Wasn't a blogspot enough ?

Crappy day. Work piled up. Had class in the evening (Oh learning Japanese btw, wanted to do a nice post on nuances of learning but nevertheless) so showed extra-ordinary management skills and finished off in time. Then bus got delayed. Manager called. Some more work. Missed class.


Extremely grumpy. Specially when last night hiragana had started to retain inside my head and I had really worked hard on a conversation homework - thinking overnight as to what to write about and coming up with pretty good stuff (considering I have already missed 2 sessions at the beginning). More grumpy. One of those days.


So what I did ? Having a facebook developer account had activated the new facebook timeline for my profile day before. I indulged in some more frivolous stuff. After thinking that the new messy facebook news feed will actually make me hate it more! No sir, self indulgence is a forte. Pics got tweaked. Covers were made. Apps got added. Time-line got cleaned up. Virtual world really gives you a chance to re-do, re-align stuff. So unlike reality.


Anywho, I have a blog and I am pretty happy with it. But no, now I have an entire page dedicated to more vanity with people's approval.
Grumpy. Grumpy. Grumpy.


~nightflier


P.S. Unless you are a nerd like me there is a way to activate the facebook timeline. Please google techcrunch the techcrunch article. But its in beta now, so may be buggy. So let them release it on their own.
P.P.S. Aai (and baba too) think I am quite mad to be learning japanese, so please go ahead and judge.

संशय कल्लोळ

Pre script : marathi in the title - means 'havoc caused by doubt'.


My first marathi broadway (natya-sangeet!) theater experience! Of course the college Firodiya musicals don't count.
The last time I watched a musical I was completely blown away. This time I have a new found crush on Rahul Deshpande. The dude has got a new stalker/follower from tonight! (his grandfather was another rockstar dude!)


Overall the musical was nice and light, in spite of the tension in the title. Though I am wondering how nicer it would have been in the original 1916 version with a male actor performing as the heroine! Oh and I am also wondering how timeless the story line is! (specially after reading love in the time of cholera).


Anywho, at least have new object of dreams :P
(link below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jez4cUZXyCA&feature=fvsr


~nightflier

Love in the time of cholera

Pre Script : May become a very long post.


'Love stories. They make sense in bits and pieces, sometimes the whole never does. Love is like that.' - Someone on my twitter time line who has a way with words and life.


Ok. First things first. I don't even know why I picked and then decided to buy this book. On a landmark trip I had almost bought 100 years of solitude, but then because of a self imposed intervention did not buy it. Nonetheless I think it was destined (;)) that I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's cholera (here after will be referred by the same name) first! Done with the story behind the book!


Love is a topic of personal disposition. To me my parents', friends' love makes perfect sense to me. Of course the husband-wife kind of love which involves a lot of domestication is something I have not experienced so cannot say much except from what I have observed. And that is why when I read the above quoted line, it again rang a bell and made perfect sense to me. (needless to say it shamelessly got re-tweeted)


Anywho, the book opened with the strangest and most evocative line I have read  'The smell of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love'. That moment on it was a journey of such and more stranger and beautiful lines. I have always found detailing of human emotions wondrous. And to imagine that I was reading a translation!!


When a proud, haughty Fermina Daza rejected the hopeless innocent love of Florentino Ariza,and instead settled for a seemingly perfect (wealth, looks, reputation and education wise) man Dr. Juvenal Urbino, I did not hate her. Nor did I feel instant sympathy for Ariza. Such was the book. It din't give me a central feeling which I could hold on to (the way Rowling did and we all still feel a certain empathy for Harry). He just took these people, their lives, their characters and their relationships with different people and looked at them as an observer. Of course I did gradually feel that Ariza's unrequited love gets fulfilled. And that's not because Fermina was unhappy or Urbino was a bad guy or Ariza himself was suffering. They were just themselves. Living life through disappointments and disillusionment trying to create better illusions for themselves.


These very scandalous (not in a perverse way) characters (and many other as well) were on a quest for love, which each explored in his/her own way, as fate permitted. And by the end of it, it all felt very peaceful and calm. There was no clamor of passion, hope or disillusion. Also the book had a very amusing and funny undertone. As if it knew what not to take seriously ;-)
[In a rather funny way, Ariza'a mother compares the symptoms of love of a young Florentino to Cholera. And there after keeps referring to it 'that ailment he once caught and never got rid of'.]


And since the original book is in spanish, and I read a translation, I hope it was worth it. Because, love stories don't need a language in the end ;)


Ok slight afterthought. While reading any book I imagine a movie being made on it (for most of them!). Somehow for me it was very difficult to imagine these people in a movie. And then I googled the movie which was made in 2007 based on the book and read Ebert uncle's synopsis of it and realized how true it is what he has said!
[For those who did not click the link, he says 'I'm wondering, as I started by saying, if what makes Garcia Marquez so great a writer is his work's insistence on being read, not seen'.]


Highly recommend. And oh you will love the carribbean of the colonial times! :)


~nightflier


P.S. Is it me or the post feels disjointed ? Guess its Marquez's work's insistence on being read, not being written about :-)

Random things that made me happy!!

I am not a jaded person nor am I constantly judging my state of happiness (I do it over periods like months or weeks :D) but last week these 2 things happened which put bright big smiles on my face, inside and outside and I felt happy!


Do you ever chase down your friends on streets walking ahead totally unaware of you behind and tap them on the wrong shoulder (if you are on left side, tap on their right or vice versa). Well if the distance is manageable I do this all the time!! So I got down from bus and was walking towards home when saw brother ahead of me and I totally did the shoulder tap to him and grinned like a fool amid the crowd! :D
Of course brother got embarrassed a little. But it made me so happy to see the person I live with on a street totally unaware of me, caught off guard!! 
P.S. Shoulder taps are restricted to *ONLY* people you know very well. *NOT* acquaintances. If I have met you only twice and you do that to me, you will be thoroughly embarrassed by my reaction :P


When I do reach home early from work i.e. around 6 or 7 pm, kids in the society are playing around. So on a particularly non cloudy evening 2 boys around the age of 6 or 7 were running behind each other (playing out-out) and laughing uncontrollably after catching each other. Just watching them get a high by the running around, with huffy puffy laughs made me really really happy!! :D


~nightflier


P.S. Am on the last few pages of Love in the time of cholera and oh what a book it has been! Marquez is awesome! Next post on the book :)

co-existing at work and otherwise

At work few freshers have joined as trainees, who are allocated different mentors. As most of today's generation goes (of course I talk like a granny, but get my gist, I am talking about a whooping 8 year difference between basic schooling) youngsters are inquisitive, energetic, full of enthusiasm. To me its a great defense mechanism because, at a place when you are daunted by what may come ahead and the pressure of being inexperienced, these very qualities help you learn and progress. But us experienced lot who are burdened by the rut, find these very qualities annoying. The smart newbee with do-you-enjoy-your-work queries becomes an added burden, because you realize you have stopped asking that question. Some mentors who are harsh enough, immediately snub the spark and tell them to mind their business i.e. be a submissive junior who doesnt ask but does what he/she is told and talks when required. 

Of course at work one has to learn to restrict one's curiosity. One learns such things gradually, by knowing when and how. That's being corporate.

But is it ok to curb someone's natural enthusiasm ?

I don't get this. Are we humans so un(or dis?)compassionate to forget what it is like to be a novice at something ? or are we simply not ready to accept that its ok if someone is different from us ? Why do we want to force others to be as we want them to be ? Why does a delhi wala think mumbai wala can't be like him or vice versa ?

Of course we eventually learn to co-exist. But my common sense tells me to learn and respect the differences and then be what you are. Banter is all right but ridiculing or condescending someone for being themselves is kind of tacky.

~nightflier

P.S. After living with chinese room-mates for 6 months, I don't forget to tell anyone that sometimes the smells of food can be overpowering and totally unrelatable and how communication can be a problem. I am sure they must have felt the same way. That our spices are too strong, and Indians talk 
faster than a bullet! :D
P.P.S. When I become a mentor I hope I have some great materical to dazzle the newbee :D

Fiona's true love

Fiona is angry. She says to Shrek who too is visibly distressed 'But you weren't there when I needed you. I rescued myself from the dragon and the castle.'


After a round of twists, things do fall into place. 


Shrek is back to his happy, love filled life. He says to Fiona 'It wasn't I who rescued you. You truly rescued me.'


Despite the fairy tales one has been fed growing up and despite the sweeping generalization that *only* 'some people' need to be rescued 'all the time', I would like to believe in Shrek and Fiona's 'rescuing each other'.
Romantic and slightly foolish (naive?) but so heartening to hear :)


~nightflier

the week in pictures

a 26 year old's advanced birthday 
gift to a 30 year old

Of course, Aai and KT think, we should give more age appropriate gifts. But then bro insisted and crossword was giving a 20% discount. Who would let go of a bargain on a gift ? :P\


Since then weekends, train travels have been scrabble-ed! And I am getting better at making a bunch of 30 year olds lose. sourly. bwahahaha.

The ganpati at home!

The better part of the week was spent in travelling and being creative. The ganpati at home gets a jazzy feel. Quite an achievement as we are pretty non-page-3 people! 

:D

I don't crack up at puneri paati jokes much, but this one found/spotted in Nagpur was hilarious! with its morbid tone and all!


P.S. In India, trucks, auto-rikshaw normally have some life gyaan giving messages painted at their back. This one here literally means - Money earned by dishonest means, comes out by tearing intestines.

Amazing tale!

Had a lot of fun judging a drawing competition for kids in our society. Some judge rain-checked, so I had to fill in her place. Also had triple the fun, reading this with a 9 year old cousin.


Neha I have finally read this most wonderful book! Am I part of the fellowship yet ? :)

So this was more or less my week. Full of shopping, meeting people, reading and eating great food!
Also took up a little home interiors project back at home. Will get to see its implementation during next visit!


Onto catching up all the un-read blogs NOW!


~nightflier