On that note

Hi to all of you that responded to my previous post.

So, its end of one quarter of the year already! Unbelievable isnt it? One of the sweet sounding effects of spring is the voices of birds all over. This weekend my much neglected bird feeder was washed and refilled. And long before that, my back yard has been filled with the notes of robins and sparrows and pigeons. These tunes trickle in when my windchime stops to take a breather or when the wind has stopped howling.

Which brings me to my pet peeve. My voice. I am very thankful I dont have to put up with my minnie-mousish squeaky voice on the phone. That privilege is all for the receiver on the other side, woe is them. Apparently, I am told, this is one of the biggest peeves of public speakers. The antidote is to practice speeches in solitude. Then I'd hate to be a public speaker. Cos I *really cant* stand my voice. Thats probably why I try to manage with IM and emails as much as I can with my friends. I know some people who have a wonderful voice- some sweet, some soothing, some husky, some lilting. All kinds. Mine has a weird mix of a shriek and a squeak. Many times when I've made the mistake of answering telemarketing calls, I've had the person ask me to put my parent on the phone. So you get the idea.

So, whats your take on your voice?

Freeze! and a hi

Statement of no purpose : This is one of those times I've felt like posting 'some' thing, but have had no clue what. And this is one of those posts when I am not sure if I am sounding silly(so whats new, you ask?). This is also one of those posts in which I dont know what to write about. I dont have any intersting book reviews or movie reviews or pictures or anything brilliant to say. But I just feel like posting, so I will.

. I am a member of the Improv here. I love stand up comedy shows. Now, Improv Everywhere is based out of NYC and this recent experiment kinda caught my eye.

http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/

Excerpt : "On a cold Saturday in New York City, the world’s largest train station came to a sudden halt. Over 200 Improv Everywhere Agents froze in place at the exact same second for five minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. Over 500,000 people rush through Grand Central every day, but today, things slowed down just a bit as commuters and tourists alike stopped to notice what was happening around them. Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our mission report and photos."

Awesomely interesting, isnt it? What a weird, whacky thing to happen in all the hustle-bustle of Grand Central Station, NYC. I've been through here quite a few times and I'd have been tickled pink to watch this happen.

.While bloghopping recently I also read about this : www.311pm.com

This in Chennai, where bloggers and others took a picture of what they saw, where they were, what they were doing exactly at 3:11pm on 3rd Nov 2007. A freeze moment in time.

Excerpt from the website :
-WHAT

On the 3rd of November 2007, we invite every Chennaiite to for one second, at exactly 03:11 PM, stop whatever it is that they are doing, and click, shoot, snap, capture or photograph that moment, just hold that one instant frozen in a picture and send it to us. This is not for any great worthy cause, this is not a competition, it may or may not help charity, it will not prevent global warming, you will gain no medals, no certificates but it is most definitely not a waste.


So I read these two interesting pieces of experiment, and as I was walking along the lake in a park nearby, I decided to freeze through my lens, what I was upto at that particular point of time. Kinda like my own freeze frame. Hence here I present to you, my dear readers, a capture of where I was, what I was doing at 7:15 AM EST on the 25th of March 2008.








The forecast calls for rain, rain, rain and rain for the next 4 days. Such is spring in our part of the world. I remember one year when we hit a record low- we had a total of 4 dry days all through spring. But we need the rains, considering we hit near drought conditions last summer. So here's to canned sunshine. This is one of my favorite places to be. Come rain or snow, sun or wind- I go here to capture some simple special moments. I have taken pictures of all 4 seasons at exactly the same spot- a bend along the road leading to this serene lake and the greenery that surrounds it.

As you might have all deduced by now, this post really has no set purpose. Please dont go yet. I've saved the best for the last. Since I've rambled on enough without coming to any point, let me conclude with this.

Time for a frozen Hi : Sitemeter is that web site visitor statistics gathering tool that all of us in the 'blogging' community use. While it helps us track the hits and misses, views and page counts, it also serves as an ego booster. Especially the record high stats. No, I dont obsess about the stats, but once in a while I do check the visitors log to see who's on and who's not. Recently the visitor count has shot up. There's been a visitor from NY who has spent a total of 65 mins on my blog, with extra time on the archives. And another visitor from Belgium thats a regular ;). Ooh, and then there's one from San Diego, another regular, through Google reader. And then there's my friend L from the bay area thats a regular but she never makes herself heard. Plenty more- some that I know, some that are just passersby, some that google on khara biscuit recipe(ever popular, I say), or any such random word for which a post of mine shows up.

So a big Hi to all of you- whether you land here from someone else's blog, or googled for something and found your way here, whether you're a regular, whether you're one of those silent ones, whether you're one of those passers-by(ones that stray here once and never come back)- THIS is your chance people. I have plenty of time on hand, I can lend my ear(its been cleaned, too!) so if you happen to land on this post or on this blog, do take a minute to say 'Hi'. Yup, 'Hi' is all it takes. Well, if you wish, you can tell me how you landed here, where you're from, what interests you, what bores you, what you like, what you dislike- you can EVEN tell me if you were googling for something important but happened to get mislead here- to my completely useless blog- yes you can say that, no issues. Or you can tell me that its a complete waste of your precious time. If you've been a lurker, do de-lurk to say Hi. Trust me, I bloghopped for a while before I could muster the courage to comment. So I'd like to hear from all of you in a chorus Hi. A freeze comment in time, what say? And I dont like getting disappointed.

Impulse

As dawn breaks across the blue
On a fine morning in spring
As the warmth of light shines through the flue
Awake, arise it does sing.

There's miles to wend
Plenty of to-do's in a pile
But serenity , the moment does lend
Breathe deeply and curl up for a while

Just as sunset and sunrise
Spring follows frost, its no surprise
The rhythm of life is a pulse
Dancing to its tune is just an impulse.

H-2-0

For some months, now more than ever, I have begun to truly understand the importance of water. H-2-0. That element of nature which covers 70% of the earth surface and and that which makes up 80% of the human body.

During my teenage years, I'd hear a lot of sage words of advice on the importance of drinking water. To avoid the one prominent source of teenage angst. Acne. Many years since then, this has become a chant. Havent we all heard this at some point of time or the other to - Drink 8 glasses of water a day?

Why? How does drinking water help?

Its helps in digestion for one. It keeps the body hydrated(much like lubrication). Skin! It keeps the skin healthy. It aids in energizing the body and improves the metabolism. Last but not the least, it is the number one appetite suppressant. And hence it is by far the best aid for weight loss.

These arent things I made up, its out there for everyone to learn and understand. I have truly come to believe in the power of drinking water. No doubt about that.

But today, in an email I received something very interesting. Something that made the connection between water and human emotions. Here's an excerpt :

"In Messages from Water, Masaru Emoto describes his experiments with ordinary water. He bottled water in different containers and labelled them: love, hate, greed, compassion and terror. To each bottle of water he spoke everyday for 10 minutes in line with its label; he projected his thoughts with awareness on them. To water labelled love he spoke on love with love; to the one labelled terror he spoke on terror with terror.

At the end of a month he froze the water in these bottles separately and studied the frozen crystals of each under a microscope. The crystals of water labelled love shone brilliantly like diamonds; those labelled terror seemed misshapen, and fearsome. Water responded to Emoto's thoughts and words. Water constitutes more than 80% of our body system. You can imagine the power of words, our own and those of others upon our body system."

Amazing isnt it? Think about it- our body is 80% water. How we act, how we react, what we think, what we say- is ALL affecting our body. Our own water body.

And as we sow, so we reap.

“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Ore to the fore

Jai and Bee declared March was the month to show them some metal. Enough said! I collected some choice pieces of metal that I own(Bee, not fair- I was going to do the tetsubin tea pot initially!!!) and ta-da!

Spring 2008 diary-1

Just as bright, clear sunshine streams across cloudless, brilliantly azure skies after a thunderstorm has passed by, just so are a few days of warmer climes....heightening high temperatures in the 60s, the tingling feeling of the warm sun on the spine as one clears out the debris of fallen leaves, remnants of fall foliage and a stark reminder of the chilly winter that is about to be a thing of the past. The glee at being able to wear flipflops and tend to the front yard, making space for the tender shoots of daffodils and tulips so they can breathe freely, to blossom with joy and welcome spring with all its bright hues and cheer.

We in the north east coast have had a glimpse of warm weather. Just a couple of days, a trailer. The daffodils are very close to blooming and I cant wait enough!

Inspired by Tharini, my agenda for the weekend had been set. The deck was given a power wash, some patio furniture got delivered, the front yard was cleared, the car was taken for a wash and the garage got cleaned. Phew, that was enough for this weekend. There is still the closet to be tackled, but that can wait for a weekend when spring has officially begun.

So the answer to your question if any reading got done, would be no. Not much reading, not any movies, I have been out of the house both days- exhausted but a lot of work got done. And thats always a good thing. I end this post with some pictures of the my front yard that will be springing into action in the coming weeks. Watch out for this space!

Two of a kind

Having lived with a mother-daughter duo of Sagittarians, life is one big stage, and everyday is new drama for sure. There is never want for entertainment, the two are capable of creating mountains out of molehills, spinning a veritable yarn of imaginary tales from simple day to day happenings and shifting gears from the heights of joviality to the depths of depression all in one day. I talk about my mother and my sister. If you're looking to be entertained without paying for expensive cable channels, get yourself not one but a pair of Sagittarians in the house, you'll get ample returns on the investment :D.

If ever I caught Seren with an evil grin on her face, then it was undoubtedly THE time for playing a prank on Amma. Her devilishly smug face displayed her pride at having devised the whole plot. The earliest one that I can remember is one evening when she returned from school and rang the doorbell. As my mother opened the door, she sweetly smiles at my mother as she continues to chew on something in her mouth that appears seemingly full. While she sneaks a wink at me, she says "Hmmmm, ma, this tastes pretty good" and points to a mat on the porch outside where my mother has placed balls of boric acid(roach treatment) to dry out in the sun!

I swear to God, my mother's face not only changed multiple shades of purple with fear, her body froze into sheer fit of immobility. Its got to have been utter maternal instincts that must have stopped her from strangling my sister that day.

And this is just one of the many pranks that Seren has played on Amma. And she still continues to do so. One other entertaining skill of hers is that she can imitate Amma very well. Be it the way Amma admonishes us or the way she narrates an incident to Amma's little quirks and idiosyncracies- you bet, Seren can have you in splits.

If you ever doubt that Sagittarians have a vivid imagination, rest assured they do. If one were to ask Amma why she always gets startled when woken up, her deductive reasoning is that it must've been because as a child she remembers being locked up in a dark room and dozing off in there. There is no factual evidence to prove this theory, my grandmother certainly doesnt recall any such.

Always and I say always, Amma will have some errand when she notices either one of us(Appa, Seren or I) stepping out of the house(it doesnt apply to the times we would be leaving for work or college or school). I have always doubted if she has some kind of sensor that lets her know when we are stepping outside for anything else. "Seren, can you get me a packet , it should say Hot Iyengar's you know!"

Seren(trying hard to resist chewing her tongue out) "So you want a HOT Iyengar?"

Amma "Pah, Hot Iyengar's puliyogare silly. What else could be Hot Iyengar's?"

Seren(mumble, mumble) "Alright, whatever!"

Make no mistake, there are times when they are at each others' throats, constantly getting on each others' nerves and cold wars galore. And then there are times the two will team up to play pranks on poor, unsuspecting Appa. So the two have already bought three tickets for Chennai.

Amma "Seren and I have booked tickets to go to Chennai next weekend. Did you want to go as well?"

Appa "Oh! Well I really didnt want to. But if you two are, sure."

Seren " Appa, I checked, there are no more tickets by train. Why dont you come by bus and meet us there?"

Paavam Appa "Sure, let me go buy bus tickets".

While he starts planning to get the cash needed and go buy the bus ticket, the two will sheepishly sneak up on him and say "Ta-da! We got your ticket already!"

Yes, this is the kind of drama that unfolds in our house at regular intervals.

Some years ago, we got our parents each a cellphone. For emergency purposes. Because you see my dad had the habit of going out and never telling us where he was going or when he'd be back. So when it got late, there have been many nights, the three of us have sat out in the porch waiting for him to return. Though this solution came quite late in the day, we believed this was a perfect way for us to call and ask for his coordinates even if he didnt share them with us. Its been a few years and both of them have mastered the use of this handy tool and are proud owners. But one of the weirdest outcomes has been, Appa calls us when he's 2 traffic signals away from the house to let us know he's 2 traffic signals away and will be home in 10 mins!!!!!!!!!! Sigh!

“I may not lead the most dramatic life, but in my brain it's War and Peace everyday.”
~Rufus Wainwright


Edited to add : After much thought, this one gem just cannot be left out. Appa hates wastage. Specially when it comes to food. And he loves eating out. Amma and wastage go hand in hand. Yes, horoscope matching's biggest success story, these two. When we go out to eat and get ourselves thaalis, this is what happens. After about 15 mins, when all of us seemingly are digging away into the multiple katoris of delightful north indian or south indian fare, one will espy Amma with a guilt ridden smug face sitting in front of a thaali with inverted katoris. It means she has hastily pecked on every item, finished her meal, and hastily stuffed ALL the remnants into each katori, INVERTED. Guileless Appa thinks she has emptied her plate.

Scorecard : Amma 1, Appa 0.

Dos

2 years
227 posts
9000 visitors
17,000 page views
1,000,000(one million) thanks

To all the readers of this blog- silent, vocal, passersby, lurkers, friends, family and all other animals.
Its been 2 years since this blog came about and hence its time to celebrate.

As I was glancing through the archives I realised that for the first few months of its birth, traffic had been almost non-existent. And then off and on, the only comments have been from SK, so many thanks to her for her continued patronage. Some months later, Seren came along, leaving encouraging comments. Thus, slowly, steadily the readership has come to what it is now.

I have declared this to go in my all-time feel-good movie list. As many times as I watch the movie and its songs, it never fails to cheer me up. So I share it with you, my dear readers, as we settle down to celebrate this special mile marker in blogdom. Grab something to drink, some munchies, settle down comfortably and enjoy!

Ha, hai koi toh wajah, jo jeene ka mazaa yoon aane laga
Yeh, hawaaon mein hai kya thoda sa jo nasha yoon chhaane laga
Poocho na poocho mujhe kya hua hai teri raahon mein aakar
Poocho na poocho mujhe kya milega teri baahon mein laakar
Yeh ishq hai, baithe bithaaye, jannat dikhaaye haan, O Raama....

Uff, the cruel world we all live in!

A lady I know provides a service that most people need. She could have a fancy store, but she operates out of her small apartment where she lives with her husband and two kids. Now, if it indeed HAD been a fancy store, the working hours would've been 9-5 on weekdays. Okay, maybe Saturday as well.

Likewise, she tries to have a similar schedule for her home run business. She has taken the luxury of closing shop on Sundays. While the charges are quite nominal, she certainly doesnt make a lot. But she is trying to make ends meet, is on her feet 8 hrs a day, apart from dropping/picking up her kids from school, cooking, cleaning and every other household chore. I am sure everyone would agree- not easy, not anything new- we all live such lives. I dont plead for any special sympathy for her case.

Now the one thing I dont understand is this. Just because she runs a service out of her house, is it appropriate for one to land at her doorstep at 9pm on a week night, when she is serving dinner to her family and trying to put her school going kids to bed, and demand an emergency appointment? If every person stated his/her case and pleads for an exception, then where is the end? Also, when one knows she is taking a break on Sundays, how is it ok to call her incessantly at 9am on a Sunday morning and insist that you have prior commitments in the evening and hence need to be accomodated right away?

Has it really become so hard for us to consciously be thoughtful of another person's inconveniences? Is it really so difficult for one to put oneself in another's shoes and wonder how it feels? Have we really gone so far beyond in only thinking about ourselves and our needs and priorities that we consider someone who does us a service that for which we pay a price(however paltry it may be) has no right to their privacy? Yes, I agree she can always refuse and bang the door or the phone down, but that means she gets labelled as rude and inconsiderate! Ya, go figure!

This, by no measure, is a rant. Just a thought, so indulge me while I muse. Conscious thoughtfulness is not easy. It means we consciously think about what we are saying and how it affects/effects the other person. If we wish for others to be thoughtful to us, we need to make that effort to begin with. It all comes back to that age old phrase- if we point one finger at others, there are four more pointing back to us. By making judgement calls on how everyone else should live their lives, deriding others for their inabilities, ridiculing a certain group of people for what they are, who they are - these are all examples of how we only bring ourselves down. We forget that there is a higher power beyond all of us that can put us in the same position as these very people we judge.

And then we all complain how heartless people are and what a cruel, unjust world we all live in!

Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes.
~Mary Martin

On that note people, TGIF and have a great weekend!

~Peace

CBD 2008

'Palace of Illusions' by Chitra Banerjee Diwakaruni

Finished the book over the weekend.

Headnote 1 : I cant remember when and how I got to know the Mahabharata stories. It could've been Amar Chitra Katha, or the TV serial, or Amma's bedtime stories or a mix of all these. But I never could digest the incessant cursing and strong emotions that goes along with the epic story. Sages that got infuriated and spewed curses, skilled teachers that spouted revenge, honor-bound kings, devas, asuras, earthly beings all inhabiting the earth at the same time....while the grandeur of the epic was wonderful and mystifying, there were always nagging doubts that surged my mind all along, when the logic side of me surfaced, which happened off and on.

Headnote 2 : Looks like it is a season where female characters from history and mythology feature as leads in the latest novels. After 'The Twentieth Wife' and 'Feast of Roses' based on Nur Jahan's life in the Mughal dynasty by Indu Sundaresan, 'Palace of Illusions' depicts our biggest epic , the Mahabharata through the eyes of Draupadi, the woman who for years to come would be known as the cause for the biggest war of Dwapara Yuga.

Now, on to the book itself.

As expected most of the stories of Mahabharata in itself were not new, but reading about them through the eyes of Draupadi was certainly a fresh twist. While the central character comes across as an independent, strong willed and outspoken woman, I have no scriptural knowledge to disprove the theory that Draupadi might not have been so. It does sound strange to read the Mahabharata stories from the eyes of such an individual. Certainly, as Chitra Banerjee mentions in her preface, many of our mythological stories are written by men and hence dont provide a sentimental/emotional angle.

This was the first time I heard about Draupadi having had feelings for Karna, and that he had been her first suitor at the Swayamwara. But like I said, I cannot recall how I know some of the stories, and I know for sure I never read an unabridged version of Mahabharata(if there is one), so perhaps this might be something I totally missed. I also did not know that she had received special powers from Vyaasa to be able to watch the Kurukshetra war as a bystander and record for posterity. While some of the characterizations were pronounced and elaborate, some key events of the epic were skimmed over rather flippantly.

As always, CBD's style of writing is powerful, gripping and keeps one hooked till the end. If not anything, I enjoyed reliving the Mahabharata tales, spicy and when it was being delivered with a tangy twist through the eyes of Panchaali, sure why not?

Some excerpts:

"What did I learn that day in the sabha?
All this time I'd believed in my power over my husbands. I'd believed that because they loved me they would do anything for me. But now I saw that though they did love me- as much perhaps as any man can love- there were other things they loved me. Their notions of honor, of loyalty toward each other, of reputation were more important to them than my suffering. They would avenge me later, yes, but only when they felt the circumstances would bring them heroic fame. A woman doesnt think that way. I would have thrown myself forward to save them if it had been in my power that day. The choice they made in the moment of my need changed something in our relationship. I no longer depended on them so completely in the future. And when I took care to guard myself from hurt, it was as much from them as from our enemies."

"I remembered how tricky gods are. How they give what you want with one hand while taking away, with the other, something much more valuable. Yes, fame would come to both the young men(Ghatotkacha and Abhimanyu), and bards would sing of their exploits oftener than they sang of their fathers'. But when they did so, listerners would turn away to hide their tears."

"Its only now that I see he'd always ben there, sometimes in the forefront, sometimes blended into the shadows of my life. When I thought myself abandoned, he was busy supporting me- but so subtly that I often didnt notice. And his love was totally different from every other love in my life. Unlike them, it didnt expect me to behave in a certain way. It didnt change into displeasure or anger or even hatred if I didnt comply. It healed me. Krishna's love was a balm, moonlight over a parched landscape."

Footnote : I HAD to read the book, when I saw that the front cover had a picture of one of the doors that I'd loved and captured from the City Palace in Jaipur.

All the filmi fare

After many years, this time around I got to watch the Filmfare awards show. I initially was delighted at the idea that it was a live telecast(rather a live, recorded telecast on the same day, US time). Durga burst my bubble, come Friday night by saying it was just a delayed telecast and the event was over. Anyway watch it I did, come Sunday night. I even threw in a siesta for the afternoon, all my chores done, so I could be ready for it.

So some very noticeably absent people(either that or the cameras werent doing a good job) were- the Bachchan khandaan, Salman, Javed Akhtar-Shabana Azmi, Gulzar, Aamir(well he NEVER shows up, anyway) and though Kareena and Karishma were seen- I was surprised her parents werent.

Taare Zameen Par won best film, totally concur. Kareena won best actress for Jab we met. SRK for Chak De. Best Debutante(Female) and Sony face of the year, both went to Deepika Padukone. I'd expected Best Debutante(Male) would go to Neil Nitin Mukesh for Johny Gaddar, it went to Ranbir Kapoor for Saawariya. Critics award for best actor went to Darsheel Zafary of Taare Zameen Par. His victory speech was cute, as cute can be and so down to earth. Best director went to Aamir for TZP and Best Music to ARR for Guru.

Most deserved was Best lyricist to Prasoon Joshi for Maa from TZP. Wonderful composition. Best playback singer- Male went to Shaan for Jab se tere naina from Saawariya and Female went to Shreya Ghoshal(looking so cute and young) for Barso re Megha from Guru.

TZP won one more award, Amol Gupte won best story for TZP, again well deserved. What was a surprise was Monty Sharma for Saawariya got the RD Burman music award. I'd have picked Vishal-Shekar for OSO but whatever). Lifetime award went to Rishi Kapoor. Neetu looks so trim and svelte, she could pass for a 30 yr old, easily!

Some eye-candy : Bipasha Basu looked like a million bucks. Neil Nitin Mukesh has the raw looks of a dashing newcomer. Deepika Padukone, while she looks ravishing, is not at all approachable. This is the first time I watched the Khan duo(SRK and SAK-Shah Rukh and Saif) with their host act. Their outrageous jokes and digs, while predictable, must be quite a welcome change, given the history of Filmfare awards hosting. The Na-real awards were quite tongue-in-cheek! It was good to see Rekha and the Sippys and Chopras on awards night.

Alright, one more weekend gone.

Coming up next : Book review of Palace of Illusions, by CBD(Chitra Banerjee Diwakaruni).