Mortality Pays a Visit

This is again with reference to my previous post. About living life each day as if that day would be the last. Can we ever imagine living life as if it were the last day? Can we imagine truly that we might not be alive the very next day? I think we can try but never be able to fully grasp this. I believe that we go through each day we live because we imagine that we may live forever. Not just us but our loved ones.

I have been paid a visit by mortality. I have learnt today what it really means to imagine that you or a loved one may not live tomorrow. One of my sister's friends learnt that her husband has brain tumour. And of course it has to be a malignant brain tumour. There were not too many symptoms except that he used to get headaches once in a while. Since he was used to getting migraine headaches, he imagined that this would also be one of them. He suddenly collapsed one day and has now found that he has brain tumour. Imagine what he must be going through. He has a very young family. A little girl and a boy... both under 10 years of age. This news particularly struck home as I lost my father at a very early age. I was five when he passed away. I know how life-changing this kind of a disaster can be.
I have now made a fresh resolution to not complain too much about the day to day problems that I face. This kind of an event does put things into perspective.

Please pray for my sister's friend - Alka. I'm hoping their little family will be able to cope with all the challenges that this illness has brought to them.

Carpe Diem

To live each day as if it were your last. Easily said, isn't it? Do you really think about it? what would you do if this day were your last? I thought about it and came to the depressing conclusion that I would definitely not want to go to work on my last day. Does that mean I'm in the wrong job? Following your dreams and chasing your goals is all fine, but could I really quit my job in search of something far less tangible? A far-off glimmering mirage? I don't think so. But I do think that if I don't like my job, then there are things I can do to better my day. Like for instance, beginning to blog again. Blogging helps me believe that I too am a writer. And this is definitely something I want to take to my last day. What other things would I want to do? I would want to spend the day with my mom, my husband and my sister. What else? I would not want a single last day... I would want a whole month, maybe a few years worth of last days... I would want to travel and find new things every single day, speak multiple languages with flair and ease, play some sport, learn to dance.

Hmmmmmm.

Hmmm...

Two things that have deeply affected me in the past week:1. Monday's headline news in the Times of India regarding the husband who murdered his wife after suspecting that she had an affair with a colleague at work. This was very disturbing because i could relate to the people involved in the murder. They were newly married - less than a year since the wedding. He was a software engineer. She was working in a bank. Parents were away in another city. They were staying alone in Koramangala. She'd been coming home late for some time and I don't know if she actually had an affair or not. But the fact that he decided to murder her over it was something I could just not accept. So scary!!! Does this kind of thing actually happen in real life? Apparently it does. FACT IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.
2. The tamil movie Anjaathe. What a scary movie. The modus operandi followed to kidnap the girls was eerily believable. No dramatics. And the villain of the movie - Prasanna has essayed an extremely convincing role. His perverted activities, the way he held the mirror beneath the door to watch the heroine change clothes!!! It gives me goosebumps and scares me.. a hell of a lot!

Tagged!!

Lipstick tagged me!! So here goes - 8 random facts about myself:
1. I have wanted to be tagged for a very long time and often regretted the fact that so few of my friends were part of the blogosphere!!
2. I have very oddly shaped fingers - a person looking at them suddenly could not be blamed for thinking they were the hands of a sick person.
3. I love playing Devil's advocate - it doesn't matter on most issues which side i'm on!
4. Although I loved the book 'To kill a MockingBird' - I couldn't understand why it is considered a novel of such great importance.
5. I absolutely have to have pickle with my curd rice - can't live without it.
6. I used to be scared to sleep in the afternoon as a child because people would do things without me and I would feel left out when i woke up!
7. I have never liked maths and I believe IT has never liked me...
8. I hate that I'm kind of a hypocrite at times, saying one thing and knowing and believing that it was not quite true.

Let me pass the tag:

Vidya
Satish
Lakshmi
Deepika

Better Late than never.. !

Hello people.. !

I'm back...!!!!

Check out this review:
http://happinessisastateofmind.blogspot.com/2007/07/happy-potter-and-alls-well-that-ends.html

It echoes my feelings about the book almost exactly. And Radhika's thought of quite a few things I hadn't thought to question...

Magic

Because some plateaus are magical.

Moonlight and Shadows

Did you see those shadows in the moonlight?
They blended and merged...
And then disappeared.

Looking into a distant mirror.

"Into the dream you came

And across the soft carpet of my reverie you walked

With hobnail boots ..."

Quoted from Linda Goodman's Sun Signs

Choices we make....

Every move, every minute, every second...
Is a choice you make.

Don't keep those illusions alive,
Nothing happened on it's own.

A bicycle that's ridden by two,
If destiny rides on one pedal,
Your feet ride the other.

Watch that road you're on.

Why I reach out to you..

We take strange things for granted. My blog for instance. But very few things can take being granted so much in stride and still be there for you within reaching distance. Thank you for being there.

To who i thought i knew

Fool's day was yesterday. You cannot make a fool of me anymore.

To write each day

I cannot promise that i will be here each day
But I will not stay so far away
You knew I would come back today.

Didn't you, Monday?

Tuesday to Monday.

Black is bold

I need to grow up
I need to face facts
I need to be strong
I need to be myself.

I need to be black...
From today...

When you think you know someone... .

People can surprise you...
When you think you know someone..
and it turns out you don't...
but you thought you did.

Remember it hurts.

I thought I knew you.

You Belong to Me

Spooky?? Haunting?? Or just sad and sweet?

--------------------------------------------------
You Belong to Me

See the pyramids around the Nile
Watch the sun rise
From the tropic isle
Just remember darling
All the while
You belong to me

See the market place
In old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember
When a dream appears
You belong to me

And I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too

Fly the ocean
In a silver plane
See the jungle
When it's wet with rain
Just remember till
You're home again
You belong to me

Oh I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too

Fly the ocean
In a silver plane
See the jungle
When it's wet with rain
Just remember till
You're home again
You belong to me

--------------------------------------------------

POST-IT

---------------------------------------------
i hate hanging up...
i hate the silence that lingers on...
i hate the echoes it leaves in my heart...

it's as if something's been torn away from you
and no matter how long the goodbye has been
it was still too short...

a deep sigh..
a lump in your throat...
you were being held so warm...
when did it become so cold?

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An update after so long:

I haven't been able to blog in such a long while. Too many reasons why Ididn't. I haven't had the time. I haven't had net access. Too manythings were flying round in my head and I was scared that I would know what they were if I wrote them down. First things first - HAPPY NEW YEAR - as we now say it here -あけましてのおめでとうございます. Yes, you guessed right.

I am back in Japan. And this time again, it is so different from the last couple of times I was here. The last time I was here, I was completely entranced by Japan. It was a full fledged love affair right from day one. The language, the people, the malls, the temples. And this time again, it's different. I would never want to settle down here. It's so cold for one thing. I don't think I could ever get used to being this cold. And there's a lot to be said for the comforts of life in India. Come out of work, or finish shopping. Catch an auto, get dropped right in front of home. Go home from work to a nice hot dinner that amma has made. Wake up to the smell of coffee and a fresh newspaper. And last but certainly not the least of all - stay close to to everyone you love.Hmmmm - Ok enough. That is too much nostalgia. Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about a book I recently read. Lisey's Story - By Stephen King. This is Stephen King's latest offering and maybe it's because of themood I am in right now - the book made a wonderful read. It's not fastpaced, not terribly thrilling. But it frightens in places and makes you laugh in many. You laugh and cry with Lisey as she rediscovers her husband's life.This is a short post after being away for so long. But what can I say - Iwant to post it before I start feeling I don't have enough to say and delete it.

Seeing the Sea...

A plateau where a summit should be...
A plateau where an abyss could be...

Mirage-like in the distant horizon.
Just beyond the bend.
Almost there now.

Creative Ads from all round the world!

Found this in Mari's blog today

Cool ads!!! And there were two from India... one from our own Eatalica in Chennai.

http://www.eglobe1.com/index.php/2006/10/16/creative-advertisements-around-the-world/

And this is pretty funny too!! Again from Mari...

wiki's better half!
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

I'm going to read Virginia Woolf...

I saw (The) Hours yesterday. Some blogger (I forget who...) had claimed that this movie was the best movie he/she had seen. So with a lot of expectation, i finally saw the movie yesterday.

How did I like the movie?? Uhmmmm... I don't really know. I didn't understand much of it. But the concept was awesome. It brought together three women living in different ages with a book "Mrs Dalloway". One of the women in the story was the writer of the book - which brings me to the title of this post - Virginia Woolf. The other two women were deeply influenced by her book and her life.

The movie deals with suicide and life and death and when one becomes meaningless and lets the other swallow it up. Suicide is not something i relate to. Even in my worst depressions i have always wanted to live. But does it require courage or is it cowardice? Is it always better to choose life over death?

There's something that I've noticed - when you start liking or noticing or thinking about something - it suddenly seems to be all over the place. Was it always there? Or did you bring it in because you started thinking of it? I watched The Hours and the next day I started reading a book - unconsciously. This book also seems to be about suicide but i don't know for sure - since i've only begun reading it - It's called "Veronika Decides to Die".

Alright... enough diggression - back to the title of this post. Virginia Woolf is a famous writer from the time between the 2 world wars the 1920's and the 1930's i suppose. I've heard of her before - that she was a feminist and that she was a great writer. But i've never read her. The Hours has made me realize i've missed something.

I'm going to start by reading more about her... here