So, it takes a tag for me to finally post something. Well, no such thing as a tag to revive this blog. Guess will start saying a few things from time-to-time. So here goes,
Last movie seen in a theatre?
Krazzy 4. Am not too proud of it.
What book are you reading?
Just started "The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce" - Paul Torday. His first book, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was amazingly funny. Just finished India after Gandhi.
Favourite board game?
Business
Favorite Magazine:
The Economist, Brunch too
Favorite Smells:
Kerosene :D
Heeng
The wind before rain
Favorite Sound:
Good music floating in the air. Not too loud, so that I can sing to it.
Worst Feeling In The World:
There is this bad feeling I get in the stomach/chest when I realise something is not going right and I can't do a lot about it.
What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?
What's the time?
Favorite Fast Food Place:
Subways
Haldirams
Future Child’s Name:
Girl - Varsha
Boy - Vardhaman
Finish This Statement. “If I Had A Lot Of Money I’d…”
Become powerful. Try to change the world...In that order.
Do You Drive Fast?
Don't know how to drive. Bicycles, well I crashed a lot, so soon gave up.
Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?
Nopes.
Storms-Cool Or Scary?
Cool. Really cool.
Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?
Yup
If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?
Brownish black
Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In.
Simra, Kurseong, Delhi, Gurgaon
Favorite Sports To Watch:
Cricket, Age of Empires
One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
Hmm, that she tagged me. No, but seriously, would love to know her better.
What’s Under Your Bed?
Nothing.
Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Yes
Morning Person Or Night Owl?
More night owl than morning person.
Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?
Neither. Vegetarian.
Favorite Place To Relax
The sofa, with a good book
Favorite Pie:
Apple
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
Black currant.
I tag Atish. Don't really known whether he still visits this place or not though.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Litany
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
Where did we all come from, ab initio?
Our existence is a bit like radiation, starting from one source, and radiating outwards, covering greater and greater area, intersecting with more and more similar radiating curves, affecting them, but dimming further and further in intensity until we slowly fade away, memories dull and we forget where we came from and where we started out for - or is that merely an illusion - the goal - and all we are doing is following a pre-defined path.
In college, I used to think, one day I would rule the world. As impractical as it sounds, I don't want the dream to die away - it has fired me time and again and kept me from falling into an abyss. But 1.5 years of professional life have blunted me, fattened me, made me lazy. The bluster is still there, but the intensity is going away. Political correctness, easy money, compromises have all made my spirit but a ghost of what it was.
Sometimes, I think it is better to be dead than be this way.
Where am I going?
Where did we all come from, ab initio?
Our existence is a bit like radiation, starting from one source, and radiating outwards, covering greater and greater area, intersecting with more and more similar radiating curves, affecting them, but dimming further and further in intensity until we slowly fade away, memories dull and we forget where we came from and where we started out for - or is that merely an illusion - the goal - and all we are doing is following a pre-defined path.
In college, I used to think, one day I would rule the world. As impractical as it sounds, I don't want the dream to die away - it has fired me time and again and kept me from falling into an abyss. But 1.5 years of professional life have blunted me, fattened me, made me lazy. The bluster is still there, but the intensity is going away. Political correctness, easy money, compromises have all made my spirit but a ghost of what it was.
Sometimes, I think it is better to be dead than be this way.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Life in a Metro
Due to some personal work, I have had a chance to take the metro almost every second day. A couple of observations:
1. A vast majority of the travellers are females. Understandably so, because they belong to the same economic strata where the males travel in scooters/bikes and small cars. But the sheer number does strike you (and you don't really mind).
2. The quietness in the station and within the trains. I mean, even people travelling together are not talking too much. Maybe, because the general ambience (the cleanliness and order) is too unnatural (otherworldly?), too forbidding to make people comfortable talking.
1. A vast majority of the travellers are females. Understandably so, because they belong to the same economic strata where the males travel in scooters/bikes and small cars. But the sheer number does strike you (and you don't really mind).
2. The quietness in the station and within the trains. I mean, even people travelling together are not talking too much. Maybe, because the general ambience (the cleanliness and order) is too unnatural (otherworldly?), too forbidding to make people comfortable talking.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Kindness of Strangers...
I left home at the age of 15. When I did, I wasn't too worried - for some reason, I had a quiet confidence in my own abilities to survive and thrive wherever life took me. Over the last 8 years, there have been several times when I have been faced with seemingly impossible situations which I have then successfully gotten out of. Many times, it has been my own resourcefulness - I have (very deservedly) the reputation of a scrounger and a "chussu" among my friends - but many more times, it has been the help of strangers, people I haven't met twice who have gotten me out of a mess.
The day I landed in Delhi for admission to school (alone - my father had been abroad for some work), I managed to lose the draft that paid for my school fees as well as was denied admission in school due to absence of my board results. I was basically, left stranded in a city where I didn't know anyone and didn't know what to do next. Then, I was helped by somebody from my own town who had come to drop his son. He took me to his relative's place where I stayed for 4-5 days (they also loaned me the money for my fees) until I managed to get admitted. I was never able to thank them properly/take their address or even manage to locate the uncle - but they are people I am much indebted to.
The other day, I was in an airport, flying from abroad, and an hour away from the departure time, realised I didn't have any money to pay for the airport tax - they wouldn't accept my currency, and there was no currency changer available. I then stood around requesting people one by one until an old lady from New Zealand obliged giving me the $20 required to board the flight and reach home. She never replied my thanks email and I guess she is also lost to me.
I don't know how to drive - my roommate drops me to my office, and when he doesn't, many days I stand outside my house asking for a lift. It surprises everyone I tell this to - but almost every fifth guy agrees - and many sometimes go out of their way to drop me to the right location. I was recently travelling alone in the South, and on the way navigated purely by asking people - and was never once sidetracked.
Since, every post needs to have some point (or atleast a semblance of one) this one's is - when in trouble, sometimes we just don't ask people around us - maybe it's some ego thing (or a fear of rejection) or insecurity of being taken advantage of, but my experience has been that, more often than not people are nice and helpful and in the worst case, indifferent.
Last night, I returned home at 11 to find that I had been locked out, and my roommate wasn't due to return till 3. But I didn't have to freeze in the Delhi chill because one of my neighbours (we hadn't laid eyes on each other before), took me in and gave me a gadda, pillow and rajai to sleep on until my roommate returned.
Obviously, when I narrated this to my room-mate, he took it as a one-off, but I have grown to believe that the stranger is a more helpful guy than we think, and when in trouble, we shouldn't hesitate in looking around, and saying "Please...".
The day I landed in Delhi for admission to school (alone - my father had been abroad for some work), I managed to lose the draft that paid for my school fees as well as was denied admission in school due to absence of my board results. I was basically, left stranded in a city where I didn't know anyone and didn't know what to do next. Then, I was helped by somebody from my own town who had come to drop his son. He took me to his relative's place where I stayed for 4-5 days (they also loaned me the money for my fees) until I managed to get admitted. I was never able to thank them properly/take their address or even manage to locate the uncle - but they are people I am much indebted to.
The other day, I was in an airport, flying from abroad, and an hour away from the departure time, realised I didn't have any money to pay for the airport tax - they wouldn't accept my currency, and there was no currency changer available. I then stood around requesting people one by one until an old lady from New Zealand obliged giving me the $20 required to board the flight and reach home. She never replied my thanks email and I guess she is also lost to me.
I don't know how to drive - my roommate drops me to my office, and when he doesn't, many days I stand outside my house asking for a lift. It surprises everyone I tell this to - but almost every fifth guy agrees - and many sometimes go out of their way to drop me to the right location. I was recently travelling alone in the South, and on the way navigated purely by asking people - and was never once sidetracked.
Since, every post needs to have some point (or atleast a semblance of one) this one's is - when in trouble, sometimes we just don't ask people around us - maybe it's some ego thing (or a fear of rejection) or insecurity of being taken advantage of, but my experience has been that, more often than not people are nice and helpful and in the worst case, indifferent.
Last night, I returned home at 11 to find that I had been locked out, and my roommate wasn't due to return till 3. But I didn't have to freeze in the Delhi chill because one of my neighbours (we hadn't laid eyes on each other before), took me in and gave me a gadda, pillow and rajai to sleep on until my roommate returned.
Obviously, when I narrated this to my room-mate, he took it as a one-off, but I have grown to believe that the stranger is a more helpful guy than we think, and when in trouble, we shouldn't hesitate in looking around, and saying "Please...".
Monday, January 07, 2008
The Sydney Test
I can choose to pretend it was just a bad dream and go about my life as I do everyday...
...but it did happen, and I am super pissed off.
...but it did happen, and I am super pissed off.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Main aur meri tanhai...
Chamakte chaand ko toota hua taara bana dala
Meri aawaargi ne mujhko aawaara bana dala
-Aawargi (Ghulam Ali)
Meri aawaargi ne mujhko aawaara bana dala
-Aawargi (Ghulam Ali)
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