A few days ago, I typed out an e-mail to a friend and just as I hit 'send' on Gmail, this message popped up:GMAIL!!! Stop reading my e-mails!!! This is so scary...

Music

I listened to a friend sing 'Tum Pukar Lo' by Hemant Kumar while playing the guitar at a gathering yesterday.

And then, I came across this today - I had to share it!

"After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own. Music always seems to me to produce that effect. It creates for one a past of which one has been ignorant, and fills one with a sense of sorrows that have been hidden from one's tears. I can fancy a man who led a perfectly commonplace life, hearing by chance some curious piece of music, and suddenly discovering that his soul, without his being conscious of it, had passed through terrible experiences, and known fearful joys, or wild romantic loves, or great renunciations."
I love Oscar Wilde! :)

My shadow

I walked the walk of life,
With my shadow strolling by,
Oh! The splendid walk,
And all the mirth and the talk!

He followed me everywhere,
Often leading me to dare,
So close to me he'd stay,
"I'm all yours", he'd say!

We crossed the mighty hills,
With joyous shrieks and thrills,
We scaled the valleys steep,
And swam the oceans deep!

I wondered day and night,
What I'd do without his might?
"Oh", I said, "My shadow dear!
Will you not come a tad too near?"

"Your shadow I may be,
Yet a spirit stirring free,
I'll walk with you with pride,
But cannot rise by your side."

Saying thus he flew,
Or was it I who withdrew?
Leaving me to wonder,
Was it too grave a blunder?

I was deprived of my shadow,
But left richer by this halo,
'When you try to hold 'em closer,
E'en shadows don't last forever.'

And then....

I looked at the side bright,
There was my shadow in sight,
The one that I held so dear,
Was just a phantom mere!

:)

[Meme]: Untitled

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It is quite a privilege and very flattering indeed to be tagged to a wonderful meme, especially when you consider yourself to possess no talent whatsoever that is required to carry it forward! Borna tagged me to this meme on 'Untitled abstract poetry'. I am sure she is already getting a heart-attack seeing that I have actually done something about it! :P

The first and the last time I wrote a poem that I wasn't ashamed of publishing was when I was in my 6th standard. I wrote a small article titled, 'My best friend' and a poem whose title I don't remember. It certainly wasn't Untitled. :) I don't clearly remember what that poem was all about. I believe it had something to do with nature and trees and colors. I had amazed myself with that poem, I was rather proud of it. I submitted both the entries to my Class Teacher and she seemed very happy. But when the magazine came out, I saw that only my little write-up on my best friend was published and my poem wasn't! :( Sadly, I didn't even keep a copy of the poem for myself. I was very disappointed and consoled myself saying that the poem was probably too good for a 6th grader! :P I like to think that the teacher liked the poem so much that she stole it and gave it to her son when he came to the 6th grade! :D

Somehow that incident dealt a severe blow to my newfound interest and my just-about-budding confidence in poetizing and I never ventured into it again. Thank you Borna for tagging me, and thanks to the world of bloggers for propagating the meme, thus providing me with the opportunity to pick it up again! :)

Here goes my abstraction...

-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----

As I stand by the lake,

Staring
Into the depths of the waters,
Beyond the horizon,
Wondering
What tempest or treat matters,
The spectral boundaries of the unexplored
Seem
Soo far away… 

As I peer into the scope,
Searching
The smallest of scintilla,
Connecting the dots,
Surmising
The theme - the unifying idea,
The secrets locked within those spots unseen
Seem
Soo far away...

As I strain every nerve,

Seeking

To fathom these very depths,

Or spare myself these questions,

Hoping

Therein the answer rests,

The knowledge of life's ways untold

Seems

Soo far away…

-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x----- 

  And needless to say,

When experiments fail day-after-day,

PhD

Seems

Soooooo faaaaaar away. :D

Sorry, I really couldn't help that last bit! :D

I would like to tag Srividya, Srinivas and Sanchit to carry this meme forward. Looking forward to reading your poems! :)

Perspective

An impromptu attempt at sketching something with a pen on a ruled sheet of paper. Possibly the quickest sketch I've ever made - all under the pretext of trying to study.. :PDisclaimer: Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental! :P

Thank you :P

It was just another day. I was returning from lab after a tired but productive day. As I neared my apartment building, I noticed that there was an old man standing by the main door, fiddling with his keys, but certainly not attempting to open the door. He stood a good two foot away from the door and I was skeptical of opening it and letting him in. He certainly seemed like a stranger to me because I have never seen him around before. The building management strictly advises us not to let strangers into the building. Even if inmates claim that they have forgotten their keys or locked themselves out, we are not supposed to play the good Samaritan.

Me being the over-cautious woman, I stood there for a moment or two wondering what I should do. Just then, this guy who was leaving the building left the door open for me to go in. I went in and as I had feared, this old man followed me promptly into the building, uttering a 'Thank you'. I slowed down, pretended as if I was trying to call somebody, and let him go in front of me. I checked at the building front desk and I wasn't surprised to see that the person on duty there was happily playing video games while she was supposed to be keeping an eye on people entering and leaving the building.

So I decided to take over the spying job (a lot of my friends would so totally agree with how good a detective I am. Thank you, thank you! :P). I followed this man to the elevators and saw that he did have the keys to the mail-box, which was sort of relieving. I held the elevator open for him and he entered saying, "Thank you". Now, why am I stressing on the 'Thank you'? Well, I am sure all of you must have heard Barack Obama say 'Thank you'. Remember the talk that he gave in Iraq a while ago? Oh, my goodness! He kept saying 'Thank you' 'Thank you' for a full ten minutes before the audience would stop clapping at his entry onto stage.

It was the exact same 'Thank you' with the exact same voice that my friend was saying. This old man with a graying beard, ear-muffs, a plastic bag in his hand and smelling strongly of, well, alcohol. That explained his unsteady gait and his inability to figure out which key it was that opened the main door. He entered the elevator and stood in a corner. I asked him which floor he would like to go to and when I pressed the button for him, he said the unmistakable Obama 'Thank you' again.

A moment later came the statement, "Thank you. Thank you for your heart!"
My heart?!?! What on earth?! I haven't given my heart to you yet my dear old man! :D

As I exited the elevator, he said, "Thank you! You are a beautiful woman!"

Beautiful woman?!?! No, I am not surprised that he called me beautiful - I know I am! ;) But, I couldn't help let out a small cry of anguish at the kind of men who hit on me these days, for that matter, always! Old men with unsteady gaits and that too, after I-don't-know-how-many pints of beer. Sigh! What has the world come to!

You know it's New Year's when...

You know it's New Year's when... you don't see a single soul online on gchat when you log in at 8 o'clock in the morning...* and these are the kinds of conversation you have over the phone... **

"Aghghghilllaaa... I am sooooo drunk Aghghghillla... You know what I did last night... you won't believe this... I had two tequila shots and some kind of a tea.. forgot what it was.. Ohhh.. Long Island Tea... I have never been soooooo drunk before.. I think I made quite a spectacle of myself in front of my friends... :| And oh yeah.... Happy New Year!!! :D"

"It was sooooo cold last night.. I took my camera and tripod and went out to watch the fireworks.. You won't believe how cold it was... While taking pictures, I had to remove my gloves and my hands were freeeeezing.. Now, I am down with a cold and fever... :("

"You know what.. I thought the party at my cousin's place was last night.. turns out it is tonight.. I just ended up watching 3 idiots and went to bed.. :|"

"I have never bought alcohol myself before.. I went to the store and stood at the wine aisle, rather stupidly staring at all the labels.. After spending half-an-hour at the store, I decided to pick up whatever this decent, my age-looking girl chose.. Late harvest Riesling.. supposed to have a good aroma.. and then I thought, 'Hell...!!! Who wants good aroma at a New Year's bash?!' ...and so picked up the sweet and crisp Riesling, which is supposed to go well with spicy stuff.. ;)"

And this one is the best -
"I lovvvvvvvvvvve you... muuuuuaaaaaaaaaaah.. :-* "
(Mind you... I actually heard that kiss!)
Me: (Slightly blushing) Ahem.. Okaayyy.. Did you have a good time last night?
"Welllllll... ummmmmm.... Nooooooooo!!!!!" :D

Happy New Year everybody!!! Cheers!!! :)

*Yes, if I am awake at 8 o'clock in the morning on New Year's Day logging into gchat and calling people up, you can tell what a sad New Year's Eve I must have had. :(
**My dear friends - Please don't be mad at me for making our conversations public. I have taken great care not to give away your identities. :) So, please return the favour by not revealing your identities through your comments. :P