Fifty-2 Weeks of 2013: People watching

Before my visit to Disneyland, Paris, I couldn't imagine people, I mean grown ups being crazy about something or someone. I had heard about people screaming out Pop star’s names and falling all over movie stars but never before had I seen the kind of excitement and anxiety I got to see in Disneyland. I was expecting the kids to go berserk and jumping around in excitement but what I saw was the adults equally looking forward to meeting the Disney characters. This snap was taken during the famous Disney parade where all the characters come out in colourful costumes and huge displays.

 

Even the dark looming clouds could not deter them from finding an ideal place and waiting there for hours to get a good view at the parade. We were among them too, along with people from all possible age groups, new born babies to senior people in their 80s or 90s! And the parade was every minute worth the wait and all the fuss! There is something about these characters that totally draws you to them and makes you feel like a young child again. It must be something to do with the fact that deep down we always have a child within us and would always prefer to be that child rather than the adults that we are!

Fifty-2 weeks of 2013: Week 3 (A pound of flesh)

Its week 3 of Fifty-2 weeks of 2013 and the theme this time had me completely stumped. Should I go for fiction? Should it be a thought provoking write up? After thinking about it for the whole week (or rather trying to come up with something), I finally had to settle on this picture.

I had to dig this one out of my very old archives. I couldn't even remember which year this was taken. All I could recollect was that due to some odd reason we had ended up clicking this Cheetah in the zoo enjoying his lunch vociferously. I remember being actually repulsed by it at the time but GM insisted on clicking it and I am so glad he did, for otherwise I wouldn't have anything to post for this week!

Week 2 - Colour Garnet (Photography)

Fifty-2 weeks of 2013 continues with a photography post, having the colour garnet as the theme. Now, I have to admit I was a little puzzled when I saw the theme. Were we supposed to take a pic of the gemstone itself? Where am I going to find one now? But then, the 'colour' solved the problem and as members started posting there pics, it was clearer to me.

But the real confusion started after that. What do I chose as the subject? Coincidentally I bought a pair of ear rings with the same colour. I say coincidentally, but now that I think of it, the theme might have influenced my choice when I was browsing through the jewellery section! Here is the snap that I took of the ear rings.

But then I did a complete change of mind and decided to submit this one instead.

It is a shot of a bottle of Rose syrup against the sunlight (whatever little was available!). I thought the colour was perfect and the pattern on the bottle made for a good visual effect.

New Year Resolutions - Fifty-2 weeks of 2013

If I  tell you exactly how many times I have made New Year resolutions and then conveniently forgot about them, I would be revealing my age. So instead of that let me just say that it has been so many times, that off late I have stopped thinking about making them altogether. I might be giving away this attitude somehow, because people have even stopped asking me about my New Year resolutions. In fact I have had people checking with GM about his resolutions in front of me and not bothering with me at all! But I am not complaining at all. After all if you haven't told any one about the resolutions, there is no need to be worried about embarrassment when you actually break them. So in a way I have at least followed my rule of not letting any one know about my resolutions, so far that is. As is true with any rule, I am about to break this one too!

I wouldn't call them resolutions because as mentioned earlier, I can never keep up with them. This is more of a To-Do list that I hope to accomplish before its too late.

• Try to be a bit more patient - I used to have a lot of patience. I was never irritated to stand in a long queue to pay for items, I never had a problem waiting for the bus/train to turn up, I could engage a toddler for hours  together without feeling the need to pull out my hair. But age seems to have taken its toll and I find that nowadays I am sometimes irritated at small things. Things that wouldn't have bothered me a few years back, things that I would just smile and brush off. They say you get wiser and more patient with age but it seems to be the opposite with me, just the patience bit mind you! I do believe I am wiser now. So I want to consciously try and work on this.

• Try to work more on my writing - Fifty-2 weeks of 2013 is the first step towards it. I will try to keep up with every theme every week so that I am actively writing again. Somewhere down the line I also intend to revive the food blog, I have now forgotten how many revivals it has seen! I still cook and sometimes still take snaps but somehow never post them on the blog. I intend to change this. This blog also should see more posts and I will try to post about things that I feel very strongly about.
• Try to incorporate some Yoga - God knows I do enough running around, but I feel my activities or whatever exercise I get are not structured enough to make any difference to the body. So again I am going to make a conscious effort to get this done.

That is all, this should keep me well occupied and out of harm's way for the major part of the year. Notice how each of the above starts with the word 'Try'. This is deliberate because as I have said before, I hardly ever stick to resolutions, so this time I am just going to try and not impose any compulsion on myself!

Miss Marple or Madeline Bassett?

After a huge gap, here I am posting for the writer's circle again. The topic for June (I know I am late!) was chosen by Amruta and when I saw the topic, I had so many things I wanted to write that I couldnt decide which one to go for. Her topic is

"If you were a character in a book, which book, which character and why?" or "Which book would you have wanted to be a part of?"

For some one who can live on books (reading them, not eating!), this is quite a tough topic. I had so many books that I wanted to be a part of. How do I select only one? As for being a character in a book, again I would like to be so many of them but with some minor changes. So I am going to cheat a bit and list a 'few' books and characters here instead of just one.

To start with I would love to be Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, but a younger version of her! Or should I say, I would like to be Miss Marple when I grow older? I like detective/spy stories a lot and so being a detective would be my first natural choice. Having said that, I am not very good with violence and too much blood (The reaction of David Suchet as Hercule Poirot comes to mind in 'The cheap Flat' episode of the televised version!) , so the Agatha Christie mysteries are perfect for me. They have murders in them of course, but they are rarely ever gory or too bloody. The mystery is solved using logical deduction rather than a blood bath! There are twists and turns to keep the reader interested and completely glued to the story and it is great fun to try and guess what might happen next or who might be the murderer. 


To continue with the same genre, I would love to be a part of a Hercule Poirot mystery as well, and this list can never be complete without a mention of Sherlock Holmes. I wish I could be the Dr Watson to him but I would like to be a little smarter and cleverer than the original Dr Watson, giving my contributions in solving a mystery!


I would also enjoy being part of one of the Dan Brown books with Robert Langdon. What could be better than going on a treasure hunt of sorts, following cryptic & ancient clues?


And I can not forget the Bourne series by Robert Ludlum. I like all the books in the series but Bourne Identity is my favourite and one which I would want to be a part of. I don't think I want to be a character in the book but it will be great to be a part of all those thrills and chills that the book packs in, and actually experience them happening. The film did not capture the whole essence of the book, in my opinion. But then I have rarely liked the movie versions of any book that I have read, you can say I am partial to my books.


Moving away from adventure & mystery, I am quite fascinated by the English way of life in the  pre World War-I era. One of the authors who depicts this time period in his books and modestly describes how the British upper society lived, is P G Wodehouse. I have read all his books in the Jeeves & Wooster series and it would be great to be a part of one of these books and experience fun, chaos, mayhem & excitement, the Wodehouse way.  Bertie Wooster's cousins (Honoria Glossop, Madeline Bassett etc) make for very interesting characters and it would be nice to dress up in those lovely clothes, dine on the fine British food and generally behave like typical girls in those days!


There are many more books that I have loved reading, they were the ones with a lot of depth in the stories and strong characterisation, but most of them also tend to be very intensive in terms of what happens to the characters. If I have a choice why shouldn't I opt for something lighter in life and forget about the more serious and intense things?

What are your favourite characters that you might want exchange places with?

Back to the Future

The writing Circle is going back in time this month. The topic was chosen by Seema and she asked us to write a letter to our 20 year old self. So here it goes.


Dear 20 yr old me,


I hope you are doing well. I am trying to think what you must be doing now, but I am struggling here. Gosh! Has it really been that long or in other words, am I so old now?


Anyway, after much brain racking I now remember that you must be in the middle of your Engineering course, still coming to terms with the endless assignments, journal writing, practicals, lectures, results etc. If you think the tension and stress of the studies is too much, let me tell you that in future you will have various moments where you would wish for those days to come back. So enjoy this phase while it lasts, I know it will seem endless but it is not. These days will end and the next phase will start before you even realise it.


Oh and I have to remember not to make this letter a  very long one. I know you will be quite busy with your friends. Have you had your daily mandatory 30 min call to each of the friends (from school, Junior college and Engg college) yet? Now that I think about it, I am amazed how you get the time to do that, after such a hectic day at the college.


But I have to take this opportunity and thank you for all the great friends you made. In fact this is probably one aspect where I dont have any advice for you at all, you have done very well here! I am especially thankful that you got over a prejudice made a life long friend in S, you know who I am talking about. Yes, that anecdote about you two being bitchy about each other and then turning into best friends is still going strong. I take every chance to narrate it and always get the same expected reaction of awe from people!


Now, let me talk about the things you have done so far and what you will do in future. You have been a good daughter so far, except for some minor incidents where you argue and don't listen to your parents just like any other teenage girl. You have been quite a good sister, in fact a friend, to a great brother you have. Keep it up, I would say, but there will be some moments when you will be forced to think if you have done enough for them. Well, all I can say about it, is that nothing can ever be enough, just hang in there and do your best.


Although things may be looking quite tough right now on the education front, you will manage to complete your engineering and look back fondly, at the days spent in the college or "Shantiniketan" as you guys are calling it now! The wait for the bus to Vashi station which seems irritating and tiring right now, would come back to you as one of the most enjoyable times of your college life. And dont forget the coffee, Wada Pav and the dosas at the station (both Vashi and Nerul), you would really end up craving for them in future. Even writing about them is making my tummy rumble right now!


You will not only land a very decent job doing what you like and love, in your chosen field of Telecommunication, but also make some great friends while working too. You do realise that you have a knack of making good friends and you have your parents to thank for those genes, think of all the great friends they have.


In fact you will have the best friend you can have, for life, and who will be with you always, supporting you all they way. I am talking about your future Hubby. He doesn't own a  Silver/Black Mitsubishi Lancer as is your criteria at the moment but believe me, you will never miss the Lancer! And who knows, I may very well influence him so that he buys one any way! You will have an adorable daughter who will give you sleepless nights and make you run for life, almost literally, but it will all be more than worth it.


This reminds me, do pay more attention to what Amma says, you will end up repeating the same things to your daughter. You might be resenting all the things you have to hear now, including " you will understand when you are a mother yourself" but trust me, that is how things will be.


Keep up with your cooking, that will be something which will keep you sane when things seem to be going totally out your hands. Would you believe me if I told you that you take up baking too, in a big way? And that you would write a food blog, enjoy it and be proud of it too? I should really resume it actively now.


Speaking of food, you should have really kept off the junk food a bit and may be got into the habit of going to the gym or at least have some form of exercise everyday. And however you may justify to Pappa, doing Pranayam for 15 minutes and then devouring a plate of Sev Batata Puri does not help you at all. Stop fooling yourself there!


On second thoughts, forget whatever I asked you to do. Go on, continue to eat the way you want, plonk yourself in front of the TV and watch all those Salman Khan movies as much as you want, continue to 'pester' amma by pretending that you dont listen to her. After all you have your future life to contemplate on all those things. For now, enjoy yourself . I just hope that if and when we come across each other, we can laugh at all those things and agree with each other about the choices we made in life.


Would love to hear from you too!


Yours,
Me.
PS: I still have loads to write about but as I have promised, I wont make this a very long one. And as you can see you will maintain your habit of writing PS after every letter/email, whether it is really needed or not!

I have the Power!

The Writing Circle is all about having super powers this month! The topic that we are writing about is - 'Given a choice, the Power or sixth sense, I would like to have.'

Although I chose this topic, I was very apprehensive since it sounds very cheesy and straight out of a Beauty Pageant. But then, come to think of it, we all have at some point thought that it would be so good if certain things were under our control. We could have faced this moment at any point in our lives - waiting for that crucial train/bus/flight which seems to have been delayed on purpose, losing out on winning anything by just a hair's breadth and especially when things are not working out for us and we need them to just fall in place. I have experienced this so many times in seemingly small things - cooking Malai Kofta and letting it simmer for 5 minutes longer led it to stick to the bottom of the pan and there I was, wishing that I could go back in time and switch off the gas!

But to come back to the one thing I would like to be able to do, I am quite clear on what I want, although there is one another thing which I will mention later. I  would want the power to know what others are thinking, I want to be able to read every one's mind just by looking at them! The need for such a 'sixth sense' for me, might have stemmed up from the fact that I am particularly affected by what others are making of my actions or words. I say something & then keep wondering if the other person actually understood what I really meant by that or whether I offended some one unknowingly.

Imagine how lovely it would be if we all had such a power. It will be so easy to just clear up any misunderstanding brewing in a person's mind because you know how they are thinking. There will of course be other complications. There wont be any diplomatic talks/discussions, no need for elaborate gadgets to detect lies, salary negotiations would take a completely different form and of course there will be no poker! It will be very easy to call some one's bluff and so every one will be forced to be honest & truthful. No so bad, if you think about it.

The other thing I wanted to mention here is the power of one's will. Now we have all read about accounts from people in adverse conditions who overcame their difficulties due to their will power. But is it possible to control the happenings in your life through your will power? Can  will power really make something happen or prevent something from happening? If there is any possibility, I would like to have that power too!