tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79476339132950795792024-03-21T16:31:43.072+05:30Mindful MusingsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-27937079781419935572016-03-17T15:32:00.001+05:302016-03-17T15:33:34.610+05:30Professional Equality 101<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>When a line from a classic comes to mind, </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>And offers you comfort to endure the grind</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">So you're relatively new at your organisation and by virtue of the pink bloom of youth and your bubbling inexperience, you may be subject to unintended patronage by those above and before you. They won't necessarily talk down but you will periodically feel like a second-class citizen in this Republic. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.8px;">Here are some instances:</span></span><br />
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1. "We all have different categories of leaves, but you will need to check if you are eligible for any."</div>
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2. "The meal card and similar benefits only apply to a certain salary bracket."</div>
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3. "Madam, you can take your car after some time when The Sir leaves."</div>
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4. "Since boss and other senior managers will not be travelling this time, you can do a day-trip. Or do you need to stay in a hotel?!"</div>
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I find that Mindfulness comes to the rescue at these times. You have less than the flash of a second where you must cheerfully remind yourself that this is not your home and you *may* need to keep this job. Good sense prevails when your face assumes a dead-pan expression and you refrain from uttering a single syllable. However, you may be unable to suppress the chuckle that comes with remembering<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> George Orwell's</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><i style="font-size: 12.8px;">Animal Farm. </i><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Because he was right in saying, "All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others."</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-61696234077968587922015-07-27T15:05:00.002+05:302015-07-27T15:05:17.612+05:30Weekend frenzy with the latest blockbuster<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">So I made my contribution of 150
rupees and watched Hindi cinema’s latest blockbuster movie – the Salman Khan
starring Bajrangi Bhaijaan (also introducing the little girl driving the world
crazy with her cuteness). It’s incredible that my little cousins, aged 8 and 11
years, were insistent on watching this movie in the theatre. It will be out on
tv in a month, I argued. But no, they had to see it the opening weekend. Kids
these days, I tell you. And it wasn’t even marketed as a children’s movie (the
way that Hrithik Roshan’s </span><i style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Krish</i><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">
series are – did you catch that sound in the background? That was my heart
breaking all over again at the remembrance of the recent Krish movie).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Another 500 rupees spent as the
kids need to eat cheese popcorn and drink water (mixed with coke). Multiplex
culture has really caused us to lose the value of hard-earned money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am aware of the introductory
song – presenting the hero in all his glory, mostly physical. All those hours
spent in the gym have been finally brought to fruition. Roll camera, hoots and
whistles. I do realise some of the elements of this so-called formula when I
watch these movies on tv but there’s the magic of the big screen. It reinforces
the cult of the ordinary man/superhero – he is broader (Ajay Devgn's Singham reportedly had
a “solah ka dola, chavalis ki chaati” – 16 inches of biceps and chest measuring
44 inches!) but is simple as a lamb with a heart of gold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As Bhai’s character unfolded, I
recalled him in recent (similar?) roles. A pehelwaan with the perfect blend of simplicity
and wit, who has an incredible talent to beat up people, but you know what? He only
beats up the wrong people – because in his heart, he is <i>really a good guy, </i>so good that sometimes no one even knows about
this secret goodness. It is revealed to both heroine and audience much later to
make us guilt-trip for the audacity to doubt such a man (Ref: <i>Dabangg</i> series
and <i>Wanted</i>). And even if he does display the occasional blemish in character,
like say hitting on the heroine, he is only being human, no? Even then, he is better
than most of us, and larger than life itself (Ref: <i>Kick</i>). Such characters do
not really require Bhai to act, because, hello, isn’t he the exact guy in real
life? Strong and six-packed (or is it eight these days?), helpful and generous,
but so misunderstood, papam. It’s unfair, really. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I refrain from saying much about
the movie itself – there was sometimes a little too much of it, whether it was
comic relief or the <i>feelings. </i>It just gave me a headache. I’m not downing this kind of mass movie – why it is made or
why it is popular – it is made because it<b> <u>will</u></b> be popular and it becomes
popular because it is made. That’s just how it is. Because really, we are all
equal even if we are different in class, caste, creed, or nationality *. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(* Terms and conditions apply.
Offer valid till stocks [or convenience] last[s])<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRNakJb7lgPHyJau7bGUrNyCbjFzQFVSLsK4PqhmxAJxpPIO7IoLjcKL8rDep2IJ29ne731UOmh1LmiN0d4lLEOcIhn2Cafwalk-LKAXjKcairNgu2ZJ7XBpW26mTY37oLAenpm8gI6UTR/s1600/salman+meme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRNakJb7lgPHyJau7bGUrNyCbjFzQFVSLsK4PqhmxAJxpPIO7IoLjcKL8rDep2IJ29ne731UOmh1LmiN0d4lLEOcIhn2Cafwalk-LKAXjKcairNgu2ZJ7XBpW26mTY37oLAenpm8gI6UTR/s320/salman+meme.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: Scoopwhoop</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-36773894802979560402015-07-12T18:53:00.001+05:302015-07-12T18:53:09.804+05:30My books this year and the highlights therein<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Covers that
catch your fancy or titles that grip your brain,<br />
It’s a pursuit in which there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.<br />
<br />
It’s a list that never comes to an end, <br />
Whether I buy them, borrow or lend.<br />
<br />
The authors of classics, the legends of yore,<br />
The writers of today, new on the fore.<br />
<br />
Paperback, hardcover or on virtual device,<br />
Read them as you like, in any crevice.<br />
<br />
With a cup of hot brew, or cold if you wish,<br />
Or if you’d much rather, enjoy with a dish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My friend <a href="http://sempiscribbles.blogspot.in/2015/04/read-to-live.html" target="_blank">Mehak</a> has written
eloquently about the merits of an e-book reader, in particular, the Kindle
Paperwhite. So I’m hoping that it will suffice for me to say that it is one of
the most convenient products ever made and instead write about my reading list
for this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The following are the books I’ve
been fortunate to be able to read this year:<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen
Chbosky</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: a worthwhile read to remind
yourself what it is to feel young and vulnerable, yet infinite.<br />
<br />
<i>So I guess we are who we are for a lot of
reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the
power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.
We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them. <br />
<br />
I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that
people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change
the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse,
that doesn’t change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad. It’s
just different. Maybe it’s good to put things into perspective, but sometimes,
I think that the only perspective is to really be there. Because it’s okay to
feel things. And be who you are about them.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> What I learnt from this book is that it is
not delusional to be unhappy and feel dissatisfied with your lot in life, even
if you don’t know why.<br />
<i><br />
After nineteen years of running after good marks and prizes and grants of one
sort and another, I was letting up, slowing down, dropping clean out of the
race. The trouble was, I had been inadequate all along. I simply hadn’t thought
about it. The one thing I was good at was winning scholarships, and that era
was coming to an end. <br />
<br />
I felt like a racehorse in a world without racetracks or a champion college
footballer suddenly confronted by Wall Street and a business suit, his days of
glory shrunk to a little gold cup on his mantel with a date engraved on it like
the date on a tombstone. <br />
I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig in the story. I saw
myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because
I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and
every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat
there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by
one, they plopped to the ground by my feet.<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal;"> </span></span></i><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Book
Thief, by Marcus Zusak: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">anybody who
has ever enjoyed reading must read this book.<b><br />
</b><br />
<i>When she came to write her story, she
would wonder exactly when the books and the words started to mean not just
something, but everything. Was it when she first set eyes on the room with
shelves and shelves of them?<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Certainly, her brother practically died in
her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything was better than being a Jew.<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal;"> </span></span></i><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Fault in
our Stars, by John Green: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">because even though love is without hope, we
can all be hopeless romantics sometimes.<br />
<br />
<i>The oblivion fear is something else, fear
that I won’t be able to give anything in exchange for my life. If you don’t
live a life in service of a greater good, you’ve gotta at least die a death in
service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won’t get either a life
or a death that means anything.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I would probably never again see the ocean
from thirty thousand feet above, so far up that you can’t make out the waves or
any boats, so that the ocean is a great and endless monolith. I could imagine
it. I could remember it. But I couldn’t see it again, and it occurred to me
that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true,
because there is always the thought that something might be done better and
again.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><b>The Outsiders, by John Clements: </b>because it's never too late to read a <i>coming of age</i> book.<br /><br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Rat race is
a perfect name for it, she said. We’re always going and going and going, and
never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that
you couldn’t want anything else and then started looking for something else to
want? It seems like we’re always searching for something to satisfy us, and
never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool, we could.<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal;"> </span></span></i><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><b>Looking for
Alaska, by John Green: </b>you like one title, so you have to read others, simple.<br /><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">‘<i>I go to seek a Great Perhaps.’ That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to
wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.<br />
Jesus, I’m not going to be one of those people who sits around talking about
what they’re gonna do. I’m just going to do it. Imagining the future is a kind
of nostalgia.<br />
You spend your whole life stuck in a labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll
escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps
you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And what is an “instant” death anyway? How
long is an instant? Is it one second? Ten? The pain of those seconds must have
been awful as her heart burst and her lungs collapsed and there was no air and
no blood to her brain and only raw panic. What the hell is instant? Nothing is
instant. Instant rice takes five minutes, instant pudding an hour. I doubt that
an instant of blinding pain feels particularly instantaneous.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">7.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal;"> </span></span></i><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy</b>: it was a worthwhile and moving read, despite the length and mundane parts.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
<br />
It’s the truth I’m telling you. I do value my idea and my work awfully; but in
reality only consider this: all this world of ours is nothing but a speck of
mildew, which has grown up on a tiny planet. And for us to suppose we can have
something great – ideas, work – it’s all dust and ashes.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In his father’s opinion, he did not want to
learn what he was taught. In reality, he could not learn that. He could not,
because the claims of his own soul were more binding on him than those claims
his father and his teacher made upon him. Those claims were in opposition, and
he was in direct conflict with his education. He was nine years old; he was a
child; but he knew his own soul, it was precious to him, he guarded it as the
eyelid guards the eye, and without the key of love he let no one into his soul.
His teachers complained that he would not learn, while his soul was brimming
over with thirst for knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">8.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal;"> </span></span></i><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Norwegian
Wood, by Haruki Murakami:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Glad to be
finally reading his work.<br />
<br />
<i>Memory is a funny thing. When I was in
the scene I hardly paid it any attention. I never stopped to think of it as
something that would make a lasting impression, certainly never imagined that
18 years later I would recall it in such detail. I was thinking about myself. I
was thinking about the beautiful girl walking next to me. I was thinking about
the two of us together, and then about myself again. I was at that age, that
time of life when every sight, every feeling, every thought came back, like a
boomerang, to me. And worse, I was in love. Love with complications. Scenery was
the last thing on my mind.<br />
Even so, my memory has grown increasingly dim, and I have already forgotten any
number of things. Writing from memory like this, I often feel a pang of dread. What
if I’ve forgotten the most important thing? What if somewhere inside me there
is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly
turning into mud?<br />
<br />
I tried hard to forget, but there remained inside me a vague knot of air. And as
time went by, the knot began to take on a clear and simple form, a form that I
am able to put into words, like this: Death exists, not as the opposite of but
as a part of life. It’s a cliché translated into words, but at the time I felt
it not as words but as that knot of air inside me. Death exists – in a
paperweight, in four red and white balls on a pool table – and we go on living
and breathing it into our lungs like fine dust. Until that time, I had
understood death as something entirely separate from and independent of life. The
hand of death is bound to take us, I had felt, but until the day it reaches out
for us, it leaves us alone. This had seemed to me the simple, logical truth. Life
is here, death is over there. I am here, not over there.<br />
Becoming serious was not the same thing as approaching the truth, I sensed,
however vaguely. But death was a fact, a serious fact, no matter how you looked
at it. Stuck inside this suffocating contradiction, I went on endlessly
spinning in circles. Those were strange days, now that I look back at them. In the
midst of life, everything revolved around death.<br />
<br />
“Of course life frightens me sometimes. I don’t happen to take that as the
premise for everything else, though. I’m going to give it 100 per cent and go
as far as I can. I’ll take what I want and leave what I don’t want. That’s how
I intend to live my life, and if things go bad, I’ll stop and reconsider at
that point. If you think about it, an unfair society is a society that makes it
possible for you to exploit your abilities to the limit.” “Sounds like a pretty
self-centred way to live,” I said. “Perhaps, but I’m not just looking up at the
sky and waiting for the fruit to drop. In my own way, I’m working hard. I’m
working ten times harder than you are.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">May we always have a friend in need,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">And if not, a book to read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Until next time.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-19143447182364080652015-05-26T12:26:00.001+05:302015-05-26T12:26:37.799+05:30Dedicating a rhyme, for a dear friend of mine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This rhyme is written for Mariam, my dear friend,<br />To who I am grateful, to no end.<br />
<br />
Before she took matters in her hand,<br />
Rhyming was something I could never stand.<br />
<br />
The only rhyme I could ever write,<br />
No matter how much I would fight,<br />
<br />
Were the following two lines,<br />
From the scores of literary mines:<br />
<br />
"A merry month is December,<br />
Though we don't have much cucumber."<br />
<br />
I'm sure you understand my plight,<br />
When at the mention of rhyme, my brain would be halfway in flight.<br />
<br />
The credit of this fire, my friend, goes to you,<br />
My rhyme is colourful and no longer blue.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-25601273071454771492015-05-26T12:11:00.001+05:302015-05-26T12:27:25.470+05:30Summer lovin'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What to do on waking with a bad mood?<br />
Break your fast and have some sinful comfort food.<br />
<br />
But are those early morning calories going to do you any good?<br />
Perhaps just slide back into bed and lower the hood.<br />
<br />
You fear if it's going to last all day,<br />
Especially in the tiresome heat of May.<br />
<br />
Whether outdoors or indoors, you profusely sweat,<br />
The trick, I realise, is not to fret.<br />
<br />
Eat, sleep, drink and be merry,<br />
And when the heat goes down, let's go on the ferry.<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-14392448554411992652015-04-18T14:34:00.000+05:302015-04-18T14:34:06.580+05:30Unfettered<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Faded jeans and superhero tee-shirts<br />
Clipped nails and no makeup<br />
Wearing flats, carrying a backpack, <br />
I’m ready to take on the world.<br />
There’s nothing I can’t do,<br />
No limits that I know of.<br />
To take the step, to accelerate,<br />
The time is now.<br />
Now, more than ever!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am three and twenty years young,<br />
As yet unmarried.<br />
Further disinclined, rather uninterested.<br />
A major concern for the parental units.<br />
And all those of my kin, far and near.<br />
Each of them wanting nothing but The Best for me.<br />
Undoubtedly.<br />
The best that they will decide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Wham! Unanticipated road blocks and sudden
breaks! <br />
Tears, fights, stalemate.<br />
Autopilot on, follow the road,<br />
Present my best profile to the expert’s lens.<br />
Feel comfortable, but strike a pose.<br />
Stand straight, but not too much.<br />
Everything in moderation, nothing in excess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-89365697761480761922015-01-18T16:43:00.000+05:302015-02-26T20:03:57.503+05:30Albatross<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the nasty words I've spoken,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And the well-meaning ones I haven't.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the thoughtless things I did,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And the well-planned ones I didn't.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For wanting what I wanted,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And refusing what I didn't.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For holding on when it was harder,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And letting go when it was needed.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For doubting what I know,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And knowing what I doubt.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For just being,</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And sometimes not being enough.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I plead guilty.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Guilty, for feeling.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Guilty, for not feeling guilty.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-23848032374580352602015-01-05T22:06:00.001+05:302015-01-06T22:39:27.974+05:30A number in history<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">History was one of my most favourite subjects in school. And I especially enjoyed reading about colonialism and the conscious process of nation-building. How kings indulged a greed for more, how empires felt the need for power.</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">During successive years, I saw that many of my friends did not share my curiosity for the past, some of them in fact felt otherwise. <i>Things were said and done and it has all been long gone, so we should forget about it and live in the present</i>, they argued.</span></span><br>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br></span>
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mastery of Zen Buddhist philosophy by twelve year olds? Or just a marked dislike for the study of history? </span>I didn't know then and I didn't attempt to find out. But I like to think that many of us have since realised that studying the past does not necessarily mean that you are reliving it or cherishing a sense of unhealthy/unproductive nostalgia. A consciousness of events and influences past can guide us to a better understanding of who we are, which is much bigger than ourselves, our immediate surroundings and our societies. It is also very likely that this knowledge might change our present or shape our future (if that's what we're looking for). And of course, like Steve Jobs said, we can only connect the dots looking backwards. So there, live in the present but do not be afraid to look back. In so doing, we construct a certain aura about <i>this day, that time</i>. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Today happens to be one among my many "days to remember". Today, five years ago, I bought the SIM card to my first, personal cell phone. </span>This meant that I could finally be in touch with my friends. Anytime. Everytime. Always. </span><br>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
I would no longer need to plead with my mother to borrow her phone or sincerely demonstrate our mutually agreed terms of fair usage. Neither would I have to feign apologies on keeping the landline engaged for long. Further, the far-fetched notion of speaking to friends on birthdays as the clock struck twelve was now real. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
Quite a big deal, that.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
I finally had an identity - ten digits which would represent me as much as (or in some sense, more than?) my name. How would I choose those numbers? Should I ask to be in serial with my family? That way, there would be just one, or at the most, two digits that would differentiate us from each other. Or should I do what my peers did -- incorporate the digits of my birth? Or perhaps try to rack my brain a little, use some creativity and request for a meaningful set of numbers? </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
That wasn't all -- there were a whole range of service providers, offering these fancy-sounding terms like top-ups and talktimes and whatnots. All basically providing the same things at similar prices.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
<i>Hey Bhagwan, </i>this was getting more and more complicated. I didn't need to be in serial with my family, in order to memorise their numbers. And maybe, just maybe, I did not want to merge my soon-to-be-mobile self with the familial units. The birth-digits option would have made sense if I was a schoolgirl. But I was in college and I felt quite above such childishness. And I couldn't think of any set of meaningful numbers because I had hitherto lived a simple, uneventful life. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
I was anything but average at math, preferring always the qualitative over the numeric, so I was getting too lost with all this preoccupation with numbers. But my mind insisted that it was necessary, because the digits once chosen, would become my identity and I would have to live with what I had created. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
I invested a few days of my winter vacation in this quandary. The answer came to me one afternoon while watching an old Hindi film on tv. Listen to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHrV5UsQ_Q" target="_blank">this song</a>, and you'll know (and please don't judge me).</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
As to what I did? Well, I went to the store and let them do their job. I got a number and an identity I am quite comfortable with. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
Two years later, the government of India came up with the <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/content/Regulation/0_9_REGULATIONS.aspx" target="_blank">Mobile Number Portability </a>scheme, allowing existing users to change their service provider without changing their ten-digit phone number. So, that was one of my concerns already taken care of. They're also trying to work on eliminating the roaming charges in the country, so I wouldn't have to worry about altering my identity at all, as long as I lived in India :)</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br>
On ever leaving the country... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and create whatever avatar I then feel like.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-88671208167861549472014-12-07T15:23:00.000+05:302014-12-14T18:44:28.702+05:30What is home?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My family recently moved to a new place, a
place I’ve wanted to live in for years. It was being bought when I still lived
in my childhood home. (Tries very hard to not indulge in self-righteous
nostalgia – <i>those were the merry sunshine
days of eternal bliss</i>, et cetera). I realise now that in the functional sense, we will always
be a joint family, but the things that this house promised seemed too far-fetched
to ever be realised: the thought of actually living as a nuclear family, for
instance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It’s been a little over two months since we
moved, but it still feels so unreal. I had gotten so used to the noise and
laughter of little cousins, the comings and goings of relatives, the ways and
means of everyday life. Back then, you needed to be very careful with your
books and papers, lest any loose sheet find itself in the hands of an
angry parent or under the feet of a naughty kid. But now, we have our
valuables in every room such that, you can never be sure what imperative you
have left behind when you leave the house. Earlier, if you did something wrong,
the entire house would know about it and would participate in corrective
action. But now, it would be incredible if you could just get yourself to place
your finger on any wrongs. Also, in the old days, your mobility was
conditional, and as a result, the only way you got things done was by making
and sticking to your meticulous plans. However, as you grew older, you also
outgrew those conditions (which were replaced by other ones) and learnt how to be
spontaneous, but then, never seemed to get anything done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Can it be said that when people want
something for very long, they cannot handle it when they actually get it?
Perhaps it feels too good to be true. Or rather, they no longer want the thing
the same way. Or worse, they prefer to want it in their dreams but not as much
for it to really be manifested in their lives. But see, I overdid it, again. It
is quite possible, that all they need is time (with a capital T, the kind that
no one ever seems to have or get enough of). We need Time, to embrace and
accept any change in our lives, even if it is a change we have actively sought
and aggressively pursued. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So what do you do with this Time, I wonder.
Do you wake up one morning and suddenly feel <i>at home</i> in your new place? Or must you make a conscious effort to
accept the new, each day, and numerous times, every day: because home is made
up of and represents so many things?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Home is a place where you learn and explore
the possibilities of all that you can do and be, like your school or college.
Your workplace even, if possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Home can be a person who accepts you truly and
completely, like your best friend or partner; or a couple of persons who will
always want the best of everything for you, like your parents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And of course, the place (or the places)
where you have lived. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDqKaMH5fcI" target="_blank">This advertisement</a> shows <i>coming home</i> to so many things, although it’s selling a completely
unrelated product. In his book <i>Go, Kiss
the World</i>, Subroto Bagchi talks about homecoming in an insightful way: <i>“Home is the place you grow up wanting to
leave, and grow old wanting to go back to.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So if home “is where the heart is”, and your
heart is in many different things, does it mean that the feeling of “being at
home” is divided between that many things/people, or is it multiplied? Do you then
feel that much more? Or do you feel marginally less every time you find a new
home, so to speak? </span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-15781742539278440122014-11-29T23:19:00.001+05:302014-11-29T23:24:15.807+05:30A chance encounter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Time to
leave, but before,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A quick look all around.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Perchance, our eyes meet!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
<o:p></o:p></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I pause.
Turn back.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Give in to the invisible string</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">pulling me to you.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
<o:p></o:p></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What worries
gnaw </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">at the core</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">of your heart?</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
<o:p></o:p></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What
existential questions</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">fix your eyes</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">upon that spot?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
<o:p></o:p></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Quietly, I
tip-toe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">lest any sound</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">break our connection.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
<o:p></o:p></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I kneel in front
of you,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">and yet, you see</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">past (or through?) me.</span></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span>
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Mahabubnagar district, Telangana, India. September 2014</i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-32382602584661893122014-11-11T00:10:00.000+05:302014-11-11T00:10:14.238+05:30Untitled<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Growing up, I realised that I will be investing a considerable amount of my time in organisation - external and internal. This means making lists -- whether it is of the groceries my mother needs or of the things I must learn or accomplish before any landmark age. I have come to rely so much on this exercise, that I find myself entirely disoriented without it.<br />
<br />
I make these lists, in the hope that committing these words to paper will shape those ambitious plans into existence. I've had the courage to think those things, so certainly I will have the perseverance to see them done. And that, will be my deliverance.<br />
<br />
Except that it isn't.<br />
<br />
Soon enough, the focus shifts from the <i>doing </i>to the <i>planning. </i>Because if I did everything I hoped, wanted and planned, then what would I have left? Something is better than nothing, even if that something is on a to-do list in my notebook, no? And that's what this post is about -- the rigmarole of planning and prioritizing.<br />
<br />
<br />
****<br />
<br />
Hard bound notebooks, with attractive covers,<br />
fussed over, to reveal or represent<br />
a lesser known side.<br />
<br />
Black and blue, red or green,<br />
inks of various hues,<br />
for distinction or legibility.<br />
<br />
Made of cloth, jute, paper or plastic,<br />
Binders, folders and zippers,<br />
To collate and separate.<br />
<br />
Sundry other accessories,<br />
chosen with care,<br />
with purpose or under temptation.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
Underneath old things, tucked away safely,<br />
Beyond the reach of a stray scribble,<br />
Untouched leaves of those coveted covers.<br />
<br />
Affably lent or lost altogether,<br />
The nibs of wood, metal or plastic,<br />
Unwritten, unused.<br />
<br />
A brief period of order<br />
alphabetically and chronologically,<br />
and soon, ennui and chaos.<br />
<br />
**<br />
<br />
A note here, a reminder there,<br />
or an almost-passing thought,<br />
quickly inked before being absorbed.<br />
<br />
Side-by-side, balancing one another<br />
my own House of Cards,<br />
these lists, to-do and to-be.<br />
<br />
*<br />
<br />
Pile them up, stack 'em away<br />
Promises better forgotten,<br />
Than unkept or broken.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-2125422178823912012014-09-14T19:39:00.000+05:302014-09-14T19:39:45.077+05:30Friends and Strangers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I tap the blue coloured app on my phone and wait a moment before the page refreshes, bringing forth the latest from around the world; giving me glimpses of the feelings and doings of my neighbour next door or an old friend from across the world. Posing and posting, looking and liking, showing (off?) and sharing what they uphold, or want others to think that they uphold.<br />
<br />
A couple of notifications which include several invitations to the endless saga of crushing candy, additional likes or comments, yet another viral hashtag, you get the picture, it's nothing exciting.<br />
<br />
But wait.<br />
<br />
A new friend request.<br />
Or the request for a new friendship?<br />
Perhaps the extension of a friendship?<br />
<br />
Sure, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEH6KFonIUg" style="font-style: italic;">har ek friend zaroori hota hai</a>, but what is the use of a <i>facebook friend</i>?<i> </i>And, in a general sense, what does a friendship on facebook mean? These are not new questions, so to speak. What I'm curious about today is exploring the factors that cause one to propose such a "friendship". I present three instances here, based on my most recent experiences.<br />
<br />
a) Must you attend the same school, college or university? Maybe. But then would you "friend" those much before or after you? Not, methinks, unless you are in the habit of <i>friending</i> absolute strangers. But then again, why not? Every friendship starts between absolute strangers, and isn't facebook as good as (or better than?) real life?<br />
<br />
b) Would it suffice that you are not directly related, but share a relative? Like <i>Chickoo Bhaiya</i> or <i>Cherry Didi</i> (insert the nickname of any other faraway relation or second/third/fourth cousin) who you might have met at some extended family gathering years ago. You don't know anything about them, including their right names. What kind of friendship (facebook or otherwise) would that be? Then again, it could simply be a platform where you may lay the foundation for what may become in time, some sort of bond, no?<br />
<br />
c) Sometimes one gets a strange request. From a pet for example, or the joint request from a couple. Is this really how people try to be adorable these days?<br />
<br />
We seem to have crossed the point where every connection needs to be validated, extended and acknowledged on facebook. But what (if anything) lies beyond that?<br />
<br />
More updates, in the meantime.<br />
I ignored that new request and locked my phone.<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-69960367855166285432013-04-16T09:32:00.002+05:302013-04-16T09:32:39.373+05:30Vantagers on a Voyage...<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.3pt;">When your cab breaks down barely five minutes into the journey, you know that it's going be an eventful one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As the replacement cab arrives, streaks of pre-dawn orange colour the sky and we rush to the Imliban Bus Stop. The bus to Mahabubnagar that we were scheduled to board left without us just minutes ago, surprisingly on time. Another one is ready and we soon leave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We share an assorted breakfast - of strawberries, biscuits and puri. The changing milieu outside our windows keeps some of us engrossed, others fall asleep…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The rush upon reaching the bus stop at Mahabubnagar is in sharp contrast to the quiet of the journey. We are first ushered to the CPI (M) office. Pictures of former leaders adorn the walls, among them towers the garlanded image of the revolutionary Che Guevara, showing at once that he is <i>of </i>them, but also <i>above </i>them. While we take in the details of the room, others walk in and we learn about migration, water shortage, poverty and other problems that the district has been facing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px; line-height: 19.19791603088379px; text-align: start;"><b>Guerrillero Heroico, the famous photograph of Che Guevara</b></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsX8F4udf7AA1pguGByZlBy1kD75ylNQ-70hyphenhyphenDwbcRjRzPcUb8nqoefqCvZVn2VjWY1Vd4N40fBRwSVmzEYGPQ8E2vWzOJXXpIvoi-E7YKQCwgDP21Kn64j9AOt6lmPy0pg0UKFDfJNe2_/s1600/IMG_2960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsX8F4udf7AA1pguGByZlBy1kD75ylNQ-70hyphenhyphenDwbcRjRzPcUb8nqoefqCvZVn2VjWY1Vd4N40fBRwSVmzEYGPQ8E2vWzOJXXpIvoi-E7YKQCwgDP21Kn64j9AOt6lmPy0pg0UKFDfJNe2_/s1600/IMG_2960.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><b><i>Children outside the office</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We scribble furiously in our notepads, a name here, a keyword there, trying to keep up with the flow of the narrative, eager not to miss out any vital detail. In so doing, some of us can already visualize the first drafts of interesting stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We travel in the shared autos, three at the back, two beside the auto driver in the front and reach the residence of our next host - Dr. V Sreenathachary, Assistant Professor at Palamuru University. We make ourselves comfortable as he tells us about his two world records. We are offered tea in steel tumblers as we listen, rapt. Our water canteens refilled, we are taken to the University. Organized here is an informal interaction with some faculty members and students who share stories of life and livelihood in the district. Their anecdotes give us interesting leads on our different stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mahabubnagar was earlier known as Rukmammapeta and Palamuru. At another time, it was known as Cholawadi or Land of the Cholas. It was only in 1890 that its present name was accepted, in honor of the Sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan Asaf Jah VI. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is not necessary that place etymologies follow similar trajectories. The </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.3pt;">Pillalamarri, for instance, which is where we are going next. 'Pillalu' meaning children and 'marri' meaning banyan tree, it has been named rightly and the whole area of the tree extends over three acres of land. Under the shade of this majestic, 500-year old tree, we had an unconventional newsroom meeting, discussing the probable merits of our promising ideas.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhps5UlrTlKcKqcKLRmErGOZ1lb_Pb0g3IXgIA5iumOah_scAqdgI6zbaC6tbF0CVJSC6dEfjUrjfFcWkGmPm-IERJEtMlJqSkh1ghopdxBKKCNy_pibNUevnPOM7pNjsvXTourUWPZjUEJ/s1600/IMG_3116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhps5UlrTlKcKqcKLRmErGOZ1lb_Pb0g3IXgIA5iumOah_scAqdgI6zbaC6tbF0CVJSC6dEfjUrjfFcWkGmPm-IERJEtMlJqSkh1ghopdxBKKCNy_pibNUevnPOM7pNjsvXTourUWPZjUEJ/s1600/IMG_3116.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Driving 20 kilometers from Palamuru, we reached Manyamkonda, to the temple of Sri Venkateswara Swamy where a folk ceremony – a jatra – was to take place. We were to witness the <i>raw </i>deal, animal sacrifices and all, and some of us were rather apprehensive about what we would see or experience, once there. Quite clearly, none of us expected a nonchalant ambience. The villagers had retired for the night, under tents in the temple courtyard, the ceremony being long completed. As the temple was located on a hill, we felt lucky to have even reached the top. We missed the <i>jatra</i> but the view of the town lights in the distance under an umbrella of darkness, more than compensates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Model Town Village of Hajepalli in Farooqnagar Mandal is celebrated for its sanitation. The sun had risen many hours ago, but the villagers were slowly waking up, close to noon; Filling pots of water as they posed for our cameras or answered our questions, asking some of their own. Whether it was because it was a Friday and the beginning of the weekend or because nearly half the day was over and hence the lethargy or every day is similarly relaxed in a village, it was difficult to understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we cross National Highway 7, we see how it not only divides those who might earlier have been neighbors, but also cuts across the wilderness, as the only sign of Development in an untamed expanse. Along with the neighboring village of Mudireddipally and the tribal hamlet of Gundlagadda Thanda, Polepally is the site of an SEZ project, covering more than 1000 acres. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The villagers are happy to share their experiences with us. Most of us try to listen even if we cannot understand Telugu, but some of us are distracted by the cameras in our hands. Suddenly, the quiet group around us turns into a melee. The women seem to be disturbed by something, visibly agitated. Is it something we have said? But the conversation seemed polite, if not amiable. Then, was it something we did? We did take pictures without permission, I thought, guiltily. It wasn't that, either, thankfully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">They mistook one of our reporters for a supervisor of the SEZ project, especially one they had particularly disliked. It took the better of our persuasive abilities to tell them that our friend is only a doppelgänger, an innocent student.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our stop for the night was in the village Atmakuru. We were a lively bunch during dinner, recalling the day's events and exchanging our observations. It was time for another newsroom meeting, this time, under a bright starry sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We stop at the Priyadarshini Jurala Project, a replica of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, 17 kilometers away from Atmakuru. The dam has more than 70 gates and five hydroelectric gates for producing electricity. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">There are many irrigation and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="ilad"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">hydro electric</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">projects, which were constructed across River Krishna in the state but this project is the first one among them. Although it is located in Mahabubnagar district, i<span class="apple-converted-space">t also supplies water for irrigation to thousands of acres of agricultural land and drinking water to many villages and towns across the state.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">History is an odd subject. It attempts to bring us stories from the past, stories that need to be read and heard, but amidst the multitude of stories, it forgets that there is no correct story. Each story is vital to the teller, who then brings her own thoughts and perceptions in the telling. Our visit to the Gadwal Fort reinforced this idea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Gadwal Samsthan was ruled by a local ruler called Somashekar Ananda Reddy, fondly called Somanadri. The Samsthan developed around a fort built by the ruler. Our two groups came back with two intriguing stories about the Fort, two contradictory accounts. That the Fort was built by the king to safeguard his kingdom and a human sacrifice was essential for the purpose, was the common thread in both accounts. While one group was told that an impregnated woman was the victim of the sacrifice, the other group talked of an unmarried young man. Which story was true, we wondered. Perhaps that didn't matter because it could be possible that both were true. What of the possibility that there was an unheard third version, which could be closer to the truth than the two we had heard? What is this elusive thing called the truth and why do we pursue it so desperately and determinedly?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Parts of the Gadwal Fort are now used as Maharani Adi Laxmi Devamma Degree and Junior colleges. With about ten functional classrooms, this institution (affiliated to the Osmania University) caters to more than 2000 students. Students from nearby Alampur also come here to study, since there are no colleges in their constituency. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Remains of old cobwebs accommodating new ones, hang in the corners of the walls in the physics laboratory. The instruments are locked away in the cupboards, either due to lack of use or overuse, it is hard to tell. A part of the structure was renovated recently, I am told. The blue color of the walls is the only testament to that fact because apart from that, not much looks different. Patches of the previously blue wall reveal a shade of yellow, like an incompletely peeled orange. There are challenges to the revival of historical monuments, a teacher at the college tells me. I agree. Should the old remain as it was, in nostalgia of past glory? Or should we restore and maybe renew, because what's lost has been long gone, anyway?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are going to the Mandal Office of Gattu Mandal, which has the jurisdiction of 42 villages. According to governmental records, these villages have the worst sanitation and lowest literacy levels in the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Getting lost, in space and time, would be very easy here. If you didn't have a watch, it would be quite impossible to tell the minutes from the hours; telling time through the length and position of shadows would be of no help either, since the sun is overhead for major part of the day. In the moving vehicle, I can feel the hot wind on my face; there are few trees but the leaves rustle on none.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we cross this desolate terrain, I remember words from Eliot’s <i>The Waste Land,</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">"<i>What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Out of this stony rubbish? </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Son of man, you cannot say, or guess, for you know only</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And the dry stone, no sound of water."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The rural countryside is an ideal landscape to observe and study contrast. Driving through this drought-hit, semi-arid plain, we come across fields of paddy, so richly green, it's an eye-sore. We pass some unfinished modern structures, perhaps a school or an office, who can tell. We can see cattle grazing, rather fishing for grass under the rocks and boulders. The shepherd seems to be playing the game of hide and seek, and clearly, winning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Finally, we see some shanties, makeshift dwellings with doors of wood, half broken, and thatched roofs, denoting a neighborhood. Motorbikes from Hero Honda are parked outside a few. We reach the Mandal office and talk to some villagers. We notice that every one of them, young or old, carries on his person, a cell phone. The paradoxes of necessity, the realities of modernity and of existence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We start early next morning. The sun is rising in the distance, but when I look into the viewfinder of my friend's camera, mounted with a telephoto lens, I can see it much closer. The orange and yellow hues from the sun obliterate the darker stretches in the sky. Pleasant and cheerful, the continuous chatter of the birds and the chirping of the crickets - the elements of a memorable day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are taken to a sugar factory, to understand and appreciate the working of India Inc. Industry is the backbone of the economy, we've been told ad nauseam. But industries cannot be located in cities or other heavily populated areas, for very many reasons. And yet, they are indispensable. The alternative is to have them in remote areas, away from the city, in the countryside – the synonyms of villages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The monstrous factories thus, stand sprawled on the rural land, blowing hot and cold. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we wait at the Mahabubnagar Bus Stand, we have another journey that we must take, before our trip comes to an end. What follows, will be another set of stories. Perhaps life is a tale of endless travel, from one place, space and time to another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.19791603088379px;"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Together, forever.</span></b></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-74922591992071523162013-02-04T20:19:00.003+05:302013-02-04T20:19:44.309+05:30Mana Hobbit, Mana Hridayam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">As an avid reader, I believed that no matter how appealing the visual adaptation of a story is, the book is <b><u>always </u></b>better than the movie. Fewer exceptions existed and those that did, turned my belief over 360 degrees. Adapted from J. R. R. Tolkien’s books, <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> series became one of the most highly acclaimed, heavily awarded and the highest grossing films of all time. Despite taking more than eight years to complete the series, the films did not (and could not) exhaustively follow the books. But what Director Peter Jackson did do and like none other, was demonstrate how a classic can become larger than life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Written as a children’s fantasy book, <i>The Hobbit</i> became, though was initially unintended to be the forerunner to <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> series. <i>The Hobbit</i> was primarily the mythical tale of a hobbit’s adventure. It was only in the second edition that Tolkien introduced The One Ring, thereby heralding the LOTR.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"> is the first part of the trilogy. The excitement in the Shire for Bilbo Baggins’ birthday party and the living room of Bag End where Bilbo writes his book<i> </i>are reminiscent of <i>The Fellowship of the Ring </i>made twelve years ago, but Peter Jackson makes it seem like it was yesterday. A smooth transition takes us back in time, presenting a much younger Bilbo (Martin Freeman). We revisit Tolkien’s Middle-Earth through the Shire and Rivendell but this picture is reconstructed as we are introduced to another world existing parallely – that of the dwarves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">If you’ve read the book, you already know what happens. But how it unfolds visually, aesthetically and emotionally is what makes watching the film a transcendental experience. If on the other hand, you haven’t, that’s the (only) thing separating you from a fan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">To say that Peter Jackson demonstrates sheer brilliance in direction, is to state the obvious.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">There were movies. And then there were <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">With <i>The Hobbit</i>, the story continues.</span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-69827918347942666532013-01-03T22:53:00.003+05:302013-01-03T22:53:57.437+05:30My likeness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like writing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About what I think, feel and do.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like photography.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of moments, nature and people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like talking.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About things random and substantial.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like cooking.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Some dishes simple, others special.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like walking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In company or even in solitude.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like music.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About the genres, I care not.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like reading.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thoughts that are frozen on paper.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like dancing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Not socially, but on my own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And yet, I resist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Also laze, complicate and procrastinate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Dejection and frustration, the alibis cause,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Because joy is only in the doing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe some day I will <i>do.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Because some things are just worth doing.</i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-3761951484796453532012-12-26T16:39:00.001+05:302012-12-26T16:44:28.503+05:30Technically Ambivalent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px;">I've grown up in the era of technology, where life is unimaginable without the Big Brother Internet, the ubiquitous cell/smart phones and endless other gadgets and devices that make you wonder, really question, that what you were doing with your life before the tech-epidemic was merely exist. It is only now that you have learnt how to </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #262626; line-height: 15px;">experience </i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157); color: #262626; line-height: 15px;">anything.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just like everything else, I don't buy that. Not fully. For me, that question is an answer of both yes and no.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've owned a cell phone ever since I entered college (under graduate) and customised it to serve my needs. Which it did, very efficiently. I took utmost care of it, being my first phone and all. Its sudden hardware malfunction 18 months later also resulted in a major heart break and I replaced it with a device as like it, as possible. I warmed up to it eventually, but that sense of attachment was a bygone feeling. And I shrugged it off as a sign of growing up. Two years after, I needed a replacement again. But this time, it was not simple need that dictated the decision. There was more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After saving meagre sums of regular and special allowances for years, it was finally possible for me to invest it in a device of some reckoning. And it seemed a commendable decision to invest that amount in an Apple product, the holy grail of technology and of course, <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157);"><i>experience. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until then, I was strictly opposed to the idea of accessing Internet on the phone. I was just in college and didn't have any deal-breaking or life-changing emails to send or receive and whatever endless information I needed to access could wait until I reached the safe environs of a desktop and home. It seemed too much of a disturber of peace to have one device be something of a <i>be-all and end-all.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Six months later, eight to be precise, I couldn't agree more. The iPhone </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">experience </i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157);">has transformed the way I do things, truly. Some apps, especially one like Evernote, I cannot stop gushing about. Even this very post has been written on Evernote on my iPhone, and that's where I do whatever little writing I have done, in the past few months. And it did help to have Internet on the device when my home Internet was down over the weekend and I had a couple of important emails to send and receive. Also, I must acknowledge that keeping in touch has become easier with the era of Internet-enabled smart phones. However, I vociferously believe that no matter how smart our phones get, and how crazy our lives, texting and calling will be the two most primary uses of a cell phone. We might invent innovative and cost-effective ways of texting and calling, but these conventional means will remain unabated. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00392157); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite this utility value, I wonder how different (read simple) my life would have been without these services.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-67631110392877043202012-12-11T23:00:00.001+05:302014-11-04T15:38:35.962+05:30(Un)Doing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I like making lists of things to do- short as well as long term. It helps put things in perspective, helps prioritize and gets me to actually work, rather than just think about them. While some things get done, evoking a really awesome sense of self confidence, others remain static, recurring in successive lists, a blot on your self esteem. It's almost as if that undone task stares at you from list to list, telling you in no uncertain words, that your soul will hang around in limbo if you die with that task undone. And every time that that happens, you motivate yourself, that </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">this time, </i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">there's no escaping that task. It's do or die. Now or never. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);">Of the many undone things in my lists, learning Adobe Photoshop is one that has been a cause of worry for me in the last few weeks. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It would be polite to say that my relationship with this item in my life is complicated, in fact, it is strained. The endless possibilities - to create, to duplicate and to enhance that photoshop offers, are overwhelming. I find it hard to imagine that even the developers know the software, fully and completely. My amateur pursuit of photography further cemented my procrastination because it seemed that photographic ethics and ideals contradicted with the creative freedom offered by this software. Of course that was not, and in fact, cannot be true. It was just a comforting alibi given to the lethargic self.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To make a long story short - I wouldn't make an attempt to learn it when I was free, because its scope was limitless. And nor would I do it when I required the services of the software because urgency drives out necessity and any hints of exertion obliterate wishes of curiosity. Consequently, year after year, this task continued in my to-do list.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, now more than ever, I realize that this must change. I must make some attempt to get acquainted with Mr. Photoshop. We may never become the best of friends, but it is quintessential to forge a cordial bond, so that His Highness will come to my rescue whenever I need His help. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Just as I would leave no effort unmade to make a good friend out of a formal acquaintance, similarly I must approach this gentleman and convince him of my sincerity and honesty. Surely, I will be supported and responded to.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If not, the regret of not having tried will be mine.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qZL-SL5IU0zYuB0y8NGxoiUX2DJcCBzi03m7l5zYJuuO2WKx1ot2lkCS1ThuH8XN1YRlmaphb1dYlZ_7_ZdsG53545-bQaw1wq0dyyBzohYUuPRVmKu5xrqKQ4mQbuOVIadJIKjHenZA/s1600/photo+(22).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qZL-SL5IU0zYuB0y8NGxoiUX2DJcCBzi03m7l5zYJuuO2WKx1ot2lkCS1ThuH8XN1YRlmaphb1dYlZ_7_ZdsG53545-bQaw1wq0dyyBzohYUuPRVmKu5xrqKQ4mQbuOVIadJIKjHenZA/s320/photo+(22).JPG" height="160" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And to that, amen.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-80682921137674360222012-10-09T15:09:00.003+05:302012-10-09T15:09:47.733+05:30The Brink<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Substance and dissolution,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Evolution and extinction,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Consciousness and nothingness,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Origin and evanescence.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whence we come?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Where then, do we go?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The years, marked; the countless bonds, forged;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The exchange, everlasting.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thoughts, words, actions;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Inanimate objects and places,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Everyday objects and possessions as well,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Immortalized, irreplaceable, permanent.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, the memory fades,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And life must go on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Death is infamous,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">'Tis life that is uncertain.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-74518412889722106682012-10-06T06:46:00.003+05:302012-10-06T06:52:12.325+05:30Art is Life is Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">God is an artist</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And the world is his canvas.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-2821534020306994072012-10-05T11:31:00.000+05:302012-10-05T11:31:00.461+05:30Us.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;">Can you pick up the strands of an old friendship from where you left off?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can you assure yourself that it matters no longer, <i>yet</i> in a tiny space, buried deep inside, still feel affection and pain?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Can you <i>really</i> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">move on<i> </i></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">with your life, when in your heart you're </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">holding on<i> </i></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);">to the past?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can you <i>really</i> forget your past, the parts that really meant something, even if you never revisit those memories?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can some things, seem never to make sense, <i>yet</i> feel so simple?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can you <i>ever</i> forget or replace some people, some bonds, some memories?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can you <i>still </i>resist when in your heart, there never were any differences?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can you hold someone dear and <i>yet</i> manage to alienate them?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can anything <i>ever</i> affect a mutual, happy and loving friendship?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Can you be <i>truly</i> separate, when you have always been one?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, you can.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But one candid moment can undo the </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">brave front</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"> you've put up for eons,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And release a high tide, overwhelming and unstoppable.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe there really is something called forever friendship.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe some relationships never change.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe not.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But there's only one way to find out.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I did and I'm glad I did so.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I love you so much, it makes me cry.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I missed you so much, it makes me laugh.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With my heart full, I feel alive,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In a way that I haven't in a long time.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How could I have let you go?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But I did. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The pain I cannot bear.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I shall overcome. It's not you or I.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We are us. Always were, always will be.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Unless. But wait, no more of that.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, is our day.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 15px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-57434570176302096232012-10-02T10:07:00.000+05:302012-10-06T06:42:23.873+05:30Beyond<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain, or usher storm,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">but to add colour to my sunset sky."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">- Rabindranath Tagore</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-13899151777807648572012-09-30T12:41:00.000+05:302012-09-30T12:45:04.351+05:30Intimate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Separate, yet inseparable,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Unite, but only momentarily,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The threshold of longing, overwhelming,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Their struggle, a matter of time.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They come together, almost,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Such that they cannot be parted.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Alas, not so soon,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For they cannot remain heedless.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Consciousness, destructive; Separation, painful.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Perseverance, relentless.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
At long last, I let go.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Yet, they resist.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A few moments, hence,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They unite, never to be separated.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The eyelids close,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And slumber seals my soul.</div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-37508030023326793852012-09-21T19:55:00.003+05:302012-09-21T19:55:56.421+05:30Loss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Little things you collect</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Cherish, keep close, hold dear.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Memories special, yet vague.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Less use, more emotion.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mere things, you say.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Frivolous materialism, you argue.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Part of my evolution, my answer.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Replaceable, not really.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Gone and lost, nonetheless.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">No point brooding.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Heart, heavy; mind, vacant.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Endure. Accept. Let go.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-74367007785212140342012-09-20T10:34:00.000+05:302012-09-21T19:57:49.348+05:30Most, and more.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Why define me as </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">this </i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">or <i>that?</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am more.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My potential, endless.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My possibilities, limitless.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Conform, rebel, or strike a balance.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I do, what I please.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometimes, black; others, white.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Often, shades of grey.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I seek change. I detest change.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The ambivalence, profound, but not all.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am selfish. I am selfless.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am something. I am nothing.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I initiate, I withdraw. I lead, I follow.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On indecision, too, I dwell.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I believe. I doubt.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I hold on. I give up. I move on.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I rejoice. I brood.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, I feel no more.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I accept. I censure.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Then, participation I cease.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Back, forth and again.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I fear. I rise.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto;">
</span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Flawed, gifted, doomed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The infinite unknown, in between.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I can be anything,</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I can be everything.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: -webkit-auto;">I am all. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All is I.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5-2EBaMW2woJfNM-T_q8qVLxTHV4hUSytIrC9nfH3enA-yuUfurmeuD1XQrejT9Zf4RbGpBL_fRqOetd7S-jiqGKR0AknP3sLzPcSE7h9sJlnam5dEi2QVvQRi3ncyH0HdgN0X1U9Ftw/s1600/818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5-2EBaMW2woJfNM-T_q8qVLxTHV4hUSytIrC9nfH3enA-yuUfurmeuD1XQrejT9Zf4RbGpBL_fRqOetd7S-jiqGKR0AknP3sLzPcSE7h9sJlnam5dEi2QVvQRi3ncyH0HdgN0X1U9Ftw/s320/818.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></span></div>
</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7947633913295079579.post-1688427262271958792012-09-19T19:41:00.002+05:302012-09-19T19:41:35.890+05:30Near, far<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Random ruminations, scattered.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Profound threads, visible in the distance.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, so elusive.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lethargy, mediocrity and escape,</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Or, struggle, exploration and endurance.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Beginning, always a task.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">More mental than real, possibly.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00390625);"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwAP7ShakL3ND7yS1SHAhYXgsHDN19i1pJ8vxE4qXhIR2dmYiwc8CgSV1Wg2cLo97bq9cpGmaL6NEQcvADgIt_xeQwZUJu3DEjdelgxfRO8vKgXOv7fqDX4kBc6kP_S1GEgMmitv6rYHdz/s1600/014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwAP7ShakL3ND7yS1SHAhYXgsHDN19i1pJ8vxE4qXhIR2dmYiwc8CgSV1Wg2cLo97bq9cpGmaL6NEQcvADgIt_xeQwZUJu3DEjdelgxfRO8vKgXOv7fqDX4kBc6kP_S1GEgMmitv6rYHdz/s320/014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03147095761950638145noreply@blogger.com0