Friday, January 28, 2011

Facebook and Eliot

To prepare a face to meet the faces we meet...

Tweet tweet, i know you have another woman...

On the perils that twits face...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

To women over 30

I take it back. I liked Turning 30! It was eerily similar to my life so far. Loved the bai...she reminded me of Malti di. OMO...I miss you. She does cry a lot in the movie, something which is tough to understand for someone who hasn't gone through that level of heartbreak. Saw a woman protagonist I could identify with after a long time.
It's a more important issue for singletons still, I think. If you are well set on the career ladder, totting kids, or happily married, this milestone isn't so scary.
What if you're alone, stuck in a job you dislike, unhappily unmarried? It's all in the head. We all know people who are unhappyily married, who whine even if they are well set.
We should be more than what we do, or who loves or doesn't love us. Rather than living in a vaccum, waiting to be filled by a job or a significant other, we should fill it ourselves, bit by bit, minute by minute. And before we know it, it will become a habit.
I know some wonderful thirty plus women who are single. Some say men feel threatened by their success. Others are vertically or horizontally different. Still another is the stereotypical man hater.
How have they coped? Some are single in the city, others live in parents. Still others live in the same city as their parents, but separately.
They're all great fun to be with. More so than many married women i know, who can only talk about their children, maids, and houses.
We do maid talk too, and house talk. Some of us are close to nieces, nephews, and strange kids.
While I'm on the subject, I know some fantastic 40 year olds, people in their fifties, sixties, and twenties.
What do they all have in common?
Cognitively, they're as fresh as children.
When I was twenty, thirty seemed a long way away. I promised myself I would write a novel by then. So far, i have a few short stories. I'm already planning goals for the next decade.
40's the new 30.
The twenties are for dreaming. I think the thirties are for rediscovering those hopes, and working towards making them come true.
We've learnt to be more self reliant, but also realise we need people. Occasionally.
Even physically, age reflects what you think.
yours,
29+

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Maya, the Screen

Turning 30! is to be avoided. Wish the same was possible with actually turning thirty. A thought- mental age differs from physical age, like kairos differs from chronos. There is good kairos and bad kairos- by which I mean, events which give us pleasure and events which sadden. The latter is better from a growing point of view, but not one we submit to willingly.
Reading The Penguin Edition of The Upanishads, specifically the introduction. Got interested after listening to Parthasarthy speak on the Isha Upanishad. Prefer these to self help books, which nag. The Upanishads merely glory in the joy of God, wanting you to experience the same. Treating others as if we were all one, what a simple way to do good! More as I continue on the journey.
We live as we dream. Alone. Conrad.
Inner life must be lived alone, like we die alone. From the afore mentioned introduction.
Poetry and religion are even more similar than psychology and religion. So even more interesting to me! Reading a book I felt like marking after a long time.
Both must be felt, and are tough to describe. Another line I liked from the introduction- poets make the abstract concrete. So do the Upanishads.
It's a pity religious questions make it tough for them to be taught in school. With a science driven world, we just haven't kept up. We can't declare ourselves obsolete. Technology will just have to wait while we understand ourselves.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Happiness is a sum of many things. One of them is being needed. You can be needed if you work at something you're good at. I have a dream. A dream with deadlines is a goal. Resilience gives you faith that you can achieve your goal. Here's hoping, knowing that yes, I can. Affirmations help too.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

The polo final was an unforgettable experience. Barefoot, turbanned Manipuris in red and green put up an exhibition match. Then Black Gold played the White Knights. Dashing horses, Sandy Cash ( who we later discovered went by the more prosaic name Sandeep Kashyap) and the other players shouting with raised mallets made it exciting. The thud of the horses' hooves, the thud of our hearts as we tried to spot where the ball went, kept us jumping in our seats.

Upping the stakes

Airtel sent me an SMS today saying that I have been subscribed to a Baba Ramdev pack and I should call this number to unsubscribe. Spam is one thing. Spam that needs you to take action another. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
After calling the number, the voice asked me whether I was sure I wanted to unsubscribe. Cheeky !@#$%.