Matters of the heart....

Why does the heart yearn for the unattainable?

Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead

This poem, by Alfred Lord Tennyson used to be one of my favorites in school.

It has been really long since I last remembered these lyrics. The 26/11 blasts in Mumbai brought it to the fore.

Home they brought her warrior dead:
  She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
  'She must weep or she will die.'

Then they praised him, soft and low,
  Called him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
  Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

Stole a maiden from her place,
  Lightly to the warrior stept,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
  Yet she neither moved nor wept.

Rose a nurse of ninety years,
  Set his child upon her knee—
Like summer tempest came her tears—
  'Sweet my child, I live for thee.'

- Lord Tennyson

India vs England ODI

Continuing my talk of firsts in my life from my previous post, this was another first for me....the first cricket match which I saw live.

Though not much into cricket, I really enjoyed myself. Inspite of the match being stopped twice due to rains, the energy in the stadium was unbelievable. I whistled and jumped and waved the tricolor.

I also saw Sachin and was quite thrilled about it, since he has always been and will remain one of my favorites.

India played very well and won the match. Needless to say, that made my first live match even more unforgettable.

Here is the last winning ball of the match, which I captured with my camera.

And thus went November.....

The month of November is gone, bringing us a step closer to the end of the year.

November was quite an interesting month for me, in more ways than one. There were several highs, as well as lows, a lot of first time events for me, as well as some unplanned enjoyable activities.

One of the firsts in my life was my very first half marathon, and that too Ultra. Yes, its true !!! I know those who know me personally would find it impossible to believe that I could manage to run a half marathon. I have never been much of a sports person, and have been on the wrong end of the weighing scale for most of my life till now.

I started running at the beginning of 2008. This was one of my New Year resolutions (am glad that the year is about to end, and my resolution is still alive and getting better). As expected, running was tough for me. It needed a lot of practice, discipline and strong will. Practice I did, though not as much as I would have wanted to. Within a month and a half, I enrolled for a quarter marathon in Pondicherry (Auroville was organising a marathon as part of some celebrations). I managed to complete the distance inspite of the scorching heat and not much experience and practice. That kind of boosted my confidence, though the timing was not so good.

I continued to run on and off after that, till a ligament tear while crossing the road put me out of action for a few months (what a shame it is for someone who runs to get a ligament tear while walking !!!). My leg was in cast for a month and the max I could do was limp with great difficulty from one room to another.

Post August, I started running again, now with more seriousness, since the last quarter of the year is the marathon season, when most of the big marathons are held in the country.

I missed the Kaveri Trail Marathon (KTM) due to my trip to US, but did enroll for Bangalore Ultra 2008 , before I left for my trip. For those who don't know, the Ultra marathons are tougher marathons and their philosophy is to push oneself. So while the normal half marathons are 21km, Ultra is 25 km.

I started getting cold feet 3 weeks before the Ultra. I had not practiced much and was afraid of not being able to complete the distance and giving it up midway. I kept telling myself that if I could not run, I should be able to walk the distance (this confidence was due to a recent Himalayan trek where I did uphill walking for upto 14 km a day).

Friends and fellow runners convinced me to give it a try and so I did. I managed to complete the 25 km, and ran much more than I thought I will be able to. I did walk some distances, esp most of the last 6 km, since my right leg gave away (I definitely needed to practice more than I did). I was however determined to finish the marathon, even though it meant putting spray and getting my leg stretched by the meds at every aid station. I finally made a limping finish.

It was tough but it was worth it. I believe what carried me through was simply my will power.

I received a certificate and a medal (my lifetime first for a sports activity). And last but not the least, a real sense of acheivement, and stronger belief in the saying "Nothing is Impossible".

There are 3 more half marathons in the near horizon. I am looking forward to them....

Life...

Life is to be taken lightly, not frivolously.

It's a fine line.

Hope...

Sometimes giving up hope is far more difficult than keeping it alive.

The day ends later...

With the clock back by an hour in the West, things have gotten worse.

Maybe India should adopt DST !!!

Sharing...

Why is sharing feelings considered a sign of weakness?

Does bottling up your feelings make you a stronger person?

Or simply unhappier?

Review of "Fashion"

Let me keep it short and sweet.

It is a ok kind of movie. I would give it 2.5 stars, maybe 3.

It was disappointing, because I had high expectations from a Madhur Bhandarkar movie. It's sad to see that he has failed to make anything even close to "Page 3". He is the Arthur Hailey of Bollywood, as his movies usually centre around an industry and introduces the audience to the inner and ugly details which is not so obvious to the outer world. Unfortunately, "Fashion" had nothing new to offer which we do not know about.

Priyanka is ok, not bad but had not really done any soul stirring scenes. Mugdha Godse is decent too, much better than I had expected. Thankfully, she does not give wooden expressions typical of most models who act for the first time.

The one and only saving grace of the movie is Kangana Ranaut. She rocks. She comes across as a natural in her role, as the show stopper model in the ramp walks in the movie. She shows loads of attitude typical of someone at the top in the modelling world. Also, the way she plays her addiction to drugs and her subsequent downfall in the industry is really admirable. She certainly takes away the cake with her brief but powerful appearances in the movie. Frankly, I never really thought of her much in the past, my perception of her has changed after the movie. With the right kind of non-stereotype roles, I think she can go places.

So if you like Kangana Ranaut, this movie is worth going to. You can give it a miss otherwise.

And with this, my wait for a good Hindi movie continues...

The weekend limbo

This is one of the weekends where I did not have enough to do, or so it seemed, till yesterday.

That meant there was plenty of time to laze around and do nothing important in life. The problem with a weekend like this is that you start feeling guilty about having nothing to do, and try to dig up things have not got done due to lack of time in the past.

I have been thinking about my long weekend to do list since yesterday and trying to decide what to pick up from those.

Today morning while I was still sleeping, I got two calls which even to my sleep drugged mind, brought a sense of relief. A friend called me up for lunch at her place and another one wanted to check with me if I would be game for a movie on Sunday evening. I already had plans to go running on Sunday morning. So just like that, my Sunday was suddenly packed with activities and now looks a little hectic for a Sunday. But I am not complaining, always game for anything fun :))

That also means now I can enjoy a really really lazy Sat without any feeling of guilt :)). Tomorrow is a busy day and I do deserve one day to chill out, don't I?

Let the limbo continue......

The workout challenge

Exercising never comes easy to me...especially after a long break...

Today I went to the gym after a really long time. Got quite a few "where have you been" queries and looks from my dietician and the instructors.

With my best smile, I told them I have been travelling (which is partly true) and promised them that will get regular from tomorrow.

They responded with a smile and "you have said that before" look.

There is always hope for tomorrow....

Feelings post Diwali

If there is something called as "post festival" depression, I have it now :((

This year, for a change, I did not have any plans for Diwali. I had decided to take it easy after my recent over hectic US trip and just chill at home.

As it happened, I got invited by a friend for a card party (teen patti), to which I went reluctantly because he would just not take a no. As it turned out, I not only had a fabulous time at his place but also ended up winning some money, which is a big big acheievement for a bad card player like me.

I think that did the trick and the festive bug finally hit me. Next day, that is Diwali day, I had to goto work. Inspite of several conversations with myself, I just could not make myself do that and finally called up my boss and took the day off. I was just too distracted to work. Once I was over the guilt of bunking office (which did not take much time), I did my bit of Diwali at home, with the usual cleaning, cooking, decorations, pooja etc.

The grand finale was a potluck dinner at another friend's house, where we got together and burst crackers and ate a lot of yummy food. Inspite of the all the cacophony created by the kids, we still managed to have a great time.

All this fun when I had not planned a thing !!!

Moral of the story - It pays to go with the flow and take things as they come :))

Today, after a 4 day weekend and the last 2 days of Diwali high, life seems very empty and meaningless, and the usual routine of life seems even more daunting :((

That is what festivals are for, to bring some welcome change in our otherwise routine lives.

Are we not lucky to be in India ?? :))

Confusion....

Sometimes confusion is better than clarity. It doesn't hurt as much.

Life is not fair, but it can be fabulous

Demanding fairness from the universe is a debilitating waste of effort, says Karen Sentio

Read here

The faster we learn this, the better for us.

Dave Barry on Cosmopolitan

A hilarious Dave Barry classic - take on Cosmopolitan magazine, which a friend of mine mailed me recently. Could's resist putting it here. I used to be a regular Cosmo reader once (for some reason then it seemed very "in" and "upmarket" thing then).

I feel this is the one of the best ways in which the mag can be described....Read on.....

When I'm in the supermarket checkout line, I always look at Cosmopolitan magazine to see if the editors have made any progress in their ongoing effort to figure out men. I'm sure you're familiar with Cosmopolitan ("Fun-Fearless-Female"). It's the one with the cover that always has a picture of a woman who looks as though she has a prestigious and rewarding executive career as a hooker.

Roughly half the articles in Cosmopolitan are devoted to explaining how you, the Cosmo reader, can make yourself look like the cover model. All you have to do is follow the two-step Cosmo Beauty Regimen:
STEP ONE: Using a combination of fun and fearless beauty procedures such as the Eyebrow Yank, the Hot Wax Torture, the Hydrochloric Acid Skin Peel, the Hoover Vacuum Home Spleen Removal, the Cage of Thigh-Eating Wolverines and the Industrial Drain Cleaner Enema, you remove all of the physical elements that make you unattractive, such as your fat, hair, skin, fingerprints and internal organs. At this point, you are essentially a skeleton with eyeballs, or, to put it another way, Ally McBeal.
STEP TWO: You smear your entire self with a complex system of foundations, bases, creams, lotions, gels, powders, moisturizers, conditioners, mousses, sprays, mascaras, eyeliners, lip glosses, enzymes, lacquers, organic papaya-enhanced roofing tars, etc., until you are encased inside an impenetrable layer of beauty products thick enough that there is no way for anybody to tell, without giving you a CAT scan, what you actually look like. You could be a Shetland pony under there.

Once you have achieved this fun and female "look," it's time for you to get started on the other topic that is discussed endlessly in Cosmopolitan: Figuring out what men want. It's a tough one!

Cosmopolitan editors wrestle with it day and night, and they're constantly announcing new breakthroughs. Pick up any issue, and you'll see articles like:
"23 Ways to Drive Him Wild in Bed!"
"127 Ways to Make Him Want to Get Naked Right in the Foyer!"
"387 Ways to Make Him Completely Lose Biological Control of Himself While He Is Still in the Driveway"

Over the decades, Cosmopolitan has printed literally thousands of sure-fire techniques for driving men insane with passion. If these techniques actually worked, by now the entire male population of the United States would have been wiped out by lust, literally exploding into little mushroom clouds of vaporized bodily fluids. But this has not happened, except in the case of President Clinton.

The problem, I think, is that Cosmopolitan is making this issue way more complicated than it actually is. I mean, we're talking about MEN here. You don't need rocket science to drive them wild in bed. All you need to do is to get in there with them Or, leave them alone for a while.

Because men don't need much. Using a complex, sophisticated technique to get a man excited is like preparing a gourmet French meal for a Labrador retriever. So I think Cosmopolitan is trying too hard. In fact, it may be doing women more harm than good. For example, the August issue has a feature titled "What to Say to Make Him Ache for You-Whisper these frisky phrases if you wish to drive him wild."

One of the frisky phrases Cosmopolitan advises you to whisper to men is - really - "We'd better hurry home, because at midnight I turn into a vixen."This frisky phrase might actually alarm the man, especially if he knows that the dictionary defines "vixen" as "an ill-tempered, shrewish woman."Basically, you're telling the man he could suddenly find himself in bed with Lorena Bobbitt.

Another frisky phrase suggested by Cosmopolitan is - get ready -"My bikini waxer went a little overboard." Listen, women: If you actually say those words to a man, he's going to assume you want him to take you to the emergency room.

So my advice to the editors of Cosmopolitan is: Just drop this subject for a while. Trust me: even without technical advice from you, your women readers will have no trouble getting men excited, as long as the men are aware (and believe me, they are) that the women, underneath their clothes, are not wearing clothes.

And consider this: If you Cosmopolitan editors stopped obsessing about men, you could focus your brainpower on the Middle East peace process, health care, Social Security or the federal budget surplus.I bet you could give us some important insights into these issues! Or at least tell us how to drive them wild in bed.

Dave Barry

Washington Post Magazine

Flowers....

Shot by me, using my Canon S3 IS.

The mauve ones are really small flowers which grow in the grass. The out of focus green background helped to accentuate the color of the flowers.

This one is a Marigold in full bloom.

Pretty, aren't they??

Planting trees...

For someone like me, whose hands age on a laptop keyboard in an air-conditioned office, planting trees was a much more different experience than I had thought :
- It's not as glamoruous as it looks (unless you are a Page 3 persona, where you just need to sprinkle some mud in the end and pose for the camera)
- Digging takes a lot more strength than you thought it would.
- There could be earthworms and ants in the mud (you realise their existence only when you see them).

Maybe that's the reason there are few takers for the "afforestation" drives.

Or maybe, we have become too much of city people and disconnected from nature :((

Future....

The future looks clouded....

There is too much of past....

Uncertainity....

Just when you start thinking you have it, its goes away.

And the uncertainity prevails....

Anniversaries

Wish you could never forget the good ones....

and never ever remember the bad ones....

Alas...its only a wish !!!

More....

The more you get...the more you want....

Drive away....

Light shower

Cool breeze

Empty roads

Kishore Kumar songs

Sometimes, getting behind the wheel can be truly enjoyable....even in Bangalore. Like tonight.

Rare but true.

On vegetarianism

"Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you anymore."
-- Franz Kafka
(while looking at the fishes in his aquarium)

Blind

Love is blind....and that is the only reason for its existence....

One simple act

Sometimes, one simple act of ours can change the way a person looks at life...forever.

*** and the City

I don't care what the men have to say, but I am dying to see the movie "*** and the City". I used to enjoy the serials too.

So the plan is to go for this chick flick with female friends from college days.

They should also make a all male movie on the same lines, 4 good looking single men staying in Manhattan. My choice of cast would be

- Pierce Brosnan
- Brad Pitt
- George Clooney
- Johnny Depp

Wow !!! What a movie it would be !!!

Moustache vs Women

Q : What's the difference between Moustache and Women?

A : You can stroke your Mush in public :)

- Contributed by "Anonymously C"

"Run"away groom

One of the participants of the Bangalore Sunfeast 10K run, which was held today.

Any takers??

No-thing?

Sometimes, nothing is better than "something".

Isn't it??


P.S - Thanks C, for inspiring the above in me.

Most "undateable" Brit

This sounds seriously sad.

Dunno what he means by
"In all, it was great to meet my ex-girlfriends over the years. It made me realise I've hurt some really nice girls but I think it all worked out OK in the end”

Worked out OK??????

Dead vs Dying

A dead relationship is far better than a dying one.

The dead one spares you the agony of hopes and disappointments.

There was something about May

.......summer holidays
.......afternoon naps
.......long evenings under the starlit sky
.......reading books late into the night
.......cold showers
.......mangoes and mangoes
All this was long ago.

Now, May is just another month....and life goes on

Lance the Runner

Did you do a double take of the title? Wondering if I erred there?

Actually, I haven't. Yes, that's what Lance Armstrong is doing these days...running.

Last week, he ran the Boston marathon and finished in 2:50:58 hours, breaking his own goal of 3 hours.

I am really not into sports (if you have been following my blog, you would know by now). However this impressed me enough to share it with everyone.

Just reminds you its never too late to start anything.

"Pretty Woman"...Trivia and Mistakes

This is definitely one of those evergreen movies, which you can watch again anad again and again.

I caught it on Star Movies yesterday.

If you like the movie as much as I do, these trivia and mistakes during filming the movie would definitely interest you.

Have fun.

The Queen

Queen Victoria.

Shot by me.

Isn't she majestic ?

Facts vs Fiction

I was watching "1942 - A Love Story" today (I picked up this movie a few days back along with a couple of others, from a bookstore a few days back).

If you have seen the movie, you would know that its a love story set in the backdrop of the Indian freedom struggle. The plot revolves around the assassination of the atrocious General Douglas, by the freedom fighters. The movie predictably ends with his death.
I have seen this movie earlier and liked it a lot, which is why I decided to have a copy in my movie collection. This time too, I enjoyed the film.

Curiosity got the better of me and I googled on General Douglas and the events surrounding his death. Of course I did not expect the full drama which was portrayed in the movie, to be documented somewhere. I was however hoping for the correctness in the year of his death (1942) and the place (Kasauli). My search got me none of these. The General Douglas shown in the movie actually died in 1964 and definitely not in Kasauli.

This led me to wonder if historical facts, like the year of death of a well-known figure, are allowed to be contorted by movies, under the disclaimer of the movie being a work of fiction.

How much of fact can fiction have?

Kiss therapy

They say a "kiss" has amazing powers. Even if its by fishes :))

Apparently the Chinese do believe in the getting their skin blues kissed away by fishes. Check out the pictures here

Looks very creepy to me !!!

Finally arrested...

Am happy. With the arrest.

Why did this take so long??