In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep...
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To the river so deep...
(Billy Joel - River of Dreams)
Last weekend, on a trip to Masinagudi, this song played in my head when we went on a night safari in the middle of the night, through mountains and valleys to a small stream in the jungle. This was the first time I went on a night safari and unfortunately I wasn't bestowed with any beginner's luck and I didn't catch a glimpse of a tiger/leopard or any such animal that we all hope to see in a safari. In spite of that, it was a very memorable experience for me.
As we set off, I wondered how we would spot anything in the darkness. We had the driver switch off the jeep lights in the middle of the jungle for a moment and then we saw (or didn't see!) what they really mean by 'pitch dark'! As the noisy jeep went through the quiet jungle, we had a lot of irate onlookers! They glared at us from among the bushes...and as we drew closer, they scampered away, quickly deciding that it wasn't worth confronting us for encroaching their territory and creating noise pollution. Their orange, yellow or reddish eyes actually glowed as if they were LEDs. How brightly they must have glowed to allow us to be able to differentiate between the orange, yellow and red light reflecting from their eyes!
The most memorable part of the safari was the stop by the stream. For a few minutes none of us got out of the jeep..maybe for fear of being mauled by the tiger striding to the stream for a drink! Wishful thinking! Then we all stepped out of the jeep and quietly just stood by the jeep, scanning the banks of the stream down below and ears alert for any rustle or growl. Since we were in clearing, the area wasn't pitch dark. The stream looked soothing...flowing almost noiselessly under the clear star studded sky in the chill of the night. The only noises were those of crickets and owls. After a while of waiting, we heard a growl and rustle. It probably came from someone we would have loved to see from a distance! But we weren't lucky enough. We just drove back with memories of the stream of dreams.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Cooking Thomas...?
Everytime I travel abroad, I get back home wondering if India will ever get to where the developed countries are. For a week or two after my trip, I keep thinking up small plans in my head to do my part to navigate India towards more progress. Then I get back to my usual common (wo)man life! It is not something I am proud about...maybe it shows I am mediocre...maybe it is cause of the lack of confidence that I can make a difference at a large scale...maybe it is cause I am actually most comfortable and at home in all the chaos.
I travel 1/2 way across the globe to a different country, hire a car at the airport and drive to my hotel which is 30 miles away, without even having to stop to ask for directions. It is so seamless. Here, over the weekend, I drive 1/2 the distance (15 miles) to Masinagudi in 5 hours...stop about 10 times for directions and then get to know that 1/2 of the activities we were hoping to do aren't possible at this time of the year! It is anything but seamless! This kind of important information is not available here...and in London if I have excess luggage I can plan my route in the underground based on the number of steps that are there in the station! All the information is available online. They are literally apologizing for not providing escalators and lifts at all the stations and give you a work around for that. It seems so ironical...how are we even surviving in all this chaos?
In all this cynicism I got into a discussion about whether the Food worlds, Fabmalls and Reliance Freshes were increasing the disparity in India. The 1 billion here need to get richer if we want to get to a 'developed' status. What will the thella waala do if his customers switch to shopping for vegetables at Fresh because it is neat, has AC and is available at a comparable price. Over coffee my friend and I worried for the faceless thella waala on Tippasandra main road and then we took the easy route of getting back to work! A couple of hours later the worry for the thella waala was gone and he was sure that Reliance or Foodworld won't put the thella waala out of business...he would fight back with his ingenuity! This enlightenment came to him on MG road!
He got off the auto on MG road at the Brigade road junction, crossed over from the Cauvery corner and made his way towards Higginbothams vaguely recalling that Thomas Cook had an office somewhere there. He must have walked some 10 meters when a man came up to him with a Thomas cook card and asked 'Looking for Thomas Cook?'. Now, how is that possible? How do you figure out that someone dressed casually in a shirt and jeans is going to Thomas cook? There might be some 100 shops on that side of MG road. How did this salesman single my friend out as 'the guy who is going to exchange currency'? He wasn't carrying a banner or asking about for directions. He wasn't even carrying a briefcase of cash or any such thing. For all you know, it might have been a relatively light day at work and he just decided to meet some ex-colleagues for lunch at Coffee day.
Friend: Ya, am looking for Thomas Cook. Where is the office?
Smart Salesman: This way sir (and he walks along all the way to the Thomas cook building, and passes the door which seems to lead to Thomas Cook)
Friend: (Pointing to the Thomas cook door) Isn't this where I should go in?
Smart Salesman: No no..that is just administrative office, for exchange you need to go in there...(and leads the way into the building and through another door to a man behind a desk, waiting to grab Rs and hand over dollars)
Once inside my friend looks around and sees no Thomas Cook logo etc. He finds it a little shady
Friend: Is this Thomas Cook?
Man behind the desk: Yes we exchange money. What are you looking for?
Friend: (Again): Is this THOMAS COOK?
Man behind....: Yes, we give good rates.
Friend: (Persistently) But, Are you Thomas Cook?
Man behind...:No Sir, but we give much better rates than Thomas Cook!
And then he tried to convince my friend to exchange Rs there...but wasn't as successful in pulling a fast one as the smart salesman on the road! My friend walked out of there into the other door with the Thomas Cook logo. He walked out with a lighter pocket but not without a sense of admiration for the illegal guys working next door to Thomas cook, cooking them up and eating up their business. Imagine their guts, here was a Golliath looming right in front of them, but David doesn't seem to be perturbed. He is devising new work arounds every day and earning his life. We could get into a whole new discussion on right and wrong and whether the ends justify the means etc. We would probably talk about whether the unethical route Guru (Abhishek Bacchan, said to be portraying Dhirubhai Ambani) took, to work-around the license raj was right or wrong. But one thing is certain, as a country, we have all the survival instincts it takes in this place! It might appear that there is nothing to cook, but most will find a Thomas Cook to cook and not only appease the hunger, but also end with a cherry topped dessert!
I travel 1/2 way across the globe to a different country, hire a car at the airport and drive to my hotel which is 30 miles away, without even having to stop to ask for directions. It is so seamless. Here, over the weekend, I drive 1/2 the distance (15 miles) to Masinagudi in 5 hours...stop about 10 times for directions and then get to know that 1/2 of the activities we were hoping to do aren't possible at this time of the year! It is anything but seamless! This kind of important information is not available here...and in London if I have excess luggage I can plan my route in the underground based on the number of steps that are there in the station! All the information is available online. They are literally apologizing for not providing escalators and lifts at all the stations and give you a work around for that. It seems so ironical...how are we even surviving in all this chaos?
In all this cynicism I got into a discussion about whether the Food worlds, Fabmalls and Reliance Freshes were increasing the disparity in India. The 1 billion here need to get richer if we want to get to a 'developed' status. What will the thella waala do if his customers switch to shopping for vegetables at Fresh because it is neat, has AC and is available at a comparable price. Over coffee my friend and I worried for the faceless thella waala on Tippasandra main road and then we took the easy route of getting back to work! A couple of hours later the worry for the thella waala was gone and he was sure that Reliance or Foodworld won't put the thella waala out of business...he would fight back with his ingenuity! This enlightenment came to him on MG road!
He got off the auto on MG road at the Brigade road junction, crossed over from the Cauvery corner and made his way towards Higginbothams vaguely recalling that Thomas Cook had an office somewhere there. He must have walked some 10 meters when a man came up to him with a Thomas cook card and asked 'Looking for Thomas Cook?'. Now, how is that possible? How do you figure out that someone dressed casually in a shirt and jeans is going to Thomas cook? There might be some 100 shops on that side of MG road. How did this salesman single my friend out as 'the guy who is going to exchange currency'? He wasn't carrying a banner or asking about for directions. He wasn't even carrying a briefcase of cash or any such thing. For all you know, it might have been a relatively light day at work and he just decided to meet some ex-colleagues for lunch at Coffee day.
Friend: Ya, am looking for Thomas Cook. Where is the office?
Smart Salesman: This way sir (and he walks along all the way to the Thomas cook building, and passes the door which seems to lead to Thomas Cook)
Friend: (Pointing to the Thomas cook door) Isn't this where I should go in?
Smart Salesman: No no..that is just administrative office, for exchange you need to go in there...(and leads the way into the building and through another door to a man behind a desk, waiting to grab Rs and hand over dollars)
Once inside my friend looks around and sees no Thomas Cook logo etc. He finds it a little shady
Friend: Is this Thomas Cook?
Man behind the desk: Yes we exchange money. What are you looking for?
Friend: (Again): Is this THOMAS COOK?
Man behind....: Yes, we give good rates.
Friend: (Persistently) But, Are you Thomas Cook?
Man behind...:No Sir, but we give much better rates than Thomas Cook!
And then he tried to convince my friend to exchange Rs there...but wasn't as successful in pulling a fast one as the smart salesman on the road! My friend walked out of there into the other door with the Thomas Cook logo. He walked out with a lighter pocket but not without a sense of admiration for the illegal guys working next door to Thomas cook, cooking them up and eating up their business. Imagine their guts, here was a Golliath looming right in front of them, but David doesn't seem to be perturbed. He is devising new work arounds every day and earning his life. We could get into a whole new discussion on right and wrong and whether the ends justify the means etc. We would probably talk about whether the unethical route Guru (Abhishek Bacchan, said to be portraying Dhirubhai Ambani) took, to work-around the license raj was right or wrong. But one thing is certain, as a country, we have all the survival instincts it takes in this place! It might appear that there is nothing to cook, but most will find a Thomas Cook to cook and not only appease the hunger, but also end with a cherry topped dessert!
Monday, March 12, 2007
About Beers and Dears...
Just a little silly poem after the weekend's bowling and beer with friends...
I don't make any big claims of being a poet...but even I think I can do better than what I have done here..!
He asks for a mug of beer
As if it weren’t even a bit queer
A gulp or two later he's surprisingly on track
And bowls the pins with a never before knack!
'Oh Wow! Food and Drinks?!'
With a gleam, in all the high he willingly sinks!
But not before adding the calories earned
Silently committing that by the morrow they’ll be burnt!
And then, in the group, there is the PRO ‘you know’?
With his wife a trip to Europe he did go
And that’s where they learnt after a lot of Q&A(!!)
All about beer that’s there to know till day.
And last but certainly not the least
Is the lemonade she picked for the feast
Coz she din’t want the beer to settle in her belly
And undo all that was done not in a year or two..but MANY!
As if it weren’t even a bit queer
A gulp or two later he's surprisingly on track
And bowls the pins with a never before knack!
'Oh Wow! Food and Drinks?!'
With a gleam, in all the high he willingly sinks!
But not before adding the calories earned
Silently committing that by the morrow they’ll be burnt!
And then, in the group, there is the PRO ‘you know’?
With his wife a trip to Europe he did go
And that’s where they learnt after a lot of Q&A(!!)
All about beer that’s there to know till day.
And last but certainly not the least
Is the lemonade she picked for the feast
Coz she din’t want the beer to settle in her belly
And undo all that was done not in a year or two..but MANY!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Holi Hues...
When I was growing up in Ranchi, holi meant a riot of colours. It meant, painting the town red, green and pink, literally! Every year, we tried to be the 1st one to be up early and appear at our friends’ doors all prepared to splash randomly at the ‘canvas’ who made the mistake of answering the door without looking through the peep hole. And if the ‘loser’ sent his/her parents to answer the door we would instantly wear our masks of innocence…which they would fall for. They would invite us in and settle us down with the hope that these good kids have come to sort out some math problem even on a holiday forgetting for a moment forgetting it was ‘HOLI-day’. And then, when the ‘loser’ appeared he/she would be in more trouble than we had planned to put him/her in…cause we would start off the painting in the neat/prim settings of the living room and not the already colorful staircase! I learnt more of ‘1st mover advantage’, planning, scheming, strategizing, SWOTs playing holi than I learnt sitting in a classroom in b-school. Now I don’t recall why we cared to be the 1st one to strike. At the end of the day, we all looked alike anyway!
After a couple of hours playing with each other, we would just hang around the building and strike at new comers and scamper away at the sight of the rowdies coming on bikes with permanent paint and water balloons. The slowest among the lot would be the victim of the external attack and at times wail and cry at being left alone and not being big enough to fight back. When we were sure the rowdies had left our area, we would appear out of our hiding places and console our shaken up comrade. We had the choice of heading back to the safety of our homes…but we stayed there in the field as if to show respect to some pact that we had signed with someone….till all of us inevitably got caught atleast once! Then we would reluctantly head back home…to be scolded at for looking like a badly painted kathakali dancer. (As if it was my fault! ;)
This holi, we ventured out in Bangalore. We did not see any of the outlandish fun that we have witnessed in the north but in its truly cosmopolitan spirit, Bangalore participated and made available the paints, brush, palette et al. All the holi enthusiasts had to do was go make a canvas out of their unsuspecting friends!
After a couple of hours playing with each other, we would just hang around the building and strike at new comers and scamper away at the sight of the rowdies coming on bikes with permanent paint and water balloons. The slowest among the lot would be the victim of the external attack and at times wail and cry at being left alone and not being big enough to fight back. When we were sure the rowdies had left our area, we would appear out of our hiding places and console our shaken up comrade. We had the choice of heading back to the safety of our homes…but we stayed there in the field as if to show respect to some pact that we had signed with someone….till all of us inevitably got caught atleast once! Then we would reluctantly head back home…to be scolded at for looking like a badly painted kathakali dancer. (As if it was my fault! ;)
This holi, we ventured out in Bangalore. We did not see any of the outlandish fun that we have witnessed in the north but in its truly cosmopolitan spirit, Bangalore participated and made available the paints, brush, palette et al. All the holi enthusiasts had to do was go make a canvas out of their unsuspecting friends!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
...And sunshine follows the rain...
Blr: Sunshine and blooms (as seen through my 1.3MP phone camera!)...And sunshine follows the rain...
that's the name of the play I saw this week. (don't read any further if you plan to watch the play...this post might spoil the surprise element in the play!). There was something very very unique about this play. Something that I have never come across in another play or any kind of performance or form of entertainment.
There were 4 main characters in the play and each of these characters parts were played by atleast 2 artists! There were 3 Tom Wakefields, 2 Laura Wakefields, 2 Amanda Wakefields and 2 Jim O' Connors! Neither were they stereotyped representations of the character in different stages of their lives..nor were they distinct 'the good' and 'the bad' representations of the characters. It was just that all the 3 Toms put together represented the complete 'Tom' at any given point! If 'Tom' had to deliver a dialogue, it was kind of split between these 3 artists. And all the artists delivered the dialogues pretty well and there wasn't any lack of continuity just because 3 people were saying what 'Tom Wakefield' was supposed to say. Needless to say, the 3 Toms all dressed alike...but they made no attempt to be look alikes in their expressions or mannerisms. They did not resemble each other. Amanda 1 had short cropped hair, and Amanda2 had long curly hair! Laura 1 was thin and tall, Laura2 was chubby! I thought the dramatization of the play and the idea of splitting a character in 2 or 3 randomly was the most ingenious thing I have seen in sometime.
Overall, the play was good. All the performers were not hard core theatre artists but they were definitely very talented. Laura1 sang 'Wrap your troubles in dreams, and dream your troubles away' rather well, I thought, for a non-professional singer!
....
Your castles may tumble (that's fate after all)
Life's really funny that way
No use to grumble, smile as they fall
Weren't you king for a day?
Just remember that sunshine
Always follows the rain
So wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream your troubles away
....
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Quote of the day
Quotes, sayings and idioms are nice..most of the time. They guide and inspire us to do the right thing. But at times, in real life, basing important things on what a great man once said might not be the smartest thing to do. Gandhiji's ideology of offering the other cheek after being slapped on one can prove fatal in this day of knife/pistol wielding muggers and local bhais (Assuming that in real life, munnabhais are not really amusing!). For times like these we might be better off being cynical about what great men said. To drive home this point, I'll quote what a great man once said [sic]
It is unwise to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same - George Bernard Shaw
It is unwise to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same - George Bernard Shaw
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
The logic about logic
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion - Dale Carnegie
There's a whole lot to understand and learn from Dale Carnegie's thought. On the face of it, it is a simple thought, effectively put. But the more I pondered about it, I began to feel that understanding this thought fully well and keeping it on the top of my mind always could work as a panacea! With the exception of those in captivity or leading lives of seclusion, one can't escape dealing with people in almost anything. And then at some point or the other even the most logical person is going to be driven by emotion.
There's a whole lot to understand and learn from Dale Carnegie's thought. On the face of it, it is a simple thought, effectively put. But the more I pondered about it, I began to feel that understanding this thought fully well and keeping it on the top of my mind always could work as a panacea! With the exception of those in captivity or leading lives of seclusion, one can't escape dealing with people in almost anything. And then at some point or the other even the most logical person is going to be driven by emotion.
At work and with things where most people would consciously try and keep emotion out of the picture I tend to be down right practical and logical. I think dealing with logical people makes things a lot easier and progress speedy.
The other day I met an elderly gentleman and my first impression was that I was dealing with a logical person. I got into my comfort zone of being open and direct and made no attempt to be diplomatic or sugar coat my thoughts. He asked me for feedback on something he had created and I articulated the pluses and the minuses. The minute my thoughts turned into words I realized the otherwise calm and composed septuagenarian was not prepared for negative feedback. His reaction almost felt like a slap across my face. He shouted at me for the difference of opinion. It was something I couldn't comprehend. If it was something he was so sensitive about, why did he ask for feedback in the first place. I managed to get out of the situation without creating a scene just by continuously telling myself (while he was shouting at me) that I was dealing with a creature of emotion.
Bottom line, you can't take all the emotion out of any situation. What seems completely logical to me pulls some emotional chords for the person in front of me and vice versa. When the emotional wave is high, the trick is in shielding yourself from the emotional wave and accepting that to your listener the logic is illogical!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Making a dash to the finish line....
It is a blur...and I can barely see it through the winter mist.
But I am certain it is not a figment of my imagination...
and I am making a dash to the finish line...
When I crossover the line so fine,
I pull the satin ribbon along....
willingly it snaps free and gaily entangles around my sprinting frame
I look down at it and the words on the ribbon are clear to me now...
'2006 - The year that was...'
A little premature for a 'goodbye 2006' post, but that's the best part about blogging...this is my space, I can write what I feel like, when I feel like it! :) I make the rules here and I don't have to wait for December to roll out a '2006 special edition'. I feel a sense of urgency to roll down the curtains on my 2006 and I think I will do it now, when I have the time. The way the past 11 months have gone by (even before I got used to writing 2006 in checks and under my signatures) I feel December will not even care to herald itself and I won't even know! I might as well get prepared to put 2007 date stamps.
I wonder why the whole world (including me) makes such a big deal about a new year. Why is it that every December we sit and reminisce about the year gone by and make resolutions about the new year? But then, if these unwritten rules weren't followed, we would we buying 'special editions' of magazines throughout out the year and then Santa/God/X would have an administrative nightmare with resolutions coming in every now and then! On the other hand people might have made more frequent attempts (as opposed to once in a year) to 'turn into a better leaf' thus increasing the probability of turning the world into a better place.
In spite of all that I said above, I still find myself deriving comfort from choosing the end of the year to reminisce and to look forward to 2007 and hoping (as always) that it will bring all that I ever wished for! That, I guess, is what keeps us all going year after year. If I remembered all that I hoped/prayed/asked for on January 1st in the years gone by, I probably wouldn't be very hopeful this new year. If I held a grudge against fate I wouldn't be blindly making a dash to the finish.
While closing the book of accounts for 2006, all I want to feel is acceptance and comfort. I don't want to feel nagged that the balance sheet is not perfectly balanced. All I want to take away is a little more courage to face what is to come and the ability to be unperturbed by any future discrepancies in the balance sheet.
But I am certain it is not a figment of my imagination...
and I am making a dash to the finish line...
When I crossover the line so fine,
I pull the satin ribbon along....
willingly it snaps free and gaily entangles around my sprinting frame
I look down at it and the words on the ribbon are clear to me now...
'2006 - The year that was...'
A little premature for a 'goodbye 2006' post, but that's the best part about blogging...this is my space, I can write what I feel like, when I feel like it! :) I make the rules here and I don't have to wait for December to roll out a '2006 special edition'. I feel a sense of urgency to roll down the curtains on my 2006 and I think I will do it now, when I have the time. The way the past 11 months have gone by (even before I got used to writing 2006 in checks and under my signatures) I feel December will not even care to herald itself and I won't even know! I might as well get prepared to put 2007 date stamps.
I wonder why the whole world (including me) makes such a big deal about a new year. Why is it that every December we sit and reminisce about the year gone by and make resolutions about the new year? But then, if these unwritten rules weren't followed, we would we buying 'special editions' of magazines throughout out the year and then Santa/God/X would have an administrative nightmare with resolutions coming in every now and then! On the other hand people might have made more frequent attempts (as opposed to once in a year) to 'turn into a better leaf' thus increasing the probability of turning the world into a better place.
In spite of all that I said above, I still find myself deriving comfort from choosing the end of the year to reminisce and to look forward to 2007 and hoping (as always) that it will bring all that I ever wished for! That, I guess, is what keeps us all going year after year. If I remembered all that I hoped/prayed/asked for on January 1st in the years gone by, I probably wouldn't be very hopeful this new year. If I held a grudge against fate I wouldn't be blindly making a dash to the finish.
While closing the book of accounts for 2006, all I want to feel is acceptance and comfort. I don't want to feel nagged that the balance sheet is not perfectly balanced. All I want to take away is a little more courage to face what is to come and the ability to be unperturbed by any future discrepancies in the balance sheet.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
My ballad...
On a pleasant evening in 2001
When the only thing down was the sun…
We met at Bangalore on Lavelle road
And since then never have we been bored…
She came along wth a friend or two…
And after the usual niceties and who’s who
We started on a note very sweet
From Koramangala sukh sagar some sweets we did eat
After some time had passed
And some courage she had amassed,
She asked to be left alone with me
No doubt, much to my glee!
We went driving around town in the night
With her, even Bangalore roads were a pleasant sight
And no onlooker would rate
That it was our first ever date.
We were the made-for-each-other kind
And in her love I did go blind.
We went together everywhere,
Rain or shine we din’t so much care!
In all these years, there was just one moment
When I let her down and I still repent
I think our relationship is unique
And apart from her, no other I seek
Just as I thought we were ready for a commitment of life
I realize I have to face tough strife
I hear her say I want to go ‘Fida’ or have the ‘Xing’
And to my dismay a Fiesta or Santro she is eyeing!
Author: Zennie
Make, model and year: Maruti Suzuki, Zen, 2001
Owner: Shilpa Narayan
When the only thing down was the sun…
We met at Bangalore on Lavelle road
And since then never have we been bored…
She came along wth a friend or two…
And after the usual niceties and who’s who
We started on a note very sweet
From Koramangala sukh sagar some sweets we did eat
After some time had passed
And some courage she had amassed,
She asked to be left alone with me
No doubt, much to my glee!
We went driving around town in the night
With her, even Bangalore roads were a pleasant sight
And no onlooker would rate
That it was our first ever date.
We were the made-for-each-other kind
And in her love I did go blind.
We went together everywhere,
Rain or shine we din’t so much care!
In all these years, there was just one moment
When I let her down and I still repent
I think our relationship is unique
And apart from her, no other I seek
Just as I thought we were ready for a commitment of life
I realize I have to face tough strife
I hear her say I want to go ‘Fida’ or have the ‘Xing’
And to my dismay a Fiesta or Santro she is eyeing!
Author: Zennie
Make, model and year: Maruti Suzuki, Zen, 2001
Owner: Shilpa Narayan
Friday, September 29, 2006
Kaleideoscope
9:30am, Arrival lounge, Bangalore airport
I am told that I can't go all the way up to the baggage claim area. The security guy at the gate pays no heed to my request that 'my old parents will need help with the luggage' and 'that's the reason I got a ticket into the arrival lounge'. What's the point if all I can do with this ticket is stick my nose against the glass window and watch my parents struggle with the luggage at the conveyor?? Ah well, this is a country where all the rules are followed! I cursed the terrorists for all the terror they have managed to spread and just hoped that there will be someone near the belt to help my parents! Then I just went and stuck my nose at the glass window and felt good about being short...cause the glass was dirty everywhere above my nose with all and sundry sticking their noses! :)
On the other side of the 'laksman rekha' a girl stood and handed out plastic red roses and a Kemp fort coupon with a promise "get a free parker pen*" with some fine print at the end which was too fine for me to read from a 2 feet distance. She was neatly dressed and it looked like she drew her inspiration from some regional film actress. She did not have enough roses/coupons to give every person who walked out of the terminal. She had some random algorithm to gauge who deserved her 'smile, rose, coupon' package. Without even giving her the slightest hint, I played a mind-game with her. I would give myself a point every time I guessed the package recipient accurately! Initially I got a couple of wrong hits...but gradually I figured her thinking pattern and declared myself the winner!
A shabbily dressed guy (he came to receive someone in his night clothes!) went up to the security guy and posed a similar request to allow him to enter into the baggage claim area. When the security guy declined, this guy crossed the 'lakshman rekha' and stood just near the gate on the other side. He seemed to derive a lot of satisfaction in standing on the other side and it looked like someone else had just declared himself a winner! The security guy kept requesting him to move back...but this pajama clad guy (I could bet my life he hadn't come to pick someone he wanted to set an impression on) just pretended to be lost in thought and gazed into infinity.
All kinds of people walked out of the gate. There were those who still seemed to be thinking of the business deal they had struck and were mentally still in the board room. There were others who were first time fliers and just seemed mighty happy about the deal they got with the flight tickets! Then, there were travelers from abroad who were just trying to comprehend if this really was the airport at the Silicon valley of India. I took my nose off the window and sat down to observe the stream of people. I took my eyes off the gate and the stream when a little girl probably 6 years of age started running excitedly around the bunch of chairs chasing her cousin/brother/family friend who must have been double her age and size. Her target was too fast for her, but for a moment she din't think it was unachievable. She gleefully just kept going round and round in circles as if someone had put her there to demonstrate that life is about the journey, not about the end.
I began building little stories around each of the characters. What would have been the purpose of their trip? Were they coming back happy, sad or neutral? I thought back to the very first time I flew (incidentally out of this very airport) and smiled to myself thinking of the excitement and the anticipation of a weird feeling in the tummy when the aircraft took off. Memories of some of the significant trips I had made out of here came flooding by. I thought of the uncountable times I had come here to see someone off or to pick someone up. My mind ran its little what-if analysis of some of these significant trips and how my life would be different if some of these trips hadn’t been made. I am glad I can’t be certain that the difference would be for the better or for the worse. It was just a little holiday that my mind took to go down memory lane…and when it came back…it wasn’t without some unwanted holiday weight!
To lighten things up, ironically, there was this plump 7-8 year old fair, curly haired girl. Her parents were obviously trying to reach someone who should have been here by now to pick them up. They were not too happy about being kept waiting and I pitied the person on the other side of the line. The family shared the 'plumpness' gene and this didn't look like a couple you would like to mess with! In sharp contrast, the little girl didn't seem to be bothered about not being home or in a car on the way home. She seemed pretty happy about not having an air hostess tying her to a seat. She kept herself busy by playing hopscotch on the mosaic tiles. She had made her own rules about which tile to step on and which one to miss and the fact that she looked clumsy and un-lady like was not in her scheme of thoughts. In the span of some 10 tiles in her charlie chaplin hop, she managed to win an admirer! This 1.5 year old boy (who had just about learnt to walk and was keen on honing his newly acquired skills) set himself free from his mother's grip and ran to the curly charlie chaplin! The speed and accuracy with which the 1.5 year old had picked the 'most interesting company' in the crowd of people was to be admired. It could only have been done by someone who hadn't spent a life time trying to learn the obvious!
The pajama clad guy's parents and sister finally emerged and no one judged him by his cover! Right behind them a group of pilots and air hostesses smartly walked by dragging their neat and chic suitcases. The group kind of maintained a little distance from one of the pilot-air hostess pair. They looked like they had a little something special going on between them. The way they were alienated from the rest of the group made it seem like they were breaking some commonly accepted rules in the society!
Everyone walking past the gate had a different pattern and a certain beauty about them. Here was a slice of life…in the power wielding security guy, the egotistical pajama man, the innocent girl running around in circles, the visionary toddler, the happy Charlie Chaplin and her angry parents. Even though I won the mind-game with the girl handing out the roses using some reasoning, I could have stood there all day and wouldn’t have been able to predict what pattern would emerge out of the gate next. Life is indeed a box of chocolates. The next one I picked could have been nuts, dark chocolate, plain, milk…..anything!
10:30 am, STILL Arrival lounge, STILL Bangalore airport.
Sweet music in my ears…my phone ringing...but I am not too happy about being distracted from the very engaging job at hand. There are so many more people to observe and analyze. ‘Where are you?’ In the maze of all this, I had missed taking note and observing what I came for in the first place. My parents, baggage et al, had walked right under my nose at around 9:40am (probably when it was stuck up against the glass window) while I was busy rotating the kaleidoscope!
I am told that I can't go all the way up to the baggage claim area. The security guy at the gate pays no heed to my request that 'my old parents will need help with the luggage' and 'that's the reason I got a ticket into the arrival lounge'. What's the point if all I can do with this ticket is stick my nose against the glass window and watch my parents struggle with the luggage at the conveyor?? Ah well, this is a country where all the rules are followed! I cursed the terrorists for all the terror they have managed to spread and just hoped that there will be someone near the belt to help my parents! Then I just went and stuck my nose at the glass window and felt good about being short...cause the glass was dirty everywhere above my nose with all and sundry sticking their noses! :)
On the other side of the 'laksman rekha' a girl stood and handed out plastic red roses and a Kemp fort coupon with a promise "get a free parker pen*" with some fine print at the end which was too fine for me to read from a 2 feet distance. She was neatly dressed and it looked like she drew her inspiration from some regional film actress. She did not have enough roses/coupons to give every person who walked out of the terminal. She had some random algorithm to gauge who deserved her 'smile, rose, coupon' package. Without even giving her the slightest hint, I played a mind-game with her. I would give myself a point every time I guessed the package recipient accurately! Initially I got a couple of wrong hits...but gradually I figured her thinking pattern and declared myself the winner!
A shabbily dressed guy (he came to receive someone in his night clothes!) went up to the security guy and posed a similar request to allow him to enter into the baggage claim area. When the security guy declined, this guy crossed the 'lakshman rekha' and stood just near the gate on the other side. He seemed to derive a lot of satisfaction in standing on the other side and it looked like someone else had just declared himself a winner! The security guy kept requesting him to move back...but this pajama clad guy (I could bet my life he hadn't come to pick someone he wanted to set an impression on) just pretended to be lost in thought and gazed into infinity.
All kinds of people walked out of the gate. There were those who still seemed to be thinking of the business deal they had struck and were mentally still in the board room. There were others who were first time fliers and just seemed mighty happy about the deal they got with the flight tickets! Then, there were travelers from abroad who were just trying to comprehend if this really was the airport at the Silicon valley of India. I took my nose off the window and sat down to observe the stream of people. I took my eyes off the gate and the stream when a little girl probably 6 years of age started running excitedly around the bunch of chairs chasing her cousin/brother/family friend who must have been double her age and size. Her target was too fast for her, but for a moment she din't think it was unachievable. She gleefully just kept going round and round in circles as if someone had put her there to demonstrate that life is about the journey, not about the end.
I began building little stories around each of the characters. What would have been the purpose of their trip? Were they coming back happy, sad or neutral? I thought back to the very first time I flew (incidentally out of this very airport) and smiled to myself thinking of the excitement and the anticipation of a weird feeling in the tummy when the aircraft took off. Memories of some of the significant trips I had made out of here came flooding by. I thought of the uncountable times I had come here to see someone off or to pick someone up. My mind ran its little what-if analysis of some of these significant trips and how my life would be different if some of these trips hadn’t been made. I am glad I can’t be certain that the difference would be for the better or for the worse. It was just a little holiday that my mind took to go down memory lane…and when it came back…it wasn’t without some unwanted holiday weight!
To lighten things up, ironically, there was this plump 7-8 year old fair, curly haired girl. Her parents were obviously trying to reach someone who should have been here by now to pick them up. They were not too happy about being kept waiting and I pitied the person on the other side of the line. The family shared the 'plumpness' gene and this didn't look like a couple you would like to mess with! In sharp contrast, the little girl didn't seem to be bothered about not being home or in a car on the way home. She seemed pretty happy about not having an air hostess tying her to a seat. She kept herself busy by playing hopscotch on the mosaic tiles. She had made her own rules about which tile to step on and which one to miss and the fact that she looked clumsy and un-lady like was not in her scheme of thoughts. In the span of some 10 tiles in her charlie chaplin hop, she managed to win an admirer! This 1.5 year old boy (who had just about learnt to walk and was keen on honing his newly acquired skills) set himself free from his mother's grip and ran to the curly charlie chaplin! The speed and accuracy with which the 1.5 year old had picked the 'most interesting company' in the crowd of people was to be admired. It could only have been done by someone who hadn't spent a life time trying to learn the obvious!
The pajama clad guy's parents and sister finally emerged and no one judged him by his cover! Right behind them a group of pilots and air hostesses smartly walked by dragging their neat and chic suitcases. The group kind of maintained a little distance from one of the pilot-air hostess pair. They looked like they had a little something special going on between them. The way they were alienated from the rest of the group made it seem like they were breaking some commonly accepted rules in the society!
Everyone walking past the gate had a different pattern and a certain beauty about them. Here was a slice of life…in the power wielding security guy, the egotistical pajama man, the innocent girl running around in circles, the visionary toddler, the happy Charlie Chaplin and her angry parents. Even though I won the mind-game with the girl handing out the roses using some reasoning, I could have stood there all day and wouldn’t have been able to predict what pattern would emerge out of the gate next. Life is indeed a box of chocolates. The next one I picked could have been nuts, dark chocolate, plain, milk…..anything!
10:30 am, STILL Arrival lounge, STILL Bangalore airport.
Sweet music in my ears…my phone ringing...but I am not too happy about being distracted from the very engaging job at hand. There are so many more people to observe and analyze. ‘Where are you?’ In the maze of all this, I had missed taking note and observing what I came for in the first place. My parents, baggage et al, had walked right under my nose at around 9:40am (probably when it was stuck up against the glass window) while I was busy rotating the kaleidoscope!
Monday, September 18, 2006
I also-ran a marathon!
I proudly proclaim to be an Also-ran! :)
I completed the marathon!
I took 5 hours to complete it..:( Am a little disappointed with that as I was aiming at doing it in 4hours 15 minutes or so. But the joy of completing a marathon (in spite of the pathetic arrangements made by the organizers) is the predominant feeling.
We started at around 6am and had good attention from the volunteers and traffic cops for the 1st 2 hours or so. We were given preference at the traffic signals and with the barricades in the right places I wasn't worried about being run over by a bus/truck! The weather was just right and Bangalore did look beautiful! I observed a lot of the beauty that I hadn't noticed in so many years, while zipping past in my car. A lot of areas in Bangalore are still very green and running in the backdrop of a lake set against greenery is a unique kind of experience. It just makes you feel great, about life and about yourself. And there were a lot of very sweet Bangaloreans who stood by, cheering us and making us feel like celebrities! You also form a bond with your fellow runners and everytime you do something against the commonly known best methods, someone or the other reminds you 'hey, dont do that, do this instead' It is a nice feeling...you are out there with a bunch of people you don't even know and you are helping each other achieve what you set out to do...all by yourself...probably all for yourself. At a point when you are ready to drop and your body has just thrown up its hands...and seems 100% confident it can't budge another inch, a simple pat on the back from a fellow runner with 'hey, you can do much better than that' or a hand sticking out from the sidewalk to just shake yours for what you have achieved thus far just magically pushes your body to run along and takes you another km or so.
When I started, I was very conscious of all the fundas for conserving energy and was at par with my target for the 1st 2 hours. Once you run about 5km, your body just gets into rhythm and all the panting etc stops. At that point, you feel you can run for ever! I know glucose level in my body dips very suddenly and after I had done 15km, I craved for some sugar, some salts, something! All the water stops had water...no dearth of that but nothing to replenish your salts. I kept myself motivated by telling that surely at the 21km stop I would be treated to something more than water. All I got was an apologetic shake of the head from the volunteer when I asked for glucose/electral. I was cursing myself for not carrying money...I could have bought myself something from the shops near by :(
After I did about 22-23km...I was bored. All the runners were separated by atleast 1/2 a km...barricades were beginning to be removed...traffic had increased..and auto waalas were being their usual selves...and my body was deprived of sugar. That is when I started to walk a little...and run a little. My feet weren't tired...I wasn't panting...I was just a little dizzy cause of lack of salts. I was a little paranoid about blacking out. At one of the water stops, as usual, I begged for something sweet, and I got lucky. Got the last mentos chewy dragee that a volunteer had! :) Fortified with that, I felt replenished and started to run as if I had just started the marathon! I know..I know..most if it is probably psychological...but thats what this is all about.. after 10km it ceases to be an effort on the body...it is overwhelmingly about the mind! And even a seemingly trivial thing (like a blarring indica taxi) is enough to upset the shaky focus you have built in your head...and makes you want to stop.
At about 28km, my messiah came along! He was one of the members of the medical team and was cycling with water and electral. He stopped and offered me electral! He must have thought I din't know what I was doing...cause I gulped down so much of it in one go...that I could have been in trouble. I profusely thanked him and ran along again. I knew I would need some again after 4km or so and tried to keep him in sight. That kept me going and I caught him again when he had stopped to help the runners.
The last 7km or so was just pathetic. There were hardly any water stops...all the barricades were removed (and I was beginning to lose track of the track). The messiah had departed...and no new ones cycled past me. Somewhere around then the emergency van drove past and the guy stopped to check if I was doing ok or if I wanted to join some of the runners who had quit and were in the van, being driven to the stadium. I was dizzy but I did not even have to think before I shook my head and said 'thanks, but no thanks'. It did not even occur to me that quitting was an option...that's how much I wanted to run the marathon and am glad, everything aligned well for that.
I completed the marathon!
I took 5 hours to complete it..:( Am a little disappointed with that as I was aiming at doing it in 4hours 15 minutes or so. But the joy of completing a marathon (in spite of the pathetic arrangements made by the organizers) is the predominant feeling.
We started at around 6am and had good attention from the volunteers and traffic cops for the 1st 2 hours or so. We were given preference at the traffic signals and with the barricades in the right places I wasn't worried about being run over by a bus/truck! The weather was just right and Bangalore did look beautiful! I observed a lot of the beauty that I hadn't noticed in so many years, while zipping past in my car. A lot of areas in Bangalore are still very green and running in the backdrop of a lake set against greenery is a unique kind of experience. It just makes you feel great, about life and about yourself. And there were a lot of very sweet Bangaloreans who stood by, cheering us and making us feel like celebrities! You also form a bond with your fellow runners and everytime you do something against the commonly known best methods, someone or the other reminds you 'hey, dont do that, do this instead' It is a nice feeling...you are out there with a bunch of people you don't even know and you are helping each other achieve what you set out to do...all by yourself...probably all for yourself. At a point when you are ready to drop and your body has just thrown up its hands...and seems 100% confident it can't budge another inch, a simple pat on the back from a fellow runner with 'hey, you can do much better than that' or a hand sticking out from the sidewalk to just shake yours for what you have achieved thus far just magically pushes your body to run along and takes you another km or so.
When I started, I was very conscious of all the fundas for conserving energy and was at par with my target for the 1st 2 hours. Once you run about 5km, your body just gets into rhythm and all the panting etc stops. At that point, you feel you can run for ever! I know glucose level in my body dips very suddenly and after I had done 15km, I craved for some sugar, some salts, something! All the water stops had water...no dearth of that but nothing to replenish your salts. I kept myself motivated by telling that surely at the 21km stop I would be treated to something more than water. All I got was an apologetic shake of the head from the volunteer when I asked for glucose/electral. I was cursing myself for not carrying money...I could have bought myself something from the shops near by :(
After I did about 22-23km...I was bored. All the runners were separated by atleast 1/2 a km...barricades were beginning to be removed...traffic had increased..and auto waalas were being their usual selves...and my body was deprived of sugar. That is when I started to walk a little...and run a little. My feet weren't tired...I wasn't panting...I was just a little dizzy cause of lack of salts. I was a little paranoid about blacking out. At one of the water stops, as usual, I begged for something sweet, and I got lucky. Got the last mentos chewy dragee that a volunteer had! :) Fortified with that, I felt replenished and started to run as if I had just started the marathon! I know..I know..most if it is probably psychological...but thats what this is all about.. after 10km it ceases to be an effort on the body...it is overwhelmingly about the mind! And even a seemingly trivial thing (like a blarring indica taxi) is enough to upset the shaky focus you have built in your head...and makes you want to stop.
At about 28km, my messiah came along! He was one of the members of the medical team and was cycling with water and electral. He stopped and offered me electral! He must have thought I din't know what I was doing...cause I gulped down so much of it in one go...that I could have been in trouble. I profusely thanked him and ran along again. I knew I would need some again after 4km or so and tried to keep him in sight. That kept me going and I caught him again when he had stopped to help the runners.
The last 7km or so was just pathetic. There were hardly any water stops...all the barricades were removed (and I was beginning to lose track of the track). The messiah had departed...and no new ones cycled past me. Somewhere around then the emergency van drove past and the guy stopped to check if I was doing ok or if I wanted to join some of the runners who had quit and were in the van, being driven to the stadium. I was dizzy but I did not even have to think before I shook my head and said 'thanks, but no thanks'. It did not even occur to me that quitting was an option...that's how much I wanted to run the marathon and am glad, everything aligned well for that.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Marathon - 17th Sept 2006
I said "I wanna run the marathon. It is one of my little dreams and I want to put a tick mark against this item in my checklist of life"
Dippie said "Yes yes...go run. You are not mediocre"
Mommie said "Huh? Won't you be tired? Why are you doing this?"
Neeru said "Ya, you can do it once"
Chhavi said "Oh ya? That's cool, Arc and i wanted to do it together"
Pathak said "42kms? that's crazy. Boss..its a lot...infact even 21km is a lot" (I said "Don't act like my mommie")
Shrinidhi said "Good run the marathon. In the next 7 yrs I may also run one;) "
Others "Wow, how exciting!" "Are you sure" "Have you trained enough?" "Don't you have anything better to do?" "Hey, we will come and run the last 7km with you"
Amidst all this I started training...about 1.5 months back. After a week's training and figuring out where I stand and what I am really capable of, the Monica in me said 'Hey, you aren't going to win this. Don't run. What's the point running when you can't win'.
I said "Shut up. for the sake of my checklist, I am willing to be labeled an 'Also-ran'...cause this is no ordinary feat..it is the marathon"
And today, just 2 days before the marathon, there is no real data to prove I can make it. Infact everything is against the fact that I can make it. My feet hurts after I run 15km and my body begins to feel tired.
The-Monica-in me says "Hey...Ms Also Ran, don't tell me you aren't even going to be that."
The only hope I have is my mind...and my desire to make it. I hope it will push my body beyond its threshold. When my body wants to give up, I hope the Monica in me jumps out of my skin, puts me on a skating board tied around her waist..and zips away to the finish dragging my body along! :)
Lets see what I can blog (read 'brag') about on the 18th. (Am sure I will sleep through the 17th!)
After thought: Need I mention, that the Monica referred to here is the 'Friends' Monica?
Dippie said "Yes yes...go run. You are not mediocre"
Mommie said "Huh? Won't you be tired? Why are you doing this?"
Neeru said "Ya, you can do it once"
Chhavi said "Oh ya? That's cool, Arc and i wanted to do it together"
Pathak said "42kms? that's crazy. Boss..its a lot...infact even 21km is a lot" (I said "Don't act like my mommie")
Shrinidhi said "Good run the marathon. In the next 7 yrs I may also run one;) "
Others "Wow, how exciting!" "Are you sure" "Have you trained enough?" "Don't you have anything better to do?" "Hey, we will come and run the last 7km with you"
Amidst all this I started training...about 1.5 months back. After a week's training and figuring out where I stand and what I am really capable of, the Monica in me said 'Hey, you aren't going to win this. Don't run. What's the point running when you can't win'.
I said "Shut up. for the sake of my checklist, I am willing to be labeled an 'Also-ran'...cause this is no ordinary feat..it is the marathon"
And today, just 2 days before the marathon, there is no real data to prove I can make it. Infact everything is against the fact that I can make it. My feet hurts after I run 15km and my body begins to feel tired.
The-Monica-in me says "Hey...Ms Also Ran, don't tell me you aren't even going to be that."
The only hope I have is my mind...and my desire to make it. I hope it will push my body beyond its threshold. When my body wants to give up, I hope the Monica in me jumps out of my skin, puts me on a skating board tied around her waist..and zips away to the finish dragging my body along! :)
Lets see what I can blog (read 'brag') about on the 18th. (Am sure I will sleep through the 17th!)
After thought: Need I mention, that the Monica referred to here is the 'Friends' Monica?
Friday, September 08, 2006
Am Lovin it...
I always knew music influenced my moods a lot. Wonder why I din't think of ensuring I had good music around me most of the day! A simple and effective way of being happy and chirpy.
At the moment, am lovin my new phone ringing...(even if it is some tele-marketing folks trying to sell me a credit card I will never take)...coz when it rings, my fav mp3 clip plays and makes me feel like doing a jig (w/o bothering where I am!).
It makes me feel like taking those broken wings and learning to fly
It makes me feel like touching things and turning them to gold
It makes me feel like I found 6 chocolates in a pack of 5!
Am lovin' it....
At the moment, am lovin my new phone ringing...(even if it is some tele-marketing folks trying to sell me a credit card I will never take)...coz when it rings, my fav mp3 clip plays and makes me feel like doing a jig (w/o bothering where I am!).
It makes me feel like taking those broken wings and learning to fly
It makes me feel like touching things and turning them to gold
It makes me feel like I found 6 chocolates in a pack of 5!
Am lovin' it....
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Ode to Friends
After my first few posts on this blog, my friends used to ask me (sarcastically) 'How come there is no post on 
on your blog..a topic so close to your heart!' I actually used to respond with 'it is just too huge to blog about. I wouldn't be doing justice if I just did a review kind of thing for Friends'. For almost every situation in life and relationships, I have an anecdote/quote from Friends (much to the irk of the other conversationalists). People seem to have trouble understanding how I could have learnt so much from a serial that was supposed to be a light hearted casual comedy. But the reality is that I have. And with people who can relate to it just as much as I can, even in the middle of a crisis (or a not-so-funny situation) we find ourselves saying 'this is just like what happened to Rachel/Monica...'!
I am not a regular fan who would say 'this is the best serial ever made'. If I had followed a Seinfeld or a Sex and the City or even India Calling as religiously as I had followed Friends I guess I would still draw parallels with those characters and the people in my life. But ofcourse, credit is due to the creators of Friends for sustaining viewer's interest for over ten years. This thing has become so much a part of me, that to me the characters are almost 'people-I-know'. I know this will sound weird when I translate this thought to words - often, when I go down memory lane, just as I reminisce about incidents from my life, I think about incidents from the serial. If it is something stupid Joey did or some wise crack from Chandler, it brings a smile to my face...and if it is something bad Rachel or Phoebe went through I feel sad about it. I can talk only for myself; but assuming this kind of involvement with a serial, a book or a movie is fairly commonplace the reach the creators have is mind boggling. I wonder what I would convey/say to the world (or to a significant portion of it) , if I was given one hearing. I would be so full of thoughts, so full of intent to make a difference with that one statement, that I would stupidly just forego the chance and end up not saying anything at all!
Anyway, as melodramatic as it might sound, all I wanted to say here is that Friends has made a difference to my life. I have learnt a whole lot from it and have benefited from it in some ways. Besides being good for laughs it helped me wade through some difficult situations in life. If something that happened to a Friends character, happened to me, it just becomes easier to accept (as opposed to being bothered by the 'Why me' question). At the end of all this eulogy for Friends, I feel guilty that this post is just about a serial and not my true life friends... ;o) those people who chose to make a difference in my life (unlike the creators of Friends who just wanted to make pockets full of money or satisfy some other selfish needs of their own!). But then again, that's just too huge to blog about!
on your blog..a topic so close to your heart!' I actually used to respond with 'it is just too huge to blog about. I wouldn't be doing justice if I just did a review kind of thing for Friends'. For almost every situation in life and relationships, I have an anecdote/quote from Friends (much to the irk of the other conversationalists). People seem to have trouble understanding how I could have learnt so much from a serial that was supposed to be a light hearted casual comedy. But the reality is that I have. And with people who can relate to it just as much as I can, even in the middle of a crisis (or a not-so-funny situation) we find ourselves saying 'this is just like what happened to Rachel/Monica...'!I am not a regular fan who would say 'this is the best serial ever made'. If I had followed a Seinfeld or a Sex and the City or even India Calling as religiously as I had followed Friends I guess I would still draw parallels with those characters and the people in my life. But ofcourse, credit is due to the creators of Friends for sustaining viewer's interest for over ten years. This thing has become so much a part of me, that to me the characters are almost 'people-I-know'. I know this will sound weird when I translate this thought to words - often, when I go down memory lane, just as I reminisce about incidents from my life, I think about incidents from the serial. If it is something stupid Joey did or some wise crack from Chandler, it brings a smile to my face...and if it is something bad Rachel or Phoebe went through I feel sad about it. I can talk only for myself; but assuming this kind of involvement with a serial, a book or a movie is fairly commonplace the reach the creators have is mind boggling. I wonder what I would convey/say to the world (or to a significant portion of it) , if I was given one hearing. I would be so full of thoughts, so full of intent to make a difference with that one statement, that I would stupidly just forego the chance and end up not saying anything at all!
Anyway, as melodramatic as it might sound, all I wanted to say here is that Friends has made a difference to my life. I have learnt a whole lot from it and have benefited from it in some ways. Besides being good for laughs it helped me wade through some difficult situations in life. If something that happened to a Friends character, happened to me, it just becomes easier to accept (as opposed to being bothered by the 'Why me' question). At the end of all this eulogy for Friends, I feel guilty that this post is just about a serial and not my true life friends... ;o) those people who chose to make a difference in my life (unlike the creators of Friends who just wanted to make pockets full of money or satisfy some other selfish needs of their own!). But then again, that's just too huge to blog about!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Kite Runner
It has been a very very long time since I cried reading a book. Even though a book might have a huge impact on you, it takes something really intense to make you cry. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini is one such book. It is Khaled's first book and has got rave reviews and I think it deserves all the attention. Most of the book focuses on relationships and a part of it has some really gory details of the atrocities by Taliban in Afghanistan. I can't bear to watch these things in a movie, so all I do is close my eyes and sometimes my ears and just nudge at my friend to ask 'can I look at the screen now? Is it over?'. Since that is not possible in a book, I read through it and have some vivid images in my head now..and shiver everytime I see it in my mind's eye.
The images should fade in sometime, but what will stay with me for a long time is the intensity of relationships as described by the author. I think the author has done a great job of describing the thoughts and emotions that the central character goes through...one needs to be able to understand these complex, subjective things so well to be able to put it so vividly. Many of us might have had great friends and can relate to the feelings that the author goes through, but I doubt if most of us can comprehend our own feelings so well. There are scores of books written about undying love between couples and the bond of best friends. The genuineness of the author makes me want to rate this as the best I have read on this subject. Till I was half way into the book, I actually thought it was the authors own real life story...somewhere in the middle, I doubted the authenticy of ths story and looked up some details to confirm that the story wasn't from his real life. I think the author missed reducing the intensity of thoughts over time, and that is what made me think that this wasn't real life. Time is the healer for most things. The author forgot to factor that in!
The images should fade in sometime, but what will stay with me for a long time is the intensity of relationships as described by the author. I think the author has done a great job of describing the thoughts and emotions that the central character goes through...one needs to be able to understand these complex, subjective things so well to be able to put it so vividly. Many of us might have had great friends and can relate to the feelings that the author goes through, but I doubt if most of us can comprehend our own feelings so well. There are scores of books written about undying love between couples and the bond of best friends. The genuineness of the author makes me want to rate this as the best I have read on this subject. Till I was half way into the book, I actually thought it was the authors own real life story...somewhere in the middle, I doubted the authenticy of ths story and looked up some details to confirm that the story wasn't from his real life. I think the author missed reducing the intensity of thoughts over time, and that is what made me think that this wasn't real life. Time is the healer for most things. The author forgot to factor that in!
It's raining dead....
It's raining dead....for the last week or so
250 in mumbai...
60 in Lebanon...
550 in Indonesia post Tsunami...
Death due to natural disasters and God's wrath is something no one on earth can thwart yet. All we have learnt till now is some techniques of predicting it, and we are fine tuning this knowledge. God's plans are something we don't have access to, and it is something we have to accept and submit to. The battle we need to pick is the one against terrorism.
I find it tough to believe that the blue print of my head (until it is blown off my shoulders by some bomb) and a terrorists is very similar...cranium, gray matter et al. At least the HLD (High level Design) is the same. . How is it possible that a mentally sane person wakes up in the morning and can feel motivated about the fact that his profession is 'terrorism' and his to-do list for the day says 1) kill x people at A 2) kill y people at B and so on. This is not a very original thought...it has intrigued a whole lot of us and a bunch of movies have been made on this. Even if it is at the expense of sounding cliched, I want to ask again and again 'when you are planting a bomb which would take the life of an innocent person who is a mother/father etc to someone don't you think of the agony it causes, the havoc it wreaks in their lives? Don't you have an innocent mother, father,sibling, spouse back home?' None of the answers that came out in any of the movies or books are even close to convincing me that these actions are justified.
In humans very emotion/thought can be attributed to a bunch of chemicals doing some random permutations and combinations. I wish bio-technology was so advanced as to allow an xray of the head and generate out a report of the logic of the most unreasonable, inexplicable and destructive thoughts that gets generated in a terrorists head. Someday, medical research will lead us to that evil chemical and we will know its composition. Someday a great scientist will find a way impede this deadly chemical. And just as small pox has been eradicated, terrorism will be eradicated. Among the vaccinations that all of us have to get as babies, one of them will be a vaccination for terrorism!
Now, that is what I call being unreasonably imaginative. For some odd reason, I feel comforted that these thoughts are all just chemicals somewhere in my head!
250 in mumbai...
60 in Lebanon...
550 in Indonesia post Tsunami...
Death due to natural disasters and God's wrath is something no one on earth can thwart yet. All we have learnt till now is some techniques of predicting it, and we are fine tuning this knowledge. God's plans are something we don't have access to, and it is something we have to accept and submit to. The battle we need to pick is the one against terrorism.
I find it tough to believe that the blue print of my head (until it is blown off my shoulders by some bomb) and a terrorists is very similar...cranium, gray matter et al. At least the HLD (High level Design) is the same. . How is it possible that a mentally sane person wakes up in the morning and can feel motivated about the fact that his profession is 'terrorism' and his to-do list for the day says 1) kill x people at A 2) kill y people at B and so on. This is not a very original thought...it has intrigued a whole lot of us and a bunch of movies have been made on this. Even if it is at the expense of sounding cliched, I want to ask again and again 'when you are planting a bomb which would take the life of an innocent person who is a mother/father etc to someone don't you think of the agony it causes, the havoc it wreaks in their lives? Don't you have an innocent mother, father,sibling, spouse back home?' None of the answers that came out in any of the movies or books are even close to convincing me that these actions are justified.
In humans very emotion/thought can be attributed to a bunch of chemicals doing some random permutations and combinations. I wish bio-technology was so advanced as to allow an xray of the head and generate out a report of the logic of the most unreasonable, inexplicable and destructive thoughts that gets generated in a terrorists head. Someday, medical research will lead us to that evil chemical and we will know its composition. Someday a great scientist will find a way impede this deadly chemical. And just as small pox has been eradicated, terrorism will be eradicated. Among the vaccinations that all of us have to get as babies, one of them will be a vaccination for terrorism!
Now, that is what I call being unreasonably imaginative. For some odd reason, I feel comforted that these thoughts are all just chemicals somewhere in my head!
Monday, July 10, 2006
How Kaavya Vishwanathan Got a Life and Lost it*
*Though it is obvious, let me still mention (lest I get sued for plagiarism!) that the title of my post is inspired by the title of the controversial book by Kaavya Vishwanathan 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life'
I am really impressed by what this Harvard sophomore has packed in 300 pages. I must admit that I found the book witty, amusing and expressive in a novel way. Though I say I found it novel, I might be proven wrong. Maybe all she did was ^c and ^v! In spite of all the negative publicity in the press, I can't stop myself from thinking in favor of this smart 18 year old Indian girl who almost made it big. I feel sorry for this ambitious girl who definitely seems to have a lot of talent. Assuming the story is a reflection of her own family and life, it wouldn't have been easy for her and her family to cope with all the unwanted sudden attention from the media.
Maybe in her naivety she did not follow all the rules in book writing and publishing. Maybe she deserves just one more chance to prove that she, all by herself, could write a piece that would be in the New York bestseller list for months. Who will stop and think and give her that chance...give her that life? We are so ready to stereotype, that it won't occur to most of us that she might be a different person from what is portrayed by the pitiless media. Unless proven otherwise, we tend to just accept that she is someone who is not capable of change.
The other day I came across a piece Pooja Bedi wrote in one of the editorials in TOI. She spoke about how every action of a celebrity is in the limelight and how people tend to forget that celebrities are humans too! Isn't it true that when we heard about Rahul Mahajan's involvement with drugs most of us just brushed it aside saying 'what else can you expect from someone like him...brought up in a rich family...his parents won't have the time to care..they have all the money and they spend it on all kinds of vices'...? 'CRASH', the best picture Oscar is also about the stereotyping that each one of us tends to do...in varying degrees. Does it really require a big crash, an earth shattering incident, for us to realize that we might be costing someone a life because of the stereotyping that we so conveniently do?
People are capable of change. The good could turn bad and ugly and vice versa. As an individual I have learnt that and I keep that in mind when I make key decisions in my life. Is it possible to do that as a society? Or will bubbling full of talent Kaavya Vishwanathans just lose the lives they almost got because as a society we haven't learnt to be humane?
I am really impressed by what this Harvard sophomore has packed in 300 pages. I must admit that I found the book witty, amusing and expressive in a novel way. Though I say I found it novel, I might be proven wrong. Maybe all she did was ^c and ^v! In spite of all the negative publicity in the press, I can't stop myself from thinking in favor of this smart 18 year old Indian girl who almost made it big. I feel sorry for this ambitious girl who definitely seems to have a lot of talent. Assuming the story is a reflection of her own family and life, it wouldn't have been easy for her and her family to cope with all the unwanted sudden attention from the media.
Maybe in her naivety she did not follow all the rules in book writing and publishing. Maybe she deserves just one more chance to prove that she, all by herself, could write a piece that would be in the New York bestseller list for months. Who will stop and think and give her that chance...give her that life? We are so ready to stereotype, that it won't occur to most of us that she might be a different person from what is portrayed by the pitiless media. Unless proven otherwise, we tend to just accept that she is someone who is not capable of change.
The other day I came across a piece Pooja Bedi wrote in one of the editorials in TOI. She spoke about how every action of a celebrity is in the limelight and how people tend to forget that celebrities are humans too! Isn't it true that when we heard about Rahul Mahajan's involvement with drugs most of us just brushed it aside saying 'what else can you expect from someone like him...brought up in a rich family...his parents won't have the time to care..they have all the money and they spend it on all kinds of vices'...? 'CRASH', the best picture Oscar is also about the stereotyping that each one of us tends to do...in varying degrees. Does it really require a big crash, an earth shattering incident, for us to realize that we might be costing someone a life because of the stereotyping that we so conveniently do?
People are capable of change. The good could turn bad and ugly and vice versa. As an individual I have learnt that and I keep that in mind when I make key decisions in my life. Is it possible to do that as a society? Or will bubbling full of talent Kaavya Vishwanathans just lose the lives they almost got because as a society we haven't learnt to be humane?
Monday, July 03, 2006
And the winner is...
Inspite of the FIFA fever, this post is not about the winners in football...it is about another kind of victory. Victory in the court of the Indian consumer!
And the winner is...Vanita Singh! :)
My friend, Vanita, set out against her car insurance providers (Royal Sundaram) in July 2005. When she sent a check last year to renew her insurance, the money was promptly debited from her account. Sometime later, they sent her a notification saying that she needed to pay some additional amount. She was out of country and did not read the notification for a month or so. Royal sundaram's way of dealing with the problem was slapping a 'compulsory excess' amount of about 5 times the additional amount she was to pay! All this amount was adding up to quite a lot more than what competition was offering insurance at. She decided it wasn't worth renewing her insurance with royal sundaram and asked them to cancel the insurance and refund her money. After a couple of months of follow up and long distance calls (the local office refused to entertain her calls or give her any information) they sent her a check for about 3/4 the money she had paid. When she asked for clarification all she was told was 'this is the amount the underwriters decided. We don't have any more information'.
How unnerving is that! That is when she decided to go to consumer court.
It did take a lot of time and appearance at the court over the last year. It also meant taking time off from work for this! But she persisted and finally won the case. She will be getting back her money with interest!
I am just happy to note that some systems are still working around here! :)
And the winner is...Vanita Singh! :)
My friend, Vanita, set out against her car insurance providers (Royal Sundaram) in July 2005. When she sent a check last year to renew her insurance, the money was promptly debited from her account. Sometime later, they sent her a notification saying that she needed to pay some additional amount. She was out of country and did not read the notification for a month or so. Royal sundaram's way of dealing with the problem was slapping a 'compulsory excess' amount of about 5 times the additional amount she was to pay! All this amount was adding up to quite a lot more than what competition was offering insurance at. She decided it wasn't worth renewing her insurance with royal sundaram and asked them to cancel the insurance and refund her money. After a couple of months of follow up and long distance calls (the local office refused to entertain her calls or give her any information) they sent her a check for about 3/4 the money she had paid. When she asked for clarification all she was told was 'this is the amount the underwriters decided. We don't have any more information'.
How unnerving is that! That is when she decided to go to consumer court.
It did take a lot of time and appearance at the court over the last year. It also meant taking time off from work for this! But she persisted and finally won the case. She will be getting back her money with interest!
I am just happy to note that some systems are still working around here! :)
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Of God and God Men...
After my trip to Mookambika over the weekend, and seeing people with complete faith and devotion I have been thinking a lot about God and God Men. If I am asked 'Do you believe in God' I will say 'Yes'. But then, I don't feel the kind of devotion and complete faith that so many people seem to feel. I read a lot of booklets on Mata Amritanandamayi and also read stuff on the net. People have complete faith in her and look up to her as God...but I have a lot of unanswered questions on this topic. I feel a certain unease when I realize I can't see what these other people see/feel.
I chatted with a couple of people on this. It seems, if you just let go of your inhibitions and believe that God exists and will answer your prayers, you will feel the bliss that believers feel the moment the temple doors open after the puja. If you keep telling this to your subconscious mind, it will in turn train your conscious mind to feel the 'cant-be-described-in-words' experience that believers feel when Amma hugs. I guess it is a chicken and egg problem. Unless I feel it, I won't believe it...but then, they say, unless you believe it, you won't feel it. Am working on the believing part....but till then, the C&H strip from today's paper describes what I feel!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Love, drama, courage, adventure...
Love, drama, courage, adventure...these were the elements of the movie I watched yesterday. It did not have any of the top rated stars in hollywood or bollywood....but it was one of the best movies on these elements that I have seen in the recent times!
La Marche De L’Empereur (The emperor's journey)
(Probably better known in the english version - The march of the Penguins)
The 'documentary' is about the truly remarkable journey that has been taking place every winter, for thousands of years, in the most inhospitable terrain on earth - Antarctica. The emperor penguins, as if guided by the vow that their forefathers made, journey from the security of the ocean in a single file to the breeding ground. As if by magic, penguins from all over the ocean meet at the same spot, year after year.
"after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song - they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate" (http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/) The original French version of the movie (which I had the good fortune of seeing!) has amazing songs by Emilie Simon. The entire setting, the music and lyrics is more romantic than the usual mushy scenes in commercial movies! (I understand the English translation of the movie just has instrumental music.)
The penguins go through this ritual which is fraught with so much danger as if the purpose of the existence is to reproduce and prove to someone that they have the courage and strength to make it through the grueling feat. We talked about the movie on our way back. We agreed that if the penguins had a little more intelligence they would probably sit back and question - 'Hey, why the hell am I going through all this mess?I might not even make it alive to the breeding ground.How will I live for months without food?' and just live happily ever after in the ocean and penguins would probably be extinct by now! :)
As one can imagine, the making of the documentary itself was very difficult. It took an entire year to shoot the movie...this meant that the 2 camera men lived in the pitiless desert, cut of from the rest of the world, for an entire year. Anyway, the result is very much worth their efforts!
La Marche De L’Empereur (The emperor's journey)
(Probably better known in the english version - The march of the Penguins)
The 'documentary' is about the truly remarkable journey that has been taking place every winter, for thousands of years, in the most inhospitable terrain on earth - Antarctica. The emperor penguins, as if guided by the vow that their forefathers made, journey from the security of the ocean in a single file to the breeding ground. As if by magic, penguins from all over the ocean meet at the same spot, year after year.
"after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song - they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate" (http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/) The original French version of the movie (which I had the good fortune of seeing!) has amazing songs by Emilie Simon. The entire setting, the music and lyrics is more romantic than the usual mushy scenes in commercial movies! (I understand the English translation of the movie just has instrumental music.)
The penguins go through this ritual which is fraught with so much danger as if the purpose of the existence is to reproduce and prove to someone that they have the courage and strength to make it through the grueling feat. We talked about the movie on our way back. We agreed that if the penguins had a little more intelligence they would probably sit back and question - 'Hey, why the hell am I going through all this mess?I might not even make it alive to the breeding ground.How will I live for months without food?' and just live happily ever after in the ocean and penguins would probably be extinct by now! :)
As one can imagine, the making of the documentary itself was very difficult. It took an entire year to shoot the movie...this meant that the 2 camera men lived in the pitiless desert, cut of from the rest of the world, for an entire year. Anyway, the result is very much worth their efforts!
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