Nostalgia

Ever year as the seasons change and the temperatures drop, I go about on wardrobe transfer from my wardrobe to a hefty suitcase .. I am not very proud of the fact that I have so much clothes that they dont fit into one wardrobe, but given my highly fluctuating weight…I have accumulated clothes spanning +-13kg of my  body weight..ok..ok..i digress..thats besides the point..so as Iwent about on this biannual chore today, triggered by drastic temperatures drop accompanied by an equally drastic weight gain , shuffling n moving clothes, setting some aside  for the nice charity drive in office..there it was.. deep buried within the suitcase…i found a bag, bag full of trinkets, some precious gems turned to trinkets by grind of the time ..bag which opened a beehive of memories, some stung, some I wasnt even aware were there..some which brought a quick tear, some a flood of them..some got smiles & grins which reminded me of close friendships in far-flung lands made in an innocent, intense time…amongst these was a box full of letters, times when my previous generation hadnt quite got the hang of email. And as I looked as those frayed letters ( I hadnt guessed they would be so precious in couple of years to take good care of them ), I couldnt help but think that though email is great and certainly a part of our lives, the charm of a good ol’ aerogramme is priceless…here is one of those..

Holding the letter in my hand, running my fingers over my uncle’s loving handwriting as he tells his favourite but homesick,anxious & barely 21 yr old niece..” that things will be fine..hold on to your horses,that there is no gain without pain is the universal truth. You have had the courage to pursue the path which wasnt exactly mainstream so you obviously have the courage to get through it. ” Yeah..I remember reading those words the first time impatiently, greedily in the students counsellor’s office where it was dropped off for me and then re-reading them, letting my uncle’s encouragements reach out to me that chilly evening waiting for my bus…letter which i carried in my jacket pocket for days later for some touch of home and encouragement.

Things turned out well, I achieved what I had set out to..as they say lots of water has flowed now…but as I read those trembling yet strong words again, they are true today also as I juggle probably the hardest time in my life..its pretty weird, I just met my Uncle yesterday, and when he put his hand on my head to wish me when I touched his feet.. I realise now that his eyes  and encouraging smile were  saying exactly those words to me…yes, I understand, the struggles are stronger but so is your courage..I just wish I could read those eyes yesterday to hug him back..

I am sure any email found in my inbox, however tech-savvy I ever became wouldnt be as special. Do you have such letters, if yes, cherish them and share how you feel with the people who wrote them to you, if possible, and those who havent, go purchase an inland letter and create such wonderful memories. Trust me, they are worth it!

Import-Export

Sabhtarsha mentioned that blogger could be exported and I couldnt resist the nostalagia of older posts.

The export was a no-brainer..just follow this

New visitors, hope you enjoy my older posts!

Angels & Demons

I resisted posting something personal for long, around 8 months because I felt that such posts dont do anything more than feed the voyuerists in us, but I guess I am wrong. I can no longer deny the cathartic value of such “dumps”..so getting back into the warm cozy arms of blogosphere..

 The past year has been a trying one for me as I battled with circumstances I thought I would never have to deal with , ones which I couldn’t always share while I went about conducting the usual business of my life…I found out why personal demons are called “demons”…tried to survive the crushing disappointment of angels turning into demons…let me just say that I pray that everybody whom I care about and dont care about are spared such trials. 

But if fate isnt kind to you and you are indeed brought to a tribulation, let God be kind enough as He was to me to send you an Angel to get through it.  The angel tried to steer me through the choppy waters and more often than not I responded by throwing back my demons, all in their glorious vile, at the patient helping heart. The angel persisted, my demons persisted , at times so stubborn that I could no longer say for sure whether there were demons inside me or I had indeed personified the demon….and then finally one day when I felt that I couldnt take  a step further, the Angel somehow reached out and soothed my fiercely hidden sorrows and insecurities, things I didnt know hurt till I said them aloud, and voila….I felt lighter..lighter as I had forgotten I could be …the weight lifting off, weight which I realised after it went away..all I can say that what most of us want is somebody who says “I understand” and means it too…Anyways circumstances have yielded a bit too, and maybe I hope I am gonna turn out okay.

I am not completely out of the woods yet but as I see the clearing in view,  I sincerely hope that I haven’t exhausted  my Angel’s patience  and have something to give back in return when I get myself back..till then..this is the best I can..few heartfelt words on a blog..

 P.S. : Had a rocking Diwali this year..will be back with post and pics soon.

Hello world!

Hey there..going by the title guess WordPress has guessed my profession correctly. I have spent close to an hour customizing my theme etc. and would be back with something to post later.Ciao!

25th Sep

Okk..aftr being nudged again..and that too by one of the lazier fellow bloggers..here it goes..

I have commitment issues with a web browser (I know people who have it with anti-virus software), but I keep on shuffling and shuttling between all the browsers are there to offer…and over the time I have figured that pain of lost bookmarks, saved passwords for junk sites, favorites,add-ins etc far outweighs  that “cool feature” that made me switch. I agree, there is no dearth of nifty cross-browser setting export tools,  but I’m very lazy to do it..so I decided to change..I would stick to a browser atleast for 3 months..common, none of them are not that bad..including IE8, ok, IE6 was bad..bad..so I started out..1.5 month into my monogamous behaviour..I even resisted the new Chrome, (though I will have to switch to it evetually to ride the “Wave”, I’m not much of a fan of “in-frame browser plugins)..but now I had the 45 day itch and since I am a person who places high premium on promises made to oneself even foolish ones like this, I wriggled  my way out..I wont change browser..I will change my blogging platform

So out went blogspot, the blog was anyways in hiberanation..and in came wordpress..I will post sometime in detail about the comparison..but here are the first impressions:

1. Blogspot is easy to go up and running. WordPress is slightly trickier but very powerful in its cutsomization.

2. WordPress dashboard seems well oraganized with more features than blogspot. Will write separately abt it.

3. I finally dont have to connect to statcounter to view my stats, which I was obsessed about, the blog stats is part of dashboard.

So..Part-II journey begins of my blogging life..Friends in part-I from blogspot, do keep visiting!

Adios..

Well, people who have borne my previous feverish post , would know, no big surprise.. I have had fever..and lots of time to think…the seed sowed itself on Monday but yesterday night confirmed it..that I am laying off ( yeah the recession “L” word)  blogging….which in recent times was turning into rants which I wouldn’t want to inflict on any of my wonderful blog followers. Of course I would continue to follow and enjoy all my friends blogs…they say never say never..so I wont say I will never be back..but I want to thank all my friends for all the comments, good-natured ribbing and bonding which we have had through my 39 posts..yeah yeah it takes me very less to get mushy..

Few words to sign off (looking at the feeble attempt at meter & poetry,you might actually thank me for stopping ) 

Perhaps its no coincidence that

There is just a “L” between world & a word

Whispered by a loved one

Can gift you a world

Perhaps its no coincidence that

There is just a “S” between word & a sword

Blow dealt from a loved one

Can slice your soul…

Living with not your decision..

Blogging seems to be like marriage vows..in sickness n health..I do..err..blog…

After being in bed for the last 20 hours while your body heals yourself, the idle mind, excused from the daily work grind free to wander off in all directions…mulls over in a feverish frenzy, some really sticky questions which you have learnt to push back when your are strong and healthy…questions about decisions…some decision ..a single decision, by its inherent nature, can give extreme happiness to one and extreme unhappiness to the other..should such decisions be acted upon..or a golden mean be found, but its unlikely that happiness part would care enough to dilute its booty..such times the unhappiness can just rationalise that its misery is worthwhile for the happiness its churning out for the other side..and hope that happiness would look back over its shoulder and take you along…someday soon…before u lose it all..

p.s.: I dont have a tag “feverish rant” otherwise would apply it to this post. Fellow bloggers, pl. bear.

Another one on slumdog…

Enough and more than enough has been said about slumdog millionaire on TV, print and blogosphere….my final two pennies…while I see two clear camps of oh-so grt-why-be ashamed-of-our-reality(slums) and why-did-they-show-india-this-way-movie-is-overrated,  but I don’t see myself fit into either camps. 

I like the movie, and found it awesome (as my previous post says) but only for the brilliance of the director’s way of story telling. I cringed at the slum parts and wondered if this detail was necessary, but somehow that didn’t stop me from appreciating the central plot of Jamal knowing every answer linked to some tragedy in his life and the way it unfolded in the movie. 

(And also maybe because I am a big time sucker for anything where love triumphs over everything )

I wish more movie-goers would purely enjoy the cinematic experience of that movie, but I guess its difficult to detach given our inherent passionate nature and the need to see things(including movies) in black and white.

A friend came back this week from the States and he reported several Americans thinking of India dirt-poor because of the movie, which is so just one side of the coin, I am sure a grittier movie can be made in not-so-well-off sections of the US which makes me agree with  another comment on blogosphere..Oscars are given to what appeals to the sensibilities of the Academy and Hollywood has always loved to typecast all nations , not always in a nice light, we with our slums fight nicely into the mould.

Though , I seriously wish Rehman wins his Oscar because he deserves one , not for this movie but his other work, other wins wont be Indian wins but people will celebrate anyhow. We are known to celebrate “Mera Bharat Mahaan” when a third-generation Indian-American does something great in America.  

All said and done, I am glad the movie was made, because the kid who actually played and stays in slums( his mother complains that people have a found  a new way to tag them as “slumdog” and I’m sorry for that), has been enrolled in school , his ailing dad is getting medical attention and he will get a neat sum of some lakhs when he turns 21, all thanks to the film crew.

If this film has changed the life of one underprivileged kid who didn’t have a shot, the movie is worth it, whether it sucks or is a masterpiece.

For all fellow bloggers

2009 Bloggies

Lemme know if you win one  :) 

And even if you dont participate, the entries are also worth a look.

For Panorma enthuisasts

For some people I know who are into panoramic photos and photo stitching enthusiasts:

How I Made a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address

Do not Miss! 

10 point someone

Some things which I learnt in this week:

Point 1. I can really commit the sin of gluttony better (is “better” the right word for sin?) than I had thought. 

  

Point 2. I actually like strawberry cream enough to do Point 1.

Point 3.  I can eat a truckload of fried chicken gravy enough to commit Point 1 again when I am recovering from Point 2. Country, naah..”gavraan”  is the right word, beats KFC any day, hands down.

Point 4. Long live good-old-Bata!! Their fanciest blingy sandals have rubber soles which have better grip over mountain rocks than Adidas shoes.  :) 

Point 5. You will feel older than you ever did in your life when your youngest cousins, whom you cradled as babies,  turn oh-my-god-20.

Point 6. Debugging a live customer enterprise server in another time zone (for code which wasn’t written in your era)  for 3 days on end can have play-all-day-Mario/Chinese checkers/wavepool-effect..you expect TV screen, calendar, even people & traffic signals to roll and run like your logs. Btw, your dreams are already rolling. 

Point 7. I can watch mindless Scrubs(not sure who is mindless, me or Scrubs) endlessly till the sun is up enough to resume Point 6. HRG and gang would prepone their premiere of Feb 6 for my rescue just if they had seen me. As an aside, the length of Dr. Cox’s conversation would roll twice in our logs.

Point 8. The victory tastes REAL sweet when you nail down the bugger after the turmoil of point 6.

Point 9. My definition of busy is if I cannot visit anybody’s blogs, my reader and orkut etc etc for a whole week due to point 6 & 7.

AND 

Point 10. YAY!! 100 bucks fill my petrol tank  enough for a week for the first time in my driving career ( ok, ok, it spans less than a year  :) )