Twang Bang Bang

Most Exotic Food at an Exotic destination

2010-12-23T12:25:00.003+05:30

As a person who loves her food more than any personal posessions, as a person who spends at least 1/5th her salary on food, As a person who dishes out 2000 Rs for a single meal, it is a very unfair question to get asked.
Every new taste that my taste bud experiences is unique and exotic to me and the magic of the food melting and fusing with my senses makes my surroundings magical and enchanting to me. It can be a crowded lane smelling of every human smell conceivable but the food and the mere experience of being there makes it stand out .
It could be Kaande pakode and garam chai on top of SInhagad. ANda Bhurjee outside the Pune station, Galouti kabab in an un named shop in an un named lane in Lucknow, Jigarthanda in Madurai, Pongal Vada at Ayyapans at Matunga, Sphagetti Carbonara @ Curlys in Goa, The Goan pork sausages @ Colva, Kokam Sharbat and Prawn Gassi in Mangalore, Fish Moili in Trivandrum, Chole Kulche and Lassi in Delhi, Garlic Naan @ Angeethi in Hyderabad, Khubani ka meetha, Mutton Biryani and Mirchi ka Salan @ Paradise and Almond house, Haleem @ Ramzan in Hyd.Pitla Bhakri@ Shaniwarpeth. I can just go on and on and on....
There is no one most exotic food. For me The food makes the place exotic.(Maybe I went a little overboard, but food does that to me).

2010-09-17T17:43:00.001+05:30

In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself. The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters. Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.The snow unfurls in dancing figures. A silver gull slips down from the west. Sometimes a sail. High, high stars. Oh the black cross of a ship. Alone. ~ Neruda

Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.

The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.

In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.

The snow unfurls in dancing figures.

A silver gull slips down from the west.

I can picture each one of these sntences in my head

its sooo beautiful and calm

placid......

silence

silence so dark that u cant see through it

darkness so thick u can cut it with a knife

all u can hear is the wind..............singing its melancholy tune

its soooo beautiful'

magic with words

this is it

mesmerizing..

is the word i was looking for

and the sound of water lapping against pepples on the shore

u crane ur ears out to listen to civilisation but there is none for miles around u..You are left in the wilderness alone to grapple the enormity of the world around u and the smallness of you as an individual

in the scheme of things.

Intimacy

2010-08-06T17:40:00.001+05:30

The monsoons pitter pattering through the grilled window.Both sat there talking, whispering, touching each other with a familiarity unknown.The rain did not seem to bother anyone.It acted as a catalyst making them want to move closer to one another.They talked of stories long gone by, they talked of old flames, they said secrets to one another that they thought would be carried with their ashes along a river to the sea into infinity, they spoke of aspirations and dreams.They spoke at that moment like the present was the only moment they had.They clung to the moment like a wet jeans to your body.They heard the last train chime, they saw the last plane land,They felt the first rays upon their skins and realized a lifetime had passed them.They were there, they are here, they will always be there.Two people in love.

Flying!!!!

2009-05-20T17:11:00.000+05:30

It simply doesn’t matter how many times i travel by a plane, I always have the jitters just before I get onto one. Just to think that the massive hunk of “Light Weight Aluminium and Carbon fibre” will take off the ground and will fly “As the crow flies “and will get me to my destination in a matter of few hours. Despite the “soothing” bollywood instrumental tunes and the mechanical yet hilarious display of where the emergency exits are and where i should stuff my face if i cant breathe or want to throw up, I still hold onto my side rests like it were the only things keeping me from gently wobbling and floating into space for eternity. After i feel the jerk of when the wheels are being retracted into the massive body, I instantly relax, if only for a moment. I try reading listening to music and try my best to engross myself in appreciating the fine cuisine served on an airplane. Till date that is the only thing that serves to distract me from seriously contemplating gruesome ugly burnt deaths for all of us on board the airplane. I try to appreciate the beauty of the attendants, but Alas!!If I want food to distract me, there cannot be any beauty to appreciate, as the full service airlines tend to have attendants strictly over the age of 50 only. Once we hit the stipulated 35000 feet, my body almost over reacts, my toes get cold, my palms get sweaty, my ear begins to block out all noises. I try to make nervous conversation with my immediate neighbour who is invariably the most boring human being all humanity has ever seen or an over curious parent who wants to know all about the entrance exams to get into a hallowed mba college, not understanding that his/her kid might want to have nothing to do with an mba and wants to do Art history for chrissakes. Every little air-pocket we hit, I am convinced that we are going to crash and burn like CPM did in these elections. I stick my fat nose to the plexi-glass window and hope to dear god that i see some light. Literally.

Then, I see lights. I am ecstatic. Just then the pilot decides to pull a cruel trick on me and climbs up again to the hallowed heights and does a turning trick on me. The machine sways to one side and I am sure that the visions of death I have been seeing are going to come true. I f the plane hovers for too long after i see the lights, I get a feeling we are going to hijacked are going to be crashed into the nearest sky scraper of monumental commercial importance. If the plane decides to land too quickly, I think we are going to crash into a populous suburb of a big city killing everyone in sight. The plane finally decides to land. High time that!!I can feel the sickening jolt in my stomach when the wheels hit the ground and the sudden braking of the plane. Every lesson in physics I have learnt about momentum and inertia springs to my head. Only when the plane stops, does my life return back to me.I run for the exit with all the gall left in me. Yes!!I am one of those losers who runs for the exit before the plane halts.hey!!!Its my life...Don’t you judge!!!

I might go through real hell while in the plane but the most gratifying moment is when I see the city lights spring up underneath me out of no where. There is no beautiful sight than seeing humans as scurrying little rats going about their motions. The main roads, those twinkling lights of cars. The vision of my physics professor yelling about Doppler effect and Newton’s work on Optics define all the thoughts that run through my head at that point in time.

A tiny little trivia about me before i end this nonsensical post. The first time I flew which was when I was in UKG.I remember vividly, Me in my pink frock with two little pig tails, flying all alone from Chennai to Bangalore in Indian Airlines. I stuffed my fist with as many of those tamarind toffees as i could, religiously stuffed my ears with cotton because my mother said so. I waited with abated breath to confirm my best fears, if the clouds were really huge blobs of ice cream and cotton candy.

Innocence was destroyed that day.Period.

Happiness!!

2009-02-15T17:37:00.002+05:30

"So.Are we finally going to Delhi or not Fat...Say it...final answer bol de..please..I really really want to get out of this hell hole.."Not that we missed any opportunity at all to get away from the wretched hostel and go home where all the pleasures of a civilized society awaited us which included a super AAi ,unbelievable food and TV."Nahi yaar,How can we go,pucca se test ho jaayegi..ch0*&&^%( ke pille hain yeh..aur attendance is also kaafi sad yaar.So No delhi.."
"Lets atleast go for the first half na..??"
"Delhi is too far away...."
Batti jali..."AAAhhhh!!!So u want a place not very far away huh....??"
"Chal Goaa chalte hain"
"Its only 8 hours away from here.Even if those basta&^% announce an fcq,We will get back fat"
"Chalna please..Don't be a pain up my ass ok..."
"Look,Ab Il download 4k.baad mein we'll see what happens ok..fat"
"fat,car hai na,now..Lets go to Aundh and book tickets..train try karte hain"
"You wont tickets now..try karte hain"
(30 mins later)
"Tickets book ho gaye..Now we have to mange the trip in 3k teek hai"
"Hello...Aaii..We are not going to Delhi,but we are going to goa..We'll come home and explain...byeee.."
"Fat,Drop me off at the salon,I dont want to come there with hairy legs and looking like hairy-scary."
"Ok..we have only 2 hrs to leave..Have to do my part of the MM2 assignment too..."
Bye..
(To be Continued..)
Sorry for the long break...

Cherishy!!

2008-11-23T12:16:00.002+05:30

"Oiii Idiot come down near the Pav-Bhaji wala for a suttaa,Come fast!!!We are already there."I kept the phone down and gathered my measly belongings into a mangy black purse and ran down.Of course not before the new number lock gave me trouble and me cursing it for what it is.As i ran down,I had to meet random people I wouldn't have ,and all of whom had to choose that time to make polite conversation with me.All this done.I raced towards the gate and they were stepping back in.I was trying to manhandle the group and push them back out of the gate when one of them screamed "surprise!!!!" ,even if figuratively and not literally.She pulled out a Candy pink bottle of Absolut raspberry .All our breaths stuck in our throats for just a brief second in wt seemed like an eternity .Common sense prevailed and all of us shooshed her into putting the booty back into the safe confines of the bag,lest the lechy eyes of the guards fall upon them.We had a tough time deciding if grape juice or Orange juice would go with a raspberry flavoured drink and ended up getting both.

The road outside was dark and the weather balmy .This is not the ideal waether the city always went through in winters."Darn!!!Blame it on global warming."We walked as the breeze rustled the leaves on the trees and bushes lining the broad boulevard.We found a spot on the pavement which was obscure and well lit by the moon light flooding the place.We sat there made our drinks,sipped on it,talked about random things,laughed on bad jokes and tried making cheap digs at each other ,cringed everytime a car drove past us and took photos of our attempt at rebellion.

Just as the clock struck 12 in the Cinderella story,It struck 10.30 and all of us had meetings to attend.We left as we came in and that was the end of that.

We never remember our past as a whole ,but as moments bubble wrapped and stored away for eternity.This moment was definitely one of those moments for me.

Return To Innocence

2008-08-22T11:41:00.000+05:30

My Friend’s Brother whom I mock hit on , has been liking a girl for the last 4 years at least . Belonging to the purist clan of the Tam- Bhrams ,He has had the gall n *alls to fall for a Sri Lankan Tamil ,which is just as bad as anything else can be ,like bunking your college to watch a movie with your friends. Its hard enough to believe in the ghor-kalyug ,that a guy ,nothing less can stay hooked on to a single girl for 4 ish years.
My friend today tells me breathlessly ,My brother almost got kissed for the first time today . Mentally ,I reeled for a minute ...Did I hear that right ....”FIRST ”.When was that ?????Immediately I got back to real life, and prodded her on .”Why was it almost????” She replied very matter of factly, ”He was too tall for her .He is 6 ‘3 .She was leaving for Canada ,They were saying their goodbyes and She held his hand quietly for a minute and knowingly stood on her toes to kiss him, she couldn’t reach his face .My brother didn’t know What to do and , too overwhelmed by the situation he patted her head “ .
It is quite impossible to find such instances of innocence in this bad world of dog eat dog. I had this immediate urge to tell her to take the next flight back home ,to bury her brother deep in some bomb shelter where no one will ever find and hurt him .I am technically younger ,but i suddenly felt ancient ,When was the “FIRST”?Where was that first rush? Where was that exciting feeling charting unchartered territories ? Have we gone so far in the pursuit of so called “love” that we have permanently lost our return trip to innocence ???????

Stage Fear!!!

2008-07-01T12:17:00.004+05:30

"His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

There's vomit on his sweater already,

mom's spaghettiHe's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready

To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettinWhat he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud

He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

He's choking, how everybody's joking nowThe clock's run out,

time's up over, bloah!"

Replace all the "Him's" and "He's" with "her's" and that would be me before,any stage performance or an interview.Anyone who is Anyone gets the jitters before going on stage,but for me Its almost like a whole crowd is chanting inside my head as to how miserably I shall fail and why I will not be able to get anywhere in life and there is an echo of hollow shrill laughter as soon as I enter the stage.It is unnerving and disorienting.

I know I sing well ,but I have never ever been able to gather my guts into my rather tiny stomach and give a performance like it mattered.

But,I think the tide is turning ,What goes around always comes around .Unbelievable yet,true ,Among a rowdy batch of 300 people I managed to give a fairly good performance of "ZOmbie" by The Cranberries .For the first time,I knew I was going to get mobbed and people will mangle me to death anyways and the,there was no fear.

I had the best time of my life.It gave me a sense of achievement and an unbelievable high better than any trip on weedash .

I think I am on the college band.

Its called,"90% on the rocks"

Chilling in Hell

Peeved rite now.

Observations from the Purgatory

2008-05-04T14:25:00.003+05:30

Twenty four hour days seem infinitely more longer when you have absolutely nothing else to do .
Sleep no matter how much you try eludes you .
Binges no matter how hard you try to avoid happens.
Sweat and heat combined wit two younger brothers in the house is the ultimate irritant there is .
Ice cream seems and feels like heaven and nothing else .

Finally!!!!

2008-05-02T17:37:00.002+05:30

I am just leaving for watching my first IPL match in the famed Chepauk Stadium in Chennai .The match between Chennai super Kings and Delhi Dare devils ..

Sambar Power Rules
Filter Coffee shall prevail
Kings shall subdue the devils
Yooooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Theories on Adam Gilchrist!!!

2008-04-28T10:25:00.007+05:30

What a man!!!What an illustrious career!!! Even the most die hard Indian fan would have had tears in his or her eyes when he retired after the finals versus India at the MCG .He has dished some brilliant innings and some stupendous catches and stumpings through his career .He is one of the best wicket -keeper batsman the world has ever seen . He is in his mid thirties and as some would put it ,"past his prime" and hence not suited for the ultra short format of the game T20's . Boy!did he put those lolling tongues to rest yesterday! Let me repeat ,"What an innings?"
Gilly as he is fondly known by his fans ,came up with an inspired performance yesterday for the Deccan Chargers .Chasing 154 against the Mumbai Indians ,Gilly made his century off 42 balls making it the fastest century in the 20-20 format .nine boundaries and ten sixers .96 of the 109 he made came in boundaries and sixers .His compatriots Andrew Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs watched in awe as he executed that innings to perfection .
As I was watching the match I recollected a crazy theory put forth by my best friends bumbling brother . According to him ,Adam Gilchrist and George Bush are long lost brothers who lost each other at Kumbh mela esque crowd and Adam Gilchrist was adopted by Australian Parents and George Bush was picked off the bin by Bushes and the story goes hence .I have absolutely the slightest idea as to why he came up with such a jack ass idea ,but nevertheless it caught my imagination .
I have personally always thought that Adam Gilchrist looks uncannily similar to Matthew Perry from his early Chandler Bing days . :)

Whatever the stupid theories may yield or unyield .The matter of fact remains that he is one of the most amazing stroke players ,the game of cricket has ever seen ,a conscientious one at that .

P.s.Respect !!! Some more Respect!!!!
Here's to Gilly !Gulp.....gulp...Hic.....Hic.....
We love you always .

Panchavati

2008-04-21T11:24:00.004+05:30

Panchavati is the word that brought back memories of the days when I ran around in two pig tails and pink frocks and the days when my grandmother used to seat me in her lap and tell me stories of Indian mythology .
This weekend ,Me and my folks had gone down to Shirdi .The typical Indian family that we are , We had to pack in as much as possible within two days of tripping.So we decided to visit the nearby Naasik and Panchavati .
After a tiring three hours squeezing yourself in unforeseeable shapes inside a car ,in the middle of blazing summer ,We reached Panchavati .It was a serious anti-climax .
From What I remember from the days of yore ,Panchavati was the place where Sita asks Rama to hunt down a golden deer who was in fact the demon Mareecha out to lure away Rama .(In today's parlance Red herring..Waah!!!Kya strategy hai !!!) .Rama had been gone for quite some time when Sita being the typical, worrying, sincere, quintessential Indian bahu asked the maha honhaar loyal brother in law to locate her husband in the middle of no where .Alas!!!!!How could Laxman leave the lady of the house unattended in a thick dark forest with demons and animals.So he maaroes a line ,famously known as Laxman Rekha and ordered Sita not to cross it no matter What!!!(When mere Arthropods {read Cockroaches} don't adhere to Laxman Rekha,I still can't believe he expected Sita to ...) .Ravana the super villain of this particular story comes disguised as a beggar and abducts Sita to Lanka amidst her screams of Bachhhhaaaaaao!!!!!Main Lutttt Gayyyiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!barbaaaaaaaaddddddddd Hooooooooo gayiiiii!!!! Though I think,Sita secretly wanted to be carried away by Ravana as she chose to drop off all her heavy duty queenie gold ornaments to make Ravanas flying machine lighter ,hence easier to soar away into the sunset .
This is the story of Panchavati or rather Sthala Puran of the place. So ,Before I landed there.I expected a forest or in the least a garden named Panchavati in the banks of the river Godavari .
In reality ,The place is commercialized like almost every other tourist destination and the worst being two obnoxious memorial structures rite amongst those ancient temples and traditions .These two obnoxious structures are memorial structures of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi .
Personally I think its just wrong to desecrate someone else's sense of identity. I really truly doubt if any government would have granted permission to build a memorial structure in between the Jama Masjid or Taj Mahal or the Peter's Basilica . I don't think the people belonging to that religion would have taken it lying down .
Are We too passive as a religion????

IPL

2008-04-11T18:39:00.003+05:30

Chennai Super Kings,Deccan chargers,Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight riders,Delhi Daredevils,Rajasthan Royals,Kings 11,Royal Challengers ..
Eight teams,128 players ,one brilliant Indian summer that promises nothing but pure intense action and some kick ass cricketing action.
Its a new format,appealing at once to the young and the old alike.Where else can you see the two most illustrious opening batsmen open togather-Sachin and Jayasurya ..they may not have age on their side but they sure have some experience making that connection between the white ball and the sweet little spot on the bat.Two master strategists in the same team,Ricky Ponting and Saurav dada .India and Australia's most successful captains,enough to give any rival captain a nightmare .Imagine the sweet sound of Dhoni saying,"Well bowled Murli" ..Just the thing every cricket crazy fanatic would love to hear,and of course ,S ymonds and Gilchrist making some very beautiful music togather.Women Ahoy!!!Lets face it,The most drool worthy team has been handpicked and paid for by the very pretty Preity Zinta.Whew!Some gift her boyfriend got her huh..What was he thinking anyways.
though all of the above sounds just perfect to all us cricket crazy Indians,I am still grappling the problem of choosing my favourite team among the eight as all my favourite players seem to have been interspersed among the eight teams.Most people must be taking their decisions based on the parochial instincts but I believe that is just not the way to choose your favourites.

MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN.

And the curtain falls.......

2008-04-09T17:19:00.004+05:30

TODAY ,Last day of Exams ,Same yet so different .No college or school to come back to after these vacations No safety net to protect you from the fall anymore.No more paid vacations.Time to ring in a new and hopefully happy life .Here's to the most memorable three years of my life and big Thank you for all who have been,all who are and all whom i hope will always be there for me . To the craziness,stupidity,laziness and fun of it all..TO LIFE IN ALL ITS COLORS AND HAPPINESS .

P.S:At this point,ALl I can say is,"F$#k !! What a Ride !!!!"

Gossip!!

2008-04-08T18:11:00.002+05:30

Over the last one year,I have spent most of my day time at the NCC canteen next to my college that ensure smoked food,if not smokin' food .Smokers chill madi out there..First look and one would immediately imagine one of those shady gambling dens from the 80's Rajinikanth Movie.But,It has been home away from home.Refuge of the troubled and the bored it has been.If heresay were to be believed,The Symbiosis Law college students refused to move to their spanking new campus if the college authorities didn't get NCC Canteen along.
Just like most canteens,there are a few people who make it the place it is.Raghu Bhaiyya,Chandu and Babu bhaiyya ,These people play the faithful manfridays ,turning up at your beck and call for your Suttas,Chai and Poha,Chicken Sandwich et al.
Chandu is the over friendly, ever smiling, 22 year old(I still cant believe it) who waits on us patiently even if we sit there the entire day and order just a chai .Today When I came back to base at NCC after a miraculous exam ,We saw Chandu trying to flirt with a random chick in the canteen .All of us burst out laughing and like all great gossipy stories ,This rather unbelievable bit of information came up .
Chandu has three Women in his life.If you want to make it a little filmy then Four,The fourth being his mother.The first one is supposed to be the true love of his life .He is waiting for her to turn eighteen so that he can marry her.The second one has apparently been given a flat by Chandu ,the motive being questionable,which I somehow cannot believe for the life of me .The third one was the biggest surprise,She is apparently from some batch of a really reputed management college which is a part of my college .
How much of this is true and how much of it false,I leave it to you to decide.Out of pure curiosity,I asked my friend How she came about this really disturbing piece of information
.Apparently,Chandu was advertising for all to hear and My friend has Documentary Evidence
to prove all the above which i shall post once i land my dirty paws on them.

Random!!

2008-04-05T16:20:00.007+05:30

Images pop up in my head when some phrases randomly come up in conversation..I am sure it happens to all of us ..I am just going to put up two of the latest word- image links i can remember.

1>The other day,I was texting a friend of mine and I asked ,"What he did the whole day?"I got a reply from him,saying,"I did nothing much,I was just sitting around" ,key words being sitting around and Pop!! I had an image of a fat orange pumpkin in my head.

2>Everyone is talking about the recession in the US ..Everytime i hear that,An image of a huge wobbly truck is conjured immediately.

Something to research:Word-Image Linkages.

P.S: Infinitely Hungry(Image of Garlic Naan and Butter Chicken ) and the aroma too..Killing me..

Ramblings....

2008-04-01T10:14:00.003+05:30

This is how it feels like to be in love.But then of course this may not be love.
Its really funny how,Tradition and society demands of you to "know" a person well before you fall in love.What if you know the person for a month or so and yet have this immensely,intensely,unbelievably strong gut instinct that howls and hollers,"This is right","This feels right".What if the person who always remained barely in the peripheries of your existence is suddenly plopped into its very core by a series of seemingly innocous circumstances.What if you feel like you have reached that fork in the road,where you think being with this person or not is going to make a difference to your entire life.When society and friends ridicule you for being so naive about falling in love overnight and you still have the urge to reason with them and come out trumps.When all you want to do is to be with this person and just cannot get enough of them.When you truly want this other person to be nothing but happy even if it is at your cost and even if it means having to let go of the one precious thing you found for yourself.
But yet,we choose keep our silence .Is it wrong to agree and accept that you have fallen in love,just because it is "TOO SOON" to accept it.

Exclusive to me

2008-03-26T09:55:00.003+05:30

I am someone who likes to bend the rules just for kicks.Last week when me and my friend ventured out of the house to go bowling on a balmy summer evening,The last thing i imagined was to get chased by cops.
I should mention at this point that the mistress of my life happens to be an exquisitely pretty and a lovely lady named "Filiya".She is actually one of those hand me down 15 year old kinetic Honda's that faithfully serve your family no matter what.My parents being in a transferable service,we have moved around a lot.My filiya still holds a TN-09 number plate in Pune.
Back to the fateful evening,We leave home.The ride was pretty uneventful till a signal came along,when I decided that i would break the signal and walk (ride) away unscathed.But my poor vision refused to see the three fat traffic cops manning the road on the other side of the signal.I break the signal and suddenly like one of those Counterstrike games you have played,where the CT team just springs up from no where,three fat cops came up from no where.Panic was overpowering me at this point.I had to do damage control as the signal i broke was right outside the RTO and i knew if i stopped there,my lady love would be impounded and her fate would be sealed.So i decide to take the riskier way out.I dodge three fat cops on the road and escaped.I was just begining to consider myself truimphant in my evil deed when me and my friend heard whistles.The darn cops were chasing us down on a bike .It was unfair competition to Filiya who was already groaning under the weight of two not-so-light individuals.I had to stop for the cops.
There were two of them.A young cop and a senior cop.Few minutes into the persuading game,we realised they were using the classic ploy of good cop-bad cop.The junior cop was the good cop and the senior cop being the latter demanding huge amounts of money for all my offences.My offences being 1>Breaking a signal2>Dodging three cops3> Not carrying any papers of the vehicle4>No NOC for an outside state vehicle5> Old number plate(white on black) 6>Rear number plate broken .I agree these are nothing to be proud of,but still an adventure that will never be forgotten.
We had to pay 400rs to cops to appease their "hunger" and got away.I have to agree that this whole episode shook me hard.Now,I am proud to say that I am a reformed individual(atleast I would like to believe that.) and hope to follow the traffic rules to the Tee and save myself a lot of time,money and most importantly Energy.

Food for thought

2008-03-07T14:06:00.001+05:30

Why does everyone want to look good to the world??

Why is there a constant need to keep everyone happy ??

Why do we have to pander to bloated egos despite not wanting to??

I am Back........

2008-03-06T10:13:00.000+05:30

Heylo..5...4.....3....2....1....0.....Drum rolls..and I am back...

I know the long hiatus kind of got extended infinitely,but here i am...

2007-07-16T12:37:00.000+05:30

extremely sorry for the long hiatus...i have moved to a new house and havent set up the computer or the internet as yet..hence the delay...sorry..shall be back...

2007-07-05T11:27:00.000+05:30

Truth that hurt or lies that comfort.If it were only a question that required only a verbal answer,most of us would like to choose truth that hurts,as that seems to be the more noble choice out of the two,it appeals to our inherent chivalrous nature.In reality,we always choose to ignore the obvious,it may be slapping us acros our face,yet we wont question it.When a loved one is doing something that hurts us,our sub-consious knows what the truth is,we know it hurts,we condone him or her by giving him/her the benefit of doubt.The benefit of doubt which we offer is the "Lie that comforts us".The benefit of doubt depends on the amount of trust we place on a person.So,if the person is close to us,we unconsiously choose "lies that comfort"by default,and then when the web of lies we choose to believe run out,we face the "Truth that hurts"So all of us choose both truth that hurts and the lies that comfort,its not a question of choice,but a choice by default.

2007-07-03T16:46:00.000+05:30

"Truth that hurt or lies that comfort?"-Kite runner
beautiful lines...think about it..shall elaborate..wts ur choice?????

2007-06-28T11:25:00.000+05:30

Right in between all the sadness,madness and the mess i am going through right now,came a moment of unexpectedly beautiful surprise.like the french would put it,"tre's bonne surprise"
and to that i would have to say,"vraiement" indeed..
I have a friend,doesn't everybody have one.but this is different,i have never ever met him.i know this sounds a tad bit like a shady B-class bollywood movie,but this is not one of those.
We became friends,very good friends courtesy orkut.
I was a newbie at orkut,and did not for the life of god know how the scrapbook system worked.(but now,i am quite the authority).
This guy scrapped me,and we had a common friend and so i thought,this is not the typical paeodophile or psychoz trawling across the web,searching for unsuspecting victims.
One has to understand that i was passing through one of these low phases,where one has absolutely nothing to do and to make matters worse,i was out of town with my relatives,which essentially means,your connection to the outside world has effectively been severed.
Yahoo messenger was my solace,and i was just discovering orkut.
So,now back to when this one guy scraps me.so i reply back to his scrap,two or three scraps exchanged.At home my relatives plan this trip to another city for a weekend and guess what!thats where the guy stayed.
Normal people under normal circumstances,would have simply not done anything,but i am insane..right...so i give him a call in the middle of the night,the guy is bewildered and doesnt recognize me(how embarassing)..and we start talking..
it was fun..
I never ever for once thought it was weird,till like a few months back when i was thinking about the whole episode and was thinking,"OH My LORD!!!!I DID THAAAT!!"
over the course of time,we became best buddies and continue to remain so,fellow confidante,fellow travellophile(if such a word exists),fellow reasoner.its a beautiful thing we have going on.Its purely platonic and are each others agony aunt and act as sounding board for each other.
Work woes,friend trouble,future plans,discussed it all
Now he is going away to a pseudo continent to pursue his dream.
I wish him all the luck,I know he will do very well.
and coming to the surprise finally,
yesterday i got a package in my name,That never happens,but i did.
It was sent by his highness himself.
it had a book about travelling across europe,for he knows it is one of dreams to hitch hike across the continent wit multiple cultures,multiple types of beer et al..
I was truly moved by the gesture
Inside it was written,
" Vaishu.,
Sweet lovable and unavailable friend!"In a small effort to inspire you and make (or rather enable) you to travel europe 'on the job' and not as a visitor or a mere traveller.NOW.go chase your dream!!make yourself proud."
isn't it adorable.
The book is Neither here nor there by Bill Bryson.

Thank you..

2007-06-27T11:27:00.000+05:30

Though,i would say,being judgemental is the worst thing one can do and would profess that judgemental people put me off immediately,let us face it,we all do it,not because we want to do it,but because our brains are simply tuned to do so by default.
What is a judgement?A judgement or a conclusion can be made about things or people.It is a function of input data,which is nothing but our pre-knowledge about a certain thing or person specifically or the generic stereotypes and prejudices instilled in us by way of society.For example,When someone you meet, for the first time,doesn't speak the perfect version of the queen's language like you do,with the diction that's taught in convents,one would immediately think,arre,gaanv waala hoga,must be stupid,For all you know,the guy can be a super genius at anything he takes up.We go to a shop and ask for a pair of levis,the shop guy gives you a locally made pair of jeans,your brain immediately rejects it,assuming its of an inferior quality,as it is a prejudice that has been reinforced inour heads through a million advertisements on the television and hence the judgement that it is, and will be bad,without even giving the pair of jeans as much as a chance or thought against levis.Our brain functions like a computer,and based on the data given,it gives a particular output,which is nothing else but OUR own,PERSONAL INTERPRETATION of the given data,based on what we knowand all of us know,interpretation is unique to every person.
In this age of social networking and instant information,one cannot avoid forming judgements about things,people,their characters,lifestyles and anything at all,however one can stop themselves from being cemented and concreteted in stone about the opinions and judgements they form for the first time and be willing to explore the unknown.

very true...

2007-06-26T13:39:00.000+05:30

This was quoted my friend wrt my previous post,about being a rebel and tam-bhram,i find it true and as close to something ive been wanting to say and ve never been able put it down in words..
" we r dysfunctional kids in ruptured society that structures minds n circumstance to not be able to express their mundane n redundant thoughts anywhere except on virtual codes written more often than not purely for the emotional n egoistic satisfaction of having arbitrary faceless strangers who are just as bored reading them for mindless entertainment...."
(c) All rights reserved wit N

Rebel..

2007-06-23T13:20:00.001+05:30

I look like the most decent junta around,on first looks,but there is lots to know,if u just scratch beneath the surface..lots of people will vouch for this...my life resembles this pattern.

------Normalcy--------Iiiinnnnsanity---------Normalcy-----
A person is a product of his or her surroundingsI am no exeption,though these qualities have been reduced to vestiges..If my parents had their way,I would have become the ideal,greasy haired,queasy looking,muggu,thayir chaadam(curd rice) eating engineer.

I am a rebel without a cause,I rebel because of the restrictions,and the innumerable constraints placed on my way to "my idea of freedom".I rebel for the heck of it.I dont know why?I guess its just a mentality,a psyche that makes you do things you are not asked to do..The forbidden fruit is always alluring..
I am not a rebel in the true sense of the word,Compliance is one of my weapons.Play by the rules of the game,just bend it to your advantage.Optimise within constraints.One can optimise within constraints only if you know about all possible constarints and understand them.

The idea is to be smart,comply with everyone and everything,make everyone believe you are incapable of blasphemy and strike when no ones looking,and strike hard.
Impulsiveness and spontaneity are the key to having fun,do what you think?just make sure they are within the framework of constraints..
I am guessing,this is just a phase and will pass just as it came.I don't regret one bit of it as this phase has enabled me to things,i would have not even dreamed of under normal circumstances...
More on that later...:)

Insane

2007-06-22T13:44:00.000+05:30

My latest favourite word after "Bolo" is "Insane"..I have been abusing the word..though i am pathetic at computers,i think this what,all those knowledgeable geeks call,"cyclic redundancy error".its happening to me.things get stuck in my brain and i get into a rut....damn!!!!!!!have to stop!This is INSANE!!!!!

Orhan Pamuk-Snow

2007-06-22T11:57:00.001+05:30

"Rising up inside him was that sensation he had always felt as a child and as a young man at moments of extraordinary happiness:the prospect of future misery and hopelessness.In a panic,he tried to bring this happy moment to a close.This , he hoped,would lessen the impact of the unhappiness he knew would follow."-Orhan Pamuk in Snow
These few sentences may not make sense to most of you,but for me ,it is as obvious as drops of blood on pristine snow.
I've always believed that,god created earth with a sense of balance.All contradictions have to be moderated.I like economics a lot,In the short run,there are imbalances and disequilibrium ,but in the long run,any function reaches equilibrium and all imbalances get evened out.Happiness and misery are no different.At the end of your life,you would have laughed as much as you have cried.Misery is over-rated and it may seem that you have cried more than you have had the good times.At the end of the day our balance sheets have to be tallied. L.H.S has to be equal to R.H.S. for any equation to be true.Contradictions form an equality and equalities form contradictions.

SELF ESSENC(S)E

2007-06-19T13:15:00.000+05:30

ME, I am Vaishnavi. This is the identity within the walls of which I live . I am a student ,a daughter , a friend , a sister , an enemy ,a betrayer ,and a liar .Thus ,Vaishnavi is my boundary , mighty fortress within whose walls I dwell.

These walls have been erected by no one else but me . these walls are built of bricks of my mannerisms , my queerness , my individuality , my Duality , my multiplicity , my habits good or bad , they are my own , my Language , my roots , my culture , my dreams , aspirations , ambitions , inhibitions , insecurities are the bricks that make me . my rock solid foundation is made of my Character and my set of morals built painstakingly over years , change is indeed the only constant in life .

I am who I am today because of my past , my past involves my friends , family who stood by me through thick and thin , and also because I did what I did then . In hindsight I know what went right and what went wrong . I am a strict believer of the fact that there is no such thing as right or wrong . What may seem right today may turn horribly wrong tomorrow . The decision that sounds off key and wrong may be the best decision ever in your life .

I am full of contradictions , this everyone I know say , indicates a restless mind . This ever raging battle between the right and the wrong , the black and the white , the truth and the lie , the mind and the heart , the open mind and the prejudiced mind , the shy and the bold , the angry and the kind . All of this makes me the person I am , today . The person in front of you .

I am a dreamer .Descartes once told , ”I think therefore I am ”.I dream therefore , for that moment , I am , what I can only hope to be . I see glimpses of reality in my dreams and I begin to channelise my energies to convert these vicarious thrills to tangible results . My dreams always seem to have all the right solutions to the right problems .I see new directions , dimensions , perspectives to my problems . I discover new planes or faces of my own self .

I am a puzzle to myself , I make each day interesting by solving a bit of the cryptic puzzle which is me . I don’t believe in pretenses and ambiguity . I am content living without them . I have nothing to hide and I have nothing to be ashamed of . I am not afraid of anything getting stolen nor being deprived of anything nor am I afraid of anyone and will not wait a moment to speak my mnd out.

I am not perfect . I am very human . There are a few things I dislike about myself , I am stubborn , manipulative , and blunt at times which hurts the people I love the most . I am lazy and I know I am wasting away all my capabilities by procrastinating and wasting time and I have a concentration span of that of an ant . I am extremely impulsive and highly inflammable and consummate at convincing people that my way is the right way , even if it isn’t .

I am a strong believer of the fact that trust begets trust . I am an open book to one and all and I pride myself on the fact that I am not judgemental and accept human weakness as it is . I dislike being judged . I dislike my decisions getting influenced by others .

On the lighter side , I love reading and I am a dilettante. Rest Assured , no one will die of ennui with me around . I am loquacious and taciturn . I am a true ambivert . I thrive in company , yet crave solitude for introspection at the end of the day . I love emotions , I believe they make you or they break you . I love to observe people and their reactions to given situations . it gives me rare insights into the working of the intricate human mind which never ceases to amaze me .

Being the narcissist I am . I bet I could continue forever , but this is where I stop and say thank you for being a patient listener , though things seldom made sense and confused you . That is me , my friends . seldom understood and confused .

P.S. This was written as an assignment for a feminist literature course i took up in college..

Hope everyone likes it..

:) Kindly excuse the punctuation errors..

Danish

2007-06-19T12:32:00.001+05:30

I am sure this happens to every one of us,suddenly arbit words come and get stuck in our limited resource brains..this is exactly what happened to me today.Out of the blue,the word "Danish",got stuck in my head..i knew this was a language spoken in country,where the countrymen are called 'Danes' like Indians in India.I also knew Scooby-Dooo is a great dane,which means this breed of dogs originated from the same country,but some how,the name of the country eluded me completely.Hence,me and my creative brain set about thinking of an appropriate name for the country where Danish is spoken and the countrymen are called danes and their dogs are deemed greater than its countrymen and are called Great Danes..The task seemed more important,when i realised they have given us the buttery,melty Danish cookies,How could i leave this country nameless??it would be a grave grave mistake to do so..and hence began my quest to name or rather rename this country to my whim and fancy.Before the right name,that is Denmark struck my dandy head,i must ve thought atleast ten other names for the country..

Dandia like India
Dance like france
Dana like china
danny like germany
Danico like mexico
Danpan like japan
Danland like england
Danbia like zambia
Danzil like brazil
Danway like norway

Believe me,you,i actually thought of such ludicrous names ,before realising that my effort will go futile,if i do not use the magic powers of google and wikipedia.
Now i know,I have the power.
May the force be with you..
:)

2007-06-14T12:34:00.000+05:30

Being a Tam-Bhram,the love for filter coffee,paruppu sambar,and peppery rasam are deeply ingrained in ur dna..its difficult to survive without the 3 o clock fix of coffee...yesterday was just another day in my boring vacations,which seem to stretch end lessly like a straight line without a pause or a comma or any punctuation marks at all...(u know wt i mean)..At three,my circadian alarm went off..screeeeeeccchhh!!!scccrrreeeeaaacchhh!!!my taste buds awoke n i was alert..all of a sudden from my soporific stupor..my nose was sniffing around for the sensual aroma of filter coffee..I moved into the kitchen made tht beautiful dark brown earthy decoction and then realised NO MILK!!!!how was i to survive that unrelenting day,without my fix..panic started setting in,words began to fail me,then i did something for the very first time in my life..drank cofee........BLACK!!!Necessity is truly the mother of all inventions.While i gulped down the coffee black in my desparation,somewhere in some region of my brain,impulses of pleasure were being sent out in rather in rather small bursts..and this was my Eurekaaah moment!!!people!!!!I discovered black coffeee!!!how i wish to say,this was the happy ending to my story..migraine can be the bane of every person who loves coffee .my body had grown used to my sweet-bitter dose of milky coffee with its fix of, nervous system stimulating fix of caffeine,however an overdose of caffeine,can cause a lot of anguish..Under normal circumstances,i am a nocturnal creature,out and out.I can stay up till 5 in the morning,but can never wake up that early after a good night's sleep..Last nite was horrible,it proved to me,Too much of a good thing is definitely definitely bad..Caffeine induced migraine,combined with an over-stimulated nervous system and insomnia is a hideous combination..each second felt like an aeon,could feel my eyes popping out of my skull,and every nerve throbbing inside,my neck felt like it would snap,never thought i would make it to dawn...but god,s ways are mysterious.I made it!!!!!here i am,telling my story,for the whole world to hear..hence people,the moral of this story is....NEVER EVER HAVE BLACK COFFEE WHEN U GOT MIGRAINE..
P.S:i shall try to improve the quality of my blog,hence forth.:)