Presidents and PMs exchanging pleasantries

Today while reading the newspaper, I saw a pic of the Obama and medvedev sitting in a hall talking while all the press guys were taking photos. Ofcourse the press would have been asked to fuck off while these guys discussed matters of grave importance which would affect you, me and everyone in the world(all the pun intended as it's the two biggest nuclear countries we are talking about here.) They were incidentally enjoying a blame game, blaming each other for all the problems in the world today. As suspected, nothing much came out of the meeting.



But that is not why I'm writing all this stuff here. Everytime I see this pic of two world leaders sitting and talking, I feel kinda strange and start wondering what they might be talking about? Take the example of Obama and Medvedev. Medvedev doesn't know english and (obviously) Obama doesn't know russian, but still were seen yapping with each other to glory. What exactly were they talking? Or were they just posing? Why did they push the interpreters away? Why? What? and how? :(

****

But this is not the only problem that is haunting my head right now. I generally have loads of things going on in my head at any point of time and the thing that is bothering me the most is the way in which it is raining here in Hyderabad. It starts drizzling at around late evening and continues will into the midnight. This sort of drizzle bordering on dry and wet kills me 'coz a. I bought an umbrella and have not been able to do paisa-wasool till now and b. the plants kept in my house are drying and dying for getting water.

So god, please show some mercy and don't bring this carnival of dust and drought on us. Show us some water around, some puddles and some showers. Amen

adios
sashidhar

Revisiting Roald Dahl

So when gilly a.k.a vinay asked me to issue two books for him, I went straight to the section where Roald Dahl's books were kept and picked up "Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl." First of all, they are, well, short stories and add to it a brialliant combination of unpredictability, an old world charm and a decent speed and we have that nice recipe which is missing these days and so while the book is still lying in my room, I am re-reading some of the stories I like the best. Some of which are -

• The Hitchhiker
• The Landlady
• Bitch
• Lamb to the Slaughter
• The Umbrella Man
• The Butler
• The Bookseller
• The Visitor
  

Come to think of it, there is something about short stories which makes it a better option than the occasional huge novels (specially the ones like Fountainhead which ran 700+ pages and had such a small font.) Some blame it on my small attention span, but my strong feeling is that there's my father's influence at play here. He himself is a (very huge) fan of short stories and if one ever asked him the authors he liked the most, he'll always give the names best known for their short stories like Anton Checkov, O. Henry, Sommerset Maugham, Guy De Maupassant, Roald Dahl and Saki. Though I haven't read much of his stuff, I hope to complete all one day.

adios
sashidhar

Tagged - F.A.Q

Haven't been blogging for a while. Blame it on twitter or on sheer laziness, either way I wanted to get outta this loop. Maybe this will hopefully serve as a motivation to write more often. So here go the questions as I lifted them from Karan's post

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
damn! why did i waste so much money on a stupid haircut

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?
150 bucks

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
ore

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
charan

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
Love me or Hate me by Lady Sovereign

6. What are you wearing right now?
tee and jeans

7. Do you label yourself?
i used to. But not now :)

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?
i have nike floaters rite now. nothing else

9. Bright or Dark Room?
dark. fade to black baby!!

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Karan: i guess, thoroughly systematic is the first word that comes to my mind

11. What does your watch look like?
I don't wear watches :P

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?
taking some quizes on facebook

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
"Not able to reach you. call me ASAP"

14. What’s a word that you say a lot?
oh.k

15. Who told you he/she loved you last? (please exclude spouse , family, children)
i have been sorta starving to hear something like that... can't remember the last time someone said something like that :(

16. Last furry thing you touched?
a cat. it's there in OBH. its name is "my pussy" :P :P

17. Favorite age you have been so far?

got to be this one. So much fun, so many realizations...

18. What was the last thing you said to someone?

19. The last song you listened to?
Beautiful: Eminem

20. Where did you live in 1987?
no idea

21. Are you jealous of anyone?
yea, loads of people. I'll go as far as saying that it's not even jealousy, it's plain loathing

22. Is anyone jealous of you?
i'm not sure if there is anyone

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
this is something i can't think of. they keep changing

24. What’s your favorite town/city?
Hyderabad.

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
i had this pen friend during my school days. Wrote a letter to him. More than 8 years back i guess.

26. Can you change the oil on a car?
nope

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
tried searching her on social networking sites, asked friends but looks like she has disappeared off the radar :(

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
my back. slept the wrong way... feeling miserable

29. What is your current desktop picture?
the default ubuntu wallpaper

30. Have you been burnt by love?
never been in love to be burnt :D

adios

sashidhar

Avial, Backwaters and Steamers

The milestone read Alappuzha was some 18 odd kilometers and I could already see a canal by the roadside running in parallel with the highway. A glance towards the other side side of the road and I realized that another canal was running in parallel on the other side as well. It was sometime later that I saw that there was another canal too! Every 2 kilometers or so there were these old rusted sort of bridges which connected the roads on either side of the canals.

* * * *

So many times have I imagined myself as Anthony Bourdain, roaming around tasting food in different places. In Kerala too, I stuck to Kerala’s cuisine in search of that one gastronomical delight that would would be worth talking about. That search for the holy grail finally ended in Alappuzha where I had my lunch. Each and every course had something in it. Whether it was Avial with drumsticks or the date+lemon pickle. But the thing that stood out was Cabbage Fry which was simply put was out of this world. My mom knows how much I love cabbage and how much I love the cabbage fry my mom makes but I’ll have to concede that the cabbage fry these guys raked up was simply outstanding, leaving me begging for more! The other major point worth noticing was the rice that these guys used. The rice grains were large, fat and in total contrast to what we usually would want to eat. Though I could eat it, I’d prefer our desi rice any day :)

* * * *

The sun had set and we reached Marari beach(on the outskirts of Alappuzha) in twilight. Though we didn’t get to see the “usual stuff” like golden sands, coconut trees, I definitely got to see water around me, extending further than my eyes could see. Whether it was the joy of jumping in the water or the pain when the salt water went into ones eyes or the the frustration when one was not able to get the sand and salt off his body, everything had its own charm and romance. I was as happy as an ardent pilgrim who reaches Tirupati and gets his head shaven. Gave that example ‘coz I gave my bermuda to the beach in a similar fashion. I left it there after taking bath :D

* * * *

Without doubt the best part of the batch trip ‘09 was Alappuzha. Though most of my friends say that Munnar was the best part of the batch trip, I beg to differ. Alappuzha was love at first sight for me. Never had I thought there was a place in India where more than three quarters of the town would be on the banks of canals. The water was surprisingly clean, with some of my batchmates swimming in it too :D There were boats and steamers in the canals, the boats were shops, homes and well, simple boats. The canals which ran in parallel (with the highway road) for more than 20 km was an absolute thrill to watch. Equally great was the boat ride in the canal itself. A point where a large lagoon acted as the junction for the three canals gave some postcard perfect scenes with the setting sun and a bunch of coconut trees in the background. All in all Alappuzha was a great place which more than made up for the disappointment that was Ooty :)

in which world am I stuck?

It was late evening. As usual I had my dinner early and as planned headed for the terrace of the unfinished building. Being afraid of heights, the climb was scary to say the least. But the effort was well paid for. The breeze had this eerie effect and set a tempo for the rest of the evening. Lying on my back, I was counting the stars that I heard a sound from the other corner of the building. A girl in white sari had also climbed up the building was sitting by the edge. Her hair was left loose and was blowing in the breeze. She had this dreamy, sad expression on her face. The strange part was that I called her by some name (i don't remember) and she got up, came near me and sat by my side.

But the strangest part was that she looked at me and asked why I hated myself. I must say I don't hate myself per se. Everyone has complaints. My complaint register runs miles and miles in length and I admit that if I had a chance I would have done some things better. I can (with much confidence) say that I made many mistakes and that I've spent far too many nights regretting them but I don't hate myself. But the case was different. I heard myself saying wierd things to her. I heard myself saying that I hated myself for not growing up. For being such an open book. People could see through my feelings as if I was nothing but a silly see-through gown. People read my feelings as if I was a damn page out of a bloody Jeffrey Archer novel. I hated myself for not knowing occlumency. I looked in her eyes, my eyes searching for solace but there was none. And then suddenly she said, "You know you can jump from here." I first laughed and then felt angry that how could she even say something like that. But before I could anything she was gone. I felt a slight jerk and awoke with a start.

Soon I realized that it was a dream. I sat up and looked at the sky. Then I stood up and walked to the edge of the building. My legs were shaking as if any moment they would betray me and I would fall. Taking some half a dozen steps back, I looked forward, took a deep breath. Gathering some momentum I ran forward and jumped out of the building. But before the rubble and dust could come and kiss me I awoke cold and shivering, my temples drenched with sweat. Now this is the part where I should say that I'm happy that the nightmare was behind me. But oddly enough I felt a pang of relief run through my body.

****

[epilogue] - Walking past the library, I gazed at the building concentrating at the part from where I had jumped and traced the path to the ground. I closed my eyes and imagined something heavy hit the ground. I went to the spot and looked at it carefully that I was reminded of what Morpheus said in The Matrix.

"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real. What if you were unable to wake from that dream. How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

The Anakin Connection

Dear d

I was under the impression that I was the mad guy here. A mad guy who had these strange dreams of humiliation. Of anger and hatred. Recurring dreams which I could never explain in words. But now it's complete, atleast to the point that I can put it in words. All thanks to Star Wars - Episode I - The Revenge of the Sith. I now feel everything has fallen into place.

Everytime I think about it, I see myself in Anakin Skywalker's place by the molten lava river. My limbs cut and eyes bloodshot. I hear myself shouting I HATE YOU with all that is left of me. If only I had my hands and legs intact, I would have taken the lightsaber and slashed you open a thousand times for what you have done to me. That wasn't the end. I thought you were the one would love me unconditionally but you let me lie there wasted. You saw me as a burst of lava caught me and burnt my entire body. My hair was gone, my body was beyond repair. But I somehow survived. I survived to write all this and more. To say this to myself that while every single strand of vein in my body carries dirty blood, I will live to hate you. I never played or will play mind games or guerilla warfare. I will be patiently waiting for the day when we have a face-off.

I HATE YOU
s

Female Pop Stars

Today is Women's Day and while I can't make much difference to the world by preaching or otherwise, I can definitely talk about women who are making great music these days. I listen to all these artists quite a lot and love many songs of theirs. So in no particular order, some of the artists are

1) Rihanna - Totally love her songs. Specially Disturbia. In the song, I like the lyrics the best which make so much sense (in today's world.)

2) Lady GaGa - While I don't really "love" her kind of music, she has been making some nice songs which one can sprinkle around in a playlist to get a difference. Her songs have this disco like feeling and she tends to go gaga over fashion. Anyways Poker Face and Papparazzi are worth a listen.

3) Duffy - First time I heard her sing, found it a bit strange. Her voice is somewhat like those retro singers like Janis Joplin. One must try track is Mercy.

Some other honorary mentions might be Katy Perry, Gabriella Cilmi and Natasha Bedingfield

Also there are these totally cool bands which are either into Indie or Electronica kind of music. They have a female vocalist and are totally awesome to listen to -

1) Asteroid Galaxy Tour - Their song, Around the bend is really good. This incidentally was also used for the iPod ad sometime back. I haven't heard to any other song of theirs though.

2) The Ting Tings - Again into Indie music, these guys have been making some really humorous songs. Last.fm lists them as one of the most popular bands of 2008. Worthy mentions - Shut up and let me go, Great DJ, That's not my name

3) Goldfrapp - In the electronica scene. Happiness is a must listen.

4) Minipop - All the people having Nokia XpressMusic might know this band as their song, Like I Do is included by default. This song (and others too) have this ethereal sort of music to it. Great to listen to.

5) Carpenters - An old band. Both the artists are now dead. Some great vocals and really soulful music. Must listen tracks - Superstar, Sweet Sweet Smile, Rainy Days and Mondays.

adios
sashidhar