There is something nice about rains when you are indoors. I for one, love watching rain curled up in bed. Could never understand why you had to get drenched especially when you are getting to work.
Myriad hindrances rear their heads when it rains in a city. Normally clogged traffic turns chaotic to the extreme, people in cars take perverse pleasure in drenching passer-bys, dirty stinky water swirls around your legs, buildings, bikes everything gets flooded.Quite a product of civilization this is. Something thats looked forward with so much eagerness causes so much agony.
Sometimes I wonder do we have civilization at all. I was sitting on a ledge watching the rain pour down upon shoppers who were converging on a posh store here that was holding a sale. People brave the rain to get to the shop, to stand in serpentine queues, grab clothes before someone else spots them and fight with attendants over trial rooms. Civilization is just a mask, underneath we are still in the hunter-gatherer mould. Its just that we choose the wrong moment to exhibit that behaviour sometimes.
Sometimes there is only so much you need to be happy. Simple pleasures of life.
Just a glass of cold water going down a parched throat on a hot summer day.
The smell of wet earth after the first raindrops fall.
The feeling of real grass on your bare feet.
The feeling when a baby grasps your offered finger.
The feeling of seeing a friend after a long time.
Just to hold someone you love close to you.
To be able to see the joy on someones face when you talk to them.
To hear that song you were playing in your head from a long while back on the radio.
The smell of a well loved book and the comforting feel of it in your hand.
The taste of simple dal-chaawal.
Just to live.
Its been 3 months almost since I have come here. Feels strange and yet so comfortable. Actually I think iam over dramatizing it. Life has become so much more richer over these last three months. There is peace and happiness. TouchWood.
Been on a movie spree, specifically a hindi movie spree over the last couple. Started with DDLJ and i guess went on with Dhoom and Phir Milenge and Hum Tum. Managed to sneak in The Last Samurai in between. This was one movie I wanted to watch for a long time and had some really high hopes. But i came away slightly disappointed.
The most striking thing about the samurai is their bushido. Ken Watanabe does a good job. Another thing that I personally find impressive is their acceptance of death and their joy in simple pleasures. Its so much more fulfilling to see the beauty of the cherry blossom and know that its going to last just a little while and to enjoy that beauty as long as its there and accept that its going to fade. Memories are like that, we rush to capture stuff on film and in doing that forget to live that moment.
On a side note went to the Namdroling monastery in Bylakuppe near Coorg. Its so beautiful that it seems fleeting. There is something in the face of Buddha that makes you want to sit quietly and let all your worries leach away.
As Nathan Aldren (Tom Cruise) keeps repeating in the Last Samurai - No Mind.. No Mind
There are several moments in my life when I have wished i could freeze time. Cryogenically preserve and store it away, to be taken and relived again whenever i feel like it. Completely, all the emotions, all the surroundings, the people, the very air. Just preseve them and live in them when i choose to. Kind of like an alternative to a speed trip. Just plug and play.
I feel cheated and nauseated by the drama that our great politicos are pulling off in this country under the name of democracy. Everyone is encouraged to vote thinking that they will make a difference. Its just a load of crap. You just need to look at Jharkhand and Bihar to know this. In Jharkhand you have happenings worthy of a Tom Clancy novel. Political intrigue and an elaborate escape routine duly publicized.
Bihar is another, the RJD was significantly routed in the election and what do we find, Rabri most possibly tipped to be CM again. Just because the Congress is in power in the center. The budget plays games with the masses, give with one hand and take away with another. As someone who votes without fail in every election and follows politics, i feel that we are just hypocrites. Democracy is just a screen to cover for these people who we have placed on our collective heads, actually its more like this. Whatever we decide makes no difference.
A wedding in the family entails so much of work, effort et all. Contrary to popular (read Bollywood movie induced perception) its not all naach gaana and loving family and friends and relatives. Weddings are when you get to see the subtle dynamics that operate in large families and as families go, ours is quite large. All the uncles and aunts and cousins and their relations by marriage brings the number upto a decent number and its a interesting anthropological study.
You see egos at work, past insults and slights bought to light and sundry petty behaviour. All this on one side, a wedding is also where you get to see sides of relatives and family that makes you proud. People pitching in, all levels and strata forgotten, theres work to be done and people present to do it.
The day of the wedding is always the one faced with the greatest trepidation, its a bit like the culmination of all that effort. When the first guests start to walk in you mutter a silent prayer and start smiling. The rest is a roller-coaster ride of rustling silk, flashing gold, colorful clothes and assorted faces. Someone pops up before you demanding that you delve deep into the musty bags of memories past and come up with a name. A bedecked lady steps before you ands asks you if you remember her, only to cackle with glee when you smile and shrug sheepishly that she didnt think you would because you last saw her when you were 2. You nod sagely and chant - This too shall pass.
You see potential marriages being discussed, its all a big show. Virtues extolled subtly, that aunties son is in the US, he is working for Microsoft, earns really well. This uncle's daughter is an extremely talented dancer and she is qualified in software. Its like a big jigsaw puzzle with pieces falling into place. Lifelong relationships built on one side, the virtues of the neighbouring saree shop extolled on the other. The world being as small as it is, the brides side discovers connections in the grooms side, networking happens Indian style. "Do you know this person? He is my uncles wifes brothers brother-in-law. We are related now" - big grins all over. Where else can this happen.
In the middle of all this stand the bride and groom, protagonists in this vast play. If i were a mind reader, what i wouldnt give to know what is going on in their minds. The ceremonies complete, they are a couple now. Partners in this journey called life. Then begins the stampede towards handing over the gifts, the newly-weds have to just grin and shake hands, after this goes on for a couple of hours. The guests having long eaten the wedding feast, praising it or criticising it as is their wont, the bride and the groom make their way to lunch.
The show begins to wind down. Sighs of relief all around, post-mortems begin. Observations and pronouncements take center-stage. Contributions praised and faults pointed out. Tiredness creeps up like someone coming over to mop-up. Everything slows down and whats left of the bustling venue a little while ago is just empty chairs and crushed flowers and bright pandals. The happiness has gone to reside with the bride and the groom.
Met someone today morning who was working in one of those top international IT firms... introduced myself...next thing i hear is 'Myself xyz and i work in XYZ co' ... i was a little taken aback, here we are claiming to compete internationally and all that jazz and this person starts off like this. Just got me wondering what is the use of an all english education at some of the best universities in the country if we cannot even talk the language. And i agree that as Indians we can develop a version of English on our own by sheer weight of numbers, but 'myself xyz' just makes me wonder if we are indeed doing a good job with our education.
I've read/listened to the transcript of the call center executive episode of the Star & Bucwild show and its disgusting what the exec had to put up with. The way i see it the RJs were just using the phobia about outsourcing to drive their pet 'HATE' agenda. They claim on their site to have made hate cool. Go figure.
Theres winds of change blowing at work, i will be shifting teams, doing the same job. People with who i had tentatively formed bonds with are going to be ex-teammates, there will be a subtle shift of the equations. New bonds to be built, new equations made. All this is professional. Will the personal bonds survive the change? Will it be a case of out of sight and out of mind?
Theres something i envy about people who come into a new environment and immediately form friendships and are uber comfortable. For me its always been a laborious process. I dont form friends easily. It takes cautious sifting, a step by step lowering of defenses and time for the comfort level to build. Which is why it is a big deal when those weaves which i so cautiously knit snap, or as in some cases like when i shifted here leaving behind years in my hometown it leads to some pretty high walls.
Got myself a new music system yesterday. First thing to play on it was my favorite Top Gun soundtrack. There is something so totally awesome about that movie. I have lost count of the number of times that I have seen it. Just listening to the theme makes me get goosebumps. And No!!! am not a Tom Cruise fan, but there was just a certain cheekiness in his portrayal of Maverick that was something I yearned to copy. This was a movie which made me think of being a fighter pilot when i was a kid, as it would have inspired in many other souls across the world.
Cinematically there was nothing great to write home about in the movie. Story line was weak. But the sound track was awesome and the people were cool. It was as if life was very uncomplicated. I can sit and watch those dogfights endlessly. Used to hate Val Kilmer. Even considered painting Maverick on my helmet :)... adolescent fascinations... or maybe not.. 'cos i just might end up painting my already bright helmet with that call sign.
And to sign off.. this one is one of my favorite lines from the movie, courtesy imdb.com
Maverick: This is what I call a target rich environment.
Goose: You live your life between your legs Mav.
Maverick: Goose, even you could get laid in a place like this.
Goose: Hell, I'd be happy to just find a girl that would talk dirty to me.
Maverick: [spots Charlie for the first time] She's lost that loving feeling.
Goose: She's lo...
[catches up]
Goose: No she hasn't.
Maverick: Yes she has.
Goose: [objecting] She's not lost that lo...
Maverick: Goose, she's lost it man.
[walks off]
Goose: [to Mav] Come on!
[to himself]
Goose: Aw sh... I hate it when she does that.
