took a break after a long long time (read- jan this year) and it was fun…on the way to b’lore,the Good Samaritan (pbuh) alternately slept like a log (i mean a LOG) or he laffed showing white teeth in the dark or gappa-marofyed with me and then said abruptly,”ok,sleep time. bye bye”.
on reaching b’lore another scene unfolded. nostalgia arose from the street corners,from the colleges where the chiknas i used to look askance at studied,from the inevitable squabble with the autoguy down to the oh-so-senti places of the not-so-misspent youth.
b’lore always been a place i could get back to, to recharge myself. made the best friends in life there,met the most memorable (read-namoonas also) there,spent blissful,often clandestine hours at nooks&crannies and also had those revelations about moi and what propels moi to do those typically moi-things.
the weekend was a typical gals’ weekend where my friend very conveniently forgot she was married and had a hubby waiting at home and we went on bitching about the “kids” at ccd….we were them once! about the chiknas,the goras, the bikewalas( who always lose out before their machines in terms of their own looks) and the late nite wino session which ended with tauba-tauba fotos and hangovers the morning after.
poor pal’s hubby was banished from the boudoir and had to make do with the guest room ‘s not so comfy mattress but the prospect of someone else tackling his mehebooba’s looniness for a weekend dint go amiss with him either.
have always been getting heavy rains the moment i’m to leave b’lore. last nite the lights went off too and the cab guy refused to come also leading me to wade out into the dark and hoping that the only creepy crawlies i’d meet would be those hobos in the park…
finally made it to the bus with the miyaa-biwi discoursing (read it for what i’m not saying)about the best routes to take and why the autowala are pukka a*******, you know the usual loving banter a newly-married couple engages in.
they got me in the bus,waved bye byes and left me to the mercy of a travelling partner who pulled her blanket over her head the moment she got on the bus,sniffled over the fone to some guy with a NICE deep voice and cried in a manner that was supposed to rouse the undead but since she was whispering,i guess it was O-K!
got home to the loving family only to have my pater wax on eloquently on how quiet and clean the house was all weekend and how he’d have to burn another hole in his pocket to get some alone time with his missus coz i wudnt be leaving the house that regularly…get a room!!! sheesh!
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very very nostalgic today…
and every damn thing seems to be adding to it, no matter how obscure…
even the sludge that they pass off in the name of coffee here, isnt working…
hmm, maybe shopping wud help? -
the mater was mentioning about the trip to maldives.
among the many things which they are known for, one is a strict adherence to things islamic and the embargo on things unislamic.
there were leaflets on the flight about things which are a no-no and they included carrying idols into the country for the purpose of worship.
now we know a family there quite well. they’re there for a duration of some 2 years and the lady of the house is a PUJA fanatic. she needs to get in her 30 mins worth of tinkling the bells, the agarbatti,naivaidya ityaadi.
so we were wondering how aunty had smuggled the pantheon of her gods into the country.
bhagwanon ki leela bhi kya cheez hai.on a sadder note-the parents went there, lived it up (2nd shahed ka chand) and i got a t-shirt as a souvenir. that’s it…i’ll marry that guy in the concrete jungles of nyc if it means i get to go all hedonistic also!!! pandit ko bulaao
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was watching the news a while back, it seems certain part of allahabad &varanasi have had major law and order issues because bachchan was issued a notice by the IT department over sunglasses worth a few lakhs. i’d read bachchan’s rebuttal in the TOI y’day but to see mob psychology working this effectively on tv was quite a downer.
people are really going crazy these days.
people have become so reactive of late. even on campus i tend to find the kids going practically off kilter the moment something unpleasant hits their radar.
if we (the not so berserk people) ever talk about it, the general concensus is that life isTOUGH, (you think?!) and times are changing (another thing that’d escaped my notice) and stress levels are at an all time high and tolerance levels at an all time low….wow! revelation after revelation.
it’s pretty tough to do our jobs these days. everything has to have an automatic answer,generated within minutes and that too,to the counselee’s liking (read-he’s right and the whole world is wrong,dead wrong).
SIGH! ghor kalyug… -
y’day after work i was furiously planning about all the things which are a must do (read-everything i was asked to do while being handed over the keys to the house and completely forgot to do) and also what can i do for a change and start off the weekend on a comfy,nice note.
passed the parlor-VOILA!
got a head massage and got the hair cut. while the wet hair was plastered to my face, only a part of my eye could be seen and i looked totally like Samara. and equally creepy tooo! i kept giggling to myself,imagining myself in the ring and being well…demonic!!
the beautician got kinda weirded out by me checking myself out in the mirror and making sinister faces…she kept clearing her throat…somewhat nervously methinks.
she’d just finished cutting one side and was moving to other side when the lites went off for a bit. btw, she and i were the only 2 ppl in the parlor at the time. and my mob goes off and the demonic laffter (yes, i’m weird) ringtone i have for a special friend rang…LOUDLY!!.
our lady shrieked,froze and cut my hair again only after i tried the cute act with her. hard to do when you wanna roll around the floor laffing screaming “sucker!!!”. but i had my hair to think of. goth looks are so NOT me. u need to be emaciated for it firstly.
anyhow,she snatched the moolah from me at the end of it all and dint ask me to come back like they normally do…
tsk tsk, they dont make ppl like they used to. -
the new job gives every 2nd saturday off.
this is what i decided to do-
CLEAN THE HOUSE ASAP coz the parents are returning tomorrow. EEEKS!
get all my papers in order for the week ahead.
get in a few counselling sessions (outside work)
followed by a mahvellous lunch at the sailing club…how sweet it is!!
hyd’badis know how to live,i swear!desert-scrumptious officers (in formals no less) at the club.
now where does one sign up for membership :o) -
the good samaritan (GS-pbuh) who’d lent me “interesting” movies to pass time while i played chowkidar at home,had given me one which was a doozy!
it was hailed as being a cross between “a clockwork orange” and “lord of the flies” but i found it to resemble the latter more than the former. btw the movie was “battle royale”.
the characters are a bunch of schools kids who’re viewed as complete mavericks by their government and to weed out the undesirables they (big brother) launch an exercise which tests their humanity,their psyches and is literally a race to avoid death as the survival of the fittest asserts itself and natural selection finds itself pushed into the corner.
the pace of the film is slick, and there arent any gimmicks to shock a response out of you.
it’s totally in your face.brutal,mayhem and the savagery of human nature exposed with it’s fangs bared!
totally worth a 2nd look and a 3rd! -
but for what i wonder?
sometimes it seems that there are people with entirely too much time on their hands (i’ve been clubbed in that category at times) and they spend a LOT of time scratching their heads and thinking about stuff that’ll cause a dhamaka…ek sansanati leher as it were.
onto the dhamaka, of sorts. today’s TOI carried the news in bold headlines that a lot of the heavyweight miyabhai groups in the city and even their national counterparts have called for a ban on their children singing vande mataram in the city schools.
the logic behind this? apparently our national song promotes the idea of adoring and worshipping our country as a GOD. and since monotheism is the name of the game in islam, anyone who indulges in these kinds of activities is a shikr, a word which apparent means heretic or leaning towards unislamic tendencies and notions.
honestly, of all the things to protest about-
schools coming up like mushrooms and not having playgrounds
capitation fees
overload of studies
peer pressure
inadequate teaching facilities
bad infrastructure (take your pick)was this the only relevant thing they found to cause brouhaha about? really! get a life!
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last nite was a much touted one becoz sangeet ke duniya ke kucch maharathi swayam padhaarey the in hyd’bad…well, sec’bad if you really wanna split hair.
anyhow, i’d gone thinking that i’d skip the part of pt.jasraj’s songs and straightaway head for sivamani’s recital. instead they put together one of the best ensemble recitals that i’ve ever witnessed.
it was called panchatatva and it comprised of music provided by each one (coming to the musicians a bit later on) and the befitting graphix along with each movement in music.
pt.jasraj, pt.hariprasad chaurasiya (doing the adab se ear touching thing-me i.e), sivamani looking jhango as ever,mandolin srinivas,pt.vijay ghate and uma shankar brought to life Bhoomi,Gagan,Agni,Vaayu aur Need…durga jasraj who was the compere for the evening pointed it out that in hindi if we put these 5 elements together it spells bhagwan. so bhagwan panchtatvo mein samaye huye hain and panchtatvo ke zariye se bhagwaan ka darshan ho sakta hai…yada yada yada.the audi was full of the political mushtandas with their body guards and their unctuous chamchas but all in all the name of the game was sangeet sadhna and the sadhaks made sure the felicitations didnt take too long…
met the artists afterwards..sivamani was wearing a outfit a la akshay kumar in mohra and he’s got a GRIP! jeez…
nice down to earth people who were very much at ease dealing with the adulation of thousands,”aapko humara gaana achchha laga, yeh hamari achchhi kismat hai…” ityaadi.
the highlight of the evening, the musical sawaal-jawaab between pt.jasraj and mandolin srinivas.
gist of the story-it was zimbly maahvelous daahlings!!! -
2day being the day of teen chhakke….
anyhow, i found this article online and it talks about one of my passions-kooky people!!Psychiatrics is one of the most difficult and unexplored spheres of medicine. A psychiatrist can never know for sure what is in his patient’s mind. There are plenty of different diseases, deviations and disorders in psychiatrics. Here are the most interesting ones:
1. Alien hand syndrome (Dr. Strangelove syndrome)
Alien hand syndrome is a neurological disorder in which one of the sufferer’s hands seems to take on a life of its own. Sometimes the sufferer will not be aware of what the hand is doing until it is brought to his or her attention. Alien hands can perform complex acts such as undoing buttons or removing clothing.
2. Foreign accent syndrome
The syndrome causes people to speak their native language as if they had a foreign accent; for example, an American native speaker might speak with a French-sounding accent. It usually follows a severe brain injury, such as a stroke.
3. Capgras’ syndrome
The Capgras delusion or Capgras’ syndrome is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a close family member or spouse, has been replaced by an identical looking imposter.
4. Fear of the number 13 (Triskaidekaphobia)
Adolf Hitler was triskaidekaphobic. A specific fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia. Tetraphobia is the fear of the number 4 in China, Japan, and Korea.
5. Working out too much (Bigorexia)
Bigorexia or Muscle dysmorphia is a disorder in which an individual becomes obsessed that they are not muscular enough. Sometimes referred to as bigorexia or reverse anorexia nervosa, it is a very specific case of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).
Muscle dysmorphia can cause individuals to:
– Constantly check themselves in a mirror
– Become distressed if a gym session is missed
– Take potentially dangerous drugs (e.g. anabolic steroids)
– Neglecting jobs/relationships/family due to exercising6. Collecting too many books (Bibliomania)
Bibliomania is an obsessive-compulsive disorder involving the collecting of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. The purchase of multiple copies of the same book and edition and the accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use or enjoyment are frequent symptoms of bibliomania.
7. Exploding head syndrome:
It causes the sufferer to occasionally experience a tremendously loud noise as if from within his or her own head, usually described as an explosion or a roar. This usually occurs within an hour or two of falling asleep, but is not the result of a dream.8. Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder characterised by the repeated urge to pull out scalp hair, eyelashes, beard hair, nose hair, pubic hair, eyebrows or other body hair. It may be distantly related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, with which it shares both similarities and differences.
9. Fear of men (Androphobia)
Androphobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of men. Sufferers of this disorder experience anxiety even though they realize they may face no real threat. Androphobia is one of infinite possible phobias, and as such can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age.
10. Faking illnesses to gain attention (Munchausen syndrome)
In Munchausen syndrome, the sufferer feigns, exaggerates, or creates symptoms of illnesses in himself or herself in order to gain attention, sympathy, and comfort from medical personnel. The role of “patient” is a familiar and comforting one, and it fills a psychological need in people with Munchausen’s.
the more severe form of this disorder is Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy where the afflicted person will usually harm someone else to gain sympathy. usually seen between mother and child(ren)
