~ Jack
Stay
“I love you,”
Was the last thing I wanted to say to you.
Before you walked away
And disappeared with the melting sunset.
When a part of me died with the broken bones
And the cracked ribs that produced an empty sound,
A nostalgic echo with the flawed beats of my heart.
So instead of letting you know,
How much I loved you –
I remained still and I choose to stay.
I stayed like the wrinkles of my bed
That unfolds themselves with your curves
And remains intact even in your absence.
I stayed like the roots of a winter tree
That never lifts up above the ground
And only choose to penetrate within
Until nothing remains to grow.
And I choose to stay,
Like a frozen chunk of ice
Or a heartless bronze statue;
Having a faraway look in my eyes –
Waiting for you to come back.
Waiting for you to turn.
Waiting to forgive you.
Because someone once told me,
That is what love is.
~ Bhavya Koushik
The privatest of private spaces
The sexiest pieces of gadgetry one can feast his eyes hands and any other sense on.
We use the famous( or infamous, based on who you ask) ”computers“ everyday. They have invaded our privatest of private spaces (if you know what i am talking about) and yet there is one component which has not attained too much attention and loving care…once upon a time “beauty was considered skin deep and real beauty comes from within”. Awe inspiring crappy piece of literature, beauty both inside and out counts. The CPU cabinet. The body of the system having the brawn and brain within, is now sporting the hottest exterior. From subtle simplicity to the craziest and insane models, simple sheet metal boxes to aquarium tanks… yes that’s right … fish swim in them, cabinets have become the rave.
Its not just the cabs that are getting redesigned we now have officially stepped into the realm of star wars(isn’t this the first movie that comes to mind when one mentions geeks) and star trek (this too). We now have laser keyboards , gaming mice which seem to have more functionality than a wii gamer. A laser set of keys you just project on a surface may sound a bit too extreme to some. This is the higher end. There are a mirage of other super cool stuff doing rounds over the world. For instance the keyboard pants(try googling it) and for those of you who caught die hard4.0 the foldable keyboard flaunted by Mathew . How cool would it be to hack into a system with those. .. right now . cut imagination.. there is more. Ok “more” is a matter of perspective. Form once upon a time the world of less is more attitude we have thought PCs were too big. Hence some brilliant guy thought up the idea of the laptop. Another one the notebook … and progressively got smaller and smaller upto PDAs and now complete heads up display on a pair of branded sunglasses. we are losing ourselves in the world of tech and all this is happening . maybe one day we ‘ll be able to read blu ray discs by spinning them on the tip of our fingers and looking at that thro’ some cool shades.
Customising these pieces of hardware is really catching on. So here a
few choosiest choices..
From the modern classic…
To the steam punk dream…
So if you ain’t broke and if you got loads of free time or if you are simply “THE GEEK” ,then perk up your dull cuboid and turn it into a retro radical computer console.
~ Osborn
Stop complaining and start living
Some People Make Others THINK
When was the last time we thanked God for what we are having rather than cursing him for not giving what we expected?. It’s human nature to yearn for something that is not with us rather than being happy with what we have. Recently I read in a website that everyday our immune system kills numerous number of defective cell which could have been evolved into cancer if it had lived, yet we don’t give a damn to our body. We give a foolish reason that it’s doing its job, in a way right; but what if the job wasn’t functioned properly? In our busy lives we consider many things trivial but we should be aware that many trivial things sum up together to make our life complete.
Adding some gratitude to our attitude
The incident I am going to narrate happened to me just a few months back. It had a cleansing effect on me.I learnt one of the important lessons of life – it was a day of reformation. But after this incident I have not totally become Buddha but I have started see many changes in and around me. After This incident day by day my things to feel grateful for are on the increase. I suppose everyone must also try it.
It was 8.00 pm in the night. The darkness of the night has fully spread and the moon was little dull, the bustling of streets had just started lowering and wind has started blowing slowly like a zephyr making a light euphony in the air. I and my friends started walking to our regular mess for our dinner located at a walk able distance from our room(we are four working bachelors). while walking we noticed many doors on the streets were closed and different smells of dishes like chapthis, sambars were coming from the houses, instilling us the nostalgic memories of ours sweet homes and sweetest moms. During the walk, we usually used to gossip about some casual stuff. On that very particular day everyone was complaining about something or the other, say, one of my friends told that he doesn’t like the way his physical appearance is and wanted to hit the gym for a better appearance. My another friend told that he was not happy with his department as his superiors are very odd to work with , while the other guy told he does not like his current job as the work is more physically demanding and wished for more and lucrative IT company job.
Like this the chat went on and we reached our hotel, the hotel was not a high end or a posh one, it was a pretty decent mess with all basic amenities. we all made ourselves comfortable and placed our orders to the server in the Coimbatore style ”anna rendu dosai”. As we were waiting for our orders to arrive we heard a loud laughter from the table adjacent to ours. So our attention turned towards that table and we were all startled by seeing that table. The table was occupied by four people, out of which one guy was formally dressed (I suppose he came directly from office or College) while others were in their casuals. We were not amazed by the persons sitting in the table but by the way in which they were communicating. They were communicating through gestures!.The people in the table were deaf and dumb and they were half done with dinner. The waiter came to their table and asked for their orders, they showed signs in the way the waiter could understand for example they showed round symbol if they wanted dosa. I also came to know that they were regular customers to the mess.
We were moved, not little but massively. There was pin drop silence in our table plus we were constantly gazing at their table. These guys were laughing, smiling, teasing each other in their own gesture language and making us a like mere witnesses of a fun show. All I could see in their table was fun & frolic. One of my friend broke the ice. He said see them they are happy with what they have even if they are differently abled but we keep complaining for what we dont have. These guys finished off & started leaving, they paid their bills and left the hotel. Our eye balls were following them till they were lost in the darkness. On that single day alone our table was little different, we remained at pin drop silence as everyone was feeling sorry for those guys and getting inspiration from them by reconsidering what they had said before including me.
It was moral blow to my general mindset. Earlier I had a view (the common view everyone has) disabled persons would be of low self esteem and would be hesitant to come out of their houses. But my mindset was totally effaced and I was rewriting it as “That even disabled people have lives and hearts like us. We may think we are superior than them but they are far superior by being happy with what they have. They lead a happier life than normal human beings because they don’t complain for what they do not have, they show their gratitude to god”. Our dinner was over, we paid our bills and we were walking back. The surprising thing was everyone was still in shock and has not still recovered from it; we spoke a little till we reached our room.
And i think Quoting Hellen Keller would be very apt
“I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.”
Helen killer accomplished many things in her life time that normal homosapiens couldn’t even think off. She spoke against the government when normal person backed off.
Change Ahead
From that day I made a decision that I should stop complaining and start basking life. I haven’t changed completely from that day but I have noticed that my complaining attitude has reduced appreciably and one more thing is if I again see those guys I want to say ( hope they will understand what I say) “hey guys you are doing great job and continue to inspire others”. And finally I think that everyone should be grateful to God and practice getting delighted with life and not getting annoyed with life.
~ Arul
gOOd oLd DaYs – a collage
The generation 80’s and 90’s delight 🙂 A collage
Missing Chennai Express
Two months ago, I pestered my boss that I require site experience, so that I can add that to my resume (actually I really want to include something in my resume apart from documentation and MS Office Skills). Im actually doing this so that he could disagree and then I could agree that I hate this job and actually anticipated to quit my current job. Actually God, thought the other way and planned to take me for a ride downhill to the core of the earth where I got BURNED.
I’m sent to a site in Asansol in West Bengal. There I fortunately found a theatre but unfortunately no English movies or Tamil movies but only Hindi movies (still learning Hindi). God partially favored me by keeping Dominos Pizza outlet in that place. THANK YOU GOD!!! That is my only food for the weekend, a large pizza or medium pizza with pasta or calzone would do depending upon my mood. If I had been in Chennai, I would have visited Baker’s Café, Burmese Stall, Hotel Firdouse, Mexican Griller, Dominos Pizza, Subway and if I am depressed, a buffet from Saravana Bhavan, Grill Box or Sangeetha Residency in a week. One more thing that I found out is, one can find chapatti in Chennai everywhere (even the push cart sells chapatti) even though it is not our state dish. But finding idly, dosa or vada in here is very hard like finding a Frankie shop in Chennai. Though the outlets are there, its location are few in a locality. Idly, Dosa or Vada, it has to come with sambhar and three chutneys (coconut, onion and mint) served on banyan leaf on a plastic plate. I would really love to go back to Chennai for eating at Saravana Bhavan, Sangeetha Hotel, Rayar Mess, Mammi Mess etc.,. (my locality, my taste, my food). I’m not asking rows of hotels like that as in Chennai, just one hotel in a region or near my place. See for me, food comes first and I grew up like that. But still, there was this one hotel which sells South Indian food but I rather choose pizza to that.
I enjoyed Katti rolls there and really tastes great when consumed hot. Normally I hate to take chapatti with dhal and unfortunately that’s my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have to take dhal either with chapatti or with rice. Dominos pizza was the only delight to my taste buds, else I would have had it cremated it long back in Asansol burial ground. I think its better to stop complaining about food, lets start with entertainment and roaming.
I preferred indoor rather than outdoor as I don’t know the language or have nowhere to go other than Dominos pizza. I have my hard disk loaded with series like Friends, Breaking Bad and some other movies. In one month, I have completed ten seasons of Friends. Whenever I watch Friends, I feel like home where I have seen it more than once completely and it is a complete mood shifter. I would like to thank Mattew Perry, Matt Le Blanc and David Schwimmer for their extraordinary performance throughout the series. I actually would spend my whole Sunday sitting in my bed watching movies, series and reading novels. If I were in Chennai, it would be a pizza night at my cousin’s place or ending up watching movies at Sathyam Cinemas, Escape or S2 Theyagaraja. Man!!! I miss coke and sathyam popcorn. I have been in night shows on Friday just to have popcorn with butter and when topped with Kashmiri Chilli, Jalapeno and Sour and cream seasonings…. Seriously I would spend all my cash and fly to Chennai for one large combo.. When had with coke.. that is my stress reliever, along with the seats and the ambience of the theatre, I generally forget whatever the problem might be (huge or gigantic). I almost left briyani nights at my friend’s place where we eat briyani all night long, watch movies till dawn and then go to sleep with full tummy. I literally miss those from Chennai and most of all, I miss my Unicorn bike where I go places and roam like nothing.
I have been in Chennai for about 15 years and I am a person who hates change (OCD – Obsessive Compulsion disorder). I freaked out when my parents decided to move from ground floor to first floor in the same apartment. Me coming out of Chennai, I felt it was a huge mistake but changes are required and I have to learn to adapt. Though, this change was horrible, I actually feel better after this comparison. I would choose Chennai and my current residence to stay and spend the rest of my career and after that may be will change to very remote place where I can be lonely, actually after I have quit working and start something on my own and pass away time.
~ Avinash Saminathan
The Art of waiting
~ Used a pencil sketch app and converted a cam shot 😉
Women’s Wardrobe & “Clothes shopping” : Decoded
Inspiration for this blog post : My daddy dearest!
To be precise, his outright refusal to accompany me and mom when we decided to shop clothes for me.
Read on why
Before we go into my case, a little prelude about women & their wardrobe shopping behaviour. (I can’t claim to know much though I am girl. Most of it based on observation. Reason: You’ll understand why when you finish reading)
TYPE 1 : The Real Random Picker.
She wakes up in the morning and pulls out whatever comes to her hand first. Though she ensures the ensemble is coordinated enough, most of the time she is real groggy when she picks her clothes for the day.
Her shopping habits: She is most likely to be an impulsive and an obsessive shopper. She virtually picks which ever clothes she likes when she sees. She has a very dim idea of what her wardrobe actually contains. When she realizes her wardrobe is overflowing, she would clean up, discard and create the same mess all over again.
TYPE 2 : The Organized Random picker.
She wakes up in the morning, stares at her wardrobe for good ten minutes and picks her clothes. An on the spur decision as to what to wear for the day. That’s her style
Her Shopping habits: She doesn’t plan her shopping exactly. It’s more of on the minute desire to go shop. Yet she knows what she has and picks clothes which appeals to her at that point of time. But she ensures her wardrobe is unique enough with no repeats.
TYPE 3 : The partly organized picker.
She decides what clothes to wear at least a day before hand. Yet there is no guarantee that she might change her decision and pick something else. Her moods reflect on her “what to wear” decisions.
Her shopping habits : She knows what to buy and when to buy,but at times a little impulse pops out making her step out of her normal pattern. Nevertheless she has her wardrobe under control.
TYPE 4 : The Perfectly Organized picker.
She decides what to wear a least 2 days beforehand. She has a schedule of “What to wear” based on her daily agenda, she has contingency clothes set apart. She has her clothes sorted based on occasions and how old they are. She re-arranges her schedule every month. She knows what she needs.
Her Shopping habit: She is a meticulous shopper. She shops to the need ( The more of “Just in time Inventory” kind of shopper). She is virtually devoid of any urges to buy that one piece of top/skirt/tee which is so tempting.
So now we have covered the basics on women shopping “Pattern” ( The topic of “What to Buy” is worth more than one separate blog post! I am not getting into that right now). But how many women are there in each category?
Type 4 is a real rarity. Type 4 kind of women are the either high stung executive or geeks.
Type 3 is rare, but isn’t unheard of. I’d say about give or take 5% women belong to this category.
Type 2 is the most common type. Say about 70%
Type 1 is not a rarity, yet not common (You get the drift!)
But a note of fair warning here, we ladies tend to shift categories over a period of time.
Now coming to why dad refused outright.
I am a hybrid between type 2 and type 3 ( Most of my friends tend to be a cross between Type 2 and Type 1! But I can’t afford to be type 1 due to obvious reasons (Read: MOM))
In chennai, there are many shopping spots where we get clothes right from dead cheap to insanely expensive.
I prefer to shop at TNagar, Pondy Bazaar and Pantheon road.
I normally shop with a particular colour or pattern in mind but I am not too rigid about it. The inspiration for that one colour or pattern is obviously a result of a tinge of jealousy from another woman’s clothes. I tend to visit at least 3 shops before I pick one dress. But hey come on! Choosing from so many colours, patterns, materials isn’t easy.
We women have almost infinite options. What do men have? Trousers (Max Shades of Black,Blue,Brown ,Cream,White), Shorts,Cargos, Shirts (Just the usual Stripes/plain/checks), T-shirts, Kurtas, Coats, Jackets? That’s almost the entire list.
Women have all the above said PLUS a whole range of skirts, tops, blouses, Various types of salwars in What-Not Colours and a long list of other stuff. And we have to shop for matching accessories, Bags! Phew! So it’s a whole colourful world with lots of options to pick from. Not an easy task.
Consider this scenario – you have a 7 storey shopping complex. Three floors are dedicated to women. One floor has sarees and traditional wear, other has readymade dresses and the last one has cosmetics & accessories. The saree section has at least 10 subsections selling various varieties of silk in beautiful colours of all possible shades. The readymade section has a minimum of 15 sub sections selling different types of clothes (The list of clothes sold probably takes up an entire page) in different colours and textures. As far as cosmetics & accessories are concerned, I don’t even need to elaborate. Multiply this combination by 5 with no repetitions (That’s for 5 more stores in that very area). Now tell me, can we have it any easier?
All said, at the end of the day we girls want to look good in whatever we wear and we take put in some effort for that. Not a crime!
Now you decide! Is shopping for us an easy thing to do?!
PS: Dear Dads/brothers/boyfriends/husbands! Be a sport!
~ Janani
Love is blind
We all would have heard this quote “Love is blind”. Some of us would mock at this quote, others would give a gentle smile showing your acceptance that this is correct. I wondered why is love blind?
Love is blind for a reason. It’s a blessing. That blindness helps us to ignore the shortcomings in the person we love. Love blinds the past of a person. It gives the power to love the person for what they are.
Wait, looks like mythology rite. Let’s look at what happens inside your body when you are in love. The production of hormones like dopamine infatuate us. Dopamine is a hormone that changes our mood. Our dreams are dependent on our mind. So there are high chances that lovers get their loved ones in their dream. We feel over excited, lost in joy, craziness and hopefulness.
Here is a bad news for you. The dopamine effect may go down after a period of time. You might feel a bit low and you might wonder at the crazy things you did when you were under the dopamine effect.
So my dear friends be careful and enjoy the blindness of love.
~ De Balaji
Be like the Bee!
A honey bee,while on its quest to get its nectar to make honey,does two jobs – get the nectar,and help in cross pollination of flowers.
When nature itself has examples of peaceful coexistence,then shouldn’t we,as the evolved “intelligent” race,introspect our lives too?
The purpose of our lives is fulfilled when we help others directly or indirectly.What goes around,comes around. This I learnt in a short story by Enid Blyton in which one person does a good deed to another and tells him or her to ” pass it on”. This cycle of good deeds eventually reach back to the person ( a small kid) who started this chain!
( thank you Enid Blyton for your meaningful bedtime stories!! )
How do we incorporate that in our lives?
See that old lady afraid to cross the road?Take her hand and help her cross.See the small boy unable to reach his favourite biscuit packet in the supermarket? Just take that packet and hand it to him with a smile.See that man struggling with loads of bags with him? Help him out.See that unhappy acquaintance? Listen to her woes sincerely and offer support.
Be like the honey bee. Help others. Spread smiles!You’ll not only find the honey of happiness,you’ll also find the smiling flowers you’ve helped to blossom
~ Anuradha Ravi
@ LiveWire 