Leaving

I hate packing, more so because it reminds me how much stuff I have accumulated over the years that needs to go when I move houses, localities, cities..I like to think of myself as mobile, unencumbered by mundane realities of sorting and packing your stuff and worrying about ever being able to transport so much stuff into another city. But in a way packing for me is also a task loaded with meaning..it means that I am wiping off my existence of ever having lived in that apartment..though I did live there for two years and loved every minute of it. But the moment I am out of the house, it's going to get a makeover with walls being cleaned and whitewashed, the holes made in the walls to put up photos plugged in, the dark circles left on the kitchen floor by my microwave swept clean..it's like I have never been..

Anyways, on another note it's yet to sink that I am out of this city, at least for the next couple of years..seems like I am off on one of my tours, albeit a bit lengthy this time. But soon, very soon, it'll be time to call another city my home, however metaphorically. I hate it when people leave, and yet here I am am, doing the same

The List

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER?

Has been really long, but it was probably 'Khela' by Rituparno. Stupid, and over-simplfied.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

The Dumas Club by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and my usual dose of chick-lit. Yes, I read them, especially in my dark moments, besides Murakami.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?

Ludo and Scrabble.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

None really.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

The smell that comes from my mother's sarees, smell of wet earth, the smell of Johnson Baby Powder on my nephew, and the smell of new books.

6. FAVORITE SOUND?

My nephew trying to speak.

7.WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

There are so many...it'll run into pages.

8.FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP?

is it morning ALREADY?

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

Gariahta roll joints.

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?

????

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT.If I had a lot of money I would....not hold a job to earn a living but do things that I really want to do in life.

12.DO YOU DRIVE FAST?

Can't drive and don't wish to learn.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

used to. not any more.

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?

Cool, of course.

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?.

Our first car is a Maruti.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?

cold coffee made by my husband.

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT,"IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD....Forget

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

Dont eat broccoli

.19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

Yellow?

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Kolkata, Bombay, Vasco in Goa, and soon, Delhi

.21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

football only when it's being played by at least 11 drop-dead gorgeous men.

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.

Noone sent me this.

:P23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?

Luggage.

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?

No. It would be too boring, repeating the same mistakes twice in a row!

.25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?

night owl, obviously.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?.

Sunny Side

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?

my bed.

.28. FAVORITE PIE?

Apple.

29.FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?

vanilla

Pujor Kolkata

Kolkata just before Durga Pujo is a different ball game. The sun is mellower, the air is less poisonous, even the ramshacle public buses spewing black smoke at other times take on a kindlier disposition. The air hangs heavy with expectations: of notun jama, notun juto, notun thakur, notun pandal, notun prem. The city is also at its glittering best during these few days....most street lights draped in swathes of red-colored tuni bulbs. The people are also a little happier and shinier, less angrier, more accepting of others and of themselves. But the best part is probably the sky which spends a better part of the year in various shades of grey, but turns an amazing shade of blue with white flaky clouds adding just that touch of contrast. in Bengal, and elsewhere with Bengalis, pujo is also the occasion for getting together as a para or neighbourhood, and unleash one's creative potential on unsuspecting neighbours. Pujo is the time to drop one's single status and finally take that long-planned plunge. Pujo is the time to showcase one's changing (and more daring) tastes in clothes, and spend endless hours on deciding whther it will be the backless choli or the micro-mini with matching stilletoes or both.

a perfect life

Just now I was chatting with this old collegemate of mine. Then in response to something said by her, I responded: "some people have perfect lives, but you and me:we are not that lucky .' And then in response to that she said something that startled me. She said 'Not you babe.You have a perfect life'. It struck me then how we view each other through different lenses, how my life appears to be a 'perfect' one to someone, while left to myself, I would hardly categorise it as one. How can people's views of the same thing differ so greatly? Is it because it is not possible for someone else to ever know what is happening in another person's life unless one has lived through the experiences herself?
Or is it that my life actually is 'perfect' except that I am too busy chroincling the imperfections?

Poetry on Feminism

Have been really really crazily busy for the last one week.. still haven't updated feedbacks on the movies and the books I read (Vikas Swarup's 6 Suspects is the latest one) and the play I saw (Tagore's Chaturanga) ..but just thought of a quick upload on this banner that caught my attention today. It was an ad for one of the sarees, posted on the back of an auto. It showed a demure girl displaying a saree, and on top it was written 'Poetry on Feminism'. It was supposed to be an advert for the saree brand.

weekend

Generally I love weekends..in fact I am so downright crazy about them that I spend all my weekdays in planning out the best way of spending those two precious days. However, the last couple of weekends have been pretty taxing with the whole family away in Delhi. In fact. last Saturday was a sheer torture....in the end I returned back to my office work to help me pass time. As you get older you realsie that all the people whom you used to know in school and college have either moved abroad (90% of my college and university friends have) or they are too busy with their respective careers and families to have an unplanned weekend in hand. But this weekend I am rather well-prepared..I have 4 movies to watch: two by Wong Kar Wai, Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn (it may seem strange but I am a big fan of him. I thing he's an abolutely fascinating actor, especially after watching him in Mystic River and I am Sam) , and also a movie that I have been wanting to watch ever since I read the book: Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, a look at the life of Anne Boleyn. It's always tricky converting a book into a film, and there hardly have been instances where the film has improved upon the book (case in point The Kite Ruuner, the most recent literary adaptation that I have seen). So watch this space for my feedbacks. Oh and not forgetting the 3 books that I have lined up..The Dumas Club, The Bad Mother's Handbook and the Cairo Diary.

What a circus!

I have been following the US presidential election nominations with a lot of interest. Anyday the drama produced between only TWO contesting parties can beat the hell out of our very own Ekta Kapoor. First it was this whole race versus gender issue, which got to show that ambitious women in politics are still a strict no-no in the US. And now we have Sarah Palin, the REpublican VP nominee. And what does she come up with? Getting her 17 year old daughter to give birth to her child and marry the father of the baby!! My god..is this US for real? It seems so much like India, where having a child without wedlocks still hasn't got the social sanction. But what was Mrs Palin thinking when she released her public statement on her daughter's pregnancy? Just because her party has a stand against abortion, and Palin herself is a member of a pro-life group called Feminists for Life, can she let that dictate the choices that her daughter's life must make? What's the point in burdening your 17 year old with the care of another child, and then, on top of that, get her married as well? What did the daughter feel when she found out that she was preganant? Did she want to have a baby at 17? No one knows. Bringing another life into this planet, and being responsible for his/her upbringing and well-being is a damn tough job at any age, and making a 17 year old do that....and being married at 18...burdening your child's life with your belief system is the cruellest thing that a prent can do.

I tried posting Google Adsense on my Blog, and I was instantly filled with mortification..do I want to make money out of something I love? Am I getting too commercialised? Have removed it since then.

What I want

I saw this somewhere on the Net and the words really struck a chord... a list of things I want/don't want...
I remember happier times… when little things brought me much joy
I don't want to be a lot of the person I am today….
I want a life where I can be truly happy and content
I wonder if true happiness ever does exist
I have forgotten but never forgiven
know too much about life to not be jaded and cynical
I wish I was a born in a fairytale…
I won't ever stop fighting for what I think is right
I hope that people will learn to co exist in a more harmonious less cannibalistic manner
I try to live up to my expectation but fail constantly…
At timers I desire luxury and a deccadent lifestyle
I choose to be who I am.. to do what I do.. and face the consequences..