Tata Chennai

Chennai- the land of the Marina;the land of the Coovam...
Chennai- Hot and sweet filter coffee;Hot and humid and sweaty days!
Chennai- The new IT hub spawning glass and stone mammoths everyday; The quaint land of the temples and kancheevarams steeped in culture...

I can go on and on about the great diversities of this city.

Chennai means so much to me... loved ones, friends, birthdays, sleepovers, happy times, pondy bazaar shopping, arguing with auto drivers, dance classes, being excited that inox finally has come to town, spending hours at spencers, bliss of getting last minute tickets at Satyam, driving down ecr, long beach walks, temple trips, strands of jasmine, tangy rasam n appalam, golden brown dosai n sambhar, cups of piping hot filter coffee, muruku, soaps on sun tv :) , bumpy college bus rides, cursing the mount road traffic,cursing the pot hole ridden roads, yet another jayalalitha vs karunanidhi election, thalaivar movies... Images just flit across my mind as I weave a tapestry of memories...

Despite her many quirks, Chennai is the only place that I will call home. I know for a fact that I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the world. Having lived here for all the 21 years of my life, I feel numbed to say goodbye...

For no Rhyme or Reason

It's a very long time since my last post. I know I have been very erratic. I am not going to offer excuses- I dont have any for that matter...

Just cant think of writing anything now. So thought i'll post some of my fav poems. Do read them! Hope they move you and make you reflect, just a bit atleast :)

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

(This is a part of an elegy by W.H.Auden)

Ithaca

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
when,with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral,
amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor,

Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy


Love Not Me for Comely Grace

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face;
Nor for any outward part,
No, nor for my constant heart:
For those may fail or turn to ill,
So thou and I shall sever.
Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why;
So hast thou the same reason still
To doat upon me ever.

John Wilbye

Whatchamacallit?

Have you ever felt pain? pain so searing, naked and all-consuming? Pain in its purest, strongest, most potent form? So pure and white that it obliterates all the other feelings and senses...?


What happens when the objects around you take on new dimensions? The muffled sounds of traffic, the low purr of a car engine, the canned laughter of a comedy sitcom and even silence- all a mocking reminder...to make sure you dont forget...to make sure you feel a fresh wave of pain yet again.


Have you ever felt that there is nothing left to live for; nothing to look forward to...? What happens when life becomes a meaningless existence- every breath you draw in is more painful than the previous, so much so that it's cruel to be alive? How will you feel when all your dreams, hopes and aspirations are broken by a swift stroke of fate? Will you have the will to gather up the shards of your life and make a feeble attempt to rebuild it? But, how can you? Cause, the very will, courage and self worth you need to rebuild your life lie among the shattered debris; broken beyond recognition, beyond repair.


Some wounds never heal with time; they just get worse...

Mera Desh Mahaan!

I received a post from the Election Commissioner's office yesterday to secure my voter-identification card. Religiously, I set out today morning to the mentioned place to get my picture taken and complete other formalities for obtaining the card.
I armed myslef with a couple of big books, my ipod and of course my cell (stop looking incredulously! Yes, I did take along a mini entertainment station with me cause I expected that I will be spending almost the whole day there!)

The venue was a Corporation Community centre which I never knew existed. As expected, the building was located in a seedy part of the town with a musty, stale air about it, replete with pan-stained walls and piles of rotting garbage nearby.

Resigning myself to fate and muttering a hundred curses about the government, the people and their civic sense, I walked in...

Surprise! Surprise! No chaos. No jostling and screaming people. No indifferent, half sleeping officers. Instead an efficient and controlled calm greeted me. I was guided to one of the many counters and joined the tail of a long but brisk-moving queue. Computers, web cams, printers and other paraphanelia were set up behind each counter. The modern computers looked totally out of place in the rundown building...but nevertheless, isn't this what India is all about?!! The 'yo generation' of yuppies who wean directly from mother's milk to coke and pepsi co exist with the doe-eyed gaun ki kudi. The filthy rich who flaunt their 24 carat rocks to the miserably poor whose lives are down the rocks. The highly educated babus to the illiterate. The sky scrapers to the slums. This is the only place where a sleek BMW will feel completely at ease standing next to a bullock cart waiting for the signal.

Ok, enough of digression, back to the point...I found it hard to come to terms with the fact that officers manning the counters were wide wake, efficient and pleasant to the junta!!! In 20 mins flat, I had my documents verified, picture taken, card printed and laminated! Can you believe that?!!!

India is truly shining :-)

Of Life, Twilight and more...

The sky was azure blue with pillows of clouds strewn all over. A mild, gentle breeze was blowing, in no apparant hurry to reach its home...

It was me, up in my terrace( the terrace was as-far-out-of-home that I was allowed to go today owing to a fever!) bearing witness to yet another wonderful symphony conducted by Nature - yes, the Sunset!!( ok, stop rolling your eyes...believe me, there is a lot more rolling of eyes to be done by the time you are done with this post. At this juncture, I am obliged to put up this disclaimer...

/* DISCLAIMER*/

The author shall bear no liability whatsoever in case of any opthamological/neural defect arising in the reader due to the overtly sentimental content of this post.

My dear readers, you have been warned...At the risk of being cock-eyed and mentally challenged for the rest of your lives, read on...)

This Saturday evening, being highly vetti( vetti: vet-tee; n/adj; origin-unknown,presumed to be from certain ancient dravidian language that rhymes with nil; meaning-describes accurately the state yours truly is in most of the time, roughly translates to jobless) and exhausting all other means of killing time, I walked up to my terrace. I'm glad I did that.

I was treated to a veritable treat for the eyes and the ears. I witnessed the sunset in blissful solitude( damn! ;)) with my hands tucked away in my pyjama pockets . The fiery yellow ball that made us all scamper away to shadier places, was now a very much timid orange-red blob. Bidding the world goodbye for the day, it slowly sank into the horizon. One last time, the sun playfully peeked out from amidst the clouds, making the sky blush a deep scarlet. The sky then turned an inky blue; a silver orb being the silent sentinel of the universe. Slowly, millions of tiny twinkling stars seemed to appear out of nowhere. They grinned cheekily at me, as if they are the custodians of a sceret, mocking at my ignorance!

I just stood there in a kind of a trance...thinking about everything;thinking about nothing.

How often have we taken time off to stop and admire the small things in life; the sweet-nothings? Rarely? Never? We just amble along mindlessly in mad pursuit of what the person next to us is in mad pursuit of.

What does your life mean to you? Isn't life all about doing stuff that you want to do? My dad's friend used to say " Experience is a comb that nature gives to you when you are bald. "

Think about it and let me know your opinions...( that translates to COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT!!!)


P.S: If you read this post and fail to comment, your soul will forever rot in I-didn't-comment-in-arch's wonderful blog hell. :-D

Dial M for Murder

The phone call left me grinning like an idiot; a grin so wide that it introduced my one ear to the other.
Slowly, slowly, the grin faded; to be replaced by a scorn and then a frown. My heart began to beat faster and faster. As reality sunk on me with the force of a hundred tsunami waves, I was left benumbed.
A feeling of hapless weariness overtook me. Soon, anger...pure, white anger seared through me; like a heated knife through butter. My eyes became blood shot and my very veins throbbed. Like a hunted hound, i paced back and forth...
This wrath in me was growing like a virus, feeding on itself; threatening to completely overtake me...

Before, you begin to get any ideas, the reason for my above state is solely due to Anna University...yes, they have postponed my exams; not once, not twice, but THREE times...

UPDATE: I have now turned into a serial killer. This is the only solution to channelise my wrath. With great planning and precision, I zeroed in on my first kill. With unparalleled skill( that is sure to go down in the annals of homicidal maniacs) I delivered the fatal blow...My dear readers, under the oath of secrecy, I will reveal to you, the name of my victim....Mr.Periplanata Americana( umm...yes the tiny cockroach that dared to walk into the portals of my room :)) Aah..I'm feeling so much better already! Muhahahaha (evil laugh)

LATEST UPDATE: I'm in the search of a worthy second victim. Muhahahaha.

Ok, I just cant resist this... Why do I have oats for breakfast, cornflakes for lunch and more oats for dinner???

Well, that's because, I'm a serial killer. Muhahahaha.

Tagged!

I have been tagged by Sagaro...so, here goes...

7 things that I plan to( rather, I will) do:

*Win the Nobel prize in Physics and Literature! ( Ya right!)
*Travel all around the world
*Learn to play a musical instrument
*Give up being short tempered and sensitive
*Get admission into Princeton as well as all the IIMs and go crazy choosing!
*Learn to drive the car
*Publish my book of poems

7 things that I can do:

*Write/talk on any topic under the sun, or even above it!
*Drive people crazy with my "Why is this universe created?" fundaes and theories
*Read any number of books(strictly non-college stuff) endlessly
*Dance decently( atleast, i think so!)
*Motivate people and organize things
*Wear bright skirts and funky accessories
*Eat any amount of chocolate ( Who wants to fall in love? I wanna fall in chocolate ! ;-) )

7 things that I can't do:

*Stop wearing bright colours, however much my friends rag me
*Watch TV for more than half an hour
*Get up later than 7 AM however hard I try
*Study something sans understanding
*Watch a horror movie without closing my eyes and muting the volume!
*Tolerate Male chauvenism
*Cross a road alone

7 Words I use most Often:

*Cool
*Super Cool
*Hmmmm...
*Duh
*Ya right!
*Watever
*Tadaaaaa

7 blogs(untagged ones) that I wish to tag:

*Gauky
*Aditya
*Rampee
*Abhishek
*Songi
*Nirmal
*Juju

Ok folks...You are tagged. You have to put up a similar post, where u can tag seven more people...
(Failing which, the Hairy Scary monster will get u!!! Be Warned!)