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 :)