O-bla-di-bla-da

Young fathers really do it for me. Especially if they wear aviators and drive Maruti 800s and wear blue jeans and black t-shirts with an ever so slight paunch. Always a little bored, a little late, a little credulous. Tempestuous affair here I come.

Yes, I do know time and other things have happened. STILL.

Lesson Learnt

People, how do you protect your pictures? I knew this was going to happen..there was something completely absurd about those hundreds and thousands and lakhs of pictures out there on facebook and the ease with which I could copy anyone's picture onto my harddrive was a bit disturbing and still is.

Incident - album of postcards, not my pictures per se, but that Seriously Awesome series if you remember. Some cow in my class has her status update as her blogpost, so I clicked on it and imagine my surpirse, when there were MY pictures, up there. To be fair, she didn't say she's taken them, it was about how she wants a camera and wants to take pictures like that(would be smug if I wasn't so cheesed off.) Fair enough, but there was absolutey no link back to my page, or creditaion to me and it hit me somehwere in my gut and I went do I even have a right over those pictures anymore? What good is 'owning' them if they'vwe been saved several times over and passed off as other people's own? Ofcourse I called her and told her to take them down ASAP but it's besides the point no?

Let me give my my photo history, as a kid, growing up right through my teenage years I used to absolutely hate, detest, abhor bieng photographed. Maybe I was shy or didn't photograph well or had weight issues or whatever, but most of the snaps are of half my face, my hands covering my face and other such cranky poses. Then round about the time I turned 17 we got a digital camera, and since then, I've been chronicling - family shindigs and the rest, and off late my amateur photography has taken off, in the sense that there are albums and albums or blurry pictures of puddles and birds etc..you get the idea?

Now the thing is, over the past year or so I've been having quite a ball. Just generally, I'm happy wiith who I am and my day to day etc and I think that has a big deal to do with my willingness to pose for snaps now. It really is true the whole, "feel good inside look better on the outside." Even then, it's mostly me taking pictures of everyone else, and I collect them and every couple of months I'll put up an album of say 40 pictures with maybe 2-3 of me.

But now I'm pissed off. It's a primordial thing, to protect oneself, hence I relish the anonymity of the blog. yet, how do I protect the content on this too? On one level, I tell myself not to be so self important, no one's going to borther, but evidently that's doesn't happen not because I'm super interesting but because people are bored and have WAY to much time to spend online, myself included. Pictures DO speak a thousand words, and I've been quietly deleting those albums barring a few.

Am I paranoid? I think not. Becasue I never really took to facebook anyway. It was always a voyeur thing, and only very occassionally a keep-in-touch thing which I'm not that hung over anyway because the people I want to be in touch with I am.

So creative commons I get, but what difference does putting that c on the corner make?The damage would already be done right?

Hey kids, do you like Violence?

Woman Buying Bindis (above) and Pail of Water (below)






Humayuns Tomb, the ever eternal




Isa Khan's Tomb








Little low on the blog posts right now, just been sporadic notebook entries ("Remember what happened today." which makes me go ??!!), it has been awesome, awesome weather and I even love driving again; with the window down and my own music and an endless supply of chewing gum in the car.

Above are a couple of photos, I lust to know what you think.

The Upside of Wet Jeans

because the most you can expect from perfection is a moment.

pebbleriver.

light even on the cloudiest day.

windscreentrees.

rounding up with my signature shot, the feet. :)

Z is for Zeppelin Time

This is something I found quite by chance. Basically you post a picture related to the theme - which on this wednesday is Z, and the first thing that popped into my pretty little head was, what time is it? It's Zeppelin time! ( credits: xkcd)

So this is the room with the poster right down there over the hole in the wall which was covered by a wooden plank.

And this one's the close up. Yes I know it's blasphemy to put a Switchfoot picture right above the Led Zep one but in my defence I made this years back!...yea, doesn't count does it?

And that's the other picture which I like a lot, bottom left hand corner, it's a classic, black and white, Page in a teeny sweater and Plant blowing smoke rings, ah to have been William Miller.

The Same Streets That I Live

So this is my expermiment, it's very trivial-esque I know, a poor cousin more like, but it's directly inspired by that. It's ok if you hate it.

Why save the kisses for a rainy day?

It starts with a perfect picture like this and before I realise, it turns into a soul mirror. The playlist in my head has Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad on repeat. It’s not even a rainy day song, but it comes out at me, cheekily, as though it knows that it can be the only song that resides in the vinyl of my cerebrum when there’s even a hint of a drizzle.

Eternity is in love with the productions of time.

William Blake is someone I have no connection with, I wasn’t taught his poetry, I didn’t study it and no one around me mentions him in passing, but I picked up that book anyway. I don’t feel intimidated though, by either his poems or the life around me caught up in raindrops. There is no reason why I should turn to his lines, maybe that’s why I do.

God appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night,
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of Day.

The waters wave and twinkle in front of me, rippling across their temporary home; their home can only be where they are. I feel the weariness after my philosophy exam, and the pub crawl after, not sure about my own two homes. After the late night I feel pulpy. I woke up without getting enough sleep but not sleepy or tired enough to go back to bed. The clouds build up in me but no rain comes, for mine is a much longer hibernation, mine is a reassessing of the Big Stuff, which I’ve put off for far too long.
*****

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

That’s what they told me, and the thing is, the blessed thing is that I know exactly what I want. Live outside the city, somewhere in the plains not far from the mountains, somewhere sunny, maybe near a wooded area, and fall asleep each night to the sound of a fan whirring, to people breathing. One thing I definitely don’t want is to spend time in airports. Really, I have it all planned, it’s just the day job that’s the problem.
*****

But doesn’t it start with the way we live, or has it already begun?

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A Clothing for the Soul divine;
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

Love seeketh not itself to please
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease
And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.

~

The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.

All those things stick you know, in the afternoons by myself, I am a different me, a pot smoking teacher in a boarding school, a writer in my mountain home, owner of a beach shack frying sausages, baking in a small town with my apron on - all those kid personas don’t go away. I still get to be all that.

When the day’s done though, it’s back to the notebook.
*****

Hey Andy, did you hear about this one?

*Blogging about Blogging ~ Right, so dunno how the whole thing started but do know that it's going mighty fine. I was expecting long months of a lonely 0 comments at the bottom of the post, but pipi and zorro were sweet enough to spread some love and left a comment on the first post itself. So if you're forced to read this it's their fault really; I would happily have given up after 4 posts (like one in every 2 bloggers did you know?) It's fun and oddly exhilirating being anonymous though lately I've begun mentioning this little corner of the internet to people I actually know, as in friends and stuff, the response is either - What do you blog about, or else What do you blog about? Search me.

*I'm tired of driving folks. I'm tired of traffic and and having the tank empty every three days and that bloody Sarthak on 95 f.m. in the mornings(don't even bother plugging my ipod in) and being at the beck and call of everyone concerned and I've had it. I'm going to sit at home for one whole week and not go anywhere my legs can't take me.

*Oh oh, I came up with my very own joke! ready?
#1 Darn, I'd give my left leg for an automatic car...haHA(geddit?)


*Finished Something To Tell You, which is every bit as good as expected though it dragged a bit towards the end but it saved it in time, and Charlie Hero and Karim make a comeback in this one, was most excited so see them again.

*Anyway, the best time of the year in descending order July (Wimbledon) September (US Open) January(Aussie Open) and May-June(French Open). Dude the parisian crowd is so droll. They're all suited up and don't clap for anything. The semi final matches are turning out to be fantastic though. Safina, ole ole ole! Except I'm not saying anything because I jinx these things.

It is time then to reveal to you fair folk, my One Great Love. Now this guy is sexy. I know, I know, he's American and boy-bandish and not even close to winning a slam ever again. Infact read this, it'll give ya more fodder. But I can't tell you, just how much I love him without reason. So much so, that people get embarassed when they're watching a match he's playing with me, apparently I can't contain myself. Infact, when this boy, was kinda trying to flirt with me and it was a big maybe between us, he'd watch Andy's matches and then call up after to discuss them and he' keep dissing him to rankle me up, which I happily obliged because we both saw right through it.



There is little that gives one greater joy than having him win a game 40-love with back to back aces and that swagger when he walks back. :grins: He's also very very funny, he's just naturally a charming guy, like when he was runner-up to fedDUHrer in wimbeldon a couple of years back, the interviewer at the presentation said - Andy, you wouldn't be in the mood to talk right now and he says "ya, I'm actually in the mood for a beer," and the crowd claps and cheered wildly and goes all, good fella that one.

Just look at him.

*sigh*

Anyone who's ever had a heart, wouldn't turn around and break it

These are before-after shots of The View.











Pehle we lived in this lovely house and this <- was what we could see from the huge terrace. And aforementioned Pi used to live right across and we'd walk and talk and talk. We also had a Gilmore Girls marathon, and she taught me to to make a cinnamon brown cake - the idea of a cake without choclate was preposterous to me but ah, the fragrance of cinnamon filling up the house made me feel like a real baker. We've disposed the old Murphy Richards oven while moving and now no oven, no baking(microwaves don't count) and all this summer rain has really made me ache to get the egg beater and vanilla essence and tin of cocoa out.











Around two-three months back we shifted house and now we live in this densely popluated, not not-nice colony, and this is the view from the stairwell, no terrace here:(

Yes, people stared when I took it the picture.

But my room's a lot nicer now. There's no seepage and whitewash flaking off the wall for one. Then again, there's no M.E.S. to speed dial if the water/electricity/furniture/anything is broken/not working. First time we're living in a civilian colony(said with disdain) and not in a cantonment. Before moving was given dire warnings to keep head low and stay inconspicious etc etc. ha, it's me we're talking about - I'm the queen of working undercover, of being Harriet the Spy-esque.

None of that though, it's utterly unromantic.

It's been such a lovely holiday, there's nothing funny left to say

~Life is a highway, I wanna ride it, all night long~

Everyone knows, a holiday is all about the road, driving through is the best part and stopping for chai on the highway every hour or so.

~ you want it, you got it forever~

People say - mountains or sea? I say anywhere where the waters at. The river is what makes it all happen but I gotta tell ya, the Beas is one tenth of what it used to be. This was the river of my childhood, the first time I saw fast furious water so massive that it was crazy daunting. Now it's a tiny trickle.

~Oh how I long to be, Homeward Bound, Home - where my music's playing~

Man, it is so good to be back home. To know that ok if I put the geyser on for 10 minutes the water will be exactly this hot. To know what your rajma is going to taste like. To have my twice a day glass of milk, which I don't think I'll ever give up no matter how old I get. My homepage and sites signed into, and ofcourse, Buddy who went a bit spastic.

Anyway as far as photography goes, this trip was fail, but since digis make photogos of us all, here's some pics. They're all mostly male, mostly single(hehe) but I swear it wasn't intentional.

Read The Buddha Of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi, jeez watay fantastic book. The cover put me off initially, becasue it's so freaking obvious, black hand, white orchid flower, gah - metaphor or what I dunno. Anyway, its published in 1990 which is ages back and I thought I wouldn't get the humour and references, but it's set in the 70s so in a way it's topical forever. Karim is an awesome person to hang out with, he's funny and very I-am-what-I-am, a drifter and the worst of the lot and everything that happens to him is utterly belivable, you're actually simply travelling with him.


Also finished the famous Bioscope Man..hmm:thoughtful: Didn't really get that one though, have for now put in my must-read-again pile, becasue I'm sure there's something in there..

Tomorrow's Flys birthday so hafta go wrap her gift, plus I'm writing her a story(don't ask) and have been writing this post for ages..and limewire's almost done with a grey's anatomy episode.

Damn, it's good to be back.

I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera

So el has a cold. Sigh, and you know what's worse than a cold? A summer cold and there's nothing worse than that except an advent-of-summer cold. A cold is pointless because:

1. head is heavy
2. nose is humungous (arbitary thought - rhymes with mundungus fletcher)
3. body has shut down

but you can't lie down and be sick and almost dying, you must get kicked out of the house for whatever reason. For all practical purposes, it's not a real thing.

So I went out and stocked up before the worst came on:

1. Pringle chips (barbecue flavour - decent, not my favourite which I am yet to decide)
2. Stick Jaws(the chocalate ones, not vanilla)
3. Fruitella(heart the chewiness and strawberry and grape flavour)
4. Sugar doughnuts(2)
5. Polo(duh)

Also invested in Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka. I enjoyed her first book and this one takes a while to kick off with the initial humour kind of flat but right now its rollicking. I like knowing authors from the beginning, from their first book. Sure I like Maragaret Atwood and Vikram Seth who've written a whole load of great novels but I don't know know them. So many people have read them, that the book isn't really yours as such. I like picking up a book that's relatively obscure and very good and just for recognising the familiar name and design(since they stick to their publishers) the second time around, I get excited and want to read it. I like her and Paul Torday too whose second novel I shall read next.

I downloaded,

1. Leatherheads(that George Clooney movie about football in the 30s, which is a camera print and absolutely awful so didn't watch it)
2. High Fidelity(which though I've seen several times on HBO, I felt like watching) and the book was good. I like Nick Hornby even though his books get made into jokey movies with Hugh Grant in them(About a Boy.) That dude(Nick not Hugh) is funny and knows what he's talking about.
3. Simon and Garfunkel - Greatest Hits - since no one owns tape players anymore and what good is a hard plastic covered cassette without a player except in the car?

Also, look what I found! WWE playing cards!It's all coming back to me, the hours and hours playing this pointless game which required absolutely no skill, because by the end of it we'd memorised the stats of the wrestlers and the art of peeking. So if you saw the opponents card you knew exactly what to call. I used to own this game, and shutup you - I didn't cheat, atleast not as much as you.

And remember - Trish Startus, ha, we used to get this kick every single time by calling out Breast - 41 inches. Though these days Khali is all the rage. Headlines Today dedicates half an hour to him at 10:30 I think when a WWE 'expert', which is a guy wearing a stone cold tshirt talks about the Great Khali and the anchor in all seriousness will ask - so will Khali win his next match? And the resident 'expert' goes, well, gaurav(insert forgettable name here) it's hard to say, he's been winning matches, performing well but there's a lot at stake here so we'll see what he can come up with under pressure, etc. etc.

IT'S ALL RIGGED DOOFUS. Though if they(Htoday) have Grandstand in the 9 pm slot, atleast they've come out of the closet about their entertainment/utter rubbsih status. I'll remember them fondly though because when they were a proper news channel, I happened to be watching when they announced the board results were out. R.I.P. Htoday.

*yes i discovered the 1-2-3 button today

Self Portraits in E Minor

some pictures yes, because. and it's my new favourite thing to do.




















and some poetry in pictures -








I've stopped counting..