3.12.2011

on days like this, when its cold and rainy outside, when i have a mad amount of work to complete, and when i feel horribly sic fresh white sheets and oranges are making a big difference.

i must put up pictures of my room. it makes me so happy.

song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3rDMJERl64

who said

i've just had a week of involved discussions about singing the national anthem, patriotism and why politicians should be shot on sight. now in a house like ours, where all of us are rather opinionated the degree of peace is relative to how many people are in the room. i resent being made to stand up and sing the national anthem when i go to the movies in ahmedabad. i don't at all resent getting up early and racing out at nine in the morning to find a flag to sing at on independence day. i think republic day is a bit of a fraud, though i do recognise that the constitution is quite important and all that. but singing the anthem is a gesture, and i feel like there's more drama attached to the day independence was acknowledged.

what i did today was go out and buy a pair of sunglasses. which is makes it no different from what i might have done on any other day. except that there was less traffic today.

i do find though that i am more open to reading poetry on state holidays- in general. so i spent the afternoon with agha shahid ali, cups of tea and home made cookies. and am spending part of my evening with k satchidanandan. here- have a poem. after this though i am going off to watch firefly.


Who Said?

Who said
that waiting is a
railway station in North Malabar?
That a dawn in uniform
will arrive there in a coffin?

Who said
that memory is a fragrant window
opening on ripe cornfields?
That our bodies grow cold
as light grows dim there?

Who said
that trees have ceased to follow
wind’s language?
That we must conceal
from lilies and rabbits
the news of the death of love?

Who said
that now noons will be
heavy like a drunkard’s head?
That evenings will have sick hearts
like a lover’s whispered songs?

Who said that we are running barefoot
over red hot iron
with a fistful of childhood rain?
That we will, at the end,
hand over our keys
to the same rain?

Who said that men once dead grow younger
and then they enter another Time?
That all the birds that vanished
at sunrise will return
when the world ends?

Who said
that we would understand everything
with no one saying anything,
but will still not share
anything with anyone?

© K. Satchidanandan
From: Vikku
Publisher: DC Books, Kottayam, 2002
ISBN: 81-264-0465-5



© Translation: 2002, K. Satchidanandan
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: Full Circle, Delhi, 2002

http://india.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=2865

Dr who

Dear David Tennant,
I miss you. I know you ran off to America to make a new series but they will not get how funny and cool you are without some guidance. Neither Russell T Davies nor Steven Moffat has gone with you. Nor has some other clever fellow found and schooled by the BBC.
So basically. Yes. Come back. Even of just for the Easter special, or New year special. Or whatever hoaxy special.
Ok.
Bye for now.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxB1gB6K-2A

vaguery in the field

It has rained in Ahmedabad for nearly a whole day, withonly a one hour gap in the middle. It has been most lovely. Splooshed about all morning and slept all afternoon. Drove across the waterlogged city in the evening and returned to Doctor Who at night. Now that I am no longer alone at home I can watch these at night (otherwise too spooky).

Meanwhile I am debating the wisdom of having my hair rebonded. I invite comments from any of you who have had this done- or considered it.

Additionally I wish to complain about the rigours of having to manage a large household (3 people) on my own. This means buying food and water, instructing the cook about what to cook when, and dealing with grocers, laundry women, gardeners and a whole host of other people who float in and float out. The thing about living inside an institutes campus is that nearly everything comes pre-organised. There are minions to help with everything, and helpful aunties to call when in doubt. And despite how easy everything should be its driving me mad.

One more week of planning menus and I shall be climbing the walls. I need to leave before I totally forget what it is like to go to work everyday. To have to make deadlines instead of thinking about how the vegetables are rubbery during the rains and that its not a good time to eat palak.

Alice in Wonderland and Jemima Khan

The dancing bit of the movie was just weird.

Am in new found love with Avril Lavigne (had to google the song at the end, without which I would never have figured it was her).

And is it mad that I'm really glad I found Jemima Khan on Twitter- she seems so lovely.

new found enthusiasm for crabmeat.
must.have.more.

more tv

i have a faster internet connection now. this means that i can watch what i want, shortly after it airs.

in large part due to cat deeley (so charming), i have become addicted to so you think you can dance. this particular dance routine, i've watched about five times so far. and i think i'll be getting on to youtube to hunt it down again. and since i've just learnt how to put youtube clips here-




the same week in which i have watched the untouchables, watched a documentary on deep-dish pizzas, am having something of a mood overload.


also (totally unrelated)i have recently discovered
i) the wombats
ii)the pigeon detectives
the music is nice. but i'd listen to them anyway- such fun names.

heh

before jane campion found her and made the piano anna paquin's only acting experience was as a skunk in a school play.
heh

flibbertigibbet

is my word of the day

oh the irony of applying for a commonwealth scholarship to study post colonial theory in the uk.

i remember reading somewhere- that the characters in epistolary novels must have been letter writing maniacs. racing to their desks to scribble away the minute an event had occurred, wearing out pens at a furious rate, if the intensity of the exchange of letters in the novel was to be believed. its possible though. because an exchange of letters can be so seductive. and you can read exactly what you want into the ambiguity that cloaks even the most regular of utterances.


have become completely obsessed with the blower's daughter. listened to it all day.

have also found an ice cream parlour in north campus that shows promise. it isn't in the same league as corner house, but then few places are. i hope it survives.

stray thoughts from here and there

i absolutely detest playing mind-games with boys. its a complete waste of time, and you never know when you're winning. i don't see the point of playing if not to win, and in that sort of game winning would end the fun. or some such complicated game-related philosophising that i'm not up to.

meanwhile have rediscovered how much fun playing cards is. had flashbacks of the hostel (the previous , non cat-infested one) and playing bluff with two and a half decks. cards and scrabble. we played a lot of scrabble. i do not like monopoly however. the beginning is fine- all the racing around to by property is fun. i have a special fondness for the water works and for old kent road. its the squeezing rent out of your friends bit that i really find hard.

why does laura linney do multiple versons of the weird-mother role? in the squid and the whale. in driving lessons. she's very good at being slightly off.

due to being unduly clever while downloading them i now have several french movies without the subtitles. what i shall do with these i do not know.

richard thompson is playing in my head. this makes for the strangest of moods

If I were a Vampire

I do not spend much time working.
Instead I get online and find things like this.
Have spent some time since, singing 'If I were A Vampire' to my self in the manner of Tevye.

Random

Ancic has risen 23 spots. He is now ranked 69 in the world.
I wish I knew my texts as well as I know the tennis rankings.