The great Alphonso build up.

There have been lots of times when I've noticed that when any particular idea, or event has a huuge built up hype before it actually occurs, it fails miserably.

Consider the case of shrek-3 , the movie.... for all of you who don't know, the shrek series has been HILARIOUS all along....so naturally, when news broke out that the 3rd is being made, the rate of anticipatory sweating was high all over the world (umm... figuratively !) ... everyone was eagerly awaiting their fav ogre to come on screen again....when the movie finally released, guess what.. it wasn't so funny !!!

So here's the scene:

A wee bit of general knowledge first tho....

You know which one's called the king of fruits??

yea u said it... the Mango .

That was easy....  Riddle me this : ( no, this ain't the Riddler, and I'm not sucking your brains out when you read this !)

What mango is called the King of Mangoes? 

.

.

.

.

think

.

.

.

actually you must've read the title...  I assume ur not dumb either....   its the Alphonso !!

I think the word 'Alphonso' means actually does mean king , in some language.

For so long, everyone's been going on and on about how the Alphonso has an AMAZING  taste.... that its probably what heaven's made of ( mango plantations ? wtf !) ....how the Moghul emperors craved them ....  how the Gods have sent it to earth themselves ( something like that, atleast )....and stuff along similar lines... you get the idea, no?

So yesterday, my mom asks ... " hey, its the summer , howcome we still haven't tasted this season's Alphonsos ??? "

yeah mom, I hope we don't get purgatory for our sin :P

That said, Dad went to the supermart and got the heavenly Alphonsos .... and they were fucking steep man... like 160 bucks a kg or sumthin ( 3 mangoes !)... I mean, its just a fruit !!

So anyway...  we had a family gathering at the dining table for just that..... 

You ever been in situations where everything seems to move in slow motion when you look back at it?  This is one of them .... recalling mom slicing the Alphonsos ....

We waited for a reaction as she tasted the first slice  ..... 

can you guess what happens next? 

huh??

The fucking Alphonso  was NOT sweet at all !!!  Bland is the word....  wtf man, whoever said the freakin fruit was the gift of God must've been demented or sumthing..

All in all, the whole thing turned out to be huge dissappointment....  kinda like the concept of exams :P

I had this as my facebook status recently..... "Mangoes are over-rated"  . They so are ! 

oh oh oh...... this reminds me of yet another hindi adage ...and it goes like this: 

" Unchi dukaan, pheeka pakwaan"

literally translated, It says.... The better the shop , the lousier the product !

PS:  I'm still at 1 on the mtvIndia bloggers Scroll ( yay me !)   :P

http://www.mtvindia.com/blogs/bloggers-scroll.php

o... crappy day(s) are here again...

People say that life is unpredictable. The twists and turns of fate can't be pre-judged. This is probably why I'd advise you not to believe any palmists, gypsies-with-crystal-balls , or tea -leaf readers.  

Did I ever tell you why I never read the daily horoscope in the newspaper?  I used to, for a while, pretty religiously at that....  but gradually I began to observe that whenever I read my horoscope , I have a reeeally crappy day !  Seriously...complete with mishaps and embarrassments and what not.

So, one fine day, I decided NOT to read the daily horoscope anymore !  Which in no way implies that I haven't had bad days since then.... cuz I've had my share ....believe you me .

Speaking about bad days.... I'm gonna come back to why I'm writing this......  Today has officially been my worst day in the last ...umm....3 or 4  months !

As I said earlier, life is unpredictable...... I stand by it. However, (yes, there's always a however) if looked at from a one-day-at-a-time view, life can be predictable , to a certain extent.

Let me illustrate.....

When I'm having a bad day, the ONE thing I'm sure off is that it'll get worse. It does. Now, I'm in no mood to argue the silver-lining concept ......  that happens too..... but only after the day has ALREADY gone from bad to worse.

So, the general order of events on any particular bad day can be outlined as: 

Wake up  ------ > bad stuff----- > worse stuff -----> Silver-lining  event of the day  ( probable) -----> Sleep

Hey, that's a new hypothesis....  or so I'd like to think.... I haven't gotten my silver-lining for today ....  and this is  probably a feeble attempt at it.

There's a very wierd concept of dreams that's also an adage ...... if uve dreamt it after sunrise, it might just come true !   and that's really scary right now.

You see, for most people, if they're sad, the saddest time is lying in bed, waiting for sleep to take over..... just waiting.....  perhaps uve experienced it too...its a time that magnifies your sorrow in the guise of loneliness.

But that's still something normal..... what isn't , though is that today morning, I woke up with the exact same feelings that are mentioned above.... and its the first time i've noticed it in me.... usually the time before sleep is the bad one, if ever. 

So, today, I woke up feeling low, alone and lost. That is how it begins.  Next, I fail at getting results in a project, which till yesterday, I thought was as good as done. Then, I find my room taken over by my folks..... cuz the other TV isn't working.....  followed by a spat with dad at lunch , of course, over my career plans (eyes rolling)

Further, towards the evening, my lappy starts showing signs of impending-death ( ummm.... please don't die !  ) 

next, part 2 of spat-with-dad.

and the worst part is..... no signs of my sliver lining ...where are you??????? 

The bottom line .......  crappy crappy crappy day !!

get better .... now, won't you? ( enter puss-with-cute-eyes a la shrek !)

Download mp3s... minus the usual crap !

Hey ! 

I shuffled around with the colours on the blog.....  looks a bit silly, I admit... but what the heck, atleast its a change :P

any suggestions are welcome btw !

I was searching for this old favourite song ...  "So Happy Together" by this band called "The Turtles"  .... check it out , in case u haven't heard it earlier.... even if u have, it doesnt hurt to listen , naa !!

http://www.airmp3.net/download/the_turtles/so_happy_together/mp3/dlaXa1_6a7d_0

So, as I was searching, I found this reeally cool site (hint of exaggeration?!) ...   www. airmp3.net .

Okay, NO, I'm not promoting the site.... NO, this ain't an ad-gimmick  !!  They're NOT paying me to say this ( I wish they would though !) ......

Its really a good place to download mp3s ....  I'm not sure they include bollywood though ;)

plus, you can just stream it and listen to it there only, if u don't wanna download it.  

My problem, actually, was that I didnt know any good site to download western titles.

Sure, for Hindi gaane, u've got   www.songs.pk  ....   but I wasnt aware of any such site for the other-side-of-music.

I didnt wanna install Bit torrent or ares or bearshare (specially not this) or limewire ....  any such p2p sharing thingy...they just slow down my system. 

So I'm pretty happy I found this! 

Oh, n just so everyone can get it right, I installed an mp3 search tab riiight at the bottom of my page... just above the poll  (which btw, YOU haven't  filled !!!) .... So scroll dooooooownnnn ... see for yourself !!

Guest post 2 !

Looks like she's really on a roll....  Here's the next by the young poetess herself...

Darkness

My heart is breaking into pieces
with every smile that I give
That's the life that I live
I tried to fool myself and hide behind my dreams
I Tried to make everything as simple as it seems
But deep inside, there were thousands of bursting tears,
with every smile that I used to give
that's the life that I live
Ended up with a broken heart,
ended up with my life ripped apart.
Ended up left alone in the darkness,crying,
Gave up and just quit trying..
ask yourself in silence someday-
are you not in search of darkness?
A place where light used to be..
now no more.
now is peace, four walls, curtains,
and just darkness.
I'm running away frm the darkness
that seems to follow me wherever I go...
suffocating me when I try to break freee..
holding me when I try 2 push it away...
i see light at a distance..but the more I walk towards it..
the smaller it becomes
I shiver as I see it coming to me again
I don't know what to do..
So I keep running....
never before
has darkness seemed so powerful,
so pure,
so convincing,
so lethal.
Yes,
i am in search of
a darkness...
in its own light..

~ Hemakshi

Guest post !

When I last wrote, I didnt have any hopes whatsoever that I would be writing here again soon..... and I was right. This post isn't mine really.... A friend wrote the following.. under circumstances best left unsaid.....  but even if ure absolutely dense towards poetry, I don't think you won't feel what this one's saying. 

These are times  everyone has undoubtedly faced in their lives.... its just that we have different ways of dealing with it. ...   I really hope that last para's just a metaphor hemu  .....n hey, wishing  you'll see your silver lining soon enough   :)

Unspoken Words

Unspoken words, buried in my heart
There seems to be no end, no beginning, no start
My lips seemed to have been permanently sealed
Don’t know how to express the way I feel

Unspoken words, buried in my heart
They lock my doors of normal speech shut
I seem to be trapped in this lonely prison
Where I live as a tormented soul that has not yet risen

People don’t care whether I’m here or there
It’s always the same, wonder why I care
Cruel taunts, teases and jeers
Hurt my feelings, increased my fears
All I ever received were barbs and sneers
Sometimes I just can’t hold back the tears

What did I do to deserve this?
They only know how to make fun of me
What is the revolting thing in me that I’ve somehow missed?
Surely they can tell so I can know and see?

Maybe ending my life will cure this pain
This living hell that’s making me insane
Just one jump into the deep blue sea
Will end my sufferings, my memories ..

~ Hemakshi

Touched.

Hey people.... I'm so sorry if I've been letting you down lately....I know I'm letting my self down for sure! :((

This inability to multi-task is really getting the worst out of me...... So the scene is... I've been busy the last month..... finally got the kinda work I wanna do..... and well, its hectic right now.... and the sad part is, it's made me lose touch with things I like ... writing on the blog .....and reading !

Yea, I've seen "voracious readers" ... reading their authors in cabs while going to office, or in buses..... but that's just not me... I really can't do that... reading in a moving vehicle makes me dizzy..... plus, I'm so damn exhausted that by default I make optimal use of my travel time.... sleeping!

There are so many times when I come back home, determind to write a post here.... but I sumhow can't muster the strength for it... I don't want writing here to be another CHORE... It makes me happy when I write... and I wanna write by my own schedule. Its just that I feel left out somehow....

What can I do? I don't wanna be just another drab guy who has no life of his own other than the one his boss gives him.

Leaving out that part... I'm gonna share something really special here right now... My all time absolute favourite romantic song.... I try not to listen to it a lot, cuz its only for the special occasions...or else it'll lose its charm, na? It's called "I wanna spend my lifetime loving you" ...the title track of Zorro..... by Marc Antony and Tina Arena.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfTvY7w3JZI&NR=1

Hope it touches you in the same way it touched me......

Readers' Paradise

This is about books.
Well, not books exactly but my reading style, book preference, bookstore choice... blah blah blah... u'll see...
I have half a mind to start with the ONE line that i've seen soo many people start their debates with.....

" The oxford dictionary defines books as.... "

and I hate it when someone says that.... I mean, where's the innovation?? why does everyone say the same stuff?

Anyhow..... I've always liked reading... ever since I can remember.... although, its been on and off kinda..... as a kid, I used to love comic books.... my mom even got our newspaper waala to deliver the new releases of each week at home. So yea... lots of comic books..... I grew a little and started feasting on the short stories.. Enid Blyton and stuff ...The most memorable part was when I would get my English literature books at the start of a new academic year ...I'd read the entire thing in a couple of days! ...siiiigh... how I love the smell of newly printed books... its so... Inviting.
I have no other words for it....
I'd loved issuing books from the school library.... NO, I never read the hardy brothers or any such crap... I was more into Dr. Doolittle , classics and the likes.... I'd come home... not study the entire day... just read. Occasionally my Dad asked me why I wasn't doing coursework, and left after I didn't come up with a good enough answer. "Dad, I like this. Schoolbooks are boring. " .... "Dad, he just found a chair with wings... I need to know the next part!" ..... and so on...
Then came the Harry Potter era. I think I was in the 9th when the first one released.... suddenly, all everyone was talking about involved this book rising in popularity charts... Newsflashes depicting incidences of overcrowded bookshops (Nope, India TV wasn't there yet, The phrase 'Breaking News' wasn't used for everything.) were on TV .And so I got my hands on the first HP book... and I absolutely loved it !!!

You know, I noticed something lately...

Blogs have this awesome quality ....making the author seem larger than life.... whatever the topic of writing. Seriously..... think about it....
I admit that I'm not as voracious a reader as I'd like to be. But that's just me ( refer to the blog title if ure too thick !).... I sometimes don't get my hands on a book for months at a stretch if the situations are such. Last month , on the other hand, I read 3 different ones...

The white tiger ( the man booker...why??), Shalimar the clown and A fine balance ( WOW !)... I travelled a lot that time, actually... so I read a lot too ! One of my favourite places to read in is the window seat on a train . Its just so comfy, reading while everything rushes past.... Thats for another day, though ......

I sometimes daydream about having an incredibly well furnished reading room with a La-Z-boy and a huge book shelf. Other times the room gets converted into a gaming zone with a PS 3, a pool table, a foozball table and a pinball machine... the La-Z-boy stays put though ;)


About Bookshops... which one's your favourite? If ure in delhi... Om book shop maybe? Oxford? I have a preference here too.... See, even though I love the sight of so many books, the humongous bookstores don't really appeal to me. What do, though, are small, cozy bookshops.... You know, the ones in corners ( no, not the porno collection... jeez .. !) ... those that you would've missed probably while walking past.... those that don't necessarily send pamphlets about sales to ur doorsteps..

I was in a city called Jalandhar last month when I came across a similar bookshop. I wouldn't really have noticed it if my cousin hadn't pointed it out... " hey, u like to read na... check that out."

The first thing that struck me was the sign board displaying the name. "Readers' Paradise" .... I smiled looking at the apostrophe at the correct location, after the "s" in "readers"..... "Finally! " I said to myself.. "A signboard with correct grammar!"

I went in and noticed piles of books on the sides.... immediately the smell hit me with that same nostalgia of settling down with a paperback ( I never could take to reading ebooks... uuggghh ) .... There was a middle aged guy sitting behind the counter , reading something.... I looked around a little and noticed he didnt have any trashy stuff... just good, readable ones..... I had been hearing about this author called 'Rohinton Mistry' for a while, and wanted to get one of his works.... so I asked the counter guy about him and he had 2 of the guy's books. I chose one.... in the meantime I was chitchatting with the guy... turns out he was actually the owner of the shop.... said he never wanted to have a large bookshop, just a good one like this... quality over quantity kinda thing....

Oh n yea.... funny thing... every 2 minutes, someone would walk in asking for a box of pencils, a packet of A4 sheets, pens etc etc...... After refusing the 5th person to ask him, he said to me .."you know, there's a sign behind the counter that says NO STATIONARY....I thought people read...."