Mmandarmani

Had a very restful break this time in Cal. the two long weekends saw get triple the days off that I had taken:) Mandarmani beach was beautiful- you can drive the car on the beach. Our hotel too was on the beach.
Takes me a week to get used to being at home with family. Missing my folks now.

Inglourious Basterds

I really liked the film. The subtle menace of the lead villain, the build up by the New York Times Review, the unique experience of watching a film by a living legend on the big screen, in real time. The cinematography was excellent, the circling shots, the music, but I thought it could have been better edited. It was fun giving Hitler what he should have got.

Singing Singapore's Praises

It started with a Singapore sling

Learnt, lived, loved the fling

With the city, the seminars, the speakers.

Neat and clean roads laid out, Sentosa stunned

In the habitat of fishes & dolphins plunged.

Veg sushi Vietnamese, dessert before second course

No space for the second dinner, अफसोस

We spiders wove our way through the agencies network

Tattooed, watched an MD dunked topless, smirked

Awards were glitzy, glammy, and afterwards

Purplehaired, we sat on the purple sofa

Rupee room, Clarky's beat a desi dil

Where we danced the wee hours till

Red carpet withdrawal syndrome struck

A world exposed to, I want to go back

To that time, place, people that's fading away

Not letting me be, when I see the snaps gay.

Rain pain

Feel like writing an essay on a rainy day, like we used to in school. Should've stayed in Gurgaon yesterday, or at least left my laptop in office. Got lucky- took an auto to Ladosarai, walked to Ahinsa Sthal, took a relatively empty bus which stood at Ahinsa Sthal for half an hour, but then gethered speed. There was waterlogging along the way, but managed to reach office in two and a half hours- pretty decent.

Attendance is low though. Left my bag on a bus, but a Good Samaritan pointed that out.

A Sing a poring we will go

I am so excited about attending Spike! Was shortlisting seminars, planning where to go in Singapore, what to buy. Santa Singh's definitely come early this year:) Am saving up money, although there isn't much time. Hope I can extend my stay. Looking forward to networking, experiencing Singapore by night, the awards, the workshops, the talks, the accents...

Weekend with a wham

The Medicine Show was very refreshing yesterday. Venue mismatch continued, but I guess performers' comfort comes first. The stand up comedy had us in splits.

Sang at All Sports Bar- Always by Bon Jovi. Karaoke solo is something else- you stop for breath and realise the voice has stopped. I barely knew the lyrics too, so was feeling very born in the USA types.

Made papri chat- hunger will work wonders. Was good and felt a sense of achievement too. Motivation to entertain.

Crystal gazing

Crystals--the scientific back up could have followed the experience. i did feel lighter afte encountering them. Sometimes too far out though. Obsidian and smoky quartz's suitable for screen grazers...here I come.

@#$%

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

hi namaste नमस्ते

Baarish

Went for the play reading The Strange Case of Billy Biswas. The strength of the book lay in it's descriptions, which highlighted the lure of the jungle. From a dramatci perspective, it slowed down the action.

I liked The Blue Umbrella- the umbrella was indeed very beautiful. The tale was engaging too, not merely for children.

The muppets at the Monsoon Festival were also riveting.

I also enjoyed An Inconvenient Truth- although there were too many images of Al Gore for my liking. The screening was in a smaller room than the auditorium where The Blue Umbrella was shown, the people were less and so too hopefully were the carbon emissions:)

Check your carbon footprint on climatecrisis.net.

The music program in the evening was also very refreshing- with Suchet's shamanic drum and other previously unseen, unheard and unknown instruments.

Kartik Baul's music was lilting in parts.

We rounded off the evening with wine on the house, courtesy the American centre:)

Serious Play

Western classical

The music program at IHC yesterday was very refreshing for the soul. Also a refresher with French and Italian guessing. Didn't have the same impact in English:)Worth the long ride.

I

Caferati's Godawful Poetry Fotnight- a baker's dozen of days- begins today.

Well, Godawful poetry to me would mean forced rhymes, trite emotions and just generally...bleh.

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2009/08/son-of-godawful-poetry-fortnight-19th.html#3758941225409206053



Godawful Poetry Fornight has begun
Time to let blessedly go, tum tum.

Kaminey liked, like called to like
Earfuls the next day, let's strike.

Boredom wars with logic here
How to writers keep me there.

Maids and cooks made havoc
Gym gayi, cleaned bugs adhoc.

Ageless aunties

Artful, artless aunties attacked
My attempts at guessing their age.
Lively, full nautanki, lip smacked
Glossy, faces with character's page.

Does it matter?
Endless chatter
Outside, inside, besides
Aging gracefully's better
Than not aging at all.

Babes with serene, seraphic expressions
Aunties with wide eyes, mock innocence
Bejamin Button
Has competition.

The weekend that was

Liked Curious Case of Benjamin Button and also Love Aajkal. Good to see a hindi movie trying to be more realistic. The contrast seemed sharper when compared to the 60s typically filmi love story. Only when the movie is over do you realise how wafer thin the storyline was.

Also read the Science of Influence via torrent- good read; a change in environment leads to a change in behaviour...very true.

Saturday night bacardi fun...I do still have a life:)Homedulgence.

Shopped more...USI always has pickable stuff.

AAAA Future Of Planning Zj

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

AAAA Future Of Planning Zj

View more documents from Zeus Jones.

Was checking out the open course ware at MIT online today...the philosophy section. Tough to follow- seem to be saying the obvious once you've waded through the jargon...

Also read some of their lectures on writing short stories-useful stuff- but tough to follow--bit like how I would feel if someone asked me to paint:)

Enjoyed the performance by Shaw's Corner on Sunday at the Habitat.

The concert there by Swaratma on Saturday was also good. The lyrics were social cause related and the music was very danceable-- very different from the usual Hindi music available. The guitarist singer switched from English to Bihari with complete ease.

The YP seems a tad yuppie--but as long as good work is being done, why crib.

Went shopping at sales on Sunday after a long time- felt very very good.

Mehendi rang layegi...

Was fun having a friend over on the weekend.

Final Poll- Please answer in the comments section- Thanks !

Post Awareness Survey:
1. In India, is it possible to get Braille on your visiting cards? Yes/No
2. Do you know of an organisation called Esha – People for the blind? Yes/No
3. Would you like to/have u visited the Esha website?

The Road Behind, Now, Ahead

Am reading the Road Less Travelled & Beyond by M.Scott Peck. Says a lot of things which make sense, although he focusses too much on The Man Above for my taste.

The need to think, is something which most people neglect to simplify their lives. The capacity to tolerate uncertainty is also a skill which may come with time.

The willingness to welcome pain as an opportunity to grow emotionally is also something we shirk. What's the point of studying something we are good at? True. For a change, yes.

More as I continue reading it.

Other gems I picked up at Landmark- Adland; Truth, Lies & Advertising; Crowdsourcing.

Courtesy a small discount voucher from Citi & my points.

Some consolation for a wasted trip to Gurgaon on Saturday- the meeting scheduled there ended up being in Delhi.

Habitat movie

To kill a mockingbird- the movie- is much tighter than the book. The book had it's own charm, a bildungsroman of Scout. Gregory Peck as the restrained Atticus Finch stole the show. He picked up an Oscar for this role. Stein auditorium was as packed as when Harry Potter 6 was premiered.

Uncoupling

Was reading about families today- and how couples are complementary. That is both the source of the attraction and also the frustration.

It's nice when what you think is borne out by science- all conflicts can be resolved positively if both parties wish to work at the problem.

Also, with children we tend to go off at the other end- behave at the other extreme from how our parents treated us if it was a dysfunctional relationship- but it is suggested that one goes back to the original characters- the parents- and is more assertive with them.

Esha- for the blind

When we walk in the dark, we feel helpless. We also empathise with those who must live their lives in darkness. I remember my batchmate, pankaj, who was visually challenged, but still got a first division in the first semester of business school. He spoke with authority, and sensibly. he was finally placed with IBM and is now happpily married and a father too.

Who are the blind people who have touched your lives? Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder, John Milton...

Esha, an organisation for the blind, attempts to sensitise us to their world- they organise the printing of Braille visiting cards, theatre workshops run by the blind, accessibility audits for organisations to evaluate how blind friendly they are.http://www.braillecards.org/I've seen one of these Braille visiting cards, but I just thought it was an innovative design...I didn;t realise that it was Braille.

Tactile maps- green velvette paper to signify forest cover etc- is another interesting idea ocvered in their blog http://eshabraille.wordpress.com/

There's a science to the nebulous feeling of being happy

The world today

Reading Naomi Klein is akin to one's fasciantion with the macabre...it is intensely depressing but still one is compelled to read on...the horror, the horror of Chile, Argentina, Britain, Russia, Iraq, South Africa...

One wonders why this is not covered in the general press...I am once more reminded of how American our view of the world is...reading about countries whose culture we know little about, only sharpens the blurry picture they have in our mind; to some extent.

Money truly governs the impression you create.

Japonais

Learning Japanese is so artistic;)

Why You Need to Fail

Why You Need to Fail

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Learning

You Learn
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn...
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
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.

Books Binge

I finished A star called Henry by Roddy Doyle..a very interesting subject. Ireland during the civil war period. History seems so much more personal when lived through a particular person's crises.

Also read Galileo's daughter--about a very interesting man and his fervently religious daughter and their bond. As this was a biography, that too dealing with science, it did not move me as much as the first one did. It was enlightening reading more about Galileo and his struggle to be believed.

Am now reading the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klien-- a very powerful tome which exposes the hypocrisy of Western lending institutuions when they deal with Russia, Asia in their times of need.

Women eschewing early marriage abroad

I was reading the Economist's issue on retirement- how fertility rates in developed countries are plummeting as women are delaying amrriage--perhaps a sign of things to come in India.

Every couple of years the permissible age limit for women to get married seems to advance by a couple of years--as I too age;)

I still strongly believe 40 is the new 30...finding oneself has assumed increasing importance over the years and is something people are now willing to consider rather than a Protestant work ethic.

Marketing to older people will assume more importance in developed economies.

Good resolutions

Read a good presentation online on putting in 100 hours of effort in some direction towards becoming an expert in that field...80 hours of French has given me some understanding of the language if not mastery...am targetting cooking next. Swimming and gymming are also on agenda...but don't think they qualify as skills exactly.

Must get back to writing too...weekends will be devoted somewhat to this as during the week it is tough to find time for this.

Frequent blogging is an attempt to exercise these flabby muscles in that vista:)

Preview

Had watched class of 84 a while ago. Very talk talk play...not too much action. Not sure how the plays this week by the same director- Rahul da Cunha will be...Chaos Theory & Pune Highway. The subjects he deals with are interesting and connect with the audience- friendship, love comedy...but wordplay alone does not a play make.

But he did do the wonderful I'm not Baji Rao...

TMS

The third edition of The Medicine Show was less rousing than the previous ones. The usual acts could not leverage the elemnt of surprise- the singers & the dancers...even the theatre practioners decided to sing this time.

The wedding band was a suprise touch--the sight of them solemnly playing Muqabla had many of us cracking up.

The staged stand up comedy act did have a twist in its tail...but that was it's only merit.

It may be tough to put up a good show month after month--perhaps a bimonthly would generate more crowds & quality acts.

The venue, too, was not apt...one is tired of sitting on carpets, floors and what have yous for a view of the performances.

Air waves crescend

As the marketing manager of one of India's leading servicing providers remarked, our mobiles are our toys. Our rattles sometimes, figurative comforters, toys we throw in fits of fury.

Mobile monetisation remains a challenge- it may be one area where user generated content could take off.

It is definitely a sector to watch- mobile penetration in India is much higher. It is still growing at a very rapid pace.

For bottom of the pyramid tappers too, the mobile is a potential goldmine. messaging may not appeal to the illiterate target audience, but IVRS may work.

Sax on toast

Attended a very refreshing concert- piano & saxophone by two Canandian women on Canada Day at the IIC yesterday. Pink Panther as an encore was delightful:)

O.M.O.

Feel so proud & independent to have my own place- master of all I survey--although I have broken several banks to get & set up my place:)
Enjoyed the first edition of The Medicine Show at TLR more than the second one- although this was a welcome celebration after completing the bulk of my shifting. I liked I f$%#ing love you--didn't know the two could sing too:)

Love is a many splendoured thing

Just read Art of Loving by Eric Fromm- made a lot of sense. Care, respect, responsibility and knowledge are his relationship cornerstones.

The Naked Ape today

Just read a couple of chapters of The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris. Interesting stuff, specially where he talks of exploration. The child scribbles, then has an Eureka moment when she makes a face. Pictorial representation starts then, which chimps cannot do. Singing and dancing are also primitive exploratory activities which can continue well into adulthood. He also defines play, which is very close to art for art's sake. Writing too is included, as a documentation of thought. Neophilia seems to be a family characteristic of the Maskaras.

Sunday Funday

Had a good time at The Medicine Show, The Living Room. I specially liked the three women singers and their funny lyrics-
"While I'm waiting
for the man I'm dating
and he's stuck in a traffic jam
& so am I...
I'm putting more makeup to pass the time...
Leave your car I say...
He says Darling I can;t, it's the latest model,
which is not what you are:)"

Not sure if these were the exact lyrics.

Milton's Invocation, Paradise Lost

1: Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
2: Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
3: Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
4: With loss of EDEN, till one greater Man
5: Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
6: Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
7: Of OREB, or of SINAI, didst inspire
8: That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
9: In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
10: Rose out of CHAOS: Or if SION Hill
11: Delight thee more, and SILOA'S Brook that flow'd
12: Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
13: Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
14: That with no middle flight intends to soar

Random musings

I’m reading the Lady & the Monk by Pico Iyer- measured out in coffeespoons- a chapter a day, to remind me there’s a life outside work.
Weekends, I can feel myself distressing, my taut nerves relaxing, breathing easier. Batteries recharge, I think, I am my own master.
Learning dance is one thing, practicing it another and dancing freestyle quite another. But all three are fun.
Being needed is a nice feeling, a required one, whether one considers work or play.
It is only when one gets a chance to think does one think of telos.

Where to stay in Khajuraho

Clark's Hotel Khajuraho is a good food option there- they serve Continental, if my memory serves me right. Most hotels in Khajuraho http://www.wutravel.com/hotels/india/khajuraho/?a_aid=fd90eed9 have a bird's eye view of the temples from the hotel itself- it's literally like living in a temple town, in days gone by. Also catch the Sound & Light show in the evening, the keychains with position 69:)
Meanwhile, I'm busy planning my next holiday, in the Independence Day long weekend:)

Hill Bill

Music in the hills
Wine at night spills
From the sunset deep purple
Pink Floyd, Hey Jude circle
Pleasuring our senses
Forgetting our tenses
We sing along charged by them
Ads remixed, resort repasts yen
To return to a new high
On the hills. Can't. Sigh.

Fascinating face gazing

http://www.facesexperiment.co.uk/ is where I went to see how well I can read faces. Am waiting for the results. Was tough. For the most part my reactions were influenced by the adjective used in the wuestion. I also tended to vote for the faces I found attractive, regardless of the question. The faces were very similar and there was no Can't say option either. For some reason, I found it easier to decide who I want to vote for among the women faces.

Do share your experience, if you have participated in the experiment.

Munsiyari

We drank in the hills
Savoured the green
Sipped yellow sunshine
Until our souls belched
Aahs of contentment.

Frozen waves of mountains
Stood silent.
Dark clouds circled
The cotton light.

We sleep when the world is
Woken up
Dark lightens in blue
Then froths in green white

As if we are in the ocean
Watching it arise, awake.

Peaks peek a booed sun
One by one
Like when we drew in school
The sun amid mountains.

Butter slicing across skies
Sun's rays like we sketched
Like a diamond ring in the sky
Lighting, blinding us

We shy away from the sun
The mountains stay put.


It was just us and
The peaks powdered with snow
meadows stretched below us
Silence around, bas
Goats, baaing sheep
Tortured horses
Locked eyes with the peaks
Golden streaks.

Rave

Soi 46 in Defence Colony is only 6 months old. Soi means Lane, and 46 is the shop number. The food is excellent- we had thai green curry, flat noodles and stir fry. It has a lounge bar ambience with giant cusions and comfy sofas. We junked on the plasma TV. We arrived just in time for last orders, so we had the tiny place to ourselves:) The prices are reasonable. The bamboo on the ceiling outside the entrance is a nice touch. I think it's going to become my fave.

Pach Pach

Adventures mad
Many we've had,
Stood by each other
Whatever the weather.

All these years living together
Made's mind reading a nobrainer.
Lots learnt from you,
Much left yet, true.

Stay bubbly you, stay simply perfect
With dogs, cameras, travel and gos effects.

Shram ki pratishta

www.mediamantras.com

'Nuff said:)

Writing is the culmination
of all our experiences, not work.
That is the compartmentalisation
Of our lives.

Movie it

Sometimes I feel like writing in English. I feel like doing a movie round up right now. I liked The Reader very much, Milk too, not Revolutionary Road or Emotional Arithmetic. The Class was OK. Barah Anna was fun, Firaaq was documentaryish.

What's up

Thank you Alex G Bell
Now used as the cell.
I'd be lonely without hearing your voice in my head
Travelling through my ear, across metres sped.

False Claim

The new Tata Safari Dicor ad is positively worrying. One feels that one has to live up to it. However, even as it asks us what we would remember when we look back on our lives- the corner office ( we wish) and shows us the great, unexplored outdoors...to enjoy those locales we need to reach the corner office.

mamma mia

My room mate and I made spaghetti. Yum. What fun it was to chop and cook and then eat what we had made.

Music smooths the jagged edges of the soul
The words wash over her, she's again whole.
Logic's so futile when emotions rule us
Just because feelings refuse to adjust
We use logic, like searching in the light
For a ring lost in the dark, 'coz it's easy on the sight.

The dot to the line

A line expects to get somewhere.
This, too, is a line.
The earth rotates without a prayer
Gets nowhere, that's fine.
Days dawn, dusk in night
Content to be, that's right.

Why then, do we expect telos
Can't we be content with kairos?
Greedy, we want kairos all the time
Too lazy to make it,but we want to dine.

Hello Holly

Saw He's just not that into you. Too chick flicky. Based on a book so had a lot of talk and thought and less of action, which was a minus point from a cinematic angle.

Good Golly, It's Bolly

I liked Luck by Chance- Rishi Kapoor did a great job. Farhan Akhtar too. Bollywood's kitty party- must've made the ones ( if they were any) who were not there feel like pariahs.

Dev.D on the other hand only had the surreal Emotional Atyachaar going for it. The movie could be described as that too- with the viewer being the one betrayed.

Schlumming

Slumdog Millionaire has been in the press so much, one simply had to watch it. It began in media res, with cliffhangers following on cliffhangers. The twist of a personal connect to the questions asked on the game show was innovative. Jamaal junior stole the show. I found the accents of the teenagers jarring. The second half was more typical masala. Well made, good acting and tight direction, this film took the viewer on a fast paced ride, with screeching tires as it came up against corner after corner of the protagonist’s experiences. Sharply veering, twisting this way and that.

Look, Ma- No Words!

The Painted World, a Czech play at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav of NSD, was magical. The actors used puppets, painted in white luminous paint ( I guess) to create a feeling of suspended animation and flow.

White flight

Clouds below billowed
Flecks of cotton flowed.