Per aspera ad astra

Surprisingly, every time I think the world has come to an end, I wake up to the promise of a new dawn.

D'ya think guardian angels would have an address? I need to send a "Thank-You" note along with a bouquet of fresh orchids.

Current Music: Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton

Humour in real life

At the guitar tuition, a pandemonium, all of us are at different levels of instruction
A fellow guitarist is playing "Pehla Nasha",
There is a prolonged moment of hushed silence, a pregnant pause,
I am transported to the future, (if all goes well, I start playing songs in a month)
Suddenly, a kid, violating the dignity of the moment and oblivious of the romance in that one minute, goes, "1" "2" "1", "2", in tune with the chords he is playing.
The waters break,
Suppressed giggles and all of us bend over our guitars once again.

He made my day, he did, that chubby faced, wide eyed kid, all of five years or maybe six
Pity, it is life herself, who bestows and snatches it away all too soon, innocence, I meant.

Current Music: Kabhi Neem Neem - Yuva

Oops, I missed it again

And how many times had I reprimanded myself, don't procrastinate, the sooner you book your tickets to NYC, the better. As is the norm, somebody else got there first.

[analysis of the misfortune]
"Slow and steady wins the race?"
Not really, my friends (if any) and foes (oh, so many), times have changed since proverbs were coined. Now, we have rabbits intelligent enough not to rest under the tree, and tortoises who've learnt how to hop onto a pair of skates.
[/end a.o.t.m]

So the pièce de résistance has been auctioned. Hmpph!
*bad girl, no donut for you* (the last four words lifted from the orkut list of error messages, usually seen when the server does not respond in a "friendly manner")
Now that we are on this, I have absolutely no idea what is to be done with orkut and an even foggier picture as to what I am doing there.

[why I signed up]
Welcome to the herd, the first invite read, and so I ventured onto the grazing lands.
"Take the road less travelled?"
Naah, my fr.& fo., times have changed, its a bad, bad world, watch out for wolves that devour bashful Li'l-Red-Riding-Hood-wannabes on unbeaten trails.
[/end w.i.s.u]

[switch the topic of discussion so suddenly, that the reader starts having those dizzy spells]
And when I actually buy a guitar in the next few weeks, one shall not be too surprised to notice a spurt in the number of for-sale-bungalows in my neighbourhood.

[why such an event might occur]
"Practice makes a (wo)man perfect!!"
Times have certainly changed, my fo. et fr., but some proverbs still make sense today.
[/end w.s.a.e.m.o]
[/end s.t.t.o.d.s.s,t.t.r.s.h.t.d.s]

Current Music: We Are One - The Lion King II - Simba's Pride
(If there is anybody personifying anachronism, allow the individual to be me. Watched Part I the other day, ten years after its release. On Part II now. Additionally, allow me to slip into 12-16-yr olds' lingo and say the movies are soooo chweet and soooo cuuute. Check out this song too. It is fantastic, more appealing if you have seen the movies.)

I see trees of green
A beautiful painting is like poetry
Red roses too
The words are colours
I see 'em bloom
And the scenes are actually feelings
For me and you
Aah, and if I could paint
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The moon and the hills it would be first
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
The rain spattering on the windowpane
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
The coffee mug with a pair of jhoomkas next to it, entangled in each other
Are also on the faces of people going by
The small boy selling gajras at the signal, barefoot, one hand holding the umbrella over his small frame
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin'.. how do you do
A deer nuzzling the other
They're really sayin'......I love you
A child with chocolate on her chubby hands, breaking into a grin, teeth missing in places
I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
Oh, how I wish I could paint, sketch the world as I see it
They'll learn much more.....than I'll never know
Not necessarily the way it would seem to the others
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself .......what a wonderful world


I often hum while I write or while I drive or even when I am doing nothing worth remembering. What you have just read is an attempt to weave in a melody into my written thoughts. The blue colored lyrics belong to the song "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Amstrong.

The inspiration for this post?
These paintings
You wouldnt blame me for this sudden longing for an easel, a canvas, paintbrushes et al.

Stray trigonometric thoughts

Two friends (and if applicable, two people in love) should complement each other, and not desperately-in-a-very-obvious-way (yes, I do know a few) get the angle of their differences as close to 0 degrees as possible

But of course, this is just my opinion, one of those many humble ones.

Life is not a bed of roses, and was never meant to be
There will be times when you will walk away from an open door, and I certainly have once or twice
There will be comparisions, and then regrets galore
But then, life is not entirely a walk on a thorn-ridden path too
It's all in the mind, if you do things that make you happy, the disgruntlement can disappear, even if for a few hours, even if for a few days
It's all in the mind, it really is
All you have to do is bow to your other desires too, your other wishes that tend to take a backseat in the rollercoaster ride that life is...


Thrice a week, I strum away on the guitar
Thrice a week, I also study Japanese
Saturdays, I shall be helping out an NGO by teaching English to instructors who hold daily makeshift classes for slum kids

Even if for a few hours, at such times, my rollercoaster will always be on its way up, with the view from the top being something I have always longed to experience.

Current Music: What a wonderful world - Louis Amstrong
This song has such a positive feeling to it, couldn't help but get carried away and write this post

Having an old age home next to a mortuary could be mere coincidence.
(Punekars, I am referring to the ones off Gadgil bridge)

On the contrary, it could be because its so damn practical and neat to have it that way.

Over the years, I wouldn't be surprised if they build rehab centers next to software co.s, catering wholly and "soul"ly to the workaholics.

Current Music: One - U2
(What can I say about this song, its in a class of its own)

It was a Monday, I don't remember if it was raining, I think not, that year India was facing a drought situation. At 9:30 AM, a very nervous girl stepped into a building, that would be like a second home to her over the next few months. Even today, she still sits in the same workhall, her cubicle isn't the same one though.

Two years down the line, I look back and I see a stranger in a pink-n-white salwar-kameez (it was one of my lucky ones :).

So much has changed, not surprisingly, so have I.

(This blogger completes 2 yrs in her first job today)

Current Music : Vellai Pookal - Kannathil Muthamittal

*Update* - Err.. talk about publicising an event as ordinary and commonplace as a two-year anniversary :D

The Chameleon

Is it pride?
Or shyness?
Stubborness?
Not to leave out self-respect
No, its just that he/she is an introvert
Or rather headstrong
And what about the unwillingness to adjust?

The ego, I think, is easily the most bewildering (and the most misunderstood?) abstract notion that exists.
A trait that can see you fall or help you rise
One which can stop you from getting there or help you get there
A trait strong enough to lead to self-destruction and at the same time powerful enough to lead to triumph.

Current Music : Say You Say Me - Lionel Richie

'Tis only twice that all men are equal
When they are born and when the soul leaves the body cold
What happens in between the end and the beginning
Is a continuous process of balancing the unbalanced
Even that, I believe, is still not a valid reason
For stepping onto another's scale to steady thy own


Current Music: The Piano Theme from Love Story (sad yet lovely)

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
(understandably so, I am hooked to HP, having read and enjoyed the fifth book recently)

Visualize this scene:

You are talking to a friend, and it suddenly strikes you that etiquette demands an enquiry into the well-being of her spouse (who, unfortunately isn't on the scene of action at that moment) as well. Now, the memory being a staunch Brutus-ian, does a "you-too" and leaves you floundering in a sea of names, none which sound like a possible match for the friend's spouse.

The conversation then goes
"How is he"
"He?"
You can't very well say "your husband", 'cause oddly enough it sounds rude.

This leaves you with no options but to say one of the following:-

1. Your better half [the adjective is subject to debate]
2. The guy who was with you on the pandal stage that day, yes the one you were garlanding [very crass, I agree]
3. Select one from the sea, XYZ. [This one will decide who goes red, either she will blush if you hit bulls-eye (assuming she is the recently married sorts), or you will be embarrassed if you don’t]

Most times, I mumble something, after thinking real hard, and I mean real hard.

And off late, to add to my woes, their babies now.
*scratch head*
Was it a boy or a girl?
*scratch, scratch, scratch*

You know you are getting older, when the probability of you going grey very young in life is due to the fact that your speedily-deteriorating-single-status friends (and a temperamental memory) are trying their very best to make it happen

Current Music: To Be With You - Mr Big

In Pune, it works the other way round

If the signal in front of you turns green, its the turn of the lane to your left to race ahead.
Either they have a squint problem or the rules keep changing on a daily basis.

If I die, please take care of this blog. The username and password are kept under that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Current Music : The Christy Minstrels - Today
(a typical 60s ballroom waltz kinda song, very sweet indeed)

Hum Tum

A snip from one of my poems written in August last year, when Mars was to be sighted in the skies for about a month. Today its Her day!!

The Moon smiles, Mars, always different from the others in the Milky Way
Flamboyant, egoistic, powerful
Unfeeling towards all, except maybe one
Caring only for one, Venus, She in all her divine beauty

Trivia: That's how we remembered the rocks in school :-

My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas

(And I had a very unmentionable one for the 7-layered OSI model in computer networks i.e. APSTNDP)

Current Music: You Sang To Me - Marc Antony

One of the last nails in the coffin?

.....And when you build that house
Make sure you protect it, from the touch of another human
For unknowingly (or rather unintentionally), were the wrong card be stirred
A single instant
And it will all come crashing down
The pack of aces and jacks, kings and queens

Ruefully the cards are gathered, and stacked gingerly
All the time you remind yourself that when you build that house
......................................
Crash it does, in a moment inopportune

.....Yet again

Looking at the frequency of my posts, I would definitely fit into the category of a compulsive blogger :-), but I don't rack my brains just for the sake of some daily mumbo-jumbo, thoughts and words surprisingly materialise out of nowhere.

Overwhelmed

Waiting for all the ??? buzzing round my head to gracefully arrange themselves into a
--->

If I may, I would like to lift Amir Khn's dialogue from Rngeela,
"Life mein settle hona mangtha hai"
(Not to be mistaken for the kind of "settle" that he wanted)

Current Music : The Lion Sleeps Tonight - OST Lion King
(This is one of the most peppy songs I have heard for long, sung in a typically African accent, especially the way "lion" is pronounced)

One day, I'll procrastinate procrastinating.

It sure doesn't help having him as your mentor, your guru, your source of inspiration.

Current Music: Ennuyir Thozhiyea - Kangalal Kaithu Sei

As promised, snippets of Kerala - II

Munnar:

Sheer poetry, I don't know how else to describe it.
Rolling hills, loooong winding roads, prim and propah tea bushes (TATA owns most of them), the cold air, you know, the works.
I had expected Kerala and especially this hilly spot to be teeming with tourists, prominent amongst them being honeymooners, but thankfully we managed to steer clear of the crowds in most places. (The exception being Periyar and a post has already come up on that front).

Munnar town is tiny, comprising of a main street, two or three bylanes, thats just about it, almost like a toy village. Our hotel was 8km away from the town, up in the hills, and the drive at night, with the lights twinkling below, and the stars above, was magical, to say the least.

What to do in Munnar:
- visit the Eravikulam national park, or the numerous points where you get a view of the scenic beauty, click snaps against the roaring waterfalls
- see the leaf turn into powder at one of tea factories
- trek on the highest peak in South India - Anamudi
- take my word, just walk along the roads in the slight drizzle and watch the mist swirl on the hills(aah, heavenly).
- stop by the numerous tea stalls (and carrot stalls) for a cuppa to keep warm.

Munnar is sheer poetry I repeat, an ode should be coming up on this blog sometime soon.

(Kerala -III will feature the backwaters and Kanyakumari)

Current Music: Colors of the wind - OST Pocahontas
.....Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or let the eagle tell you where hes been
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind.......