2006 and Me

I dunno why i'm posting this. Debated a while. Decided firmly not to post. And so, naturally, here i am.

New Year Resolutions:

1. Will not make a new year resolution
2. Just broke that. Shall stop craving for things tat make life worth living. Read chocolato, coffee, rasagolla, gol gappas et al.
   
3. Make sure i do not watch more than 3 hours of movie per week. As in two english or one hindi/tamil. Hmmm....
4. Think up further ways to revel in bugging the world around me.
   
5. Keep room clean. Read be able to find what i want when i want it and not couple of weeks later. :(
6. Alphabetize and index library and KEEP it tat way.
   
7. Break all of this asap. :D

Now, why did i ever bother with that? Beats me.

As my friend's constantly telling me - I need a bath. I need coffee. Double Espresso. Triple while i'm at it. Throw in soulful music. Read iPod. And a hardback and i'm on top of the world.

*BANG* Utopian vision shatters. Back to banalities of life. Two more months till boards. One more till farewell. Few weeks till pre-board. Wow. I love my life.

On a nicer, more maudlin note, today was "stories-of-love" day. Our cherubic God of Love seems to be having one helluva time!!!!! :D

And tempted as i am to post about aforementioned tidbits, i shall be patient and write, check, add nice touches and finally post tomo. :D

Cheerio!!

If...

This is the most realistic and idealistic poem...and one of the most brilliant compostions i've come across.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Disgusting!!

I meant to post a long time ago but couldn't coz of exams.

The rape and murder of a call centre employee, a 24-year-old woman, by a person pretending to be the late night driver of her company transport has sent a chill down the spine of the BPO industry in Bangalore.

-The Indian Express

The rape and brutal murder of a newly-wed woman by a cab driver attached to a call centre has sent shockwaves across the BPO industry, raising grave fears about the safety of its two lakh employees.
The victim has been identified as Prathibha Srikanth Murthy (24), employed by Hewlett Packard (HP) Global Delivery Application Services in Electronic City. She was married to Pavan, working for another BPO called Ocwin Finance in Koramangala.

-The Times Of India

I'm sure all of you are aware of this horrific incident. First it was Kushboo, then the ridiculous "moral policing" in colleges and now this. This is the kind of repugnance that our society has been reduced to. What makes it all the more worse is that inconsiderate and insensitive people think it's their birthright to give judgemental and retrograde opinions on the matter.

Apparently our generation is supposed to be the future of the Indian Democracy. It repulsed me to hear some of my peers throw careless remarks at such a serious issue.

Imagine my disgust when i open my mailbox and find an e-mail which forwards pictures of the poor girl, claiming that it was because she was "provocatively" dressed that the driver decided to rape her. And provocative would be jeans and a short tee. For crying out loud!!

If this so-called educated society can be so narrow-minded so as to even suggest something so stupid, then there really is no hope for us to evolve into better individuals.

This is the 21st century for the love of god! If you cannot handle girls dressing in western outfits, I don't think you even belong here! Dressing in salwars and saris(which incidentally was voted the "sexiest" outfit in a survey conducted among Indian men) doesn't indicate culture and values any more than dressing in micros indicates promiscuity. You either accept and adapt yourselves to the changing culture and globalisation or, frankly, jump off a cliff!

For all you people (men and women) who are of the aforementioned opinion, please broaden your minds! And get your facts right. The whole rape and murder was planned. It wasn't as if the driver saw her clothes and "spontaneously" decided to rape her. So, any moron can understand that her clothes had nothing to do with it.

I'm quoting a friend here.

"Whats the solution? If she was wearing a full armed t shirt none of this would have happened? or would it be better if she was wearing a pardah? hey mayybe she just shouldn't be allowed to step out of the house. wait a minute. that sounds familiar. oh yeah, thats the taliban system im talkin about!"

We don't need to take over from the Taliban and start imposing those ridiculous notions here!

You say western outfits are provocative but why then do girls dressed in salwar kameez get jeers and cat-calls hurled at them when they walk the streets?? Or why is it that over 60% of all the rapes and sexual abuses in India in the slums and regions of lower-economic status??

It is our society and our mentality that has to change - not the clothes or the culture!

Birthday Bumper!!!

Two days since yours truly turned all of 17 !!!

-> I tried explaining that to my mom when she insisted that she feed me a bowl of sorry looking salad with unidentifiable veggies. In vain. My only consolation was that it contained a considerable amount of mayonnaise which i happily slurped! :P

-> Had math exam on 15th. Sulked the day before. Trudged through 300 odd problems. Stayed up till 2. Rose at 5. Slogged some more. Got all excited when i got family presents.
Pick of the lot - Mom's crocodile skin purse. (i am a firm supporter of the SPCA but it was so gorgeous!!)

-> Went to school. Got swooped on by friends and all and sundry for sole reason of possessing two huge packets of toffees. Jeez. Looked on while aforementioned sundry helped themselves. Best friend was kind enough to let it drop with about 12 of 'em! Wasn't complaining.

-> Came home. Got phone calls from long, long lost friends and rivals too. Very satisfied and at peace with the world. Was a picture of contentment.

-> Today. End of torturous exams. Necessary evil they claim. Bah! Day off. Frizzled the time away. Went out. Treated friends(with V). LMAO. Reason being two very very very comical pals. Blew an entire grand. Got very pretty kurti as birthday gift.

-> Came home grinning and all happy to face the smoldering glare of the kid sis still plagued by those awful things they call exams. Anticipated this. Ergo, got her richest cake I could find. Positively smothered with chocolato. Sister pacified. Peace reigns.

-> Here I am. Typed out chronological unfolding of birthday events. Read through. Spell Checked. Satisfied.

-> Sandman beckons. Day dawns early tomorrow. Yours truly will get into serious mode and start intense preparation for forthcoming necessary evils.

-> Arrivederci e Acclamazioni

Tagged !!!

I got tagged by soshy ages ago......and here goes!!!

7 things that I plan to do:

Read ulysses
Take an extra creative writing/journalism programme after skool
Learn italian
Pass my boards with decent grades
Finish the NYT crossword someday
Learn to make creme brulee
Have a bloody mary (once i'm 18 and shhhh.....!!!)

7 things that I can do:

Talk, laugh, talk, laugh, talk, laugh and TALK!!!
Cryptic crosswords
Sing quite decently....if i may so myself
Play doom and quake (finished 'em all)
Bake an almond-cognac double layered cake
Comment like crazy on any and everything!!!!
Dismantle and assemble any electronic device

7 things that I can't do:

Live without books
Go a day without coffee
Wait more than 10 min for any person on earth!!
Talk slowly....that's at less than 70 wpm!! :O
Comprehend and grasp newtonian physics
Be pretentious and socialize with pretentious people!!
be serious about anything for more than 2 hours...and that's stretching it!!!1

7 Words I use most Often:

Oye!/Hey!
Free
Whattay!!
damn
o-h-m-y-g-o-d!! (Chandler Bing Style!)
bull!!
aaaah....like tat!!

Blogs that I wish to tag:

Soshy
V
RA.V

Invictus

One of my all-time favourites.

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever Gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced, nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet, the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unfraid.

It matters not, how strait the gate
how charged with punishments, the scroll
I am the Master of my fate
I am the Captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)