the little red haired girl

Anew

2009-12-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

While I still love Charlie Brown and love being his Little Red Haired Girl, somewhere I feel like I am more than just that so I've created a new blog. Like me, it's going through a transitional period and requires a lot of work in terms of aesthetics and finishing. However, the soul and writing are present so you can see my new posts at: silatoria.blogspot.com

I shall work on it slowly and let it grow into a new entity. It's been a fun few years here but now the little red haired girl is growing up a bit and she needs more space.

Much love!

Warnings of un-warmth

2009-12-06T05:28:00.001-08:00

You know it's really cold when you:
1. warm your hands over your keyboard
2. stalk people with lit cigarettes for some smokey warmth
3. question the dangers of global warming

On Oxford and other bovines...

2009-10-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Oxford has finally unleashed its true avataar today – grey, wet and cold! After two weeks of clear skies and sunlight that shone on flowers and through stained-glass; today we were assaulted by an incessant drizzle and a disturbing sea of grey. I should have read the signs. Over the last few days, people have been wearing more jackets and scarves and mufflers and raincoats and carrying umbrellas. I scoffed at those people. I refused to wear layered clothing. I contracted a cold. Prior to this becolden state, though, quite a lot was happening in my life and this is a small sampling:

I have no idea where to start but I think my room is a good place. It’s a tiny, quaint room in crooked building with a winding wooden staircase and I absolutely love it! My window faces the road and I can hear everything from the heels of shoes and random chatter to the post-pub singing and breaking of bottles! My college is the smallest one in the University and right opposite my department. Everyone is extremely helpful and the dining hall caters to everyone, including people who have eating disorders like vegetarianism. The library has beautiful stained-glass windows and wooden interiors where you can drink coffee and catch up on your reading. When it gets too cold, there is a blanket at the back of your chair to wrap yourself in!

The architecture of this town played with my senses for a while. While the buildings are compact, the work on the buildings (windows/ statues/lamps/etc.) is rather large and for some reason this completely confused me! I wasn’t aware of this but constantly miscalculated distances and the relative sizes of birds and vehicles next to buildings!

During Fresher’s Week there are hundreds of orientation and induction programmes. All the students ran around like headless chickens between departmental and college activities. The Freshers Fair took place in the examination hall and it was packed with stalls for everything from Scottish dancing and underwater hockey to societies that were interested in medieval weapons! I went mad. I became a compulsive signer and signed on for all kinds of activities. I don’t even remember most of it. Everything is a haze of colour, people and signatures! I loved the room with the religious groups. It started with a Sikh group (manned by a boy who had cut his hair!) and went on to Hindu, Christian and so on, until it ended with an atheist society. The agnostics probably didn’t know whether they believed in starting a society.

On the last night of Freshers Week, my college organised a pub-crawl. We had to go to a number of pubs and answer a set of questions. It seemed to be more of a pub race and I couldn’t understand why it was called a crawl; barring the fact that they expected us to get absolutely sloshed and come back on all fours. When I saw people being tied together at the ankle, I realised that as a four or five-legged race to the pubs we would all be crawling. My group had four people and we almost gave up before we left the college. Our porter gave us a motivational speech and rhythm of ‘one, two, one, two’ to chant. Duly motivated by his enthusiasm we marched on. It was a difficult task and we had to avoid people, vehicles and dustbins. We chanted ‘one, two, one, two’, then moved to ‘un, dos, un, dos’ and finally ‘ek, do, ek, do’. One Indian was completely puzzled by four people, who were tied together, trooping down the road and shouting numbers in Hindi and he screamed back ‘teen, char, panch’! We soon gave up and walked as free soles down the streets of Oxford. We motivated those who were still tied together and silently supporting the other creatures who had given up like us. In one club we were assaulted by a strange mix of music: The Beatles, Rihanna, The Spice Girls and Boyzone. The DJ didn’t even try to keep the tempo up. I ached for a trashy punju song that I could actually dance to. After that noisy, funny and animated night we walked back quietly to college. On the way, we passed the Radcliffe Camera. There was something majestic and awe-inspiring about seeing the moon shine through the dark clouds that moved swiftly behind such an imposing building. In that lighting, Oxford looked a lot like south Mumbai and it felt strangely familiar yet different. This mixture of familiarity with a strong portion of the bizarre is a perfect way to sum up my experiences at Oxford. It’s a place where I feel like I’ve been for years and yet at times feel like it’s absolutely strange and new. At any rate, it should be a good adventure.

Building: Brilliant blunders

2009-07-15T03:30:00.001-07:00

Imagine your hall being flooded with rainwater. Granted, that was easy to imagine and you did not have to tax your brain too much. Now, imagine the same when your house is approximately twenty meters in the air and almost a kilometer away from the river, and this flooding occurs while the entire city is going through a drought.

A miracle? Or perhaps a sign from a higher power telling me that while others may suffer, She knows that I am a virtuous woman and I will be spared? Alas, it was neither. This morning’s flooding was merely a direct result of a few brilliant architects and civil engineers. Yes, these aforementioned Brilliants made a series of decisions, such as the drainage pipe of my balcony must be located near the door that separates my balcony from the hall. Thus, the balcony now slopes towards my hall. They also decided that aesthetics took precedence over functionality. They believed that the edifice of the building would be marred by an ungainly pipe running down the wall. Thus it was embedded in the wall of the building and the wall was left stark naked for all to admire.

Neither of these decisions are problematic in themselves, however sometimes when a drainage pipe is heavily clogged it must be unblocked by breaking the pipe and removing whatever waste has logged itself inside. This has happened to the one in our balcony, except to break the pipe we will need to break portions of our balcony and the walls of the subsequent five floors through which this pipe runs. So, when it poured yesterday night, the rainwater could not gush down the clogged pipe and stagnated in the very balcony that slopes towards the hall, and ultimately seeped into the hall. And thus my hall, that is approximately twenty metres in the air and almost a kilometer away from the river, was flooded with rainwater while my city was going through a drought.

Mad munchkins

2009-06-21T11:10:00.001-07:00

For over a month, my narrow little lane had been hijacked by the neighbourhood children as a battle ground for cricket, badminton, cycling, running, hiding, screaming and laughing. This made activities like driving, walking and standing extremely hazardous. You never know when a little munchkin will crash into you or worse when a cricket ball will do the same. The local watchmen, car owners, vegetable vendors, pedestrians and dogs, pray collectively everytime they hear the screaming that heralds a sixer. Gods are invoked, chanting is resorted to and there has been considerable adult bonding over the fear of broken merchandise.

The children however, choose to be oblivious to the fear that they have caused. The mini-munchkins have a disorganized running and screaming routine while the older children have organised their running and screaming into the framework of games. By evening, they bring out packs of cards, shuffle them up and take over the staircases and entrances of buildings. Mellowed down after a day in the sun, they stare at their cards intently and try desperately to win at Uno and ekka-pa-char.

About two weeks ago, the aforementioned newly religious parents formed a union and loudly vocalised their fears for their cars and lives, to the munchkins. The solution to stop these potentially dangerous games was a total ban on playing on the road. The adults who believed that this would result in some peace were rudely shocked. The children just redefined the rules and space required. For example, the cricketers play happily within our society by declaring anything more than a foot from the bowler/batsman a boundary and anything two feet away a “SIXXXXERRR”. So the noise, animated individuals with their hazardous flying objects continue to dash around unabated.

Unabated, that is, until last week when schools restarted and cursed my lane to a lonely existence with stationary vehicles and adults.

Syncing, to swim.

2009-05-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ghalum gu ta ka ta di… Yesterday I felt like I was in a funk. I was lethargic yet restless, asocial and generally very bored. I didn’t want to go out, I didn’t want to meet people, I toyed with the idea of going for a walk to the hill and sitting quietly by myself near the quarry but I eventually vetoed that idea as well. Gin-a-tom… ta- tai- tayum tat- ta-… But this strange feeling had to be dealt with, I wouldn’t sleep for another 6 hours and I didn’t want to spend that time floating around like a grumbling ghost. I saw Eyeless in Gaza lying on my desk. I had wanted to reread it but right now I really didn’t want to delve into the life of Anthony Beavis so that idea was chucked. Kita taki taam... dhet tam… kita taki tai…tat tai… I wasn’t even feeling hungry so my mind could not be pacified with food! And then it struck me that there was only one thing I wanted to do – dance.

Kita tam dhet tam tai tat tai… After tying my duppatta and closing my door I warmed up. I started with a few shlokas and surprisingly all that grouchiness disappeared! On a lark, I decided to do the first item we were taught – the allarepu. It is a short little dance, which just makes you keep moving. It’s been years since I did my first allarepu and I couldn’t remember it completely. Tam dhet tam tai tat tai… I danced in fits and starts, I’d get a whole part and then suddenly the next part would be alien to me. I played the beats continuously in my head. I invented steps where I couldn’t remember them, ad libbed and generally messed around. The body knew that the steps were wrong and strange but through this process, the brain would suddenly remember the correct step! It would seem so simple and obvious when you remembered it! Those eureka moments are incredible, it’s like suddenly remembering an old face or someone you knew in your childhood and loved. You feel so happy and warm.

Tam dhet tam tai tat tai… Yesterday was like using a map in my head with certain landmarks visible but the connecting right and left turns missing and as I kept dancing I’d suddenly remember a right turn here and a left turn there until slowly the whole map became visible and I knew how to get from start to finish perfectly. And suddenly the world seems at peace. Kita taki taam.

Armchair activism and other redundant pieces of furniture

2009-03-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

I read that Earth Hour is going to change the whole Global Warming scenario. All I have to do is switch off my lights for one hour for one day in the year. This act will inspire the World Leaders at Copenhagen to choose policies that will fight the gaseous terrorists of global warming. Then I can sit smugly in the dark, commending myself on my sensitivity to international ecological issues.

Bah, humbug.

How is this really going to make a difference? The representatives at Copenhagen have already been chosen to work on issues to reduce global warming, why do we need to further inspire them? But that’s a subsidiary issue. What I really want to know is whether the decisions made there will actually work as they are supposed to. People who want to work around the agreement will find loopholes and grey areas to misuse the words written and signed on. Or worse, they will create legal spaces that could work against the very goal of the agreement. The Kyoto Protocol, for example, was supposed to work towards reducing carbon emissions. Or as they put it, “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. Thus, every country now has a certain amount that it can pollute. A new found right to pollute. If a country is not polluting to the full extent that it is authorised, carbon trading allows the country to sell its rights to an over-polluting country. Whatever else the treaty may have done, it has also justified polluting and created legal spaces within which it now becomes economically viable to pollute.

Is that what they set out to do? What is the value of such treaties that are distorted or not enforced effectively? They degenerate into hollow words printed on nice stationary.

To know why these things happen we don’t have to look beyond ourselves. We don’t take an active role in creating, criticising and enforcing rules. Somewhere an understanding that creating rules is the work of the government and following, criticising and making sure that these rules are enforced efficiently is offloaded on civil society organisations. All we citizens need to do is switch our lights off for Earth Hour. But why do we need to make this difference between civil society organisations and civil society as a whole? We, as concerned citizens, have to take part in the processes that create and enforce rules. Apart from all of this, why do we need external bodies to decide how much work we can and should do? Can we not be self-propelled individuals?

There is some value to laws and policies, there is even value to motivational gimmicks like Earth Hour but these are of additional value. They are incomplete in themselves. We can’t divorce ourselves from issues and expect things to work out. We have to go beyond these comfortable spaces of activism and actually take part in the issues we believe in.

Stationery: the movement

2009-01-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

Stationery!! Oh glorious stationery! I am officially addicted to it. I get lost in stationery shops. The colours, textures, sizes and shapes boggle my mind. I am prone to ogling at paper, only to be pushed by the annoyed person who I've blocked for the last 15 minutes. How can you not fall in love with these shops? Most of the addiction revolves around paper - hand made paper, printed paper, thin and thick paper, sparkly and subdued paper; I love all paper. My tongue drops out as I pass by the section of books, the paper clips, the pens and pencils and don't even get me started on Post-its! My heart, my soul and all my materialistic tendencies dance together while I move through the stationery shop. But, I realise that stationery is redundant and that this obsession is not healthy. I have to kick the habit, get onto a de-addiction programme of sorts. I'm sure there are patches for this, and maybe just maybe they come in different shapes and sizes and colours and textures......

Of chains and other electronic fetters...

2009-01-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

I was asked to continue and propagate a chain blog by Harshad. The rules are:

1. I shall write 6 random things, and 'tag' six people to continue this
2. They shall proceed to write six random things, and 'tag' six random people
3. They shall intimate me when done.

I shall be a little rebellious by writing but not propagating ;)

1. I love finding post offices, the 'speed post' signs to be more precise, in random cities.
2. I hate the sound of cotton when scratched by nails (human).
3. I'm a sexist, women are vastly superior to men.
4. I'm claustrophobic.
5. I am plotting to conquer the world and become a benevolent despotic empress.
6. I think lauki (doodhi/bottle gourd) and boiled carrots should be banned. They corrupt the impressionable minds of all those who consume them and are thus the sources of all the evil in the world today.

That's all folks!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-13T04:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a new year! It’s the 13th of January and as my numerologist (a wise woman called Chiquita) says I should begin all auspicious things on the 13th of the month, I write my first blog of the year today. Those unfortunate souls who read this post shall be subjected to a sentimental one because I awoke on the 1st of January smiling like an idiot. Why the silly grin? I don’t know, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it was a smile of hope. I got up from my bed (stupid smile still in place) and realised that it really was a beautiful day. I could see the amazing Pune winter sun, people bundled up and walking like cartoon characters, kids cracking up as they fogged up windows and wrote what I imagine to be censored stuff. I also realised that this happens everyday and I hadn’t seen it for a long time. I should have seen all these events on the days before but I was too consumed by work. I awoke every morning dreading the day ahead, rushing through everything, hoping to finish work and eventually crashing again. Only to do the same thing everyday after that. I don’t want to feel like a robot at 22 or at any age for that matter. I want to wake up like I did on the 1st of January - happy, hopeful and high! However, I needn’t have waited till the first of January to realise this. New beginnings can happen anytime. The 9th of May or the 17th of September (sorry, I mean the 13th of May or the 13th of September) are beautiful days to begin a new year. The point is not the date but the essence of starting a new year.

So people, my first blog of the year is corny, clichéd and very carpe diemesque, but so am I! Happy New Year!

Words

2008-10-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

I've realised that although words are cheap, they’re cheaper if you buy them in bulk..

To boldly go where no ear has gone before...

2008-10-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

The other day, while I was harmlessly (and till then, happily) having lunch, a friend of mine told me that I had a leaf in my hair. As I was going to remove the said piece of foliage, he realised that there was no leaf. No indeed, what he had seen was my ear sticking out from under my hair! And thus I was reminded of the fact that my ears are not even remotely proportionate to my face. Bah! Not great stuff to be reminded of! On the bright side however, if NBC decides to make an Indian version Star Trek (the Indian Generation?), I’ll have a guaranteed role… Beam me up Shetty!

Gearless

2008-08-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Why do bikes not have a reverse gear? Why, why, why oh why can't they have a reverse gear and spare my calf muscles the pains of turning into steel?

What an Idea!!!

2008-08-24T18:53:00.001-07:00

Have you seen this Idea advertisement with Abhishek Bachan in it? If you haven’t please be bored for a minute or two as I inform you of the contents of the ad. Our Bachan, a padre at some catholic school, is heartbroken when he sees all the children he has to kick out because the school lacks the space to house them. As he sits, completely udhaas, in his chapel and pow-wows with the creator an IDEA as bright as a burning bush dawns upon him –he must install phones in classes and in various villages across the length and breath of India (apparently God and the Birlas have an instant hotline, so setting the whole system was not a problem at all). Thus giving poor lil underprivileged kids in far flung villages the honour of learning how to say ‘good morning’ from various condescending old farts, who chide them if they do not speak correct English!

Then second advertisement in this series is even better. Here our padre is replaced by a phoreign returned man who has found himself with a big car in a small village and no directions (darn these 3^rd world navigation systems!). He asks a small village boy for directions, in accented English. Immediately realising that the natives would not understand his language, he talks in Hindi, albeit with a face which would imply certain tummy problems. But he is shocked (and awed?) when our little gaon ka chora replies in tuta-futa English! This is the part where tears are supposed to run down our Indian eyes and we stand up clapping, truly believing that India can develop! This is India shining ladies and gentlemen, luminously shining! Does not your heart thump with pride when you see such beautiful ads that proudly tell us to throw away our silly cultural heritage and other such paraphernalia like identity, literature, self confidence etc as we prostrate ourselves before the inappropriate, unrealistic and degrading IDEAS of development? Does not a smug, sickly smile erupt on your satiated face (not unlike the one on Mr. Bachan) when you think, ‘What an Idea’?

Namaste…. I errr mean…guud dey saarji!

An Old Woman Ranting

2008-05-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

I have come to realise that I am not too fond of digital cameras. I think they’ve taken away the mystery and excitement of photography. I know they’re cheaper, more convenient, allow for more flexibility blah blah blah... but in an utterly romantic way I liked the sturdiness of my analog slr, that I had to decide what frame was actually worth 1/36^th of my roll, that I never knew what my pictures looked like until I got them back from the developers. There was a certain beauty and richness that came with the time and effort that these cameras demanded. They did not pander to my every whim, they had attitude and self respect. You had to work around and with the camera. No VR or IS to pamper my tired hand, no auto focusing to pamper my eyes. There is something so deliciously wonderful of having to do work, to push yourself to get a good result. These cameras inspired just that.

The Curse of the Iron

2007-10-17T23:35:00.000-07:00

Do you believe in ghosts/supernatural powers/evil or not-so-evil-yet-otherworldly spirits? If the answer is yes, then keep your irons out of my home.
Let me explain why: we have had one iron that has diligently ironed all our clothes for almost 18 years. 18 years! It has travelled with us, grown up with us, straightened out everything from my kindergarten uniform to my clothes for college. Then we shifted to this house. At first nothing seemed amiss, nice locality, plenty of trees, close to our colleges and offices. And then it happened. The iron stopped working! We realised that it was an old iron and thought no more about it. Went to the nearby electrical goods store (EGS) and got a new one. It ironed well enough, but then within a few months it just refused to heat up. We swore at the unreliability of modern day gadgets and bought a new one and lo and behold it conked off too! What could this be other than the work of evil spirits??? We are currently on iron no. 4, and I worry for it. Poor innocent thing doesn't know that the evil spirits in my plug points are going to get it soon. Everyday we switch it on and heave a sigh of relief as we see the light go red. But how long can we live like this? How many irons are we going to lose before those iron-sucking devils are satisfied? When will this torture end?

If, however, your answer to my first question is No, then you’ll believe my next theory: all the electrical shops in the area are trying to multiply their profits by selling self-destructive irons! I’d explain this in detail but I don’t want the EGS thugs after me…

Down with the Dictator

2007-01-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

Sacrilege! It finally happened. There was talk about this day arriving but we never believed it. Call it Kaliyug or Armageddon, but the time has arrived:

Fergusson College has stopped its students from sitting at the katta!

Don’t get it? Let's back track a bit.
1: what is a katta?
It is an informal meeting point for people. Where we sit, relax and gab.

2: The Fergie katta is the Main Circle. It is a beautiful place where you can see everyone in college and it has the most convenient little cemented wall, which all us students use to rest our laurels.

Now back to the present:
Our new dictatorial principal wants to see more people in classrooms as opposed to at the Main Circle, but what he does not realize is that often we have breaks between lectures and we require a nice place to socialise.

Now our princi is a smart man, not only has he put in place short-term plans like security guards who wave their batons and shoo us away (very effective if you ask me) and sweepers who create little dust storms around people who dare disgrace the katta by sitting on it (much more effective)… no, no, our man thinks about the future. He has a long-term plan as well:

He has planted rose bushes right behind the katta!

Pure genius! After all who can say no to the beautiful roses that are sure to bloom there? And of course he never thought about the thorns that would poke people if they sat down….

But what is Fergie without its katta? A lifeless entity.
All the chatter, all the energy, all the fun of Fergie lies around a little circle, which has suddenly been whisked away...

Asatya Paul

2006-11-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

Do you know how to cure the blues? Walk into any over-priced designer shop, they are hilarious! I found this out when I stepped into a Satya Paul outlet here in Pune. The place was such a riot of colour that I couldn't understand whether they were selling paints or clothes. As I walked through the sauf filled air (which made quite hungry) I came across a cute dress. The tag fell out, displaying the price.... Twelve Freaking Thousand Rupees! Oh God! I had to suppress my laughter because there was a very sweet little attendant next to me but all I could think of was, "There is a whole Himalayan Trek in this dress!".
So I left the shop happy, and started planning a Himalayan trek with the money which I had just 'saved'!

5 More Things I Do Not Understand

2006-10-28T03:21:00.000-07:00

The list maker in me has taken over again. And my ever questioning mind has come up with a list of 5 MORE things I don't understand. Hold on to your hats people, these are difficult questions....

1. How do people spit pan on the walls of elevator shafts?
2. Why do grandmothers think that any loss of weight implies sickness?
3. I repeat, who invented stilettos and ruined the feet and lives of women?
4. Why do Americans spell stuff differently? Did the pioneers forget English grammar as they got off the boats?
5. Why do people come up with redundant lists?

Well I hope that this cerebral list of questions got your grey (not gray) cells activated...

Need Some Green

2006-10-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Gak! Gak! Gak! My exams are going on, and on and on and on.....
Oh God! I can't remember the last time I stayed in town for so long. I haven't been for a trek, or even a day trip for nearly two months!! How have I survived?
Don't get me wrong, I love being home. Infact I'm quite a homebody, completely lazy and at peace at home. But I have my limits, ultimately I have to go out somewhere. It's been so long since I went for a trek that my skin colour has returned to normal. A phenomenon that I have not witnessed in two years! And it's freaky! Where, O where have my weird patches of tanned skin gone? Where are my innumerable freckles? How they have deserted me.
But all this must and will end soon, then I shall mount my trusty steed...well actually I'll jostle for space in a discoloured rickety Maharashtra state transport bus, and bump and roll into the sunset, towards the foot of some beautiful hill in the Sahayadries.

The Death of Enthusiasm

2006-07-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

Do you have a moment when you lose some of your naivety? I just had one today.

But first a confession: I am by nature a procrastinator. It’s what I do, and what I do well, but have been made ashamed of by my efficient peers. They do not understand how I am always one of the last people to submit my form, or do some work. I understand their point of view. Irrespective of whether I agree or not, I understand it.
But I digress.

Today I decided to correct my vice and do something on time.
I had to submit a revaluation form, so instead of doing it in a couple of days I decided today would be the submission day. I quickly checked the requirements for submission. Way up on the list were an attested copy of my mark sheet and a Demand Draft made for the University of Pune. This was a double whammy for me, not only would it involve work in the college office, but in the bank as well…two places I abhor at college.
But I did the work, well we did actually, I had my friends with me. A few lost souls who were caught on the enthusiasm wave.
It took us nearly two hours to do this. Then we went to the college office to submit the form where we learnt that we didn't need to make a DD. All we had to do was fill out the form and give the college the cash. They would do the needful. In fact they refused to accept the DD!
So we had to cancel the DD. After submitting 2 cancellation letters and losing 43 rupees each we got the DDs cancelled.
Now if I had left this work for the last moment as I normally do, my classmates would have told me not to waste my time making a DD. but I tried changing. It was naïve of me to think that changing the procrastinator in me would be good.

The moral of the story is that I should not be ashamed of the procrastinator in me. I should be proud, after all what were the 3 hours for if not to tell me to be lazy, do work at the last minute and be exactly who I am?

An Ode to a Lecher

2006-07-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Lechers. Once you turn 11, a whole new world opens up to girls: the world of lechers. 9 years into the game I’ve learnt to ignore, look down, turn the other cheek…blah blah blah with them. I wasn’t always so wise, in my youth I thought that staring back at them might shame them into looking away. How wrong I was. Then I hit the goldmine! I decided to make funny faces at the next guy who ogled at me. But I soon learnt that men were shameless and that really that didn’t affect them either. The only outcome was that I suddenly started making faces in the middle of roads, shops and pretty much any place you could imagine. This gave way to the whole cease and desist plan. You just ignored them and got on with life.
But yesterday was different. Yesterday I was bugged, it had been raining for lord knows how many days and I was at my wits end with the whole patience thingy. I was at a restaurant, wet and hungry. And as I looked for a waiter I saw one of ‘them’. As usual shamelessly looking at me, as if I was some silly little thing put up for show. Cease and desist, tia, cease and desist, I told myself. I ceased and desisted, he did not. So I look right up and into his eyes. We stood there at stalemate for a while till he put his head down! Rejoice! But then again his head came up and he met my stare with equal vigour. And I did what I had never done before, I asked him what his problem was! Ahh the joy of fighting back felt so nice. He insisted that he was a problem free guy and decided to dive into a dosa. I smiled to myself. Sometimes it’s fun to scare guys back. I know most people will think that this was a stupid little incident. But for me it was a small victory.

Shocking Pink!

2006-05-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

Lets be honest here: guys don't have too much of variety when it comes to clothes. You have collared and non-collared tees. Then plain tees and striped ones. That’s it baby. You’re are all done. But within that minuscule range there are so many pink tees!
This great piece of wisdom came to me as I went shopping with my dad today evening.
My father was bombarded with pinks and peaches and purples and mauves etc... Hell the spice girls would have felt conscious in all that pink!
I tried not to show my disgust (I am, as you might have noticed by now, a no-pink girl) but by the pink 7th tee the shop keeper got the drift! After that it was just to see me squirm! Every time he took out a pink tee he'd look at me, and suppress his laughter. Poor guy, I guess the work might get a bit repetitive after a while. Can’t deny him some sadistic happiness.
Suffice to say we came home with a blue tee and a green one.
A pretty good day, i.e. we got tees and made a shop owner laugh! My good deed is done for the day!

Trains

2006-05-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

Stations are weird places. Magical lands where you get lost and somehow find your way. There are people jostling and pushing you around (not good if you are borderline claustrophobic), sweets and all sorts of goodies being shoved into your face, a couple of lecherous guys sizing you up, dogs to avoid, the odd rat...and then the trains. Yes people, these creations of man have a magical hold over me. It’s worth all the people, madness and general chaos to sit in one of those magnificent machines and travel. The gentle rhythm of the train, wind in your face, the Western Ghats folding and unfolding before you and if you are really lucky you have great company. Life is good. Everything is perfect.

Pain

2006-05-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Life is strange. Sometimes it likes hitting you hard. Smack in the stomach, where the line between deep pain and unconsciousness is hard to define.

When you do come to, the pain sticks on, subtly but it's there. It shows up when your mind is free from other thoughts. And these silly emotional moments punctuate your existence, until you just grow out of it. And magically the pain disappears.

The very thought that would have once drained you of all your energy and emotions, is just a faint recollection of an unpleasant time.

Many factors work towards this miraculous recovery. Time is an important one, but not the only one. Sometimes you need more than just time to heal wounds. You need to go beyond the pain, acknowledge it and move on. After all life moves on and intense feelings can dissipate, till nothing remains but distant memories.

the rise of the Virgo

2006-05-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Virgo in me has erupted! For years I’ve lived life as a sloth, dirty and unconcerned about the condition of her environs, but not anymore. Possessed by the Virgo I’m on an all out cleaning frenzy. It started innocently enough…a table, another table, some shelves and before I knew I was in the midst of a spring (more like late-summer) cleaning war. It was me against the room. My little kingdom filled with unwanted, unnecessary entities. Books, clothes, pieces of paper…all and one suffered my wrath.

After this gruesome war you’d think that I’d be satisfied, but no… I now search for new territories. I’m going home to help my parents clean up the house….he he ha ha ho ho!!!!

I'm back

2006-01-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

And I'm back! Well my long absence was due to fairly embarrassing reasons. I forgot my password, four times! But shamelessly I kept applying for new passwords until I actually remembered one. Well you know what they say, 4th time's the charm.
This is merely a warning to those poor blog readers...more to come!

For Dhabolkar Aunty

2005-09-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

-In memory of Nerges Dhabolkar whose wisdom, jokes, laughter and life enriched all who met her. Thankyou aunty for everything, Pune will never be the same again.

Kareer's little jokes

2005-09-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

Hahahaha!!! Just read something ridiculous. Am falling over, unable to control my laughter. Listen to this: ALL of Pune’s roads are going to be repaired in 8 days! Amazing! Where do they come up with lines like that…

The Reason

2005-09-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

Today I saw one of the most beautiful rainbows ever! It was bright and you could actually count all the colours. The sky was grayish behind and it made for an amazing contrast. And to top it off (literally) there was a smaller rainbow right on top. Finally all this incessant irritating rain in Pune has resulted in some good. Makes you think that there is a reason for everything.

2005-09-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

5 things I don’t understand:

- Why do people tile their gardens?

- How do bus conductors always remember how much change they owe you?

- Why were stilettos invented???

- What is it with guys and 'Gunda'?

- Why did i promise a 5 point list when i have only 4 points?

2005-09-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Newsflash!!! Have YOU been to your friendly neighbourhood cosmetic surgeon?

-No.

NO? good lord where have you been you poor lost soul. Well no fear, my friend The Times of India will bail you out. They have taken it upon themselves to write hundreds of articles on plastic surgery. Last Sunday was devoted to giving people detailed information about the price ranges and the demographic of people who have plastic surgery. The Times of India reassures us that everyone from 14- 45 wants to have plastic surgery.

It’s a piece of cake. Just walk in and you can be miraculously changed. All you need is a hair transplant, chemical peel, a face-lift, some implants, a little liposuction, we could restructure your face, and the cherry on top: botox! Yes sireee, the only investment you have to make in completely losing your self-identity is a little money, and about a week to recover.

That’s all folks no kam, no jhanjat, and best of all after we are done…NO YOU!

Parineeta : tod parineeta tod...

2005-06-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went and saw the latest of the flush of Bengali-Hindi films. Call it going back to my roots etc. however after each film I feel like banning the director from filming again or shooting him (not with a camera). Normally it’s a healthy mix of both.

The latest offering was Parineeta

Basically the film is about Lalita an orphan girl who lives with her aunt and uncle next door to multi-millionaire papa’s boy Shekar. Shekar composes music and lalita pens the words. Achi jodi hain na?

The 2 become the best of friends. Shekar gives lalita the keys to his cupboard and allows her access to all his money. They grow up. Lalita gets a job in shekar’s dad’s company

Lalita’s uncle takes a huge loan from shekar’s dad and mortgages his house, a nice sprawling mansion. Lalita finds out that shekar’s dad is planning to convert her house into a hotel when he gets it. This means she has to get 1.5 lakhs in a couple of days. Weirdly she can’t tell anyone what the darn problem. Any questions about her incessant tears result in more tears. Meanwhile London returned Girish with a fetish for collecting steel plants comes into the picture and falls in love with lalita. Shekar gets jealous. She cries some more.She asks shekar for the money, but alas daddy dear calls him away at just that moment. But have no fear for Girishda is here. He gives lalita’s uncle a job and his salary of a year in advance. That amounts to 1.5 lakhs.

Problem solved.

However shekar and lalita’s ties strain further and they have a huge fight. Which ends up with them getting married in private. However after this daddy dear sends shekar on some business, where the lovely dia mirza is there to seduce shekar. Our shekar is not seduced.

Daddy dear also gives lalita’s uncle a heart attack by swearing at him and building a huge brick wall between the houses of the 2 families. Uncle nearly dies so Girish starts looking after the family. By the time shekar returns he finds out that lalita is going to marry girish!!

Shekar swears at her and slaps her. Leaving her to fall on the stairs. She cries some more.

Girish decides to take the whole family to London.

While lalita’s family is in London shekar transforms from a musician into a businessman.

Shekar learns that lalita’s family is going to return to India to perform her uncle’s last rites. So he decides to get married to Dia Mirza.

On the day of his marriage Girish informs him that he is not married to lalita BUT to koel, lalita’s cousin. Girish says that when he asked lalita to marry him all she kept saying was ‘I’m married.

In a sudden surge of regret and shame shekar shouts at his father and decides to go against his father for the first time!

Then he says he is going to meet his wife. Instead of using the door like any civilized person would, mr shekar decides to BREAK THE WALL!!!!

Never mind if the gate is right next to him. Hilariously he breaks the wall and who should be standing there on the other side? None but amar shonar Lalita.

They hug. She cries. All slaps and swear words forgotten.

The whole theater laughs.

The Start

2005-05-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

i have been told to write a blog, my deadline being 2 hrs back i think that i better start now.
so what should this philosophical blog be about? life? religion? the world? my breakfast? so many options!!!!

life:
too complicated to discuss in a short blog.

religion:
which one?

the world:
refer to 'life'

breakfast:
i'd like to say complicated but lets face it, it's not. today: curds and cornflakes.

this blog a bit shorter than i expected but after exhausting all the world-shattering topics, and the fact that it is 12:11 i have nothing more to say.

maybe some other time,
till then
asta la vista babies!