If but then ...

A very interesting tag from Renu, I started doing it as soon as I read it. Here it goes -

If I were a month - December :) The time to wrap up (both a year and new year gifts) and begin anew. Nothing like looking forward to a New Year. Does'nt it explain the hype for 31st night! Poor 1st Jan inspite of being the cause of the celebration never gets celebrated much. Yes I have to be a December.

If I were a day of the week- What do zillions of people thank God every week for? Monday? No.Tuesday? Naha. Wednesday? Nopsie. Thursday?Nopsie  again. Friday?? Need I say more?

If I were a time of day-Evening. Evenings are so charming. They have a strange sense of romance to them. And for the not so early birds, the look and feel during evening is the same as day break (So sleep on sleepy pies, you are not missing much) And evening is such a joyous moment, kids come back from school and scamper to play. Moms make the leisurely dinner while watching re runs of soaps, what lies ahead in office is calls, you  just have to sit through them :D and is there anything better than coming back from work in the evening, enjoying the light sunlight?

If I were a season- Winter. The markets are  full of my favorite gobis, capsicums, beans,brrr you name it. Fried rice does'nt taste yummier than in this season. (Sadly somehow due to the supermarket culture, all veggies are available in all seasons now :( )

But in the good old days, we had to wait for winter to savor the tastiest peas, carrots and the likes. Its the season of Diwali, Dussera, Christmas, Id!  To sum it all things nice and good. Surely the most power packed season. And did I forget to mention the joys of having ginger tea, curled up with a novel in hand?

If I were a planet - The most intriguing one, for me always has been Saturn. I know its feared in the Hindu pantheon, but then He  is known to be a generous planet too! It comes second in  size, but then, does Jupiter have rings? Nay nay nay nay nay :)

If I were a sea animal- This might sound silly, but I would have liked to be a ahem ahem Dolphin. :) Yes a nice friendly one. Something about them reminds me of dogs, and I chimply louveeeeeeee dogs.

If I were a direction - East because I can never miss that direction. (Can anyone? Its the side  on which the sun rises! )

If I were a piece of furniture-This is a very tough question. I have a lot of favvie furnitures. It was a close call, but then I have to chose one. I would be a bed. You can sit and read, eat (I do, though it drives K mad :D, watch tv, have a phone conversation and then doze off. Its the place where normal human beings can and should and mostly do spend close to 8 hours. Makes one third of the day right? )

If I were a liquid - I would go with Renu on this, I would be water. The liquid which can be in 3 states of matter just like that. The universal solvent and one of the reasons for life on earth.

If I were a tree- I would be a Banyan tree mostly. I find something very majestic about the tree. And I sometimes imagine a rustic getaway when I am bit fuzzled by city life and the picture is never complete with a big Banyan tree welcoming me.

If I were a tool - I am not so much of a tools person, so this was though. I would like to be a pair of scissors. Its a pretty useful one, cant forget the crafts classes! What about the hairstyles that adorn us, not so achievable without scissors eh?

If I were an element- I would be Carbon. The life forming one, the thing that because of its crazy properties forms organic compounds which results in close to 8 chapters in Chemistry for a science student which drive most students against the wall (Am  I correct? 8 chapter hmm? Been so long! ). The one which can be the crystalline diamond (the most precious thing, a girls alleged best friend), or can be coal (which caused industrial revolutions to take place). Teams up with many elements pretty nicely :)

If I were a gemstone - Not much into gemstones, but I think being a Sapphire would look cool :)

If I were a musical instrument- A sitar. I feel the most happy notes can flow from that instrument.

If I were a color - Blue blue blue blue. Dont ask me why. The sky, the seas, peacocks - even nature seems to have a thing for blue. Other colors, no offense.

If I were a emotion- I would be satisfaction. I feel no matter, how happy or sad or angry or whatever one is, feeling satisfied simply rocks :)

If I were a fruit-Go crazy over Mangooooooooooes

If I were a sound-I would be the tinkle of a bell, a soft, little sound,and there is always something happy about it. The simple tinkle of bells seem celebratory during Christmas, seem pious in a temple and festive in a larger gathering.

If I were a car - A Merc, elegant, classy. For a more massy one I would be a Maruti 800, the car for everyone.

If I were food-I would be panipuri :) My fav street food.

If I were a taste- Salty. Zindagi main namak chahiye na.

If I were a scent- I would be nothing but Davidoff Coolwater.

If I were a pair of shoes - Sneakers. Always comfortable and stylish too.

If I were a bird - I would be a friendly domestic talkative parrot. I don't like the color green. But a parrot green is something I love. I would love be a parrot especially in an old age home maybe. I am not sure where the idea comes from, but somehow I would keep all company by imitating stupid youngsters and making fun of them :)

Done. A very interesting tag indeed. Now my turn to tag :) And I tag Ashu, Abhishek, Satish

Yea mera India

There have been lots and lots of things written and said about India and Indians. But then I never came across anything more poignant.

There is no village in India, however mean, that has not a rich sthala-purana or legendary history, of its own. Some god or godlike hero has passed by the village - Rama might have rested under this pipal tree, Sita might have dried her clothes after a bath on this yellow stone, or the Mahatma himself on one of his many pilgrimages through the country, might have slept in this hut,the low one, by the village gate. In this way,the past mingles with the present,and the gods mingle with men too make the repertory of your grand mother always bright (Simply loved this line!) One such story from the contemporary annals of my village I have tried to tell. 

The telling has not been easy. Onehas to convey in a language that is not one's own the spirit that is one's own. One has to convey the various shades and omissions of acertainthought-movement that looks maltreated in an alien language. I use the word 'alien', yet English is not really an alien language o us. It is the language of our intellectual make-up - like Sanskrit or Persian was before - but not of our emotional make-up (Soooooooooooo true. The 'feelings' a Hindi/Tamil/Oriya sentence can convey, can never be done in the most poetic English - I personally feel as an Indian). We are all instinctively bilingual, many of us writing in our  own language and in English. We cannot write like the English. We should not. We cannot write only as Indians. We have grown to look at the large world as a part of us. Our method of expression therefore has to be dialect which will some day prove to be as distinctive and colorful as the Irish or the American. Time alone will justify it.

After language the next problem is that of style. The tempo of Indian life must be fused into our English expression, even as the tempo of American or Irish life has gone into the making of theirs. We, in India, think quickly, we talk quickly, and when we move, we more quickly (I doooo :) )There must be something in the sun of India that makes us rush and tumble and run on. And our paths are paths interminable. The Mahabharata has 214,778 verses and the Ramayana has 48,000. Puranas there are endless and Innumerable.We have neither punctuation nor the treacherous 'ats' and 'ons' to bother us - wetell one interminable tale. Episode follows episode, and when our thoughts stop our breath stops. amd we move on to another thought. this was and still  is the ordinary style of our story-telling. I have tried to follow it myself in this story. 

It may have been told of an evening , when as the dusk falls, and through the sudden quiet, lights leap up in house after house, stretching her bedding on the veranda, a grandmother might have told you, newcomer, the sad tale of her village.

                                              Raja Rao

Menton, November 1937

This is the foreword to the book Kanthapura by Raja Rao. The book honestly is not breathtaking but the foreword definitely was for me.....

Hello World :)

I am writing after a span in which maybe Avatar 2 would have been made by James Cameron :) I am not sure if people remember me (do they even know me?? :S ) 

So like every programmer this is a mike testing post from me... hence........... Hello World!!

Hope someone is listening out there *Dejected sigh* (Read - please leave magnanimous comments, I am dying to hear from you all)

Well, what had been up with moi? Hmm... well I had gotten used to checking emails at the library, when suddenly one fine day I log and get a comment in red highlighting - We have detected suspicious activity in your account from China and locked it. Please enter your mobile number underneath for verification. Very gingerly I gave the same. Got a confirmation code from Google. (Getting an email from 'Google' - it looks so snazzy in the inbox!! ) Entered the confirmation code and gave a high strength password for the account. But then I was so scared, I stopped checking my emails at any public place.... That my dears was the reason I was out in the dark all the while. It was but last Monday that we got internet at home! Yes God save the Queen, while the masses are bereft of basic facilities like the Internet!!!!! So while I got real busy uploading all the pending photos and chatting with friends, my creatives juices ran completely dry and I wasn't sure what to post out here. But finally I summoned the courage, and am blurting out something. 

Will be out with a neater post soon, but quick updates 

1. K got promoted!!!!!!Huraaaaaaaaay... It was long pending long due and much deserved. (I am not being boastful but I faced the brunt of being hyper ignored cos his love for his work supercedes his love for me) But there were a host of other promotees among his colleagues. There was a very gung ho atmosphere and this coming close to Diwali made the celebrations even more appropriate. )

2. This reminds me, had a very vibrant Diwali here, even though far from near and dear ones. Lavish cooking (chole bhature and gajar ka halwa), decorations and some decking up, marked the day :)

3. My kid sister, defied me and got her nose pierced!! Yes she did it (My mil is very proud of her ! ) But that kid knows what to do for style and nothing in the blue heaven is stopping her.

4. I feel The Social Network is a very crisp movie and worth a watch.  (This is not an update but then felt like saying :) )

Humm....Cant think of anything else, while at the same time, my head is clogged with thoughts. Will be more coherent in my next post, till then will leave with some images of Diwali :)