Pluto's domain....

Digital Hoarders

2011-12-22T01:22:00.000-08:00

Clutter. There’s a lot that has been said and discussed about how having too many things and too much stuff can negatively affect your life. It crams up your abode, leaving no scope for ‘white space’. It also gives valuable insights about the person and their way of life. Why do we like collecting stuff, sometimes even the things that we don’t need or want? Maybe it is that our possessions give us a chance to exist outside of ourselves, or maybe a chance to attach myriad meanings to things that make sense only to us.

Considering that our identities are constantly being shifted from the ‘real’ to the digital realm; observing a person’s computer, their various external HD’s and other storage devices can give us an idea of their hoarding habits. If I take my own example, I realise that I have tons of movies on my computer that I haven’t seen, books that aren’t read and music that hasn’t been on my player even once. Still, this doesn’t stop me from downloading even more of these digital artefacts, to lovingly store till the day comes when I would be motivated enough to go through them.

Somehow, having them seems more important than experiencing them. I do watch a movie once in a while or click through an e-book at express speed on a few occasions , but the ratio of the time spent in doing that is much less in comparison to the time I spend in looking for even more stuff to download and keep.

What does this say about me and countless others? Has our practice of acquiring things seeped into our digital habits too?

Just a few thoughts that mulled around in my head when I heard a few friends talking about 1 TB hard disks running out of space and my own laptop HD graph lurking in the overfull red region.

If stones could speak, what would they say?

2010-12-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ahmedabad is a strangely attractive city. I say strange because its attractions (a lot of them) aren’t what one would call beautiful in the conventional sense of the word. So, yes, I visited the darwazas of the old city and the jama masjid today. Architecturally, these sites are a delight. But more than appreciating the motifs and carvings on the walls or pillars, more than marvelling about the structural strength and the workmanship of these sites; I loved the fact that they were a part of a long and colourful history, and the contrasts that were so enthralling to observe.

The roads were teeming with people, bursting at its seams with the variety of shops, goods that ranged from handkerchiefs to antique bells, from Christmas decorations to rat traps.

Teen darwaza and the surrounding market and its gullis are a delight for any kind of shopper, the compulsive as well as the practical one. The air is filled with smoke and intermittent honking of the horn from a consistent stream of traffic that plies through these lanes. At short, sharp intervals though, one can hear a particularly loud Gujrati lady haggling with a seller or smell soap, or ittar or maybe even fresh biscuits being baked at a corner bakery place.

The darwazas stand like proud royal guards of an era gone by, watching over a city that had slowly and steadily changed its appearance and priorities over the decades. The spirit though, seems something that has undergone very minimal change at all. The people don’t seem to run, they still seem to have time to talk to each other, or maybe even smile at an unknown stranger. The darwazas- Dilli, Prem, Daryapur, Lal and Kalupar; are places of bustling activity.

If one was to say that a sanctuary of peace and quiet existed right in the middle of Teen darwaza, I wouldn’t really believe them.But jama masjid manages to surprise me immensely. I feel gratitude for the fact that despite being a woman, I am still allowed inside the sacred premises of this wonderful mosque. The huge empty space inside, the countless pillars, the water construct in the center, the flapping of the pigeons’ wings, the atmosphere of reverence and tranquillity, the intricate and beautifully done carvings; all contribute to making jama masjid a place that is not just a building with great architecture, but an experience that needs to be sensed.

Picture: Front facade, Dilli darwaza

Those faces

2010-08-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing much remains anymore,

Except stray snapshots of a blur;

A silhouette of a girl at the door

A fragment of the people who were..

The miniature vessels, an endless game,

Those myriad faces with no name;

Woven into young innocent memories,

Courtyard capers and fingernails with grease.

The countless wrinkles and glassy eyes,

A cloud of dust and a gleaming road

Dissolved into The Sand that flies,

Those hands that built that abode.

A story so common yet untold,

A frame bent around a sari's fold,

It takes me back to a time so tame;

To the varied faces with no name...

~Inspired by the short story 'The Real Durwan' -Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri.

Made me think of all those people who worked around the house when I was a kid.I wonder where they are now...

Khaana Peena

2010-08-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

The place where I go to feed the good ol' tum when hunger strikes.Though it's a lot more than just food that you can find there...The best conversations are brewed around good grub.I certainly think so:)

Design gyan..C/o DCC

2010-07-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

We are approaching the end of a signature course here in NID called Design concepts and concerns.It has been a hectic, chaotic, enlightening and engaging experience that has left most of us thinking.The pressure of understanding a problem, coming up with an apt solution and then conveying it in the best possible manner has left most of us sleep deprived and longing for the weekend.

What follows is a list of the things that have dawned upon me in the process( a few of which need to be taken with a pinch of salt)

* Form and structure go hand in hand in making every design possible.

* Critiques are valuable.Random comments and opinions are not.

* Out of intense confusion comes curiosity, which in turn leads to clarity.

* Group work is hard.Persistence and responsibility are required at all times for the work to be cohesive and successful.

* When the mic malfunctions, it is a sign from above that you should stop talking.

* As an explanation gets verbose and lengthy, attention span decreases radically.

* Humor and interactivity go a long way in making a presentation memorable.

* Doodling in class gets one good ideas at times.

*What you know is as important as how you can communicate the same to your audience

* Taking a stand and doing self analysis is imperative, even if one's understanding of a subject is limited.One should only realize that there is more to learn.

* Sometimes good designs fail.It is possibly because it is close to impossible to impress everyone.

* Resources and experiences when shared lead to a huge database of knowledge that one can refer to

in times of need.

* Design for me , engenders an attitude to 'know more about more'

A few design gyan nuggets that I gathered in the process...wonder what more will I realize in the next 3 days.I'm curious to know...

http://www.design-concepts-and-concerns.blogspot.com/

Updates

2010-07-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

So much has transpired in the time since I wrote my last post that I wonder where to begin.

The folks have been transferred to good old Lucknow, so last few trips to Baroda have been taking up my weekends.I took my driving test, which was a laughable farce. I just had to put the car in 1st gear and move like 10 inches and it was done.This, after my application was already signed by the RTO inspector.

Quite an anticlimax actually.I had too much preparation for the test.

College has been crazy. After 3 long weeks of singing,dancing, being yelled at and general mayhem( that we were never allowed to laugh at), we were 'welcomed to the NID family'.Suffice it to say it was a very wet and wild welcome indeed. A freshers party and a lot of friends later, I can safely say that the campus feels like home now.Classes are good and work is just the perfect amount right now.Not so much that I have to crib, or not so less that one feels useless.

I miss my friends though.Feel like going to Bombay every weekend, but something or the other crops up.But I've promised myself that I will go to my favorite city before the monsoons are over.

Such a dear diary sort of a post. It was due I guess.

Me and my friends

2010-05-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

It feels a little empty inside. To leave behind so many people, so many memories and so many places is like letting go of a part of yourself; a part you had grown to love over a period of 4 long years.

I guess that is why so many people want a break after completing college.That lost part of you has to be replaced with something else.

I know that all of us promise to keep in touch and act as if things are going to change only slightly. But to try and console oneself with that thought is being stupid.Things will never be the same again.That is not to say that they will get worse...they'll just be different.

I hope then, today, that I can grow to love the 'difference' as much as I loved what was before.

I miss it a lot right now though.The hostel madness, the college vella-ness, the lanes of viman nagar, andhra, ccd, chicken momos, cribbing about work....and most of all the people.My friends who have become family.

I love you all.

It's Bad TV

2010-03-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

After I come back from work everyday, I feel like watching tv for some time. It's a break from the interactivity of the computer that I have been working with all day; some time out just to be the passive observer and watch something that captures my interest.

It is sad then, that I rarely find anything worth watching on prime time tv. I simply refuse to watch any of the women-centric garbage and ridiculous 'reality tv' that most of the channels churn out like factories these days. I wonder then, aren't there others like me?

Why is there such an overdose of the same kind of shows? Shows which you probably wouldn't realize the difference between , if someone discreetly changed the channel.

But then, I guess, that's my opinion. An opinion based on watching trailers and snippets of these shows..

So I end up being disappointed. It's just bad tv. And I resort to watching all the series that I've downloaded off the internet.

Who would have thought.That I would crib about choice in a day and age when there are more than 150 channels to surf through....

2010-02-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

"8 days on, no clues.Toll rises to 15"

That's what the headlines of a leading newspaper say today. They are referring to the blast that happened

at German Bakery, Pune on the eve of Valentine's day.Ironic, right?

The place was one that my friends and I frequented often, to grab some really of their delicious grub.It felt weird to know that we wont sit on those wooden benches ever again.

Today, though , as I read the headlines, I realized that I didn't feel that sorrow anymore.I didn't feel anything..just a pervading sense of being passive towards all that happened a week ago.It got me thinking though.

Such events have become so commonplace in our lives that as soon as we find out that none of our friends or family have been affected, we heave a sigh of relief. We feel momentary anger and anguish, along with a sense of helplessness for a perhaps a week after; and then they gradually fade from our memory.

Scary thought. That we are evolving into people who don't care about their own countrymen, who are becoming so used to the fact that terrorism is a part of their lives that the anger against such events is diminishing.

What are we turning into?

Our own design studio

2010-02-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

The 5 of us.We shall be awesome.

We'll do everything from print and web to motion graphics and illustration.

We'll take cool interns..and trust them to produce good work.

We will play amazing music all day and have a pantry with a fridge which has cheese and chocolate.

We shall do free work for animal shelters and NGO's.

Their will be spaces just made to go sit and think or doodle.( giant whiteboards and lots of markers too)

We will fight, but we'll always make up.

Our studio.Lets make one.Soon.

For you: Maya, Jemma, Sanju and Sherry

I <3 chocolate

2010-01-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

O chocolate! My chocolate!

What would I do,

If I was left in this world,

without a bite of you?

Whether you're milk, dark or white,

I really do not care

Abstaining from your luscious sweetness,

I simply could not bear.

So make a beeline for my mouth

It's a good place to be,

You're meant to make people happy,

But please begin with me!

~ The lines randomly popped into my head as a piece of Galaxy truffle swirled in my mouth.( The picture is necessary to understand my sentiments)

''Just follow the crowd...''

2010-01-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

That's what I was told, when I asked the receptionist at my workplace about what ways should I take while walking from Churchgate station to my office.It sounded like weird advice.How could I find out the direction I was supposed to go in , by following a bunch of people who might or might not have a similarly located destination?

The next day I found out.As soon as I got off from my bus, I saw scores , rather hundreds of people walking hurriedly, all going the same way! From shabbily dressed men to heel-clad women, most of them with headphones in their ears, everyone was walking purposefully towards their respective offices.

And yes, when I followed them , I reached very close to my destination.

I was amazed.What a place! The people walking on either side of the street, never colliding, moving as a huge mass of humans, seemed right out of a Hollywood movie showing peak hours at Manhattan.Then I realized, Bombay is India's Manhattan!

I also figured out why some people like Bombay and some don't. It's an intrinsic personality thing.The people who thrive in human company, extroverts, gregarious souls who love being the center of attention one instant and disappear the next, will adore Bombay.The other sort, who like their space, who want the option, the freedom of being in solitude will never like this city. You simply can't escape the 15 million strong population that this place harbors.

I keep writing about this city, because my fascination grows with every day that I spend here.I hope it lasts!

2010-01-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

Between the two of us, we will see and hear all the good things on this earth.
:)

New life

2010-01-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

I am just about to complete my first week at work.It feels good, though I have been alternating between

contentment and frustration.Bombay looks amazing , especially the area where I go to sit inside an AC premises.All day while I stare at my computer, I think of the beautiful structures outside, the amazing street shopping and the second hand book stalls waiting for me.I think I shall sneak out one of these days for an hour or two and have my fill of staring, browsing and buying.

Which makes me come to my first frustration: I want a decent camera.Everything I look at these days is new and I am noticing all sorts of details which I wouldn't otherwise.I want to capture them...sigh!

Work is good.I have been given a logo development assignment.I can safely say i've never worked so much for my personal projects too! But, whenever I do things under strict constraint, like this identity task, I find my mind wandering to all sorts of art practices, freedom to make whatever crap I want in whatever way I want.

ah well.Sigh! ( again)

Oh and I miss college and my friends. Very much . I keep wanting to go to Pune, but then I realize that most of us aren't there anymore and it just won't be the same... :(

So there.I am in a strange mood these days...wonder when it will get back to normal.( or maybe this is the new normal??)

2009-12-29T04:25:00.000-08:00

What is it about change that makes us afraid?

The fear of being judged, of leaving familiar territory, the people and relationships behind and wade into unknown waters; or just the fact that one doesn't know whether the change will end up being for the good or bad?

Christmas wishes

2009-12-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa, this is my Christmas wishlist

1. A good degree project at a good design firm.

2. A DSLR. ( obviously)

3. A visit to Kumbh mela ( after I get the dslr)

4. A puppy

5. For all my friends to be at the same place at the same time, just once before we leave.

6. A pleasant surprise ( because I love being surprised )

So can I get all this, please? I've been good this year, I swear.

2009-11-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

Something's snapped.
I'm glad I'm going home.Without a heavy heart this time round.
And yea, I do need to clear my head.I will.

Bus story

2009-11-19T10:51:00.003-08:00

I was sitting at the bus stop today, waiting for the elusive station bus. I can often be found doing that , even though it's not exactly one of my favorite pastimes. Guess that can be attributed to my now infamous bad luck when it comes to catching buses.

Anyway, so there I was looking at nothing in particular, when this dog caught my attention. It was a small runty looking thing, almost 2D in its proportions. It sat in the middle of the road, paying absolutely no attention to the vehicles whizzing inches past by it. Presently it got up and started barking and growling in a manner of extreme annoyance, as the cause of the sudden alarm walked past by me. It was a big, pudgy pet dog, being taken for an evening walk. In fact, it was so obese and his stomach so bulgy, that it reminded me of paunchy middle-aged uncles who have difficulty getting up once they seat themselves.

So Runty went on barking at him with utmost earnestness, protecting its territory and all that.What courage!

The reaction of Pudge-face at all this was incredulous. It looked at Runty up and down and walked away as I imagined him thinking, ''Are you kiddin me? My paw is like, as big as your face dude!’’At this point I started laughing. Aloud. I think the onlookers got a little worried about my sanity.Thankfully, the bus turned up a few moments later.

Play

2009-11-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

When I was bored of the project work, I took an illustration I had made for one of the pages of my booklet and did some tp with it . Fun!!

2009-11-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

''The road goes on and on, down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow if I can.

Pursuing it with eager feet , until it joins some larger way;

Where many paths and errands meet,

And whither then? I cannot say..''

~ J.R.R Tolkien

Some lines just speak to me.This is one of my favorites..

2009-11-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

I realised something about myself today.
I can only be nice to the people whom I truly respect...I might be a little mean to the others.
My respect, I guess, is born out of admiration of the way the person goes about and accomplishes their work, the work that they have been assigned to do , what they are on this planet for.Their karma.
Work that makes me think, ''I wish I'd have done that''.
It might be anything.
But I also realize that I probably shouldn't judge people in this manner.Who am to, really?
So I'll try being nicer.The work a person does is only small part of their personality, after all.

A 'fruitful' walk

2009-10-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

I took my friend's camera and walked the road that i have walked umpteen times in these past 3 and a half years.( from college to the hostel).Only today, i looked at even the smallest brick for a good composition, for an interesting pattern that i could capture.

But this post is not about my photography experiments.On my way back, i stopped at a fruit stall to buy myself something for an evening snack.Yes, i eat healthy.

After i was done paying; the shopkeeper asked me if i could click a picture of his stall and print it out.I willingly agreed to take a picture , but i told him i couldn't manage a print out right there and then.I asked him what he wanted it for.He said he wanted to put up the picture on google!

"I want my stall and its name to appear in the fruit image search on google"

His comment made me marvel at the mass proliferation of the internet.And i realized that for a lot of people; google was the internet...

It just goes on to show their massive success ; that even a roadside fruit seller wants his stuff up there, for everyone to see, and for that he thinks of google.

I promised the guy that i would put the picture up on the internet.So here.

Train travel

2009-10-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

I was traveling from Bombay to Baroda in a shatabdi a few days back. The seats were comfortable, the compartment temperature was just right and the coffee was served hot. It was a nice combination. I just found myself wishing that the train wouldn’t rattle and move so much; I ended up scalding my tongue. Not pleasant at all:|
I wait for the day when magnetic rail comes to India. A smooth ride with hot coffee and an unburned tongue :)

Networked!

2009-10-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Turn on the computer.

Connect to the internet.

Launch ie /firefox /chrome /safari (I wish )

Gmail, facebook, twitter.

The routine that I, and I’m sure a lot of us, go through everyday; multiple times throughout the day. These days though, I find myself favoring twitter over any other social networking site. Part of the reason why this change has taken place is because I find myself getting increasingly bored by facebook. The same old applications, the interface that changes, but still remains repetitive and dull; and the brainless quizzes have taken a toll. To be fair, I never was a fb addict in the first place. So this change is not so astounding.

But it surely makes me wonder: Do social networking sites have an expiry date? I remember checking my orkut account religiously some time back. I dint even realize when I stopped. It was a sort of slow severing of connections between us. And now, as more and more of my friends join twitter, facebook recedes a little into the background (for me). True, the things one does on either of these sites is quite different, but if the success of such sites is measured by the amount of time the users spend on them everyday, then who knows what the future holds? Changes come along so thick and fast nowadays, I guess people are more liable to get bored by the same old stuff in a relatively shorter span of time.

That’s definitely what’s happening to me. Maybe I’m waiting for a change that hasn’t come yet. Otherwise facebook, at least for me, just might go the orkut way.

This city

2009-06-12T01:36:00.000-07:00

I like bombay...rather mumbai.
I finally figured out the easiest way to commute between my temporary home in tardeo, to my workplace in parel (by bus) .Still havent been on a local alone..but i'm planning to do that soon.
My bus takes me via the worli seaface road.I can see the setting sun (or almost set sun) on my way back.It is a beautiful sight...extremely therapeautic.
The city also somehow wants to make you work harder...I guess it's the constant knowledge of being around so many people, all the time, everywhere.
And this place is nicer ( if you campare with the rest of India) to its women too.
But all said and done, i still sorrta miss Pune...
I'm happy to be here..and i will be happy to go back too!
:D

Blog world

2009-05-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

I love design blogs.They'r awesome.
I hope i can have one that is amazing too.
Someday.

2009-05-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

The little things matter the most.
Everything is easier when you understand that.

when i write

2009-05-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

it's clean and white
it urges me to write
it used to be paper
and now i press some keys
to watch these letters appear
out of thin air
and what is in front of me
is no longer bare
it has grown into a thought
but i must confess
i dint think about it a lot
so my blog waits
it's been quite long
i'd been switched off
it was very wrong..
i think i'll apologise
the fear got to me
that wen thoughts
are 'penned down'
they become reality...

March-April

2009-03-05T08:39:00.001-08:00

It's that time of the year again...when everyone wants a break.
From the heat.The bad food.The college.The people.The city.
Home : The only thing I look forward to at this time.I think most of us do...

Every funda has a mental side

2009-02-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

6 months of hard work
of discussions
of meetings
of fights ( and then making up at the tapri or hira )
of the first floor office
of losing things ( and finding them again )
of late nights
of nightmares about things going wrong
of decisions
of surprises ( good and bad )
of teamwork
of being there for each other
of the twisted fundas
and of going completely mental...
It all came together on the 29th, 30th and 31st of January 2009...It was perfect.There are few times in life when you actually wish for time to stand still . This Fundamental was one of them...I loved every moment of it ( even when things went wrong here and there ) and I love all of you guys who made it possible...Cheers!
:)

Lets play the blame game

2008-12-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

I set off
Glad to be free
Knowing sometime soon
I’d find me
And if I lost my way
I could go smile
In that secret happy place
That was all mine
But today I walk
With my feet so sore
As I realize that my place
Doesn’t exist anymore.

Sleepless

2008-12-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

The memories grow hazy
In my mind’s crammed rear
As I lie on my bed
And watch the fake stars disappear
The doubts gnaw on everything
That I once held dear
Laughter seems a distant echo
Indifference is what I fear
Now I wait and I pray
For the dark clouds to clear…

Q and A

2008-12-12T02:43:00.000-08:00

It means that it's marked with something bad..

That white paper boat..

2008-11-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

That white paper boat
Crisp, new and proud
Left to sail in the waters
All by itself
One very rainy day
When everyone’s away..
Plop! A drop assailed it
As it moved onward
On this perilous voyage..
They looked on
Waiting for it to sink
But it dint
Shivering, cold and wet
It bore the storm bravely
And the next morning
The sun shone bright
Everything glistened
In the sunlight
But the boat now had
Nowhere left to go
So it waits for the day
When the wind would come
and blow it away
To unknown lands
Into unknown hands
So that they might
Smile again.

2008-11-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

If you can't stand in place, you can't tell who's walking away
From who remains , who stays, who stays...
-Pity and fear ( Death cab for cutie)

2008-11-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

Thoughts are so fickle,
And opinions change so fast
Amidst all the chaos
and painted facades
I hope friendships can last.
Learning to sustain in life
what matters to us most,
And knowing that some things
are best left unsaid;
As the melancholy monster
of an irreparable past,
sleeps peacefully in our head..

so here( i take the easy way out and post something i dug out from one of last year's notebooks :P )

2 months!!

2008-11-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Sheeesh!!haven't posted for 2 months!!
no, i've not lost my ability to think or express...was dain bramaged for a while though; and very lazy otherwise... :P

memory..

2008-09-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

My pet.My best friend.I miss you, Pluto...

2008-08-09T08:16:00.001-07:00

These lightless labyrinths of my mind

Lost all sense and respect of time

A single lucid thought is hard to find,

Confused, numb, or just blind??

2008-07-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

liquor chocolates are my favorite thing in the world...
i just can't have enough of them
:D

2008-07-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

oh and i saw the dark knight today(finally)
made me wonder..
which one is worse: evil for the sake of evil or evil for the sake of a reason(like money or revenge)?

and does having a justifiable reason lessen the intensity of the evil in any manner?
These random thoughts run through my head, here in India where bomb blast and riot stories have become stuff of Sunday morning breakfast conversations....
What is the world coming to?

2008-07-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

‘’I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.’’ –Christopher in ‘the curious incident of the dog in the night-time’ by Mark Haddon

Just had to put that up...i love the simplicity of language and complexity of thought that the book has in such good measure.

Back to square one??

2008-07-07T07:07:00.001-07:00

some things change.some don't.
I feel weirdly homesick.But, i don't want to go back either...
I don't like the freshly painted hostel.My room doesn't seem mine right now.
it'll take a while to settle down again.And to be completely happy...
post - vacation blues?? maybe....

Holidays

2008-06-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

Eating.Sleeping.(Gaining weight in the process).Reading.Watching sitcoms.Going to boring parties(for the food).Playing badminton.Chatting.Stumbling.Checking my deviant, FB,flickr and orkut accounts(twice a day)Clicking and editing pictures.Watching movies.
And yeah, blogging(not as often as i'd like to)
Holidays make me lazier than i already am....i'm glad that only 3 weeks are left before i see college again.(out of those, 2 are devoted to my guest, sanju:)..
so yaaaaaaay!!

Struggle

2008-06-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

He swam towards her, swiftly, the adrenaline flowing in his veins; making him feel a state of existence that heightened all of his senses. His fluid motions seemed one with the waves that he silently cut across.

As the last shred of consciousness left her, giving her a fiercely-desired reprieve from an all-consuming terror, she saw him approach her.

Her eyes opened to the room that had come to be her living quarters for the past 3 months.
His house. Her house, her home, her prison?

She wondered when he would take her out on that boat again;to leave her in the deep waters to drown. She couldn’t swim. He knew that, like the hundreds of other things he knew about her. Remnants of an irreparable past….
This was the third time he had thrown her aboard, bound and tied, struggling in vain. But, somehow, the moment when her mortal fear of death turned to acceptance, when she gave up on life and resisted no more, he appeared out of nowhere to take her back to the mortal world.

He enjoyed it, she knew. Watching her dread, her hopelessness, her surrender to the inevitable. She wished she could curse him; call him a sadist in her head, at least. But she couldn’t.
It was his overpowering sense of indifference towards her, her, not the body that struggled in the water, which she could not understand…

****

He watched her, his hands clutching the cool, metal railing of his boat. His knuckles white, his face expressionless. She didn’t fight today. Her lithe body did not thrash against the rising water.
He noticed her eyes. They had something in them that he couldn’t completely fathom. Was it hope?Did she think he would come again and hold her half-conscious body as they inched closer to the boat? Maybe it was…

The knowledge of her look gave him a sense of defeat. Then slowly, he allowed himself a smile. Today, he wouldn’t go. Today he would wait till he saw her last breathe being snuffed out. He wouldn’t go; for the sake of that one moment, that one look in her eyes when she would realise that he wasn’t going to come to save her today. The eloquent look that would say everything that was ever said, or should have been said between them…

Today, he watched her die.

Our bad jokes society...:P

2008-06-09T05:09:00.000-07:00

Mihir-Wheelspin:y did the 12th man take the coke to tendulkar even though harbhajan wanted it ?

me: ummm???? dunno

Mihir-Wheelspin: bcoz hes the opener !

me: woow 9technically he's not nemore) :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: he was when the joke was manufactured

me: yeah obviously : :D

how does an elephant get up a tree?

Mihir-Wheelspin: he climbs ?i was going thru ur blog

me: nopie...he sits on a sapling and waits for it to grow :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: and reading abt the this yrs memories

me: :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: as in the last years memories

me: yeah.....u and ur jokes :

heheeheeee

Mihir-Wheelspin: yeah... tht memory where u sat in the complab till 8.. the jokes were sad...was tht pointing towards me ???

me: yep...as sad as mine :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: hehehee... am honoured

me: heehee

Mihir-Wheelspin: seriously.. i dont get it

me: okay how does an elephant get down a tree?? get wat?

Mihir-Wheelspin: y dont these peopleenjoy 'sad' kokes as much as we do

me: they do ......but they think its too silly to laugh at them

Mihir-Wheelspin: WAT THE HELL

me: but i like laughing so.... :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: exactly.... these people must be sad who doesnt like laughing

me: doubly sad :(( types :D

Mihir-Wheelspin: i think we should step up our efforts

me: yeah....the world needs us

Mihir-Wheelspin: right... we must help them realise the true power of our jokes... help them develpo the taste

me: yup totally...and thts how we will take over the world :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: no.. we dont wanna do ht ttht

me: no? :

Mihir-Wheelspin: no.... we just make help them develop the taste.. then they start cracking jokes themselves and thts how we progress the cause

me: ahhhhkkiees thtsa a nobler way kudos to u

Mihir-Wheelspin: yeah

me: :P

Mihir-Wheelspin: thnx so ill strt.hers a stinker

me: a skunk? :D

Mihir-Wheelspin: an old lady died when she was 6 u decude

me: well the second she cud be nebody..... so it s a valid sentence just incomplte no joke :

Mihir-Wheelspin: it is how can an old lady die when shes sick

me: YIKES bravo!!!!!!!!!

applause

Mihir-Wheelspin: i mean when shes 6

me: i'm confused :

Mihir-Wheelspin: ok agsain an old lady dies when she was sick oh no no

an old lady dies when she was 6 yeah thts right

me: okay...i thot we wer talkin of sad jokes not brain damage : hehehehe

Mihir-Wheelspin: hehehe... i am just suggesting the level we must drop to !

a minute, an eternity

2008-06-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

A moment, a minute an hour
Lost in time, gone forever
Never to return
What did we do?
How did we use it?
A rapidly dwindling resource
The most essential of them all
Is tolerance a virtue?
Who says good things have to wait?
‘Just accept what they say’
Why should I?
I will believe what I think is right
So what if it might be a mistake?
I’ll make that mistake
Or else I’ll never know..
Don’t want any questions unanswered
Or experiences left incomplete
And that’s how it will be.
Whatever life brings to me…

-for all those like me who think waiting is a colossal waste of time.Patience isn't exactly our cup of tea :D

'LOTR'ed...

2008-06-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

My elvish name : Maranwë Ancalimë
My hobbit name : Melilot Knotwise
of Michel Delving
heheheh.....:D
(P.S -i love stumble!!!!)

Change

2008-05-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

She peered down the bridge of her nose, through her faithful old spectacles that provided a slight cloudiness at the edges of her vision.
She wished she could hold the letter from her son in her hands, not read it on the computer screen. No, she realized, she didn’t want a print of the text that appeared in front of her on the screen, either.
She wanted his handwriting. His untidy chicken-scrawl that had made the task of reading his letters so wonderfully time consuming. The flow of ink, the way he stressed on the dots in the i's and j's and the bold off the mark slashes that cut through the t's.The careful folds of the paper, her awareness that he must have rest his hands on it, the way he must have held the pen in his hands when he sat down to write her a letter in his study… The intensity of these images was fading away, now there were no letters, just emails. She thought that she might be asking for too much, expecting hand written letters in this age of 2-min technology…but she missed keeping old letters next to her when she went to sleep , almost as if his presence was tangible in that singular piece of paper.
Count your blessings she told herself. At least he cared enough to send an email once in a while….thinking about the past and the happiness it had brought her would do no good.
Memories should always exist as entities meant to be treasured, not something that would bring resentment or grief to her present.
She smiled and reached for the ruled paper pad and her pen. She had a reply to write.

Atlas Shrugged

2008-05-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand for the past couple of days.
It is a deeply philosophical book, has radical theories and challenges our notions about the world as we know it..
Think i'll put up a few great lines from the book soon....

Down memory lane..............

2008-05-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

The wait ends today...well at least for me.There is so much excitement bubbling within , that my smile seems stuck on my face.I'm finally heading home.It has been a long year...full of ups and downs.
I can safely say that all of us had our good and bad times, and that we have grown , as people and as designers in this year.for some reason i cant stop reminiscing either.....and i realize that the number of happy memories far outnumber the bad ones...

Here are some of them that are very vivid, etched in my mind like photographs.I write them down in fear of losing them.....so that i can make them eternal..........
Sitting in pizza corner for my b'day treat-with all of you guys:D
(that was fun, though it burned a mighty hole in my pocket!)

Going to sinhagad and getting soaked to the skin.....then eating kulfi and freezing half to death!!!
-with shruti,disha,varsha,vidhya and aditi
(spl.mention :the awesome food-bhajiya,chaas,pithla and bhakri.....yum!!)

Watching harry potter and the order of the phoenix-with huffy and derrick
(and we were the first ppl. to go and see it , coz i simply could NOT wait!!)

Getting bitten by the damn irritating bed bugs in the bus to goa(kyoorius trip).....and scrathing myself insane.
( burn in hell you nasty blood-sucking monsters!!)

Sitting on the swing in the house in goa talking about tennis-with sherry
(go justine and federer!!:P)

The long walk on the calangute beach-with Richa
(the things we saw were…ummmmm…interesting?)

Walking in the rain on the lonavla highway-With jemma , maya, sherry,hafsah and prachi
(loved the pointlessness of it all!!!)

Sitting in the 2^nd floor comp lab for pranita maam’s assignment-with jemma and maya
(work mode!! But it was funsies :D )

The whole nazar na lage movie experience-with saurabh, sherry and maya
(remember the time we came up with the story? It was after India won the 20-20 WC….oh yaaaa…the whole match was crazy too!)

Eating breakfast of bread butter-with maya in the decembr hols
(yuuuuuuuuuuuuum ;P)

Laughing myself silly in the auto rickshaw when coming back from toons-with sanjyot(my laughing partner) ,maya, manav and jemma

Standing in the queues for the concerts, taking part in random competitions, eating the hostel 12 parathas and travelling in the local from kanjurmarg….all in mood-I 2007-with maya , manav and sherry
(mood I made me miss home a little less….thanks you guys for coming along. The year before was spent alone. And it wasn’t pleasant..)

Working for catch the train and falling asleep in the middle of the night on mrinalini’s lap-fundamental 2008
(aaaahhhh the fest times in college ..wish they would never end!)

Dance practice for auditions-pre fest 2008-with maya ,jemma ,shweta, teena, parita and nivi…(mauja is our song forever..!)

Siting in chopsticks after the announcement of the current core team-with sherry
( foodies forever! We will talk about food even when we are eating….;P

Doing the traffic signal project roaming around -with jemma
(yaaaaay! We came back in one piece and didn’t get lost too many times J

Reading maximum city in the shack in mulshi, alone with my music
( The proximity to such natural beauty makes a thinker out of me….if I’m not one already!!)

The dip in the lake in mulshi-with maya , hafsah, sanjyot, sherry
( ahhhhhh the madness of it all….)

The super slow walk back to the animation lab-with maya
( it’s evil I tell you…animation!)

Working on my flash site in the college comp lab after 8 o clock-with the whole pd gang ( the jokes were very sad and my music player battery ran out…ouch!!)

Visits to jeevraksha-with maya (here’s to a lot more of them in the future!!)

Walking the streets of viman nagar-with maya ,sanjyot and mrinalini (majorly)
(and never being able to catch a bus when we really wanted to!!!)

Working on the advertising project and laughing at our ignorance-with sanjyot
( didn’t turn out to be that bad did it now?...)

Sigh….i’m tired of typing and remembering now….

I’m sure when I put this up , tens of other memories will pop into my head which I will regret not including...guess I cant put a year full of madness in one post. Still this This was my second year...thanks to all of you guys made it wonderful for me.Oh yes.. and the obligatory-I'm sorry for all the times I might have been stupid...
I love all of you.
Cheers to two more eventful years ahead!!!!

I think

2008-04-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

The loss of something that is neither needed nor desired, never becomes a matter of great concern.What you momentarily miss is a habit , only to be forgotton or cast away when other, better things come along to occupy your head.

It is the way of the world....

The Burial

2008-04-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

She saw it all , trapped under the glass,

The solemn rites being performed

As mud came and obscured her vision

Took it away bit by bit....

Pushing her into total oblivion.

She saw her own face and hands

And the pain mingled with determination

That lined her entire frame

Just six feet above her,

She saw herself bury her alive......

2008-04-15T14:10:00.001-07:00

'Whenever I am lost or in doubt,

I find retracing my steps is a wise place to begin........'

-Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Going back....

2008-04-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

He stood underneath the shade of the massive banyan tree, the cool breeze ruffling his hair. A plethora of emotions assailed him all all at once. He was suddenly taken back 24 years to the time he was just a boy and little things seemed so important….

It was a lazy summer afternoon. Sleep was neither desired nor welcome .he tiptoed past his parents and climbed into the rickety, dusty old attic. It housed many treasures. Among other things there was an ancient termite infested wooden cupboard. It was always locked. That never deterred him. He had long ago found a key that fit the lock and could pry it open.

Today he rummaged through the bottom shelf of this treasure trove. He had found many objects here…objects he considered supremely valuable. A foldable metal box with 3 compartments, a huge yellow top, a wig of matted hair, hundreds of kinds of marbles and so on.
Whenever he found something new in the cupboard he took his ‘friend’ the watchman kaka of his building. Together they sat and constructed fantastic stories of the origins and worth of these objects. Imagination knew no bounds, the physical world dissolved and a world of dreams was threaded, nurtured.
When did it all end? He wonders…
Watchman kaka died of lung disease the following year. The year when his family decided to move out in search of a better place, a better life. everything was forgotten.
New friends, new hopes, new aspirations.
The times spent in the attic seemed so frivolous ,so silly…

But today he had returned. He opened his hands to see that he had been holding the rusty key in his hand all this time, feeling the metal against his thumb. He knew why he had come back. In all his life he had been running towards something, looking, wanting , a desperate race that he tried to compete in and win. He had only realised now that he could never win this because he was never at peace; that probably he didn’t want to either. The times of the cupboard were times of innocence; yet awareness existed and the bonds of relationships were so strong that they had pulled him back to this place so many years later. Relationships with people, with objects, with places.

A decision was made. He wanted to live in the place where he knew he had been happy once. A knot was dissolved in his chest; the leech that was sucking the life force out of him was thrown away.
He realised that he owed it to himself and the world to do this and after 24 years he was at peace. Again.

2008-04-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

I thought I had succeeded,

But I have not,

So why do I feel happy,

Even though i've lost?

my crown

2008-04-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

I will wear it
I will smile
You will never realize
That I hurt
I will not despair
I will go on
Even though the
Road I’m on
Leads to a place
I don’t recognize..
I am tired
I trudge along
But I will wear it
With a smile
My crown of thorns
A gift from you
For me, and it’s mine
To love and to hate
evermore….

Her candy

2008-03-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

She looked down at her toes as if she was fascinated by them, like she had never looked at them properly before and they offered her a whole new world of exploration. Finally, after the coaxing power of her friends was exhausted, they ran off leaving her alone to look from afar.
He had come again today, as he always did, every weekend every month of the year. He had a bright blue bag out of which he extracted various colors of crisp, bright paper within which there were a myriad collection of candies. The candies had the most amazingly different flavors…musk melon, rose, cherry and lemon.
She closed her eyes. She knew the scene before her eyes without even looking at it. The children surrounding him, happy, squealing, their hands outstretched to gather the candy he had come again to distribute. Again.
She had wondered often why she didn’t join her friends when they went to acquire the candy. It was not like she didn’t want to taste them, to enjoy their sweet roundness lolling around in her mouth….so then what stopped her?
She didn’t know, couldn’t find the answer to the problem even after so much deliberation. Perhaps it was a prevailing shyness or a strange inhibition that told her that asking for something she wanted would be a mistake. She should wait for the thing to come to her. Was it an odd sense of pride??
She had seen him smiling at her often, a kind of invitation or a question in his eyes…She wondered if he would come and give her the candy after he was done with the others. He never came. She gradually got tired of waiting.
Now, she speculated if she was waiting for him anymore. She quietly limped back towards her house in the next street. Her prosthetic leg was giving her a little trouble that day.
A few weeks passed, when she wasn’t able to go and play outside on weekends because of a persistent cold that had left her weak. she thought of the candy man and his sweets as she walked towards the garden today. But today he didn’t show up…and she realized: She didn’t care for the candy any longer; perhaps she didn’t all along….
This thought gave her a calm feeling of liberation. She was free again.
She felt older, wiser….but she couldn’t pass up this opportunity to indulge in these outdoor games again. She yelled as one of her friends came up right behind her to catch her and she swiftly hobbled to her region of safety.
Her clear laughter rang through the garden. She was saved. Again.

2008-03-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

Wonder when it all
Became so hard
To hide myself from myself
Used to do it pretty well before
And it gave me such bliss
Now I lie exposed
And sometimes
I don’t like what I see…

It's so easy

2008-03-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Things that are always easy to do...

Being angry about the tiniest of situations

Venting frustration on innocent bystanders

Talking in riddles that nobody understands

Thinking of escape in any form..all the time

Playing the blame game

But what's easy might not always be right...

So we need to think before we act.

Me?

2008-03-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

If I was an object what would I be?
A clock, a yo-yo
Or a boat on the
endless sea....

2008-03-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

you only find something

when you stop looking for it.

just a thought...

The Alter ego speaks....

2008-03-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Find solace in memories , it says
but it is so temporary and futile ,i say
It tells me:
don't go down that path again,
it will destroy you
I falter , I listen, I obey
It reasons to me:
give it time
and the hurt will go away
so I lie in wait
for my escape, my release.

2008-03-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Unbidden are the thoughts and vivid
are the pictures that haunt me
So carefully created, tenderly nurtured,
this trap within that deludes,
and tells me I am free……

Hurt

2008-03-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Raw, like the grazed inside
of a screaming throat
Frenzy , absolute consciousness
of everything, yet so numb
with violent dread..
Little explosions of pain
So protracted, so sharp
It makes slaves out of us
And we beg for mercy……

Mind warp

2008-03-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

The human mind is a fascinating subject of study. It never ceases to amaze me. For one, I can never understand the fact that literally hundreds of thoughts, emotions and ideas can run through it simultaneously at the same instant. How is such multi functional activity possible??
We have so many levels of consciousness. Only sometimes we can control them and other times we can’t. For instance, I keep a problem at the back of my head when it is necessary to concentrate on something more significant. It’s not like the thought, that entity is forgotten, it is just that it rests beneath multiple layers of comparatively more pressing issues.
This is perhaps why we sometimes have dreams that are completely unrelated to our present day lives.
Whatever the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind might contain, I know I shall manage to stay in control till the time I know when and how to arrange my thoughts. Though this too requires me to know myself better and I hope I am heading in a direction which does precisely that for me...

Randomness.........

2008-02-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder if the overwhelming desire to do something worthwhile rules all our actions in life.

When I was younger, happiness was found lurking behind all corners, in the most insignificant of things....or maybe it was just that I needed no specific reason to be happy.I just was...Now, i want more from everything around and that has made me kind of forget the small pleasures in life.

Why did i just write this?? It might not be worthwhile....but who defines that term anyway??And why does it matter so much?

Sometimes, things should be done simply because you want to do them and there need not be any other reason for it.

So there.A blog entry about nothing in particular.Random thoughts.I felt like writing so i did.And i'll keep it that way now.

Design thoughts

2007-10-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

I had often wondered about the difference between 'art ' and 'design' before coming to a design school.Now i know.Basically , from what i gather, art is for ones personal creative satisfaction and design is largely client/industry based.So does a designer sacrifice their ingenuity for the sake of being more commercialy viable?I am often haunted by this question.
I think when design proffesionals have to make a difficult choice between their own innovativeness and the clients demand, they shuld choose a kind of middle path.That is , not compromising on ones own original idea, instead being persuasive enough to talk the client into believing what we think will be best for them.This surely does not mean that we close ourselves to their suggestions and accept the fact that we might go wrong at times.
It is a complex situation that we might face in the future.We , as design students, might as well be ready for it.I do not understand the nuances of building up a successful design career., but i sure as hell will try to learn all i can about it over the four years i am here in this design institute.And i realise that solely my assigments will not help me achieve this. It has to be a lot more.......

Everything Indian...

2007-09-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

My birthday falls on the 15th of august.Yes ,yes ...independence day.People joke about me being a great patriotic soul...not so. I don't blindly appreciate everything 'Indian'
But yes, i do believe that there are a lot of aspects of my country that i should be proud of.
I also notice that there is a growing disrespect or apathy towards everything Indian in today's youth.It is too painful to get out of bed to attend the flag hoisting ceremonies once a year on independance day, that person on the road is soooo 'not cool' coz he refuses to talk in english and sticks to Hindi ,the people who watch indian cinema and listen to Hindi music are essentially losers and who wants to work here once they graduate anyway??The west is sooo much nicer....
To be honest, these thoughts occassionally cross my mind too, and this is the most disappointing aspect of all.We, as the youth of a developing country have responsibilities on our sholuders.If nothing else we can start by being proud of who we are and respecting our 'Indianness' more.

About://. Sharing poetry//.

2007-08-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

For all of us who write poetry, sharing them can be a tricky business.I can safely say that I would feel slightly uncomfortable putting my deepest, darkest thoughts out in the open for everyone to read and judge....Anyhow, what I am going to post now was written by me almost 6 years back.This is my first step.A more recent one shall soon follow.
Here goes:

Walking through those unknown lands,
With reminiscences inside and destiny in hands,
Going down the secret , untrod paths
No wormlike woes , just hidden laughs.

A dream of exploring nd of travel,
Hunderds of riddles and mysteries to unravel
This is what life should really be,
Music to hear and places to see.

To feel the cool breeze ruffle my hair,
To have no thoughts or things to care
To see the sun rising everyday
Brightening the roads along my way.

No one to listen to, no one to obey
Alone in the wilderness and a glorious day,
A stroll down the sandy beach, a climb up the hill
A quiet night beneath the stars ,when everything is still

And I go on down those untrod paths,
In a lonely journey that forever lasts
Delighted with the freedom that I possess,
And joy that promises never to be any less.

The "unlearning" curve....

2007-07-08T01:22:00.000-07:00

It is surprising how much time we spend in our lives trying to unlearn what we know.....truth be said, learning takes up only a fraction of the time unlearning does.
But i've come realize that both are equally important.upto a certain point in our existence, we do things in a particular manner which we have learned ;consciously or subconciously.When,suddenly, we come across a better way to do the same thing , we are compelled to choose between the two. If most of you are like me, then you would choose to unlearn what you knew before and go in for the " bigger, better " stuff....
Easier said than done. Part of why unlearning is so hard is that it requires the person to accept that they were going wrong somewhere.Thats where the little demon called ego creeps in. Killing it requires courage and conviction, but once it is done ;the process of unlearning begins.
And only when we unlearn the old, can we learn the new....right?

Up,Up and away!!

2007-07-03T03:26:00.000-07:00

It is said that Mauritius is the blueprint of heaven.....and when I had the experience of parasailing here, i could easily understand why.
Truth be said, i did have my doubts about the whole parasailing thing initially.I mean , being suspended in mid air some 60-100 feet above the water(yes , not even the ground) is a wee bit scary at first.There is nothing between you and an unpleasant rendezvous with the creatures of the deep sea , except a suspiciously thin rope.
As I gained height, slowly but surely my misgivings vanished into thin air(literally).
Being in the air for a good 10 minutes , I had enough time to marvel over the beauty of this place.It is difficult not to be overawed in the presence of such splendor.It was a feast for my senses....the smell of the clean air, the sound of the waves and the sight of the beaches, mountains, seas...everything put together in just the right proportion to make it the most memeorable experience of my life.
(and yes...it IS me in the pic!!!!)

Brownies!!

2007-05-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Yaay!! I made chocolate brownies today…all by myself(mum hovered around in the background just to make sure that I did not make a mess of her beloved kitchen).I checked the oven at least 5 times, waiting impatiently for it to get baked properly. I was amply rewarded after half an hour. The soft, moist, melt in the mouth chocolaty taste was pure bliss...mmmm… think I shall go for another bite!!(I can’t help it- I am an insatiable chocoholic….!)

Day at the Races

2007-05-26T13:46:00.001-07:00

Crowds were milling around,there was an air of expectation and the atmosphere was akin to that of a carnival....As I sat in the governor's pavillion at the mauritius turf , I felt like I had been transported inside an old english novel...complete with exotic foodstuffs,wine, champagne and the hills serving as a backdrop to the racecourse.
I cheered a hell lot for the horses, won some races, lost most of them....but all in all enjoyed the experience very much.
(btw,a single race generates approx 10 million mauritian rupees and there are 8-10 races on a single race day.imagine all the money being used in something productive......??)

2007-05-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

Mauritius,from what i havegathered in the 20 or so days that I have been here, is a country very much like india.....with enough indian faces to make one feel at home; but at the same time the differences (language,roads-which are amazing,weather,cleanliness,etc) do make one realise that they are not in india....and i can understand why most people here want to go back 'home' after living for a few months in this country.

a very vegetable story

2007-05-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

I came to Mauritius on the 1st of may, a few days after my summer break commenced.Between doing other things(sleeping,eating, reading and going to the beach), I also accompanied my mom to the local vegetable and fruit market...the first thing that struck me was that the vendors marketed their goods in a different language(creole-and I did not get a word of what they were saying).The organised tables, the fully covered market with lanes for different veggies is a far cry from the vegetable markets we are used to back home in India.....it was a totally fresh experience....

and ya, one of the veggies i found amazing to look at was called 'squash' ( in English, I couldn't get the creole name...).From what I found out, it is pretty similar to the Indian pumpkin in taste....

pics of the market and the 'squash'.....

2007-05-22T06:48:00.001-07:00

So be it. The Fates and my Hands(which seem to have a will of theri own when it comes to writing stuff..) have conspired together to make me finally sit down and write a blog...
an exercise which required me to move from the comfy couch and leave the book i was reading unfinished...a Herculean task , rest assured.

so here it is...my first post.a lot more shall follow......