Quote Analysed

Dave Matthews Band quoted: A girl and a guy can be just friends, but at one point or another they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever .

Yes and as usual, the monkey in my mind started questioning it. The first thing that I thought was “Is this really true?”. For starters, quotes and sayings are just some bunch of words put together that mean something. I always believe that these sentences make sense to us because, we always knew that whats being said is true.

For eg: Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. I mean, now everyone knows that if you fall down, you will get up. Its a given. You’d have got up even if these words didnt exist. So this is there at the back of your head. Subconscious. When you actually read this statement, you’d nod in agreement, bacause you already knew this! Get my point?? (Now I’m confused!) So to get back to what I was saying, I was wondering if this was true. 

May be its true.  I feel there are many who do end up comparing their partners with their friends, probably to see whats been missing or whats unique in the partner/spouse. Even if there are any shortcomings, love and commitment does overlook such trivialities. Some may not agree with me, but then thats my opinion.

Also I have begun to feel, since there’s always this chance of two pals coming closer, the partners begin to feel insecure. Jealousy creeps in. Women show it very easily, while men, given their king size egos, may live in denial for sometime. May be its due to this “chance/possibility” that married people have hurdles in going out with their pals of the opposite gender unless the spouse accompanies them.

To sum it up, is it safe/sensible to conclude that even if you are commited to one individual, the search for a companion never stops? Then who are you with? And why are you searching? If you are searching for that one person, why are you still together with your current partner? If at all you do end up finding that person, will you stop the search?

I don’t know. I’m leaving the conclusions open!

Addicted to Chaandan Mein

I’ve always loved Kaliash Kher’s songs and music. And no disappointments here. This album is top notch. Brilliant and most mature music. Its Rajasthani Folk fusion and has got some amazing funk bass. Listen to this album on a lazy Sunday evening with some whiskey or wine. 

Raah buhaaru, pag pakhaaru, tame nihaaru ji
Pran vaaru, baiyaa daaru, main naa haaru ji……
Ho aye ji maahre chatar sujaan, leego pehchaan
Kaahe bharmaao ji, aao ji, aao ji, aao ji……..
chaandan mein main taku ree, tera sona mukhda
Pyaara pyaara mukhda
Aanchal mein main rakhu ree chanda ka tukda
Aye ji pyaara mukhda
Tu dhare jahaan paav toh muskaye ye dharti….. saiyaa
Oji mahri binti sunlo aan mhare bhagwan
Hame naa sataao ji….. aaoji aaoji aaoji

PS: Thanks Ram. Thanks Sid.

Lateral Thinking…

Its a forward.  Brilliant one!

Contestants from all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were asked to title this picture

Study the picture for 12 seconds And think about how you would title it:

This winning entry came from IIT Bombay

So whats your Tamil like?

Though I’m not very sure of the Statistics, atleast 8/10 of the Tamilians, who I’ve met in the last 27 years, have asked me this “So are you from Palakkad or…?” The latest of them being my buddy, who I met after more than a year, last week for dindin.

 Honestly, I’ve nothing against this question. But just the lineage where I come from makes things slightly complicated for me.  Dadda is from Palakkad, but born and brought up in Coimbatore. Mom is again from the same place. In laws (here comes the total and chaotic complication) are: Pa from Trichy and an Iyengar & Ma, an Iyer, is from Thrissur. (Yeah baby, perfect love marriage set in the late 60s, with all the Iyengar and Iyer fire attacks during the wedding). Hope I got this right, atleast this time. So whenever I’m asked this question, I actually fumble and tumble before giving out the complicated answer. Its kinda weird coz I’ve to give names of 3-4 places when most have just one native place! There have been times when I’ve really took long to answer this simple question.

So whats my Tamil like? I dont know. Seriously. I know to read and write Tamil. I can perfectly understand whats being said in Patti Mandram (Debates). My M-I-L is teaching me to read and write Malayalam now. Ok, now if you are asking me about my dialect, I guess its Tamalayam (Tamil+Malayalam). May be thats construed as Palakkad Tamil. As a kid, however, I used to feel, Pala”kkad” Tamilian means coming from the Kaadu (Jungle/Forest). [See, thats exactly how and where things get confusing.]

Whatever! We are one of a kind I tell you. Let me do an analysis of how a quintessential TamBrahm home looks like:

1. The moment you enter, you will get the strong Filter Kaapi fragrance in the living room. With tons and tons of pics of all the Hindu Gods displayed in the wall cabinet (or showcase as some call it). Kindly do not mistake the wall cabinet to be a Pooja Room. I still havent got that far. As a kid, my bro used to ask me why so many Gods. I used to convince him saying “With the number of wants and likes that a human has, it becomes highly confusing for ONE God to handle so much. So if you want wealth, you have Goddess Laxmi, you want Intelligence Ganpati Bappa is there, etc.” Call it Super Convincing prowess!!! Oh yes, there WILL ALWAYS be a BIG statue or a pic of the Kuladaivam in the living room. This pic/statue will the biggest in the room, so spotting or understanding the Kuladaivam of a clan is no problem.
2. Moving ahead, there’ll be this kitchen that’ll always see a flurry of activities ranging from preparing tiffin to making Kaapi to everything thats remotely linked to eating. Again a strong aroma of Coconut Oil or Kaapi.
3. Pooja Room. Phew. No discussions here. If wall cabinet had 124 pics, this place will have 12400 pics of all the possible Ummachis and Kadavuls. Just one difference, the photos here would be all King Size. And yes, there’ll be this big Kuttuvillakku (Diya) thats forever lit up.
4. If there are some more rooms, more aroma of Incense Sticks (is the spelling right?) more Kaapi and more Coconut Oil.

So whats its like to be a Tambrahm? Another question!

1. Days start with Slokas and hymns. Yes. All days of the week are specifically allocated for different Bhagwans. Monday is for Lord Shankara, Tuesday is for his cutest son, Lord Ganesha and so on. So different mantrams all through the week. Fridays. Aaaaahh yes!!! The day when my Ma and M-I-L feel, atleast 1 bucket of coconut oil on each strand of hair and Turmeric for the body is a must. Yes. Its a day when we Tambrahms are all slithery and slippery and really Yellow!
2. Marriages and functions. Honestly I avoid them. Too much talks of who’s doing what, who’s son-in-law is the cousin of the second daughter-in-law of the neighbours family living in the US. I lose my ear brain connection within the first 2  minutes. So I cant write much about things that I dont know.
3. Carnatic Music OR Bharatnatyam. Yes. I’m a trained vocalist. 12 years of rigourous training with Bhavam, Thalam and all. Now I sing “The Evil Has Landed” by Testament. *Whatta band.. Bows down in respect.*
4. Curd Rice. Now this is my life. You take Curd Rice out of my life and you’ll find me dead. To all those who dont like curd rice – You all are missing out on something truly celestial.

There are more, but let me reserve it for sometime later.

PS: This post might sound cynical. But yes, Tam brains are considered to be one among the best!!!  

PPS: Wonder why my brain is an exemplary display of perfect distortion!

Yesterday’s remnants

This was the view in the ground floor of my buidling at 12.00 noon today. The knee deep water had come down to ankle deep.This water was like:  Water = Water+pee+poop+shit+crap+plastic bottles+plastic covers+plastic bags+Condoms. In short, it was everything plastic.

You hear my friends voice in the background.

Broken Promise

This is probably the worst kept promise ever! Throughout May and June (or rather the whole year) all the leading dailies spoke about how preapred is Mumbai to combat the July rains.

Its July again and its pouring. Mumbai is AS USUAL raped. You really cannot blame the rains can you? If you want water to wash your arse, you need water. Beer doesnt help. And we Indians, dont really use paper to clean, do we?! So when its monsoon, let it rain. Let it fill the dams and the rivers. But when its gonna piss bad and that too in excess, has enough been done by the Govt to protect its very own people? The answer to this question lies in the question itself.

Mithi is overflowing and I’ve actually seen whats been done to CLEAN it up. There were weeds and other crappy plants and creepers as far as my eyes could see, the last time I saw. The same being 2 days back, on Sunday. All the roads (be it Santa Cruz/Vile Parle/Andheri/Goregaon/Kandivli) have been dug up. Supposedly to construct SkyWalks. ??????? Really? Where has the 1200 crores that was given for dealing with monsoons, unclogging and repair work of the drains, et al. evaporated? Disaster Management or Management Disaster? Will things ever improve? Where have my and my fellow men’s taxes gone?

Dying to hear what BMC commissioner now has to say.

Happy Realization

Last few weeks have been quite turbulent. Some disappointments and the resultant introspection. But I’m happy that I’m over them and have learnt some important things. Ironically they the same things that we often get as forwards. I’m not writing about them coz I want to have some gyaan on my page. Some day I might gather enough courage to read my own posts and I want this to be one of them. So back to the Happy Realization:

1. No matter what the situation is, you just cant afford to lose patience. You lose it and you will regret later.
2. There’s no point or no use bickering about things. Just accept things the way they are and you’ll get some extra sleep.
3. You just cannot escape after having a lousy showdown with your boss. This can be done but be prepared to pay a very nasty price over a very long period of time.
4. Just because your efforts are not being recognized, doesnt mean you should stop putting your efforts. Keep at it, hardwork always pays.
5. It is not really important for us have opinions about everything. Its ok if we are dumb about certain things.
6. If you dont get something that you feel you deserved, may be you didn’t deserve it at all. To look at it in a positive way, something much better is in store.  
7. So what if we spend 10-12 hours at work, its our family and friends who keep us happy and smiling. So be in touch. Pick the phone and make that call. Show them that you are really happy to have them by your side.
8. No matter what, DO NOT snap at your loved ones. The way you have your bad days, even they do. If you have had a bad day, doesnt mean you need to get all impulsive and start snapping, making their days horrible too. On the other hand, if they snap at you, just realize that everyone has their bad days.
9. There’s no such thing as “will do it tomorrow” or “will do it later”. Erase these two words (Later & Tomorrow) from your dictionary. DO IT NOW.
10. We all go through hell and shit. Its alright. You will heal. Its just a matter of some time. Like its very beautifully said “Time heals nothing. It merely re-arranges our memory.”

We are racists too

Whether or not TOI carries RK Laxman’s daily You Said It, it’ll definitely talk about some Asian geting assaulted in the now infamous Australia. Articles go on to say how racism is a problem faced by Desis everywhere. I agree. But have you looked at what goes on in your house before checking out the shit in your neighbour’s place?

To begin with, ads after ads endorsing Fair n Lovely, Pond Fairness, Fairever, Emami Fair & Natural, etc for women. Shahrukh and John Abraham do their bit by being the face of Himani Fairness Cream and Garnier Fairness cream for men. Why? I mean why this obsessive need to look fair? Whats wrong if your skin produces “that” extra ounce of Melanin???? Aren’t we being racists here?

Next come the super annoying matrimonial ads. Need a “Fair”, good looking and well educated girl/boy blah blah blah.. Its amazing how qualifications take a back seat and FAIR is the first word! Amazing priorities. What if your would be groom/bride is a money sucking parasite, who has no respect for you or your parents? What if all that happns when they open their mouths is garbage flowing out? Ever thought about it? Why do you think girls or boys with darker complexions wont make good spouses? What are your reservations against them? And more  importantly WHY??? Aren’t we being racists here?

The place where I stay, has a lot of citizens from Nigeria. Believe me, I’ve seen this happening. I was standing in the queue in front of my bank ATM. There was this guy who was standing ahead of me. A woman and her son behind me. The kid in all its innocence asked his mom “Why is this Uncle so dark?”. The answer that came out from his mom was “Coz he’s a Black/Negro”. I just wanted to slap the woman real hard. Couldn’t you have thought of anything better to answer your child? Aren’t we being racists here?

For many people, wearing an attire in black on auspicious days or during festivals symbolises something sad/evil. Why? Aren’t these lame beliefs man-made?? Whats the big deal? You like it, you wear it. Isnt that plain simple? Aren’t we being racists here?

For all the filmy people (Bollywood) out there who might defend themselves saying “We aint like that, we treat everyone equally”, I just have one question. In the movie Fashion, Priyanka Chopra’s character, Meghna Mathur feels she has hit rock bottom, after finds herself having slept with an African American. Why? Would she have felt the same had she slept with a Gora firang? And women in the theatre shed copious tears with her in the next scene.  

Aren’t we being racists here? The answer is “Yes, we are racists too. Happily at that.”

Life – Explained in One Line (Forward)

Dadda sent this to me.

LIFE is: Leaving the house in the morning, dressed in clothes that you bought on credit card, for work, driving through the traffic in a car that you are still paying for, putting in fuel that you cannot afford, in order to get to the job that you hate but need so badly so that you can pay for your clothes, car, fuel and the house that you leave empty the whole day, in order to live in it.

The week that it was

These days I seem to be in the learning mode. Good for me considering, it keeps my head calm and my mind busy. Some pearls of wisdom that were thrown at me, which were THANKFULLY caught:

• True friends are like one’s health. You wont realize the value of either until you lose it.
• Trust is like money. You invest it in some, get decent returns. You waste some. And some, you get robbed off.