From Heaven, With Love …

Heaven is not the all-white ambiance. Heaven is not Katrina Kaif or Mila Kunis offering you grapes. Heaven is not sipping wine with angels, sitting on a cloud …

Heaven is colorful. Heaven has two people you love the most in this world, buying you samosa’s. Heaven is drinking tea on big square chairs, which are the first piece of furniture your parents bought when they got married.

I am in heaven!!

Heaven has no backdrop of blue skies. Heaven is not soft music playing on harp. Heaven is not quiet and peaceful and about doing nothing.

Heaven has a white walls and backdrop of belongings collected over decades. Heaven has constant noise of chatters, stories, complains, planning, sharing apprehensions and discussion. It’s running to and shuttling between banks, markets, malls, eateries and nana’s house. It’s making checklists of things to do, food to eat, stuff to buy. Heaven is a living room bustling with activities of a daughter visiting after a long wait.

I am savoring every minute of this heaven …

Because heaven is mom’s affectionate words, her food, her care, her wisdom, her enthusiasm and her worries. It’s her smile, her crumpled sari, her sudoko, her leaving her glasses everywhere and her love for life. Heaven is dad’s love, his unconditional doting, his pride, his instructions, his questions, his kindness and his scolding’s. It’s his set little rituals, his glass of tea, his relinquishing of TV remote, his driving, his buying me paan and the fact that we are his life.

Heaven is sister’s memories, her pictures on wall, her face on computer screen, her worries, her nit-picking, her directions, her comments, her relief that I am at home and her worries that I will leave soon.

Heaven is where you belong, where you were modeled, where you will be always loved and supported, where you are special and where everyone special to you resides.

Heaven is also humbling, you know you are privileged to be here. May God Bless my heaven!!

Its love…

The only thing in india that is more than its population is unexpected, unconditional, undefined love.

As a kid when I did not get into the same school as my elder sister, my working parents were mainly concerned with the difference in our school timings. My sister was responsible & old enough to carry the house keys and get in the house safely but they did not know what to do with me coming home 45 mins before her.

My dad’s colleague’s family offered that I could stay at their house for this duration. Dad was skeptical; it was an inconvenience to say the least. But he could not think of any other arrangement for such short, mid-day inconvenient time everyday.

Every single day from 2:30 pm to 3:15 pm I stayed at their house for two years. Every single day i was offered water and I fought the insistence to be fed. Every single day my uncle’ mother, wife, 3 daughters and one son, all significantly elder to me,  thought it was important to strike conversation with me, ask me how my day was, worry about me if I was late and make sure I leave the house with only my elder sister; All this with not a hint or glimmer of reluctance or disinterest, day after day. 

It was not baby sitting by any angle. It was just… just indianness.

Today i met the middle daughter of my uncle, one of my smiling,talking,loving, welcoming, expecting nothing in return... guardians. All memories came gushing back. We remembered old times, smiled, choked on emotions…

With some heart-felt goodbyes... she forced a 500 Rupee note in my hand. And when mom and I objected she said “money in india is not money, its love” yes everything here is a currency of love. :) 

Applied Applications …

Equipped with new smartphone, my ears are all open for new phone applications in town. Today I came to know about this new application “runpee”. It tells you what is the best time to take a pee break during a movie and help you to catch up when you return back to the movie.

Seriously!!! Is there a need for it? Blessed with a good bladder and commonsense to visit the restroom before the movie, I can’t imagine the “need” for an app like this. Guess with more glaring needs already covered by the pioneers in this field, the current developers are desperate for ideas… ideas like ...

• “FlyKill”: Keeps you in practice of killing an agile indian housefly. A real symbol of boredom, timepass and skills. Bound to be more successful then angry birds.
• “CreativeSeed”: Provide ideas for blogs, movie concepts, painting, songs lyrics and more
• “GoodBurn”: You type the burn from your friend gave you and it provides a better and bitter burn to respond with. Will be a big help for people who are can’t think off their cuff.
• “ParkSpace”: Find a vacant spot in specified parking lot.
• “Help-a-liar”: App to help you support your lies in social media. For example if you call in sick at work, the app guides you on what and when you should post on FB, twitter,my space and other sites to collaborate your lie.
• “TearMail”: suggest how best to tear of your mail based on envelop size and address position, very useful when you are too poor to own a shredder
• “Dress-a-nalysis”: Collaborates and supports your comments on dress of coworkers. You need a venting opportunity when you witness your not-in-shape colleague in stretch florescent green t-shirt.

Discerningly Loquacious

It’s very tough to be talkative and extrovert. It mandates the need of another person around you. This is not only because psychiatry has not evolved enough to distinguish between crazy self-talking and desperate self-talking, but because punch-lines do not sound as good when coming from self.

Respect talking, a good conversation is an art. From the many types of conversations, some of my fav categories are: “say nothing” (small talk), “what say Sherlock?”(get advice), “fish-bone”(analyze),”the pain” (venting session), “story telling”(dream-up),”good crap”(PJ contest), “sisterhood”(matching notes on life) ,”godman”(give advice),”superhero”(one listens awestruck) …..

All artists should be cynical even though being creative is their need. A painter needs to paint, a poet needs to write, a composer needs to make music … but they shall not plead and be desperate. They shall wait for the moment, the mood and the magic; throw tantrums; twist and turn; never pour just drip J

Being talkative and brimming from thoughts should not make you tolerant and accepting to talk to everyone who is ready to talk to you. You may not welcome everyone in your world with open arms, you may still judge and re-calibrate people in your life and you may still be very willing to show people the door as per your whims. The non-desperation transforms you from the irksome guy lurking at the smoking zone to the respectfully invited coffee mate; from laughable babbling of person speaking random thoughts to get them out of ones system to an intriguing intellectual.

Internet is always there when the emitting the eminent thoughts is vehemently essential.

Low Productivity

My blogs are very few and far between to prove my sincerity as a writer. They do not reflect the reality that I constantly yearn to find a topic and write about it. I am almost always thinking of how an experience, a moment or a story can be cleverly captured in words. But Alas, I start and reject far greater number of blog drafts then those completed and published.

A subject about which I can be objective and articulate along with being politically correct are hard to find. Once I find the subject some of them do have not enough substance, others are too sappy while others shape up more like venting.

Being self-critical is essential for quality as creativity has no rights and no wrongs. In short there is nothing telling you that how a painting with yellow and red concentric circles is not a modern art. But then if bollywood movies were reviewed before they were released, probably none will see the light of day.

Well the problem is still that self-appraisal is causing too much inactivity at my blog. Plus the fact that my blog get reviews which are almost always opposite to my expectations… so obviously my judgment is flawed.

Do they have Six Sigma for creativity? 

Uselessness...

This is my first blog from my iPhone. why from iPhone? the answer is no more deeper that the fact that i have it.... like the other 5 laptops and ipad in my house..do they give me more information, incubate more thoughts, nourish my creativity, make me a sincere writer for my readers ... No.

Everything does not have to have a purpose like a cup of tea, a engrossing novel, a movie, evening with friends and TV watching.. but then we should not pretend them to have a purpose either....

i heard so many stories of "use" and "need" of the smart phone...its cool but its still a toy. i still have modes to stay in touch with friends, get driving directions and write/post my blogs without the phone.

At times i wish people will except this about themselves that its ok to be useless, at least at times. There are so many people at work busy pretending to be busy. If you are in office, why one needs to have busy sign on communicator from 9 to 5, they are not at work to take a stroll anyway ...

One useless thought... till more come my way through the electronic impulses of my toys :)

Advertising!!

We may hate the breaks on our favorite shows, but none of us really mind, the ads. They are smart; decorated with good looking faces, catchy jingles or catch phrases; very quick, enticing capture of imagination.

Cars, motorbikes, perfumes, soaps, shampoo, biscuit, snack, noodles, wall paint, suiting shirting, fairness cream, cooking oil, spices, butter, laptops, light bulb, diamonds...any ad made for any commodity can be effective and memorable.

The most difficult commodity to advertise is oneself. A profile for dating/matrimonial site, a job resume, an effort to earn a new friend like introduction at a happy hour… it’s all so tough. The blend of humility and showcasing, highlights and detailing, summary of skills, truth and references …  calls for nerve wrecking and mind bending precision. The fear of not a perfect marketing tool, having adverse effect on our life events like finding less than optimal partner, not being popular or landing with a misfit job is more than enormous.

Why?

Personalities, attitudes, experience, behavior, qualifications are seldom simple enough to be perfectly worded in a serious setting.

Why can’t we have a short, flashy, catchy and effective messages with mundane but important features?

For my personal ad I will like to hire Shahrukh khan to speak the following concise message with great conviction“The perfect mix of personality and wisdom, maturity and sense of humor; creator of good times and loyal to friends”

followed by the Jingle “she can paste a smile, she can wipe a tear; she is kind but honest bout the wardrobe disaster you wear” 

For my resume, because of the required seriousness and international twist will feature Bill Clinton

“To get the things moving, to get things done; hire her, she is the most perfect resource under the sun”. "We know, we need her. Let do the right thing. Time to type that offer letter"  

What say????

I Quit ...

Another dear friend threw in the towel at the Facebook arena. He joins the increasing number of white and grey cutouts instead of friendly faces I see online…

As human we long for human interaction. Our needs are almost uniform… love, respect and acceptance. But we still like to think ourselves as very distinct people with very refined and unique need of human interactions and genuine insight in human relations. The only good news is that we are all equally ill-informed, inapt, confused and scared.

Social networking is like crutches for the very real handicap of human nature.

It’s a welder’s helmet. Instead of human interaction we hide behind a screen trying to maintain a safe distance from hurt and chaos; roll eyes at others on their feeble attempts of showcasing a successful life and relations; look down upon on the crazies for posting even their toilet schedule online; register impersonal broadcasts of life events; judge people left, right and center;  ….and sharing funny images and quotes to pretend participation.

Social networking is complicated; almost as complicated as society itself.

Though I am personally not sure what benefit is the renouncing of the mere imitation, is it a misplaced sense of will power or a demonstration of being a little better…I don’t mind FB, at least it gives me a site to always sign-in when my agenda is to be unproductive …

Quitting FB is surprisingly one of the things I do not strongly advocate or reject … there are many other ways to stay in touch with friends, waste time on internet or demonstrate one’s intolerance of social norms. 

Silence is Golden? Who says?

Every time a relationship fails, parenting becomes ineffectual, future generations are directionless “lack of communication” is to be blamed. When information is not broadcasted, causing lack of transparency and cooperates fall. No leader has ever led by silence. When free expressions are throttled it’s called dark ages. Literature and Art never constituted of things that were not expressed.

Nothing good comes out of silence, then how can silence be golden?

The fact I came up with the blog idea when I read the tweet from Mr. Bachchan “80% of people utilize silence as a way of expressing sadness, anger & or disappointment” . Yes one more place where silence is not welcome is internet. And so true, please come and apologize if I am not talking to you…

 Facebook, twitter, emails & chat, everyone has something to say. In fact most of social media has been built around the need the express, even if there is nothing very concrete to say. Because when you post, comment, like and share you feel part of the community, even if the community is of only 299 Facebook friends and 199 twitter followers.

Outside of internet, in real life and real jobs  there are such little number of doer’s and on what they do, there are the talkers, the commenters, the reviewers, the reactors, the critics, the office politics generators, the analyzers … none of them have any use of silence. The doer’s also have to talk in order to defend their doings J

Of course,  theoretically silence helps you with the art of listening, helps meditate, imbibe the spirit of life, make peace…and all that cool stuff. But the fact that life is a limited edition and if we talk after our lives, we will cause mass panic. Let’s make the most use of this “limited offer”.

Happy Blabbering!! J

Being Cool

Saw the trailer of the new James Bond movie “Skyfall”. The trailer is impressive; Daniel Craig as always, cool and suave.

It got me thinking. Daniel Craig is not the conventionally good looking. But looking persistently perfect comes easy. Very easy. If the camera focuses on the right profile, lighting hide your flaws, scriptwriter provides you with fancy smartass half phases & punch-lines and you are in control of every situation … cool is the only way to be

Let me explain, we look uncool when we are nervous, unsure and indulging in mundane tasks. Imagine James Bond burping after overeating on parathas; Spiderman getting blasted by his boss for not taking email alignment before fighting crime; Hugh Grant explaining why he is not an insensitive lover for taking late night offshore calls; Iron man arguing during a year end performance review discussion, trying to bag that much needed promotion; Tom Cruise climbing a high rise to dry a freshly done batch of laundry ….

Not cool…right?

No wonder only movie stars have fan, bosses are impressive, rich & powerful men attract women … and paparazzi seem to only love people walking from one place to another in oversize sunglasses ….

Well so I think we are ok for now being awkward, with what we have got …. till we get fast cars, great guns, enviable arm-candies and limited face time in a well-scripted life 

Photo Blog: New Mexico

Travelogue from the kid who never read comics, just deciphered the story from the pics .... :)

Beautiful Earthy Architecture. The signature of Santa Fe
Location: Santa Fe, NM

Some amazing imagination, creative execution to materialize ART
Location: Taos, NM 

Performance by Polyphony Marimba. Beautiful Music
Location: Santa Fe, NM

I make Prince in my free time.
Location: Santa Fe, NM

A pic from the "museum of contemporary native arts": Even if i  don't ask what a UFO, bison and Stan Marsh are doing in one canvas, how can i ignore that the painter spilled coffee on the canvas?
Location: Santa Fe, NM

The wall on which superman and batman rest.
Location: Haagen Dazs shop santa fe, NM

Tree of Faith
Location:  Loretto Chapel Santa Fe,NM

Tent Rocks, formed by Volcanic eruptions.
Fact of beauty: doesn't matter how pretty rocks are, trekking them sucks :(
Location: Santa Fe,NM

I work like one, so proud to pose with them.
Location: Santa Fe,NM

When you tell good news, moderately bad news and very bad news to stones, this happen :)
Location: Meteor Crater  Winslow, AZ

Hear this at work every day :)
Location: Meteor Crater  Winslow, AZ

Window to the World
Location: Meteor Crater  Winslow, AZ

What’s your hobby?

I think the most frequent, dishonestly answered question is “what’s your hobby?”

It’s a common question to break the ice or provide detailed introduction. This question is entrusted with the complicated task of uncovering a personality. And yes, It is a vital part of the ‘traditional Indian arrange marriage’ soul-mate finding process, which ensures results after a mere thirty minute meeting.

It’s a trap. Not everyone has a hobby, but confessing it certifies you as a bore.

People come up with lame responses like “sleep” pretending to be funny and smart at the same time and failing. Other extends reality a little …say “gardening” though it usually means they own an unkempt garden, “coin collector” if there are too many cents on the kitchen counter, “stamp collector” if there is unread mail on the coffee table or “photography” if they ever clicked the edge of a leaf or wet spider web.

Seriously my hobby by this measure is to pick my nose. It definitely fits the definition “An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure”. And I always feel happy and smile involuntarily at a job well done. :)

Not everyone has a hobby or passion. Mundane life marred with laziness is something we should proudly flaunt and should openly challenge the need of a hobby in the times of great cable TV.

We are all earthlings …

Women are not from Venus and Men are not from Mars.

As human beings, we are all very similar both in our needs and in our wants; trying to distinguish behavioral traits of man and woman is very amateurish and cliché infested.

I remember visiting my class mates house, his mother who had very little in common with the young blood went on and on about unverifiable difference in choices of man and woman like she sited that in food guys prefer sweet snacks while girls like savory , in clothing men like dark colors and women prefer pastels etc etc etc. Most of her crazy theories were based on observations of her three sons and three daughters. I remember rolling my eyes and thinking that too much parenting skewed her up.

She was not alone. The fake divide and vague categorization is everywhere.

On facebook, people keep coming with “funny” images of so called differences between the status messages, responses to sympathy generating status messages, computer desktop & rooms of girls and boys. Simple rules are depicted like boys have clean desktop but messy rooms and vice versa for girls. Its easy laugh and share and “viral” material, but its hardly ever that simple or true.

Today on radio, two men bragged about how sales was a woman thing and how man don’t really care about the costs till the “cloths” fit. Seriously? I know of men who know their sales and coupons and deals. These are men with limited income and serious family responsibilities. They don’t always depend on their wives for saving money on purchases. I think some of us have purchasing common sense while others don’t.

Some people use these so called "known" facts to avoid inconvenience. There are many jokes about the wives wanting to talk and connect and husbands suffer. In short women talk and man don’t. Have you ever noticed a couple on their dates? Both talk. If a guy decided to read the menu in detail or watch TV in a sports bar on a date without a conversation, the guy will probably stay single forever. After marriage, its easy to avoid mundane conversation siting being introvert and not much of an talker, which men are "supposed" to be, as an excuse.

Others see them through their convoluted view point. My old colleague rumbled on one of our team lunches, on how he wants to write a handbook on life and relationships. He said and I quote” Men are different from women, they need to feel wanted in a household”. Ha ha ha, can you imagine women want to be sidelined and treated like a trash by their family.

Cliches are funny when they come from “Stand-up comedians” , help chick flicks and make for some easy conversation but there is little basis and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

My name is Priti and I am an addict ...

I can’t even begin to count the demerits of watching television. I am not specifying “watching too much television” because I don’t know it any other way.

Unlike alcohol that ruins liver, cigarette smoking that takes toll on lungs and drugs make zombies; TV takes away the rarest of resource known to humans, time.

One Sunday afternoon, when I was school the wires at the electric pole short circuited and we lost electricity for the day. It was a great Sunday, it was a long Sunday, there was so much time. We talked, played, packed our bags in advance for next day. I pledged that I will give up TV forever, but I relapsed.

TV continued to stay the most effective waste of my time since then.

TV is glossy. TV is entertaining. But the addiction comes from the variety it offers. There is news, current affairs, sports, talk shows, music, movies, comedies, action, drama, thriller and most time is spend browsing through them to choose one. The selection of channels gives an illusion of control. Its best way to keep the troubled mind occupied from the mundane worries. Its prolonged escapism.

I wish I could fight this biggest vice, may be my excuse is that there are not enough Electricity outages in US.