I'm terribly tempted to paint a very rosy picture of me, but I'll resist that temptation...
So this is gonna be lots of shades of grey...n a few splotches of black n white...meaning, moi's just a pretty ordinary guy...w/ more than his own faults n frailties...but mercifully a few redeeming qualities too...which is y I look forward to getting up every morning...at 4:45...on the dot!
Yeah...I'm an early riser...picked up this atrocious habit when I'd go jogging around the beautiful Powai lake during my student days at IITB...n then near my home at Shivaji Park. No, I'm not a fitness freak...I've been blessed w/ genes which atleast till now havent let me put on weight...I used to jog because the mornings around the mist-laden Powai lake were just too breathtakingly beautiful...n the feeling of hearing ur thoughts bounce up n down in ur head...in step w/ ur step is an amazing feeling...the lush greenery...the twittering birds...the milky white egrets -- or were they herons? -- against the lush green velvetty grass...
U cld almost see the world slowly waking up...see her open her eyes...n rub them lazily...look out the window n...smile at herself...
Sigh! I really miss that place...n those days!
Sadly since I've moved to Bangalore, I havent been able to find a good enough place nearby...to go jogging...so these days I have to make do w/ running on a boring roaring treadmill in my office...who very clinically keeps track of far I've run...at what speed...the number of calories expended...n at the same time, keeps a tight watch on my heart-beat!
Must admit he's a very efficient fella! :)
As you've very shrewdly guessed, I'm absolutely nuts abt Mother Nature n her beauteous bounty!
Tho' I'm an engineer by training n profession, my heart has always been in Art!
Not that I dun love my job...I do, but it's not smthng which moves me...that's the job of paintings, theater, literature, classical dance n music, poetry, movies, documentaries, ad films, sculpture...in short...anything creative. I'm not a connoisseur...of any of these things I mentioned...or of anything else for that matter...actually I've consciously avoided gaining too much knowledge...I prefer to let my "heart"...n feelings dictate my opinion of the beauty in those creative objects/forms...rather than getting bogged down in unnecessary technical details...sm ppl go to the extent of dissecting each brush-stroke or note or movement...
I prefer to appreciate things frm a layman's perspective...
Hmm...I also love to read...n might I add I do it very voraciously! One decision of mine of which I'm particularly proud of..is not buying a telly or a compy for my house here in Bangalore. It gives me oodles of time to spend w/ sm amazing books...it's such a joy to lose oneself in those pages...swinging merrily frm one enchanting phrase to another...n every swing kindles such an explosion of visual imagery in ur head...n the amazing thing is it's different for each invdividual...there's a lot more I can say abt books, but I'll make that into a separate post...I can already see this one gaining girth all around...n all I've managed to cover by now has been Ma'm Nature...
But I must list down my favorite authors...this is no particular order...
Upmanyu Chatterjee, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Chandra, Vijay Tendulkar, Mohsin Hamid, Kiran Nagarkar, Amit Chaudhuri, Wodehouse, Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, Joe Orton, GB Shaw, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Graham Greene, Joseph Heller, JD Salinger, Harper Lee, Hunter Thompson, Truman Capote, PL (Pula) Deshpande, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth (for his peoms)...
I'm pretty sure I've left out quite a few names...I have a terribly lousy memory...but it's a blessing in disguise when it comes to reading books...I mean I can re-read books w/ the same fervour as if I were reading it for the first time...n enjoy them just as much...
BTW I also love archaeology...I know this is totally out of the blue n not at all in keeping w/ the flow of this post...I mean how often does one hear smone listing archaeology as one of the interests...
Just to clarify...this interest is totally "spectatorial"...I'm really not sure if this word even exists, but you get the message right? I mean I dun go around armed w/ a pick-axe n shovel wrecking ppl's floors!
J/K! I know that's not how they operate :)
Anyway...
Thing is I've always been fascinated by old buildings...esp ruins...the older they r, the more they fascinate me. I get a huge kick imagining how that place must've been when ppl actually lived there...it's like a time-capsule...to which you can travel to...n catch a glimpse of life as it was lived...tens, hundreds or even thousands of years ago...it's just fantastically fascinating!
I've often wondered y smthng like this shd fascinate me so much...I mean, life must've been pretty much the same then as it is now for me...plus or minus some creature comforts...levels of sophistication...civilisationally...
What I'm driving at is this...imagine an archaeologist finding my house say a few hundred years frm now...it's quite possible that he shares my fascination w/ archaelogy...he too might get a huge kick imagining how I must've lived...yet I know there's nothing too fascinating abt my life...or anybody's for that matter...
I dunno it's prolly the thrill of sort-of travelling back in time n witnessing smthng frm a perspective frm a different space n time...be it smthng as mundane as watching smone cooking in an ancient kitchen!
I dunno...I just find it fascinating...I wont nitpick...I'll just enjoy the aroma wafting thru that ancient kitchen! ;-)
I'm also crazy abt movies...well, not any which movie...I prefer watching what I like to call sensible movies...movies w/ substance. I dun mean to say the other varities of movies r not nice...they're just not what wld appeal to me...
I'm a big fan of the so-called parallel cinema...esp the NFDC commissioned sort...the names that immediately spring to mind r Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Goutam Ghosh, Sai Paranje, Vijaya Mehta, Ketan Mehta, Jabbar Patel, Kundan Shah, Govind Nihalini, Mani Kaul, Adoor Gopalakrishnan...n of course Satyajit Ray...this name shd've been right at the top of the list, but I'm feeling too lazy to edit stuff...
I love movies which explore human emotions...esp the ones based on man-woman relationships...n here I'm talking abt realistic ones..not the loud, larger than life, "kutte-kamine-main-tera-khoon-pee-jaunga"/"maa-ki-doodh-ki-kasam-
main-us-darinde-ko-zinda-nahi-chhodunga" sort...u get the drift right? As I mentioned earlier, I dun mean to say that masala movies r not good...some of them r very entertaining...but they dun make you think...abt life...n its complexities...
Well one might ask y spend hard-earned money n even more precious time sitting in a theater...pondering over life's complexities when ur own life is practically teeming w/ complexities of every sort...
It's hard to explain...my motive in watching movies goes beyond just entertainment...
Anyway, to each his own...
Oops!! This post has become a monstrosity!!
See, this is a problem w/ me -- among many others! -- I tend to go off on tangents...n if that's not worse, I keep hopping from one to the other...
But before I go, I'd just like to say that there's really no rhyme or reason to this blog...it's just a place I can bounce my thoughts against...I really cant give any guarantees abt the toxic levels of the swill I will be churning out here...so if you intend to hang abt this place, atleast come armed w/ a gas-mask ;-)
So this is gonna be lots of shades of grey...n a few splotches of black n white...meaning, moi's just a pretty ordinary guy...w/ more than his own faults n frailties...but mercifully a few redeeming qualities too...which is y I look forward to getting up every morning...at 4:45...on the dot!
Yeah...I'm an early riser...picked up this atrocious habit when I'd go jogging around the beautiful Powai lake during my student days at IITB...n then near my home at Shivaji Park. No, I'm not a fitness freak...I've been blessed w/ genes which atleast till now havent let me put on weight...I used to jog because the mornings around the mist-laden Powai lake were just too breathtakingly beautiful...n the feeling of hearing ur thoughts bounce up n down in ur head...in step w/ ur step is an amazing feeling...the lush greenery...the twittering birds...the milky white egrets -- or were they herons? -- against the lush green velvetty grass...
U cld almost see the world slowly waking up...see her open her eyes...n rub them lazily...look out the window n...smile at herself...
Sigh! I really miss that place...n those days!
Sadly since I've moved to Bangalore, I havent been able to find a good enough place nearby...to go jogging...so these days I have to make do w/ running on a boring roaring treadmill in my office...who very clinically keeps track of far I've run...at what speed...the number of calories expended...n at the same time, keeps a tight watch on my heart-beat!
Must admit he's a very efficient fella! :)
As you've very shrewdly guessed, I'm absolutely nuts abt Mother Nature n her beauteous bounty!
Tho' I'm an engineer by training n profession, my heart has always been in Art!
Not that I dun love my job...I do, but it's not smthng which moves me...that's the job of paintings, theater, literature, classical dance n music, poetry, movies, documentaries, ad films, sculpture...in short...anything creative. I'm not a connoisseur...of any of these things I mentioned...or of anything else for that matter...actually I've consciously avoided gaining too much knowledge...I prefer to let my "heart"...n feelings dictate my opinion of the beauty in those creative objects/forms...rather than getting bogged down in unnecessary technical details...sm ppl go to the extent of dissecting each brush-stroke or note or movement...
I prefer to appreciate things frm a layman's perspective...
Hmm...I also love to read...n might I add I do it very voraciously! One decision of mine of which I'm particularly proud of..is not buying a telly or a compy for my house here in Bangalore. It gives me oodles of time to spend w/ sm amazing books...it's such a joy to lose oneself in those pages...swinging merrily frm one enchanting phrase to another...n every swing kindles such an explosion of visual imagery in ur head...n the amazing thing is it's different for each invdividual...there's a lot more I can say abt books, but I'll make that into a separate post...I can already see this one gaining girth all around...n all I've managed to cover by now has been Ma'm Nature...
But I must list down my favorite authors...this is no particular order...
Upmanyu Chatterjee, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Chandra, Vijay Tendulkar, Mohsin Hamid, Kiran Nagarkar, Amit Chaudhuri, Wodehouse, Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, Joe Orton, GB Shaw, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Graham Greene, Joseph Heller, JD Salinger, Harper Lee, Hunter Thompson, Truman Capote, PL (Pula) Deshpande, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth (for his peoms)...
I'm pretty sure I've left out quite a few names...I have a terribly lousy memory...but it's a blessing in disguise when it comes to reading books...I mean I can re-read books w/ the same fervour as if I were reading it for the first time...n enjoy them just as much...
BTW I also love archaeology...I know this is totally out of the blue n not at all in keeping w/ the flow of this post...I mean how often does one hear smone listing archaeology as one of the interests...
Just to clarify...this interest is totally "spectatorial"...I'm really not sure if this word even exists, but you get the message right? I mean I dun go around armed w/ a pick-axe n shovel wrecking ppl's floors!
J/K! I know that's not how they operate :)
Anyway...
Thing is I've always been fascinated by old buildings...esp ruins...the older they r, the more they fascinate me. I get a huge kick imagining how that place must've been when ppl actually lived there...it's like a time-capsule...to which you can travel to...n catch a glimpse of life as it was lived...tens, hundreds or even thousands of years ago...it's just fantastically fascinating!
I've often wondered y smthng like this shd fascinate me so much...I mean, life must've been pretty much the same then as it is now for me...plus or minus some creature comforts...levels of sophistication...civilisationally...
What I'm driving at is this...imagine an archaeologist finding my house say a few hundred years frm now...it's quite possible that he shares my fascination w/ archaelogy...he too might get a huge kick imagining how I must've lived...yet I know there's nothing too fascinating abt my life...or anybody's for that matter...
I dunno it's prolly the thrill of sort-of travelling back in time n witnessing smthng frm a perspective frm a different space n time...be it smthng as mundane as watching smone cooking in an ancient kitchen!
I dunno...I just find it fascinating...I wont nitpick...I'll just enjoy the aroma wafting thru that ancient kitchen! ;-)
I'm also crazy abt movies...well, not any which movie...I prefer watching what I like to call sensible movies...movies w/ substance. I dun mean to say the other varities of movies r not nice...they're just not what wld appeal to me...
I'm a big fan of the so-called parallel cinema...esp the NFDC commissioned sort...the names that immediately spring to mind r Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Goutam Ghosh, Sai Paranje, Vijaya Mehta, Ketan Mehta, Jabbar Patel, Kundan Shah, Govind Nihalini, Mani Kaul, Adoor Gopalakrishnan...n of course Satyajit Ray...this name shd've been right at the top of the list, but I'm feeling too lazy to edit stuff...
I love movies which explore human emotions...esp the ones based on man-woman relationships...n here I'm talking abt realistic ones..not the loud, larger than life, "kutte-kamine-main-tera-khoon-pee-jaunga"/"maa-ki-doodh-ki-kasam-
main-us-darinde-ko-zinda-nahi-chhodunga" sort...u get the drift right? As I mentioned earlier, I dun mean to say that masala movies r not good...some of them r very entertaining...but they dun make you think...abt life...n its complexities...
Well one might ask y spend hard-earned money n even more precious time sitting in a theater...pondering over life's complexities when ur own life is practically teeming w/ complexities of every sort...
It's hard to explain...my motive in watching movies goes beyond just entertainment...
Anyway, to each his own...
Oops!! This post has become a monstrosity!!
See, this is a problem w/ me -- among many others! -- I tend to go off on tangents...n if that's not worse, I keep hopping from one to the other...
But before I go, I'd just like to say that there's really no rhyme or reason to this blog...it's just a place I can bounce my thoughts against...I really cant give any guarantees abt the toxic levels of the swill I will be churning out here...so if you intend to hang abt this place, atleast come armed w/ a gas-mask ;-)
5 comments:
One post that talks all about you...gud blog & nice to meet you in Bangalore. Must say u have an amazing word power and a great way to pen down ur thoughts as they are in ur mind.
Hope you enjoy ur stay in Bangalore, trust me one wonderful place you would enjoy n no regrets.
Thanks to my friend who showed me ur blog and yes indeed ur of my kinds
Thanks Geetha for all that praise, but m not really sure if my word power is all that amazing...but I do like to write...mostly as a means of expression than anything else...
N I certainly m enjoying my stay here in Bangalore...
BTW, u can thank ur friend on my behalf too...
Do keep dropping in...we birds of a feather, shd stick together ;-)
"WHOLAAAAAAAAA" That was some description..... Impressive Enuf Monsieur... MOON :P
Thanks Priya...the idea was not to impress...was just trying to jot down a few things I love to do :)
HOLA i never said u were tryin to impress me :) i said Im impressed :) words can play a major game of conveying wat it should not most of the times :)
keep it up mate... the blogging!!!!!
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