Gossip...

I don't know what's wrong with my settings, not being able to set the heading/title for any of my posts, so doing it the chalu way. (chalu for the uninitiated is the Indian word for stop-gap arrangements). If you have been following my blog for sometime then you will know that a lot of time if I have something interesting to share then I will ramble about it for a few lines (ok not so few) and you know what is coming is fan-wait for it-tastic.
So as a lot of my friends know, I love gossiping and at times bitching,( ok I will save bitching for another day but trust me I would recommend it as the most effective stress buster better than alcohol, dope, better than anything you have ever tried, and some day someone will bend science to prove it!) Anyways coming back to good ol' harmless gossiping. Now without a doubt there can't be two oipnions on this can there? Gossip is a fun thing, and morever I am damn sure the foundations of news,print and electonic media must lie on gossip. Its human nature to be curious about others and other things and I am an advocate of the harmless fun bits your friends sometimes whisper into your ears or you discuss in hush hush tones in groups and I love the feeling when my dahlins are just bursting at the seams coz they have something interesting to tell me. And I love it when I have that can't-wait-a-micro-second-longer-to-tell-you feeling! Its bliss I teeeell you, ranks fifth on my "the best-est feeling to feel" list.
I have been gossiped about a lot in my school college,office,school (have to live upto a certain drama queen image ;) )days and I would be lying if I said it didn't affect me, coz it did, it did affect me, it always gave me a good laugh!
So, coming back to what-I-can't-wait-a-millisecond-longer-to-share find of the day. I was browing through blogs( jokemail.blogspot.com) and I chanced upon this pearly, and you just have to read this. That will give me the satisfaction that I am doing my bit by way of social service ( that thing about laughter being good for health blah) and also spreding gossip about Socrates :D

The Great Socrates




Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you hear, or are out to repeat a rumor.



In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students...?"



"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."



"Test of Three?"



"That's correct," Socrates continued.



"Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"



"No," the man replied, "actually I just heard about it."



"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"



"No, on the contrary..."



"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"



The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, "You may still pass though because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"



"No, not really..."



"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"



The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more.



This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.



It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his wife.

It wasn't easy. It could never have never been. She knew it. She had known it all along.It was as if she could look into the future and know what was to come. Her sixth sense had always helped her, warned her, prepared her. Just like it did this time. Only this time even after knowing, she was just as helpless as she would have been without the knowledge. She knew she had acted weak. Something her mother would have never approved of but then mother doesn't need to know, she thought. She knew she would loath it when she looked back but right now despite everything her mind told her, she despairingly realized she had absolutely no control over her actions.


Her self-respect had vanished completely. It had gone bit by tiny bit. All under her watchful conscience. She had seen it sneaking away slowly, silently, obtrusively. She had seen it and had been too meek to stop it from leaving. She had let the frivolous side of her take charge. She had let the voice of reason in her head go unheard. Even though she knew that voice was right and she would regret it later on but then at that point of time she felt she could take the misery when it came. She just had to hang on now, for her sake, for her sanity's sake. For the sake of her heart.

How difficult could it possibly be? Wasn't she the one who her friends looked up to because she was never down? 'Cause they said her spirit was reinforced with iron rods. That she was one of those rare strong-back-boned ones. The ones who stood straight even in the storm and came out unscathed. Wasn't she the one they all leaned on? So, it possibly couldn't take her much to rise from this fall cause she knew fall she would. This time it was a sure fall. As sure as it could ever get. And she had done the worst mistake of her life.

She had underestimated Pain. And that had been enough of a gauntlet.



Because fall she did.



On her face, with her body sprawled out. And it burned her too, singed her to the core. Inside out. It hurt so much that for the first time she wished she were not who she was, not living this life she had so dearly loved. Dearly, hungrily, lustily loved. It hurt so bad she couldn't get up. It hurt so bad she didn't want to get up; she knew it would only hurt more. The pain had only just started. It would get worse till it would get so bad that the only thing she could do would be to accept it. And then it would become part of her. Then she would like it even. Maybe. For the first time she felt afraid. No, it was the not the first time she felt afraid. It was the first time she admitted it to herself. She felt afraid, hurt and lonely. Three words which would change her.



Three words which would change her being, the way she thought, the way she looked at others, the way she reacted, the way she acted.

Her smiles would be no more what they had been. Her eyes would no longer mirror emotions like they once had. Even her touch would change. The way she slept, the positions she slept in it would all change.

The person who she had once been would live on inside her only now subdued and humbled by a new person who had been so painstakingly crafted by Pain.

Words at times seem very meaningless. There have been times in my life when I have found words inadequate, inappropriate and just too shallow. Sometimes words just let you down, they do not come to your rescue when you need them the most. They seem grossly useless, and then you resort to silence. Some other times they are so powerful, they will reduce you to tears, push you into red hot rage, drown you in self pity. Then again they touch you softly yet so strongly that you know you have been marked almost physically, indelibly for the rest of your life. Sometimes they will just hang around in your head, your mind, your ears , your consciousness, subconsciousness as well till you feel you will burst, till you want to put your hand in there and draw them out.
And again these words will engulf you in their warmth and bring a glow to your face and happiness to your soul.
I came across a bunch of words beautifully stringed together in a song. It touched me, I don't know why and as of now I don't care either. I know I found it lovely. Hope you will like it too.


At Last- Etta James

At last, my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last

I dream of..

I dream of blue skies
clear and bright
vanilla clouds
lazing around
I dream of a spring
bubling with life
laughing with abandon
yonder, below the rainbow
I dream of a warm hearth
filled with joy and laughter
I dream of a garden
wild roses abloom
I dream of a winter afternoon
warm and delicious
I dream of your head on my lap
and mine on yours
forever...

43 things about me

1. I often live in some place other than the present and mostly it is some faraway distant future.
2. I visit the past but not much, seldom to be precise. Sometimes some happy memories do trigger a sojourn into the past and sometime some not so happy ones.
3. When I was a kid I used to live in the present but a present that was very different than the one I would be in.
4. I was quite a lost child. I think I have carried that trait to my youth as well ;).
5. I used to read a lot. A bookworm. Still try to do, though not as much as but reading still is a first love.
6. I have the reading genes from both mom and dad.
7. I was an indoorsy kid, never much out and about, partly coz I was diagnosed with asthma very early on at 8 years of age.
8. I would be sitting in some corner of my own room, I wasn’t much fond of the bed and reading away.
9. I used to finish reading books at an alarming pace and would soon bug my parents to buy me more. Still do the former.
10. I got into bartering books in school, reading up books from the library whenever I could. All this reading led to a lot of day dreaming or so I believe.
11. Kid me would always be playing different situations and stories in my mind, and of course I would be the lead protagonist in all of these plots. Some of the plots were pretty elaborate.
12. Also I was very happy in my own fantasy world. This is not to say that I wasn’t friendly or popular but yes I had realized that I preferred my own company to that of others from a very young age.
13. Thankfully for me my parents let me be except the occasional push to socialize.
14. I found socializing a big burden even then.
15. I saw no point in being nice to people and smiling and making small talk when I could spend that time reading books, writing(yes I used to scribble lots of things by way of creative writing then too) or yes watching tv and day dreaming. These were my favorite pastimes.
16. The first thing that I wanted to be when I was young was a teacher. I really liked my teacher then.
17. I have always been a teacher’s pet and sometimes the affection was mutual.
18. Other kids hated me for being the teacher’s pet. And I loved being hated 
19. I still hold 2 sayings 2 of my teachers, at different points of time, had said to me very close to my heart.
20. The next thing I wanted to be was neuro surgeon or “brain surgeon” as I thought then. I have no clue why.
21. Sometime between 6-10 years of age I also wanted to be a writer. Still hold that desire somewhere deep in my heart.
22. My life was not uncomplicated though. My kiddy life was very happening. I always had a lot of performance pressure in terms of academics and I was also very competitive by nature.
23. Dad was more interested in my doing well in extra-currics. And I used to excel in that too. I have a ton of certificates to show for my efforts in my school life.
24. I grew up idolizing dad. Still do. Papa - you are my hero.
25. My mom was the biggest influence on me in my early life and I know a lot of me is her. Though it took me lot of time to realize that.
26. I call her twice everyday atleast. My day is incomplete if we haven’t talked.
27. My sister was my pillar of strength all through my childhood. She used to dote on me. I bullied her in return.
28. I was brought up like a single child. My sister lived with my grandparents.
29. She used to visit us during school vacations. We fought like crazy.
30. The worst fights were when she moved in with us when I was 17, she was a year older. But looking back, I couldn’t have done without her. Ever. Period.
31. This list suddenly doesn’t seem chronological. But what the heck, I didn’t mean it to be anyways.
33. I have changed a lot as a person from my childhood, to my teens, to my youth to whatever phase it is that a 28 year old belongs now.
34. I used to fiercely independent as a child, as a teen, as a gangly young adult, but now I am totally dependent on the apple of my eyes, my husband for emotional support.
35. I still think I don’t say it enough to him. So here goes – I love you… more 
36. I don’t know why this list reads like a life story. I didn’t intend it to be.
37. I moved around a lot as a kid.
38. The initial days used to be very difficult. But I was never afraid of change. I always used to look forward to it. Still do.
39. My illness(asthma) was a very convenient excuse for me not to participate in games and sports. However I was a tremendous sport. Always used to stand in for absentees on the field.
40. I won the badminton girls double champions in the eighth grade.
41. I also am lazy to the bone. And lose interest very quickly in people, places and things.
42. I have learnt classical dance-Odissi for two years. I say that I couldn’t continue coz Dad got transferred but the fact is I found it very tiring and after coming back from classes I would feign headaches so mom got worried and had me discontinue them 
43. The idea of putting together such a list is not original. I saw this in a blog I follow. I liked the style, but the content is original.

Jhootha Hi Sahi - Review

Everytime I see a movie and I feel strongly about it I want to put my feelings to words. Caught “Jhootha hi sahi” today and must say really liked it. IMHO, it’s John’s best performance till date. For the first time the focus is not on his brawn and he shows that there is more to him than his beefy body. He plays the character of the simple lying, bumbling, stammering lover boy to the hilt and very very convincingly. Pakhi is also a refreshing change. Her charm lies in her being attractive and charming but not with an incredibly gorgeous model-like body. She looks very real and acts well too. Considering it’s her first movie. The other characters also make for very interesting watch and for the first time gay relationships have been portrayed on screen in a subtle and sombre fashion. The parallel stories of Aliya-Nick, Omar-Kruttika add just enough spice to keep the flavour savoury. The ending is a typical filmy ending with our Clark Kent turning into a Superman, but common, you gotta give it to them, a film has to have a filmy ending rite? On the whole a very balanced and neat movie and a very good watch. I had good fun especially when I had almost started believing that I am jinxed coz every movie I watched at the theatre turned out to be a dud [with a few exceptions of course notably Dabangg ;) ;) ]. Anyways go watch it people and let me know how you all found it.

Her Royal Gypsyness

Me and my gypsy life. Oft I have thought that had I not been around and about so much in my childhood, I wouldn't have grown up to be so restless in my youth. Well, I can never know for for sure. Our circumstances do mould us to a large extent. Our character is not just defined by the genetic code, our surroundings, the people we meet, the places we see, the books we read, all play a huge part.
I have taken to rambling after a long time. And it is primarily because Hyderabad, the dry, parched Hyderabad has completely dried up my creative juices, leaving me no choice but to ramble. Something that I love doing anyways. At times my heart revolts to all the order and schema that my mind tries and imposes on it. My foolish,rogue,vagabond heart. It just wants to be what it is, full of imperfections, full of its own prejudices and notions, and ofcourse full of its follies.
And there is something funny about life as well, particularly my own. Good that I have a self professed evolved sense of humor to appreciate it. but truth is I kinda like the jokes.
I am still upto the challenges of Life or so I like to believe. Hungry for it. Greedy almost. Lustily waiting for life to unfold. And enjoying the journey there in. Full of discoveries about life, self and world. Full of unexpected twists and turns, spices and condiments. But most of all I just love the self-realizations. There is something acutely satisfying about getting to know the person deep within you better. The one person who will be with you 24*7 till you are through with this journey. The comfort increases bit by bit as you know more and more about yourself. You become better aware of your strengths, your weaknesses, your quirks and everything else. I am loving it now and also loving how I feel I am far from knowing myself completely. That is the best part. You know the interesting book you got your hands on is not yet over and will not be for a long time to come.
What am I doing in the middle of an especially busy day rambling? Well its the exceptionally busy days which make me want to ramble, I wanna go on some more but the irritating phone has been ringing incessantly for sometime now.
Have to get back to earning my marmalade, kinda tired of the butter from sometime now.
So long.

The saga continues...

There have been so many times, I have thought that this is seriously not going to work out. At times I feel I am just letting myself into something which does not have equal involvement from both the sides. I have felt the stakes on my side to be higher. Then I have tried to consciously bring myself back from that state and into neutral ground where an impending break up wouldn't crush me. Maybe I have been too scared to bare my heart and put it at someone else's mercy. So despite all the vehement opposition from my heart I have done what I could to protect it. To save it from misery. And moreso when I was so highly unsure of what this meant to her. Whether this really meant anything to her more than a casual fling. And all these times when I have felt that she probably couldn't care less, she has done something to prove me wrong and put my fears to rest and make me go nuts about her again.
After a brief interlude of 5 months I had to pack my bags and shift base to Hyderabad. The last few days were terribly crazy with lots of loose ends to tie up. I got busy with the boring chores and tasks and hardly had nay time to dwell on the separation and what this meant for our relationship. However on my last day surprisingly I had finished packing and had an evening to myself. That was when I started thinking that she had been so apathetic for the past few days. The more I thought of it, the more I got convinced that maybe moving out of town was a good idea. Maybe putting physical space between us is the right thing to do, maybe this is the beginning of the end. I agreed when a friend of mine asked me out for dinner. I went along. I had a nice time. It was an evening well spent and by the time I was ready to come back home, my mind was totally off her. And that is when it happened. When we stepped out of the restaurant, we were greeted by wet streets and a jolly good shower. I had never before been drenched in rain, having been scared of it since my childhood. Numerous times friends had tried to trick me into walking into a drizzle or a douwnpour but I had always managed to escape. No matter what people said about it being fun, I held my ground. But today since I had to get back early as I had an early morning flight to catch and none of us had an umbrella, so I thought what the heck, let's brave it. We started walking in the downpour, getting drennched and surprisingly it felt nice. Refreshing and alive. It was like a treat after the sultry day. And that is when I realised that this is what Mumbai does, springs surprises on you. And yes I knew she was thinking of me. Just when I had started to distance myself from her, she went ahead and literally soaked me again in her spunk.Took away one of my worst fears and turned it into a fun experience for me. I couldn't help but realising that this was nowhere near its end, this was just another one of our sparrings with a delightful ending and no matter what, we were still a pair, Mumbai and I.

Just Another Love Story

The first time I saw her, I fell in love or at least I thought I did. I was with her for three days, three whole mad days. Three days in which she had touched me in a way no one before ever had. Three days when she had taken me into her stride and accepted me as her own and shown me how big her heart really was. Three days were all it took for me to form a romantic image about her in my heart, give her a high pedestal, think of her as the flawless goddess only love laden eyes can see. Everything about her I found fascinating. I found the beat of her heart exciting. I found a nervous energy about her which fascinated me. Most of all I think I was head over heel about her spirit and her spunk. I had heard a lot about her, even read quite a bit, but nothing could describe how effortlessly and in how short a time she had captured my heart, made me her slave. Some had said she was ugly outside, maybe I had seen her inner beauty, but frankly, I didn’t care. When I left her that night to catch my flight back home, I made a solemn promise to myself that I will come back no matter what and claim you to be my own. Needless to say the dalliance started occupying less and less mindspace as time passed but in my heart’s canvas she remain etched like the way I had first seen her, gorgeous. And most importantly like the honorable lover I had not forgotten my promise. I came across others too during those years after meeting her, and I must say that I did like one of them enough to want to stay for a little longer than I usually did but somehow none of them seemed to be the same as my secret sweetheart. I still got to hear about her from friends, acquaintances and every time I heard, there was a funny feeling in my heart. Destiny had brought us together for those three days in May 2007 and I trusted destiny to find a way to quench the longing of my besotted heart. And this time destiny didn’t disappoint me. After three years destiny threw me a gauntlet and dared me to take it up. In these last three years a lot of water had passed under the bridge and a lot of things had changed. I was apprehensive, anxious and scared even, what if she was just a dream. What if she was only ordinary and the flush of young love had deified her in my eyes. What if? There were a million of these ifs which clouded my mind but despite all the ifs I still looked forward to meet her. Eagerly, expectantly. Those dreams of idle Sunday mornings and busy Tuesday evenings came back and danced in front of my eyes. I felt like a teenager again. I went about my work with twice the usual grit to take my mind off her and slowly the days rolled by till the day I had marked in my calendar arrived. I was fidgety and restless that day. I had funny feeling not only in my heart but also in my tummy, in my throat, everywhere. I couldn’t wait for the few hours to pass when I would see her again. The hours went by painfully and I finally set eyes on her again.
I couldn’t understand at first what I was feeling. I was confused. I was finding it hard to believe my own feelings. There was none of that elation, that ecstasy that I had expected. There was a nothingness at first and then finally a feeling of disappointment set in. I was disappointed with myself. I was disappointed that I didn’t feel the same. I found it beyond comprehension that the world of perfect romance I had built in my mind around her had come to this. I felt nothing of all that I had felt all those years ago. I was no longer fascinated by all those things which had made me romanticize my feelings for her in my mind during those three years when I had lived away from her. This was my perfect love story coming to a disappointing end. Now that the veil of romance had mysteriously been lifted, I could really see her for what she was. All her flaws now got magnified in front of my eyes. I could see that she was old, grimy, loud and ugly. All of a sudden all of this overpowered me and I felt totally dejected and lost. I tried hard to get along with life as it were but it was getting more and more difficult with my dream world having recently crumbled around me. I no longer knew what to perceive of things, what to believe, and now a days I was finding it very difficult to trust my feelings.
But one thing was getting clear to me as the days were passing by; my dislike for her was increasing by the day. And the current situation was getting more uncomfortable for me with each passing day. I had to do something. I had to release myself from the web my own mind had spun. I had to release myself and find peace again. Friends were curious, family was concerned and I was well, dejected, disappointed and confused, all at the same time.
Life never stops. Hearts break, illusions shatter, the world may come crumbling down around you, but life goes on. And as they say time is the best healer. No my heart here had not been exactly broken; the romantic in me had taken a beating at the turn of events. The cynic had started to slowly raise its head and I was not happy with any of these developments.
As the days passed one of my friends came visiting me. I was excited about his visit, Vishal was one of my closest buddies and I was looking forward to his visit. I tried to wrap up my work and keep my weekend as free as possible, given that I had to work on Saturdays and having started living alone, the best part of my Sunday went in numerous household chores, the bonds of domesticity are not only mundane but also very time consuming. The week whizzed by and finally I met him on Saturday. He was very excited at meeting me and when we sat down with steaming hot cups of chai and vada pav at the neighborhood eatery, he told me this was doubly exciting for him as he too would get to finally see what the fuss I had created all those years back was about. I looked at him and smiled. I was in a bright mood today and didn’t want to get into the saga of my disillusionment and also I wanted him to form his opinion without any help from me.
We decided to go around the city in the evening. Our first stop was Juhu, followed by Bandstand. The two places he was the most excited about seeing. We took a long time leaving my pad, as it happens; old friends catching up after a long time lose track of time and both of us being the quintessential chatterboxes. We reached Juhu around 9pm and sat down by the sea and talked some more, about how life had shaped up since we last met. How innocent were the dreams we had once seen and how we had traversed along the way. All this while we had a constant companion, the ever present and ever restless vast expanse of emotions, the Arabian Sea. It was in a very joyous mood today or so I thought. It kept hungrily lapping up. As if it wanted to come rushing to meet its long lost friend. It had the enthusiasm of a six year old rushing to get its new toy. Something about its relentlessness, the sound of mirth in its waves and the hungry passion to live life rubbed onto me. I was fascinated by its never ceasing activity and its verve. I felt drawn towards it. I wanted to lie down and listen to all the stories it carried in its heart. Listen to all that it wanted to say and more importantly let it into the inner precincts of my private world. It seemed as if it badly wanted to come in and stay for good. As if it wanted to tell me, let me in and we will explore a wonderful journey together. I was snapped out of my reverie by a shove from Vishal, he was miffed at me having lapsed into another world of my own. We got up, it was pretty late in the night, almost nearing 1am. We looked around, there were not many people about, but the beach was still brightly lit and the sea had crept up a considerable distance. Naughty and boisterous. Laughing and mocking us in a childlike playful way.
We took an auto back. The roads were crowded even at this time of the night. Filled with gaiety and life. People went about their lives, living it. My friend kept saying how lively is this city, does it ever get tired of being so alive all the time? I looked at him and mulled over his question, did it get tired? I don’t know but it strangely quieted my nerves a lot that time.
The next day after a lazy day at home we ventured to bandstand towards late afternoon. Vishal was as usual jumping up and down with joy at finally getting a chance to steal a look at Shahrukh’s bunglow. If he had looked that sincerely for nirvana I think he would have found it. It was my first time at bandstand too. The rocks were slippery and very timidly we started inching closer towards the sea one slippery rock at a time. I was still afraid of going any further, the same naughty and childlike sea seemed very mature and powerful today. It was not trying to creep up, it was beating against the rocks with the all its pride and haughtiness. Just then I saw a group of small boys playing at the very edge of the rocky bed. They must have been around 10-11 years of age. There were three of them, I could make out they had to work to earn their bread and were not amongst the privileged few for whom the biggest worry in childhood was class work and not an empty stomach. One of them took out a small wad of notes, 1 rupee, 10 rupee notes and put it inside a polythene wrapper and gave it to his friend. Then he went about getting splashed in the waves. He welcomed it with gay abandon that only a young mind of 10 is capable of. Soon his friend who looked to be a little less adventurous than him also joined him and they got engaged in a play of venturing out onto the sea, getting drenched by the waves, falling down and then getting up again. It was as if the mighty sea was humoring these little kids with fun and frolic to ease their daily drudgery. I had been observing them for quite some time and had not realized that a smile was playing on my lips. The timid kid looked back at me, smiled and patted the stone right next to where he was now sitting, right at the mouth of the sea. He could sense I was scared and he held my gaze with that smile. I do not know what happened then, whether I gave in to my impulse, the call of the child or the pull of the mighty sea, I marched right ahead, forgot about my fear of water and sat beside those kids and just then a huge wave came crashing down. Before the impact of what I had done sank in, I suddenly realized that Mumbai indeed had that spirit and that recklessness and that hunger for life and that fearlessness to face life’s challenges no matter what shape and size they came in. That was when I knew, my instincts about her had never been wrong. She had captured my heart when all those years ago I had come to stay in Mumbai for three days and had fallen hopelessly and madly in love with her. My disillusionment with her was not because she was not beautiful; my disillusionment was because I was not willing to take the pain to look beyond the obvious.
That was the instant when I had that tingling feeling one has at the onset of a romantic relationship. I knew it would have its share of problems , I knew there would be times when I would be angry with her, frustrated, think it was all a mistake, cry myself to sleep at night. But I also knew that this was the beginning of a love affair that would last a life time. A beautiful journey we would take together. Mumbai and I.