Dear Curious friend,
My last post on Swara and Avnish, stirred in a wave of curiosity. It was intended! A friend of mine who had long forgotton me, finally rang me up at the mention of these sweet names. I had been thinking that by the time he calls me up, Swara and Avnish would both stop being imaginary cutie pies!! So, my dear curious reader, there is no good news in the offing. I will keep you posted any case!
Best wishes,
the good old vid
Life need not be philosophized, he says. You just put a logic and it will work! Will it?, I wonder.
Think of how as a baby you saw life. You saw Ma and you smiled. After she fed you warm milk, you purred like a satisfied kitten. She snuggled you and you fell asleep. There is such a beautiful logic, isn't there?
What happens when you grow up... Somewhere you fuzz up the logic and call it fuzzy logic. Of course it is not just zero or one... black or white...but is it worth looking at life with grey shades on?
jo dil naa kare, woh kar ke karoge kya
'gar dil kee na suno, toh sunoge aur kya
raaste bahut hai manjil magar ek
'gar kadam aaj ruk gaye, toh chal kar kaoge tum kya
Life is a beautiful story. It is a lovely poem. It is a saga of going on... Do not get stuck, he tells me again. I look at him smile and know what I am going to do!
:)
Finally I write about them... or finally some one has been curious??
Well... what do I talk of them... People tell me that they are sweet names... After a series of deep thinking each night, debating on one name and then the other...finally I settled for the two..
Avnish is another name of Lord Ganesha, I had read in the Internet. And it means the lord of the earth.
Swara (I am still wondering if it should spell Svara but I think without the 'w' the name lacks the power.. ;) ) is a sweet name.. it has an S and a V (I guess w means two v ;) )
Hmmm... have to see them and touch them in order to write about them...
Will do the writing after I get back home..
till then,
vid
Do you know what a whiff is?
A whiff is a whiff is a whiff!!!
Why do we seek permanence in life?
Life is a whiff?
And what is a whiff???
Perfection cannot be in permanence. Isn't it true that you the precious one is also changing each moment. Look inside your body, many cells are born and many die. You are made of infinite new atoms. Look out, you are not who you were yesterday. Change, they say is the rule of nature. Change some say is the only thing that stays.
What a paradox!
So, what is love? Is it like a dew drop dancing on the edge of a leaf (I have read this line somewhere.... long time back.... in the library of my university during BE.... guess what i was upto reading such stuff amid gruelling vivas on electrical and electronics..)
Love is not permanent... it is not eternal... Love just is... It is no use seeking the answere whether it is permanent or temporary. Because in seeking you lose the essence of it.
Last night, before going off to sleep I said to Linus... when someone dies... she dies alone. She leaves behind her parents, her spouse, her children.... all of them who she had professed profound love for. But you still die... Die alone.
We are mortals... then why do we seek foreverness!
with this I end my blabber for the day.
Forever a writer ;)
vid
It was another ordinary day and another ordinary walk. Had circumstances been different, I would never have remembered it. But chance had it such that I would keep going back to that day, that moment in time. It was a simple moment. For the first time in life I understood what 'freezing' means. Literally.
I hadn't frozen out of fear but some unexplained feeling. There I had to decide to walk one way or the other. I had reached another fork in the road of life. My walk would now have to choose a path. Was it chance, choice or comparison... I do not know. When I recall this incident after having chosen a path I thought was more secure or say safer...I often end up explaining my choice. It is then I realize that it was not my choice... because I couldn't have compared between the two. Comparison degrades. It was chance... it was fate... it had been already decided for me. I just walked. It was already written..
Why do people watch horror movies? Quite a common question. With an equally common answer- it gives a kick to the adrenaline.
This post doesn't come in response to RGV's Phoonk. I had dismissed Phoonk as another movie I wouldnt watch. I am not into horror genre at all. You can call me this typical girl who enjoys watching romcom... I also enjoy thrillers like Sarkarraj, A Wednesday, Kaun some rare offerings by the Bollywood... But then we are not talking about my choices.
My first experience with horror was Zee horror show. The ghastly faces spattered with tomato sauces made the tween in me cup my hands over my eyes. Years later Carrie was the only movie that I have watched of this genre. Me and horror movies are like impossible. Even Adidas cannot change this :P
Yet, the twist in the story of my life is such that I am here trying to write a horror story... not long it is going to be a 400 words long tale. It is a TOI competition ...and I thought let me try my luck... Get my name printed on TOI- the spell bound page.
To say the least, i am freaked out... because what ever i imagine turns out so funny... sample this... cold water bottle piercing into the chest of the man who is about to sip.... a man watches a horror movie to realize that he is not who he is .. He is the ghost- the man who was murdered ten years ago... And he finds his killer from the movie...and ..
No more..
I will post the story for you to have a nice laugh when I finish.
:-)
who said horror was just cheap thrills, it is huge amount of freaking hard work !
This blog has been abandoned or so it seems. A friend of mine, rather a colleague of my hubby and an erstwhile neighbour of mine had once commented that a 'majestic' marriage has made me quite unimaginative. Hmm, even if I don't disagree, I am forever reminded of these words.
Why should something/some event make you unimaginative, I ponder. In the background I hear Linus yawn twice. He must be glad that I seldom post my silly thoughts in the blog. Good for him, he doesnt have to track it any longer. He must have forgotton that I write altogether. Well, I myself had.....almost!!
There are few faithful friends (gee, I know you visit once in a while) who just come in to check upon the good old vid. Blogs, you see are an excellent networking tool, better than orkut atleast. Here you would know what your buddy is up to... a silly poem on yawns or an interesting love story...
Hmm, should I make a promise about writing. I guess I should apologise first. Really?? Well, not really. But lets try and make Vid's corner a once in a week affair.
What say? any readers!! (any takers!!!)
Till then,
ciao
vid
Handwritings!
When I was a kid, I did not think too high of my handwriting. I wrote distinct letters without joining them. During primary school, a teacher came and asked us if we wrote in 'joined' handwriting. Since she had looked down at those as lesser mortals, I joined the bandwagon of joined alphabet writing. It was not all, I tried giving the n's and the h's a nice curve that my sis had excelled in. Well, as a kiddo I looked upon my sis as a whizkid. Well, she was a sort of crazy kid- she woke up early for her school, did her homework, covered her books with brown paper and never tore them,and wrote poetry which she kept a bigtime secret from a little scoundrel called ME :)
After sometime the handwriting business took a nice turn. I had pen pals. Writing to them was a great achievement. I boasted to those who would care to listen that I had penpals from Canada and South Africa. Tracey was from S. Africa while there were other two girls from canada. Although I do not remember their names, I still have their letters stashed up in a drawer in my home in Nepal..
Few friends however never wrote letters. That is because there was email. I wish there weren't any sometimes...so that i could see the paper and wonder what made my pal write on that sheet. A no nonsense A4 paper picked up in a hurry from a nearby stack in a printer... a hurried scrawl... If one pauses and looks at a letter there is more than the content...not necessarily reading between the lines but touching the paper ....sweeping your glance through the curve of letters...and wondering how your pal looks like...
well... to keep in the mood of this blabber...let me post a random mail (email) that i picked to read.... Its lovely as well -
listen to a language you dont know, and try and imagine what would the thing
you dont understand mean. read the wackiest things on wikipedia. read
shaayari. do poetry. do humor. try and make a joke on which many
people will actually laugh. plan your next prank. try and remember old
jokes, and laugh. remember childhood, and your 5th b'day. and maybe
the 7th too...:p also think about the next exam.
I have not been writing but I ought to. I sometimes wonder why I have given away my blog URL to people who could be my relatives... There are times when I want to write without bothering about being politically correct. Aint it already cumbersome to be in a world which wants you to be like that!
Nevertheless, like a shy lover who postpones proposing the object of his affection for the lack of ambience while walking on a busy street, I postpone letting my hair down to allow a stream of emotions run riot through words. Okay, I have already started getting poetic. If no one I really knew was reading this blog... I could swear that a good whisky would probably set the mood for a poet in a blogger ;)
Okay, enough of my multiple standards ( I knew you just turned your nose on my double standards)now lets begin on some good enjoyable conversation.
I know we have not had a nice chat for a long time. Much has happened if you ask me. And nothing has happened if I see it as it is. The same peaceful life, the same pace with which I have quite managed my short temper, the same high maintenance me, the same fuss about home cooked food,... thats how life has been... but let me look around me...
Shrawani
Shrawani is a young woman with delicate hands. I like the fact that her name begins with "Sh". Suddenly I wonder why is not sugar spelt SHUGAR! Ah, I have begun to talk of me again. Shoo, i must not do that. Let me tell you about Shrawani instead. Her cheek go red when I mention that she is looking pretty. Well, she is pretty. Pretty like Neha in Five Point Someone. And like Neha she has a deep secret. A sad secret. She has suffered a loss too or rather she likes to think that she has. No, she does not remember what it was. May be she has stopped acknowledging it after all. Is that why we call time is a great healer. After some time all sorrows begin to fall in place like the pits in the road through which you drive home each day. You know where the pot holes are, and you are apt at saving the bump over each one.
Shrawani stands by the window of my room and stares at the moon. The crescent moon, her lover. It is amazing how this girl could have fallen for a moon- a distant and a cold object. She now tells me that she no longer spends night in her open terrace staring at the moon. "How long could I have gone begging, asking him to come to me? May be it is a woman's vanity or may be I was brought back to sanity." I muse at the rhyming of vanity with sanity. She continues- Ah, yes it was a painful decision, but not something i came all of a sudden. I knew it deep in my heart that the moon I saw in the silver bowl filled with water was as illusive as it could be. I therefore let me heart bleed and I ran downstairs, never to step back on the terrace." I wonder what she meant, "never to step back on the terrace".
Shashank
Let me also introduce you to Shashank. Slender, slightly dark and with that Buddha's smile, he is not exactly a picture of any young girl's hero but he is some material. This carefree devil has his own sweet charms. The way he wipes the corner of his mouth his slick ciggi as if wiping away an itch or the odd way in which he continues to stare at you while you are walking towards him. Well, this guy too has his own set of secrets. No, I do not know about those however. Guys you see are better at keeping their secrets. Hmm, girls must wash their linen clean...whether in public or private...but guys they will keep their dirty linen stacked in the laundry bag where it will stay as it is for days..months...years.... I sometimes feel what will I find if I dig deep down --- a dirty sock???
Sage
Now enough of these people... However, i must mention a sage I met today. She said she had conquered pain. she said...she had suffered like a butterfly caught in the net of fate... that with the loss of the ability to fly...the butterfly could only crawl on the ground. Now is it a feat or an accomplishment that this creature feels no more fear or no more pain. Can there be a pain bigger? If it is small it is nothing... I just dont feel it...
parting lines
These are again for those reader friends I hardly know, but who know quite a lot bout me. Thnx for asking after Linus. The guy is hale and hearty despite being married for now more than 2 years!!
Live this moment / As long as it lasts
Don't try to clutch me in your dainty little fists
For I am time and I flow like water
Don't fret about what tomorrow holds
For today you are holding his hand
Don't ask me for promises that end with 'forever'
A moment of togetherness is all I can offer
Don't be alarmed if your heart bleeds
For that is the proof that is not made of rock
Don't pin me foolishly to your bosom
It is just tonight that I can bring love to you
I am just a moment, I will thence pass
So, live it as long as it lasts...
Vidwata
Hmm, blogspot now has this feature to change what you type in English to hindi...you saw the title of the post!
Well this is not a Hindi poetry but just some random jottings..
# no longer is any wait long
# no longer are horns too loud
Hmm... why do some people murmur 'I love yous' while sitting in solitude. Are they thinking of a beloved far away or are they used to talking to themselves. I had a friend who often would be lost in thoughts, smile to herself and then unintentionally say those three words... Don't know to whom?
She told me one day that she had got so much used to dreams...dreams of the right one... dreams of the one who is made for you... and all that mush... that she decided to talk to him even though he had not made the worldly appearance.
I sometime think her world is like Harry Potter's. In a way she lives with us, the non magical people (muggles) and she lives in the magic of her dreams. Hmm...
Now...some more disconnect in thoughts...
#Who can be better friends than words,
Words that you can twist and turn but will still come to you as the magical thing that can express you... be it your sorrow be it your smiles..
#write those words down....doodle...
#Friends.... are left behind....they get good jobs, they get married..they wonder if they have anything left to share with you...
#Friends can desert ... words will not.. Even after you decide to abandon your blog, or your stories or the pen and paper...they will still come rushing to you...
#In your loneliness if you ever welcome a soul who will not poke you where you are still vulnerable then thats words...
# did you see a movie called 'shabd' starring sanjay dutt and aish... what a co..both are now married, albeit to different people..
# now posting this piece because of my reverence to words today... what's been written shall not be deleted... he he he (the ravana laugh..:D)
hmmm poetry after long is it? Okay, I know it is a post after a little too long.
A year has gone, you will say.. but let me make amends...
There was something i was thinking of this morning.... thoughts had come in Hindi, I will write it that way (but not in devnagri) and translate it to English
Saagar key they tum,
Sagar mey mil gaye,
yu hee bas anjuli baar baar dooboti rahi
yu hee bas tumhey dhoondti rahi apne khwabo mey
-----
You belong to the ocean, you have gone back there,
I just kept on trying to fish you out of the water
between my palms that I so many times dipped in
You belong to my dreams, and I am used to looking for you there!
----
Hmm, what day you say dude? Well, do you sometimes miss some one like this. Someone who was never yours, never belonged to you. Someone who is just a dream, or an illusion.
Compliments are always nice and they make your day!
After having read somewhere that giving a compliment to a stranger (like a bank teller who you are interacting with in a bank, a salesperson in a boutique etc),was not considered uncivil but was rather one of the good things you could do in life. I actually do that once in a while. If I find someone with beautiful hair, I walk to that person and tell her. She is astonished at first, breaks into a smile and then perhaps gets slightly suspicious until I disappear!! It however leaves a nice finish, a lingering feeling of joy or rather, a joy out of doing yet another‘weird’ thing.
All that aside, I am now developing an ease at complimenting people who I 'know'.Be it D's lovely kurta or G's white shirt with nice black vertical stripes or M's beautiful eyes! Most often, we just don’t do that. Can you remember when were you last given a compliment? And when did you give one!
Every individual, specially women, crave for compliment. Be it on their dress, looks, hair, smile, eyes, or the curry they cooked last night! One thrives on such attention or the rare adulation.Though women are known to be checking out other women. But when it comes to compliments, all women are the same, they really need one, and they hardly give one!!
Men and compliments must come in a package. Specially when they are courting their sweethearts. They are apt at giving you that look and telling you, that you look great! Great!! that word sums it up. A woman's compliment to another speaks volumes- the compliment albeit a rare one, has more texture and depth than just GREAT! Is it the women's eye to detail that the compliments are rare, or is it the adulation of men that complimenting the women is easier for them!
Well, compliments are not recieved everyday. You want to make someone's day then give a genuine compliment. And for you all is not lost,you have yourself- to compliment! But again, you should be able to compliment honestly! As in, look in to the mirror, when you have taken care to dress up and smile …GOSh, that female in the mirror is looking pretty!! Well, in case you smile you are bound to look pretty! So, said my class teacher, all girls look beautiful with a smile on!
Now this deserves a comment if not a compliment!
Health, Beauty and Cosmetics Estée Lauder always said there were three ways to communicate: telephone, telegraph and tell a woman.
It is in deed difficult time in Kolkata. There might be a lot of 'catching up' if you were not already aware.
There was this recent riot over Taslima Nasreen. During our discussion at office,her (in)famous Lajja caught our attention. Then there was venemous condemning of all the violence. It was terrible, the children coming home from school were caught in a difficult situation.
Things got this bad, that 'catch' no more reminded one of the good days of Indian Cricket. And well, to make the matters worse, the cold has descended in Kolkata. Being from Kathmandu, (which everyone here believes is cold through out the year) I was selected as the responsible one to 'catch' the cold. Lo! I caught it.
However, I cannot take the achiever's trophy alone. For I can hear the continous, 'surrrrr surrrrr' from behind my back. There is G, who has stepped up, shown his bravery and claims his share of fame having caught a cold himself! I wonder if all the cops in Kolkata will soon follow our footsteps!
Hmm, so the incessant 'dhrrrrr' from the office ac is now punctuated with timely 'srrr srrr'. This is not some funny sound to be laughed at. Its not rare but a prerogative of this part of the world. During my short stay in Europe, I was faced with people forcing their head out of their noses. Covering their nose with a wide 'kerchief they would go 'shoo...choo...khooo.....' (depending on their origin, French , German or Italina... and more on my translation of their nasal phonetics). They are so bereft of the rhythmic, 'srr srr', I would muse, while punctuating the silence in many public places in Swiss with my rhythmic you know what!
But this sound of music was not to last long.Not having an ac to add to the beats of the music, Linus interrupted. 'Can't you just blow in one shot rather than pulling it up again throught your nasal track while it stubbornly wants to get the hell out.And you like someone scared of losing a precious possession are there guarding strictly at the exit, and a vehement .... SURRRR each time it tries to sneak out. 'Let it go V', let it go, or rather blow it out. It is not like a past love affair that you are clinging to!
Hmm, after the rare lecture from soft spoken Linus, I changed my strategy and went anti SURRRR... though I did doubt that someday I will blow my head out through my nose!
G goes SURRR once again, reminding me of the good old days and I promptly head to the looo to blow out in one .........................!
A picture speaks for itself! Shot taken a day before Diwali, on the balcony of Netscribes, Kolkata.
A festival of lights!
I have seen children so eager at the mention of Deepawali (better known as Diwali). We too as children were like that. Looking forward to was so easy back then- new frocks, people visiting us, we visiting people and of course NO SCHOOL. These days it is 'Dhoni Dhamakas' (cracker named after the current Indian cricket captain), designer lamps and more.
Things changed over time as things change over time! The girls grow up from their frocks to their longer skirts, boys from their shorts to full lenght trousers but the looking forward to doesn't change much. From a festival of lights, Diwali however did become a 'cleaning spree for me'. Diwali time became synonimous with a 'clutter free' exercise, as we started to help Mom get rid of things we did not need. There were things like the house being painted, washing the curtains,etc. etc. that busied the adults of the house. We on our part removed the trophies placed on the pelmet tops and clean the surface and the accolades. Sadly those cups have been long packed up in the attic, no more in the prized display!
I do not know why but I somehow ended up enjoying the 'sorting out clutter'. I still enjoy going through things that have just been- buried under several layers in my drawers.The fun begins once you take out each thing and then before deciding which heap they should go to- The 'throw now' or 'throw later, next year perhaps ;)" or the 'can't be thrown'- you go back to the times when you had accumulated those stuff. Then comes those dilemmas one might dread. Of keeping the postcards given by friends when we were in standard V. Or those birthday cards collected over the years, or the newspaper cuttings like- Jug Surraiya's Monsoon Wedding, Dosa and Goethe (the middle piece in TOI long back, cherished till today!)... These were treasures I never went back to until Diwali. And come Diwali, they would come out popping from various drawers. I would spend the rest of my 'cleaning day' re reading articles, letters, cards. Now with the e-age. Things are so much simpler. My friends send me mails, and e-greetings! And Gosh, my inbox is cluttered! But I have no heart to give it a Diwali Spruce up.
I did end up sorting out and removing what I had not used for the past two years, and then have moved on to removing stuff I have not used in the past one year. I believe one could develop a therapy, if it did not already exist. A therapy of sorting clutter. This exercise soothes you, brings a sense of 'organized' to the unorganized mind! But I think this will be a cult therapy. As there dont seem to be many takers. My mom would oppose it outright, she has never been too happy when I take days cleaning a small room of mine! Moreover, she is a more compiling than a throwing person!
Too much of clutter, let me talk of lights now. How I love lighting 'diyas' , the small earthen lamps. And how lovely they look, jhil mil compensating for the sky bereft of the shining moon! Happy Diwali all of you!!
Something on Coffee:
Well here is some bean for thought for coffee cravers!
Green coffee is coffee that has not been roasted.
The drink "Americano" was named after American soldiers in WW II who found the European way of drinking caffe as espresso too strong. Baristas would cut the espresso with hot water for them. (from wiki)
Which leading brand in American coffee has the tagline: 'Good to the last drop'?
You might not really hear of Nescafe in US!
(more later...)
No new posts? No new recipes tried? No lovestories spun? My long time ago journo friend, even came to an extent of suggesting, Marriage...is showing AGE on you!
So, I decided, that the next time idea flits (another friend of mine suggests carefully dropping out the 'r' from 'flitting'), I should obediently open my notebook and keep jotting.
I read my friends blog, where she was babbling about, Manjushree Thapa's short story collection... Ummm., the good things in life... reading books, listening to songs that your friend introduces you to, the smell of baking cake... and getting jealous when your best friend gets another 'bosom friend'.... he he (i am kidding annie)
Hmm, its travel time again. Rajasthan is the destination. I hope to get loads of pictures and then blog them all.
Till then, shaadi girl and shaadi boy keep jumping!!
Apple with Aplomb?
The much hyped debutant in this June, iPhone has been called, ‘game changer’, ‘magic’ and a ‘revolutionary phone’. The New York Times says, ‘The creation, the iPhone, priced at $499 or $599, will not be for everyone.’ But this creation is set to change the operating paradigm for the music and mobile industry. Like iPod changed the way we listen to portable music, is iPhone going to change the way we say ‘hello’ or is it going to create a whole new mobile web experience?
Steve Job introduced this revolutionary phone at MacWorld 2007, as an iPod, a phone and Internet communicator. ‘A product that is way smart and way easy to use.’
The buzz word has been the revolutionary user interface. With a giant screen and the best pointing device: the finger, Apple has set the shift to a paradigm of touch screen interface.
The revolution is not as much in the seamless integration as is in the simplicity of use. The ‘button less’ experience clearly announces the departure from technology oriented experience that only makes it difficult for the user to operate the phone to an amazingly pleasurable user experience. In other words, the hours of poring into the user manual to get going with one’s smart phones are going to be a matter of past with iPhone. The mobile industry will now shift to an iClone axis so that they are in same position as the iPhone, way smart and way easy.
Music and social networking will certainly see a change with an iPod and a phone together. The discussion below tries to sum up the changes that iPhone can bring in the music and mobile industry.
Changes in Mobile music Industry:
Mobile phones already are equipped with music player. However they are all lacking what a music listener needs. Be it a constraint like storage capacity (64 MB – 128 MB are standard flash card memory) or overpriced songs. No wonder phone users use their phone to listen to music. Today they use iPod.
Changes in mobile industry
User Interface (UI)
Like we have transcended from command line to icon based user interface in PC computing, mobile UI will shift from the ‘button - key’ interface to touch interface. This will change the high tech mobiles into a handy gadget.
Better Software
Jobs pointed out in his key notes, buttons and controls can’t change. But now we are equipped with a UI that gives immense room for improvisation of gadgets in few clicks (or rather finger taps). It might be as simple as a downloadable ‘update’ in the phone that can access the Internet. With iPhone 5 years ahead of any phone, we will see a spur of phones with better software.
Visual appeal
More over, with the slick design of the iPhone, we have stepped onto a generation of truly good looking phones. Handsets will not just deliver functional requirements. They will strive to fulfill the emotional desire of the users.
Simple and precise mobile services
Visual non linear voice mail : iPhone does away with listening to voice mail linearly, one can now jump to the important voice mails without going through a myriad of other voice mails.
Content Industry in Mobile
Mobile advertising will become more aggressive thanks to giant sized pocketable screens, which will give a bigger platform for the viewable information. We might also see a departure from the expensive ring tones to music tracks downloaded through iTune.
Apple’s Strategy
iPod to iPhone ?
In a way iPhone might be all poised to cannibalize its own sibling before the competition does. With your phone and your iPod (both integral to users today) together, you are carrying one device less with you and you will listen to music on your phone.
Apple must be looking at pocketable computing power, social communication network and music all in one in the future. There may be another leapfrog from iPhone to a more futuristic yet simple device.
References
http://www.webdirections.org/2007/06/11/iphonesafari-is-the-mosaic-of-the-mobile-web/
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07/
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/7407.html
http://gigaom.com/2007/06/29/iphone-music/
