Ivory Mystic

Hydie !

2011-11-05T14:45:00.000+05:30

In crazy times when i don’t know which city i have arrived from when am approaching the baggage belt and when out-of-office assistant messages just won’t keep my inbox from overflowing, i am still compelled to write about this 1.5 days which took about 3 months of planning to materialize and about a month to create a blog-post about ! Most memorable take-aways from those 36 hours have been about Airport Mishaps and the much-awaited 2-hour night out 

FROM my name being called out for boarding due to excessive chit-chatting and taking for granted the non-timeliness of non-Indigo airlines, TO re-juggling a whole bunch of baggage just 'cos ur not allowed to carry more than 50ml of shampoo! Boo-Hoo to airline hand-baggage rules, do they really expect you to pour exactly 10 drops of shampoo required for your trip ?? or do they really expect you to check-in just one bottle of shampoo and wait endlessly for it to crawl by at the baggage belt ?? Oh, and dare i forget the ATR we made a mockery out of, by declaring it didn’t even need a pilot for how small it was and how even the slightest of clouds would make us feel like an earthquake inside !

Having manipulated a lot of people to make our dates of travel to hydie co-incide, me and my friend were seriously looking forward to hanging-out at the most happening joints all for a good two hours... :) We had quizzed atleast a gazillion people who suggested a gazillion places and all this atleast 2 months prior to the trip. Though we did end up going to a decent place, we were too tired to make the most of night-out which was the sole reason of all this endless planning. Like they say, anything too well thought of never seems to work !! And so, even though I did zilch of the touristy things, it still turned out to be a lotta fun !

For the love of Numbers !

2011-03-13T22:45:00.005+05:30

What goes around, definitely does come around especially in the case of numbers...! Off-late i 've had to go back to basics with maths, and it brought back spine-chilling childhood memories. Though these aptitude exams claim to test high-school arithmetic and algebra, they seem soo gruelling after we get all rusty with our mundane work lives! But this makes me wonder, why haven't we got more creative with framing problems, why have we always dealt with the exact same situation, like :

Why are people constantly driving towards or opposing each other ? Also, even if they are, why are they perpetually driving at different average speeds !!!!

Why are ladders slanted against walls ? (always ?, really? so they form right angles, could we please innovate with creating more right-angled situations)

Why are people buying oranges and apples in specific ratios?

Why is everyone thinking of relative speed when rowing upstream/downstream, just enjoy your damn boating expedition !

If i do organize a party at home, and god forbid with a circular table for seating, i would really let the guests sit where they want without thinking about how many ways i could seat them !!

Why is that multiple people are working on building a wall, painting, paving a road etc, and each one necessarily works at a different rate ?

Sigh !!

Vixen Parables

2009-12-10T18:24:00.003+05:30

The term “metro-sexual” man totally has me mind-boggled. Is he the one who is allowed to flirt-ogle-drool all he can? Or wear pink and get away with it? Or the on who gets to sleep over at his female friends place claiming they are “jus-good-friends”. I have had quite a few hilarious escapades with the Indian male tiger (especially the ones prowling our urban jungles).

Modesty is definitely considered a virtue by me, but a single independent pretty woman is never deprived of attention in this city.Considering my life style is most conducive for encounters with this species, I’ve frequented parties citing social obligations to bid farewell or congratulate or welcome a friend and have ended up distributing my number like flyers to friends of friend because you don know what to say to “Can I have your number please?” You could probably be downright cheesy to say “Yeah, you could, if you guessed all ten digits” but you wouldn’t want to offend the Friend. The “known” guy-friends are no less in coming up with evidently made-up “Cooks’ called in sick today. Why don’t you invite me over for dinner?” They exemplify the term knowledge is power with lines like “I know you hate coffee. Why don’t we meet over green tea instead??” Fashion big-wigs declared fuschia to be in vogue in Fall 07-08, and I happened to just be one of those fashion slaves who pave way for more fashion trend setters to earn their living. And I decided to team a black outfit with fuschia shoes for a Movie screening at Zenzi. So what is with men wanting to know about this? Aren’t they supposed to discuss spokes on football shoes? ‘Hey! Great pink shoes’ exclaimed someone. Arrrrgghhhh!!! Dude, the Diors’ and Giovannis’ would have turned in their graves then! Alcohol is a guy’s best friend when it comes to asking a girl out and when it turns sour, blames it on intoxication in a desperate bid for normalcy! “I am sorry about last night’s messages. Too many vodka shots!!” “Did I just ask you out last night?? Sorry, but I sent the message to the wrong number!!” Workplace men are a different league altogether, mind you, only in their ways and not their intent! This weirdo I was sharing desk space with (whom I have NEVER interacted with) once exclaimed loudly to no one in particular “Bright sunny day ain’t it??” I bit my tongue before I could retort “Get a Life!!!” Yet another time, I entered a conference late and in denims with a casual tee only to face comments like “I thought you entered the wrong conference hall” not to mention the bold wink it came with! On a second thought, maybe all these actions really do help every woman with her million dollar question of “Is he Mr. Right” “Or at least, Is it Mr. Wrong worth going through the trouble anyway???” Moreover suggestive compliments are never unwelcome in the Venus-influenced women’s life !!! ;)

Indian idiosyncrasies

2009-02-18T17:20:00.000+05:30

Busy bustling road, a banyan tree unnoticed, coffee shop bursting with ever-so-boisterous teenagers, office goers slamming cab doors to vent out what they went through during the day. Amidst all this, an ordinary looking man, (could belong to any profession, really!! Listing ones most popular in that area, broker, RBI clerk, church gate staff, just anyone!), takes out this idol and photograph of a saintly looking man (read heavily bearded) and guess what! He begins performing poojas and singing bhajans for it with incense sticks and all the paraphernalia, looked like he was absolutely prepared to pull off this stunt…. Soon, people started gathering around him, hopeful street children started clapping, ever-so-inquisitive firangs who looked in amusement (everything in India seems to amuse them !!!!), the youth leaving the coffee shop looked skeptically, all the office-goers seemed to offer their salutations, and all of this WITHOUT once questioning who was being worshipped or who began the whole charade ! tsk-tsk !!

Grocers vs. Lock-Makers

2008-09-12T15:04:00.004+05:30

I cannot help but draw parallels between corporate-ism and the Art of War. This is one of those corporate anecdotes that happened when one company (Grocers’) went to the other (Lock-makers’) to sell its services and I thought this was best blogged about. Drama of this kind is not unknown in most professional lives.

Grocers vs. Lock-Makers

Grocers move into enemy territory when the gates open and the gongs sound and the grocer team enters in 5 cars, each bigger and better than the other with the chief grocer leading the rest. Lock-makers await them at battleground. Grocers seemed to be particularly pleased with themselves for having “cracked” the lock-makers flaws and needs.
Grocers begin warfare with shooting arrows of current capabilities and clients. (Trying to emphasize the fact that with lock-makers’ 100 yrs of existence, they never diversified into these fronts, not that grocers were doing it, but isn’t corporate world one big farce??)... Lock-makers show an expression of shock at the volumes grocers handle. Grocers score.
1-0
Grocers continue with varied forms of attack, pause for effect on the technologies implemented (though most of it could have very well been in the pen and paper stages!!!), but it drew gasps of ambush from the lock-makers… (Something that they read about being implemented in the far far West, was being done here?? in the land of elephants and snake-charmers??) Grocers score again.
2-0
Now, Lock-makers pull their socks up, and counter attack, saying, they have approached many like the grocers’, and have rejected them due to cost constraints (Definitely, These dinosaurs would be doing business with skeleton-like cost structures – Grocers smirked !!) This is when Grocers’ put down their trump card and declare all that they know about Lock-makers (mostly putting down structure of what-is-where, who-does-what, number-of-who’s, who-could-help-who etc.) Lock-makers surrender, and declare Grocers victorious, for Lock-makers had tapped Grocers doors’ for services and not the other way round.
3-0
Grocers declare Lock-makers as allies and look for future “co-operation” (Read business/cash inflow) and leave jubilantly out of the now-allies’ gates.

Chick flicks et al.

2008-09-08T11:50:00.004+05:30

Don't you think one and a quarter days is consolation for a WEEKEND... I mean, what ever happened to rejoicing on Friday as if it was some sort of a festival...????Friday has lost its charm and so has Saturday mornings...Its annoying to wake up when the rest of the world is tucked away warmly in dreamland!
Anyways, with all that self-pity, began the Saturday evening, and I had become a Zen Buddhist in not expecting any fun. Meeting up for a coffee with a bunch of giddy-heads to discuss the love-life of every person we ever-knew was about enough energy I thought I could muster after a hard days work (phew!) Sudden change of planetary motion and we headed out for a stay over.
This one brought back college hostel memories when staying up till 4 am was the norm, and not a soul would dare wander about during the day. Fighting for pillows and cozying up with warm soup, we began watching 'Raising Helen', debating on how difficult we were as adolescents. Which was followed by more commercial breaks, more channel squabbles and we settled to watch 'Legally Blond’; By now, the continuum of absolutely non-cryptic, laughable and don’t-expect-logic kinda movies were growing on us to the extent that we made a plan to wake up at 7 and go for 'what happens in Vegas' at 'red lounge'(which I assumed no one would be able to wake up for and would be canned eventually). Come 7 am, everyone shocked me with being wide-awake. My only way out to sleep some more was complaining about how I have earned my Sunday and threw a tantrum about not wanting to wake up which failed and I had to whine my way to Red lounge.
Red lounge is one theatre that completely pampers you with uber-comfortable recliners and blankets, in their attempt to make you feel like it was your living room you were watching a movie in (and I must say, they more than succeeded at this)! Popcorn and coke for breakfast, we were all set Americans a run for their money! And 'Vegas' was a total entertainer, made me smile smugly and exclaim aloud 'Ah! Chick Flicks’.
In all, I pronounce chick flicks as the ultimate cure to shrunken weekends! (Note: more effective when watched back-to-back and effects improve with excess dosage)

Ode To Bombay - Part 1

2008-07-03T14:33:00.005+05:30

There are certain things that Bombay-ites do that are so typical of them. And this typical Bombay-like behavior extends to every aspect in life, right from travelling (oh, the “locals”), being a “townie”, eating out, hitting the “suburbs”, being in “FYJC”(for all us non-bombay-ites that’s First Year Junior College), being star struck, living in “spacious” pigeonholes (paying a bomb for rent), to chilling at the “sit-out” area of any joint rather than in the air-conditioned section no matter how humid the weather is.
I’d rather divide my woes in parts and narrate it aspect-wise. To begin with, Travelling by the local trains in Bombay can teach you lessons of life that no religion or art of living classes could. Church gate station has to be a land mark in the lives of all travelers across bombay. You could find all kinds of people in the same predicament as yours and you consider the local train "empty" when you find a spot for your two feet to stand on. As soon as the announcement is made as to what kind of train is arriving, they would position themselves exactly where they predict that the train would stop (They would more often than not, make the perfect prediction with this). They would rush into a train the moment it hits a platform, irrespective of how many people already occupy that coach. There is always more space “created” by pushing or squeezing people inside. And not to mention the people who travel with clinging on to windows, doors or any part of the train they could hold onto, as well some of them who travel on top of the train. If the Singaporeans ever saw that we not only travel in trains without automated doors, or announcement and safety systems, but we also travel with clinging on to the teeny-weeny bit of door we could hold onto and could fall into the tracks when someone would as much as breathe out, they would probably have a cardiac arrest right away.
If someone who got in would not have a place to sit and they invariably wouldn’t, they would question with all the authority, all the people seated as to where they were to get off, and would “reserve” that seat with typical hand gestures, first pointing at themselves and then the seat. Gosh!!! Catfights over the silliest of issues are an everyday affair. People would travel by the train and would expect comfort levels of an air craft. They would start tsk-tsk-ing if you as much as nudged them or stepped on their foot unintentionally. As the train nears its destination, the passengers would start peeping out to keep a watch for which platform it would halt at, so they are right at the door when it halts and don’t miss a single jiffy. They would instinctively know and sometimes it would be much before the driver himself would, as to where the train would halt. At that precise moment every single person occupying that coach would swiftly turn to face the door almost as if bound by a spell. They would leave late for work, but would more than make up for lost time with squeezing into a really crowded train, pushing their way through, and positioning themselves right at the door of the coach right when the train halts.
And like the observation goes, in any particular area in Bombay, if there were a line of people walking as though with a purpose, more often than not, they are headed towards the nearest station!!

The Wheel of a Wagon

2008-07-01T23:24:00.004+05:30

She was best described as the woman who played her part to precision. Donning masks, depicting emotions, awe-inspiring perfection, trend-setting garbs and perpetual congenial socializing were aspects that sketched her life lock, stock and barrel. Glamour was the name of the game she played best where to voyage added a richer tone to her performances.
On every voyage, meeting new people, catching up with acquaintances, and re-living good times spent with close friends was the norm. But on one such ordinary voyage, she met someone extra-ordinary. He was standing in the ballroom. Was it the glint in his eyes, or the lopsided smile? She was not able to make up her mind and put her finger down on one factor that pulled her to the other end of the ballroom in order to get his attention. There was a hushed silence followed by a volley of insignificant questions, “when is the next release scheduled to be?”, “how much did you enjoy your last role?” all of which were answered by her with the same impassive smile. And then he smiled, one that made up for all the emotionless smiles that might have transpired between her and the rest of the world. Walking up to her, he said “I have heard loads about your persona, but nothing close to how you are in reality”. “We have not been introduced!” she exclaimed, extending her hand.
The introduction began a whole gamut of events all that made her wonder if this is what love was all about, if this was how it felt like to be captivated, enthralled by someone. It was as if she was bound by a spell and didn’t want to break that trance. They would spend hours, discussing all the events of the past, making her feel like she had known him all along. Time raced by, blurring all other activities. It was as if there was no other purpose to life itself but this journey they undertook together.
One evening, amidst heavy downpour, when they had decided to spend time by the fireplace, watching the fire initially lick the pieces of firewood, only to slowly swallow them completely, burning brightly in sharp contrast to its background where the gloomy grey skies growled. She was suddenly filled with a sense of purpose only to pose the question that she thought she would never ask anyone ever “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” She asked. His expression hardened gradually, as if gathering all his strength for the time to come. “Would you happen to remember an old fool smitten by your love?” She was dumb-founded, “surely, there had to be some mistake” she thought to herself furiously racking her brains to remember the person he was talking about, not knowing the connection with the question she had asked. There had been so many such old fools, who were willing to risk their lives, to profess their undying love to her. She just did not want to look into his eyes for fear of seeing hatred and scorn pouring out of them. “Someone who abetted to every one of your wishes? Anyone who was foolish enough to leave his family to prove his love to you?” He questioned, moving closer to her, his voice a mere whisper now, and his hands around her neck, strangling her. “No!” she yelped “I don’t”. Her mind telling her this is all a dream and she would wake up in his arms, feeling warmth of love again. It most almost as if he waited for this exact moment to spell this out to her. His hand slid into his shirt, bringing out a gleaming object. Her eyes widened with shock as she saw that. “No!” she screamed. “Porcelain dolls like you would never know what it is like to yearn for a father, would you? You would not know what it is like to see your mother slip into insanity. You would not know what it is like to grow up like a freak not fathoming what love or family was. Yet, it is because of women like you that others yearn for father, mother, love and family. My father was a victim to your conniving plans. He fell prey to your beauty and traded a son and a loving wife for it. Only to squander all his life’s earnings for the one woman who could never promise love or loyalty to just one man” He bellowed into her ears, bringing the stiletto down closer in one swift movement. Realization dawned into her, images and incidents flashed through her head affirming the truth in his words. Her mind settled on the image of the guy in front of her eyes, images of him laughing, all his premeditated gestures and her eyes softened. She nodded her head trying to tell him that it was not true that she couldn’t love, and that she loved him solemnly. Alas, the stiletto had found its mark and pierced through her skin leaving her speechless!

Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse

2007-11-27T10:32:00.000+05:30

Deeply influential, thought provoking book that makes one pause and retrospect on life itself. Hard to reckon that author, Hermann Hesse spent time as a patient in a sanatorium and spent his last years living in seclusion. Book sketches the journey of Siddhartha, a young seeker who dares to follow his heart only to refute the Buddha’s doctrine proving the need to scrutinize before acquiescence of tenets. He divides his life well, playing roles of the Brahmin student, the Hedonist and the Mystic to perfection, only to imbibe lessons learnt at each stage. The book makes a very deep impact at various parts where connotations are masked for the readers to delve and figure their interpretation of events in Siddhartha’s meandering path of life.

For all those who read for the soul, siddhartha is a must-read. For all those who have read siddhartha, i would suggest reading it again, as each time it reveals a totally distinctive dimension !

"Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher" . - William Wordsworth

2007-11-26T17:46:00.000+05:30

What effects would virgins have on you ? Woo-hoo, i was talking about virgin beaches. Well, they compelled me to blog. Simply by memories of vast streches of sand, rocky ledges, clear blue waters peppered with the reality of rural life in india.
With no experience of a backpackin trip, with zilch plan in place and with just a travellers book for directions in hand, we headed out of the crowded dirty roads of mumbai, so excited about not wallowing this weekend in alchohol. The ferry ride from Gateway of India took about an hour of being followed by swooping seagulls to get us across. Just as the ferry hit the shores of Mondwa, i was soaking up sights of beaches with such untouched scenic beauty. Is it possible that an hours travel is all it takes to transport one into this no-mans-land literally ? We, backpackers, followed this up with a series of rides on different kinds of autos and buses to finally have us being dropped at this deserted beach. Found a small shack to stay only to leave in fresh spirits to soak up more of the sea ! Allured by the stony ledges which was uninhabited for long streches, we found a rock each (mans' territorising habits seldom take a back seat !!) after making our way through many of them. Solitude is such a necessary habit for the soul, time was well used with absorbing every minute of the sunset. Sky was changing colors very gradually, against the horizon shifting from yellow to orange to a mild pink, to indigo to finally the color of the night. Waves so incessant crashing at our feet, tryin to get higher each time as though wanting to swallow us. Soon as we turned around, we found to our shock that rocks that we strode on were now submerged with water, and visibility was very poor. Heated debates on how to get to the shore followed. "How i wish we stuck with the rest of humanity on the other side of the beach" we lamented. Possibilty of lurking sea creatures and having to wade across really deep water left us in a state of shock. "Lets just go !!" we decided. and slowly made our way back on all fours, not knowing if the next step would hit a rock when we wud yelp for flayed skin or deep sand when we were neck deep in water. The moon and the willows looked eerie, as though taken over by demonic forces to teach us a lesson for getting too close to nature. "We are like moths, attracted by the light of nature, only to be killed by it" realisation dawned in. Nature makes repeated statements establishing its supremacy over man, time and again and maybe we were meant to go thru this to face that fact. "Oh my god !" we whispered, too scared to be loud and too shaky to say anything else, hugging each other in reassurance of the fact that we got out of that alive. The rocky ledges had taught us a lesson for life. "lets get something hot into our system" declared my fellow-backpacker. The Shack, hot tea, wood-fire cooked meal, everything seemed so heavenly and inviting after this escapade that we decided to not leave its comfort for the rest of the night. Come morning, we forgot about our tiff with the waters and rushed to see it like estranged lovers.

It was as if the waters had emptied all their pent up ferociousness last night and assumed its tranquil, composed roles now. A day full of possibilities unfolded, resolving to help us visit many more untouched beaches. Destination : Solitary Lighthouse at Korlai beach - the book enticed us too much with its description of it. The only means of transport we found to get to it was a bullock cart, and we jumped at the possibility of experiencing it. It was a rickety ride, dotted with sights of thatched huts, dried fish spread out, water pumps from the quaint village we were passing by, as villagers stared curiously at us, we passed through the fishing area crowded with wooden boats and reeking of fishing nets. It was then that we saw this breath-taking sight that looked like it was pulled out from a picture, of a meandering narrow path leading to a solitary lighthouse set against the vast seas, white sands and quaint tropical shrubs. This was like the icing in the cake of the trip which ended with us back tracking our steps to get back to the grand old city of bombay. Oh boy! were we glad we made this voyage happen ???