Four walls and a ceiling

Imagine a small room. The

walls are plain and bare. Not

even a stray crack or a

renegade mark on the

uniformly white paint. A sole

window exists on one side

whose wooden frame blends in

with the walls by virtue of

its colour and yet, is as

bare as can be. No curtains,

not even a rod, it looks more

than just a tad bit unclad.

Sunlight tries to creep in

through the window but is

filtered by the blinds,

casting an ashen colour to

the walls opposite. Just like

the table that lies next to

it. Some shelves, mostly

empty, and an empty space

across from it, give the

viewer the feeling that a

piece of furniture may be

missing. Perhaps a sofa that

should be there and isn't. On

the other end of the tiny

room, lies a bed and next to

it, a little closet. The

closet and the drawers

together, bring in the only

traces of colour in this

closed world. But the colours

do not seem to be happy with

each other. As if trying to

out-compete each other, they

do not agree among

themselves. The blue and red

of the drawer contradict the

yellow-green of the closet

while the bare walls and

ceiling just look on.

In the middle of the day, not

a sound can be heard, not

even a faraway voice or

barely audible song. The door

is closed & the window is

shut. The air inside is dry,

almost bored. As if it wants

to escape but not to the

place that is outside.

Somewhere else. Where it

feels more human. An aura of

peacefulness and serenity is

projected by the the minimal

yet sufficient decor of the

room that is bathed in white.

But is that what I really

want?

What about the laughter I

should be able to hear, from

the kids playing silly games

outside my window? The

humdrum of everyday life, the

TV's incessant chatter, the

radio blurting out a random

song? The birds that coo and

chirp unstoppably until its

dusk again? The insects that

buzz around while someone

tries to sell fruits outside

on the streets by shouting

themselves hoarse? The din of

cars zooming past and the

occasional screeching brakes

that are as jarring as they

are curiosity-evoking?

Is there any way I could find

that here? At a place where I

don't hear my own voice for

the major part of the day so

that when I do, it sounds

foreign, belonging to someone

else? I don't know where the

answer lies.

Queen of Random-ness

I have reached the following logical conclusion after much deliberation, that all creative people must be slightly kooky. I mean, whenever I write something well, or express myself in a non-factual yet expressive manner, in writing, it is invariably at an odd time of the night. And this odd time of the night also usually correlates/contrasts with my being a complete day person. I don't think straight at nights. Its like a mild intoxicated state that I feel like I am in, whenever it is past 1130PM. Not a trance-like thing, don't be confused, neither am I actually intoxicated or...any such thing. But sleep, or rather the lack of it, does that to me. In an ideal world (that existed between the years 1987-2000 until I reached teenage) I would much rather prefer to wind up all my work by sundown and go to sleep as soon as its 10. Or 830, if its a dark wintery night.

Now let me supply you with some examples of the kooky-ment. (Kookiness you say? Bah! Humbug!). First of all, my sentences become much more flowery. Sprinkled with generous doses of incredibly overused clichés and medieval idiomatic expressions borrowed from the 18th century. (time travel...ooh..maybe some day I should write about that) I start thinking emotionally as well. (shudders! horror of horrors..) Being a student of the natural sciences, who studies things down to the gene level, to explain why some people are happier than others, this kind of an emotional train of thought slightly unnerves me. (My inner voice asks me to tell you this is bull-excrement, slight unnervation is the understatement of the centuries to come) And somehow, such thought is always tucked away into some remote corner of my brain and very unaccessible during the day time, yet comes alive like cinderella's pumpkin carriage every night around the stroke of twelve. Perhaps, if I let my geeky self indulge a bit, you could equate it to the genetic material which is partially packed loosely to make it more accessible to the rest of the cellular machinery, more active so to speak, while the rest is hidden away in a barely accessible manner,and activated only at certain other times, thanks to certain non-trivial signals.

I will take your (abrupt) leave at this point, since my eyes are drooping and self-inflicted torture is really not a very politically correct thing to do. Good luck with trying to understand this post. If you know me in the least, I hope you will appreciate my randomness as always.

Is being Indian not enough?

It's an interesting article I found in that pile of junk they call news on the Rediff.com website (let's ignore the bit about RSS here right now)...

Is being Indian not enough?

The whole Maharashtra situation is very disappointing, following the idea of 'divide and rule' on the country's own people...What do you guys think?

limericks...

Once upon a time, there was a girl

Who had enough light in her room

Then one fine day

Out of the blue, you can say

The bulb went kaput, boom!

Ever since then, she was left in darkness

Except for a little tiny lamp

Yet, a fter hours of squinting

and squirming while reading

the wrinkles made her look like a vamp

Days and weeks went by, she waited

but she couldn’t find a person to fix

the broken lamp in her room

she might as well use it as a broom

or light a fire by rubbing a few twigs.

Suddenly, her friend told her

On one very sunny and cheerful day

That lo and behold

Another friend had told

That to repair the lamp, come he may!

Suddenly one day

5 steps to a great accent!

So who speaks Hindi anyways? Not air hostesses, for sure! It is not just a weird thing, it is strange to the point of being intriguing! No matter what airlines it is, Indian or Lufthansa, when the air hostesses make announcements in Hindi, you just cannot help but listen out for the English or German one, because their Hindi is simply un-understandable!I know people from 28 states and 6 UTs in India have 34 different accents while talking in Hindi, and I have heard most of them, coming from Delhi, but this airhostess-kind I have never heard in my life. So here are the 5 steps to get a perfect airhostess accent:1. You must preferably be a non-Indian, otherwise speaking so horrendously might make you seriously fear for your karma and next life!2. You should try to deprive yourself of sleep for atleast 72 hours before attempting to speak with this accent, to get the right kind of lethargic drawl.3. Your aim lies in not being understood by any of the listeners so speak accordingly.4. Try and include ancient pure Hindi words but if you can't remember anything other than the easier, more widely used words, then just say it in English. So its either pure hindi+random english or nothing. No day-to-day language use is allowed that makes you sound like you actually know what you are saying.5. Why are you even looking for a 5th point? Practice makes perfect ! So just go torture someone...and if you succeed, you know you've got the hang of it!Everyone who thinks I've gone nuts for writing this note, it was just the 11 hour journey that is the root cause of all this. That and the lack of a TV around here..!

Creative-Chatting

It was a long and thundery night, you could hear the rain and wind lashing across the window and see the lone candle flickering in one corner of the ominously dark room. er..oh wait, that was a different day! Well, this note is about a more mundane day, when at a particularly creative chat session with a friend of mine, I came up with a few gems you might want to read, memorise and keep for the years to come.The lines within the quotation marks are what my friend said and everything else is my response to him. Now read and marvel at their brilliantness! :DThere is a university called Warwick,check it on Wikipedia if you can, quick,I read it in a book,only 5 minutes it took,to know that it's located in a town named Limerick!"popular getting you are"Compliments from people afar...rhyme I can,unless my limericks you ban,till then all you can do is go har har!"I need to find a muzzle"Where to get one is the puzzle,I shall go no further, or me you will murder,specially since i can't think of a word to rhyme with muzzle!Brace yourselves y'all, I'll be back soon with other such interesting literary masterpieces ! And by the way, whoever said limericks can't be weapons of mass destruction(of sanity) should go take a Haiku! Sayonara!p.s. Just so you know, I remembered later that University of Warwick is in fact situated in a place called Coventry in England while Limerick is the third biggest city in the Republic of Ireland and there is no connection between the two :P

President vs. The Government, Round III

So back home in India, its almost time now for the appointment of a new President and that makes me think how these 5 years went and where we are headed to now? Five years ago when Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had been made the President, I was happy since it seemed like a very wise decision taken. With people like Dr. Kalam at the helm of the country, it seemed like we were finally moving in the best direction possible for India at the time. And for once, the promise of a good man holding a significant political office did not really go awry.As the father of India's missile program and a leading scientist, there was no better person for this post than him, and it showed in the way he worked, during his tenure. Finally, at the end of these 5 years, what proves to me that he really thinks for the country rather than the politics within the nation is when we hear news like this -> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kalams_relationship_with_govt_fraying_at_the_edges/articleshow/1590376.cmsAfter all, the President may be a just a titular head of state, but there is a certain respect and protocol that should be followed when talking about matters concerned to him and the Government should realise and understand in clear terms that the President is not a push-over. When he returns a file about some judicial appointment recommended by the state, the proper course of action is to review the recommendation and make necessary changes, not just to keep sending it back to the President until he gives up and signs?! This is not child's play, this is about running a country and when the citizens' voices are not mobilised enough, it is upto the President to do what he can within his powers and contempt of the President by anyone, even if it is the Government running the nation, should be considered an insult directed at the country itself. Knowing all this, and also realising that Dr. Abdul Kalam is not in the running for another tenure as the President, I can just hope this time too, we choose someone with a backbone and someone who dares to stand up for India, not just her government. Please, let it not be just any other old guy with white hair who can look the part.