Slowly. Quietly. After too long a hiatus. But surely. I am back.

In a great new city that is London. With a exciting new job with a great team. With some new friends (intriguing, instinctive bonding) and many old (rock-solid, comforting). On the wrong side of 29 but still the right side of 30 (tick tock tick tock!). With a lot of changes, some expected, some unexpected. New experiences, both good and bad, some secret and some not. Different taste in alcohol – hardly any vodka, same beer, a lot more wine. A more subtle taste in food. New hobbies – cycling, swimming and a few more things. Different books – less of fiction and more of real life. Mind and heart still tumultuous often times.

With a lot of new dreams on the horizon and yet still chasing some old goals. A mixed bag of change and constancy but in a good way. It feels good to be alive.

I am back!

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama. And that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. – Forrest Gump

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

– Rudyard Kipling

(from http://www.swarthmore.edu/~apreset1/docs/if.html)

Because exams impose habits on you that parents have been trying to enforce for years. Mystery solved.

What is genius? It is difficult to define but one thing for sure is that it is out of the ordinary. I just saw the movie Borat. And I found it humourous, shocking, gross and annoying, at various points throughout the movie and sometimes simulatneously. You might end up hating it or liking it – I am somewhere in the middle but it is still a good movie because it is different from everything else we are used to watching.

In an era where even reality shows are almost completely staged it is refreshing to see a movie in which almost all of the scenes are unscripted and all the characters except the central 4 characters are unaware that they are being filmed for a satirical (?) movie. Almost throughout the movie I felt that the participants did not know they were being filmed but I thought that it was just the way the movie was filmed and narrated and that like all movies the actors were indeed acting. A quick check on Wikipedia (Borat on Wikipedia) confirmed that I was wrong and that most of the movie was unscripted and that the participants were asekd for their permission only post-event.  

This movie might come across as being anti-American, making fun of various things American at various stages in the movie. However if anything I think it shows America as being an extremely tolerant and accomodating culture. Think of Borat’s high-society dinner where he insults and offends the host and the guests again and again and only at the very end is he kicked out. He would have been kicked out for things much less offending in most Indian settings I can think of Think of the car dealer who spends an hour or more trying to sell him a Hummer costing 50+ grand but eventually sells him a $700 ice-cream truck. Think of the etiquette consultant who maintains a straight face even when she was being shown nude pics of Borat’s son. And there are many such instances throughout the movie.

Brilliant. Genius. Stuck in your head kinda movie. This is not a movie you would want to see with your parents or your kids but this is definitely a movie you should see sooner or later.

Dheeray dheeray ray mana dheeray sub kuch hoye,
Maali sainche sau ghada, ritu aaye phal hoye.

~ Sant Kabir

…when they continually said to me just before my board exams that if I worked hard for the exams my life was set. This is one occasion I wish parents were correct

But then I did not really work hard for the board exams and scored only mediocre marks, maybe that’s why. Any of the 7 readers of this blog who studied meticulously for their boards and scored great marks care to leave a comment?

P.S. – I still love you Mom and Dad!

If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. ~ Juan Ramon Jimenez

I blog because I love words.
I blog because I like talking – ask my friends!
I blog because I like putting my thoughts into words.
I blog because 10 years hence I want to read what I wrote.
I blog because it allows me to play with the CMS, WordPress now, Drupal earlier.

Sometimes I blog to tell friends and family about the stuff going in my life.
Sometimes I blog to confess.
Sometimes I blog to unwind.
Sometimes I blog to talk to my inner demons and to retain my sanity.
Sometimes I blog just to blabber about nothing in particular.

Hmmm… I think that’s about it.