brownie Pie.' I started a little apprehensive, thought I'd just end up making a disaster, the house would be on fire, we'd all die, etc etc. However, as luck and the precious and generous oven would have it, I could smell something promising after 5 mins of baking. I knew we had a winner.

It might not LOOK like a winner, okay. I had to make them into these small....balls, becuase they weren't very sticky and were falling to pieces when I started scraping them out of the container.

No jokes will be entertained on its presentation, kindly. It tastes delicious, let me assure you.
Here it is :)

THIS is why Delhi has no comparison

Around the city, while I walk about, I see things that make me smile and whisper under my breath, " Sigh....DELHI."

No I don't hate the city, no I don't love it. It's very typical and that's what sets it apart.
Anyway, here are some pictures you'll like (or dislike) viewing. In any case, this is what I call a REAL show

That was outside a paan shop. Pretty interesting, huh ;)

Here are two classic pictures, that everyone has seen, zipping on the roads of the capital.



WOW.

....aaannndd here's another one



<3

Last but definitely not the least
Seen in a public toilet


Favorite

Fun, right? That's what I thought.
Stay tuned in for more of these...soon.

All the love
:)

Promise You Will Resume Work

Rudy says he was made to tease us. How true is that.

I've been thinking of getting new pets. A guinea pig, a hamster, and a turtle. Ofcourse, it won't be allowed. But imagine what a riot that would be.

Till then, I shall watch this one and feel miserable. And happy. It's a cute overload that I cannot possibly take.

Thankyou animation and cartoons. You make the world a really magical place :)

Zzzzzz...

                                                         photo credits: Aditi Sharma

Just bury your head into a deep dark world,
and forget that needs to be forgotten.

Sleep away, sleep away,
just sleep away like a headless chicken.

Swimming thoughts

mmmmm.....What would I not give to just sail away, on a long boat like this... with the sinking sun, on the silent sea....away for a deliciously long and satisfying weekend.

All I do these days is google unrealistic trips, look for packages for a Europe tour, a trip around the world, only to find skyrocketing prices that make me go back to making environment pages. Bah. What a downer. This world of greed and gluttony for green and consumerism. Sightseeing is like window shopping- why should I pay for it then?

Bila-bong, bila-bing

Sometimes I can most certainly hear a minute kkkrkrrrrrrrrrrrrrr from my brain, with the rusted parts peeling away, when I work tirelessly, for a gigantic machinery, with a gazillion employees, all killing themselves for peanuts to make three strangers super rich. The three stangers who I might never meet in my life, and those three strangers who might never know me in their entire life. It's a strange relationship of warped gains and value. Why do we spend all our lives, and exhaust our precious creative juices, to make some beings in a far off land look good. The corporate is an entire world of its own. A planet within a planet. Why do we torture ourselves, every morning, in the suicidal heat, being pushed and shoved by the scurrying public, all in the need to please someone who they'll never know. They'll never meet. Not even a handshake. Or an eye contact. They're people we only hear about, wonder about, admire, respect, hate, envy, love, despise. We still owe our lives to their mercy of green. The crisp green. It is a hypocritical relationship. Sometimes, just sometimes, when we think beyond the given, the obvious, the not-so-talked about and sense the cosmos that sustains itself 'between the lines', we'd know. The virtual world and the real don't have much of a difference. One, only lives inside the wired world. The other, lives close, but is at a constant disconnect.

I wish there was a world where 'freedom' was an all-encompassing word. Where freedom not only ment of the mind, but also actions. Can I pick up my bag this instant and go off to the Himalayas for a random, unplanned trip? Can I walk away from the everyday suffocating play of words, numbers, and politics, and live a day in just silence? Can we talk facts instead of faff? Can we love and not label?

How loosely is the word 'freedom' used. How loosely are most of the powerful words used. We really are a breed that knows nothing of mosly...everything. However, the irony of it all still prevails- ignorance is bliss. But it really isn't.



     

Another song, another post

I know I've been posting a lot that isn't my copyright. But these things are either funny, inspiring, or just a great read.
Here's one song you must listen to. Before that, do lead the lyric.

Cast No Shadow- Oasis

Here's a thought for every man
Who tries to understand what is in his hands
He walks along the open road of Love & Life
surviving if he can

Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
Chained to all the places that he never wished to say
Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
and as faced the sun he cast no shadow

As they took his soul they stole his pride
As they took his soul they stole his pride
As they took his soul they stole his pride

Here's a thought for every man
Who tries to understand what is in his hands
He walks along the open road of Love & Life
surviving if he can

Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
Chained to all the places that he never wished to say
Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say
and as faced the sun he cast no shadow

As they took his soul they stole his pride
As they took his soul they stole his pride
As they took his soul they stole his pride

And as he faced the sun he cast no shadow


All the love:)

Here's a rant you think you know ALL about

I'm at work, trying to read up on the climatic crisis that's affecting our world, and its economy. I'm trying to think BIG, and smart and .... nerdy. But what am I really thinking? I'm thinking about taking a short trip to some unfamiliar place. I'm thinking of doing an all-girls trip to Goa. I'm thinking of the Audioslave playlist songs that are on a loop, in my mind. I am also noticing my flingers flying across the keyboard, showing flashes of bright yellow. Yes, that's the colour they're painted in. As I type, my mind is still wandering. I'm craving candy floss. And also, my mom's chocolate fudge. I'm also wondering, why my favorite blogger is not updating on a regular basis, and when will my fav blogger write about something really funny. Also, most importantly, why is my fav blogger suffering from self-esteem (read: are my blogs REALLY good) issues.

Anyway, so I've been considering free-lancing now. Not so much as 'I love to write' issue. More of, I want more money sort of a thing. There are days when I can take time off and do the free lancing bit. There are days I'd swear loudly and curse myself for signing up for it. Right now, we're at the former. So, I need free lancing assignments. I don't know whom to contact. So, maybe I'll get down to that once I am done writing some gibberish here.

I have thoughts, revelations and weirdly-true-but no-one-cares-to-say-so quotes streaming out of me, all the time these days. No, I doubt if I'm getting smarter. I think my mind is just getting too over-excited with the world it see's around. Here are some things I thought of. IF you try and knock off any of these to decorate on your blog, I'm going to KNOW. Believe me I will *waves fist*

1. The first self-made dish always turns out bad. The magnitude of bad increases with the number of people who wait to taste it.That is, they are directly proportional. 10 people= bad dish. 100 people= GROSE dish. 1000= Puke, possibly food poisioning, maybe death.

2. Women staring at you, even smilingly, are not thinking of your beauty at all. They're wondering when you got your last wax. True story.

3. The slangs you used in school got lost when you went to college. They come up again, strangely so, later in your life and you can't believe you ever used them.

4. You can have a decent conversation with yourself in your mind. If you're caught talking to yourself, you usually pas it off by casually whistling or pretending to sing. You can also stare angrily to show you do NOT appreciate being stared at.

5. Google is the answer to all your questions. I mean, seriously!

6. It's better to be ignorant than smart. You make friends faster.

7. Everyone wants a good listener around.

8. Please nod when someone tells you something.

9. Washroom is full of awesome gossip.

10. It's so cool to have your own extension number.

11. It's funny to watch an awkward couple on a date.

12. A glass of soda can set all your troubles away.

13. It's difficult to smile when the food you eat is not of your choice.

12. Everyone is paranoid about having their email hacked.

13. Dogs always eat your favorite toys.

14. Red lipstick can make you look incredible or horrendeous.

15. Ever wanted to stand up on your desk and scream in an extremely quiet room?

16. Cursing is like anger management.

17. The manufacturing of goodlooking men stopped sometime during 1945..AD'ish. A few inhabit the earth now.

18. How I Met Your Mother has no ending. Seriously. It's like 12 seasons of prank, and you SO got fooled!

19. It is easier to pick on a pimple than to wait for it to subside. Wait, easier? Better, I mean.

20. If you feel fat, you ARE fat. So stop asking and start exercising.

That's it for now. Later maybe, soon.

Tada!

Been there....done that... :)

Letter home from school...

Dear Dad,

$chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can't think of anything I need, $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.

Love,
Your $on.

A week later..... a letter from "home"

Dear Son,

I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can never study eNOugh.

Love,
Dad



Source: deardad.pen.io

So THAT'S new!

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." is a grammatically valid sentence in the English language, used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs

The sentence is unpunctuated and uses three different readings of the word "buffalo". In order of their first use, these are

• a. the city of Buffalo, New York, which is used as a noun adjunct in the sentence and is followed by the animal;
• n. the noun buffalo, an animal, in the plural (equivalent to "buffaloes" or "buffalos"), in order to avoid articles;
• v. the verb "buffalo" meaning to bully, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.

Marking each "buffalo" with its use as shown above gives:

Buffalo^a buffaloⁿ Buffalo^a buffaloⁿ buffalo^v buffalo^v Buffalo^a buffaloⁿ.

Thus, the sentence when parsed reads as a claim that bison who are intimidated or bullied by bison are themselves intimidating or bullying to bison

Helllooowwwww thereeeeee

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.

Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you pay for that
And once you're gone, you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.

This track is a find, honestly. If you haven't heard it, then please open its youtube page and let it buffer while you read on.
I just got back from Jodhpur, from a friends wedding. Its werid how I remember my childhood days so well, the minutest, most unimportant details, of how people around me looked, how they talked, their quirks, the roads, the shops, etc. I've been in Jodhpur for two whole years, and that part of my memory is a complete blank. Was I an unhappy child back then? So much so, that all those days have been completelty rubbed off from my mind? It felt like I was visitng a completely new city, and I was as wonderstruck, and as amazed, as my other friends, visiting places, walking through lanes, driving on a empty roads. Oh yeah, empty. The first thing that struck me was the lack of traffic. What a relief. I could breathe on the roads and know there was minimal carbon going inside my already adultrated lungs.

The marriage was just how I had imagined, actually. I knew the set up would be dripping with all the Rajasthani traditions and customs, all the one's that make me happy, secretly, knowing I belong to the same culture. What was more fascinating and appealing was to watch people dressed in Jodhpuris, bandhgalas, etc. and conversing in the native language which oozes royality. Rajasthan is such a rich state, in every sense of the word. The culture, the languages, the food, the clothes, etc. The usual tease and the cheek which is the trademark of mostly all weddings was plesantly absant in this one. We were a part of a bigger, more dignified wedlock, which was so charming, minus the essential ingredients that are indespensible in a Delhi, or UP sort of a marriage. We weren't flowing in non-exhaustive supply of alcohol, the conversation among the most excited and important were tame and the only thing that was supersonic was when the speaker volume reached a prohibitted level for a second and a half, accidently. It wasn't a wedding. It was a marriage. I'm definitely not drawing a parallel in terms of preference. It's great to be a part of a ceremony which isn't like the usual. I don't mind, either, personally!

Life is back to the usual. Work, work, and more work. I never thought I'd say this, but I am really excited for tomorrows match. CRICKET match. The world cup final happens tomorrow, and not a single Indian can mask the excitement or contain the patriotism. It's in the air and no one can escape it. We're all infected. It's a great feeling. I was travelling in the train when the semi-final was upon us. A SEMI-FINAL with PAKISTAN. A doublly important match mixed with the already infectious excitement that the new religion, cricket, brings with it, had me downloading the match score application on my phone. 6 of us, huddled over my phone for some four hours, bursting with nervous excitement and constant prayers for the country to have its name in the finals list, was something I thought I would never be a part of in my life. I was. I really was. The train was quiet, and the lights were off. We could hear the rhythmic snoring, shifting and shuffling as we bore our eyes on the scorecard, waiting for the steady increase in the column that showed "wickets". Everytime it went one number up, we'd whoop and scream, but not loud enough, still. We were waiting for the last second. After that pandemonium would reign, surely. Before my phone could update the score, one friend got a call, and we knew we the world had burst at that very point. There was only screaming, and as the voices carried through the train corridoor, the sleepy eyes and tired bodies sprung up with an energy which seemed to be hibernating within them for what seemed like years. The entire train screamed in one single "YAY". We were in the middle of nowhere, but we didn't feel it. We were in India, and everywhere, everyone around us was a part of one common link that brought us together- cricket.

Cricket is not a sport. It might not even be a religion, since that too is reaching redundancy. Maybe it is an overwhelming feeling, a super natural power that has the capacity to bring us together. There is nothing bigger, more important than making each and every individual of a country feel proud of their identity, the soil which gave them life. I don't know what cricket is. No one knows what cricket is.

On another topic, Coke Studio. That's another one highly recommended. Please do give it a listen. There's nothing more soulful (for now!)

 Im hungry. I had lunch just a while back. Im still hungry.

It's a friday. There's music in my room. Not the annoying sort, ofcourse. Good. Old classics. I like very much. It really isn't that bad an idea to work with light music for light work.

The king is gone but he's not forgotten
Is this the story of johnny rotten?
It's better to burn out 'cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone but he's not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.

-Hey Hey, My My- Neil Young

More later.
Love

Jibber and Jabber of Everyday

Wow, another entry, so soon, my my!

So, I've been working, and the weekend just goes by like it never came. I know my social life is at a stand still. I know I am to be blamed. I know I'm practically doing nothing about it. I know this needs to change.

A friends wedding at the end of this month is something I am really looking forward to. It's going to be a much-awaited reunion and there's nothing else that's being talked about, for the past one week. My clothes are undecided, I hope  my leave is really sanctioned, and I know I'm leaving at a terrible time- the first cut of my magazine will be out by then. I will miss the most exciting days. But what the heck. It's not everyday a friend gets married. It's not everyday you go to Jodhpur. It's not everyday you bunk work for reasons other than laziness and lack of motivation.

I'm also looking forward to Rudy's visit , for next month. I am more than looking forward to it. It's leading to a lot of happy day dreams. It's feels like forever since we met. It always feels so.

My office room has had some highly exciting changes in its occupancy. It's become a competely edit room. All the trash (read: media sales) herd has been shooe'ed away. Its mostly habitable, to say the least. The volume of dialogues has gone down. The varying pitch of different voices are very tolerable, and post luch, its mostly quiet. I just remembered, I haven't done any decoration (pined up interesting stuff) on my desk board. Which is funny, since I used to have a lot of interesting material, write ups and sketches sitting in my drawer, in my previous company, hoping to find a place to be advertised.

Here's a disclaimer, by the way, in case you're planning on getting a blackberry. It brings down your privacy to zero. It connects you to people you need to be connected to.It also connects you to people you need to disconnect with. It's a very confusing package. It can lead to indecisive depression. It can also lead to a crazed up elation. Take your pick, so.

I have no new music again. I heard almost all that Rudy sent me. I;ve been listening to Death Cab..again. And it reminds me of those bus rides during monsoon, from Bandra to Worli, duing my office days. I love that feeling. I like making those connections, I like joining those dots.

Chalo, I need to get back to work. I've eaten into my work time, yes, guilt free, though, but now I really must go back to ....what? WRITING. HAH! Yes, thats my profession and I get paid for it. How's THAT! (P.S- really, its not all that fancy. The writers block becomes more pronounced when you take it up as a profession. Blogging is the best thing that happend to us, really)

Soon then.

All the love

The TIMES, They Are a Changin'

Hellooo HELLooooooo!

It's so ironical, that only y'day I was wondering how people find time to blog at their work place. And then I vaguely thought I'd only have time during weekends to update here. Numerous weekends have gone by, and this space has remained untouched. It's a thursday morning, and I know I have certain important calls to make. And I am doing what? I'm chilling (in the giuse of working). My computer screen is a little turned towards a blank stretch of wall today, so no one knows what I am upto. There's a good chance that they might just know anyway, since no one in my room works. That's another story.

YES, I have a job now, and TOI is going to make me rich (rich= pay my own mobile bills, incessent shopping and make secret trips across the country for "work"). Therefore, this is good.

I like my work.I'm so gald I started work in the wrong profession so I could understand and like my , now, work even more. Actually, come to think of it. There are so many things in my life that I am glad were just bad decisions, so I could appreciate the good ones more. hmm hmmm.

I sit next to the media sales people. And they are all born with woofers fitted inside their vocal cords. Most of my enerygy and concentration goes in trying to block out all the unnecessary jabbering and screaming. It's also rather unfortunate and sad that I share the same working space with two women who truly have dung brains and their converations reflect a negative intellectual graph.

I've been high on Avial music for the past two weeks. I wish I could really understand the language, and speak it. Malayalam is very interesting.

I miss Bombay, a LOT, but certain things about Delhi are highly endearing. I'm so torn between the two cities, that I need to move soon. To either Hyderabad or Banglore :P

My music classes are going okay, (I guess), but I know my music teacher might start paying me to not attend the classes. I usually go completely unpracticed, with just a sheepish smile and a request "can we run over what we learnt in the last class again.........plis..."

There's an important family wedding in August, in Kerela!! Our khandaan is ready to come for this one, it seems, since for the first time, the venue is not the same that has been repeating for almost a century.

There's a lot more that has been happening, but I need to jet.

More sooon-ish.

Love.

It's Never Too Late For A HAPPPY NEW YEARRR!!

Last December I was on tenderhooks, since the year was coming to a promising end, and I was more than impatient to get on with the new year plans. 2010 has been the worst year, they all say, and I am sure they'll be hardly who wouldn't agree. Rest assured, though, my new year was fabulous.

Goa is the most beautiful little place I've been to. I miss the candle lit dinners, the breakfast and lunch at the beach shacks, the long aimless walks on the beach, with the sun  right above our heads, and us, watching people doing water sports at a distance, while lazily sipping away brightly coloured drinks. Every night we'd make a sand castle or draw funny faces in the sand and hope to find it the next day, lying on the beach, untouched! And the drives...oh the drives..seeing the tall happy plam trees drunk-swaying at the distance on one side of the road, the wilderness sprouting in the form of green and yellow grass on the other side, and the road ahead, with scanty traces of humans and machines. We'd pull down the windows, and smell the air around us, so fresh , and intoxicating, like the environment was just freshly laundered.

I didn't empty my pockets, seeing the bizzare clothes and attractive curious, hanging outside shops, luring the bright eyes, waiting to be bought at ridiculous prices. It was fun, and rather amusing, seeing people jabber away in rapid french, german, or english, trying to strike a bargin for thing I hardly expected them to use. Frankly, though, I could've bought a souvenir too, something to remember this trip by. But I'm not complaining. I took back enough to be worrying about anything else ;)

The food was.... Divine. No, there's no other word for it. I might've over eaten most meals, but I can safely a say, I ate enough. A lot. More than I usually do.

The new year wasn't how I had first imagined it. Only because Goa was over flowing with humans. I wanted to go down to the beach to bring in the new year. As we walked down the Tito's lane, there was a happy, inebriated crowd that walked with us, and there was a happy, inebriated crowd that walked towards us, all screaming out incoherent, nothings. We reached the beach, but we saw nothing of it, except more humans.  So they decided to put on their best (worst) behaviour and made life wonderful (miserable) for people around them. SOooo we decided to walk back to Tito's lane, and found ourselves in a relatively less noisy and crowded, little bar. With just a drink , lots of conversation, and the cheerful people filling in the background, we had the best new year I'd have ever imagined.

I want to go back. Goa is addictive.

Three most adoreable little pups live right outside my colony gate. They're beyond cute and fat. However, fat pups just look cute. One looks like Buffy Jr. Same colour, same coat, and same amount of fat. One pup is the Poop King. The moment he sees me he starts wagging his tail and poops there and then. Sorry, he can't contain his excitement. He likes to poop all the time.

Guitar classes are going well. Earlier when I strummed my guitar, it sounded like noise. Now if you concentrate a little, you might just be able to hear traces of melody. So , there, that's going somewhere.
Yes, he's not been christened yet. Don't worry, Mr. Guitar, you will be. Sooonn--ish.

So that's all..All the love and mush and all that.

Tchus.