Boy oh boy! This Is Planet B-Boy

(B-boying/breakdancing is a form of hip-hop dancing. It is also a term used for a B-boy or a B-girl who is devoted to hip-hop culture.)

What an amazing documentary about how people from different parts of the world can come together in one platform and communicate with what they know best - B-boying. Since it is a little over an hour long, the doc. focuses on five teams who ultimately are the finalists at the Battle of the Year 2005 in Germany.

(Source: IMDB)

Most of the teams do not even interact with each other till the final day. There is always high tension as the competition is stiff but as you see each other dance in the end they cannot help but respect each other's craft and style.
Along with the scenes of awe inspiring body movements, the doc. also weaves in personal stories of some of the dancers from all the five teams. So, as you get to know the personal lives of some of the dancers, you actually feel the emotions of the dancers as they give in all their passion and dreams to their movements. While most of them are poor, shunned by "society" or a failure by most "standards", I think all of them have lived their dreams - of doing what means most to them. They may not be b-boying forever but I cannot help but be sure of the fact that this art they imbibed have made them a better human being. To dance like they do, you need dedication, commitment and love and in the process they learn just that; to be dedicated, to be committed, and to love.

A joke: How would a b-boy react if I wished him "Break a leg!"? I know it's lame! :D

Surfwise - Not Your Average Surf Movie

I made a Big cup of hot piping tea to relieve my sore throat and jumped on the bed to watch Surfwise. Listed as one of the best movies of 2008, I thought wow, another surf movie/documentary, let's watch the waves! I was very gladly wrong. What I discovered is this beautiful flawed family that Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, an MD from Stanford University engineered. He left the normal "comfortable" life and hit the road with his wife and had 8 sons and 1 daughter on the way to the beach. None of them attended school but grew up surfing and moving about in their 25 feet camper/home with a strict diet - no fat or sugar.

It is not a rosy picture that filmmaker Doug Pray paints. It is real emotions. The children are angry at their father for not giving them the "tools" and "skills" to thrive in the modern society. Their father agrees. The mid-80 year old father regrets that he did not give his children the choice that he had; a) leading a "decent" and "normal" life or b) leave the material world behind and go be one with the world/ocean - he chose b, his kids had no choice.
Irony is that they still wish that they had a choice but none of them would change a thing.

(Picture Source: Magpictures)
"Even a flawed family that sticks together is better than no family at all." - Joshua Paskowitz


This movie is thought-provoking and it moved me. Please watch - it is not just my obsessive love for the beach or surfing :)

And we be body surfin...

During the elections, this picture was posted on the lading page of Jack Johnson's website with the caption "I support Barack Obama, A leader with the Aloha Spirit.”
Alohaaaa baby! :)

Barack H. Obama - the 44th President of the United States of America

The world is affected by the United States of America because it is most powerful country in the world. Yes, with great power, comes great responsibility but does that mean that they should be perfect? Can they be perfect? I have listened to numerous U.S. bashing and beating and though almost all are true I cannot help but reason that along with great power, comes great criticism too. The U.S. is both loved and attacked just because it is in power.

But today, as I watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the most important man in the world, I am filled with pride with the human spirit that a son of an African immigrant stands tall as the 44th President of the United States of America.

Indeed, it has been a been a long walk for Barack Obama who has risen through the ashes of his ancestor's history. More than forty years ago, an African-American could not vote but this nation has shown that they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character by electing the son of an African immigrant as the most powerful man on earth. Dr. King's dream has come true today.

May God bless America and Barack Obama. He has a long, long way to go.

Holidays 2008

(This post was written late December in Nagaland and posted today in Hyderabad. I haven't been active as usual but Wow blogger has improved and how...love all the features!)

I am home for a month. Like always, each year is unique. Last year it was all about my nephew Aarak, since his brother was just a month old. This year I have the pleasure of being with my second nephew. He is 13 months old and already I can see his personality so different from Aarak, who turned 4 last month. These two boys are such joys to me and I cannot believe I am their second mom! I remember telling my sister to have only one kid because of the fact that she will have her hands full and all the blah about not being able to enjoy her ‘me’ time. I take it back! I cannot imagine life without either of my two nephews. But yeah, she is not having any more babies :)

Things are changing at home - there are more traffic, more shops and more activities around. However, one thing constant in Nagaland is that Christmas is always warm - free open concerts in almost every corner, carols in buses and a star in every house. I even got to see a Whitelion concert (with my older cousins, sister, their husbands and nephew(4) and niece(6) - yeah, imagine). Not that I am a fan but I remember their song "You're all I need" sung by almost every guy in school. So it was pretty awesome to actually listen through the horse's mouth!

I also met some old friends and acquaintances who I was not in touch with and realized how differently I felt; you'd never think at that point of time that you'll grow apart. This actually reminded me of an old literary class lecture about how art or a text does not change, but we do. I have changed, the way I look at life has changed and I guess that is why I don’t feel the same about people who I am not growing up with literally or virtually for that matter.

Travel wise I, "Loren" and her brother/my friend also drove up to Kohima which is almost three hours away. The drive was amazing – I actually felt like a tourist as we crossed through the mountains and streams and the little waterfalls amongst the greenery. See pictures below...we stopped to buy pineapples on the way up and down as well...they were so sweet and juicy!



Now, I am from Dimapur and this town is as plain as any city. So, technically though people gush about the mountains and the weather when I say that I am from Nagaland, I actually do not see the mountains and greenery except when I go toward Kohima and further. Otherwise, Kohima and every other area of Nagaland is all lush and green and all the splendor that comes with it – almost all my friends houses in Kohima are on hill-tops amidst the glory of the mountains and the greenery and to wake up to such a sight in the morning must be like a piece of heaven.

The only overkill factor - BBQ. I am not going to have another BBQ or attend any for the next six months! We had BBQ nights almost every other night - if it was not at Loren's place (pic below), it was at Kohima or at my place and I was always tending to it cause' I was the best tee hee :)

Happy new year everyone - may we always, always make the best of every situation - Cheers!

Tag@Mac

I got tagged from Mac. Honeslty, I blog almost all the time because he pricks me with all stupid comments like "You have a blog???" Hmmffffpppp Yes, I do have one! :)
Here you go...

1. If your lover betrayed you, what would your reaction be?
Oops, wrong door!

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
I don't know. I have so many that I probably will not end up making one.

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Go bonkers - buy a beach house and share the loot :)

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
If it happens, I think that will be the almost perfect relationship. But that hardly happens, considering the fact that he or she is your best friend you might not be attracted to each other or just might not want to ruin your friendship.

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Being loved is what we all want but loving someone is magic in itself. Our ability to love another person is what makes the world go round.

7. How long would you wait for someone you loved?
I hate waiting :)

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Dream about him for a week and then let go.

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Poverty.

10. What takes you down the fastest?
The third first gulp of LIT.
11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
A week ago I would have said probably still in the corporate world with a job I love. Now, nothing is for sure...I am in between dreams!

12. What’s your fear?
Growing old.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Mac is a nice, kind and a valuable human being. It is a blessing to know him :)

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
If poor means not being able to go to the beach then NO thank you very much. I'd rather be rich and single!

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Grab the paper and heat the water for tea!

16. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
If the love quotient is equal for both; I will pick the one who loves me more. Ta da! Now, IF that is also equal then the last resort will be to ask them to choose between the beach or the mountains. The Beach wins hands down! :)

17. Would you give all in a relationship?
Yes. But sometimes your "all" can be pretty small compared to what you are expected of :)

18. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
I can say yes because I have pretty much forgotten about all the "horrible" things that people might have done to me so far in my life. I get angry at that second and then weeks after I forget about it. Life is too short to just be brooding about things which are in the past.

19. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Single :) I know, I know being in a relationship is what we all are supposed to be driving at they say but is it really? I am doing great being single. Why mess it up!

20. List of people to tag:
Loren and Benz.

Surfing

Surfing is ridiculous. Ridiculously wonderful! It is being one with the ocean - literally.

I saw The September Sessions - a 2002 surf movie/documentary-like featuring the world famous Kelly Slater and other surfers with Kelly and Rob Machado doing the voice overs. This was my second surf movie so I could pretty much follow what they were saying and in what context. Thicker Than Water, another film by Jack Johnson was my first surf movie. I'd really wished Thicker Than Water had subtitles with the names and background every time they showed the surfers riding the waves or at least periodically. However, I think what worked me was that both the movies were raw, confusing, original and awe-inspiring! It was non-commercial.

Look at Kelly go for the big one! (print screen picture from the movie :)

In the movie, the surfers talk about how sometimes we get a chance of being alone but don't really enjoy the solitude. We don't even realise that we are addicted to living with people around us. I could really relate to what they said next about being able to enjoy moments of solitude especially when you are in the water, enjoying the surrounding, the temperature of the water, the birds flying by, and just looking around and all these things coming together which refreshes you. These moments are priceless - calms everything.

Surfing takes my breath away. It is beyond my comprehension as to what the surfers must be feeling at that moment when they are just On the tide or when they go Through them. The closest I could get to surfing was body boarding at Palolem - and I still cannot forget the feeling of "riding" the waves. I cannot imagine what you'd really feel when you actually surf. It makes my heart skip.

I am a total ocean babe and cannot wait to experience the waves again :)

Not a fan of surfing? Click here. This which will change your mind.

Jack Johnson Covers Rolling Stone!

zDear Jack on the Cover of Rolling Stone and how!

Please click here for the cover story.

And below is just another pic of me and "Loren" watching the sunset.

I tell you - it is so soothing to see it this way; does something to the soul....
No wonder Jack is so mellow!
Mahalo Jack! for your music and dreams :)

Palolem

I post this as I listen to Baz Luhrman's Sunscreen Song - I dunno if I like it or not....but please, please trust him on the sunscreen.

Palolem was everything I imagined and more.
Among the other things that we did; it was simply nice to just sit back after breakfast, for a game of scrabble at our shack and make moves with the sound of the waves.
Ain't life just sweet; I just found out that a dear friend of mine has written on our trip. Please click here for an elaborate and beautifully written write up on it :)



It is better than this!
I saw Dolphins for the first time in my life. Wow.
Me and "Loren" ; we are still nursing our black and blues after the excessive use of the surf boards.


Go visit if you just want to relax and catch up with friends or even celebrate your birthday like we did and yeah, if you are with some you are in luvvvvvvvv with, it is the best place to be! I envied my two very dear friends of mine :)
A very decent (nice!) crowd who mind their own business and just sleep, eat, relax and see life go by.

I was rejuvenated and Tanned
A very very happy birthday indeed :)


FYI:
Palolem is 1hour away from Madgoan/Margao
Do not book in advance; just go and Pick from the stretch of options across the beach
Do drop in at Butterfly Island and say Aloha! to the Dolphins on your way :)

The Beautiful Temperamental Six Yard

I started this year draped myself with lots and lots of chiffon!

I wore Saree for the first time in my life. The occasion was New Year's Party organized by our office for our 250+ group.

Kudos to all the +billion women in India/around the globe who wears Saree with such sheer ease and elegance.

I for one, along with her, was all over the place wherever I went. She was a separate entity; temperamental, snooty and proud and someone who absolutely did not like me at all.
In the first hour, I could hardly walk, so I lifted her many folds a bit higher than my ankle; my friends started chastising me.
Then I draped her loose end over and tied it across my waist; my friends came down on me again.
So, finally they pinned her against me; I still did manage to get smothered!

I gave up and after a glass of wine, I let her Be. She was free to do whatever she wanted to do.
Viola! She immediately liked the independence! We became the best of friends and swayed away to glory.

:)


Another attempt to revive thee blog! but I did have an amazing experience (though much later) wearing a Saree. Giving the Saree a personal touch because it is one of the most beautiful attire on earth and just did not feel like refering it to a mundane 'Saree'.
Here is me with her and my new found good friend N.

Happy New Year! /Book/Movie Review

Happy new year everybody!!! Sorry for the delay but I was busy with work :)

(This post is last year's which I never published. Just something to salvage by but a profound book and movie nevertheless.)

The Freedom Writers is a movie based on the 1999 non fiction book The Freedom Diary Writers by teacher Erin Gruwell. The movie is about how a teacher can make a difference and in many ways personalized for me of what a real teacher should constitute; someone who teaches from the heart. It's a movie about how a set of different students with much of a bitter past and difficult upbringing are placed in one classroom with a very misplaced teacher.


Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his journey through various Nazi concentration camps. The journey reading the 100 pages were memorable; each page for me was a celebration of being alive; even when you have lost everything; even when every ounce of what humanity is, was taken from you.


After more than 65 years of the testament of the brutality of mankind, Erin Gruwell asked her class, if anyone of them has heard about the holocaust. Many of these students had grown up in rough neighborhoods of Long Beach; a mix of African-American, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caucasian students. Only one white hand is up in the air. She asked again if anyone of them had been shot; All, except the one white hand is up in the air.


There in that one instant I came to understand why Frankl says that pain is relative to every man. I could have been callous and unashamedly thank God that I was not the one tortured in the many concentrations camps had I not seen All the hands raised who were shot at. They might not have heard or realized the tragedy of holocaust but their life has been their own holocaust. They have seen, felt and tasted pain.


To say, we just need real love to heal the world sounds feeble and unrealistic. But, if I am sure of anything is the fact that we do need real love to heal the world. Nothing else will work.

A Little Waltz

This is a sequel to Claytonia Vices' Before Sunrise. Thank you for empowering me :D

Maybe he has 1000 Questions he wants to ask. She just had to know one Question: Did he show up in Vienna that December?

He in a way immortalized her in his book and the book IS about her. She still falters to accept openly that the book is about her.

It’s been 9 years since they last met. Their lives way battered. Well, not like they were living in the streets or caught in a battlefield. But yeah, their lives have been through reality; a far cry from the magical space they created in the beautiful streets of Vienna.

Before Sunset is the most romantically realistic, witty, and personal movie I have seen. Life does not often roll out as we plan or we simply hurt at times. Celine and Jesse has gone through these moments and I 'd like to believe in my own world that both of them always came back to this moment in time that they had in Vienna. It's the past that is secured with all their wishful thinking, youth and imaginations.
It is funny but sometimes memories are so strong that you actually feel you have cheated time.
You want to seize that.

Celine: So, I want to try something.
Jesse: What?
Celine: [Hugs him] I want to see if you stay together or if you dissolve into molecules.
Jesse: How am I doing?
Celine: Still here
Jesse: Good. I like being here.

The movie could have gone really, really bad if they'd kissed in the boat or simply showed how their differences suddenly melts away since they are "together". They have enormous baggage of their own; both of them are fighting their own demons. They talk and talk, pronounces philospohical stands but really never solve or repair any damage. They can at most think that as they have matured, they are better "equipped", not to repair the damage, but to accept it.

Jesse loves his wife but feels that he is actually running a nursery. Celine is involved with a war photographer who she meets occasionally. I'd like to think again that Celine is happy with him, but she's never been able to connect with anyone as much as she did with Jessie at that moment in time. Each time a relationship failed or felt something was amiss, both of them always used their moment in time as the yardstick.

Maybe it is a mirage. It was a day of wonder in Vienna and they didn't have to deal with the fights and misunderstanding that comes along with every relationship. It was the perfect day.
Lucky for them; they just had one day.

I hope Jesse catches his flight and not stay back for the little party at Celine's courtyard....not eat the delicious Garbanzo Bean Pasta that the woman is going to prepare...not dance with Celine among the lantern lit courtyard...not laugh at the French people making fun of him in French...I hope he does catch his flight!

But you know what, the heart wants him to stay.
:)

Tag3: I Like

I have been stale in the blog world yet again. Thank you Divyan (again!) for saving my day. I love tags; you at least have some kind of direction that you have to follow :)

There are more then 10 things I like in this world for sure. Here are some of my immediate likeness or say some of the things or days which makes my life a day simpler and nicer to look forward to another day.

MMTS: I love MMTS. It saves my sanity EVERDAY. When I first joined my present company at HITEC City, we had shuttles and cab plying for our transport from different pick up points. It is torturous going through the traffic of Begumpet and Panjagutta circle around the 9-10:30 AMs lot where everyone in Hyderabad seems to be heading towards HITEC only. I used to reach office feeling as if I'd just returned from a short trip out of town. Then after a month someone introduced to MMTS which takes me tops 25 minutes to reach office! Now, I take the MMTS train from the necklace road station everyday. I go in 5-10 minutes early just to sit and stare at the lake. It just makes my day :)

Friends coming over: I still have some couple of friends who are research students at my old institute and I love having them over at my place. Just cooking, spending time, laughing at silly things, yapping away to glory, and going oh hum about our age at the end of the night are priceless moments that I am going to forever treasure. It won't be long before all of us embark on different directions in life.

Fresher's Day: Every year our church organizes a fresher's day for the students/new families /professionals who come to Hyderabad. It is that single year of the day where we all come together on a nice sunny day in a park and make the freshers welcome amidst fun, food and frolic. I am all 25 but man
man it didn't deter me and my other friends from scurrying around like mad playing games. What with all the little things going on in my life, I unexpectedly had so much fun that day! Here is me and Ase, supposedly under an umbrella but I still got tanned!

Songs:
Bap Kennedy - Moonlight Kiss: I have seen the movie Serendipity for like 10 times over the course of 5 years. Thanks to Zee Studio and Hallmark for always repeating the show! There was this haunting song in the movie that I could never forget and I rekindled it by chance browsing through a friend's songlist. Now, Bap Kennedy - Moonlight Kiss is always on repeat. Amazing song!

Sting -Fields of Gold: Sting has been around since the time I knew music. Just realising his amazing journey from the Police days of "Every breath you take" to "Desert Rose" shows what a consistent artist he has been. I am not a Big fan but you cannot deny the greatness of an artist like Sting. I can't help but wonder how someone can write a song like "Fields of Gold" and then sing it to perfection like he does. Mankind is a marvel indeed :)

I Likes:
I like being in control of my life. Well, most of the time my life is anything but in control but I love the feeling of coming to my senses, taking a deep breath, realising that it's still ok and then smiling about it.

I like my new place. Life's pretty much changed for me the past 5-6 weeks. I used to live in this beautiful and spacious apartment with 5 of my girlfriends. We’d signed the lease for a year and it suddenly seems that the end of the lease poignantly signified our fate. We all had different plans; studies, change base, stick to present jobs etc. Now, me and another friend who decided to stick with our jobs got another apartment since we were so stuck up to share with anyone besides the people we knew and “trust” and well being stuck up means you do pay a price!
Anyways, the new place is not as swanky as the previous one but I somehow like it better. It's more homely and less complicated :)

mmmm I also like Facebook! It' s not open as Orkut or redundant as HI5. And the little things that you can do like playing quiz, buying virtual drinks and gifts for friends, asking random one liner questions etc are really cute.

The Vine gives me my daily bread these days and somehow, someway it always brings me to the ground :)

Now, I can't think of anymore random stuff to write :P

God's own country indeed.

The land of coconut and men in umbrellas has enchanted me beyond my expectations.
The first brush with Kerala, I’d like to believe, began with Anton, our enchanting driver for the entire trip from Cochin to Munnar and beyond. He was this crisp white shirt kind of guy with his striking mustache and a smile that made me smile!
Cochin’s bus drivers are mad; otherwise it was quite a nice and small bustling city. Anton made the sweep through the mad traffic as smooth as he could.



The second taste of Kerala still lingers in my mouth; Toddy, beef and more fried beef! Anton stops for Toddy at his friend’s shop on our way to Munnar. He also gets us fried beef and marachini ( mashed Tapioca) served in banan leaves. I almost cried! Best fried beef ever and awesome marachini which I almost made it my staple food!
About Toddy, I was a bit reluctant as I’d heard that it tasted like rice beer that we get back home and I am not a very big fan of that. However, I take a small sip and another sip again and again and again…. Yeah get the picture? :D

We stayed at Whispering Meadows which was an ok place and actually 10 km away from the main town; just like the way we’d wanted. It was hard to believe that I actually slept with the lull of crickets and other 101 sounds we hear from the woods....It still feels surreal to me after coming back to the city and comparing it to the jarring shrieks of vehicles.


In Munnar, the scenic pleasures just kept gettin better and better...

Then we went to Kolukkumalai: Highest tea estate in the world!

Anton had already made arrangements for us to go and visit the highest tea estate in the world. I was a bit reluctant as I thought it would be like any other tea estate...but boy was I wrong! It was one of the most amazing place I'd been to.

Our mode of transport was this very sturdy jeep with a very proud owner. Varghese was a Civil Engineer who had decided to start his own thing. It was pretty amazing to see him beam and speak about the jeep so proudly and the way he'd built up his small tour operations. Sad is the fact that I couldn’t register in the kind of engine, etc etc that he went on and on about. The romantic in me just rem’bers that he had to go all the way to Trivandrum to get this baby.

(We saw many huts which was built during the time of the British rule.)

The ride was BUMPY but the views kept me in awe. Reaching the top, we could see one part of Tamil Nadu on one side and Kerala on the other side. The amazing fact was that the weather was different in both the states and we could actually see that in one single frame.

Now, I ll let the pictures speak for itself...

Sigh ain't it beautiful? :)

You know, I have learnt one thing from this trip. The generalization that the people from the hills are naturally warm and nice people? is so very true! :)

Aerosmith and more...

Steven Tyler is a showman! His zest and zeal for life shows in his performance! I am not an ardent fan of Aerosmith but I grew up listening to their music. It was awesome seeing them perform live and I was just about standing 10 feet away from the showman himself! He had LICK ME tattooed (must be mehendi!) on his lower abs and yeah he wore a Pink hat :P
They opened with Taste of India…went on to Crying…Falling in Love…Dream on…Jaded... I was eagerly waiting for Crazy and Janie’s Got a Gun but the concert ended with I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.
So, that’s somehow the good part of the show on the whole.

On the other side of this is the story of Penny Lane trying to get a glimpse of the rock star amidst thousands of fans who would kill and even fly to get closer to him as much as possible! I swear I was not standing on the ground. I was on somebody’s shoes! So after the fifth song some of us decided to call it quits and found our way at the back to breath again. It was excruciating trying to get past the grunting fans who had decided to fix themselves on to the ground for the entire part of the show.

Penny Lane: Excuse me…oops (smiles)…sorry…sorry… (smiles)...sorry…
Fragile Man: OUCH! Your Heels! (Penny Lane STARES at the Fragile man)
Penny Lane: I Am Wearing Sneakers.
(Fragile man is lost for words, Penny Lane Smirks and moves on in life.)
(Background: Snicker, snicker, hee hee, snicker…)

We go right at the end. It was still crowded but I could at least stand on my own Sneakers :)

Bangalore is an awesome place. The right amount of laziness, heat and maximum cool people. EXCEPT for the traffic. It can be quite an ordeal.

Places to shop!: Tibetan Plaza, Commercial Street and MG Road.
Places to chill: Pecos and Opus (AMAZING!).
Confession: Concert became secondary. I had more FUN otherwise :)



(Pic: Parking lot of Opus :P )

Tag2: HAVE YOU EVER.......

Here's a long list of Have you evers...
(Courtesy : My Blog Manager)

Smoked a cigarette?: Yes. Peer Pressure! Didn’t like it that much actually but it seemed cool those days. I remember my spirited and intellectual bengali ma’am who taught us Abhijñānaśākuntalam on the lawns of our college.
She said , “Only uncultured people smoke.” Ouch!

Crashed a friend's car?: No.

Stolen a car?: No!

Been in love?: Yes.

Been dumped?: Oh yes. I rem’ber…poor me. I was in school and I wanted to marry him…my aim and aspiration in life! He dumped me for this girl grrr lol.

Shoplifted?: mmmm NO! (I thought I did…I was pretty naughty).

Been in a fist fight?: with my brother when we were kids!

Sneaked out of your parent's house?: LOL Yes! It’s so embarrassing now!

Been arrested?: No

Gone on a blind date?: No. I like guys who can see :)
The idea of "fixing up" don't appeal much to me. My favorite movie is but Before Sunset :)

Skipped school?: Oh yes. Me and my girlfriends bunked school to go and sit in this dingy restaurant to have momos (dumplings). We were of course caught and grounded.

Been on a plane?: Yes. I do not like flying on a plane, neither the train nor do I like the bus! I like travelling in a car with ample space around me and MUSIC!

Seen someone die?: Yes. The air that we breath is powerful. I saw that split-moment where a person makes a transition from this life to the next. Life is amazing.

Purposely set a part of yourself on fire?:
Well I think my hair. Someone said I could cure split ends like that. I stopped being gullible after that.

Been jet-skiing?: Yes. Course someone took me...the moment he’d speed up I’d turn off the ignition. I was SO SCARED.

Met someone in person from the Internet?: Well....No but Oku thinks I did.

Taken pain killers?: Yeah I guess. I was a sick kid.

Flown a kite?: Maybe I held one after it was flown by someone else.

Built a sand castle?: Yeat but it was nothing like a castle. The last time we were in Goa we built a shape of a woman over a woman’s body! :)

Gone puddle jumping?: Yeah of course.

Cheated while playing a game?: Yeah card game. But I’d let them know afterwards.

Been lonely?: Yeah I guess…I just can’t remember now.

Fallen asleep at work or school/college?: Yes...classes post-lunch were a struggle.

Used a fake ID?: No.

Felt an earthquake?: Yes.

Touched a snake?: No…so slimy!.

Slept beneath the stars?: Yeah but did not fall asleep.

Been robbed?: No.

Been misunderstood?: I think we are misunderstood everyday of our lives by someone or the other.

Won a contest?: can't remember...

Run a red light/stop sign?: I would stop even if I see a big truck 1km away and still I nearly killed me and the guy who was teaching me how to drive.
His face! I can still see his face…he looked so weird…lol

Been suspended from school?: No.

Been in a car accident?: Yes. This girl didn’t know how to drive!

Walked the streets drunk?: na.

Had déjà vu?: Yeah almost quite everyday.

Danced in the moonlight: Yes.

Witnessed a crime?: Yes.

Squished barefoot through the mud?: Yes

Been lost?: Yes I am BAD with directions. I plan to do soemthing about it. I will soon :)

Been on the opposite side of the country?: Some…need to explore more.

Swum in the ocean?: The beach.

Cried yourself to sleep?: Yep.

Played cops and robbers?: YES. Nothin can beat childhood days!

Recently coloured with crayons?: a year ago…

Sung karaoke?: Na. I am not so confident about my vocal chords.

Paid for a meal with only coins?: mmmmm

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?: So many times…

Made prank phone calls?: Oh yes...When I was in school me and my friends used to call up our crushes.
Hello?
Can I talk to cute-guy's-name?
(Background)giggle giggle...here take the phone...no no i won't...thud...gimmme the phone
gimme the phone...wait....thud...click.
Hello? Hello?

Caught a snow flake on your tongue?: Na...how does it feel like?

Written a letter to Santa Claus?: I don't remember....

Blown bubbles?: Yes.

Bonfire on the ibeach?: Well I didn’t actually make it or sit around it but we went to this beach-side restaurant the first time we went to Goa. They had made a bonfire nearby…lovely.

Cheated on a test?: Test in school meant a lot of neck-craning and copying the wrong answers cos you were not confident about yours. Also, it meant a lot of misleading answers going through you too.

Gone skinny-dipping in a pool?: No. Oku wants to go though!

Been to an Aerosmith concert: No but I will on June 2nd!
:)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I recently went to see off my friends who were my juniors in CIEFL. We shamelessly took pictures outside the departure area oblivious to curious bystanders. I wonder about the power of pictures and how it can capture memories or even the essence of by-gone moments. As I looked at them, I realized that I wouldn’t have remembered all the little jokes or laughter that we shared that day if the pictures were not taken. I felt sad seeing them go. It was their end of something but otherwise also a new beginning.
Here is me with my favorite juniors....

I got me new shades. I love em :)

The one to the extreme left is Ashu a.k.a Trinity. I have known her for like 4 years now. She is one of my best friends; a bagful of surprises and lots of funny incidents and walks have cemented our relationship very nicely. We will be meeting in November this year in Goa.
Yes, she’s a Goa fanatic like me.

2nd from left is Aku. I never got a chance to interact with her personally but she is among the people who I would have liked to have known better. The funny thing is that both of us share two best friends and I am sure that just as I hear tid bits about her she also gets to hear about me.
I believe that as good friends we all bear testimonies for each other and my two best friends bore testimony for us.

Beni is on the extreme right. What can I say about Benz! She is my soul sister when it comes to music and similar clothes! We have a lot of similar stuff that it’s weird sometimes. Though I also didn’t get to interact with her personally also, it’s been fun discovering that we are both crazy about Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. Among all the people I know she’s the only person who I can gush/go on and on about JJ/BH and know that she is as interested as me!

Coming soon: How Penny Lane Rocked with Aerosmith! Yipeeeeee :)

Two Week's Break

I was home for a long 2 week's break. It was great to be with my nephew. He's going to be 3 this November and he calls me by name! (In our custom, nephew/nieces or any of the younger lot has to call their elders in a different manner; it would be like adding a respected prefix before a name.) Even if we correct him, he'd grin and still call me by name. I think I have never liked anyone call my name as much as I like him call me. Yeah it sounds corny….like I don't want it to! :)

It was comforting and nice to be in the surrounding that you grew up in. Dimapur is rapidly becoming crowded; with more traffic jams (!), high rise buildings and shops practically in every corner. The first time I went to Hongkong Market and Hazi Park: I went beserk. I wanted everything in sight. My sis was amazed at my excitement. I bought 7 pairs of shoes the first day and 6 more the next time around. Of course it was not ALL for me; half of them were for my friends. By price it was dirt cheap compared to Hyderabad malls and by style, far far superior!

Now that practically every shop owner goes to Bangkok, Nepal, Singapore etc., it truly is a shopper's paradise. Hail cheap airfares! :)

What surprised me was that I'd forgotten that pork was 100/- per kg! This in no way guarantees that you even get a kilo! A 100 kilo pig will disappear in one hour. I swear.
My dad and his wife came down from Kohima (Capital of Nagaland) and he wanted to buy me pork. (Yeah, everybody knows my love for pork). There is always a shortage of pork around town so we went straight to Bokajan, Assam which is 40 minutes away from Dimapur. (Dimapur is the commercial hub of Nagaland which borders the state of Assam on the west and north).

Once we reached pork land, I was surprised to see a line-up of vehicles and so many people hovering around pockets of stalls. I chuckled. All the vehicles bore Nagaland registered number plates; All the customers were Nagas!
Yeah we love pork that much :)

I also met my 94 year old grandma. She looks lonely now that she is partially deaf. She shed a tear as she remembered my mom. I felt bad. I don't want to live that long. I don't want to be dependent. I want to go from this world peacefully, painlessly and not be dependent.

While coming back I met an old acquaintance/friend who was on his way to Delhi (We still don't have direct flights, everything is via Kolkatta). He tells me now that on Mondays Sarojini Market offers clothes for 10/- Yes 10! I definitely foresee myself in Sarojini on one of the future hot swaltering Mondays. If anything at all, besides my old friends, what I miss most in Delhi is Sarojini Market! Otherwise I am forever trying to prove to my colleagues from Delhi that Hyd is a much better place. They still sneer at me.
My friend also tells me that he is going to run a national fashion magazine soon: First possible job opportunity.

Interestingly, I sat next to a 50+ man. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I could make out that he was a govt. official from the conversation he had with another guy in front.
He was on his way for a business summit in Delhi. I pretended to sleep but we ended up having a truly refreshing and stimulating conversation. It's always nice to gain knowledge from elders, who have been there and done that kind of thing. I never realized that our Government was trying so hard. I though they were all snoozing away.
Talking to him made me re-realize my old dreams: Two other possible job opportunities.
One was to be part of a soon to be thriving private sector in Nagaland or to get into service like him in order to make a difference.

Being a girl and of the "marriageable age" I got a lot of blah blah blah. I went prepared for the onslaught. There were actually 2 battles for me: The marriage factor and the state civils exam. Every parent I came across went on and on about the civil exams and how there is nothing like it. I could not even begin to explain to them how things are different. So I just shut up and nodded my head like a million times.
And every aunt I came across talked of marriage as if it was the only thing left for me to do!
But it was sheer fun telling some of my nosy aunts and cousins that I don't want to get married and serve my husband and forget that I have a life too. But yeah you can't just dismiss all. There are some people who say things and you just have to sit up and take heed.
You don't agree with them but you know where ALL that is coming from and so you understand.

Is’nt my nephew just adorable?
I miss him.

Eats, Shoots And Leaves

Personal opinion says that it’s (notice the punctuation please) a crime to write a review for a book without reading the whole book. I read half last night and will definitely finish it tonight. But my Oku says TODAY is the day I post one and also I 'm itching to post the back cover! So here it goes...

It’s phenomenal! (Please notice the punctuation again and kindly excuse my enthusiasm :))

I came across Lynn Truss’s (mind the punctuation yet again; it would have been different if her name were Jesus) book, Eats, Shoots And Leaves a year ago. I read the back cover hurriedly, frowned and moved on with life. Now, I am kicking myself for not reading it a year back! I would have at least known where to use my “it’s” and “its”!

This is in the back cover and it wonderfully illustrates why/how she chose her title:

A Panda walks into a café. He orders a Sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air."Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

So, punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.
This is the zero tolerance guide.

Grammar/Punctuation classes were always dry, boring and a sore in school. This book is about that but so far, I have never enjoyed reading a grammar book, if you will, like this.

My grammar/punctuation does go haywire, which showed in most of my assignments' reviews from my second-most favorite professor. His comments always went like this: “Good work(ahem!)….but watch your grammar….” Maybe this is why, even though I slogged and slogged, the highest grade I got from him was A-. Well, but he was known to be picky with his grades and a stickler for Perfect Grammar :)

I am NOT going to look back through my blog to see where I went wrong . If I did, I’d kill myself. Actually, I should be Hacked as Lynn Truss points out. She says that “No matter that you have a PhD and have read all of Henry James twice. If you still persist in writing, ‘Good food at it’s best’, you deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave.” A bit extreme huh?
There are lil' instance like these in the book and you can't help but chuckle.

Quiz

Q: Why were the kids afraid to go to Giant Kid’s Playground?
Answer: ?

You’d probably know the answer if you are not as ignoramus as me or if you have read the book OR if you look it up in the net.

Hint: A friend's answer: "....becos he said Trespassers will b Persecuted" :)

Who is he?

Believe me, I would have answered the Q point-blank if someone told me that it's something to do with the apostrophe!

A few years ago, this did make me sit up and realise the importance and greatness of Punctuation!...er for a while :)

"A woman without her man is nothing."
"A woman: without her, man is nothing."

Disclaimer: My smiley, wherever applicable, is my period :)

Valentine Valentine

Past
Some years ago, a guy called this girl on 14th Feb from a convenience store/petrol station where they were getting some food for their road trip or something.
He said “...mmm Happy Valentine’s Day…but you know I don’t believe in that stuff because everyday is Valentine’s Day for me…with you"
awwww AWWWW :)
Now don’t ask me who this guy is. Guys like them exist no more or better still guys like my Oku are busy wasting their money sending flowers to someplace that his florist can't even pronounce! :)


Present
She along with this really worked up girl was coming back from a Clear-Your-Doubts meeting with a counterpart from another department.

She: "So what you doing tomorrow"?

Worked-up-girl: “Tomorrow? Gosh I have so much to do. Need to review like millions of documents for this project and you know the problem…” blabber blabber blabber...

She gave the How-can-this-girl-be-so-stupid-look and said , “I meant TOMMOROW…Valentine’s Day! TOMMOROW”

Worked-up-girl: “What?? TOMMOROW is 14th Feb so today must be 13th???”

She looks at WUG: Duh!

Yeah this is how I ushered Pre-Valentine’s Day.
Next morning I wake up and decided I don’t want to be alone as much as I say that I don’t care for the day. Called up girlfriends and they needed the same shot as me. I got out an hour early from office (I work till 8!).
Some of my colleagues thought I was goin to meet a friend as opposed to friends...mmmm I dont't know why people think that the other person is always attached especially when you are my age.
Yeah yeah I know...who cares! hee hee

Traffic was horrible horrible and the auto guy was complaning as if it was my fault!
That loser! :)
So I turned up the volume of my headfone and ignored him.


By the time I got there, they were already at Indi Joe's. It was packed with young lovers to middle age to old cute couples. Guess four of us were the odd ones.
(Penny Lane recommends this restaurant to anyone who loves sizzlers. Also, though they don't have a varied selection, the salads are awesome)
Then we went to this palce called Firangi Panni (What a weird weird weird name!)
For the early hours they played retro...well it gets yawn after sometime..
Much to my friend's dismay, they started playing hip hop by 10:30 and then the real fun began.

We had a Blast!
Danced away to glory!



With Ase (Ashu aka Trinity and Maha missing): Who is always dressed to kill with her awesome hair; the mother of all women; and the person who is after my life to make me wear a dress everytime. Well I don't look so bad myself eh :)

Hope next year I have a happening Valentine's Day too!