Grumpy Mee.

Five reasons am feeling out-of-sorts and confused. Writing helps. So here I go....

a) Am just being invaded by the cold virus. Feel like Iraq, Afghanistan and PoK combined. My throat hurts and I feel feverish. I need a warm blanket, hot soup and tonnes of cuddles and sympathy. A cold/fever is a hotshot way to miss mom, ain't it?

b) I miss my partner. He is traveling on work. So am a work-widow until friday. So much for my I-don't-need-anyone stance before I got into this relationship. Wonder how quickly we adapt, right?

c) I have put in my papers at work. I know I don't enjoy the work here. I also know that this organization doesn't have any career path charted out for me. I have tried to rectify it and failed. I have taken a bold decision to resign because I am not happy. I don't have an alternative right away. I want to move to a different industry. I don't know if I'd get a chance to, immediately. I know I have some frustrating days ahead.... but I took this call, and it is my choice.

d) I have been waiting for the 'dreaded' monsoon to break out for 10 days now. Have been carrying a heavy umbrella, an extra salwar, wearing old clothes and asking my maid to hang clothes to dry inside the guest bathroom.. all in vain! Am convinced that Mr.Monsoon decided to go-go-gooaah and take a vacation there! Hate the unease. Hate waiting for unpleasant situations. Much rather go thro' it and get it over with.

e) A close (younger) friend of mine is not listening to what I deem 'sensible advice'. She naively wants to do something that am convinced would not lead to long-term financial independence. Simply put, I want her to write her GMAT and apply for an MBA, she is convinced that she should get her husband to do that, and that she'd continue to work to support him. What's wrong you may ask, the deal is that her husband is not sure if he wants to do his MBA! She is. Sigh! Such is life.

I hate being cranky and cantankerous, but am sure this too shalst pass.

Trivia for you.

Origin of the phrase "Saved by the Bell"

When our ancestors realized that they were burying a great deal of people before their time had actually come, they came up with a solution. They tied a string onto the "dead" person's hand, buried them, and tied the other end of the string to a bell and then tied it to nearby tree branch. If the person revived enough to ring the bell, their survivors would rush out and dig them up. Hence... "saved by the bell"

Morbid!

Surprise! Surprise?

"Surprise, ssuurrpprriiisseeee", we all screamed.

She was shocked. Pleasantly so. Thrilled. Turned red in her face trying to control the multitude of emotions that ran through her - joy, excitement, love, delight... and all of us smiled/laughed approvingly, feeling thrilled ourselves for having been part of a 'surprise' b'day party. The party rocked.

Happy B'day CP! May today bring you lots of joy, fun times, good wine and lovely moments the entire year.

Why do we love surprises? Because we didn't know of it, and it is new ground? Because it is an offering of love? Because we are being given the spotlight, the hot seat? Because we know we are going to enjoy it? WHY?

"The moment two bubbles

are united, they both vanish.

A lotus blooms."

- Murakami, Kijo

Ps: There is a place called Surprise in Arizona. (http://www.surpriseaz.com/)

Ps2: My darling Wiki has the following to say of “Surprise”

• Surprise (emotion)
• Surprise factor, the fundamental element in humor that puts a twist on familiar subjects.
• Surprise, surprisal, or self-information is the information-theoretic quantity , where p is the probability of occurrence.
• Symphony No. 94 in G major, "Surprise Symphony" by Joseph Haydn
• "Surprise" (Buffy episode), an episode of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Surprise (Zoey 101 episode), an episode of the TV series Zoey 101
• Surprise, Arizona, a city in the USA
• Surprise, Nebraska, a city in the USA
• Surprise (Paul Simon album) 2006 album by Paul Simon
• Surprise (Better Than Ezra album) 1989 album by Better Than Ezra
• (T)Raumschiff Surprise, a German science fiction parody film by Michael "Bully" Herbig
• HMS Surprise, name of various real and fictional Royal Navy ships
• Military Surprise, a military strategy to strike the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which he is unprepared.
• Surprise!, an award-winning short film by Veit Helmer
• Surprise, an animated short film created by Pixar Animation Studios for Sesame Street
• Surprise Records, a record label
• Fundamental Surprise is a surprise that indicates a personal or group mindset which became irrelevant or misleading in interpreting new realities. It is caused by disparity between the fast growing rate of complexity and disruptive changes in our reality and the sluggishness of reframing our mindsets.
• Surprise Moriri, a South African footballer
  

Cheeni Kum - Especially post-interval!

"You see, George, you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?"
- It’s a wonderful life

No, am not going to talk about the plot or the actors (I think enough justice has been done to them in various blogs and critique review) Herez a recount the top-of-mind thoughts about the movie 12 hours after I watched it.

- Tabu looked ravishing. If I weren’t married and if I had had alternate preferences, I’d’ve made her pic my bathroom beauty! (the only other time she looked so wonderful was in a tamil pic ‘Kaadhal Desam’)

- Loved the gumption of Tabu when she says she is going ahead with her marriage plans and couldn’t wait for her dad to die. (Aravindswamy in ‘Bombay’?) Or the nicknames they had for each other (‘En Arumai Pattikaade’, anyone?) Or the lighthearted repartees (a la Mani Ratnam – ‘Agni Nakshatram’, ‘Anjali’, ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’?) Not that am complaining. Similar genre I think.
- Amitabh was cool. His ponytail and single-rich-man demeanor was brilliantly executed. (Straight out of an Italian Count/Greek shipping magnate/Mediterranean Prince M & B!) The only other man who could pull this off (debatably) is Kamal Hassan (yes, kill me non-tams!).

- Ilayaraja rocks (coming from an A R Rahman fan, it’s a lot!) I’d forgotten how his music was the most hummable(MS word refuses to accept this word) and romantic pieces ever. Pure melody. Velvet smooth. Reminds me of a waiting-to-be-loved, warm mellow feeling after a few drinks on a nice breezy evening. :)

- The cinematography was fantastic. Light. Airy. Real at the same time. Yet, a place I wanted to be in, not currently in my grasp. Brilliant! P C Shriram is brilliant.

- Zora Sehgal was a riot. Nutty nag. (here’s a secret, my grandmom-in-law is a WWF fan too!)

- Paresh Rawal should’ve been a Hyderabadi or a Tam Brahm. The characterization would’ve been perfect then (arguably). He seemed a little over-the-top, especially the drama at the end.

- The kid was wasted. Precocious. Too smart for her age. Too sad. Unnecessary melodrama. Her lines, atleast in the first half were great, then they began to jar.

- The second half seemed like a private joke.. a mockery of commercial cinema with laughable long speeches (a la the Angry ‘Young’ Man!), silly references (Iron pillar at Qutub anyone?) and suddenly dampening Tabu’s joie-de-vivre(notice her dumbness when Amitabh comes to put ‘sindoor’ on her maang..silly!)

Overall, a wonderful movie. After a long time (after tamil movie ‘Mozhi’) I laughed so much in the theatre and enjoyed the repartees to the hilt. Restored my faith in Indian cinema after a disastrous ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’ last Friday! A must-watch.

"I love that you get cold when it's seventy-one degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're lookin' at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely. And it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
- When Harry Met Sally

The Pursuit of Happiness

How many times in our lives have we started a conversation with "I want..." Pretty often. And once we do achieve the "I want..", do we stop saying that? No, probably not.

I read a couple of articles this morning in the papers that set off this line of thought.

# 1: Mukesh Ambani's house
Mumbai Mirror reported that he is building a 27-storey house with features such as helipads, mini theatre, swimming pool, 6 floors of parking space (to house upto 168 cars), two floors of guest rooms, 4 floors of living space for the family and 600 service staff to maintain the mansion. I wonder if he’d be happy with this, or want more, once it takes shape in concrete and mortar?

In contrast, my maid told me this morning that she is thrilled to have found a first floor asbestos roofed 1 room house before monsoon and she aims to buy a one room shack in two years time!

Who would be happier once they move into their dream house? Would they want more after that?

# Cars and Car Owners
Bluetooth backseats, warm seats, I pod connectivity, moon roof, run-flat tyres.. the list goes on. As if it were not enough to own a BMW, these are some of the extra features that are regularly asked for by BMW clients.

In contrast, my colleague has begun traveling by rick once she moved into this company. She says she is much happier without having to fight for a foot of space on the train each morning. She is saving up to buy a second-hand car in 3 years time.

Will a BMW go faster in Mumbai traffic as compared to a 3 wheeler? Who would be happier traveling in their mode of transport on a rainy day? Would they want more?

When some material, spiritual or emotional change brings us comfort, it doesn’t last, we want more. Want more salary, want children now that we are married, want to go to all jyothirlingam sites….

When do we start saying ‘I want’ and when do we stop?
Who is happy with what they have... my maid? Mukesh Ambani? Me? You?

“It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. How did he know that? “
- Will Smith in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness'

Ref:
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=15&contentid=20070530022210718d7460de5

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Snootier_the_car_quirkier_the_requests/articleshow/2085109.cms

Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend is getting married today. And I am going through a wave of feelings. We were really close in childhood and took some brave life-changing calls together. We did different things later on in life, and even lost touch for a few months in the course of life. However, the bond has always remained, for both of us. We still take off from wherever we left our conversations the last time and all the gaps - time, distance and life, just melt away. And till date, I am myself with her, no airs and no put-on personality, just me in all my truthfulness!

I am thrilled for her of course, she is marrying a person she has known for 3 years and am sure he would treat her well (as a lady should be treated) and bring her laughter and security on a daily basis (and I am hoping lunch to her on a tray often too!)

Am apprehensive about any tiny misunderstandings that could happen during the ceremonies and I pray her wedding goes off flawlessly (just as all her accounting papers in school would always go!)

Am feeling guilty that I am sitting a thousand miles away, typing this blog, instead of being at her side wishing her well in person. My spirit and thoughts are with her (it took me all my energy to drag myself to office today!)

Am feeling happy that she is going to discover a world of togetherness, of being woken up in the goofiest way possible, of enjoying wonderful moments of intimacy, of feeling strong enough to tackle the world knowing that there is a one-man army to back her up, of having a shoulder to rest on and a person to share the world and the rest of her life with!

My dear friend A, wish R and you a super life ahead.

PS: I know I have to do a lot of prayaschittam, rest assured, I shall, and hopefully soon!

Men, Cricket and Kitchen

Am trying to understand men (I know the futility of it, but full marks for my tenacity!) Your views appreciated.

All men that I know (especially the ones who are married) cook at least a bit. But cooking is just creating the dish. It rarely involves the accompanying activities -
a) Cutting the vegetables (forget buying, washing/cleaning)
b) Getting the appropriate cooking vessels
c) Returning ingredients /spices to its appropriate place of residence!
d) Dumping used vessels in cleaning area
e) Transferring cooked preparation to serving bowl (actually, thankfully they don't!)
f) ZERO CLEANING!

But watching an F1 match or better still, a cricket match on TV gets men to do ALL of the following -
a) Adjusting the drapes to set room ambience
b) Buying beer
c) Putting beer in fridge (wow! you know where the fridge is!!)
d) Locating and using the bottle opener
e) Calling the grocer to buy snacks (Hmm!)
f) Locating the remote without assistance!!

Talk about conditional processing!

ps: Dear Men, will thee consider ordering food the next time?

Sikhs and Cicadas

Two news items caught my interest this morning.

One pertained to the brouhaha over Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim who leads a spiritual organization called Sacha Sauda(henceforth referred to as SS), which runs campuses called 'deras'. The organization has over 2.5 crore followers, several hundred acres of land (also used for agricultural purposes), runs charity institutions like colleges, schools and hostels and propounds a way of life that includes a certain form of yoga to be practised for a healthy life. However, SS has had a chequered past, with sexual scandals, murders and land cases tainting its reputation. SS is also supposed to have political connections with Hindu parties (translates to non-Sikh parties)


But the current controversy has nothing to do with SS's way of life, court cases or murder; it is to do with a dress worn by the leader on some occasion. Huzoor Maharaj Sant Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh Ji (as he is referred to by his followers) wore a dress that resembled closely the dress of Guru Gobind Singh, the last guru of Sikhs, which really hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. This resulted in angry protests, a 'hukumnama' (edict given by the temporal body of Sikhs, the Akal Takht) that all deras (in various places) were to be forcefully evicted immediately. Some right wing radical factions of Sikhs even broached the idea of sending suicide squads to various Sacha Sauda deras.

So SS retaliated by deciding to hold blood camps on the same day (today) in its campuses.

Move.
Counter-move.
Counter-counter-move.
Counter again.
Check.
Mate.
Stalemate.

My opinion is this - at the end of the day its a garment. Did Mahatma Gandhi not ape Christ's last loin cloth? SS as a sect is non-violent. It doesn't advocate any negative philosophy either. Nor is it prejudiced against a race, caste, community, religion, country or social practice. If the leader preaches a philosophy similar to Guru Gobind's, so be it. Plagiarism is the best form of Flattery! By extension, SS followers are a quasi-Sikh community. Why not allow them their path to the Big One? Everybody has their way to God, hope, the Supreme, a super being, faith, fate, the Big Man with a Pipe, destiny, or whatever you wish to call the Un-named force. Restrictions are unnecessary and cause sectarianism.

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or out"
- Robert Frost, 'Mending Wall'

The other article I read was certainly lighter (though personally scarier). Not hundreds, not thousands, not even millions, but BILLIONS of cicadas are expected to make their way into Middle Earth from underground this June across northern Illinois, parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. The monsters are red-eyed (yup, grandma always maintained horror creatures were red-eyed) and the size that scares me most... shrimp-sized. Fortunately, they do not sting or bite. But billions?

Their mating calls (chirping? More like mini wood saws!) are expected to drown most other sounds, including television and telephones. Dogs, cats and other insect-lovers can have a feast though, these cicadas are supposed to be high in protein. (yikes!) I believe they surface once every 17 years or so. They live underground (about a metre or so below surface), go through six life stages and in the sixth stage burrow a tunnel to the top soil. They wait for good climate (17 deg C) and then emerge like superstars. They then quickly molt and start mating. They are called 'nymphs' at the 'emerge-from-the-ground' stage. Then they turn 'maniacs'. (Yeah, used in conjunction with the 'nymphs'!)

They mate like crazy. In fact that is ALL they do for the next 30 days, the last 30 glorious days of their life, one super orgy(yeah, baby!). The males then drop dead from exertion. The females lay the eggs and die too. The babies once born just burrow into the earth for the next 16 years of hibernation, awaiting their prom-orgy!

Lots to learn from the cicadas... just love and make love. Why fight over clothes and the lot? Life is short. Chill, chill, just chill!

ps: All views are solely mine. And are not intended to make fun of or hurt the sentiments of anyone.