“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.”
(The Incomparable) Douglas Adams
Category: Uncategorized
Unsophisticated and Happy
Sometimes I feel that critics, epicures, and experts of all kinds must lead such depressing lives. It’s their innate characteristic to look for perfection; but I suppose they hardly find it on a regular basis. And that must be such a constant let-down.
I, on the other hand, could never be accused of having discerning taste in anything, and feel much the happier for it. I’ve had seconds–and thirds–of food that others have called ‘passable’, I’ve enjoyed watching movies that others have labelled ‘a waste of time and money’, I’ve gladly worn hand-me-downs when others told me I looked ‘so last century’. And loved doing it all.
Experts must be such pessimists.
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Favorite Quote of the Postaday: Avidity
“Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”
― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
From The Window Seat
This was captured during a memorable train journey through north-west India. The red building is a temple, and the idol is that of Hanuman, the monkey deity; the devotee of Lord Ram, a scholar and the protector of mankind.
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It’s Fun Being Nominated!!
I’m a nominee! Of the Liebster Blog Award! And I’m as excited as though it was the Nobel Prize or Oscars! You might have guessed by the number of exclamatory marks in this paragraph! I have been nominated by the extremely talented A. Mittal for The Liebster Blog Award (‘liebster’ means ‘beloved’ or ‘dearest’ in German), which is given to new bloggers with less than 200 followers to recognize and promote them. Thank you A! Here are the rules:
- Post the award on your blog
- Thank the blogger who nominated you for this award and link them in your post.
- Write 11 random facts about you.
- Answer the 11 questions asked of you.
- Post 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
- Recognize 11 other bloggers that you think deserves this award, and try to avoid nominating bloggers who already have a Liebster Award nomination. Notify them of your nomination and post your link.
So here are 11 random facts about me:
1. I can never remember the murderer in mystery books after reading just once (except in some cases like in ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’). So I can read the same suspenseful book at least thrice with the same puzzlement and thrill.
2. I got my ears pierced under local anaesthesia.
3. I own three pairs of one year-old high heels which I haven’t worn even once.
4. I make a killer pressure-cooked pasta. Which nobody in my home eats for some reason.
5. I’ve read at least 500 romantic novels; and that’s a conservative estimate.
6. I once ate Chinese noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner: six meals in a row. And was sad when I had to eat rice for the seventh meal.
7. I have a very low threshold for ‘liking’ stuff. I actually loved the ‘Twilight’ series when I read it for the first time. The second time I couldn’t read one page without getting disgusted at the whiny heroine. But that was probably because I’d seen the movie (two words: Kristin Stewart).
8. I fell in love with my music teacher in the fourth grade because he could play ‘Do Re Mi’ on the guitar.
9. I don’t like amusement park rides, except the kiddie ones.
10. I hate washing clothes, so I leave it for as long as my conscience and sense of hygiene permits.
11. Ear-rings are my favorite accessory, and I own almost a hundred pairs.
Although my nominator did not ask questions of me, I’d like to ask my nominees to answer the following 11 questions:
Q1. Your favorite book.
Q2. The most memorable outing/expedition/trip/journey you’ve been to.
Q3. Your favorite place in the whole world.
Q4. Would you rather undertake a journey by rail, car, air or sea and why?
Q5. Tea or coffee?
Q6. Your favorite movie. Or Three.
Q7. Cats or Dogs?
Q8. Favorite superhero and why?
Q9. Favorite website.
Q10. When you were 10 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Q11. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
Here are the blogs I nominate for the Liebster Award:
I hope you’ll participate!
One Thing I Like Less Than Most Things…
I learn nothing from my past mistakes. There must be a word for people like me. A specific derogatory term for people-who-learn-nothing-from-their-past-mistakes. Not ‘nincompoop’; I already know that one.
So there I was with a mouthful of cavities and root canals, sitting in a dentist’s chair bargaining with God–again–to please let me off this time and I’ll floss twice daily from now on, when the dentist tells me I have finally reaped the fruit of all my midnight snacks and will have to undergo a horrifically painful dental surgery after which my father will probably disown me. Well, he did not say that in so many words but I can catch subtle nuances, you know. I ask him, with an ingratiating grin, whether that surgery will involve taking out my sweet tooth, which is the root of the problem anyway, no pun intended? At least, I thought the grin was ingratiating, but you couldn’t tell that from the bland look he gave me.
While he’s performing that awfully disgusting surgery, I misquote–paraphrase?–Ogden Nash to myself (one thing I hate more than any other, is sitting in a dentist’s chair with my mouth wide open [….] against hope hopen), and wonder whether the tooth fairy leaves something for adults who have their teeth taken out mechanically (no, according to wiki, since the fairytale only works for baby teeth), and if she leaves half a dollar for adults who leave half a tooth under their pillow (see previous explanation).
Even after an hour of the-torture-that-is-both-physical-and-mental I’m not contrite; although I promise to myself that I’ll give up unhealthy tooth-decaying eatables. And the first thing I do when I get back home? I drink half a litre of an aerated, teeth-destroying drink. Like I said, nincompoop or synonym thereof.
I don’t think the dentist took out my sweet tooth after all, because a day later I was having a sizzling chocolate brownie for dinner. Yes, I learn nothing from my past mistakes.
A note to my by now disgusted readers: I really don’t have that bad a sense of oral hygiene, and I still have all my real teeth. My experiences in the dentist’s surgery have been exaggerated–ranging from slightly to extremely–in this blog post. Well, except the part where the dentist gave me a bland look in answer to my beautiful, ingratiating smile.
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Silhouette
Another example of “the best camera is the one in your hand”. Taken from my Sony Ericsson phone.
Supplication
A Muslim offering his daily prayer at the Jummi Mosque, Ahmedabad, India
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Up Close
Overrated!
I’ve lost count of the things that have been labelled ‘overrated’ in recent times. Sleep is overrated, life is overrated, blogging, taste, friendship are overrated. So now I’m officially sick and tired of the system of overrating.
Of course sleeping is not ‘overrated’ (which means ‘not worth it’ or ‘ given more importance than it deserves’); ask an insomniac if you think otherwise. Life is not overrated, and if you think it is, it means you are emotionally imbalanced and should take steps to get over your current life situation. In fact, I’ll oppose everyone who calls anything overrated; it’s such a pessimistic attitude! I believe every emotion, relationship, experience, and thing, is worthwhile. It might have a different level of importance for different people, but by itself, it is probably more underrated than the other.
Have people lost interest and faith in everything that is good; in themselves, the world? That they coolly demean everything from energy bars to existence? Or is this phrase just a mindless, meaningless fad, and will fade with passing seasons?
I fervently hope it’s the latter; because even if it implies that the masses are prone to mob behaviour, at least it also promises that sanity will return in future generations.
Miscellaneous 