My World

Things that keep you up into the wee hours

2011-03-18T14:52:00.008+05:30

I seem to have these 2-year cycles! Every couple of years, the writing bug bites a chunk off of me and my writing hand decides to wake up.

This particular urge was set off around 2 am last night. It's funny how often you get the urge to write at the precise moment when you know that you should be doing something far more important, in this case, sleeping. But, that's the way it is. It's difficult to put into words at 3 pm what I was feeling at 2 am, but I'll give it a shot.

But anyway, to get get back to my urges, this one came on after I'd finished yet another romance novel a la Mills and Boon by which time it was after 1 am so I reluctantly shut my laptop and closed my eyes. Unfortunately, it didn't work the way it was supposed to. Usually, when I close my eyes, I'm asleep within minutes but this time, the Sandman was obviously taking a night off.

So I got to thinking about the book I'd just finished reading. The one with the perfectly arrogant hero, sassy and beautiful heroine and passion to send your heart racing into the stratosphere. We all read these, we all sigh over them and then we forget them because we know that, much as we wish it were true, that guy does not exist in the real world.

Only I couldn't stop thinking about it. And wishing for it. And then it hit me - what's wrong in wishing for it? Yes, it's unlikely; yes, it's nigh impossible; but then, I already know all of that. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, not someone who pines after stuff that's unattainable; a practical person. I don't do that, at least not after the initial 10 minutes of the "damn if only I was in that book, life's so unfair" tirade.

And so I thought, why not wish for it? Why not want a guy who is strong, funny and intelligent, someone who adores me from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, someone who I will love with all my heart? I sure as hell deserve no less.

Even in this world of cynics, I believe in my happily-ever-after. I believe in all the mushy stuff, the floating hearts, the coincidence-that-isn't-really-coincidence-but-actually-serendipity, and in Mr. Right. Am I setting myself up for disappointment? Probably :) But it won't stop me from dreaming.

With which happy resolution, I turned over, closed my eyes and floated off into oblivion to dream...

I got a job!!!

2009-07-03T17:29:00.003+05:30

after 2 years of silence, i suddenly have the urge to write again. whether this urge is a short-lived one or not is to be seen :)

anyway, news from my side - i have managed (pata nahi kaise!) to get a job! it's with an organisation named Dhriiti - The Courage Within (www.dhriiti.org). we work towards promoting entrepreneurship among youth. to tell you the truth, before i joined Dhriiti, i hadn't really thought about entrepreneurship. the only entrepreneur i knew was Sujit Mahapatra of Bakul Foundation (www.bakulfoundation.org) where i volunteered for 2 years (more on that later) but it was still just another word for me. then suddenly one day my MA was done and since further studies didn't appeal to me at all, i had to get a job. i applied in all sorts of places, went to mumbai to meet a couple of people, but nothing really appealed to me.

i had sent my CV to Dhriiti and had been asked to fill out an application form (which at first glance looked easy enough till i came to the last question!). then i had a telephonic interview with Nidhi Arora and Anirban Gupta, the founders of Dhriiti, which seemed to last forever but was only 20 minutes long. 2 days later, while shopping with my mom, i got a msg from Nidhi asking me to check my mail. i got home, saw my mail which had an offer letter from Dhriiti and did a little jig around the library before going downstairs to give ma the good news :)

i joined on the 1st of june, it's been a month already, and i love my work!! abhi filhaal i have to run off home so will blog later. ciao!

Father William and poetry

2007-06-14T10:03:00.000+05:30

"You are old, father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
Do you think, at your age, it is right?

"In my youth," father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
Pray what is the reason for that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment -- one shilling a box --
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his fater, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose --
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs.
-- Lewis Carroll

isn't it just delightful? this is a poem i came across in my first year of college. in school, except for a few gems, i found poems highly dull and boring. so when i entered college, i wasn't looking forward to poetry class with any marked enthusiasm.
the first surprise was my teacher, who had this great vocabulary and an amazing sense of humour. he made me feel at home at once and introduced me to the wild and wonderful world of peotry. this was a one of the first poems i studied in his class. it delighted me so much that i memorised the whole thing and nearly drove my frinds crazy, reciting it again and again!
this poem and my teacher were a major reason why i went on to study english literature in my undergraduate class. father william taught me that poetry could be as interesting as prose and sometimes more so. my teacher taught me to look beyond the lines, to appreciate their innate and sometimes unconcious humour, and for that i am grateful.

2007-03-23T09:36:00.000+05:30

Cogito ergo sum

Familiar with Asterix? Then the above phrase must have sent you back to your childhood. It brought back fond memories for me. I spent so many years trying to figure out what it meant and I finally found the place of knowledge :D
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A218882
Their phrases are pretty handy and loads of fun. It's unbelievable how extremely serious a phrase like "I tought I taw a puddy tat" can sound. So dig in and enjoy!!

But what is so sad is that these days hardly anybody even recognises Asterix or Obelix. If I ask around among my friends, the name Asterix will be recieved with a blank stare. I feel so sorry for all those people out there who have never experienced the joy of Asterix's latest escapade or laughed at Cacofonix's latest tune. Tintin fares a little better coz of the recent cartoon series. But how can anyone appreciate Captain Haddock's rich repertoire of curses after they've been translated into Hindi? The original words have to be heard to be fully appreciated. One of my personal faves - "Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles in ten thousand thundering typhoons!" How can you not love something like that???
My father has almost the whole series of Asterix and Tintin comics. When I was a kid, I would lie around for hours and hours upon end, leafing thru the books one by one. Back then, I couldn't understand much more than the basic story, but that was hilarious enough for me. Now, when I open one of those books, I appreciate deeper layers of meaning, the slight nuances here and there. The names in the Asterix comics make a lot more sense now. Who could forget the incredible chief Vitalstatistix, the potions of the druid Getafix, the quarrels between Fulliautomatix the blacksmith and Unhygenix the fishmonger? And why would anybody want to forget anything so wonderful! My parents, my brother and me, we are all fans of Asterix and Tintin. We've read the comics innumerable times and conversations at mealtimes are so full of allusions that an outsider would feel absolutely lost.
The comics that come out today are nice no doubt, but they aren't a patch compared to the vagaries of Asterix and his horde of Gauls or to Tintin and Captain Haddock's merry curses!

2006-10-07T10:46:00.000+05:30

Leisure

What is this life, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows;

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass;

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night;

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
- W.Henry Davies

a poem i studied in school, when i was in class 5 or 6. it's a poem which has always remained with me, specially the first couplet. whenever i read it, it seems to describe our life as it is today to a "T", and the wry humour in these lines never fails to put a smile on my face.

2006-08-19T22:49:00.000+05:30

today, while i was returning home from my french class, i got to thinking about the person i used to be when i was in school. i was the misfit in class. i was different, very shy, wouldn't talk to anybody easily. till i got out of school, i still had a kind of childish innocence, a shyness, a quietness. i was so lonely sometimes, looking at other kids with their friends, wondering if i would ever have anything as deep as they did. i always wondered if i would ever find a place where i truly fitted in, coz in school i always felt like the square peg trying to get into the round hole. don't get me wrong, school was one helluva ride and i have plenty of wonderful memories, fond memories. but there are also some which always make me feel bitter. they make me feel sorry for the person i was. i want to go back in time and console her, tell her that years hence, you will find good friends, friends who will care abt you, friends who will not judge you by the way you look or by the way you behave, friends who you can have a real conversation with without worrying abt what you're saying or what that person will think abt you.
and i can say all this because i have found friends like that. people who like me, people who trust me, trust my decisions. people who're willing to take a chance on me. people, who have helped me discover a part of me which i did not know existed. i am so grateful to all of them. i am so happy, for i have found the friends i'd always wanted to have.
but sometimes, i miss that quiet, shy girl. sometimes, i can not recognise who i have become. i look at myself in the mirror and think - who is this who stares back at me? who is this girl who now has so much of confidence as to be able to talk to strangers (an unthinkable act back in school)? who is sometimes so bubbly, so full of life? even now, i wonder how that shy girl would have reacted to things that have happened, to things that are happening. i sometimes ache to go back to being that girl again, shut up in my quiet shell, alone with my thoughts yet yearning for somebody to come and unlock me. there are still parts of me that are locked deep down within me. maybe someday, i'll find that somebody, who will help me realise my true self. someday...

2006-07-30T14:28:00.000+05:30

hey everyone!! this is the bookworm from the beautiful country of india. as you can make out, reading is my passion and books are my life. well...they're some 50% of my life anyway :) the rest is occupied by music , my friends and my family. i've recently taken up french and believe me when i say, this language is as tough as it is elegant! just the art (yes it's an art!!) of speaking it with the proper pronounciation makes it quite mind-boggling. i've been wondering how long it'll take me till i don't have nightmares abt saying something the wrong way and putting off some gorgeous frenchman :D
well that's abt it right now. till next time bonne nuit!