In the darkness!

The shutters come down and the lights go out

The darkness surrounds me like a mother’s hug

The uncanny silence tangos with the stillness

A tiny croak stings like eyes introduced to the sun

People grope around and then present themselves

They startle me or leave a smile on my face

Visions or prophecies form into kaleidoscopic forms

Secrets and hopes grow in gigantic proportions

Sleep departs and my eyes open to light

The visions end and the nightmares vanish

Sounds intrude and the stillness is broken

The darkness awaits patiently for its reign again.

Happy Birthday!

Today is one of my best friend's birthday. He has been my pal for the past 4 years. It has been a fun ride all along.

It has become a habit to make the birthday of each friend an unforgettable day. Every year, every birthday...something is done. Last year, we woke him with a cake, which was actually burning down because of the number of candles we had stuck on it :p He actually freaked that his home was on fire...ha ha ha!

Gifts, gifts and more gifts! Ofcourse...there could never go a birthday without a teeny weeny gift atleast. And also the treat. It is a merry time for all around too.

Anyways, it is a blissful life only when you have friends who love you for who you are. He's one such friend I would say. One could always trust him to tell the truth on the face :) Thanks for being there always. May you have a wonderful life blessed with everything you will ever need.

Happy Birthday Prabu :)

Sniff Sniff (That's the sound of me crying silently)

The bottom line is: My muse has gone on vacation :(

One may wonder why I have given the bottom line at the top. And the reason is beyond me! Actually there is no reason at all. It is as simple and as complicated as that. I know I'm rambling, but what the hell, who am I hurting anyway.

Coming back to the point, and I don't mean this '.' but the point of this blog.

I have been trying to write a poem for a month now. Please don't be a 'mused by it. I have a master's degree which says I'm good at writing stuff apart from knowing my literature. Really! Anyway, I have not been able to think of anything to write about. And as I push and shove various ideas in my head, my brain becomes more and more stubborn-refusing to churn out anything even remotely brilliant.

You may ask why am I trying to write a poem now...out of the blue. It is part of my training as a copy writer. I can't even use the excuse that someone is holding a gun to my head and pressuring me to write. And that is the reason I'm stuck with nothing. No, I was just asked to revive my poetry collection that's all.

So the bottom line which is actually the top line, my muse is gone away without even a 'ta ta'. And I'm not sure if i should go looking for my muse or just write a poem without her/him (Hope my muse looks like Hugh Jackman in Wolverine) The muse might come back and fight about copyright issues though...one never knows.

Hmmm... let me go back to gazing at the ceiling, doors, and windows looking for inspiration. Anyone out there, if you can help in writing a poem, I shall adopt you as my new muse, with wages but no copyrights.

Ps. Though I dream of Hugh Jackman as my muse, I'm pasting the orthodox Greek muse image in the blog.

Lost Symbol vs Jackdaws

I have been reading continuously this week. During breaks at office, whole night, while eating and any single minute I was reading.

Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

I have read all of Dan Brown's book till the latest one. When I read one of his books, I usually google some of the facts. For example: While reading Da Vince Code, I had The Last Supper open and kept checking the image as Brown described the symbols in them. Also, I checked out the movie Angels and Demons as it released. It's not like i'm an ardent fan, I just get too caught up in what i'm doing.

Lost Symbol started out quite well. The story started bang from the first page. But this time, Brown focused too much on the symbols. He went on and on about deciphering the symbols that it became boring. And the climax was a total drag. I actually skipped a lot of the last pages, but then went back to it again to appease my conscience. Also, the technique of finishing a chapter in suspense and later revealing it has been exploited too many times in the book.

Maybe because i have read all of his books, I felt completely saturated by the first half of the book. Whatever the reason, I didn't really enjoy the book.

Jackdaws by Ken Follet.

After Code to Zero, I think this is the next book I'm reading of Follet. It is a fault in me that i forget the title of the books i read. So i might have read other books but don't remember of them. So...I enjoyed Jackdaws.

Though the book was based on war and depicted the cruelties of it, it was very interesting and intriguing. One could never guess what the ending will be. Follet had perfectly balanced the characters of the hero and anti-hero. It was tempting to see who win win at the end. The author did not shy away from describing the cruelties faced by the different people during war. It was stark reality. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Ok...let me continue on my bookarathon. Ciao!

Masala aplenty!

A fight...the guy swirls his sword defending himself from bullets coming at him from all directions. And it isn't even 4 or 8 directions, it is from 360 degrees. Slow motion shot - a bullet behind him, the guy sees it in his sword, turns around and chops it to two.

The hero is chased on jeeps and helicopter. He is on a bike. He manages to blow up the jeeps and one of them actually flies up to hit the helicopter and all come down. Fortunately for the hero, there is gravel on the path. He rubs the metallic protrusion from his hand on the gravel igniting the helicopter with the friction.

Dil mange more?

Have you heard about the three mile island nuclear disaster? No? The climax of the movie is tied up to it. Please watch.

You might think i'm talking about a vijaykanth movie or a vijay movie....but no. This is Hollywood, anything can happen here :)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a fantastic entertainer. Hugh Jackman is mouth watering. Fortunately for us girls, he keeps taking off his shirt for no apparent reason.

It's a fun weekend movie to watch. It will tickle you some too.

Eid mubarak :)

I'm totally secular. Speaking at a broader level, I have been to temples, churches and unfortunately no mosques yet. Please no one assume that i visit the religious sites often or periodically. That's so not the case. I go once in a blue moon and that too as a companion to a friend or family.

With all that said, let me come to the point of this blog. One of my best friends is a Muslim. She is religious to the same degree as me though she does go to the mosque more often. What she does there is anybody's guess :) So, she religiously fasts during the month of Ramadan. To support her, we try not to indulge our palates for this month. More than all the Ramadan observers put together, we friends are very anxious for Eid to come.

No mistakes about the anxiety, not concern about her health or anything. We are constantly updated about the yummy food she gets every evening to break her fast. The anxiety for the D day is truly for BIRIYANI. Though it is not customary to make biriyani on this day, aunty makes it out of compulsion to feed us poor -biriyani-starved souls.

This time, we were invited for dinner. I almost starved during breakfast and lunch so that i can gorge myself during dinner. Aunty had made kheer for to sweeten us up, which was gulped down with intensity. Any stranger would have thought us at death's door out of starvation.

To further build up our appetite and also to let the biriyani cook at peace, the whole family played Uno, a card game. I was totally out of luck in this game. I was always almost the last player to finish the cards. Finally, the spicy aroma of biriyani beckoned us. Usually at her place, we all eat in a thaali, a big plate. This time to avoid attacking others share, we decided on separate plates.

Pure and heartfelt bliss. Aunty served platefuls of authentic, traditional mutton biriyani. It was accompanied with spicy baigan curry and onion raitha. Slowly and steadily the biriyani went in silence. There was no talk of anyone wasting a single grain. Even those that slipped our fingers were later picked and eaten. Eid came to a grand finale and navarathri sparkled open with our happy and saturated bellies.

It took me so long to come out of the biriyani stupor to write this blog :)

I pity you...who...myself

I'm Sorry :)

zzzzzzz

There is a tamil saying which translates to "sleep is the daily rehersal we practice for the play called death".

10:30 pm - Your start to feel lazy, your brain does not register the movie you are watchin or the book you are reading. If you are dare to contain yourself for half and hour...your brain gets revived for some godforsaken reason and sleep becomes a distant memory.

6:00 am - You switch off the alarm and go back to such deep sleep that dreams appear in bright technicolor.

7:00 am - Your mind fools you at this time everyday. It will make you promise that you can postpone your jogging to the evening. "Evening never comes" though. You drift back to sleep.

2:00 pm - We can have competitions like 'number of yawns per minute'. Maybe it is the lunch you have had or the Italian siesta blood in you...it is damn difficult to keep your eyes open much less concentrate on your work. So it should be appreciated, if an employee or student actually has their eye open during this time.

These are the different times in a day when I practice for death :)

Painful fun!

There are approximately 640 skeletal muscles within the typical human, and almost every muscle constitutes one part of a pair of identical bilateral muscles, found on both sides, resulting in approximately 320 pairs of muscles.

Being a typical human (though friends and family are fond of calling me "buffalo" and "donkey"), I felt pain in all the above stated muscles this weekend, monday and continuing today too. My friends shifted home this weekend. Mariya, another friend, and I helped them out in this endeavor. Apart from 'packers and movers' people, we had so much of work to do it wasn't even funny.

Last night, I actually had a dream that I had grown huge biceps cause of carrying 20-litre bubble tops up and down 2 floors. This was unfortunate extra work cause the motor in the new home broke down and there was no water.

It took us nearly two and a half days to see the floor of the home, as there were so many things to be put away. Finally, by monday noon...there was a semblance of order. We have a new home now :) There was a lot of fun too...hmm... sensored actually (If you still want to know...please contact Mariya about it). We also got to eat all our meals outside...chinese, italian, desi food. Yummy yum!

It was a tiring three days...but there is satisfaction for work well done (If i may say so myself :p)!

ps. We did house warming last thursday and let the milk boil over three times (accidentally)!!!

Feminity?

I love my new pair of sandals :)

I fondly call it my salsa heels...(though I have no clue as to how ladies manage to walk much less do the salsa with it!) Everytime I wear the sandals I feel very girlie girlie...I'm not sure why though. You get the feeling that everyone are giving you more than a passing glance just cause your feet are prettily clad.

My best friend bougth me these sandals (I'm supposed to pay her back....haven't done that yet :p) Also, it is my very first heeled experience. That also means I have not mastered the catwalk yet. Friends and family around me become extra apprehensive when I strut around in them. It's very comical to see their eyes follow my feet, praying every second that I don't sprain or fracture my ankle.

Ha...but my sandals have really inspired me....I'm joining salsa next month ;)

Heartless!

It is a very ackward experience to look into a meat shop.

I had an early morning errand to make - shopping for onions, wheat dough, some dal, etc. I was strolling lethargically enjoying the early morning (8.30) chillness. I happened to look into a meat shop while passing. The butcher was cleaning his wares to put them on display.

A face - that will haunt me forever. The butcher was cleaning the head of a goat. With the skin removed, the face had a perpetual grin and demented eyes. Phew...it was such a scary sight. The butcher arranged a set of heads on his table, as if to show off his brutality like in the movie Mask of Zorro.

One of the carcass hanging from the hooks, the bushy end on the goat's tail was gently swishing around a customer's head. It is really a wonder how people manage to eat meat after witnessing such inhuman sights. It's not enough to be human, you need to ensure that you are not inhuman.

Post written by a true non-vegetarian.

I'm back!

For guys who are following my blog....my wallet has been returned to me with lots of love and at the cost of Rs. 200.

An auto driver, found my wallet which I had lost to the pickpockets last week. My wallet was found in a different part of the city. He asked to be rewarded for returning the wallet out of good will. anything is better than applying for a duplicate license and PAN card and other stuff. It is a cliche to learn from other's experience, so I won't ask you people not to carry your original cards in your wallet :)

Ciao...I'm gonna go and celebrate my good luck or whatever it is :p

How disgusting is disgustin?

I have taken it as my solemn duty to disgust some of my close friends :p

It is just too much fun to listen to their grumblings of disgust everyday. So everyday in the morning, I describe my morning duties (delicately put!) to them in graphic details including sound effects :) All I have to do is message them and wait for the bombardum of replies from their side.

Unfortunately, they dig their own graves each morn by acidently asking me innocent questions. For example: If I say plop, plop, plop...they reply what is that sound. How can I resist then.

He he he he he :)

A room of one's own???

I was forced to read up on Virginia Woolf's "A Room of one's own" as it was a prescribed text in my graduate studies. But once I started I had to complete the book. It was a very thought provoking book.

But after Sunday's experience, I would say a car of one's own is much much more preferable ;) My friends and I decided to drive down to Vellore to attend our friend's 'godh barai' ceremony. On the way there, my friend drove of us. But while coming back, I drove them back.

As we had just completed our lunch and it was 2 pm when we started, all of us were drowsy. Before we could hit the highway, all my passengers were fast asleep. I maintained a constant speed of 120km and we reached Chennai in one and half hour.

It was amazing...tranquil and fun!

Everybody should have a time driving a good conditioned car every month or something. It is a good sport and leaves you calm and rejuvenated. Listening to good music, enjoying the drive and having company, sleeping or otherwise is worth a day of fun. Have fun all of you!

Grrr...

After residing more than 20 years in a city, you still get to be shocked by it sometimes.

I have had the oppurtunity to have travelled in all forms of road transport, includin lorrys. But, last night was special...unforgettable. As I had left office early, I decided to board a bus home. The bus was relatively empty. A lady with a kid was standing beside me. Her little sister was behind me and trying hard to hold on to the bus. The nice conductor got up and let the kid take his place. The kid was mesmerized by the whistle that the conductor used. She was valiantly trying to blow on the whistle. But all that was heard was a feeble phhuuu... The passengers in the bus where all smiling to themselves...wat a brat. My stop came and I got down and went home.

Today, saturday morning. I was dragging my feet to come to office. I was pissed off that my previous office had not given my final settlement. I was totally bankrupt. Finally, I was ready to come to office. Took an auto and reached office. Surprise Surprise....someone had picked my bag and stolen my wallet. I was stumped...then I realised, why was the lady's sister leaning heavily on my bag when there was lots of space in the bus.

Ah...I can never call myself street-smart anymore :(

Battle of the wits!

Would you beleive that I had to battle my way out of the auto?

Last evening, I had this "once in a blue moon" experience of getting stuck to the side of a rick as I was leaving it. Passerbys, the rick driver and myself were stunned for a moment. When i tried to pry myself away, I literally could hear my hair snapping away. Ha....my hair was stuck to the velcro that holds up the side flaps in the auto.

Cause the rick is short, I couldn't even stand up to my full height of 5 feet 5 inches and plus my heels. I was half squatting (a disgraceful sight) in the middle of the road and trying to pry my hair away...but ended getting more of my hair stuck. In the end, lady luck in the form of a lady (!!!) pulled my hair away with such force that more of my hair was in her hands.

Apart from the dirt, stress, shampoo, conditioner and other reasons for hair fall... I have a new one to add to the list... AUTORICKSHAWS!!!