Tuesday, December 25, 2007

slow

i look around in a blank expression.
i am too tired...no, that's not the right expression...i am too dull to use the brain.
and on these days, you find everything boring either, or look at everything with a quizzical experssion.
with the same mood, i stare at my desk as my rest my back on my chair after a daunting email.

i wonder why i have three stones on my desk.
i brought them a month back to where they dwell now, picked them up from a river bed, washed and painted them red and here they are stone-still on my desk occupying six square inches of space on my jumbled, small desk.
i wonder their significance and whether i should just put them straight in the waste bin. then, i remember i don't have the energy or rather the motivation to do so. but what are they doing on my overcrowded desk?
with the stones, i turn a lil philosophical and a lil more dull to divert my mind to existentialism. what a heavy word. why are we all here in the first place and why just question the stone?

but the mind is too heavy and passive to think anything.

maybe coffee might help, i type to shris, as the boy places a cup of hot coffee on my desk - she's in the same mood as i and sends me a one-liner.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

knock-knock

What a break. What a brake.
Back to work after a long exhilarating break is mind boggling - you can imagine!
Let me get back to my self before I spit out incoherent ramblings here...

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Happy Diwali! ...Pani Puri & Patiyalas

Like a sudden jolt of electric current ran through her body, she woke up with a start – gosh! Where am I? she had ordered a plate of momo: the belle type with 5 kinds on a single plate. And it was there on her desk, neatly wrapped in a food wrapper. The delivery boy had also left the bill tucked under it – he should have woken me up! she murmurmed. She felt for her watch on her wrist – shit, she’d forgotten it – then instinctively glanced up for the golden Orpat beside the door – 7.15pm. She had forgotten to switch on Federer’s match again. She had slept through it. She couldn’t believe it! she had waited to watch the match all year long, and she had slept through it – she had slept through the finals of Wimbeldon and that too on such odd times of the day!! She had never before winked a nap at 5ish! It was mad!!

The feeling of disgust was showing on everything she did after that. The momo: seemed to be rotten as if her regular belle had been minced with something else. Rotten veggies maybe. She carried her back pack down the empty white stairs and through the hallway, where customers flocked by on working days. As she punched her check out card, she dumped the momo: down the wooden bin.

************************************
Outside, the sun shone bright to hit her eyes with a torturous glare. She crossed the street before a whizzing bike. The rider shouted an abusive remark to this hard-headed lady who crossed the road before a speeding motor bike – You Mad?! She got a minor sadistic pleasure at having made someone else irritated too. A plate of Pani Puri – she ordered at the counter before taking a seat beside the window. The seat was warm under her and the sun rays now hit her. She could take this for a while – just a while. Then she will have to move from this seat, it would be just too hot.

The mouth watering pani puri in front of her calmed down her mood. These broken potato filled puchkas with salted water had a different charm to her. Vanilla? 21 Love? Very very strawberry? She checked for ice cream – no-thing ma-am just butterescoh - and that’s what she had.

As she gazed out at the busy streets below, she realized that she liked a good street view while eating out alone – maybe because it gave her a feeling of engagement, maybe it gave her strings of thought for her next blog, or maybe she just liked to see people in action, or maybe she liked the variety the view of the real life window gave her as opposed to directed-blinkered TV shows. As these things were playing in her mind – it flicked channels to a lady in blue and pink patiyalas. This lady walked briskly across the street with a filmy breeze on her open long thick well-maintained hair. She noticed her shoes as she stepped out a white Toyota car – pink too. Wo! She thought – that’s cute.

With the last panipuri shoved in, she made a mental note to sew a patiyala some time this diwali – maybe she will ask her brother on bhai tika.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

2bg

hectic days ... are flashy days...
as in if you try to remember what you did all day...
you go blank for while...then remember bits n pieces of stuff..
and then you hate urself for trying to remember anything of the rush...
i remember the flash pen in MiB, when the men blacken out each other's memories...

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Kathmandu!

As i sat staring out to the busy street of NewRoad with my too burgery-burger and a fanta for a change of taste at HotBreads, i realised that quite a few customers entered the joint because of the food on the window display. It was a direct attack on the taste buds and the saliva glands - directly through a POP display of product - not a poster, not a TVC or a jingle - a yummy burger and a fresh chocolate donut on the display - why wouldn't it bring in customers?! No wonder HotBreads is a favorite!

As I was slipping myself through the every possible nook and corner of the crammed traffic at 'Indrachowk before Tihar', I saw a thick moustached taller-than-all-Nepali-around tourist (you can visualize what i mean if you have seen one)... so i saw this guy with a handycam standing right in the middle of the crossroad taking a 180 degree view of the crowd and the mess and the shops and the people and the traffic...and i thought what a great idea of showing Kathmandu to his family and friends back home! Coz whatsoever you describe to them, and the scores of photographs of the durbar square and the surrounding mountain ranges wouldn't give them the feel of kathmandu unless they see this crossroad of Indrachowk and Newroad with all the lively things going around with their own eyes...Lovely!

If you come to Kathmandu, and ask people where should you go and shop? they'd tell you either or all of these three names that pop up in our heads - ToM- top of mind - NewRoad, Thamel, DurbarMarg - - Thamel and NewRoad are quite crowded places - all year round. I had met a few Indian colleagues of mine during a training a few months back. They were quite taken back by a few strange things in kathmandu at that point in time which were evident by their questions to me - e.g. Are those long queue for petrol? (what an innocent question, i thought, ofcourse!). And of the three shopping places i suggested them, they did all the shopping while traversing from one to the next... wow! that's even wonderful.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

just in rest

Even in the rush of events, i started a new book a few days back... it's called 'Losing my Virginity' an autobiography of Richard Branson. Through a few pages, and m already inspired!! one of his school teachers predicted him to be either in prison or to be a millionaire...well, he got both! interesting.

Medicines from the time of Vaidya-jis are still in vogue...i could make from the long queue i saw early morning at a vaidya i recently visited...n i feared to be the only one there!

Kathmandu is definitely low-some for gambling this season seems like...

Politics is still the same..they hardly decided a thing but toss the decisions around. it's like a chess game that's never finished - and each move takes the longest hour...

Clouds have cleared up in Kathmandu skies and the sun has shown itself out...but alas we workers clog on within ac-ed rooms to wish for the open and the sun...chug chug chug...we don't need no education... ... we don't need no thought control........

n i'm free......free fallin'........

it's my brother's birthday today. Just in case he rambles to my page...here's a song for you...
Happy Berthday to you....
Happy Burthday to you...
Happy Birthday dear Arvind...Hyappy Birth....day...to you!

Friday, November 02, 2007

peace and calm

Sunshine and bright days...so good to see.
A little more peace of mind...no harm in it.
Political situation yet not solved, it reins heavy in mind.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

milk shake

long time no writing.
no that's not true. i have been scribbling smthng or the other but nothing worth in the least publishing here... or i was just too lazy to come to the site.
the earthshaking quake was of quite significance of what has happened in kathmandu recently. i was at my comp staring at the screen when i got the jolt. then as i lifted my head in awe, i saw the 2by3 glass decorative frame on the wall sway.
i was choked to shout earthquake! even, but we came out of the floor in unison.
as i rushed out of my table to a safe corner, all i could think of was carrying my mobile set with me. 'i need to contact my family and friends, just in case', i thought. at these flick of seconds in life, we decide the prioritizes in our life. so true.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Manjushree Thapa

I surfed through the New Book’s row at Pilgrims hoping to surf by past as usual. My eyes stopped still on Tilled Earth. I took it out – Manjushree Thapa – short stories – impressive. I dilly-dallied for a while, my mind oscillating – should I buy it? should I not?

It reminded me of my college day temptations to buy every new book I saw. I smiled at myself and swiped the card – why not when I can afford it – it’s our own writer after all!

Manjushree Thapa is at her best in Tilled Earth, a collection of stories written over many years. The stories give a feel of reading one of Lahiri’s stories from – Interpreter of Maladies- not that the stories are similar but it gives the same satisfaction of having peeped into a new life and known a new person – it takes one through the subtle nuances of feelings and emotions an individual goes through. My appreciation for her work may have come from the thrill I felt every time I could empathize with one of the characters in a familiar locality – be it NewRoad or Thamel.

Even the shortest story of the collection will leave the reader with a chain of thoughts. And each story will open up a new set of characters for you to ponder into a different realm, a different aspect of Nepal.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

5.30 g.w. muses

It's been ages i guess since i woke up early morning.
well, got a buzz from shris at 5.15 and i was at the comp eroding my brain at 5.30.
it reminded me of college days and much before that of school days when we used to read the same chapter 15times. Guess why we did that? Maybe to remember for a long time that there are two major ways how a cell can multiply - mitosis and meiosis - it's weird i remember them - and i doubt whether the information is correct. But it's surely early morning studies that stuck those two words in my mind like a post-it note.

The fresh air - nah, the fresher air is the better description - fresh air has become a rare commodity. The scientist guys should next go for fresh air refills in rooms. hmm...
ya, so the morning air and that particular chilly smell and the chirping birds. Well, those of you who are early risers would be bored to death by this blog. But i doubt there are many - one, who read this blog, two, early risers among those few who read this blog. Well, this reminds me of another of those vernacular diagrams we used to make early mornings - sets and subsets and upturned Us and downturned Us and Es - belongs to, doesnot belong to, is a subset of ...blah blah...where have those days gone? days when you read and wrote stuff which never brought you any money. Strange days, but what lovely days.

I have never craved to see the range of himalayas upnorth from the bowl that this Kathmandu is. The clouds are here for longer and for some reason i find them thicker-impenetrable. With dashain just two weeks away, it's still raining - sad. Global Warming. and this time it's the real global warming. Not of those wayward reasons of global warming mothers give- i have a stomach ache- global warming! i use more gas to cook than i used to - must be global warming! cookies don't taste as good - g.w.!

Jokes apart, the al gore documentary was pretty powerful in driving home the message. not just the content, but the way he presents the gravity of the situation is amazing. I still remember the lift he took to reach to the peak of the graph to show the levels of pollution, and the flight over the poles to show how they are melting - and melting fast.

Anyways, enough of early morning thought processes for now - my brains already need a rest. My brain gets tired quicker than it used to - you know the reason - global warming!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

pink

Long time back, I had a blog about whites.
Today it’s about pink…not all pinks
Pink health and pink floyd kinds you know…
Not exactly pink shoes and pink lipsticks coz they are not my kind
Pink highlighters and water color tubes may be…
But not pink picture frames or pink handbags…I don’t carry them.
Pink sky is a beautiful sight definitely but a pink toothbrush will look too delicate.
We used to have an English teacher, who used pink chalk-sticks to teach us,
And another one who used to treat us with pink strawberry ice-creams…not that it is my favorite flavor…
Sweet pink and dazzling pinks are different - one is like a soothing hot water bath and the other like prickly cold water bath.
Pink are flowers –naturally beautiful, not like black – unfriendly and dark.
Pink are open and friendly – could never hide a secret or conspire against anyone.
Pink t-shirts are a lovely sight…got a gift recently by a pink personality – the kinds that are open and friendly, wise and beautiful, fair and nice, sweet and good.
Pink are for love. Pink’s for friendship. Pink’s for soft. Pink’s for girls – you know the kind – pink for girls, blue for boys…blah blah…
Pink transparent file folders.
Pink ink would be weird nah…unless it’s amongst the legally blond type pink girls..who used pink laptops and pink feathery caps and pink strap around their poodles.
Pink remind of few people. Pink reminds me of cuteness. It reminds me of the scores of pink sarees and pink kurta-salwar and pink nice shoes. And pink sneakers and pink ball point pens and pink erasers and pink five rupee note and pink J-lo shades and pink lipstick stain on a wine glass. Pink nail polish, pink nose on a smiley. Pink is a rare color, coz beautiful is rare, coz freshness is rare, coz innocence is rare.
Pink is smile. Pink is passion. Oh, this reminded me of the aerosmith song…and pink is not even a question…and pink when I turn out the lights… oh ya that sexy song in his sexy voice. Pink, jinx, links, ink, kinks, sinks…
Incidentally I am wearing a dirty pink cotton full t-shirt with a v-neck at the moment, it’s a year old now, vid? She got a grey one – ditto. And we went for bright pink saree shopping last week… and mom wanted to make a gold ring with a light pink watery semi-precious stone embedded, and shris and I got pink cutie cutie slight high heeled shoes…
So pink is not that widely found…not that rare kinds either...it is there..has always been there..and will always be there...like your good old friends..you think you've lost them..but it's only until you find them...right behind you...all through.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Heartshaped box

well well well...
it's been a long time... seems like love has taken it's toll ;)
feeling in love...loving n feel...
jumble of wor(l)ds... ;)

thinking about your (the) loved one gives a-tinge-of-happiness-a-tinge-of-skepticism-n-loads-of-smiles-on-your-face... :) :) :)
being vocal about 'Love' has always been 'uncomfortable' to me...and nothing has changed...
talking about vague, roundabout, 'tending to philosophy' topics has been my comfort zone and maybe it always will be....
but change is the necessity of life...and i believe we all are changing...and yes, definitely me... i am up for it. I'd register twice if someone opened up a 'change univ'.

having the right balance of thoughts, feelings and love for each other might be the trick of it...
sharing your emotions could be the trick of it...
just falling for each other desperately could be the trick of it...
hmm... but what is it exactly is the question... and we all wish we knew the logic behind that smile...that unflinching twist of pain and that uncontrollable twinkle in the eye when we think of a person... but lo! this is one zone where the logic radar goes bust and just swirl around at no particular direction...
here, i fall in love...
and rise in love i do.
there you give me a smile...
and i smile the same back to you.
distances apart we think of you,
miles away we wish...
hold my hand and let us dance...
to the tune in heart that rings.

well well well...
don't know where that came from...
anyways, here's to all the love skeptics in the world...
Just do it! Tick.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

fries and ketchup...let's catch up

Yes, there's a lot to be done...
scores of books to be read...tons of knowledge to be gained...
yet to be a lot wiser ... a lot matured...
need that extra practice on tt...for the match...
a little more push to complete the unfinished project...
an extra hour on that file...
one more hour of meeting...
a few more discussions...
few notices to be drafted...it's already late to be posted...
shopping with mom...catching up with dad...
kitchen needs a spruce up...
the room a good good clean...

i know there's a lot to be done...

yet i dress up cool and take that ride...
to the far faraway house below the mountains...
to take a day off...
have a leisurely lunch...
gossip nonesense... talk wild...
feel the breeze...take a snap
while the others nap...

coz my dear, it's sabbath day!

kris' place has featured twice...and it takes me by surprize everytime i go there by the mere nearness of it to the mountains... ...so close.
we lazed out in her newly furnished room, flipping channels...gossiping ...sipping coffee and tasting her hand on custard desserts. ...Hot french fries out of stove...and a lazy afternoon nap...yummy!

Monday, August 06, 2007

pineappy today


one of my first memories of pineapple is drinking its juice in a dark cinema hall. i went to a movie with few of my school friends, i think it was Caravan by eric valli. still in school uniform, we were yet to have our tiffin break. but we were maintaining discipline as we did in class - not eating. i think it was during interval we heard the scuffle of packets opening up. my best friend then, handed me her usual water bottle that she carried to school. she said - mom made some pineapple juice at home - try it. i did - and i loved it. pineapple has been my favorite since then - which reminds me of the rule - first impression is half the work done - usually works for me.
the hard tough covering is quite unassuming of the soft, sweet, juicy inside it has. and the craftsmenship it takes to take off those covers is quite a game. the challenge is to waste as little of the fruity part and take off all the unedible. when i go for a pineapple today, the fruitman is quite clean to remove all the polka dots on its white surface - what he calls the 'eyes' on the pineapple.
once its hard covers are out, there are no other peels, no seeds, nothing - just the fruit n you - yummy!
i once tried pineapple rice with a friend in Boat Quay. i was quite amused when it was brought in an actual pineapple shell - interesting. the rice was a lil-pineappy-sweet too. hmm...

remember a day

i usually tend to remember this place while i feel down and low, like when most of us remember god - when we are sad, and not when we are up and happy, and of no cares about rest of the world. but today is an exception. i feel good and preppy today. again that is not the absolute case . i feel definitely bogged down by work and the hectic pressure that i feel on my shoulders and the head and the brain - everywhere basically. days just roll by if you let it, and then you try to hold it but they just slip by. i try for 'activities' on my days so that they are memorable days to stay and not slip by. we went for a good solid TT practice the other day. it was after such a long time that the whole two hours in two weeks felt pretty worthwhile - of all the sweat. all three of us were at a table tennis bat after many many years - it gave us that added excitement at having found that time, energy and the bat to be playing it for solid two hours. we didn't care whether we were winning or losing or whether that cut, shot and smash were actually on the table - we just hit it. shris took us out for lunch yesterday - for no special reason and it was an awkard group - which had never lunched out together before, so it was kind of odd broken conversations all along. shris and i then decided to meet up in the evening for cliche - friendship day's sake. first, i texted her a different venue after having reached the one we decided on. then, she texted me about three times saying: you go home, i am going to be late. so after three pages of ET and an americano, i was headed home. the usual stuff after that - lot of tv, helping around the kitchen, gossip with mom, update with dad, few pages of the bedside book and the tv again before bed. that's why i say, i need activity yaar and maybe more time and energy for that . time, more than energy - otherwise, immemorable, inconsequential and 'me too', look alike days just slip by - one day after another and they turn into weeks, months and horrifying years. when we will meet up in grey hairs and wobbling tooth - i don't want to say - we should have done something to remember our days. this reminds me of a melodious floyd song - remember a day! it actually goes reee-member a day we were born - a day before today.the song is totally out of context of what i speak year. it is just the word 'remember' which triggered that song. yet another evening to spend today- hopefully a memorable one, otherwise this day passes as yesterday.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Belch it out... eeks!

Droplets of rain on my eyelid...
i feel it cool and shy...

Hair loose open outstretched arms...
i will one day fly...

above the clouds, the trees...the mountains high...
where you belong...
and now i trust, so do i