Gag bag

I had this great feeling today. I was in Domino's pizza, waiting for my pizza to be handed over to me. And as is the flavor of the month, the T20 match matches were being shown on the television there...
So ya, the match between England and India was just about to start. And the national anthems were being played. And as soon as ours started, I suddenly saw people stopping all their activities, and standing up in respect. Of course not everyone did, but I felt a great feeling of respect for the ones who did. I at first didn't realize why they were standing, but the moment I realized, I got up too..!!! I had thought that patriotism has been lost on its way till now, but that's not the case as is visible.. Of course, standing up for the anthem doesn't mean you are patriotic, but its atleast respecting your country, and it does add to it if not complete it...
That way, I am also amazed when I go to play on Fergusson College ground in the evening. We meet there to play football, and like every ground in India, its awfully crowded. But around 6:00, Vande Mataram is played. And for those 2 minutes or so, the whole ground, take it form me, the whole ground, maybe comprising of all the 100-200 people there stop everything they are doing, and stand up, keep still at heir places and sing along...
Kudos to the Indians.!! Who says the feeling is dying away..!! Its strong as it was, and will be forever...!!!

Was watching Marley and Me right now, and one of the line really caught me. The hardest job in the world in being a parent, and the absurd thing is that no one trains you for it!!! I mean everyone knows that eventually there will come a time in every person’s life when he ll have to face it, but still, after all that, you aren't given any heads up about it. That's not fair is it?
And then I started wondering and thinking about it, all the while while watching the movie. And it really made a lot of sense. I may be talking like a grown up suddenly, or like someone who is about to become a parent (hola!!!) but seriously! You got to give up so much! It’s not fair, the system that is, in which we are supposed to raise kids. The whole world is getting too messy and confused and overwhelming and intangible and crammed up and what not to be able to really enjoy the process! Is this how one dreams of it? Is this how one wants it to be?
Then why are we forced to do it this way? Why is there so much competition in the world that one can't take a little time out to maybe enjoy life's fruits? Or to just stand and stare!!!
Maybe it was the way it should be one time ago. And then it became so awesome, the raising up the kids, that there was this outbreak of babies all around. And then, this lead to population explosion, which is now the reason behind the competition. So in this case, it hasn't been like always, where we have been responsible for our own mess. God made the process so enjoyable, and people were just enjoying it! Now as a counter to it, he has just made life miserable, which will give us no time to raise offspring, and thereby reduce population, or atleast hope to control it.
But as it stands this is the way we have to deal with it. And how to face it? Who will do the sacrifice? In the movie, it suddenly becomes a chaotic situation. But since it was a movie/book, the writers/authors could control the characters, and made it into a happy ending. But does that happen in real life? Is it possible to swallow all the ego, all the pain, all the misery and let the relation go strong on and on? Will this be just one way, and will the dominating character always have his/her way?
Too many questions make it an exam! And I seriously don't want to make this as difficult as one. But this is just too much to think on right? And I don't know why this is turning out to be so so overwhelming. But it certainly is. Just hope that the process of gaining the knowledge is as much fun. Like how it was while entering school. Or while entering college. There are these things in life which really make you what you are. Which really lets you macerate and enjoy the process. Make you enjoy the first time...!!!
I never thought I could suddenly turn so serious. But that’s what life offers you right? Like Owen Wilson quotes for himself, “I have this tendency to surprise myself...!” Hope I really do!!!
On a different note, the idea of a columnist isn't that bad a profession. I would love to do that... Or will I? Maybe the first time will tell it..!! Like always...!!
Think before you blink, they say (who really says that???)!!!! I thought a lot, now it’s time for me to blink for a long long time...!!! G'nite folks...!!!

I was and am never a fan of Bollywood, and amnot exactly a great follower either. But something about movies repels me, and I don't quite know what. Maybe its the perofrmances the cast put in. Am not sure. But ya, recently I came across this article describing the actresses as we love them in Bollywood, for their splendid performances. I for one, am never quite a follower of movies and the lot, but this did strike me rich, and hence I had to include this in my list...
In the male dominated film industry, there haven't been but a few actresses who have shown their mettle, and proved why they are at times bigger than the movie they depict... Here's a small list (due to my lack of knowledge as such) about the females who pulled off quite a show...!!!

I would start from:

Hema Malini - In Sholay as Basanti
Dimple Kapadia - In Bobby as Bobby
Rekha - In Khoobsurat as Manju
Madhuri Dixit - In Hum Aapke Hai Kaun as Nisha
Kajol - In Kuch Kuch Hota Hai as Anjali
Priety Zinta - In Kal Ho Na Ho as Naina
Kareena Kapoor - In Jab We Met as Geet
Genelia D'souza - In Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na as Aditi

There may be lots more, some that I won't even be aware of. So do suggest in case you recall some memorable role..!!

I always use notebooks while studying. I mean i don't study much, but the number of notebooks i use makes up for the notion. I find it useful or atleast aiding my concentration to scribble down or jot down stuff while reading any study material. Also it provides a good passtime to maybe keep drawing things, shading stuff or writing random text alongside. It makes up for the boredom. Anyway so ya, while writing or taking notes, I keep this side work going on too. So over the past few years I have a collection of such books of varying sizes. A few days back, while clearing up the mess I made, I found a lot of these books. And just out of curiosity, I went through some of them, to just check back what I did these years. And suddenly I was filled with awe and respect for myself :-) to know I wrote so much and some of it so well. It really is a treasure, and some of the scribblings or art forms you made during that time draws you back to those days. And you can then clearly visualize yourself doing those scribings. Many poems, some classic one-liners, on the spur of the moment drawn images, some stuff you spent a lot of time on to generate, drawings of teachers and students and the likes, jokes and so much more. Its lovely to feel all these things coming on to you so quickly, as and how you turn each page. Shows you how much you were paying attention when doing a certain work. I never knew myself so much, and i feel this is the feeling you get on maintaining a diary. But the one difference is that in a diary, you write things so that you remember things later on. Its with a purpose. Here, you never know if you are ever going to lay your hands on this book. So, this is more impromptu and honest. It shows you your best, worst, happiest, saddest moments without a mark of dishonesty. It shows you in your most innocent form, your most crazy hour. Its the best diary ever. And I feel proud and lucky to have discovered the treasure they hold..

The other day, I got this sudden inspiration to fly kites. We used to do that a lot(not lots, but ya, there were these times when we were crazy about them)as kids. And since I am pretty much jobless now-a-days, i felt that well, I want to fly kites now. So I went through my old stuff, found the 'firki', got the 'manja' too. So all I needed was a kite. We used to have two tapris(or what you ll call extremely small lane-side shops) nearby from where we got kites. I went there only to find that they had closed down in the time that went by. So well, I started hunting for more shops that sell kites. To my wonder, I didnt find a single one. Not one shop sold kite in the areas I searched.
Now this is really bad, to know that not one shop sells kites. The big bazaars and the likes boast of keeping every small thing, right from a pin to furniture to I dunno, maybe a locomotive too. But they cant keep a single simple thing like a kite, which costs between Re.1 to Rs.5 max.
And then I realized that well, if I found out a thing like this, there must be so many things which have become a thing of the past in the time between. And someone somewhere must be missing it.
And now, coming to think of it, its not just the availability stuff that's lost in between. We as people have changed a lot too. The skills that once many people manned are now a rare sight. Atleast in our generation, and here I am speaking of my peers, very rarely does anyone know how to fly kites. For that matter, none of the old games are in vogue nowadays, like bhovra(top), gotya(marbles) etc. People have moved on and these things have lost themselves on their way. Is it for the good, is it for the bad, one can never say. But as a person, I certainly wish that these things aren't totally lost, cause that will really be a major cultural loss. Something must be done to revive them. And I am happy that I can safely say that I can play all these games and can pass them on. Can you? If yes, please do.. Else these skills will really be lost in translation...

Ok, the title makes no sense. It was just because its a follow up of the earlier one...
Anyways, continuing with the usual trend of the in holiday stuff to do, I am doing my bit with the cooking thing which I always enjoy. Just today, I tried Chocolate chip muffins. And wow, they turned lovely. A little too sweet maybe for the likings of the people at home, but well, it was no problem to get them going down my throat with the sweet tooth I have....
I thought of some extra stuff which maybe I could have done, which was making the muffins of a chocolate base too, and not just the chips in it. But well, that will be when I try it the next time...

Ingredients:
*2 cups flour
*1/2 cup sugar
*2/3 cup milk
*Maybe 3 teaspoons of drinking chocolate (this is not tried, this I intend to use next time)
*2 teaspoons of baking powder
*1/2 cup butter (if salted, don't add salt later on)
*2 eggs
*vanilla essence
*chocolate chips (this I thought would be available at ease in any store. But apparently they weren't. So I just got a bar of Cadbury, and cut them into pieces. A Rs.20 bar is enough for the above)


Method is fairly self explanatory. Beat the eggs, add butter, milk, essence and whip up again. On another side, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder. Add the ultimate moment, mix these two together. While mixing, take care you only stir in one direction, and don't over mix it, else the eggs lose their bloating stuff as I hear. Add some chips in the dough. The rest, decorate on top. Add in small muffin trays, and put into a preheated oven at 180 C for around 20-25 mins. Eat with anything..!!! They are tasty anyway... :)
Enjoy

Actually this came as quite a surprise that I decided to write this post. I wasn't so much in the mood to write one, and its pretty late as well, so I am not up for it as well. But something just struck me, and I had to stop everything I was doing, and just get down to writing this.
Another thing is that this was one topic I had decided I would write on some days ago, but never got to elaborate on it, cause say, maybe for lack of time or just laziness on my part. But well, one thing now and it suddenly dawned that I had to write it because it was all the part of a sequence which was pointing to the same thing.
Now I am really confused how to start and go about the topic, because I don't know whether to give priority to my older story, or the newer one. But well, lets see... :)
The thing is I was watching P. S. I Love you right now. Its nothing about the movie, but rather how the whole thing has led me to think so much. It could have been any other damn movie, but the lead up to it led it to this thing. Ok, well, I am just dragging the story as if I am writing an examination paper. So ya, I am watching this movie. Actually, I got the movie from a friend today, but for some reason, it was not getting copied the whole way into my pen drive. So I was like well, I will just copy as much as I can. Leave the rest to well, time. So all along while watching I know that at some point it is going to end. And let me tell you, that's so disturbing. Because whenever a scene or a story line starts, you start wondering if this will get cut off mid way eventually. And this keeps playing at the back of your mind. So you can't just concentrate. It's like as if you know that you are going to die sometime in the day, but just don't know when. The wondering really kills you.
Well ya, so that was the story. Which led me to my earlier topic. Which was supposed to be on how thankful I am about life as a whole. I mean the most wonderful thing about life is that you can't predict it. And though at points we are like "why can't I figure out for sure what is going to happen", I think that's life's best gift. Else it would be plain boring, and it would give you nothing to look forward to, nothing to hope for, nothing to dream about.
From that, I just started wondering how people still don't realize that palm reading, prophecies, future telling, tarot cards are all so waste and sad, even if they were to be true by some godly intervention. I, as an individual, would never want to know whats in store for me. It will just ruin the fun of living life. It will then be like something like a sort of a program. It just wouldn't suit.
Again, from here I go to the point where I say I am against planning. I mean I don't mean to say that don't plan. Do plan, but plan something for a short goal, and keep within your limits. But I guess I have already elaborated on this somewhere in my blog, so I needn't go into that. See, if I had foreseen that I would be writing this then, then I would have never written that then. How life is all so jumbled and nested!!!!
Not much said, but I just had to write this... Keep enjoying the fruits of labour. That is, if you work!!! Else, enjoy the fruits of laziness...!! Either way, it's fun...!!!