Rideo ergo sum

no more time...

I met her on the bus, I met her in the corridors... a friendly smile, a kind word, and we were friends forever. Of course, it wasn't that easy. Along the way there was a shared love for books, there were hours of gossip, endless chats in cafes, invitations to leisurely lunches. There were day-long shopping sprees and ladies-only club nights. We had all the time in the world, to try on dozens of clothes, to order another sandwich, and for that last bit of gossip on the phone after getting home from an evening out. But all of a sudden, there is no more time. The days are flying by, filled with paperwork and meetings and weekends crammed with chores.

Now, with the hours and minutes slipping out of my fingers like sand, I wish I had made more of the time I had with them, living on the same street, sitting on the same floor, working in the same building, or just across the road. I wish we could have taken that crazy trip to the hills, I wish there would be another release of a Harry Potter book, I wish we could go out for just one more movie together.

In less than a month, we will be separated by an ocean. Those moments we took for granted will be nothing but memories. And I will look at every face I meet and hope for another friend forever.

What time of the day am I?

Good fun.

Three series

From the Harry Potter link in the last pos t, you can see that the Vatican has done a comparative study of three popular fantasy fiction series: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia. Well, I don't think it's necessary to say I don't really agree with their analysis, but here's my own reasoning of why I like the Harry Potter series better than the other two.

First off, let me start by clarifying that by no means do I think that the Harry Potter series is the best that could be. There is a much better series out there, which I think every fan of Harry Potter should read, The Bartimaeus Trilogy. J K Rowling has created an amazing world, which draws from the legends and myths that are well-known to us, but that same world is shown to also interact with our own. However, the last two books of the HP series seemed a bit off to me, but I only realized what the problem was when I was deep into my own NaNoWriMo novel last November. I kept trying to introduce plot twists to keep my story going, which is the feeling I had got from the books 6 and 7. And yes, I have read HP fanfiction that can beat the last two books hands down any day.

But I still like the HP series better than Narnia and LoTR. But please remember, that whatever I write here is about the books and not about the movies at all.

HP v/s Narnia:

I read the Narnia series when I was in Sixth grade. I had devoured the series in about a month's time, all 7(?) books or something, in the order in which they were published (hint, not in choronological order). What struck me about the books, even at that age was that they were very preachy. I had, of course, not read the views of any critics and was not really able to read into the subliminal message of Aslan as Christ and so on, but the preachiness still stuck out. And I guess, even when I was 12, I preferred books that would let the reader think for herself.

In contrast, the HP books are written from the point of view of Harry, and the reader grows with him through the books. There is no real narrating voice which gives commentary.

Another thing that had struck me at that time as not particularly believable, was the whole business with the rings and portals, and having a sort of "Dadar station" where you could switch between portals and worlds. It seemed quite contrived to me at that time, though I hadn't read too many other fantasy works, and now that I have, the whole thing seems very ridiculous.

I know, it's not as if J K Rowling explains the phenomena of apparation or floo travel with hardcore science, but it is still within the realm of imagination that they can be explained by some magical theory which is known to the wizards, if not to us.

The Narnia series is also very age-specific. Because of it's preachiness, it appears to be talking down to the reader, and so, it is not particularly enjoyable for adults (or young adults) to read.

HP v/s LoTR:

I was introduced to the Lord of the Rings series by two friends, one who had a list of 100 best novels to read, and the other who had most of those novels. I started with the Hobbit, which was quite enjoyable and light-hearted. I liked the three remaining books well enough, though I did feel that they were a bit long-winded.

The most important thing about the LoTR series which I didn't like is the extreme portrayal of creatures as black and white. Of course, the human characters traverse the entire spectrum of grays. But is there a single "good" orc? Or a single "fallen" elf? The HP books are a paragon of tolerance in this respect. You have Remus and Grawp to show that not all "dark" creatures are evil, even though the majority of their bretheren may be supporting Voldemort. You have Snape, and to some extent Draco Malfoy, to show that not all Slytherins are Voldemort. There are good and evil (or crazy) house elves, and even Gryffindor house (which is supposed to be full of brave and good people) produces one of the worst traitors.

Another thing which rankled me was that the king had somekind of birthright to rule the world. Just because he was "x son of y son of z son of w" or something. Sort of reminds me of Rahul Gandhi.

However, I would like to add that if you haven't read these three (four, actually; the Bartimaeus trilogy is is a must-read) series, please go out and read them. Each of them, despite the peeves mentioned above, has some great storytelling. Enjoy!

The Exorcist - Redux

More than a year after my post about Harry Potter and the Exorcist, here are two news stories reported on IBN Live, within the space of a month. In one, the Vatican says that Harry Potter is the wrong kind of hero, and in the other the Vatican's chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth (now I finally know the name of the guy I was speculating about in my last post), talks about how exorcism is more and more necessary in today's world.

Apparently, the story of Harry Potter glorifies the knowledge of the occult (read as knowledge, period) . Apparently, intellectuals feel that using knowledge, they can turn dark powers to good. How? By using nuclear power to power cities and factories rather than to blow up the earth, stuff like that maybe. The positive values that we come across in the book are apparently of no use, as the tale is set in the backdrop of witchcraft, which, instead of being shunned and reviled, is actually portrayed in a positive light.

In the previous post I had wondered why the church simply doesn't make DVDs of exorcisms to prove the truth and make a killing at the box-office at the same time. The news clip reveals that the catholic church forbids filming real exorcisms. Hmm... wonder why. Could it be because people will figure out that there is just some crazy mumbo-jumbo happening there, and that there are no levitating beds and priests being flung to the corner of the room by girls regurgitating green vomit?

According to the man in charge of exorcisms in the Vatican, the action of the devil is a lot more widespread now than in the past because the devil is being given more space. For three centuries now, the church has almost totally abandoned exorcisms, and so now there are hardly any priests equipped to handle the possessed. These priests, because of their ignorance, send people to psychiatrists and psychologists instead of exorcising them. "Thank god", the father said, "that there is a pope who wants to fight the devil head on."

I suppose the Vatican will keep issuing statements like these and I will keep writing blogposts to try and show how completely ridiculous they are. Here's to a long and healthy blogging career.

31 Years, One Life

Today, I am thirty one years old. I have always been fascinated with numbers and I love to see correlations of numbers with things that are familiar to me. So while thirty was a milestone year on the way to middle age, thirty one is important because it brings to mind one of the biggest joys of life, ice cream. The urge to write something on this momentous-to-me day came from a beautiful birthday gift from one of my closest friends.

Birthdays generally make me low before they arrive. Not for the reason most people would assume, of getting older. Getting older is inevitable, and I welcome it as progress. I feel low because I always feel that a birthday should be an eventful day, somehow different from all other days. And just before every birthday, I feel that this one is going to let me down. But thanks to all the wonderful friends and family around me, I have not really had too many in my adult life, that let me down.

This birthday has been specially wonderful till now, for a lot of reasons. A hike and a promotion on the days preceding it, a large stash of new clothes, a surprise birthday cake by hubby and a wonderful note for me from a dear friend... It's the thought that counts, though probably not for the hike and promotion.

I guess what makes my day wonderful is that so many people think of me, and care enough to wish me a Happy Birthday, my boss, my team, my friend who called me in the morning and started talking about an email and had to be reminded of the day, friends from far away, whom I rarely hear from, but who still scrap me on orkut on this day... everyone makes this day special. Well... that was a silly rambling rant. Now I will head out to eat some ice cream.

We have a winner!

OK, I did it. I wrote my novel of 50,000 words in less than 30 days! Yes, for once in my life I have finished even before the deadline!

Of course, the novel is nowhere near ready for anyone but myself to read. But yes, the first draft is done, and I have eleven months to edit and make changes before the next round of NaNo!

Almost famous

It's thrilling to see your own name in print. Alright, granted it's not in print here, but there is a print edition out, which I will get my hands on!

State of the nation

No, this is not an introspective post to see how far our great country has come in the 60 years of independence. Believe it or not, this is a restaurant review.

Since my SO is a meat-lover, we thought it would be a good idea to go check out a new restaurant called "Barbecue Nation" for dinner tonight. So I called up to make a reservation. I was told that there are no spots open till 10:30 PM so I agreed to that time. When we got there at 10:30, however, we were made to wait another 20 minutes to get a table. There were many more people around waiting just like us, some of whom were already more irritated than us!

Finally we got in at about 10:50, and figured out what the deal was. They would serve us meats etc. at our table, which had a grill in it. We could barbecue the meats etc on our own and baste them with the variety of sauces that were placed on the table in little bowls. And there was a buffet of soups, salads, main course (multicuisine) and desserts. So far so good.

We were shown to our table and given the drinks menu. 10 minutes after that, and still no one had arrived to help us with our food. Finally on signaling to one of the staff, he came and explained the deal to us. And asked us whether we were vegetarian or non. We gave him our drink orders and also told him that we would want only three of the nonvegetarian options, and none of the vegetarian ones. We asked him to exclude the chicken tikka and the tandoori fish.

The hot grill with smoldering coals was placed in the middle of the table, and our drinks arrived. But there was no sign of the meats. After a while, a guy came up with a plate of chicken tikka and tried to serve us. We iterated to him that we did not want the chicken tikka, the fish or the vegetarian options. Just as he left, another fellow turned up with paneer satay and then yet another with mushrooms! By now, hubby was getting pretty upset. But we sent the guy away, again explaining our choices. One of the senior staff had noticed by now that something was going on, so he came up and we explained the whole list to him. He scurried off to get us our preferences, but by the time it arrived, two more attempts had been made to serve us fish or chicken.

Finally our grill items arrived, but I was disappointed to find that the food was already cooked, and that the grill on the table was merely a prop. The rest of the evening went on pretty tamely, but the damage was done and the hubby had blown his top at the staff. As for me, I was already composing this post in my head.

The food had been indifferent, and as I have already said the grill was just a prop. Nothing against the place as such, but I am not sure if I will be going there again very soon.

Finished Reading "Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows"

It feels like the end of an era. Well maybe not the very end, as there are two movies still to come out. But all the anticipation for the book, all the speculation, everything, over in less than 12 hours!

I suppose it is my fault for speed-reading it. And for reading the epilogue first. But then, I cannot stand suspense at all. It is a terrible thing. I prefer getting into a book or a movie, knowing who, if anyone, is going to die, and whether or not there will be a happy ending.

Well, I won't post any spoilers here, so that all of you can enjoy the book. But yes, I am really sad that the book was leaked beforehand, and some malicious people spoiled the story by revealing stuff to the ones who are not like me (the ones who like suspense, I mean). Sadly, the leak was genuine.

Restricted Viewing!!!

Yes, that's the rating this site has determined for my blog! Apparently, "

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

pain (2x)
hurt (1x)"

Huh.

70 Questions

70 Questions I Guarantee You've Never Answered in a Meme

1. Would you chew gum after someone else already chewed it?
Eeeew! No!
2. What describes your relationship status?
Married

3. Who was your last call from?
My cousin

4. Are you a heart breaker, or the broken heart ?
Definitely breaker ;)

5. Ever been skinny dippin?
No L

6. Earrings or necklace?
Earrings! Loooooong ones!

7. Who have you talked to most today?
My husband

8. Pumpkins?
Are the last vegetable would think of eating.

9. Friend that lives closest to you?
Rinku

10. Color of your shirt?
Pink!

12. Who's on your missed call?
My beautician(!)

13. What is your background on your computer?
Hubby, mom and bro at a restaurant.

14. Do you wish on 11:11?
Huh???

16. Are you a bad influence?
You bet!!!

17. What color are your eyes?
Dark brown.

18. Would you rather have your name or your siblings name?
Mine (Since sibling is male, of course)

19. Would you do anything for someone?
Yes.

20. Have you ever been called an asshole?
Probably.

21. Favorite color(s)?
Red!

22. Do you use smiley faces on the computer?
Yes :D

23. do you like anyone?
Almost everyone.

24. Are your grades good?
Good enough, I suppose.

25. Do you ever think people hate you for filling these out?
Yeah I know a lot of people do.

27. Does your best friend have a myspace?
Nope, neither do I.

28. Whose page did you visit last?
Amit Verma

29. Last time you went out to lunch?
A week ago.

30. Do you watch the Gilmore Girls?
Nope.

31. Have you ever enjoyed listening to Jack Johnson?
No

32. Have you ever seen or enjoyed watching the O.C.?
No

33. Do you have one or more Britney Spears C.D.s?
Nope

34. Which radio stations are your favorite?
Radio City

35. Are you a "Lost" fanatic?
No

36. Still have pictures of your ex?
Nope.

37. Do you have a song by Ozzy Osbourne in your library?
Yep… not my library, but my husband’s.

38. Alanis Morisette?
One song I think.

39. Do you watch Family Guy Regularly?
Never

40. King of the Hill?
Nope

41. Do you read trashy romance novels often?
Yes of course!

43. Do you sing obnoxiously in the car?
All the time! Ask hubby!

44. Do you ever sing obnoxiously in the shower?
Not really.

45. Have you ever watched a little kid's show?
Yep, all the time!

46. Have you ever pretended your crush was with you when they weren't?
No.

47. Did you draw pictures for your first crush back in elementry?
Nope

48. Have you ever liked a girl/boy but didn't ask her/him out?
Yes.

49. Have you ever written a poem or story about your life?
Tried to, but never got to finish them.

50. Have you ever spent over an hour thinking about nothing but
your crush?
Not for a whole hour, at least not in one go

51. Have you ever liked someone solely because of their personality?
Yes.

52. Do you eat all the servings in the food groups on a daily basis?
Heck no!

53. Are you ever a freak about cleanliness or organization?
Almost never.

54. Have you ever been to South America or Africa?
No

55. Do you know how to knit?
No

56. Do you have a cell phone or iPod with a patterned cover?
Yes

57. Have you ever written love song lyrics yourself and put them on myspace?
No!

58. Do you keep a diary or journal online?
Nope

59. When you open your closet, what is the dominant color of?
Black and red.

60. Baskin Robbins or Coldstone?
Coldstone.

61. Physics or chemistry?
Physics.

62. Earphones or headphones?
Headphones.

63. Pink or teal?
Pink

64. Earrings or a ring?
Earrings!!!

66. Harry potter, lord of the rings or star wars?
Harry Potter!!!

67. Fly or road trip?
Road trip.

68.starbucks?
Not here

69. What is your favorite TV show?
Whose line, The Foodie

70. Have you ever bought clothing at Sears?
Yes.

No tags... don't want to get cursed by anyone!

Pastafarian Sighting In Hyderabad!

Pastafarian Sighting In Hyderabad
Originally uploaded by asheernut.

Yes! There are others like us out there, who are not afraid to stand up and be counted! All hail the FSM!

The warm fuzzies

A good friend and colleague gave me an unexpected bit of news today, that she and her husband have adopted a baby girl. I have no idea why, but the news gave me warm fuzzy feelings and I have been unaccountably happy for the rest of the day today.

I have no idea about the background of this child, but I am sure that she couldn't have a better set of parents if she had chosen them out of a catalog herself. It is people like these who make this world a better place and I wish all three of them every happiness in their lives.

I have no idea why this news has turned me into a pile of mush, but I thought that this needed to be written down and it was all I could do to stop myself from giving her a hug today! (Professional decorum frowns upon hugging in office meetings, I suppose.)

Goa fish delight...

That was what the waiter told me the drink was, when he brought us two glasses of a pale pink beverage as complimentary drinks at a Sunday Brunch. I was bewildered but bravely took a sip to figure out that it tasted strongly of guavas with a peachy aftertaste... Well with the varied accents in this country and the fact that my friend is in Goa right now, and I will be in Goa next month, can you blame me for mishearing the "Guava Peach Delight"?

Heartfelt Gratitude

The autorickshaw strike going on in Hyderabad is causing a lot of people serious inconvenience. But this is not a post on autorickshaw drivers and their tyranny, nor is it about whether or not strikes are a good thing to have. This post is to express my gratitude toward all the people who have pitched in to help their friends and colleagues who depend on autorickshaws (like me) get to work and back in the past 10 days. To all of my friends and colleagues who are going quite a bit out of their way to pick me (and others) up in the morning, or drop us home in the evening, a million thanks. May your tribe forever grow and prosper.

Natural Progression?

Here's a set of ads that I happened to look at, while browsing on reviewjournal.com.

This is a real screenshot, honest! See how it gives you a progression:
1) Meet your match (and presumably marry them for the next step)
2) Get divorced from your spouse
3) Look for true love again
4) When you can't find it, eat chocolate and strengthen your bones in the process.

How straight and simple that looks, no?

Rolling blogs...

I am now a proud member of the Atheist Blogroll!

Mangal Attacks!!!

I am listening with half a ear right now to the news on tv. There is a report on Abishek's engagement to Ash, which is of course accompanied by the whole hullaballoo about Ash being "manglik". There have been a lot of "upay" or "workarounds" suggested to get over the bad influence of Mangal or Mars over the horroscope of the girl, including getting her symbolically married to a tree!

The general idea that everyone has of the "Manglik dosha" (don't ask me what exactly it means in terms of the horroscope, just that it involves some sinister positioning of Mars) is from weird Hindi movies where a Manglik girl gets married and then a lot of misfortune befalls her new family and so on. People never really tell you what exactly is the matter with a Manglik girl, and why people say that it is likely her husband will die. But I discovered something very interesting a few years ago about this matter.

My dad has a very good friend, who shares his interest in astrology and in fact practices it beyond the amateur interest that my dad shows in it. So one fine afternoon when these two buddies had their charts and papers strewn about and were discussing horroscopes (mine, of course) I overheard my dad asking this gentleman what being Manglik means. The gentleman assured him that is wansn't anything to worry about and generally people with the Manglik dosha have very strong sexual desires, and that is why it is recommended that they should be married to another Manglik. I suppose you can imagine what I thought about that? Well I rushed to share this news with my cousin who used to live with us, and who is also a Manglik. We sometimes still giggle about having a high enough sex drive to kill a guy from exhaustion.

Anyway both she and I got married in circumstances where our parents were not able to match our horroscopes with the guy's so I will never know if my SO is Manglik or not. But for the time being he seems to be coping well under the pressure, so to speak; in fact he seems to be positively thriving.

Of course, if you have read anything of my blog before, you will know that I do not believe a word of what horrscopes are supposed to reveal to us, and so it is all irrelevant to me. But it is sad to see that people let their entire lives be ruled by these ancient systems which have ceased to have any meaning in today's world, if they ever had any. Here you can read some interesting facts and workarounds for the Manglik Dosha. Of course, if you read this, you will know that it is all a money-making enterprise, (yep, you can pay by credit card or via direct debit from the major banks!) whether it involves buying charms or getting pujas and yagyas done to reduce the Martian terror or paying a pundit to get your daughter married to a tree!

ETA: Apparently my blog has been getting loads of hits since I wrote this post, because of the typo: "Abishek". So I won't correct it, but I will add the correct spelling "Abhishek" here too, so that I don't miss out on people Googling the correct spelling!

How was my vacation?

I've been asked why I didn't post about my vacation. Well I suppose it was not one of those life-changing vacations that people seem to have all the time, where they experience some awe-inspiring sight and then things are never the same after that. Well mine was more of a comfort vacation, being pampered, first by hotel staff, and then by a favourite aunt and her mom!

First of all, in Dubai, we stayed at the Grand Hyatt, where there are 14 different outlets to eat and drink at, and a lovely, lovely spa, where you are made to feel like a queen! There was the usual bit of shopping, specially requests from friends, some walks along the creek at night, and a lot of photography. And of course, the belly dance show!

Oman was a different story. It was laid back and peaceful, with serene white buildings all over, carefully manicured greenery all over the town of Muscat, contrasting with the rugged beauty of the mountains. Thousand year old forts provided lovely photo-ops, and so did pristine beaches with not a human in sight. And then there was the food. We had a surfeit of roast chicken and schwarma to choose from. Not to mention the heavenly cooking of my great-aunt. Who had pulled out all stops to pamper her "naat-jamai" (loosely translated as "grandson-in-law") on his first visit. There were daily siestas and scenic walks overlooking the sea. There was a barbecue party and there were gifts from relatives (ooooh yes!). It was a time to recharge and relax, which we did in spades. Go look at some pictures...

A conversation

Me: "I have a friend who lives in Chennai, and her dad goes for a walk every morning on the same beach where the tsunami struck. But that day, he had to take a different route because of some procession happening, and he was safe,"

X: "Ah, that is an intervention by God."

Me: "Eh?"

X: "See, he was saved that day, because God intervened and caused him to take another route."

Me: "Oh? And what about the quarter of a million people who did die?"

X: "Ah, that is their karm."

Me: **Shrugs and just shuts up**

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