Darkness...

Darkness isevil...darkness is shadow...darkness enters when there is no light...i wonder why i have always found peace in darkness....it works as solace for me...solace from the world..solace from the day...solace from the lights...

Staring at the horizon, with the eagerness of newly wed bride i smiled to myself as darkness took over the world...bringing with it memories...good and bad....they say when you cant see....you can feel the power of touch...when there is light...eyes do most of the work...and dont let other senses rule...

A tear trickled down my face...and i didnt bother to wipe it...it was long due...waiting patiently...waiting for that elite cover of darkness....and i smiled again....for the safety of solitude it offers to me...to let me shed a few tears here and there...in memories of all the moments i have lived...but would never ever re-live again...

Growing older...

Whats this about ‘growing older’…I’m suddenly finding a lot many changes in me…that r supposed to b part of growing up…they say…I do not understand whether i belong to older generation or the current one...but I am finding certain changes in me that r totally new…

As a zoology student…we had lot of dissections in the practicals…and i was proud of the fact i can do all the dissections without any fuss...before lunch...after lunch didn't matter...when most of the girls around me were sceptical about touching the animal to be dissected after the lunch...lest nausea will overpower them....and i could easily see through all the operations they show on the TV….without any dizziness…when I saw dogs or cats or cattle or for that matter humans…run over by passing trucks on the highway…I was OK enough to watch the sight…but these days..i am finding it difficult to remain calm and cool when I witness such sights…I actually feel sick at times…this is a strange thing to happen to me…I thought I am quite tough mentally…is this a part of growing up?

I love collecting books…key chains….coins…stamps…and a lot of other things…suddenly I have found myself wondering why i am doing all this...whats the use...what will happen once i go out of this world..what if these things would leave unattended in my absence then...why these thoughts have started travelling in my mind...i am certainly not old enough to think about 'what after'...

just the other day….we have this girl in the office…who must b around 25/26…but acts like she is a child of no more than 5/6..always irritates me to the core to see her around….but today was her birthday…and her friends in the office threw a party for her on the office terrace …we all were invited…there was cake…candles…caps…masks...balloons....the cake was marked with a candle for age 5...they say that was her mental age…god…how I agree with them…but she was thoroughly enjoying all the attention showered on her…she cut the cake…with we all singing a loud ‘happy birthday’ for her…and then she was smeared with cake all over….and ‘cos she was of age 5…she said she will eat all the cake with her hands sitting right there on the floor..and she did just that…and her friends were equally enthusiastic too….in the end we all got return gifts…a scented eraser just like in school days…in the end she said…’this was one of the best birthday celebrations she ever had in her life…and she was touched beyond words…’…she sounded just like an adult then...and in that moment....i envied her.....is that part of ‘growing up' that I find all this childish…but somewhere deep down I was enjoying the spectacle…celebrating with friends …

I was going to office today…and suddenly a teenager overtook me with frantic speed...he was on kinetic....and almost hit me on the way...i was all geared up and angry...and drove like a fanatic for the next 10 min...and finally caught up with the boy...and eventually overtook him...well...at least i hv something left with me that i can identify with...i felt better....

A friend in need...

A friend in need...
Originally uploaded by neeta_online

I was going to office the other day...when i saw three boys playing on the road...one of them fell down and got hurt in the process...his knee was badly bruised...and he could hardly walk...what these guys did...they took a metal plate lying around on the road...helped their friend on it...and just pulled him from both sides...the trick worked wonderfully well...as the metal plate slided effortlessly along the ground...a friend in need is a friend indeed :)

I watched it thro'out and enjoyed it more....got late to the office in the end...

Taking advantage...

A strange experience….waiting @ the traffic signal on my bike…a boy aged 5/6 approached me…and asked for money...i dislike beggars in general and never entertain these people at any point of time...call me inhuman…so the immediate reaction was to ignore him completely...that i did...but he persisted and kept asking for money....i had no choice but to look at him….i waved him away with the firm 'No'....he waited for a fraction of a second...and took out a cloth from his pocket...and started dusting my bike...continuing with his demand for money....his body language was still the same...that of a beggar..asking for free money...but his eyes betrayed him...they were not begging...they were demanding...as if now it has suddenly become his lawful right....i wondered where to draw that thin line…

Thinking over...

I am sitting in a window with paper in my hand…rain is pouring down the streets of Pune….people are running around for cover….the rain has caught everyone unaware…like always..but then when it pours…it pours….there’s something uniquely strange about the rain…you can feel almost every emotion listening to sound of rain beating down your window panes….’’how r u feeling today…well…ok…fine with me….i will still be with you…’’ and it pours….so....i am sitting with a paper in front of me…and wondering what to write….i hv totally forgotten what I wanted to write in the first place…and the paper is making my job even harder….’cos it has lines …. simply detest these ‘marked’ papers…a blank paper is all I want and a pen..the paper which leaves you totally alone…no you cant even expect support of the lines…….i correlate myself to the painter who has nothing but a canvas with him…and a whole world to draw…or an actor who stands in front of a large audience….the other side waiting to see how you will respond….a knot in the stomach….the paper with the lines suffocate me…it says ….a road is marked for you….now walk on it…do not try to deviate from the set route…that’s how I see it…obligation….monotony…..
well yes…I have remembered….what I wanted to jote down was about getting back to where I belong…job I mean….it feels great….2 years in hiatus hv made me even desperate….and what a job I have….while I am translating machine manuals for a lighting system….someone around me is going thro’ a French medical journal…and debating over choice of words….we even have a Sardar in our office who is translating an English novel into Punjabi….talk about the colleagues….i have almost every language on earth for company…and that’s what make it so special….if at all I opt for a business sometime in future…this is exactly I want to do….a translation firm for all the languages…..it would be a dream come true….

For you...a thousand times over...

I am in daze again....i have just finished watching kite runner...the movie....and that reminded me of my encounter with this book....i warn you...if the novel had broken your heart then...the movie will go even further....it is sure to break you into pieces..

i remember the days when i first came across this book...did not know the author ....i did not know the the title 'kite runner' before...i was utterly surprised to see it listed as 'best seller'.....ok...i mean...this wasn't something i would have chosen as the first choice...story of two boys set in the backdrop of Afghanistan...But once you are into it....the story of Amir and Hassan...told to us thro' amir's eyes and experiences sweeps you off the floor...i remember wanting to put the book down and was completely unable to do so...there was something extraordinary about each character....you couldn't close this book midway...just like that...Khalid Hossaini manages to keep you hooked...even makes you feel as if you are right there...in the land of Kabul along with those two boys...it was a story about sin, suffering, sacrifice and friendship....enough to keep me engrossed....and moist eyed...yes...

After 3 years....i have watched the movie...when you had so much from the read version....you tend to expect even more from the reel version of it...and astonishingly it does a creditable job.....of course the book is way ahead....but i did not watch it as comparison....and once you do that...its a work of art...the personalities...the protagonists...who linger in your mind when you read a book now gets a live face...and thats when you know you can not escape the phenomenon called kite runner again...it will touch you in a way you cant imagine and wont let you go at least a week afterwards.....

P.S. 'm absolutely in love with this phrase..''for you... a thousand times over....''

Agony...

Yesterday I met an old colleague of mine after almost a year….we sort of ran into each other on the road…..last time we met…his wife was carrying and the baby was due in ¾ months….

so naturally the easiest question to carry forward the conversation was ‘how’s your son/daughter…how old is he/she’…suddenly I saw drastic change of expression on his face…agony written all over...and he replied in barely audible voice…’no…we lost our baby in the 1^st month itself…it was a boy…’….I didn’t know where to look and I cursed myself at least thousand times…I made him relive his ordeal…..

i mean most of the times I forgot to ask the questions that are there to be asked….and ‘m hopeless in following socially acceptable norms…so in every probability I wouldn’t have asked the question at any other time…but it was not to be…his silence thereafter made me feel even more guilty.

I was left wondering what’s tougher…the tears you held back so defiantly lest u will be called a weakling or the tears you just let out easily….crying as & when want to does take lots of guts….i tell you…

I am selfish....

Sometimes you like someone only because you like yourself when you are around them….how cool is that……everybody on this earth is selfish....come on...u better accept that…

Being different...

Just wondering...GOD has put in enormous amount of efforts to ensure that no two individuals in this world would be similar...even the identical twins dont have same fingerprints...how many permutations and combinations he must have formed.....and we human beings spent all our lives trying not to be different from each other....they say being different from a group is a demerit...

Menace...

Its been No. 118 till yesterday and counting… Pune is waking up to the menace with the new name…’swine flu’…. puneites who are so used to laidback approach and style of living are scared to death…just a few days back…the hot topic in vogue was scarcity of water…shortage of rain…and now new version of flu is knocking at their door…

Just the 15 days back…when my daughter’s school reported the first case in Pune…we never thought it could go to this vast proportion….we just laughed over the fact that now as the kids are at home…..we will not get even a few seconds of breathing space…..whats strange now is everybody is afraid of even a fundamental right to breath freely….just a cough or sneeze puts everybody in panic…and suspicion…there is really nowhere to go..and no safe place…even yours truly spent 2/3 sleepless nights over my daughter who was suffering from cold…we finally breathed a sigh of relief after getting all clear from our doctor…

Whenever I go out…I see the masks all over the place…children, adults...students everyone is hiding behind the mask... and I kind of feel vulnerable…

Now the Ganeshotsav is just round the corner….i have a knot in my stomach…whats in store for us…a disaster waiting to happen…it’s a perfect setup for a pandemic to spread its tentacles….i hope government exerts some kind of control over the festivities this year..and I hope people show enough restraint to stay at home..and avoid crowded places…I sincerely hope there wont be any talk of ‘religious sentiments hurt’ and all that crap…I hope no one loses the sight of bigger picture here…

May god bless all…

Happy Friendship Day....

I am sandwiched between two generations and torn apart between two lines of thoughts on either side….

one that enthusiastically observe all the ‘days’ that are more important than normal 7 weekdays…one that fills up the f.c road, j.m.road to capacity on 1st Sunday of August every year…for them friendship day is a festival to celebrate….a religious ritual to take time off from busy schedules and appreciate near and dear ones…a day of cards and gifts and get together…a day of friendship

and the other one who doesn’t believe in celebrating these days….they consider these rituals as ‘silly’….they say we never had these days to express our feelings…nor we had cells to txt and thank our friends…and even without these tools…we have remained friends…

We belong to the third generation…initially we never had these days to follow…we as friends just enjoyed the time together….and that was all..then it started somewhere in between…and we just fell into line…we started meeting on friendship days…buying a whole lot of bands…and counting the number of bands we have got at the end of the day…it became one of the most important days of our life…and then just we were warming up to the idea…our fun days were over….’we r mature now...no more celebrating friendship days…how childish…all hype of generation next…and on and on’…

Today when I saw happy hands bearing all the colourful friendship bands…it really made me sad and nostalgic…’cos I don’t have the single thread on my hand....and though we do have cells today, nobody has wished me…..and this was the first friendship day when I haven’t wished anybody since morning…HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!!!...

Vastu Shanti

Recently I received an invitation for Vastu Shanti.....the invitation was e-mailed ..and it was invariably in English....Subject line read...'Invitation for House Warming'....now Vastu Shanti is a Marathi word which means to cool off the house...whereas housewarming is exactly opposite...two words seemingly the same and having different etymological meaning....
and this isn't all....for vastu shanti we perform 'havan' in our house...thus we warm the house...strange our Gods require warmth to be 'Shant'....pretty confusing...

Art of winning friends.....

I just read a conversation between two friends….…!!!!...make no mistake…I am no authority on this matter…..i have met friends all my life…they have came & walked out of my life at will…I have tried to put it in different shapes, forms each time thinking I have spelled it right…but each new day proves me wrong….guess some things in life are never meant to be….

Coming back to the conversation…one of the friends talks about a quotation which he believes is of Shakespeare…his friend disagrees with him and says…no way…its straight from pages of Bible’…The simple discussion turns into a major heated argument…with neither of them yielding an inch…and finally the friends go away with bitter tastes in their mouth…

The gist of the matter is 99 out of 100 times, an argument ends with each of the party firmly convinced than ever that he is absolutely right…then why waste the time in arguing over things endlessly….once you have made your point and still your friend disagree…just leave it right there…even if you finally win the argument…you will cause resentment…and it will create a rift in your relation…so if you cant convince him…just keep quiet…on the other hand…if your friend’s argument has created a doubt in your mind…go back to the basics and check for yourself….and spare yourself unnecessary argument…

I also found a two-liner in the same book…

‘A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still’…

How true!!!!

People come in your life for a reason, season or a lifetime!"

Life's like that

These police constables were on duty also making sure they dont fail in their duties as women of the house...i found this very amusing....was lucky enough to be with camera at the right time...

Saina shining.....

I wasn’t a big fan of badminton anytime down the line but somehow I have always liked saina nehwal...am always on lookout for any news of her in newspaper whenever I see news related to badminton…she does have a spark….she is special…no doubt about that….but when I opened the paper today…there she was again on the front page…smiling back triumphantly for what was a well deserved…..well achieved…tremendous victory… and I fell in love with her…right at that moment….here was a girl just turned 18…making india proud at the world stage…in a sport which is not much appreciated in cricket fanatic country of ours…..it was definitely a welcome respite after huge disappointment in T20 world cup…

On that note…I sometimes wonder what makes me fall in love with these people….i definitely do not seek the best in business…’cos I have always loved dada more than sachin…but then I love fedex as well who is undoubtedly the best….i tried to think of the personalities I not only admire but blindly love…dada, fedex, becker, steffi, gilchrist, lara, murali…and now saina nehwal joins that list…some are best in their field, some are entertainers, some are controversial, some have attitude…there’s variety of reasons…its not just limited to sports field either….there’s always madhuri…I like kajol, rani & many others but there’s no comparison with original diva of bollywood…but recently I have started liking kareena kapoor for pure attitude she displays…so you see…it isn’t that I don’t like other people…but these are all special…and its very hard to pinpoint a single common factor between all these personalities…

Anyways…this one was for saina nehwal…I hope she doesn’t go sania way in future...….well played gal…u did us proud today….and u deserved this thoroughly.

living without the soul

Yes…this one is also about harry potter…one of the most intelligent and scariest concepts I have come across in HP is dementors…never heard of them before…and what’s surprising dictionary doesn’t have this exact word…closest word I could find was dementia…which is a mental disorder in which person suffers from memory loss, personality changes and impaired reasoning……the word dementor have been used in a much wider sense….so basically there is a prison in the magical world too…name is Azkaban…these guys guard the prison and the prisoners in it….all the culprits, all the defaulters are kept in this prison with no hopes whatsoever of escaping from it…and for the highest magnitude of crime…there’s a special punishment…’Dementors kiss’…so when you r guilty of a crime that warrants highest form of punishment….these guys will kiss you…and with that they will take out your soul…you will live but without company of your soul…there’s no capital punishment in Azkaban….whats waiting for the criminals is much worse…just imagine being left to live without your soul…

Life is nothing but contradictions....

they say....'no risk...no gain'....and then they say....'look before you leap'... then they say...'opposite poles attract each other' and then finish with 'birds of same feather flock together..'....life is so full of contradictions....but again somebody has said...'contradictions doesnt exist...if you do find one...check your premises...one thing has got to be wrong'....funny isnt it?

Marathi mansa jaga ho...

That’s what ‘Mi shivajiraje bhosale boltoy’ is all about…We went to cinema theatre after a gap of 3 years today...and we obviously chose a movie which had got great reviews all over…I mean my husband never accompanies me to a movie before making sure the reviews are good…he does not have slightest faith in my choice of movies…so we zeroed on this movie with mutual consent (that’s a rare thing I tell you…)…

frankly…I didn’t have any expectations from this movie…The theme goes something like this...city Mumbai…marathi people are routinely getting hammered, insulted, humiliated in their own backyard…in their own area…in their own state….and they are so used to it that they withstand it without ever complaining….one such marathi man represents this whole marathi community…he is a protagonist of the movie...Shivajimaharaj couldn’t bear to see this cowardice, this humiliation of his own people and decides to step in…he helps the protagonist to identify himself…to rediscover himself…and to feel proud to be a maharashtrian...so basically this is a fantasy film to some extent…to portray Shivajimaharaj successfully is a huge task….and to bring him in real world with real people and carry this theme well is another impossible target….a step here and there…and the film could have become a farce….

To some extent….what I thought I was true….it was a fantasy film…..it does get filmy in parts (this one funda I have never understood…people including yours truly routinely describe some films as ‘filmy’…)…anyways…so the film is also a bit preachy….but the message is loud and clear…overall effect of film is awesome…hats off to Mahesh Manjrekar for taking a currently running hot topic….and striking a chord with all the marathi hearts…Sachin Khedekar is wonderful…so is Mahesh Manjrekar himself…he does carry Shivajimaharaj well…. overall its a well made film..

And for once, we both agreed on the fact that it’s a well made film…and we both liked it…..

HP mania.....

Just a few days back, I met a 10-12 year old girl in the lift…she was carrying a ‘harry potter’ book…a book lover that I professed to be one…I immediately asked her what book she was reading…and the conversation went something like this…I have to write the lines in marathi to do full justice…।

'काय ग काय वाचत आहेस ?
'हैरी पॉटर'
'हैरी पॉटर?'
'हो 'हैरी पॉटर' चे ६ वे पुस्तक ....'
'हो का ?'
'काकू , तुम्ही 'हैरी पॉटर' वाचले नाहीये ???? ह्यावर सिनेमा पण निघाला आहे ....'
'हो मी वाचले पेपर मध्ये'
'म्हणजे तुम्ही हा सिनेमा पण नाही पाहिला?'

Fullstop…end of the conversation….she went to her home .... that was like a wake up call for me….did the ‘kaku’ hurt more or ‘ignorance about the famous harry potter is a different matter altogether…..absolutely not open for discussion..:)

i mean I have heard about the harry potter alright…how he has taken the world by storm right from the outset…how J.K. Rowling has sold a million copies of each book….how the HP mania has no barrier either of age or language or country or religion….how the books are being translated and made into movies…how the movies are at par with books…and on and on….but for some mysterious reason…I never tried to read those books…I simply ignored them as children books….

But that 12 year old girl made me feel like I belong to some third world country….that spurred me on…and I started on the mission Harry Potter or HP as this generation calls it (there’s another reason to get hurt…are we now ‘past generation’?????)…a GK enthusiast I am…I started with Wikipedia…furnished myself with all the details I could lay my hands on….and then I learnt there are total 7 books of which 5 have been made into movies…I went with the flow and started from the 1st book itself…harry potter and the philosophers stone….well that was it…one book was enough to get me addicted to this character….i was hooked…from then on in last 1 month I have completed 7 books and 4 movies….and believe me….its worth going through at least once whatever age you are in…

to put it in a few words…it’s a fantasy series of which main character is of course harry potter…he is a wizard and studies in the Hogwarts school for wizards….success of HP lies in the fact that even though the story takes place mostly in magical world….it is never cut off from the real world…the way in which Rowling has kept the magic world and real world interconnected is what makes the theme work…of course I cant tell you the whole plot in a few words here….I mean…there’s no easy way to it…you have to experience HP world all by yourself…

P.S. Don’t try to do what I did….i mean reading HP Books and watching HP Movies all in a span of 1 month have resulted in having dreams of harry potter….so…enter….but at your own risk….

Flying in the air....

Finally i managed to do paragliding...one of the n number of things i wish to do in life has come true...i know...its not a big deal ...still i feel exhilarated to be part of that 'selected few' who know how it feels to fly in the air.... when I took off from the ground...it took away my breath for a fraction of a second..a knot tightened in the stomach...and then I am in the air...feeling quite liberated...leaving behind all the people on the ground...for a moment i thought i dont even want the company of the instructor..conveniently forgetting the fact that he is the one who is helping me realise my dream....

Once in the air...the surrounding mountains, the hills, the vast sky stretching back to horizon all seem to intimidate you....they kind of tell you the fact that you are nobody when u come face to face with the nature....but i was wondering what would Howard Roark say...i am sure he wont feel threatened...rather he will feel empowered...that he as a part of the mankind has the capacity to invent this sport....and fly in the air...just like that.....how you look at it is entirely your perception....

KKR's (no) show in IPL......

IPL sure is masala entertainment....just the other day Knight Riders sent back Akash Chopra back home...and here he is...back in the Set Max Studio...with suit and tie ..looking like a scholar...acting extra smart in extra innings...discussings ifs and buts of KKR performance of which he was a part just a few days back...what more entertainment u want...Shahrukh's team is living up to all the expectations...a show team...they ensure we get maximum entertainment possible...why waste time in playing cricket and performing..when other teams are doing nothing but that...so what they do...they create enough controversies to start with..then they choose players of mediocre capability to play in wham-bam-thank-you-maam version...and when they dont perform...send them back home.....i mean even a amateur like me can swear on it....Chopras, Bangars are not meant for 20-20 cricket in the first place...so why dont these Pandits see through it......and as if thats not enough...there's always Fake IPL player....~(his posts are quite funny and informative btw....).....oh god....if only dada decides to keep away from this team....its very hard to see him on losing side....for that matter it hurts even to see him playing for such a team....

Creativity at its best.......

Its been almost 6 years since i saw this board....and it never ceased to amuse me whenever i see it....it always brings a smile on my face....finally captured it in the frame....creativity at its best

Bride hunt...

i happen to drop on a conversation today...i was in the bus...two persons (not city people...they were villagers)...were busy discussing an interesting topic...one of them was on a bride hunt for a 'suitable boy' from his relation...his point was...if you really want to know what the girl is like...you should never ask her parents...reason being..obviously they will tend to hide her shortcomings...or will sugar coat them...u go and ask her school teacher...how does she fare as a student when she was in school...did she fight often? did she adjust with other classmates...so when she is out of her home...in a comparatively unknown and new territory...thats where you will identify the real 'she'....

i have read somewhere...if you want to know a 'real' person...observe how he behaves in public...how he handles stress situations...how he behaves with hotel waiters, fellow commuters in traffic, society watchman, vegetable vendors, customer care executives in banks etc etc...

this conversation was on the same lines...but it coming from those villagers...i was highly impressed...boredom of bus journey was nowhere in sight when i got down to my destination...

Second chance...

I always wonder how people manage to say time & again....that they have no regrets whatsoever in life...even when they are still quite young....i mean i have a whole lot of them...i am thinking of making a list actually...and they just keep on adding as life goes on....they start right from the early childhood days....and list is just endless from there....in future somewhere down the line...if God decides to be kind to me....and asks me

'CHOOSE ONE THING YOU WANT TO REDO'...i will struggle to choose that elite one...

btw...do 'I want a redo of wimbledon final last year and want fedex to win'...or 'a redo of 2003 world cup final...and see india winning...' come under personal regrets??

There will always be a next time....but i dont want that second chance...i want the first chance for the second time....

Amhi fakt karnar samiksha....

Just a few moments back....we were enjoying ourselves...sitting in a balcony...and doing nothing....living on the 5th floor do have some advantages after all...we have the best view of the road below...its fun enjoying the traffic below...when you r not into it...just then we witnessed an accident...an auto overturned...and crashed on to a lamp post...within a few seconds a large crowd gathered...passers by stopped....for a few seconds whole world came to a standstill...i was wondering how many of these are really interested....why r they not coming forward to help....do they really care what happened to that riksha wala...or the passengers....dont they have something better to do than enjoying the 'tamasha'..i even managed to come up with Mi Mazha lines at the right time...'Badalyche kam baki jagache...amhi fakt karnar samiksha'....and then i looked at myself...ashamed..amazed...these few moments of chaos down there did bring some break for otherwise quite late evening....what right i have to comment on those people??

Parallel Processing.......

Spending way too much time on the internet, i browse a lot of sites each day and inevitably open the interesting links in a new tab so that that page is all loaded up while i am done reading with the present one. Sometimes i jump to the next one while the pictures are loading and get back again once i read a gist. Suddenly i get an IM in another window and am forced to reply there. I keep checking whether i have received the email in my mailbox on another tab. I dont get any...is a different thing altogether...Then suddenly i get a reminder alarm from McFee telling me that it is time for me to renew my subscription. i have too many tabs open on my browser window and am sure i didnt read a few that i wanted to. All this along with playing with my daughter, catering to her tantrums, watching meaningless talk shows on BBC channels and thinking about one & the other things of life...I guess i am pretty much into parallel processing too much than necessary. The great human brain is very well equipped to handle these...sometimes it needs rest for sure...

This has taken control of my life too...while reading a book, i am almost running thro' the words these days, with the brain runs a few steps ahead forming an almost clear picture of the paragraph from the two lines the mind has read. Thanks to my will power i manage to read the entire paragraph though...Even while cooking...which is irritatingly seen as my hobby is turning into a parallel processing scheme......when dal is in pressure cooker...i am already into how the sambhar will taste...

Previously, i used to be proud of this quality saying that it is the trait of a true Geminian.

But sometimes i feel it messes up my ability to produce something good...i really need to focus my mind...one topic at a time..

The world that never sleeps...

Its night time as usual....and i am doing what i loved to do most...doing nothing...staring at the ceiling...eyes wide open...but couldnt see anything....then i closed my eyes...the moment i did that...a whole world started dancing before my eyes...the one that never sleeps...

Blogging is such a pain....

Blogging should be banned and all the sites along with it....why r they doing this to me...i am totally hooked...addicted...and now i haven't written anything for 2 weeks....and losing sleep over it...Its 2:00a.m.....I am sitting here staring at my laptop with the dumbest look on my face....when i am supposed to be sleeping peacefully...dreaming of some crazy stuff...but the thing is i don't know what to write and where to start...

In the meantime...i found out a wonderful quote....'you can trust a enemy because you know what to expect. Honestly, Its the friend who you should be afraid of....you will never know how will he behave next....well...well this is nothing to do with my life...i am crazy about friends....its a universally known fact...and let me be clear with it...in spite of having wonderful families pre and post marriage...i just cant live without friends....

to come back to the business called blogging...i wonder how these column writers survive?...to come up with topic every week...and to write on that topic...they must be truly talented....so first thing i want to do tomorrow is find a way to transfer all the thoughts in my mind on to paper....oh well...what the hell....i am an addict...i confess that...

Slumdog Millionaire.....

These are the days when you must have slumdog millionaire somewhere in your blog...ur blog gets a boost...char chand lag jate hain....:).....its a fashion statement to talk about this movie....as happens with most of the topics-in-vogue...you can love it or hate it...but you can't ignore it...everybody is talking about it...the director...actors.....critics...media...common people...ex-fiancees are coming out of nowhere....everybody is joining the bandwagon...so you see i had no option but to write about 'slumdog' :)

i saw this movie a long way back...when it wasn't in the headlines for the right reasons or the otherwise....thank god....i could watch it in peace..without any preconceived notions...without any bias...and i genuinely liked it....the theme, the way it was handled...the way the child actors performed...and the KBC angle to it...in fact one of the best moments of the film according to me..is when jamal is answering the last question...he has associated himself as one of the musketeers all his life....but strangely he didnt know name of the third musketeer when it really matters...and he smiles knowing full well he doesnt know the answer...i just loved that moment...the look on his face....

to be frank...i didnt think about this possible exploitation of poverty in india for commercial purposes...portraying India as slum country...i just watched it like any other hindi movie....i dont know how much importance we should give to Oscars....but i guess i need to see it once again to reconfirm i really loved the movie....

Celebrate life....

Ever heard of a place called 'sapanta'....well...u r not alone...i read about it just a few mins back..

its a small village in the heart of Romania....there's a graveyard in the village...the local people call it 'a cemetary with a difference'...almost all of the graves are decorated by a local artist...and guess what these graves do not have the usual symbols of death...not they bear the usual 'hear lies so-and-so'....instead this artist uses his art to create some of the life these people lived on their grave...how they died...or..their profession...or their hobbies...just to tell u an example...there was this young person who was a tailor by profession...so his grave tells us how he used to spend his life.. ...i found it quite remarkable...its giving out a message...'respect the dead...& celebrate the life they had'.....

check out some of the photographs....

He cried...and the world cried with him

I dont remember the last time when i was so emotionally attached to an international sports player...but then Roger Federer is not just a player...he is the phenomenon..and when he broke down after loss in Aus Open Finals, the toughest of the guys on the earth had tears in their eyes...well...nothing to take away from rafael nadal...he played like a champion....and he deserved to win it...and he also showed what a great human being he is....but when a loss brings out that kind of feelings not only among followers but also his critics...you know that Fedex is not just another tennis player...take a break fedex...and come back stronger...we know you will...

Lateral thinking...

read something interesting today...an experiment was carried out with a group of people....consider this problem....there is a candle on the table....and there are some matchsticks lying around the candle....plus we have some drawing pins/push pins kept in a open paper box....we are in a room.....so the problem is how to put the candle on the wall using the tools you have...candle must be perpendicular to the ground....what do u think?....somebody come up with the answer...but after a long delay...and he was the only person who come up with this solution...

take out the drawing pins from the box....fix the box to the wall with the drawing pins...thus the box become a horizontal surface parallel to the ground....then melt some candle wax and fix the candle in the box....and then light with matchsticks...

do u know why nobody else could come up with this answer....? because almost everyone didnt take the box as a tool into consideration...they were thinking the box was just a box holding the drawing pins and not the tool to be used in the problem....

interesting...isnt it?

I love losers....

I love routing for a person or a team....who doesnt make it till the end....its a long story....i always end up on the losing side..When IPL started ....i was routing for Kolkata Knight Riders.....my heart is with dada...and wherever he plays...thats my team...but they were out...i thought i should support mumbai indians..being a maharashtrian....then in the semis...i supported yuvi's team...this trend continued till the finals...Rajashthan Royals won the championship...one major factor being i was against them....and this isnt limited to cricket...just the other day..when kartiki won srgmp little champs...i was routing for arya all the way...history repeats itself time & again...i wanted mangesh borgaonkar, sumit raghvan, sayali panase to win...they all lost...i just dont understand what goes wrong every time?

A gift

i was wondering....what did u look for when u decide to give a gift...what r ur criteria if you do have any...i tried to think it thro...and came up with many...strictly my perception...here it goes...not necessarily in that order..

1. what that person means to you...

2. the occasion...of course

3. Is that useful?

4. Are u sure...that person will like ur gift?

5. I try to include some special element as a surprize in the gift..and if not in gift directly..then in the way of giving, place of giving anything at all...anything that makes that gift doubly special & enjoyable..

6. a personal touch..i mean writing ur name & the name of the person to whom u r giving this gift is very much important for me..some people find it interesting to omit their names...i dont..i prefer to write some sort of message along with the gift.

7. it should not be a burden on the other person...not in the monetary sense...not in any other sense...

Dhudgus....(Chaos??)

i was in a very bad mood in the morning....just the last evening i witnessed sa re ga ma pa megafinal..and was totally disappointed....i was supporting Arya thro' and thro'...ok...she didnt win...but kartiki???? it was a shock to see kartiki surpassing likes of Arya & Prathamesh..at the same time it was quite obvious considering last few episodes...anyways..so fact of the matter is i was still fuming when i woke up in the morning...and was in desperate search of something to distract me...then i stumbled upon this movie...'Dhudgus'....i must say its a treat to watch...a must see movie...the story is based in a village where a simple village girl marries an army officer from another village...even before they start knowing each other...the very next day he is called back to border...and subsequently killed in the war...now nobody wants this poor girl..not her in laws...not her parents...she is considered 'pandharya payachi' by all...then the wheel turns...a political leader announces a compensation of 25 Lacs & a few acres of land....
what happens next.....the poster says it all...'suruwat nako chukwus...shewat nakos sangus'.....i better stop here...I just have a doubt...do the chaos mean 'dhudgus'???? i think 'savla gondhal' is a much closer word...what say?