Those Little things….

Sometimes it’s joy which you get from the unlikeliest things that put a genuine smile on your face. Midnight calls from unexpected quarters, mails and messages to know you are remembered and missed. Impromptu celebrations and even a meeting you forced upon someone ….
The candles were missing; you were made to do with blowing a match stick… (now isn’t that the sweetest way of not revealing your age). People would have rather slept off after a grueling day at work, but since you want to be indulged, they oblige. A chocolate cake never tasted so nice and the bun-maska –jam combo would win hands down to any gourmet dinner.

There were no frills, confetti or streamers, but a genuine effort to make my day and boy it did!!! Nothing in life comes for free, but some moments are truly priceless.

To all those who made my day special yesterday in their own little and not so little ways!! Thanks a ton!!

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Flooded!!

Last week the city I live in was inundated by rain for precisely 2 hours for one day. The chaos that followed after that was a testimony of the exemplary planning of our city planners. Stuck in traffic for 3 hours, my heart went out to the people in Bihar who had been going through this for days on end.

The flood and the fact that we were one of the few organizations working when whole of Maharashtra was celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi had put me in a real cranky mood the next day too. However I was unaware that another flood awaited me. But this was a flood that brought back the smile on my face.
I t was a flood of happiness. The joy that someone actually likes being your friend. In this real world of fickle friends, it’s nice to know someone right across the globe calls you a friend!!!


Keshi sent across two great gifts, which I am going to treasure for a real long time. And the best Part is that I get to share this gift and spread cheer too. Talk of having the cake and eating it too!!

So , here I display the awards I got from Keshi, (I know this acknowledgement is 2 weeks late !! )

Its the Blogging Friends Forever Award . And I pass this on to Mathew, Neena, Nikhil, Macadamia the nut, Thomas, G-man, Mayz , Keshi ( how can I forget you), Solitaire .

And the Brilliant Weblog award was also given to me by Keshi. It felt like a Pulitzer (I almost had an acceptance speech made up).Iwonderif I even really deserve this. I pass this on to some of the most brilliant bloggers around.

Neena, Silverine ( both her fantastic blogs), Karthik, Solitaire, Durba, Nikhil, Keshi , Mathew, Mayz , full2faltu.

This is all I ahve to say to you Keshi girl

"Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim. ~William Feather"

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Great Words

I have been tagged by two very special people from Blogville…

Thomas, the face which rules “Indians most wanted (character assassin)” charts in the blog world. His skills are known far and wide. No one dares to cross his path, for then the consequences are dangerous. I hope this description doesn’t make me one of his victims too …

And then by Neena. Her lucid writings never fail to touch a chord. She takes you down memory lane each time she pens a few lines.




Tag Rules

Jot down 5 of your favorite quotes from the various books you’ve read. If you don’t have the books with you now, googling (Wikiquotes and the like) can be used to find them. Tag five people and acknowledge the person who tagged you. ( okay I just copied the rules verbatim Thomas !!)



1) "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

My all time favorite quote. It describes the person I am and strive to be …


2) Winning is most important. Everything is consequence of that -- Ayrton Senna

I love Formula 1. The speed is exhilarating and so are the races … the man I admire the most is Ayrton Senna. He lived in the fast lane in the literal sense!!
He always said God is my co-driver and I believe that’s true for each of us.


3) I'd rather be hated for who I am than be loved for who I’m not. Wanting to be someone else is waste of who you are ... Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain isn’t a role model, but somewhere these words ring so true.

4) "A true friend is someone who knows there's something wrong even when you have the biggest smile on your face."

Don’t know where I read this quote, but had it written down. So true about friends, they know when things are genuine and when the smile is plastic and your broken inside.




5) “People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.”--Calvin

I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone's expectations. – Calvin

Calvin and Hobbes, my stress buster. When the going gets tough, nothing motivates more than a simple comic strip.

I end this tag with a quote from a book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, one of the few books which made me value each gift I have. The value of the freedom I enjoy so unabashedly.
. . . she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last. (Hope I can leave the world just like that)

I tag Keshi , Mayz , Solitaire , Macadamia the nut, Karthik.

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Sinister Seven!!

The bus swerved along the dust path. She woke up with a sudden start and looked all around her. The rest of the passengers of the bus were fast asleep. The bumpy drive had killed her sleep and her thoughts veered to a handful of people who called themselves “Sinister Seven”!!

As the name suggests, they all had a shade of grey in their nature and whatever they gave the gang was just an extension of their personalities. The gang which came together as a quirk of destiny, but had formed such a notorious reputation, that even thinking of them sent shivers down people’s spines.

She thought of the gang leader, Bhai, they all called him with due respect. He was a philosopher dressed in the guise of an automobile geek. He religiously set the strategy of the gang, doling out his advice to all and sundry. The kingpin, his words and plans were always the Omertta for them all.

Bheja fry a.ka. Nerd. He was the operations guy for the gang. He always stood out among the otherwise rowdy gang for his mild nature. But that was just a camouflage for iron glove with which he handled the Bhai’s men!! Unknown to all, he nursed a passion for dance, and finally made world know of the same when he danced his heart out for the World Sinister Meet…

Icehead a.k.a Thanda… A weird name you would think, but that was how he was. Nothing in this world seemed to shake his resolve to not react to anything that even shook up mother earth. Everything had just one reaction, a smile. He was the go to man in extreme crisis, for his lack of emotions helped the gang think straight. However he could bring out extreme reactions from the rest with his impromptu musical rendition, given his talent to make up lyrics even for the most famous songs…

Hero a.ka. Chikna, the charmer in the whole gang. The huge female following the gang enjoyed (despite their wild image) was mostly his contribution. He just had to smile and the world was at his feet. He was the PR man for the gang, building a reputation for them among the other Sinister gangs.

Then there was Netaji or Leader, the name which was given to him, given his interest in the local college political scene. He was known far and wide for being a mediator par excellence. He had to his credit resolved many disputes for the gang. His negotiation skills had also won them many a contracts in the dark world. A true personality!!

DJ , they named him, for his great musical talent. His wisecracks had all of them in splits. He was the crisis man. He was a storehouse of trivia. The looked upto him for the details when micro planning was desired.

The guy who completed the gang, their global face. They called him Chota Bhai. The guy who kept their supply of arms and ammunition intact in times of drought and flood.
His main task was to keep the gang standard in line with other international gangs.


Together thy made up the fabric of a group which spread dread whenever they gathered together, their laughter too often mistaken for crack of thunder, such was the impact it gave to the outside world.

(However there was a catch; after revealing so much of insider information, she had to go underground with police protection. … Happy Rakshabandhan my dear bothers… This is just my way of saying thank you for everything and I am truly proud of what each one of you have turned into.. true gentlemen ….
Psst.. but please fess up to the world that all the weight I put on is because all the secrets I store for you!!! And yeah our war cry “Lukkhagiri Rulezzzzz”!!!)

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Yearning…

The passers-by went about their day,
Unaware that my world had just blown away,
I so wanted them all to pause and say
It is just a bad dream, the storm will pass by

Streaming sunlight filtered past my blinds,
Sometimes I wonder why it is welcomed by all mankind,
The sun rays sometimes crack my smiling mask,
Revealing, that to smile is such a daunting task.

The darkness spreads slowly across the skies,
Beneath the crimsons and the black, slowly I unravel my mask.
The silent tears can now roll down free,
In the dark, no one can bother me.

I slowly moved across to the window pane,
The drawn curtains reveal the pattering rain,
The raindrops wash my tear stained face,
But my heart still yearns and the gnawing pain remains….



Note: My attempt at something remotely poetic, written around 3 years back... Just found it in my archives and posted it . Please bear with the rhyme!!

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And the argument continues!!

“The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think.”

I read the above quote somewhere and have been wondering how much truth the above statement holds. I have been having these small arguments with my devilish side of how untrue it is, but small doubts do linger…. does this hold true with women too?? Do they fall for the shine too??( By shine I mean the silver shine here ;-))

Wonder what you all think though!!!

Have a great weekend folks…

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Irresistable 8

8 , this number has been plaguing my thoughts ever since the editor of the Bower Times has me to do my doctoral research on the importance of the same.... Here are a few first hand observations on the same ....


8 Things I am Passionate about

• Family



• Music : From GnR to Indian Ocean, from Kishore to Pink floyd.. there is a rhythm for each moment...



• Books



• Friends



• Being punctual



• To keep my humor intact ..no matter how hard it is at times



• Sports



• Good food :)

8 things I want to do before I die

• Drive my own SUV ... a Lexus Land Cruiser atleast ( whats the harm in dreaming !!)



• Get a tattoo



• Backpack to remote destinations and host a travel show



• Learn to play the guitar and violin



• Watch an Formula 1 race live



• Overcome my fear of water and learn swimming



• Be at peace with myself



• Rein in my temper :)

8 things I say often

• Oh my god



• Yeah right



• Kuch bhi..



• Ishwara ( god in malayalam)



• Ciao



• What the hell... which in cases of extreme emotion metamorphosises to you know what ;)



• Whatever... (like a sign of indifference)



• Bitch ( out of extreme love or exasperation to my fellow species!!)

8 books I last read

• The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri



• The Kite Runner -Khaled Hosseini



• The Goal - Eliyahu M. Goldratt



• A Thousand Splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini



• The Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri



• The Japanese wife - Kunal Basu



• Difficult Daughters - Manju Kapur



• A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar

8 songs which are my eternal favorites

• Coming back to life - Pink Floyd



• Sweet Child O Mine - GnR ( If only I could play the prelude flawlessly one day!!)
• Country roads take me home - John Denver





• Tujhse Naraaz nahi Zindagi - Masoom



• Dil hai chotasa - Roja (I fell in love with A. R Rehman after hearing this song and from then on its been one love story that has stood the test of changing times)


• Nahi Saamne - Taal
• Jamaican Farewell - Harry Belafonte
• Those were the days my friend - Mary Hopkins and Top of th world- Carpenters ( School memory... must say our choir teacher taught us some real cool songs back then!!)
• Surya Kireedam - Devasuram ( One of my Favorite malayalam songs)
• Yeh Jeevan hai - Piya ka ghar (I like all Kishore Kumar songs.. especially the sad ones but this number epitomises the essence of life .. )

I cheated on the last part of this tag and I am still miserable that so many of my fave songs have been left out ... :(

I tag: Anyone who hasnt done this tag yet!!

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