Romancing the rain

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

"Mad Girl's love song" - my favorite poem by Sylvia Plath. The one which has never failed to appeal to the romantic in me. The best part is - It still does.

For posterity.

Little pleasure and Murphyism

Anyone who has been in touch with me for the last couple of days would be familiar with rant of, "Oh! I am so bored." et al. Well, taking nothing away from the fact that I still am mind-numbingly bored outta my wits - I am all gurgly, content, coo-ey sorta happy today. Nah, much awaited mail (or male!) hasn't made an apearance yet but despite all the sorrow I faced two years ago, I have gone and pre-ordered my Harry Potter today! Yippee. And no its not the awesome Indiaplaza deal which has me cooing. I paid the full amount of Rs. 975 to Crossword and will even have to go and collect it at 11 in the morning on the fateful day. But in return I became a Member of the Crossword Book rewards scheme. Its not that big a thing but somehow it gave me a warm kind of a feeling inside and definitely made me choose a scheme which made my Mum pauper by 300 bucks :-).

This membership is available for Rs.150 any day after a purchase. And it could even be free for people who purchase say more than Rs.1000 or more of books etc from Crossword. However, since I have never indulged in this luxury yet and never parted with any money for a membership that wouldn't come free, I wasn't a member. But I have always yearned to be one of those people who walk into bookshops and purchase books by dozens (or a half atleast!). And once the job settles in I'll definitely become one of those for sure! [Promise!] While my Dad and Mom have never agreed on stocking the home with books more than say 2-3 purchases and magazine subscriptions, I thank them for sending me to a school which more than made up for it. Nevertheless, you can always take the horse to the pond but cannot make it drink. My sister came out of the school and so did many of my friends, completely unscathed by the reading bug!

Now why am I posting this. There is a big karmic reason for it! Yep. The book is releasing on 21st July. And while I still haven't got my posting, by the Murphy's law it could easily come on 23rd July, which would mean reporting on 21st July. Now I asked and [at the cost of repeating myself] asked again, If I'll be able to collect the book from any other place to the lady at the store and she was affirmative that I won't be. So, just in case, karma acts like a bitch...I'll have this post to show....Well nothing more than - I knew it, bitch!

P.S : Someone who can...please tell the Wipro HRs that I want a joining on 30th July!!! pretty please!!

A li'l bit of this....a li'l bit of that...

I don't consider myself as someone very impressionable. But then, a few people in my life have somehow always made me internalise things quite easily and at times without even meaning to. For eg: I guess, it is pretty usual for parents to say, "Don't just read, you idiot! Write and practice." Plus or minus a few words - most parents seem to have said it in my knowledge of people [exceptions - Please do not bother with pointing it out in the comment box!] Well, not that my folks ever knew what I was reading, a casual glance in the room with textbooks and me together always got the same reaction. Especially my mom, who went on and on about how its not an efficient way to study etc.

So one day, fed up of the bickering, I took up the nasty habit of writing every single thing I read. It definitely made things easier. Everything was one read job, took half the time and got almost written in stone at the back of my head. So I said, brilliant! Mom's advice works and then I paid a li'l more attention to what she said. :-) But on hindsight, I saw hell when I got into Engineering - writing everything before the end-sems when you start your preparations hours before the paper - NOT EFFECTIVE!

Anyways, I followed her advice of not waxing till I was in 12th [supposedly Girls who are good in studies never have hygiene problems!], doing my eyebrows till well into college and never gave up reading loads of books no matter what the exam was.

Similarly, amongst the innumerable early morning assemblies that my Principal in school addressed, one thing he often repeated was to clear your mind some 10 mins before you are going to sleep and think over all that you did today. Good or bad, worthwhile or worthless, essential or inconsequential - before dozing off. He said it cleared your head and many a times brought things into perspective. I liked the idea very much and followed it very religiously for quite long, till the beginning of my college atleast.

I notice a pattern now. All the habits [mostly good ones] seem to have abruptly terminated sometime after getting into college. Nevertheless, I am thinking about this because something, somewhere went terribly wrong. Somewhere down the line, while I was thinking - I forgot to think about what would eventually really matter. While I grew up, all mature, thinking far ahead of what my age or place demanded, acting more like someone I would be say five years later - I forgot that I should live in the present and see how I shape that. I was jolted back to this reality last week when SS asked me three questions.

1. What are your core values?
2. What are your principles and ethics?
3. What is that one thing for which you would sacrifice the above two?

Undoubtedly heavy. Not something anyone can Google out. My instantaneous thoughts had me doubling back to cross check if I was so shallow. Now I see that to answer these and internalise completely, is a journey of self discovery. Knowing why you are the person you are. Why you can or cannot be the person you want to be. It has nothing to do with ambition, position or power, education or the lack of it. It has everything to do with you - unadulterated you. And I wonder...why are the answers then, so difficult to come by?

Current Read: 'fessing up! A brilliant blog - almost a journey of self-discovery, through the eyes of someone u don't even know.

Rain, rain...come again.

The splendour of Mumbai can truly be experienced at the onset of Monsoon. And it ain't for no reason at all that film-makers like Anurag Basu incorporate Mumbai rains into their storyline to depict the typical life in this city. Quite like the damp, rainy, foggy, misty feeling that stories about London give. And while the city is hit with the pre monsoon showers now, it'll not be long when we will get ready to get drenched for good.

But its that half an hour when the clouds start gathering on the distant horizon just over the Mumbai skyline that the city blossom into this living beauty. Now this beauty again is relative and I agree to being biased - I love Mumbai in its entirety. This includes the traffic jams, the potholes, no parking and consequent towing away of vehicles, people, people and more people in every damn place. But I still love the concrete-ness of the city. At times to even the greenery and mountain, hills and forest scenic beauty. To me this throbbing city, alive with people and a pulse of its own is more beautiful than those dead town which shelters people who are too afraid to face this life.

I admit, this fast paced living could get to me if I actually stayed and work here for the living. But then, I would love to do it once. Atleast. And at some point in life, I'd also like to own a spacious (doesn't mean huge!) flat right on the Bandstand or the Worli Seaface. Preferably Bandstand because its more connected to both the suburbs and the city, but definitely sea facing. :-) Yes, that's a personal ambition as of now...a big one as any body who has any idea about the real estate price in this area would know. Nevertheless....some day.........

Also, I have been thinking that one of these days people who are heard in the fashion industry should wake up and start looking around. The television industry has and we now have Biggest Losers coming on television! But then, what most people don't understand is - There are fat people, and there are fat people. For the mortals this would sound like a repetition of thought but then FAT people occupy a huge (literaly!) band and come in diverse shapes. And it is appaling to find that chains like R Revolutions and ALL which cater to the market of larger people don't understand this! I understand if a brand like Remanika or Jealous21 doesn't bother - after all we are not the target market for such brands who are for the super skinny [with all due respect!]. However, its criminal that the former brands have typecasted the fat people into a shapeless category who have no right to dress well.

Listening to : You gotta a way with me....Shania Twain [Notting Hill soundtrack]