Oooooohhh!

You are most Like A Sapphire! Dark, mysterious - but unforgettable. You have a
deep beauty. Delicate, and shy you try to stay away from the limelight but often your intelligence puts you in at the deep end. You're like a Sapphire, because, your
beauty is priceless. You're intelligent, full of opinions, and not big-headed about it all. Sometimes you need to put yourself out there, as you can be a bit shy. Congratulations ... You're the mysterious gem everybody wants to have and learn more about.

Which Precious Gem Are You ?

Valley of Power

Last to last evening, I was watching an NDTV program on the quake victims. Basically, one of the worst hit areas In Pakistan - Muzaffarabad - is unreachable thanks to LOC restrictions and the phone lines are down, so this channel had arranged a tele-meeting of sorts for groups of people on both sides. Most people of course enquired about their relatives and they generally got responses on the lines of - no home, bad weather, no food, bad conditions, etc. One person however heard for the first time that his entire family was wiped out - this was a terrible moment and everyone on camera and off it got affected by this bit.

It was so frustrating to watch these two groups having to resort to a tele-meeting thing when they are probably a couple of hundred miles from each other ALL thanks to crappy political statements people are making. Is this the time to be making these?? What kind of people are they? What would they have been doing if any member of their family had been stuck in this sort of a situation or worse, had passed away and there was no way you could reach them not because you didn't want to but you COULDN'T for no ability-related-reasons? It was just deeply sad.

I had hoped to see this disaster becoming a leveler and maybe (miraculously) undoing all the strife and boundaries that have been pounded and propounded over the years. Sadly, nothing of the sort has happened and it's almost seeming like a curse someone has cast (do you cast curses like you do spells?) over the people of Kashmir and thereabouts - you either die by bullets or by disasters such as this...or worst of all, you live days full of terror, hunger, pain, and insecurity for the rest of your life.

Even the militants are doing their bit - soon after the quake - that by the way was supposed to have wiped out many many militant camps - they announced how this was the time to help their 'brothers and sisters' and not a time of violence but fog social work and upliftment. How do they go about dong this? By storming into a Jammu and Kashmir state minister's office and shooting him dead and injuring everyone else there. Social work indeed.

Then I read this article on NYT that someone sent in – It managed to deepen this feeling of sadness and introduced the new feeling of cringe-y embarrassment/shame at a country who is making points at a time it can ill-afford to do so. As a citizen of that country it tells me what my country's priorities are and will be should I ever be in any sort of trouble.

On an analogous-with-parenthood note, this action leaves an indelible scar. On the regular note, speaks eons of the maturity levels that led to this brilliant decision. The irony is that this purportedly roots form aspiring for a seat in the UN Security Council. Is a country that neglects the security of its own country in such a callous manner worthy of it? 'worthy' is stretching it. Does it even deserve more than a snort for this? Come to think of it, I don't care half as much for the reaction to the country as much as I do for those poor people who have got the worst of it - they survived the damn earthquake.

Aasche bochchor aabar hobe!

Well, Durga Poojo came and has already gone this year.

What was the same was that my parents - as they have been doing for the last 4-5 years now - left the city during this time. What this translates to is unimaginable stress for a lazy bum like me - the stresses of waking early to fill the water, letting in/out the maids, figuring out what to eat AND what to feed my brother, getting even less sleep than I already do...in short, responsibilities I am so not used to couple with the whole dressing up and walking miles from pandal to pandal...and all the while battling crrrrazy crowds!

What was different - and I still can't put my finger on what the HELL happened there - was that this year I felt what can best be described as a surge of emotions (mixture of pride, fondness, and sheer sentiment) whenever I was near the traditional celebration sights, sounds, and smells this year.

The sights - the beautiful idols and the ladies that congregate around her to perform all the rites and rituals and everyone big and small in their new-clothes-finery and beaming smiles.

The sounds - the special drum called 'dhak' which is the trademark durga pooja sound played by specialist drummers referred to as 'dhakis'

The smells - the holy smoke - coconut hair burning with an incense like powder in an earthen hand held pot that vaguely looks like a very very fat wine glass. This is called 'dhunuchi' and of course the street side vendors serving the best of food - as oily, greasy, and over priced as ever - but nonetheless adding to the spirit!

I am still vaguely hung over with all of it and then some more...my feet are still officially dead and my heart still beats to the dhak...

sighhhh.

Insecure, Illiterate, Pathetic, and Mindless

Just when you think you have seen it all, out comes this.

The scam itself is not half as sorry as is the reaction.

It has already led to this

Rashmi and Gaurav - we're with you on this one.

and to anyone who reads this, please be kind to spread the word

PS: JUST so this appears on blog searches, this is about IIPM. IIPM. IIPM. IIPM. IIPM.

Duh.

My A-list of A-NNOY-ING celebrities

1. Paris Hilton
2. Britney Spears
3. Jennifer Lopez
4. (lately) Tom Cruise
   

...this is an on-going enterprise...

Is this LOVE? Is THIS love? IS this love?

Like many others, I have grown up with certain notions – preconceived and/or observed – of what love constitutes, what it should feel like, and how one should know (Read: parameters to indicate that “love is all around”). However, as time goes by, and needless to say, this water-tight concept doesn’t fructify, we keep compromising along the way – a concession here, a concession there – like some super-bargain-of-a-lifetime. “Maybe that is not as important as I thought it ought to be…” “Maybe no guy in the world is like this…” etcetera….

As a result, we keep pruning down our ideals until we’re left with what? Endless sadness? Deep-rooted dissatisfaction? Ever-growing cynicism? …And, of course, whether you’re with somebody, sombodies or not, gnawing loneliness.

This may be somewhat idealistic but - Why do we have to go through life this way?