All About Me (part two)

I am so honest, so thoroughly square;
Eternally noble, historically fair.
Who, when you win, will always give your back a pat.
Why can't everyone be like that?

Why does every one do what the others do?
Can't a person learn to use their head?
Why do they do everything their parents do?
Why don't they grow up, well, like me instead?

Why can't my friends take after me?
I am so pleasant, so easy to please.
Whenever you're with me, you're always at ease.

One day in a million I may shout a bit.
Now and then, I might show slight defects.
My truthfulness you might perhaps doubt a bit,
But by and large I am a marvelous man!

Why can't everyone take after me?
'Cause I am so friendly, good-natured and kind.
A better companion you never will find.

I am so decent, such a regular chap;
Ready to help you through any mishap;
Ready to buck you up whenever you're glum.
Why can't my friend be a chum?

Why is thinking something others never do?
And why is logic never even tried?
Complaining about everything is all they ever do.
Why don't they fix the mess that they made?

Why can't everyone behave more like me?

Why can't everyone be like me?

 

(thanks to Henry Higgins for the inspiration)

 

2008 & 2009

It's been a mixed year, like most others. Ups and downs, professional and personal. A year of very little interaction on LJ, though. I didn't post much, you guys didn't either. Blame it on Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and what have you. Blame it on laziness. Old age. Ennui.

Or perhaps blame it on the fact that society itself is moving towards instant gratification, capsule reviews, micro updates. No one wants to spend more than five minutes on anything anymore. And even if you do, why do you watch a movie? Because everyone's talking about it, because you won't be cool if you don't talk about it too. Why read a book? Because it's won the Booker and everyone's talking about it. Because the movie had millions of teenage girls queuing up, shrieking. Why have an opinion? You don't need to. Not when you can copy paste others viewpoints to your twitter.

I am getting old. 37 in a few months, for crying out loud! I never believed I would be this old, to be honest. Nor did I think I would lose this much hair.

And you guys have aged too. and , did you ever think you'd be a dad one day? , did you know you'd write for Rolling Stone magazine? , did you see yourself being rated India's #1 Twitter user?

What I'd like for 2009 though is to write more and read more. Read what you guys really think about these days. Put aside that damn Twitter or Facebook status update for a few minutes. Write about language, ! About Delhi, about Mumbai, . About comics, about music, . About technology, about the sheer magic of being a geek, . About life itself, all of you. Don't be comfortably numb. Please.

Happy New Year, everyone.

And then

And then you have a few friends who can cheer you up by just being there, talking about anything in the world, just being there with you and not judging you, not giving you advice, listening without prejudice.

You know who you are. Thanks, guys.

Feedback loop

Just curious: did any of you guys take up my movie suggestions? Did you like what I recommended?

You know what?

Guys, we should do a bar camp pretty soon.

Thanks for the idea, .

Down and out in Dallas, Texas

Dallas. Shit. I'm still in Dallas.

Looks the same as it did before. Nothing ever changes out here.

Have been sleeping past 3am most days, what with one thing and the other. I'm right now at my friend Maneesh's house, on a wireless connection stolen from his neighbour. Just finished watching The Party, a Peter Sellers movie I hadn't seen. Slapstick, but fun. No, it did not have the 'Goodness Gracious Me!' song. That was from The Millionairess.

I have this evil plan to buy a Blackberry from T-Mobile here and use it in India only for GPRS stuff and as a PDA. Would that be cost effective? Hmm. Needs some more investigation, but it's definitely an idea.

In other news, I'm lonely. Good night, world.

After noon

It's almost 3pm now and I've slept well, had lunch and spent quality time with a good friend. What more can one want?

My flight leaves in another couple of hours. I plan to stroll across to the Cofee Bean and have the highly recommended espresso. Maybe read a bit of Chricton's State of Fear, though I fear it will suck.

Movies that I copied over to my laptop but haven't watched yet: Malena, High Fidelity, Yojimbo and The Dreamers.

Movie that I saw on the earlier flight from Bangalore: The Motorcycle Diaries.

Pai is God, part II

Pai is flying back to Bangalore today, from Sunnyvale. His biggest problem right now is packing the 120 DVDs he's bought.

Let me say that again. He's bringing back 120 movies!! And these aren't your regular Independence Day variety pics. He's got 8 movies of Fellini, a box set of the entire Kubrick collection, he's got some Louis Bunel, he's got El Topo (El Topo!!!!!), Eraser Head, a Jean Renoir box set, a Mike Powell set, a set of 25 Kurosawa movies...

I'm ever so happy I gave him that Cult Movies book to read, a couple of years back.

The Last Leaf

This was written years back, by a certain LJ-er. I am not a poetry buff, but I found this extremely well written. Not to mention heart-tugging.

---

It wasn’t autumn yet.
But
The leaves began to fall.
I don’t know why
But fall they did
Like futile dreams
One after the other.
I raised neither my hand
Nor voice.
But merely sat and watched
With helpless fascination
And sorrow.
The leaves kept falling.
And as the last one
Kissed the earth,
I found that
Deep down
My heart was sobbing.

There is still time

If you live on the West coast of the US that is, to wish a happy birthday !

1 to 4

, Hypnos, Biriyani and Prawn fry. Aaah !

And that was the weekend...

Blossoms, Hypnos, Samarkhand, Long Island Iced Tea, Cantonment Railway Station, City Railway Station, Inside Outside, A Statue, A Bean Bag, American Gods, Planet M, Music World, Baristas, Coffee Day, Beef, Fish, Grilled Chicken, The Usual Suspects and Criminal Conversation.

Have a safe trip back, buddy.

Dallas Reloaded

So here I am in the Doubletree hotel again. Talk about Deja Vu. Leaving home was exactly like the last time - Sindha, Papa, Amma, tea, 6pm, goodbyes, the drive to the airport....one big difference was that the kid was 'outside' this time round.

The flight was boring. Lufthansa stewardesses haven't changed much in the last three years. They are still the hoity-toity sorts who roll their eyes when you ask them anything in Indian English. Hmph ! I managed to get some sleep though, ignoring them. Talking to the Russian student seated beside me also helped. (Yes, she was a blonde and her name was Anna. No, not the one you're thinking of, but close)

A colleague from office and his wife were also on the same flight. They were part of the m2i (move to india) brigade that arrived a couple of years back, i2ers who were working out of the US and took up the option of shifting to India. I get irritated by a lot of the things these folks say and do while comparing India to the US. My colleague's wife stepped into a friends car at the Dallas airport and started "Oh, its such a relief to sit in these cars. I missed the sliding doors" and to her husband who was driving: "You are not in India, you need to be careful while driving". I guess I have a chip on my shoulder. I get really bugged when Indians get into this India-bashing routine in the US.

I'm hungry. The cafe at the hotel doesn't have anything really good, but I don't have much of a choice. There is no restaurant or fast food outlet within walking distance of this place. I'll call Sudha and Bhaskar later on, I don't really want to disturb them on their weekend. There are quite a few of us Blr-based i2ers staying at the hotel this week. Maybe I'll scout around and see if I can pile on with someone.

Damn, miss Sindha and the baby like crazy.

Leaving on a jet plane

But I don't want to go !! Want to kick in my heels and refuse to budge.

Am starting on this Odyssey today evening. First stop, Bombay. Then the blasted de Gaulle airport. Then Cincinatti. Then Dallas. Then Vegas. Dallas. Atlanta. de Gaulle. Bombay. Bangalore.

Damn ! At least it gets over in a week.

On the good news front, met Beladev after six years. He is in town for just a day, staying with his brother at Madivala. He looks the same, though struggling with a goatee right now (he's on vacation). His son looks very much like him and appears to be quite a handful. , he didn't get any mail from you.

Oops I did it again !

Went for a friend's housewarming ceremony on Saturday. Reached there with some difficulty, found out that it was actually scheduled for the next Saturday (12th). Gave him the gift and returned home, sheepish grin in place.

, I bet you are not surprised. I think I'm getting senile in my old age.

Bad Day at Black Rock

Yesterday was totally crazy. Rolled my bike out to discover it had a flat. Left it at home as I had to rush to a day-long training session. Reminded myself to get it repaired the next day so that I could pick up from the airport. Had the surprise of my life when I saw him at my door yesterday evening itself. I had got my dates mixed up. *sigh*....

The day was however redeemed by the old reliable Long Island chappie. Had a good time with Jayasankar and Kichan at Kapalua. Returned home and chatted till 1:30. Alls well that ends well, I guess.

Current book - Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

Down

Sounds like quite a few of my friends were down in the dumps over the weekend. I am, too. Maybe its the phase of the moon.

Things that could make me happy:

1. Sindha coming over
2. Sharing a drink with and talking about life, the universe and everything
3. Watching one of those classic comedies like Some Like It Hot, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Angur, etc.
4. Watching a feel good movie like Its a Wonderful Life.

None of these are possible right now. Sigh.

Current books - Jingo by Terry Pratchett, Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

Friends online

Most of the people who read my journal - or have me as their friend in l-j - are folks known to me. Updating l-j has taken the place of sending them email. Which is not a very good thing. My fault really, since guys like still continue to mail me every now and then. But not the other way around. Sorry, buddy !

The good part is that not all the l-j friends are people I know personally. I was surprised to see add me to his list of friends. Went to his page and thought that the name 'Kiran Jonalagadda' was familiar. Poked around a bit and found that he used to work for Chip, a magazine I was addicted to some time back. Small world.

Ditto w.r.t. , who remained mysterious till a couple of months back. :-)

Maybe I should get out and meet more people. At least online.

Saturday

Went to the Strand book fair with Nachiket, and later on to the SP Jain Alumni meeting at Central Park.

The book fair was no great shakes - they had a few interesting titles, but no big discounts. I picked up the fourth Harry Potter book (Goblet of Fire), The Mammaries of the Welfare State, Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Breast and The Information.

The alumni meet went of surprisingly well. Wasn't too bored. :-) There were five from my batch of 97. Talked, joked and ate. Burp.

Discworld, Messengers and other very important stuff

Work, the curse of the drinking class ! Lots of small things to be taken care of, lots of big problems too. Still find time to update the journal from office, so that's probably a good thing.

Sindha's phone problem has been solved. She will be here on Sunday. Ya-ay !

My login frustration continues. Tried for close to an hour yesterday from home. Sent a stinker to netkracker today. Got an automated reply which listed out a series of telephone numbers and a statement that the SUN never sets on netKracker.

A note about the Discworld series I've been reading. Its about a disc shaped world which is borne by four gigantic elephants. These elephants stand on an even bigger turtle, which travels across space. The sex of the turtle is known, and is the cause of much research on the discworld. This world is inhabited by men, wizards, trolls, gnomes, barbarians, etc. There are also heroes, one of whom bears the interesting name of Cohen the Barbarian. Visit Terry Pratchett's website for more information. He also has a site which is under construction at the moment.

Another day, another Instant Messenger comes my way. Apart from the main ones like MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and AIM, I tried out Jabber and Odigo which claim to integrate all the big four in one screen. I didn't like the clunky interface of Jabber and the oh-so-kool one of Odigo, so sneered at both and promptly uninstalled them. Then I came across Indiatimes Messenger, which is pretty fast, and also does integration. Trillian is the latest one which I found, but I was put off by its complex interface. So what do I use ? Actually I prefer to use msn and yahoo, even if it means having multiple messengers in my system tray. I like the interface on both these apps, and they have a lot of value added stuff.

i2 uses Lotus Sametime for intra-office communication. Now Sametime is integrated with AIM (AOL messenger), so I'm online on AIM also. However Liza is the only one on my buddy list on AIM.

What were the above two paragraphs all about ? Why are they important in my life today ? Oh well.