Live on the edge - or you take up too much space

Is there any other way to be, except edgy?

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Are my greys showing?

Must be...or why else would I be invited to 'kiddies' birthday parties? For Chrissakes!

I'm not against babies. Au contraire! I love them. I won't be able to have any of my own as my biological clock is furiously ticking away like a bomb with about 10 seconds before annihilation, but am working on getting some financial stability to be able to adopt them, and that too is taking quite a bit of 'working' on...my credit card bills keep winking at me evilly like Stephen King's joker in IT...cocking a snook at my inability to save.

But no I'm not against babies...I do love them.

Of course as they grow older, the 'seen and not heard' variety are preferable. The hyperactive, precocious kids, careening wildly from one corner of the ceiling like Spidey to swtiching on every possible gadget that you own, (and you can't even twist those Spock like ears as their indulgent mothers are watching from the corner of their kohl lined eyes, while all you can do is, smile a grin that gets caught between one ear and the middle of your nose, making it a sneer, and try and curb the urge to whack the child or better still tie its legs to the fan and switch it on), or opening the refrigerator like curious weasels in search of something that would most definitely ruin your upholstery or the carpet or the granite platform or the walls, basically anything that can be used as a beacon of destruction are a big NO! Like chocolates. When they spy your store of Bounty there's a sick thud! of your heart as you see them extend their eager beaver small hands, sickeningly grabbing at them while all you want to do is cry and plead with them saying, 'no no, not those, anything but those, leave them alone'! Only to realize it's mortal combat, where you are mortal and the combatants immortal. The battle is lost when the broken toothed yokel looks doe eyed at you with the Bounty held firmly and triumphantly between a chubby thumb and index finger. Yes! then you hate them, a vicious 'hate' emanating from the bottom of your sole...yes, kids should be 'seen and not heard' preferably found in a somnolent state, amenable to everyone including their harried but phlegmatic parents and equally harried neighbours (like moi). Give me back my Bounty you you you....he he he...cho chweet, you want one more? (gnashing and grinding teeth with a thought blurb, 'wait you wench, wait till I clobber you',) he he he...you want one more sweety?

So here I was invited to a kiddies' birthday party. As if one wasn't enough, it was a 'double bill' - sisters - 2 tiny tots (what's that they say about trouble coming in twos?). And then to 'dress up', drive mom and uncle and neighbors (and all for 'good neighbors' cause), to go to the 'party hall', espy 80 odd chairs, arranged in 2 neat contiguous columns of approximately 10 in each row, seeing more adults, (ok ok, that's a euphemism for 'old' people) with their 'greys' showing, silks rustling, and no sign of children, except the 'budday' girl, singing a song from 'Parineeta', father focusing his digi unwaveringly at his little girl, lest she vanish or be whisked away by some vulture, the mother doing her job as an MC, beaming in her rotund glory, was just a wee bit too much to handle. Oh God! Isn't it enough that I glanced through piles mind you, P-I-L-E-S of comic books to see if I could lay my hands on something that had 'Ganesha' stories, or the mind boggling array of 'Red Riding Hoods' or the toys that I could purchase with the budget straining at the leash like a dog on heat, and actually managed to come away with everyone satisfied - mom, the budget, aunt and now hopefully the 'kids'.

Why do adults have 'kiddies' parties where all they do is preen, prance, make small talk, have puris and malai paneer and go, 'the rasogullas are really nice', with the hosts beaming like rasogullas themselves, while the 'kids' in question are nowhere to be seen, or are bored, or....sigh! You get the picture don't you? Ugh!I should be awarded with the 'Good neighbors Param Vir Chakra' or some such... I put up a brave front. (The elllipses in this diatribe are actually an SOS...). My 'greys' must be showing. Why me????

Greg's men
India lost. Chappell and Dravid's first match as coach and official captain. I didn't see most of it. Was there a point? Listless performances I think. Now will be subjected to reams of newsprint on Dravid's able, perhaps astute captaincy or otherwise, Chappell's stratagems, or lack of it and the media circus will continue to cartwheel or gawk at the trapeze artists swinging wildly on a wire stretched thin. No huddle, no high fives, no pumping of fists in the air I was told by my aunt. Boring!No pizzazz! Sigh!

Bad Breath!
So we (yours truly and another girl) were the shrews, who complained, at the salsa class today. Bad breath, sweaty hands, and men who hold you under the arm pits. Gimme a break! Do I hold your crotch you cretin?! I truly wish I could knee them on their balls! Men have got to lead (like they're conditioned to believe that it's the ultimte truth), while women provide eye candy and do the twirls and shake their booty. If D ever reads this, he'll probably grin and say, 'women always shake their booty as always'..bah! At least we are bootylicious baby. Men on the other hand are malodorous, slippery, egoistical, flat footed, lecherous, swines...and am talking about the men at salsa. No offence to the really nice gentlemen out there somewhere... yes, somewhere! And when the bad breath hit me, I'm telling you, I have a pretty strong constitution, but even I reeled. Like someone knocking me plum in the solar plexus. I could feel myself swaying, the centre of gravity slipping and my equilibrium going for a toss. So now, a bottle of mouth freshners have been kept at the entrance.

TGTIAS! (Thank God Tomorrow Is A Sunday!)

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Ha ha ha!

Not Paddy Clarke for sure! (Roddy Doyle, no offence meant to you at all, promise!)

Watched Dus today! Ohmigodwhatswrongwithme! Bas re bas..never again a Dus!

Only Abhishek rocks! Wooooooo! Give me an 'A'...gimme a 'b'...gimme a shaky shaky shek baby. Is he loverly or is he loverly? Yummmmmmm!

I could cat call and pump my fist in the air and jump and rock without anyone booing me or shushing me or being pointed or giving me baleful looks. Why? Well..you see, the theatre had an august audience of... you guessed it...yes! Dus people. You get Dus bonus points....(yes, the movie has made me go nuts...Dus is my mantra).

"Sheet! You can't do this to me! Sheet!" - the most impressive dialogues ever written for a movie. Guess the dialogue writers were clairvoyant. How did they know the audience would be screaming, the same awesome dialogues so indelibly printed on the bottom of our soles. 'Shit! You can't do this to me!'

Well that's the saga of Dus. And to think we actually wanted to see 'Sarkar' and on a Thursday, PVR had its tickets sold out! What's to become of Bangalore? But we 3 girls had a blast. We were 'bomb'ed out of our skulls. Watch the movie if you wanna get stoned! It rocks and how!

Generally...
Aamir on the cover of Filmfare!

Please God, one fervent plea? Are you listening? Are your ears wax-free? Clear? Ok listen up...
a) In any life, if I have good karma I won't be reborn, but I guess I'm fated to be reborn...at least let me be reborn as a woman (or a tree...I'd like to be a tree..I have a feeling, by the time I'm reborn, that trees would be so rare a phenomena, that I'd be revered...ha ha ...mm...sounds nice!..but then little birdies would also 'sheet' on me...splat!)...anyway to veer back to the main path...in any next life of mine if reborn as a human being and female, please let Amitabh, Abhishek, Aamir Khan, Brad Pitt, Mel Gibson, George Clooney, Will Smith, Denzel Washington (the list is long...but God! these men are dishy, yes yes good enough to eat)....be my lovers or husbands... please! Phew!
b) Please let someone in this life at least dedicate 'Ain't No Sunshine' by Lighthouse Family to yours truly....
c) And...well..for now that's it. My list can stretch a bit (from here to the moon and back), but God, I shall let it rest. Don't want to put you through too much trouble...take your time to fulfill these..you've got 'one' life and your time starts now...

Today, I dedicate the Best of Lighthouse Family to... moi! Myself. Me. I. Because -
Ay, zindagi, gale laga le,...hum ne bhi tere har ek gam ko, gale se lagaya hai, hai na? After all...
Tujhse naraaz nahin zindagi, hairaan hoon main, tere masoom sawaalon se pareshaan hoon main...(there's a cute story on this one...but more on that on another day)

Life is strange. But as long as a 'dus' comes along once in a while to remind us that it could be worse,...I guess I won't say 'bas' to life ever.

Gimme an 'A', gimme Aby baby... yea!

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Submerged!

Mumbai. One of the great cities of the modern world. Debatable? I was born there. I gew up there. Still debatable? (Am I disgustingly incorrigibly egoistic or what? Ahem! Once in a while everyone should be allowed to indulge in bombastic pomposity, it helps the ego).

Submerged it may be. Deluged it may be. Down and out it never will be. A lesson there somewhere.

Message in a Bottle
The OST of this movie is one of the loveliest I've heard. I remember asking Anil to get it for me from the US. I'd searched high and low for the same. No dice. I wonder how Anil is doing!

Dniwer (Rewind :) )
Credits roll. Meagre audience standing waiting to see the credits. 'Message in a Bottle' adapted from Nicholas Sparks' book by the same name. Eyes blurred, cheeks awash with tears, hands holding a half eaten caramel popcorn packet. Mute spectator. Moved. And left standing. Alone.
As always. Then.

And now.

P.S. Can now be won?



Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Sooner or later it's over...
I just don't want to miss you tonight...

(Will you ever know who I am? Or will you wait for me to be broken, shattered, bruised to find out?)

Baby...why not me?

Why?
Life might slowly be taking a turn. For the better. And for worse.

What's the point?

People you care about don't know you care or pretend or turn a blind eye, or get miffed at something inconsequential and well...sometimes you really do wonder... what's the point?

That we care. That we want to share. That's the point isn't it?

But then... ha ha ha...what's the point?

Friday, July 22, 2005

Conference room. Midst of a discussion. Focus interrupted. Cell phone vibrates, calls to attention. Shammi. "Will call you..." "R...just wanted to tell you that...". Thud! Time stands still for an infinitesmial nano second. "Ok. Will call you later."

..."She was my everything."

..."She was my best friend."

..."What will I do without her?"

..."What will dad do, his companion of so many years?"

..."I don't know what to do!"

Words come of their own accord. How, when... and so on. But how can words act as a salve?
Then a break in her voice, her complete breakdown unleashes a flood. My voice quavers. She can't continue. I'm relieved. I want to see her. I will. Soon.

Dimple? Just know that I'm here. Will be here always.

A mother died. A world collapsed.

Everything else can wait.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Signs = Signals?

Signals
Riding in the bus to work after almost 2 weeks. Reading. Eyes wander to pick out friends at the stops. Look up. Faint smile of acknowledgment. A word here. A word there. Back to book. Another stop. Friend's missed the bus (only literally... figuratively it'd have to be me ha ha ha). Inch forward. Phone vibrates - I've actually forgotten the sound of my cell phone ringing, it's almost always on 'silent' mode. Bus is stopped. Friend gets in. Smile. A few words about this and that. Back to book.

Traffic signal. See a sea of cars. Waiting. Cradling people, looking bored. Tired. Confused. Patience wearing thin. As thin as a muslin see though chemise. And the mind suddenly draws an allegory. To life of course.

Signals. Telling us when to stop. Slow down. Go ahead. Take a U. Green, amber, red. Colourful. Like 'Poppins'. :) But all the time to keep moving. Probably the only sign of sanity in an increasinly anarchic and impatient world. None of the passengers know where they're headed, but they're headed for sure. Roads are magnetic - 'macadam'ia unbridled - 'burn rubber' they seem to say. Or slither and slide and 'feel me up' they say. The sudden 'S' curve ahead is like the curve ball that life throws at you. Only to straighten up a mile down. It could be the longest mile...but then hey, it's a road. It meanders. Curves. Leads. Ours is not to question why, ours is to follow and ultimately die. Like them, love them, hate them. Ignore them? You have another 'road' coming. Watch out!

Roads - the compass of life. Only difference being - it doesn't always point 'N'... it leaves the choice up to you. Generous to a 'T' (junction). Steering one to a destination. So what if the destination is 'nowhere'. It's still somewhere. (And all the time you thought that you were the driver? Aah! man and his illusions.)

Roads and signals - two sides of a coin called 'signs'. Of the flow and ebb of life.

Signs
Forwarded mail. First line reads, 'If you love the person, tell him/her'. Illustrates by way of a mushy story the importance of letting someone know how you feel.

Home. 7.50 pm. Turn on the TV. Julia Roberts' radiant face framed by wild red curls lights up the screen. Rupert Everett tells her, 'if you love him tell him'. I'm left pondering. Is this a sign?
Is it a green signal that I need to heed? But then again, in the same movie, Julia Roberts' is heard screaming , 'It's not working. The truth...'...yes! if truth be told, truth doesn't always beget the desired result. But then...

But am afraid of the glistening, beckoning, greasy, slick, snaking road. But the signal says green....

So is signal= signs= 'heed heed heed'?

I need another sign.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

What do you do when you have no title?

Well...you still write. :) - Titles are essential I guess. They're like names aren't they? They define you. Imagine books without titles, case studies, papers, roads, countries, rivers, etc., without a name! Would we number them? Would we then be like R2D2? Now even that is a name or title come to think of it. Then how did the Bard make a comment, 'A rose by any other name..' hey Bardie...you were wrong methinks. How would I know a rose as a rose if I knew it by any other name? Or no name? Oh whatever!

Ok listen up! I've got a new definition for myself. I'm asexual. What? Yes yes! I'm asexual. Sounds like the hermaphrodite that we studied in Biology in college. God! Am I an earthworm? Ugh! Egads! Jumping Hogwart!

The media has come up with yet another classification. 'Not driven by sex' apparently, but 'seeking emotional intimacy'. Wow! So all the media pundits in advertising agencies including you Bunty, you've got yet another section that you can work into your permutation of 'the best target audience'. Some more grist to the media buying mill. Hallelujah!

A1B2 and now asexual too. The more the classifications, the definitions, the more straitjacketed we get. As if being an Indian, South Indian, Tamil Brahmin, Iyer, from xyz social strata wasn't enough. So is all this about identity? A route to the eternal question that has perplexed human kind - who am I? If Little Prince were here, what would he think I wonder! Wouldn't be one bit amused for sure.

Got my hair cut. Actually what's the difference between hair cut and hair trimmed? They're the same thing. Just that with the latter one would expect a drastic change, well not drastic, but a makeover. Which means that the next time I go to the salon and come out looking like a new woman, it means I'd have had my hair styled. Styled! I like the sound of that.

I liked the sound of his voice on the other side of a cell phone. A long conversation. My heart was going thump thump thump! Could he hear it? I cut the conversation short. I was afraid. Of an inadvertent slip. I do like him.

I'm surprised. More than that, I'm happy! Very happy. Wow! Why can't more Sundays end like this?

Can I hope?

Ho hum ummm...

2.26 am. Sunday morning.

Do I really need to blog? Umm....

Saw 3 movies in a row...2 very interesting movies out of the 3...Triple Bill...hmm...!
"Singing Detective" - must watch it over again. Robert Downey Jr. was good. But the movie itself was ummm....stylish, quirky, paradoxical (??), musical...ha ha. Now I know why I want to see the movie again.

"Bruce Almighty" - seen it before. Liked it. The question that popped in my head - What would I do if I was God for one day? - Answer? Ummm.....

"Freaky Friday" - just another silly movie - what's so amazing about Lindsay Lohan? And people want her to eat as she's too thin. Fans have web sites with names like makelindsayeat.com or some such bunkum. People people people...have you guys heard of Africa? No siree...just Live 8. Great gigs, nice music....Africa? What? Name of the latest Ms.America?

Salsa was good. Yesterday, swimming was even better.
Pitter patter, shimmering skies, sequined pool, eager eyes, wet bodies.
Manna from heaven or tears from heaven - depends on the state of mind. I'd plump for tears. Does it say something for my state of mind?
Yes, swimming was definitely better.

Rakum is a blind school that I need to check. An orphanage at M'swaram is another. Ma and aunts are donating a meal for all the children there. Dee's recommended blind school is another. Soul curry on the simmer.

20th July - the day my grandma died. I'd call her bada mummy - why do we, as kids call our folks such weird names? Well it isn't weird weird, but well... I miss her. I always wonder if she's watching over me? Bada...if you are... I hope you think I turned out ok. Tell me... will life in general turn out ok? What is ok? I'm still working on the definition.

Miscellanea:
  • "Tell me why" - song by Annie Lennox - captures most of what I feel. Dee? This one's for you...
  • "The feeling of being powerless when in love" - quote from the promo of the movie Alex & Emma...there's more but for the life of me can't remember...dammit!
  • "Gravity has nothing to do with falling in love" - Einstein...:)
  • Why do I have so many dots in my blogs...:)... maybe I liked playing 'join the dots' as a toddler.
  • Cannot understand Google's search logic - my blog comes up last. At times it doesn't. My other blog doesn't feature under any of the key words. Wassup dude? (yeah, right, like I'm this swaggering, night crawler, Indian Yankee celebrating the 4th of July, but massaging an American ego with a trained twang on the 15th of August).
  • Miss Anusha. Miss Irfan.Miss Sarita. Miss Vibhuti.Miss Reena. Miss Ashu and his wacky sense of humour and his 'aunty? chai' at any time of the day or night. Miss Shalu. Miss Sunil Ghosh. Must write to him and re-establish contact. He still brings a smile to my face. Our conversations were, hilarious, to put it mildly. We'd have made superlative P3 prowlers. We rocked and how! Miss Cyrus. And his Mahindra Commander nick named 'chammo'. I should do a road-trip again. Kerala re-visited. Miss Asif. My God. I want to rewind. Waaaaaaaaaa! Whirrrrrrrrrr! Reeeeeeeewiiiiiiiiiiiind!
  • Angels & Demons by Dan Brown - why is it such a best seller?
  • Nihilism. Anihilism. Demonism. Hedonism. 'Isms' for some reason have caught my fancy. What are they?

3.05 am. Still Sunday morning. Think I'll finish Angels & Demons.

Fast forward. 7.00 pm Sunday. Hair cut.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Let go

I'm alive.
To 'let go' is the mantra every one who cares about me and knows the state of my mind, has been screaming blue murder about.

1) Distance. Detachment. Practice this and you will lead a pure and simple life.
2) Let go. Let go. Let go. You will be peaceful. You will be happy.
3) Loads of sex. Another path to salvation.
4) Focus on your goals. Purpose in life is to have a life of purpose.
5) What do you want? What's stopping you from getting what you want? Figure it out for yourself.
6) Let go. Let go. Let go.
7) Find this, do that, go here, don't listen to this, read this, don't do that, and on and on and on...
8) Above all let go. Of what? Why? How? Where to? Why now? Why not later?
9) Just let go.

I am who I am. If I do let go, I let go of me.

I feel. I feel intensely.

I'm alive. For now that's enough.

Period.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

If I die

No, I'm not hoping to die yet....however I am traveling out of town to Kabini. I am driving. 5.5 hrs each way. Am a lone driver. Amith can't drive. I thus have the responsibility of 2 lives. Bull shit! Many more besides mine and Amith's. My mom's and all his folks.

So just by some miraculous serendipity, any of my friends read this, or this blog's discovered by some agent on the prowl, this could also turn out to the be the 'last ever written account by a writer purported for greatness, never feted, always tetchy, with a heart that demanded more, but always got less, a loser, but nevertheless the genuine goods'...(psssst! 2 of the words used therein were from M-W...recent 'words for the day'..yeah!).

So here we go again...tra la la la la la! All you folks who've bumped into my life and stayed on because the co-incidental bumping turned out to be such a mutually beneficial (ugh! what a corporate sounding term...guess it comes from writing too many brochures) association, I thank you.

For you special one, what can I say, except, you're okay, and I've stopped wishing or hoping. I truly do hope that you get who and what you want in life - boy when you do get that special someone, I'm sure I'd like to scratch her eyes out, but theek hai yaar...hum kaale hain toh kya hua dilwale hain.

For you ma... let me just say, 'you've always been the wind beneath my wings'. Without you I'd be nothing. I'd want you for my ma in every rebirth of mine. For me you truly are the One. I love you. Forgive me my trespasses and sins.

For all the rest of humanity and the world - try and live in peace - don't destroy our beautiful planet. Brotherhood of man and all that jazz! At the end of the day or night, the journey is what counts, not the destination. The destination for all is the ultimate unchangeable truth. But is death the end of the road? I'll let you know from the other world. Ha ha ah!

And hey, Sunil and Amith , guys if you read my blogs, leave your comments. It'd be your commemoration to your mad hatter friend Alice who lived in her wonderland. But the world never knew her...all they did was ask, 'So who the f%^& is Alice?'

Monday, July 04, 2005

Ergo...

...does it mean that all those wonderful people whose birthdays have come and gone, all those wonderful people whose birthdays are still to come, all those people who fill my life, all those wonderful friends who are so real, so human, so humane, who've always been around whenever I've reached out for a warm clasp, or some place to rest my weary soul, who've always turned and enveloped me in their love, given their unconditional love, not important?

That's a rhetoric now if ever there was one.

Will pass the events of the weekend - sporting action and Live 8 and what not... guess there are enough people, enough radio stations and TV channels who've covered it and will continue to cover it for the coming week or so. And am sure there are probably 512, 346 blogs spouting something or the other about all this and more. Why add to the clutter?

All you folks out there, I may not say it very often and you may not hear me, but hey, listen, I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!

Now now, don't tell me you didn't know it... and don't tell me you didn't hear it...I've a booming voice...

Another crappy blog! But you've got to hand it to me...I write crap, I admit to it, and continue with it...well... it's my life. Try and stop me...

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Birthdays coming up!

July 5 - My aunt Prema
July 6 - Irfan
July 25 - My aunt Usha
August 2 - Mom
Augut 5 - Aravind
August 6 - D
August 21 - Anusha

People I care about. Some more than others. Some have made me. Some have influenced me. Some have shaped me. Some I have learnt from. Some I'm attached to, by the blood that flows in our veins. Some I've known for such little time. Some I've known all my life.

Each and everyone. There's something so special about each and everyone. Do they all know that they are special? I don't know. They are, to me.

(My God! They're playing one of my fav. songs on Radio - Bread again..."dreams they're meant for those who sleep, life is for us to keep...what is all this leading to... I want to make it with you...though you don't know me well...every little thing only time will tell"...:))

Interpretation is truly the mother of all f&*@ ups!

Words can slice through the heart and mind like a Samurai sword - and it takes so little for me to jump to conclusions. I guess I'm jumpy! It takes very little nowadays for me to lose my balance. I must be careful, after all living on the edge ain't easy!