I found a sunny lonely corner in the garden of my office to escape the dreariness of my office. It was warmer and nicer outside. Smiling, I cushioned myself on the luscious mellow grass, facing the sun, sitting by the wall. A dense tangled canopy of trees, directly in front of me mirrored the state of my mind. There was a thick unsettling fog in my head. I was so numbed by the unusual number of thoughts racing across my mind that I could not capture my own thoughts. I was confused. I was cold. I was restless. I did not understand the turmoil and turbulence stirring up my mind and I still do not.
My insides were shrieking, wanting to run away as fast as possible as far as I could to no man’s land and be all by myself. In a weak moment, I found myself flooded by old memories, all of them pouncing at me, and I was falling deeper and deeper into the chasm of unforgettable memories.
I woke up and drank water

I started reading ' A Short History of Nearly Everything' and immediately got hooked to it. The book starts with a discussion of atoms and how zillions of these tiny particles combine unknowingly in a cosmic effort to create us. Bill Bryson puts it as "....how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us , and also what happened in between and since." This is, in short, tall order. I can not wait to finish this book.

All my friends , please gift me Bill Bryson's books!

Books and more books

I have a lot of free time on myself these days owing to a jobless internship in summer break. Most of my time goes into catching up with a lot of books and Google Reader. I have my all my fingers in the pie. I am reading Shantaram , Ring for Jeeves , My name is Red & Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy at the same time and have tons of other books strewn everywhere in my room to read sometime. I absolutely love it! Books and more books.

parliament game

I take pleasure to report WTF news in Amit Varma’s style (India Uncut blog).

The following was said by Opposition leader L.K. Advani after the UPA government scored trust vote in parliament today.

"There is something like numerical legitimacy and moral legitimacy. The government scored the numerical victory but lost on moral grounds. Earlier there were only suspicions but today's episode has validated the fact that money was used."

We made an impromptu decision to go to an Indian Restaurant in the office yesterday. My boss agreed to give me a ride to the Restaurant. Owing to the fact that he is 70 years old, he drove as slow as 40-50 miles/hour giving us all the time we needed to discuss everything ranging from Indian food, weddings and vacation trips. It was amusing to learn that he loved Indian food to such an extent so as to keep microwavable papads on his desk. Besides papad, he expressed his liking for chick pea’s curry, chicken tikka masala, samosas and naan. I was pretty impressed with his knowledge of terminology of Indian food. The gastronomic conversation was followed by a discussion of a striking contrast between Indian and American weddings. We talked about an elaborate three or four day procession as compared to their four hour ceremony, red silk embroidered sari to a white laced wedding gown and a few other wedding practices. The conversation then hopped on to vacation trips and I was overwhelmed to learn that he had vacationed four times in Africa, two times in Greece, once in Europe, one cruise trip to Bahamas and one to Alaska and many other places. He told me stories of smothering leopards, guzzling elephants , rattling snakes of Africa, rocky terrain and sparse vegetation of Greece, beyond beautiful Greek islands , bland Greek food, flame cakes of straussburg , cuckoo clocks of frieburg and many such things and places, alike. He asked me if I had been to the Himalayas, or the tea plantations of Assam or the coffee plantations of Coorg or Corbett National park or The Taj Mahal.

I added these places to my existential list of places to visit before while I live kind of thingy and prioritized them on my list. A wise saying, one needs to discover one’s one territory before exploring the world.

Pappu Naach Nahi Sakta

A Masterpiece!

Soldiers

On the 4th of July weekend I went to send off Divya's friend. While we were standing near the kiosk, waiting for her friend to check in , there was a loud buzz of claps . Amused, I looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of a Celebrity or something of that sort , but there was no one around thereby leaving the mystery of claps unsolved. After leaving her friend at the security gate and while on our way back I again heard similar clapping sounds. I went around the place and this time I saw them, the US soldiers marching towards the security gate . They were uniformed in cream and brown military garbs with guns in their hands and a stern look on their faces. While everyone around stood, waving and clapping incessantly, showing their appreciation for them, their faces betrayed no emotion.Their faces conveyed a stern indifference. I can not possibly imagine the experiences and stories which lead to such a face. My respect for them multiplied umpteen times and I bowed down and saluted them.

Just came across this article:Long Goodbye http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/The_Long_Goodbye/rssarticleshow/3229471.cms
by Bachi Karkaria which spoke of the very same US soldiers at Atlanta's airport and I experienced a Dejavu.

Rainbow

Is it not strange that when I have all the time in the world then I find no time to blog at all ...
Nothing much is happening these days except the usual internship routine. And, besides that catching up on lots of books which makes me feel good and not completely wasted.My internship is almost drawing towards an end and I am looking forward to get back to my research work. One of my friends aptly commented that it takes a worse experience to realize the worth of what one has. Life dances through different shades of hues....Violets...Reds.One can experience a wide spectrum of emotions ranging from loathing a person to adoring him. After about a time period of one year, I finally started liking my research work.

I am rereading Siddhartha and came across this wise line which says that the truth and the opposite of every truth is completely true.

Rainbow is a symbol of multiculturalism and thus appropriately symbolically represents the gay pride. Witnessed the gay pride via a gay parade on 5th of July. I was stupefied by the unfettered spirit and enthusiasm which marched ahead inspite of heavy downpour of that day. And, I was equally amazed by the acceptance of people who tirelessly cheered for them. Here are a few pics:



Just as you are. Loved this line. And lying around the rainbow flag are a few colorful beads which were being thrown at audience along with other freebies.


Are they trying to represent different colours of rainbow through their fancy garbs?
The board says " Beyond the Broke back Mountain" . Also the tent on the right side shows four legs.


As everyone can see the umbrellas to shield away from rain and thus can imagine the enthusiasm of people. Seven cheers to Rainbow!

Lean meat

How much of it is the truth? Nowadays newspapers publish anything and everything :| Beef-eating is so much of a taboo in an average Hindu household that most of them are likely to be shocked to know that beef was a normal article of Brahmin diet. To serve a feast of beef to guests, especially revered guests like sages, was a matter of honour for the Aryan gentry. The great sage Yajnavalkya is said to have had a particular fondness for the tender flesh of the milch cow. Outrageous? Blame Kosambi.