In transit

Arrogance can only ever be tolerated in one kind of person - a talented musician. And that too, only while great music is being played. But when talent combines with looks and is topped with that most scant of qualities - humility, THAT - is the deadliest of combinations right there.

Here's to Crosswinds in Kolkata.

Far from the crowd

I seek company of friends, old and new, when I am alone. But I've discovered that, I prefer my own company in a crowd. The trappings of joy de vivre are addictive, but then listening from a distance has its own moments. It has its not-too-sharp curves with deja vu signposts zipping by - slowly.

Watching in slow motion and listening from far far away, to someone sitting in front of you...
..Its like seeing an old frayed fawn-edged black and white photograph..
..Like watching cigarette smoke twirl elegantly towards the ceiling..
..Like slowing tracing your finger over someone's eyebrow..
..Its like writing words in your mind.

You get up, walk away to the distance, without the other person realising that you are no longer there. You learn things about the other person. Often just irritants, but sometimes surprising things, which gently tug you back.

Sometimes you even learn about yourself.

"Cymballic"

Discovery: "Cymballic"*: The sound emanating from rapidly gyrating cymbals. A very 90s (late) groove sound popular in the UK, at the cross-roads of a cacophony of the aforementioned percussion instruments, medium drum & base and pop-electronica. Popularised by musicians such as Armand Van Halden, The Chemical Brothers and Fat Boy Slim.

Trigger point: Why Try Harder

Peak: Without doubt its - I See You Baby, but also Christopher Walken in Weapon of Choice, and the goofy Praise You video. Reminiscing student life at K.

Postscript: (1)Now why the hell did nobody think of this word earlier? (2)Ideally this should have gone in the Words and Wordsmiths blog, but oh well, whatever.


*Not to be confused with the more common 'symbollic'

Starters and appetizers

This - has got to be a record of sorts, even for me - within the first four days of the year, I have broken almost each and every one of my long list of new year resolutions. Yes, the usual suspects got crunched despite best intentiones - me, men, moods, money, booze, work, gym, food, etc...(..and you know what, so far it feels great ;-) !)

Still tomorrow is another day and another shot at the resolutions. 4 glasses of red wine, 1 shot of tequila, 2 shots of gin, 2 GnTs, 2 margaritas, 1 passion plum, no sleep for 2 nights and a bloody good mug of coffee, is enough to lift anyone's spirits (pun absolutely intended). Hence, here we go again at a second shot at the list....fingers crossed.

Cheers, and happy resolutions all. Yaaaay!

Muah.

Saving face, kindness and catching-up

Here it is, the second ever 'three beautiful things' post. (See the first one from October 2006 at this link). Giving a shout out to Clare of the original TBT.

- So most of my friends have heard of the disasterous meeting of last week, and I am just about (emphasis on 'just a teeny weeny bit') getting out of the tomato red embarrassment phase. Flashback to the classic faux pas moments on TV programmes, well this one fit the bill to a T. On one of my most off days ever, in one of the most important discussions of this month, my mind decided to have a mind of its own! Now, its easy to say, 'Can you repeat the question' when one hasn't started off on the answer already, however it gets a tad bit difficult when one has been talking for well over a minute and then to suddenly stop and say 'uh..I'm sorry, even though I have been talking for a while, I have forgotten what the question was, could you uh...repeat it please. Classic embarrassment. But how does this fit into a TBT mode, well thanks to friends who've heard this disaster story so many times that their guffaw's have begun to tease a smile out of my grumpy face as well. :-)

- Another classic horror scenario happened when I walked into one of my favourite book-shops in the city, with a cup of coffee, and then proceeded to spill it (accidentally of course!) over a whole pile of the latest bestsellers! Another 'oh my God, this is not happening' situation. But the shop owners, very kindly accepted the apologies, and responded to my 'I can buy these books if you want' with a smile and 'its perfectly all right Madam, don't worry'. Its always nice to come across nice people - those few who do exist, so yeah a definite TBC contender.

- A continuous one-on-one quality time with friends over leisurely drinks in comfy lounges. Getting a chance to catch-up with friends transiting through the country/state/city over fantastic glasses of wine and making plans of life in 2008. Fantastic.

On that note, a big Hobbes hug to all. Yeah, I am feeling particularly festive this afternoon :-)

Diwali eve

FINALLY on the train home on Diwali eve. Dead tired after spending five hours on a crowded platform, waiting for a train which kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. The saving grace was the platform humour which erupted in spurts from one or the other corner, much like the firecrackers in the sky - which unfortunately were no great shakes at providing entertainment to the tired crowd at the station. Anyhow, the train, usually on time, decided today to get delayed by almost four hours. So for those of us, who had dilligently reached the station well on time, it turned out to be a bloody long wait.

"Yatri krupaya dhyan dein, Delhi junction se chal kar ... ko jane wali ...Express tees minute deri se aane ke sambhavana hai." ..after the said 30 minute, turned into "...Express...ek ghanta aur thees minute der se aane ki sambhavana hai", and so on and so forth. By the time the fourth announcement was made, about two and a half hours after the original delay, the platform could do nothing but erupt into giggles and chuckles (or maybe it was chuckles and giggles, I am just too tired and sleepy to remember exactly). The same people who a minute ago were damn irritating, - the group of tipsy men listening to music on the phone at full volume, the kid running around between the legs of passengers while the mother looked on with pride and the father looked on with exasperation, the constantly quarrelling couple, and so on - each time the mike crackled on, loud "shhhhs" rang through the platform, followed by an agitated and just barely controlled silence. After the first few annnouncements, the chuckles were accompanied by "Maro yaar announce karne wale ko",clearly said in jest by the large group of college students sitting next to me. Who said it and then simultaneously erupted in laughter. Maybe the message got through to the railway announcer nevertheless, who, in the very next announcement, went deadly silent after the first four words, "Yatri krupya dhyan dein..". Thats it. The sentence remained unfinished. The mike silently crackled, while around the platform merriment rang out and a loud voice said, "Ab bol na himmat hain to!!!".

But now that one is in the train finally, and on the way home for Diwali, here's wishing everyone good festivities and good cheer on journeys home. And for the railway employees at the Delhi stations, well, here's to crackling mikes and just about amused passengers.

Happy Diwali all.