This Was the Year That Was

So let's see ........What do I remember happening to me in the last 365 days?


I realized the futility of man's efforts and his insignificance when Mother Nature decides to turn on the tap.

I finally became a convert to the Sania Mania cult....yes, now Iam a believer!

I marvelled at how the same party idealogy which brought a man into the limelight can end up causing him to relinquish his post at the head of the table. The power of irony!

I learnt to look at the beach and the coastline in an entirely new light.

I fell in love with Dakota Fanning.

I was vindicated in my stand that Test cricket is the better version of the sport,not just in terms of quality but also entertainment.

I got further desensitised to regular attacks by our friendly neighbourhood terrorist groups.

I continued to remain amazed by the Thalaivar's staying power...naa, conquering power at 56.

....And oh yeah, I discovered what a blog meant!


Best wishes to all for a great new year ahead!!

A Christmas Carol

"Jo--ooo--oy to the world!...."
That was my father in the shower a couple of weeks ago. Reason enough for me and my Mom to share a smile, least of all because he inadverently slipped into "O come all ye faithful.." halfway through the first stanza. No, this was because it heralded the Season.
Just like the first swallow is a sign of summer and the first falling brown leaf a sign of autumn, at my home, my Dad having a go at a Christmas carol full-throttle in the shower is a sure sign that Christmas has begun. Time to rummage for that Jim Reeves CD....

The first noel the angels did say,

Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.

Iam in charge of the carolling effort as part of the Christmas celebrations at office. We are a random group of enthusiastic professionals who 'pretend' to sing Christmas hymns. A unique challenge by itself, with quite a few of my colleagues having never heard, let alone sang, a carol in their lives. It cracks them up (me too, I must admit) that backing vocals for "Jingle Bells" could mean something as insanely ludicrous as 'jing-a-ling-a-ling' and 'ho-ho-ho-ho'. As a result, our practice sessions thus far have resembled exercises in laughter therapy more than attempts at stringing a couple of songs together.
Fingers crossed for tommorow. I'll be happy as long as no rotten eggs are thrown at us. Hopefully, people will be distracted by Santa.

Silent night, holy night,

All is calm, all is bright.

The choir conductor raises his hands. An expectant silence. The opening note is being mentally hummed by every chorister. The hands fall and the choir bursts into song.
Singing in a serious choir is a grand experience. (New Year resolution to myself - gotto join one of the city choirs again!) And Christmas is the best time to soak in the music.I sing with the tenors (a pseud at that, because I need a falsetto to hit the really high notes). But right in the middle of the "Hallelujah Chorus", I sometimes step out of myself and listen to the other parts playing, while I keep singing by rote. Surreal!! The altos, sopranos and basses seem to be in worlds of their own. Each individual tune goes back and forth, clashing with each other, cutting across octaves, blending and meshing, bursts of sound interspersed with pregnant pauses,....a group of writhing snakes entwining among themselves is the analogy that comes to mind...err...But the end result is never anything short of gorgeous!

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,

Had a very shiny nose,

And if you ever saw it,

You would even say it glows.

So yeah, Christmas carols keep hitting me at several levels every year. There's a lot I can forego during December but a Christmas without carols is close to unimaginable! It's the raison de saison!

Season's greetings and a very, merry Christmas to all!!

Here and There

The miracle of life was enacted again! Just when we had conveniently pushed the Kashmir earthquake into the farthest recesses of our memory and were getting ready to watch it on an ' Events that made 2005' programme on TV, comes this exhilarating bit of news. I remember reading a few such 'Dramas in Real-Life' of people being buried alive for extended periods of time on RD long time back, and it was always awe-inspiring.
I feel you need to have a couple of essential attributes to survive such an ordeal.
One, the past experience of a life of physical hardship.
Two, the ability to be able to not think too much.
All respect to Naqsha Bibi. 63 days!....that's right from the beginning of October...Imagine!!


Another sting operation, another scandal, this time cutting across political parties and cutting into Parliament. Nothing new, only that my fond images of Indian high-level corruption are of sarkari offices where a beuracratic babu or Government official sits between mountains of files on his desk and carries out his dirty business. Greasing of palms to carry out activities inside the Seat of Democracy leaves an especially bad taste in my mouth. It's like the feeling of shock we had on the 13th of December when terrorism made its way to the Parliament. After all, the Parliament is sacred, for heaven's sake!...or is it?


And finally,

Q. What do you get when you cross a red crescent and a red cross?




A. A red crystal!

Dog Days

Sunday 7.30 AM

The joy of driving a Yam down the empty highway, feeling the breeze in your hair, the tall marsh grass forming a blanket of green on either side of the road as far as the eye can see, ....and joy of joys, the sun peeks out from behind the clouds after days of hiding from the rain, the sky is a beautiful shade of blue interspersed with interesting cirrus-cumulus patterns...hmm, guess this is what they literally meant by 'every cloud has a silver li'....

Bang! Crunch!....Howl!

It takes me close to 10 seconds to regain my balance on the bike and look back apprehensively at the accident I seemed to have caused with my day-dreaming. The road behind me remains as deserted as ever except for a stray dog writhing in a grotuesquely contorted position, howling its head off.


Shit! That looks bad! Why didn't I just finish her off and spare her the agony?

Wha..?? Is that your first reaction? Go and see if you can help the dog instead of thinking like a murderer!

But she's just limped off into the grass, not much chance of finding her now....guess she limped off to die in peace.

That's no reason for you to wish that it had died. Would you have felt the same if it was a person you had knocked down and not a dumb animal?

No, I wouldn't...because I would have known what to do in that case, first aid, call for help,...and he wouldn't have crawled into the bushes!

Ha!...excuses! You just know you aren't accountable for killing an animal. After all, it happens all the time! When was the last day you didn't see the mangled remains of a dog hit by a speed-maniac on the highway, and watch it getting flattened by every passing vehicle till it was indistinguishable from the road?

Exactly! So how can I be blamed for my spontaneous reaction? I've just been so damn desensitised to the whole issue! In fact, I deserve credit for hoping the dog wouldn't suffer!

Like hell you do! That's all a dog's life means to you, doesn't it? You're so high up on the evolutionary ladder that you can't see beyond your nose!

Not true! I care for animals. In fact, Iam just going to call Blue Cross here. They'll be better placed to help out.

Go ahead, soothe your guilty conscience. But you're just a self-righteous hypocrite, insensitive to everything around you!

Take a hike, will you? I've got a life to lead....but let me tell you, I love dogs, I truly do!



The wind seems to have picked up suddenly. The open road is as desolate as ever. The clouds form interesting patterns in the sky, but they are streaked with grey now. The sun has gone into hiding again. It might rain any moment.

20 Point Someone

Tagged by Ranjitha to come up with 20 points of self-revelation.

So I delved deep into my own psyche, did a brooding self-introspection, wallowed in self-pity, did battle with my id, ego and super-ego, remained lost in thought and went foodless for a couple of days, experienced the ecstasy of self-actualization, and err...ended up with 20 irrelevant points about myself.


1. The colour of the world is grey. I refuse to see any issue in black and white.

2. Standing between towering shelves of books in a second-hand bookshop and feeling the musty atmosphere there (once you get past the dust and cobwebs) is always a grand experience. Yep, I love books, only slightly more than I hate those of the e-variety.

3. I keep alternating between dizzying heights of self-confidence and abysmal depths of self-doubt.

4. I love fiddling with the guitar, even if I'll never be more than an average guitarist. It's taken me 3 months of love's labour to play 'More than Words' exactly the way Nuno Bettencourt does.

5. Christmas is my favourite time of the year...everything seems to fall in place during December, the only thing missing is the snow.

6. Any song by Simon and Garfunkel can make me stop in my tracks, irrespective of what Iam doing at the moment.

7. I hate getting into any person's bad books, be it my boss or the watchman outside the office. I aim to please people....too much, in some folks' opinion, including mine.

8. I love the institution of sport. I wish more people would look at it with a holistic view rather than equate sport to a person vs person / team vs team contest. When it comes to sports, Iam as passionately neutral as they come.

9. Iam a certified authority on Tintin.

10. I believe friends are important, very important,...but they also remain an overvalued asset in many people's lives.

11. Given a moment's free time, I like to mentally create anagrams for any word I come across. My best original creation thus far remains 'A TRUE SIGN' from 'SIGNATURE'. Good timepass when you're waiting outside a dentist's room for an appointment.

12. I dont give money the importance it is due.

13. I believe women make good listeners and bad drivers. A generalization, but a fairly accurate one at that.

14. Iam the antithesis of a techno-geek. For me, an Apple is something I sink my teeth into and an ipod reminds me of of a pea-plant. What Iam doing in the IT industry is beyond me.

15. August 31st will always be the day my dog died in my arms,...and Iam not trying to be dramatic here.

16. There's something very fulfilling about listening to harmony in a good choir, better still, singing in one.

17. I once spent 7 hours straight at a Landmark outlet without the slightest intention of buying anything.

18. I regret not having taken a shot at the 'Harsha ki Khoj' auditions.

19. Understatement is a quality I admire.

20. Iam extremely grateful to be whom Iam and wouldn't want to swap places for a single moment with anyone else.


I think I see how all this could help me with a couple of b-school SOPs I have in the pipeline. So maybe, the entire exercise did serve some tangible purpose, after all!

About people to tag, 2 people whose first point about themselves could very well be, 'Iam not the kind who picks up tags like these.'.....but what the heck, it's worth a shot!

So....

Satish, coz it would be nice to see him getting caustic about himself, for a change.

Subbu, coz I think a dose of introspection is long-overdue in an otherwise 'techie' blog.