Vegebernation - A state of hibernation in which 'Daily Ramblings..' went and almost became a vegetable!
This post is dedicated to two nagging sweet friends.. (yeah i know nagging is a bit exaggerated but its not in my blood to say things out straight)
One writes intermittent one-liner e-mails (usually starting with 'kamini') reminding me that I have a blog to write. And the other calls me from the U aaS of A (read local rates :P :D) to tell me the days she has returned from my blog seeing the post 'the silent movie' for the umpteenth time! Its amazing how these guys put up with me..and my sheer indifference (if i dare to call it that). So i just decided to cut it out when both my upset-with-seeing-the-same-post friends asked me (with a million exclamation marks!) when i was going to write my new post, on the same day. :D
I have thought long and hard about the book i am going to write (actually i was thinking more of how I could make the million bucks JKR made with her book :P). I thought long and hard and reached no conclusion. So we take another topic since we have nothing here.
We (means me n my office colleagues) went to aromas today. A coffee-shop facing our office building. I would give it a 3 on 10 for service, 8/10 for food and 6/10 (grinder noise..!!) for ambiance. The most we loved was the food. And i felt nice that I had something new—a Lebanese dish called Mezze Platter. Nice I would say, with 6-7 slices of thin roti-like bread and 3 types of dips. Chef's salad, Veg arabiata, Indian Spicy Chicken pasta and Hazelnut coffee filled our tummies for the rest of the day! AS if this coffee-shop was not enough...another one called 'Gloria's Jeans - the coffee shop' opened its doors to the posh locality. Taste Australia's coffee it seems. I sometimes wonder what would ppl really have to do to market and sell products that are already available in the same area. I know..give it a USP like, come, taste Australian coffee or something like that! :-/
Actually, one needs to be really brilliant to sell something that's already in the market....or do the ppl need to be really stupid to buy it?
PS: Your ruffling thru 'Daily Ramblings...' means a lot to me!
~Thank god for friends and family. Else, I would be a vegetable by now!~
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Silent Movie.
mornings for me are mostly a whir. get up just in time to catch the 7:35 local, without breakfast, and then lean on the train compartment and catch a few winks.
this time though i had a movie to watch. a guy got in the handicapped compartment. he looked pretty normal to be getting in there. it was when he started using sign language that i realized he was mute. his hands were moving fast to explain the happenings of probably the previous day to his companion. i tried hard comprehending his signs. to me it felt like he was explaining that he had gotten into a compartment by mistake and was fined. the narration involved, four women, one policewala and him i guess. the reason why i call it a movie was because the wall separating the ladies and the handicapped compartment had small windows across it at shoulder level. and the guy fit perfectly into one such frame. it was like watching a silent movie.
i was amazed at how fast he was communicating, and how expressive he was. that communicatng to someone for him was no big deal as long as someone had the patience to understand it. while i was wondering a thought came by. how must he answer his cell-phone? and i immediately laughed at my foolishness, for why would a mute man carry a cellphone? Just as I was getting back to deciphering his signs, he removed a black case from his pocket and pulled out a cell-phone! Of course! text messaging! how rude and stupid of me to think that cellphones were of no use to mute persons. Apologies!
something just got emphasized for me that morning ... whatever happens to make you powerless, 10 more things happen to make you powerful...or rather..you can create 10 more things to make you powerful. howzzat?
this time though i had a movie to watch. a guy got in the handicapped compartment. he looked pretty normal to be getting in there. it was when he started using sign language that i realized he was mute. his hands were moving fast to explain the happenings of probably the previous day to his companion. i tried hard comprehending his signs. to me it felt like he was explaining that he had gotten into a compartment by mistake and was fined. the narration involved, four women, one policewala and him i guess. the reason why i call it a movie was because the wall separating the ladies and the handicapped compartment had small windows across it at shoulder level. and the guy fit perfectly into one such frame. it was like watching a silent movie.
i was amazed at how fast he was communicating, and how expressive he was. that communicatng to someone for him was no big deal as long as someone had the patience to understand it. while i was wondering a thought came by. how must he answer his cell-phone? and i immediately laughed at my foolishness, for why would a mute man carry a cellphone? Just as I was getting back to deciphering his signs, he removed a black case from his pocket and pulled out a cell-phone! Of course! text messaging! how rude and stupid of me to think that cellphones were of no use to mute persons. Apologies!
something just got emphasized for me that morning ... whatever happens to make you powerless, 10 more things happen to make you powerful...or rather..you can create 10 more things to make you powerful. howzzat?
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The Magic Lamp! Genie of Agrabah, HQ
Once, there was a little boy. He found a magic lamp. (We will discuss the discovery of the lamp a little later. For now you just assume that he has one.) How did he know it was magical you would ask? Well, it said "The Magic Lamp! Genie of Agrabah, HQ"
Having heard the story of Alladin and the magic lamp, the boy was very excited. He rubbed the lamp immediately expecting a Genie out of it any minute. What came out though was the sound of an answering machine. It said - "You've reached the Genie of Agrabah. Kindly leave your name and I will decide to call you on pre-set priority." The boy was baffled when he heard this. He had heard an answering machine for the first time. The electronic voice continued, "If you are my new master kindly fill form IAYNM500 (short for I Am Your New Master applicant 500.) that you will get at the end of this beep. Thank you, looking forward to your application." Beeeeeeep. And with that, a blue scroll popped out of the spout.
Even more confused, he picked up the blue scroll and did not know what to do next. With what he had done the day earlier, he was wondering whether to leave it where he had brought it from or to keep it with himself. Eager and confused at the same time, he opened the scroll only to get the shock of his life!
Having heard the story of Alladin and the magic lamp, the boy was very excited. He rubbed the lamp immediately expecting a Genie out of it any minute. What came out though was the sound of an answering machine. It said - "You've reached the Genie of Agrabah. Kindly leave your name and I will decide to call you on pre-set priority." The boy was baffled when he heard this. He had heard an answering machine for the first time. The electronic voice continued, "If you are my new master kindly fill form IAYNM500 (short for I Am Your New Master applicant 500.) that you will get at the end of this beep. Thank you, looking forward to your application." Beeeeeeep. And with that, a blue scroll popped out of the spout.
Even more confused, he picked up the blue scroll and did not know what to do next. With what he had done the day earlier, he was wondering whether to leave it where he had brought it from or to keep it with himself. Eager and confused at the same time, he opened the scroll only to get the shock of his life!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Fun on Panes...
This was one of the days announced as high-tide alert by our weather man.
Anticipating rains, we left the clouds behind on the Vashi bridge..
But they caught up with us @ Powai!
So we had to close the windows.. and it got reaaally stuffy!! :(
But then i realised...1 bus, rains outside, and whacky frends inside are the perfect recipe for a maad journey!! :)
Well...generally we all are pretty audible to the whole bus.. :P right from the driver to the guy who sits at the back..today we let the steam on the glass panes and our fingers running over it do some talking..
and yeah there were giggles and laughter. Well, what do u expect?? We're girls! :) (and THAT doesn't mean anything! :P)
Anticipating rains, we left the clouds behind on the Vashi bridge..
But they caught up with us @ Powai!
So we had to close the windows.. and it got reaaally stuffy!! :(
But then i realised...1 bus, rains outside, and whacky frends inside are the perfect recipe for a maad journey!! :)
Well...generally we all are pretty audible to the whole bus.. :P right from the driver to the guy who sits at the back..today we let the steam on the glass panes and our fingers running over it do some talking..
and yeah there were giggles and laughter. Well, what do u expect?? We're girls! :) (and THAT doesn't mean anything! :P)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
...that one piece in the Collage
The Mumbai local train is a collage of a million different pieces! Men, women, executives, teachers, bankers, stock brokers, managers, students, hawkers, and god knows how many more come together to make this splendid and ever expanding form!
Me - one such piece - was absorbed in observing (talk abt alliteration!!) another - an 8-9 year old boy carrying a polythene bag. About four feet high, dressed in a brown checkered uniform of a Mankhurd school, rubber slippers in his feet, leaning against the opposite partition. The bag he held had just been deposited by his hands with the plastic hangers he had removed about a minute ago to sell. The bag was a decoy lest he got caught. I wondered what time he must have left school to start his task. At 9:10 p.m. he wasn't making any effort to sell his wares, guess his day had ended. He peeked in the General compartment and took his position near the door. I looked at him for quite a while, there was a small scratch on his nose. He looked in the opposite direction of the moving train, maybe figuring out his next class, next sale tactic, his next customer, or maybe soemthing fun with his friends....
I wondered what it would be to be like him. To be eight, go to school, sell things in the train, complete home-work, help around the house, manage money. I don't want to mention the other things I dread. I dint want to imagine where he lived. Child labour in its most vivid form was right there in front of me...and I could not do a thing. I merely looked at him as he alighted at the next station and saw him disappear.
Me - one such piece - was absorbed in observing (talk abt alliteration!!) another - an 8-9 year old boy carrying a polythene bag. About four feet high, dressed in a brown checkered uniform of a Mankhurd school, rubber slippers in his feet, leaning against the opposite partition. The bag he held had just been deposited by his hands with the plastic hangers he had removed about a minute ago to sell. The bag was a decoy lest he got caught. I wondered what time he must have left school to start his task. At 9:10 p.m. he wasn't making any effort to sell his wares, guess his day had ended. He peeked in the General compartment and took his position near the door. I looked at him for quite a while, there was a small scratch on his nose. He looked in the opposite direction of the moving train, maybe figuring out his next class, next sale tactic, his next customer, or maybe soemthing fun with his friends....
I wondered what it would be to be like him. To be eight, go to school, sell things in the train, complete home-work, help around the house, manage money. I don't want to mention the other things I dread. I dint want to imagine where he lived. Child labour in its most vivid form was right there in front of me...and I could not do a thing. I merely looked at him as he alighted at the next station and saw him disappear.
Horcruxes in real...
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Its a pity the movie is named the same. There was almost nothing in it of the book...Disappointing is an understatement.
The part of the book I'd liked the most was not there in the movie at all! The story of Tom Riddle's loony mother and muggle-born father. How his father was bewitched by a love potion, and how the family heirloom was taken by Tom Riddle which would later become a Horcrux and contain a part of his soul...
The book has a brilliant yet dark concept. A rare form of magic that allows one to be immortal in parts! For that the being must rip the soul and contain it elsewhere like a locket or a ring. Although things like these come at a cost is what the author tries to tell us. And the price is the life of another. Really how dreadful can a person get to fulfill personal wishes...
I wondered how the author must have thought of such a thing. Must she have seen it in a metaphorical form somewhere? Forms which take away lives for their personal interest. They kill happiness, love, care, joy, oneness, peace. Once dead, they contain their own righteousness, hatred, selfishness, jealousy, anger in these empty shells. And that's how 'no possibility' becomes immortal!
The fact that Harry Potter destroys all those horcruxes is reassuring for a person like me. Because I personally like happy endings. And also gives me the thought that 'no-possibility' needs to be destroyed.... by the very things that were killed by it!
The part of the book I'd liked the most was not there in the movie at all! The story of Tom Riddle's loony mother and muggle-born father. How his father was bewitched by a love potion, and how the family heirloom was taken by Tom Riddle which would later become a Horcrux and contain a part of his soul...
The book has a brilliant yet dark concept. A rare form of magic that allows one to be immortal in parts! For that the being must rip the soul and contain it elsewhere like a locket or a ring. Although things like these come at a cost is what the author tries to tell us. And the price is the life of another. Really how dreadful can a person get to fulfill personal wishes...
I wondered how the author must have thought of such a thing. Must she have seen it in a metaphorical form somewhere? Forms which take away lives for their personal interest. They kill happiness, love, care, joy, oneness, peace. Once dead, they contain their own righteousness, hatred, selfishness, jealousy, anger in these empty shells. And that's how 'no possibility' becomes immortal!
The fact that Harry Potter destroys all those horcruxes is reassuring for a person like me. Because I personally like happy endings. And also gives me the thought that 'no-possibility' needs to be destroyed.... by the very things that were killed by it!
Monday, July 6, 2009
SOAKED!!
4th July ..
It has rained the whole day today. Constant showers from the skies kept everything clean. It was like today i had a heightened sense of color. Everything looked so fresh! There was every type of green i could imagine everywhere.
It was the perfect day for a picnic. Our wishes on Friday for a superb weather on Saturday for our picnic were granted. Sometimes all things don't have to go as planned. Although our visit to a certain waterfall bombed completely, it was a great experience! We reached the cloud-kissed hills that harbored the Pandavkada waterfalls quite early only to find out that its closed in the monsoons due to landslides. :( But our enthusiasm and readiness to try new things didn't die down. We kept walking in the rain and enjoyed every bit of it! Stone-made walls, wired fences, and large puddles of water were enough to bring out the child in each one of us... :) We climbed, splashed water, ran behind each other, cracked reaaaaaaallly pathetic jokes, laughed like mad...basically we went just plain nuts with the weather! ;)
I realized for the first time that i actually like getting wet in the rains..the raindrops touching my face every time i looked up, soaking my hair and trickling down my neck. When the rain caught momentum we were leaving. We were making a mistake leaving the pretty weather to be enjoyed by some other enthusiasts, only to be joined by the rains on the journey towards our friend's house.
Hot black lemon tea, pani puri, samosas, moong dosa, and the all time favorite Maggi kept the gastric juices in our stomachs some company. The picnic ended with some friends bidding an early goodbye and lazy conversations with the rest of us.
Fun, leg-pulling, enthusiasm, innovation, boldness didn't let our resolve to have a good day die. Really, what you plan, the place, doesn't matter as much as the people with who you are. Soaked I am with the rains, and every drop carries fulfillment!
It has rained the whole day today. Constant showers from the skies kept everything clean. It was like today i had a heightened sense of color. Everything looked so fresh! There was every type of green i could imagine everywhere.
It was the perfect day for a picnic. Our wishes on Friday for a superb weather on Saturday for our picnic were granted. Sometimes all things don't have to go as planned. Although our visit to a certain waterfall bombed completely, it was a great experience! We reached the cloud-kissed hills that harbored the Pandavkada waterfalls quite early only to find out that its closed in the monsoons due to landslides. :( But our enthusiasm and readiness to try new things didn't die down. We kept walking in the rain and enjoyed every bit of it! Stone-made walls, wired fences, and large puddles of water were enough to bring out the child in each one of us... :) We climbed, splashed water, ran behind each other, cracked reaaaaaaallly pathetic jokes, laughed like mad...basically we went just plain nuts with the weather! ;)
I realized for the first time that i actually like getting wet in the rains..the raindrops touching my face every time i looked up, soaking my hair and trickling down my neck. When the rain caught momentum we were leaving. We were making a mistake leaving the pretty weather to be enjoyed by some other enthusiasts, only to be joined by the rains on the journey towards our friend's house.
Hot black lemon tea, pani puri, samosas, moong dosa, and the all time favorite Maggi kept the gastric juices in our stomachs some company. The picnic ended with some friends bidding an early goodbye and lazy conversations with the rest of us.
Fun, leg-pulling, enthusiasm, innovation, boldness didn't let our resolve to have a good day die. Really, what you plan, the place, doesn't matter as much as the people with who you are. Soaked I am with the rains, and every drop carries fulfillment!
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