Ask me no Qs

It has begun.

I miss... Me.

I Like .....

This is by far the easiest tag I've done till date. Hey wait .., Thats not me..I havnt been tagged once until now ! Guess that line will just have to wait for another day ;)

Lets start again .So here I've been tagged by Bjorn ..upon request ofcourse . I'm taking liberties to modify the tag to Pick Some - Kick Some ..which some people will recognise as an oooooooooooold idea of mine that has been dragged about the net for a while..But what the heck.It hasnt been to my blog yet.


My Picks

• Chocolate Chip and Coffee icecream scoops with loads of Chocolate Sauce (lets get the overlaps out of the way first )
• Van Gogh
• Beach road in Vizag , esp where it winds up around kailashgiri hills
• Muzzzzzzzzziiiiiicccccccc
• Long walks (unless its a crowded Abids bylane .God forbid!) , long drives and all that jazz [Remember here .. I'd rather be alone than bored]
• Surprises
• Most ramp music - Inshallah ,Lazy, Sholay mix
• Giving non-bday gifts
• Travelling ! ( Any form of travelling ....Even a bus trip to local Monda market counts.I'm kidding here..but you get the picture ..)
• Catching up on favourite blogs on a rainy day with a completely new tracklist to keep me company
• Illustrations
• Watching Ads with my sister
• Aloo parathas
• Hercule Poirot
• The written word - books , movie quotes , mags , .....
• Coffee shops
• Watching dance competetions
• Colours !
• Jack Black
• Oilpaints
• Catching four movies in a row with sister [Sil ..stop figuring in my list over and over again..will you?]
• Mails from long lost friends [Ever notice how the longlost aquaintances are remembered as friends while current friends remain aquiantances ? until they become longlost ofcourse .]
• While we are on that topic..Friends who dont mind my not initiating-keeping-in-touch.[This one is actually a trap]
• Goo goo dolls [Best to put on earphones and let Rzeznik sing into your ears] [Yes..I realize teher are better bands around..sorry Rzeznik..and also realize I've been saying GGD since forever but well..it does it for me!]
• Bangalore for a week [only ;)]
• The sound of an accoustic guitar
• Doing nothing [By now..I'm the resident expert.]
• That excuse called Hibernating ! [Call me for your very own copy of How-To-Disappear-Completely 101. On second thoughts, DONT call me!!! ]
  
  
  The Kicks
  
  
• Polite bores - always tops the list
• Actually..Child labour does.tops the list I mean
• Getting splashed while walking in the rain by big bad car with blaring hindi remix driven over ugly puddle by mean snobbish looking dude [I always thought this happens only in the movies..but it happened to me couple of hours ago..and I'm almost willing to put this one over child labour even! That annoying. Better sense prevails though]
• Hate it when I forget to call/mail/sms sumone I actually fully intended to call/mail/sms and remember only after they have left town/country/planet .
• Being used :( By friends! [ I mean just ask me for what you want ! Dont try to talk me into it .You are not helping anybody ..yourself included]
• Reality Shows - To be fair the only one I watched was the PFMI Miss India thing where they eliminated just one girl out of 25, then asked her how she felt and wudnt stop broadcasting even when she was beginning to cry .Whats the BIG point?
• Earworms - there are so many of those annoying songs this should be an entire post of its own.
• Losing interest halfway through a task
• Formal do's
  
  Lots more..But even I can bore you all for only so long ! [ And dont you give me that Oh-I-wudnt-say-that look!]
  
  I pass the tag on to..well..anyone who would like to do it.

A Worthy Cause

Promotion time..! Do checkout this link everyone and if you/your company would like to participate for the ACE quiz at ISB, please get in touch with Anuj/me .The registration fee goes towards sponsoring the midday meal for students from Yellamma Banda School,Hyd for one whole year .This is the sole event their meal will come from .So if you are interested in participating or know someone who would be..do register !

Check out WAH-Work An Hour initiative too .And if you are employed (unlike yours truly) and would be happy to spend an hour's pay on a worthy cause , welcome .I vouch for the integrity of the organization and the genuineness of the cause .

All of us look at the kids serving tea in coffee stalls,working in quarries,walking long distances to school without chappals,begging on the roads and shake our head at how wrong it all is and wish things were better.Here is your chance to do something and help keep a small section of underpriviliged children at school and fed atleast one meal everyday . Go people!

Jack & Jill

She: " I think we should spend more time... "

He : " Damn fool woman ! You want more time? Dont you see we are already spending way too much time together!?! We are doing every single thing like we are joined at the hip ! But dont let that worry you .You just keep clinging on to me like the vine of the year and life will pass us by !Whoosh..What we NEED to do..is GET A LIFE ! Get it ? "

She: " ... apart . "

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Edit: After reading Srini's comment I just had to turn this into a tag . If you are reading this ..consider yourself tagged !!! [The exclamation marks are here to make it sound exciting !Working ? ] Post your own Jack & Jill story !!!!!

Book Review : Sophie's World

Another gift from my sister .
Sophie's world by Jostein Gardner , a Norwegian writer..not to be confused with aforementioned Sophie's Choice by William Styron .

Do not believe anyone who tells you its a childrens book.The closest it comes to being a children's book is in mentioning Winnie the Pooh and Caroll's Alice once each . A brief [and frequently biased] history of Philo"sophy"..the story itself is more riveting initially..tempting you to skip the intermingled lessons..but begins to grate on you towards the end ...There is a very definite attempt to recreate the whole Alice and her tea party and the mad hatter effect which kinda falls flat .

The plot extends only halfway through the book and ends rather abruptly in a tangled mass of Hyderabadi bylanes. Whhhhat ? Was that too random for you? Well thats how the plot proceeds !So halfway through the book you'll jump lanes and switch to reading the Philosophy lessons track and begin skipping the story track as opposed to what you were skipping up until now ;)

Though I love fantasy and fiction as much as the next girl , I totally dont get the whole magical fable thing a la S.W and Mistress of Spices and some of Paulo Coehlo .However the lack of plot not withstanding, the history of various schools of Philosophy alone was enough for me .[But why is the entire evolution of philosophy centered around Rome/Greece ONLY ?]I particularly liked the way Uncle Scrooge and The Matchgirl were used to explain Marxism and the offbeat insight into war and UN.
Anyways...we arent doing a dissertation here ofcourse.In Albert Knox's own words "Its all just bagatelle" after all . Some interesting revelations I had from this book.

#The Dark Medieval Ages ( DMAs) were anything but dark in reality , rather a period of fulminant germination for all that was to follow in Renaissance and probably the most interesting to wannabe Historians with a penchant for art and culture . [points to self ]

# Darwin was a philosopher as well !

# Sophie is a bestselling name !Seriously..no shit .If you want to write a bestseller..christen a central character Sophie !Sophie's world, Sophie's choice, Da Vinci Code , Shopaholic series,When Sophie gets really angry.. See what i mean?

#I'm a sucker for ALL books and its just not in me to not find something to appreciate in each of them.[you give me a Silhoute romance..and I'll still find something worth raving about !]

#I have way too much time on my hands. (I didnt get This from the book..but thought I'd just mention )

#The best way to take my mind off something (Some of you might disagree and attempt to question the logistics of 'taking off something that does not exist' but clearly..you are not bringing up anything new ! So be quiet lest I'm tempted to condemn you to the DMAs ) is to hand me a book.Any book. Shopping be damned..reading is therapeutic to me.

I hear that The Solitaire Mystery is a lot more interesting and well written..and loosely speaking 'unputdownable' ..
(Sil, are you listening?)

Before you ask ..by 'loosely speaking' I mean it wasnt MY precious opinion :)

In Your Time

Something bad happened.Something very bad. I could write more but then again..like I said in my initial posts , this isnt that kind of a blog nor is it that kind of a readership.Besides I dont want a pity party..theres enough selfpity already to make even me wanna throw up !! Anyways I've felt the need for a that kind of blog lately and this morning [a blue blue morning] saw the inception of one such space.This is the end of my blog's self proclaimed existential angst.[Thanx Ari..for looking out for me..and for Wordpress]

Continuing from where Calvin leftoff..what I do want to share here is that guilt is the worst thing about failure .It wasnt an exam..but I didnt make it and even though friends[always the unexpected ones...while the expected ones are missing in action] are rushing in to assure me it isnt my fault..the guilt does Not go away ..and it makes things that much worse .When I read that book Sophie's Choice , I loved the first 50 pages thinking [rather lamely] that the narrator was Sophie..When I realized it wasnt..I felt oddly cheated .And the rest of the book just wasnt the same..and even at its biggest revelation..I felt nothing.apathy mingled with mild anger..It was supposed to be different ! Bigger than that !..But now I understand it..Now I get what it was all about .

Some things hurt and somethings never really go away ..even if you are carrying on .Theres nothing in it but to carry on ofcourse..Contrary to popular belief , the path of least resistance is to carry on..not to give up.Giving up takes a lot.

But again..since this isnt that kind of a blog [I know I've said it before ..but seeing as how I'm the one doing all the hardwork of writing..and you are just sitting back and reading it..I'll keep it this way] , I will settle for posting bits of the song I learnt at my music class recently ..one of the few songs I can sing and play [just strings..not chords..:( ] Its beautiful though.


"In Your time, in Your time,
You make all things beautiful in Your time."

Thats the one I was talking about.Its lovely..And this is the one I am going to post ..Bob Seger's


Towering waves
Will crash across your southern capes.
Massive storms
Will reach your eastern shores.
Fields of green
Will tumble through your summer days
By design
In your time.

Feel the wind,
And set yourself the bolder course.
Keep your heart
As open as a shrine.
You'll sail the perfect line.
And after all
The dead ends
and the lessons learned,
After all
The stars have turned to stone,
There'll be peace
Across the great unbroken void,
All benign,
In your time.

You'll be fine
In your time.

A time to dine and a time to whine .

20 things that really annoy me :


1. Bankers who seem eternally surprised when requested for a balance statement like they
never knew the bank actually issues those things !

2. People who get off buses/trains/escalators and come to a dead stop. Zombie style. Bang in front of me .Puhleez..
Pick a direction. Any direction. Just MOVE ! Out of my way. Quickly.

3. Guys who say “But can you explain why?” after I say "I don’t like you in that way".

4. “Token number 562 .. please collect your meal” ..recorded announcements with fake accent at Ohri’s which instantly wipe away the entire ambience and transport you to local railway canteen with a Thud.

5.That guy who tells my friend ‘you don’t deserve me’ only to go crawling back the second she begins to get her life together. And we are supposed to be the clingy ones ! Ha

6.Spitters: please! Its bad enough that you don’t like the contents of your mouth. don’t subject the rest of us to it as well.

7.Parents pointing me out to their kids and saying .. say hello to auntie!! Aaargh

8.Sonu Nigam, Himesh Reshamiya …and if you ask me why .. you are on the list as well.

9. Acquaintances who are very easily convinced by ‘lets eat out today’ plans but when it comes to paying, wild horses cant drag their purses off their pockets.

10.ATMs which are always under repair / refill / heat stroke whenever I death urgently need them.

11.Arjun Singh .

12.People who call me up in ages and go.. “so how come you never called?” I could say the same for you buddy. If neither of us bothered to call all these days.. chances are we had nothing to say at the moment ! Duh .So you called. Great. Now get a move on and lets talk! If not save it for another day. Shall we?

13.Dimwits who say what ?..why? ..how? To everything I say ..the minute I begin to speak. How am I supposed to have a conversation with you if you are so lacing it with questions that its obvious you aren’t going to let me complete any sentence in one go .

Seriously, its no fun waiting for you to catch your breath and rushing to say it all before you resume breathing! Come to think of it..You should speak less and breath more...it will rush some well oxygenated blood to your grey matter and raise your IQ points a notch.


14.MCPs and feminists .Do us a favor and wipe each other out, will you?

[But the jokes are fun..leave them on.Thankyou.]


15.Guys who say.. “Is she pretty? Is she a babe?” everytime I even begin to mention a friend who has even a remotely feminine name.[Whats up with that anyway? I’m trying to talk here…how the hell did THAT get mistaken for running a Date-a-Girl service?] And if I dare say this aloud , they will instantly assume I’m jay! HellOOO !! .Gimme a break. Just let me speak. Nonstop. And the world will be a better place.


16.The fact that the closest I’ll ever get to writing a funny blog is to leave a comment on someone’s funny blog :(
On my more positive days the option is to resort to quotes[Tried ,tested and messed up :s]


17. Idiots who make random generalizations like “I hate doctors” and think its ubercool. What do they know!
Oh also..the idiots who make random generalizations like. “Doctor is God! They save lives..sigh..drool.” .Bah! what do they know!

18. Women who bring their children to the park near my house..and don’t allow their kids to go play.I mean whats even the point??? Are they supposed to sit in your lap and pay attention while you go gossipy-gop with your friends? One tight slap in order for everytime she yanks her kid’s arm back with undue force.Why breed if you cant spare 2 minutes for your kid??? While we are at it, couple of tight slaps to the set of parents who beam in delight as their spoilt brats go around knocking cutlery off tables and shrieking their ears off their little heads .

19.The flock of women who throng to me with heartaches and brainfreeze expecting me to play agony aunt YET again. Didn’t we just go over this yesterday ?And every other night of the past month? Theres just no way you are getting over it if you begin enjoying your crib sessions! I know I make charming company..but still!! So sorry girls… come back another Tuesday. Another life.


20. People who crib / complain /whine / hyperventilate ALL the time! But then again , Not everyone can be all bright and sunshiny like I am ;)