Packers and Movers, Inc.

I have a knack for doing things impromptu and hence when I decided to go on the 2 months sabbath, it came with the added attractions of packing and shifting.

Now both these phenomenon are something I am not new to. Thanks to 6 years on the move; sometimes shifting from hostel rooms, sometimes changing apartments, sometimes cities to sometimes (ok, once :D) countries. And I thoroughly enjoy the experience. Not just because it tests my how-to-STUFF-stuff-meant-for-4-bags-in-2-bags skills or allows me to gape-at-my-shopping-skills-for-collecting-unwanted-goods-over-a-short-span, but it takes me down memory lanes, twisting and twirling, sometimes making me happy, sad, vulnerable, excited and reflect in general.

So this time while doing this deeply cleansing (and rewarding!!) exercise, I realized how much I hold on to the past. Innumerable restaurant bills, memoirs of shopping trips, stick notes of to do lists, time tables, tonnes of rough work done while studying which should have been trashed, kilos of stationary, drafts of blogs on parchments of resto/shopping bills, etc etc. Believe it or not, for a moment I actually thought that I romanticize the past. And then pro-actively and quiet immediately things were trashed.

Decision has been taken. Memories are forever. They don't need proofs or evidences. And as I go along the path of life, I shall treasure the memories and try not to grab on to the evidences, for the simple reason that I don't live in a palace :)

~nightflier!

P.S. Note to self: Collecting and taking snaps is something above all this, though :)

Tribute to MJ

One of my personal favorites!

So long King of Pop!!

~nightflier :(

2nd Innings!!

As I sit here at my workplace waiting for another file for transcription, tired of irrelevantly stupid facebook quizzes (I still take them, height of un-creativity!!), I am thinking about the innumerable people I have met through these interviews who fought horrible atrocities and survived, my job here at the library and how it all started.

Well the project ends on 30th (and Thursday for me :() giving me another reason to look back and reflect on what I have gained.

My initial reaction to the interview call for the job was euphoria. I had not cared what the job was going to be. I was more than happy to work for the library for Voices of the Holocaust project. It was after my supervisor told me that the work could be disturbing and stressful, that I realized, he may have a point. Another thing I have noticed about work is, sometimes if you don't have any idea about what you are doing, you end up doing a really good job. You look at it objectively, without getting involved. But can any work be complete without 100% involvement ? if's and buts ...

Anyways the point is this work has been interesting, at times depressing and unnerving, but most of the times educative. Our generation learnt about evolution of man, civilizations, struggle for freedom and world wars as part of history. The next generation will have to learn about some more cruel stuff. To come to think of it, we are making history for them!
So much for modern history!

P.S. I still think most of this stuff is research level and very few hands will ever touch these interviews. (I am just being realistic.)

But this work has given me an opportunity to learn various languages like Yiddish (I know!!), German, French, Spanish, Russian (!!!) and lastly English. I had the opportunity to work under an awesome supervisor who was damn cool, helping and fun! I have learnt to laugh over the helplessness one feels at times after reading such stuff. Plus this work also gave me an opportunity to read up history books (one of my favorite school subjects) and has also increased my hands on geographical knowledge of Europe (a subject I sucked at, in school) and lastly psychology (which I could never officially learn).

You wont believe it but I am equally sad even while leaving my second job, which is strange. There are some feelings which you can never grow immune to. :|

(I am glad for that in a way :))

If you guys find time then do visit this.

The project is still under upgrade and hence the look of the site will keep on changing.

To many more such innings to come,

~nightflier!

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda ...

In the swirl of could have, would have and should have, I often forget what is :)

~nightflier!

P.S. don't ask what's with these one liners, just watch out for the long posts. Its a huge secret whixh half the world knows by now :|

shhhhhhhhhh....

Home-coming

However far you are, whatever differences you have, folks at home are the best people to come back to at the end of any given day.

P.S. I always knew this. :)

~nightflier

L.O.S.T.

I pulled off another extremely difficult stunt in the history of sucking !!

I got lost in donwtown on a straight line :-/

The following pictures will give you a better idea of my feat.

(One on the left is the path I was supposed to follow and the one on right is, errr, my idea of a short cut!)

Legend:

1. The black figure is ME.

2. The double ended arrow suggests that I did a back and forth routine on that particular street.

3. A is the spot where I was supposed to meet friend 1 to go to B where friend 2 was waiting.

I know I have let down the female clan. But I really did not realize why I took the route I took instead of the one I was supposed to take. I am officially the lost one now. :(

btw there did come a point when I was so frustrated with myself that I decided to catch a train and go home. But I did not give up. I somehow met FR 1 at point C after frantic phone calls and some brain racking. Is that commendable ? (Please say yes :-/)

P.S. Why does this remind me of the dialogue from DDLJ where Anupam Kher proudly tells SRK, 'Hum to Hindustan mein fail huye, tune to London (err..USA) mein fail ho ke dikhaya' (Nope I am not expecting such a statement filled with pride from any one of you :D)

P.P.S. This is not a fragment of my imagination or a cheap ploy to increase post count !!

~nightflier!

The Bird(ie) and The Racket

What happens when a bunch of Indians teach a South American how to play Badminton ??

Racket Ball.

Well our poor South American friend was as usual caught between us (badminton enthusiasts) and him (a basketball freak) and the sweetheart that he is, he agreed to play badminton with us. Little did he know about the chaotic way we play the game. Mind you all of us had different opinions on the point system and serve area (Its amazing to know that we also localize a 'sport' in different parts of India!). Since it was not helping the new bee much, we thrusted the responsibility to the better playing Chinese girls on the neighboring court. Kidding !!

We actually took the route many corporate firms are taking. In these bad times most of them skip the training part by directly involving new joinees into project work and calling it on job experience. We decided to skip the training as well, just that our decision was motivated not by poor economy but lack of agreement. We taught him individual techniques. Like I taught him how to serve (which was hilarious). Another friend taught him about angled drop shots and another one the art of holding a racket (Yeah! you heard it right!). So after 3 hours of hard work and toil, our friend was feeling comfortable and starting to like the game.

And then we decided to play a finale to reward our efforts. I decided to play with the rookie. The game was wonderful. I don't remember who won, as we played for fun more than anything. 

At the end, the new bee asked me, 'Tell me, why was I the only one jumping/running around the court, when you guys were comfortably moving around ?'

me: ermmm... (He had once told me that he used to play Tennis. I also realized the difficulty in teaching him how to serve. And things started to fall into place. I promptly said) 'Dude, cos you were playing Tennis on a baddie court !!' 

At that very instant, we both burst out laughing. I also mimicked some of his antics to involve others. After a long time I laughed till my muscles ached and my throat dried.

Cheers to the South American friend who played baddie just for the fun of it :)

~nightflier

P.S. After that 3 hours of workout on the court all the muscles in my body are making their presence felt as I write this. Ask me about stretching oneself to limits. Also let me know if they teach how to curb your enthusiasm while playing a sport/game after an year's break. I would definitely like to enroll!

I loves it !!

Pia (The very strong, independent, self reliant girl, in the hospital with her dead Ex's sick father) : Jab sahare ki jarurat hogi, tab maang lungi.

Shekhar (The guy) : (comes back with a coffee mug after a while and says) Jaanta hoon aapko sahare ki jarurat nahi hai. Main to sirf saath dene aaya hoon.

Girl: When I need support I will ask for it.

Guy: I know you don't need support. I have come here just to give you company.

This dialogue then followed by the extremely touching music of Koi Fariyaad in the background makes for such a powerful scene. Apparently this is also the dialogue where the character of Shekhar breezes through and makes a lasting impact. (Crazy people like me go weak in the knees with an awwww!)

Why don't they write such dialogues anymore? Why don't they write such characters anymore? And do such guys really exist?? (I know I am getting cornier by the day :D)

P.S. The movie is Tum Bin. It is one of those rare movies with a soul and amazing music and perfect music timing.

~nightflier