Thursday, December 25, 2008
Xmass
Shoppng with mom was interesting- prices should be written large in order to be read by longsighted people. We drank free trial soup but resisted the offer in favour of soup made with fresh tomatoes.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Zila Khan
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Day 1
Aargh! Nothing's working. My Excel sheet got me less than 1 grand, adopt a plot got me less than half a grand. At least the gyan I read about being able to identify with MCs came in useful, as it led to my abandoning my adopted plot. I felt like writing a humourous story, so I've started that, but it's not funny so far.. and less than half a grand.
Have discovered I write in bursts, by the seat of my pants. At least poetry- even if it's just about my day- has that theme. But it's fun to be able to put keyboard to screen. Now all I have to do is say something meaningful:)
But it's a huge kick to see that dot on your graph- you've already done a grand, and are more than half way through to the next one!
Of course having bonsais is a bit of a downer when the idea is to grow a plant...let's see..
Maybe I can develop the plot as the story goes along..I love it when the story surprises you.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Up some dates
Hungarian music tap tap
Magic of Broadway rap
Diwali Mela melees
Play by Israelis
Columbian concert calls
If rice permits, to halls.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Mephisto's Manifesto
I'm really enjoying and learning a lot at the Muse Online Writers' Conference. Writing a novel no longer seems that scary. Using Excel to plot it, is the way I prefer to use Excel:) Although trying to blog everyday has helped me discipline myself as a writer, the flip side is that while writing sometimes, my blog style comes to me sometimes.
Still, I've managed to plot my novel's outline, logline and main characters' characteristics. I'm going to get down to writing everyday now, even if it's only 500 words a day- so that in some months I will have something substantial to look at.
Another spur is a coaching session with one of the writers at the conference- to discuss my problems with her, I need to write and have problems first:)
Although I read that core competency is at work in writing too- which is why Eliot is known more for poetry- it's difficult to imagine him as a novelist- at least one novel is in everyone.
As a couple of people a couple of years ago told me to write a book, I think I need to.
Last time I started, I ended up with a short story.
This time, I'm observing life around me from a writing point of view. Also, looking at writing differently- analysing while reading: why does this description work here, how has this author managed to hold reader interest.
All this also impacts my life- if a character is supposed to develop by the end of a novel, one does think of how one has developed(or not) over the years.
I had also forgotten writing's function of cohesion- now when I try to string my story together, I see the connections more clearly. Still have to get around to the imagination bit though.
In that sense, my poetry draws from life. I'm planning to experiment a bit with form now. Let's see.
Hopefully, putting this up will further motivate me to get going.
You hearing me, subconscious?
Need to work together again..:)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The New Century & the Dark Side of Globalization
Comic relief
Watched Namak Mirch- 4 short Urdu plays- hilarious. The Stein auditorium was packed. They covered a wide gamut of subjects- from matchmaking to taking digs at shayars to superstitions.
Comedy seems to go down well with Delhi.
Friday, October 03, 2008
An Old Friend Outgrew Me:(
Monday, September 29, 2008
To b-school
by Dorothy Parker
When I've made a million dollars—it may take a year or two
At the present rate of speed that things are going—
There are various little matters that are somewhat overdue,
And the prospect, at the moment, isn't glowing;
But as soon as I've a million, as I started in to say,
Life will be, I take it, gloriously happy;
For already I am planning to expend it in a way
That will be, if I may say it, rather snappy.
I will charter me a taxicab of cheery white and brown,
And you'll never catch me glancing at the meter!
And I'll make a little tour of all the milliners in town;
And the question is, Could anything be sweeter?
Just for stamps and lunch and cigarettes, each morn I'll draw a check
For a thousand dollars, payable to bearer,
And you'll hear the pearls a-clanking, as I drape them on my neck.
It occurs to me that little could be fairer.
It is true that a million doesn't take you very far,
And it's hard to find another when you've shot it;
But I'll blow it like the widely known inebriated tar,
For I want to be a good one while I've got it.
So the minute I've a million, I'll go right ahead and spend,
Though it doesn't last me more than over Sunday.
In the meantime, though, I wonder, as a favor to a friend,
Could you let me have a dollar—say, till Monday?
Gwendolyn Brooks
I've stayed in the front yard all of my life.
I want to go in the back yard now
They do some wonderful things.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Now & Next
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Yesterdemain
Watched a contemporary dance performance by Rashid Ansari yesterday. I liked the Japanese sword fighting sequence too. I was pleasantly surprised to see my College Math teacher Nandita Narain singing. She did some bird whistles too. Did sound like the earth bursting in spring- they were some instruments I had not heard earlier.
My heart is yours
What good is advice
I have drunk poison
What good is sugar
They say tie his feet up
What good is that
When it is my heart that's crazy?
'Tis true, 'tis pity. 'Tis pity, 'tis true.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The weekend so far
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Kairos
Big Brands & Facebook: Demographics, Case Studies & Best Practices
From: charleneli, 11 months ago
Just updated the PPT with demo data from Facebook.
SlideShare Link
Kairos
Social network websites: best practices from leading services
From: faberNovel, 9 months ago
This document provides a general background for understanding social network websites and the study of online matchmaking websites and business network websites
This study is only the first step. Distributed under creative commons license, it should be completed and improved through the contribution of external experts, firms and web users as major moves in the industry are expected to occur in the coming months
SlideShare Link
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
So true
Monday, September 08, 2008
Back, Bang Bang
The air here is polluted. It is hotter too, after the descent. (Incidentally, that is also how a shaadi.com user spells decent.)
Had a bit of a dharmic overdose- but otherwise I had a lot of fun- testing my limits, battling shoebite, trekking in torchlight..the works.
The first trek was easy- I was the first to complete it.
The Valley of Flowers was in another world, another time dimension altogether. the best part was no horses, so no horsedung. The flowers were in a majority, we were in a minority- just how nature intended things to be.
Hemkund Sahib was steep- the toughest trek I have attempted so far- so it felt good to complete it. i count completing a trek when we reach the ground, not the top- as the top is only half done.
The trek back was a breeze.
I liked the temple at Badrinath- a first. Silver. Also did a havan.
Bought wonderful woollens- handknit- from the source:)
A much needed holiday that refreshed me completely- also managed to lose some weight- so am planning to have fruits so as to not undo the good work done:)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Space, the final frontier
Astropohotography- uniting art and science- was the subject yesterday evening. Shutter speed, length of time the aperture is open and exposure are the parameters one can play with when one wants to shoot celestial bodies. A tripod with something to keep the shutter open is required, as one may need to keep the shutter open for 6 hours- stars move slowly across the sky.
The stars trails is visible as a curve. The partial solar eclipse at sunrise in Delhi 2007, with joggers in the foregound, had people thinking that the ones in the photo were running from the eclipse:)
Other out of the box ideas were leaving the parking lights on to get a reddish shade to a monument in the foregound of another photo of a star.
22 July 2009 ( maybe June) is when a total solar eclipse will happen in India. in Delhi, 85% of the sun will be covered. Patna, Vishakapatnam etc will witness a total eclipse of the heart.
Bepardah
Morning Walk
Sultanghari, where Iltutmish built a tomb for his son, was very majestic. Recycled stones with rough carvings of feet were the discovery of the day. Also, a well dating from 1418 & an inscription mentioning it's being built.
Bahadur Shah Zafar hunted hares here- the villagers did not let him hunt nilgai and later even deer. He would come from his palace in Mehrauli. Looks like Delhi's farmhouse custom is ancient:)
Indian Art Summit 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Rememberance of things past now
Epigram of Posidippos, on the statue of Kairos by Lysippos:
Who and whence was the sculptor?
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Monday, July 07, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Whopper tellers
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Adventure Island
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Dr. Jones Dr. Jones, calling Dr. Jones...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Dessert
Shopping
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Ed!
I've always felt education is the single biggest enabler anyone can have. Broadening it's scope is essential. Kids are bright, even when they are called slow or don't do well in class. It's often confidence or an inappropriate teaching method which is at the heart of the problem.
I love teaching because the results are so immediate- it's like producing brands, watching them grow and become independent. I'm usually learning hindi as a byproduct:)
Game khel raha hai
The May issue of HBR had an article on leadership's online labs. It's true, I've learnt a lot from games and do feel that simulations can motivate people to visualise themselves in roles involving greater responsibility.
How open companies would be to using games on a larger scale than they do, is the question.
In Defense of English Honours
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Goan Sunset
Sun streaked sand
Liquid gold drops of sun
Drip down the throat rills of sands
Sun butter spreads on
Octaves of waves.
It's been a while
Enjoyed reading friends' blogs so much I got in the blogging mood.
Watched an Italian play, Yerma- the music was very dancey. The freedom of the whirling washerwomen seemed in stark contrast to the daily life of women in reality. The uninhibited laughter may only be possible on stage. Otherwise, Yerma's feeling that she is filled with poison and bewailing the lack of a child got on her husband's nerves as well as ours.
Khamosh! Adalat Jaari Hai had us rolling in our seats. The indifference of the men to the pain of the woman again showed that this was a Vijay Tendulkar play.
Also went on a walk to the Hauz Khas monuments. Now whenever I pass them, my neighbours seem different, with stories and histories.
Ludhiana English, where I was called the Nupur, Tashan style, left me speechless.
Am thoroughly enjoying my new role: Planning- and touchwood, doing well in it too. It's fun to strategise, problem solve for clients, identify differentiators. It's blissful to finally be in advertising, notwithstanding the ungodly hours. Considering 80% of our waking time is spent at work, it makes sense to do something you enjoy. It's been a while since I worked hard and juggled multiple variables simultaneously.
Mangalorean cuisine is delectable, though the name of the mushroom dish escapes me. A Shetty I know called herself mangy:)
Spencer's is done up so well- I love the carts with cars.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Play
Friday, April 25, 2008
Beachcombing
Bangalore bus rides
Goa pool sides
Beer feni waves wallop
Spring rolls scallop
Paragliding jetskiing
Banana riding upturning
Sunset squelched sand
Deaf to work demands
Blissful dissipation
Divine recreation.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Plays Pleasant
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Time after time
Listened to a couple of choirs yesterday. One sang Hava Nagila...we had sung that fifteen years ago.
Am now officially feeling older:)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Energy
Hell and Illuminations, which showcased Rimbaud's poetry in dramatic form, opened with masked dancers. His poetry is very Romantic, his images sweeping and he also gave voice to Ophelia. We travelled all over seas with him, as he swept us along. He "has inherited from his ancestors, the Gauls, lust, magnificent lust. Sloth too."
The Indian dance movements which seemed to be interludes came across as forced, however.
डर के आगे जीत है
Friday, March 14, 2008
Ebrahim Alkazi: Life & Times
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pi
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Obfuscations
Claudio Magris's reading on love's grammar- love has no tenses, but many moods.
Moods and clauses are not my strong point, I generally skip them when teaching.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Jibber Jabber
Bei Dao's poetry was reflective, perhaps reflecting Chinese culture. I liked his images-like, the two brother hands of the clock made an acute angle.
Rushed home to watch Desperate Housewives, only to realise it's not a Sunday.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Useful Poem by Borges
After a while you learn the subtle difference
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And you begin to accept your defeats
And you learn to build all your roads on today
After a while you learn...
So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong
And you really do have worth...
And you learn and learn...
With every good-bye you learn.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Tipping Point
Think Amrita Pritam is more palatable in the original.
Tumhari mein haari
Puttar?
Monday, February 04, 2008
Biblio
I write nothings about the same
Only because I know you came.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Mahon, Masc.
His poetry, specially the fresh ones he read from Goa, made me feel good inside- after a very long time.
As a translator too, he captures the flavour of the original very accurately.
An Irish poem on a game of cards played between a man and a woman with brows “like two strokes of a pen”, the skull shaped coconuts of Goa, the ceiling fan that went “round and round” brought freshness back to age old subjects.
I like the way he rhymes with sense, his poems are deceptively simple but pack a lot of thoughts and ideas.
I’m looking forward to his return, perhaps at the Jaipur Literary Festival, which may be where the Irish Literary Festival goes next.
“Never a day without a line.”
Love dovetailed crow blows
Night bowtied, daggered days wane
Still bleeds weeds kama gardens
Tears on drip trip trickle steam
Chug hug lunge to the loam
That you feed, house louse.
Space, the final frontier surrounds me
I warm in the air you breathe out, see
Blanks confront this shooter from the hip
My gaps fill with sonnet lumiere trips
As tastes ash, pink stinks, press flesheaters.
As this sun spreads red across an inked sky
Sets, defeated, that this time too, met not yours
Hides from my wrath, the night consoles
With mere manmares to snare my soul.
As I watch her flail my soul
I stop myself from running to
Catch her before she falls
She is outside me and the world’s now.
As we trail knowledge from opposite bends
I wonder whether Columbus’s world is round.
We share a sun, not sunny signs
The moon shows us her same side
Stars lit up equal hemispheres
Can I hopscotch on them to there?
As my soul unwraps itself daily
For thee to see what I be
I strip, unpeel to reach the core
When I know you are the shore.
As I fill my joint days
With aphim that is not you
I highjump over curdled hurdles
Only to fall in night’s moonsweats.
Whether I pause the world
Or myself
I see the same.
Whirlpool eyes that sucked me in
Where I circle, learning to swim.
Warring with oneself
Defeats the purposeful.
My thoughts tiptoe around you
Scared to breathe you in life
When they clatter, mind loses matter.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Open Baithak Biradari featuring Bob Holman
Taught exchange rate in hindi-hope my student passes her boards. Some of what I teach is guesswork. Terrific strain on the brain.
Finally finished Zadie Smith's The Autograph Man- which I had bought at the last book fair. It had it's moments but I found it tough to read it for more than an hour at a time- which is unusual for me.
New coach at the gym is making me work out with a vengeance- feels good.
was also fun to meet a woman writer- Claire Kilroy with two others at the Irish Literary festival. Over red wine, I asked her whether she connected with women wroters differently. She agreed. Men write women incorrectly often, because they look at them differently.
I liked the reading of the children's book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas best. Think my attention span has not progressed much:) Another listener shared my sentiments, finding it the most readable. The Information Overload Age has had many side effects.
What struck me was that they write so much- 8 hours a day.
None of them read from what they had written on Ireland. The world writer now seems to be a reality.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The Hungry Spirit by Charles Handy
Coincidentally, it talks of how "In Africa, they say there are two hungers. The lesser and the greater. The lesser refers to food and sleep. The greater to the question Why?"
Titillation, often seen in art today, caters to the former. It was well treated by a Ruchika production I saw a couple of years ago, which I described and a team member agreed to, as being like a souffle. A frank discussion of family's different ways of coming to terms with their varying sexualities, it was funny without being heavy breathing.
Just laughed nonstop for a while, watching a friend chase two others around the lawn.:)
Look for the bear necessities
Mother Nature's recipes
Forget about your worries and your cares
The bare necessities of life will come to you.
Jungle Book.
Don't like the story I wrote any more much. But I had supreme fun writing it.