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.

Xmass

Park Street was crowded but lit up well, as was Theatre Rd. Am beginning to feel that Facebook is the only place where dislocated junta belongs- many times run together there- school, College...
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.

Yaagh

Saw an awful play by Feisal Alkazi called Chaal. Based on Talented Mr. Ripley, it had simultaneous events on stage, flubbed lines and incomprehensible time jumps. Very unlike his usual work.

Zila Khan

Jogging again. Hear a peacock call today. Apples and oranges now form breakfast. The Zila Khan performance was good. I like Sufi songs. Her voice is very flexible. Sounds of Isha was also very good. They had some unusual instruments.

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.

Novemberthon

Am doing Nano. Wish me luck.

Thank you.

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.

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..:)

The New Century & the Dark Side of Globalization

Attended the 2nd Annual Penguin Lecture. This time the speaker was Lord Patten. As he too spoke on globalization, I had trouble keeping his and Friedman's lecture of last year straight. His wit kept us in splits throughout. The cocktails at the British Council rounded off a very pleasant evening.

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.

An Old Friend Outgrew Me:(

Observed a virtual sabbath yesterday. Got an insight in the life of a chef today. Learnt how to make tomato rice yesterday. Also put a face pack which is supposed to get the wearer married faster (!) and watched Kidnap- Imran Khan's looking good.