Sunday, January 28, 2007

Book

I lose myself in your pages
the weird worlds I slip into so easily
The last words I cannot help but read first
Sometimes I go through you greedily
over and over again

I love you my heart!
Even when you are hard
and my wrist hurts just holding you
close to my face

I flutter along with you
and I can smell the newness
the promise of a journey
and many places and people
some dead and some fictional

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Black dress


So this new year for some stupid reason I decided to wear a black dress, a tight off shoulder type thing from Marks and Spencer which unnecessarily cost a lot of money but for some reason when I saw myself in the trial room mirror by some magic I looked good to myself so I called Anshuman and asked-' Should I buy it?' He like always said,' Do you like it?' I said ' Yes' and that was the beginning of my pre new year.
I spent almost the entire day in the beauty parlour getting myself smoothened and shined and polished and buffed. Even got my hair done which is unusual for me. I came back home wearing at least thirty clips meant to hold the curls in place which incidentally is better than coming home with a head full of henna paste covered with a plastic bag. So I took off the clips and realised the small curls were a mistake. So I uncurled them which left my head in a mass of unruly big curls which was a slightly lesser mistake.
Then comes the act of make up. My foundation is as old as my marriage. The reason I haven't bought a new one is that everytime the sales woman suggests a shade it is always darker than the one I have. I am in denial about the fact that by some strange magic called time I have become darker. So I managed to take out enough foundation out of the bottle with the help of the wooden end of a paint brush. Then the blush then dark eyeshadow then light shiny eyeshadow then I looked everywhere for the eyeliner, I looked everywhere for the eyeliner and I couldn't find it. Finally I wore the dress and stood in front of Anshuman and asked,'How do I look? Do I look fat?'
He said,' You're not thin but you're not fat.'
That was good enough for me. ' And the make up? Too much? '
He said the foundation was a bit much. So I took off the dress, washed my make up. Stuck the paint brush in the bottle, did the blush, did the eye shadow and looked again for the eyeliner without any success. Finally I got approval so I wore my glasses, put on a shawl and we set off towards the New years' eve.
I soon realised that the dress was ripping from the side. I caught a reflection of myself in a mirror and later in the pictures one of which is above and realised the whole exercise was a mistake. It was too late by then so off we went to Wafi City for a party where the DJ had found the most unheard of songs with the exception of Summer of 69. I admire him for that as it must have taken him listening to obscure songs for a long time to come up with that song list. In any case everyone decided to leave and we landed up at Ananth's place. Everyone began grooving to hindi numbers when the neighbourhood cop ( he literally is a neighbour of Ananth) came up and said we couldn't play loud music so off went the music...the evening pretty much ended with Rajiv singing a couple of songs.
I came home and got out of the ripped dress and breathed a sigh of relief as I finished washing my face. I felt like myself again in my old nightdress. I fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning feeling absolutely comfortable.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Here we are

and so it is
just like you said it would be
life goes easy on me
most of the time...

( excerpt from Blower's daughter by Damien Rice)

That describes the year gone by beautifully. A few days ago I got an email message from myself. It's some website that does this for a living. Point is that I had written ' You will have a healthy and peaceful life. ' It's like that message came flying back to me from the past and burst forth in a crackle and glitter of fireworks!

So this first day of the year and I am in a thankful mood so I will thank everyone on my list and wish them a wonderful, healthy, joyous and soulful 2007. I like the number 7...I realised it recently when I read my poems and found that I repeatedly used it.

First of all God, I found my faith last year when I prayed to Sai Baba- PLEEEEASE send me a doggy. And he did. He's there alright.

My maid Mary for making my bed every alternate day for the past few months. I didn't know maids actually did that. And for being hilarious about drinking beer on Christmas and throwing up then telling me about it and then telling me to drink beer too.

My friends Ananth and Arti for being excellent hosts. I love the hilarious Himesh Reshammiya impersonation he did on my birthday, and Arti for her boundless energy and sense of humour.

CK for being utterly funny when drunk, equally funny when not drunk, terrible flirt at all times and probably one of the most generous people I know. Bindu his wife for being the best at giving hugs and making delicious food. Noni for being a sweetheart of a little girl and dancing like Aishwarya on the beach to everyone's delight.

Swasti for being the only person from NID who continues to write to me even when I forget to reply. Everytime I told her about my goof ups she smiled like a light bulb and said " IT HAPPENS YAAR!!!" and went on to site a few examples.

Cybill for being short fair and handsome and silly and horribly talented and always available on MSN. An absolute sweetheart.

Rahul Guha for his excellent advice and unavailability on phone and email and chat.

Shilpa for becoming one of my closest friends in a short time and giving me a beautiful tiny winged gaurdian angel and sending me regular forwarded mail to do TP.

Bharti for knowing the meaning and nuances and inside and outside of rationality and passing on some of it to me.

Arun for telling me never to stop writing and just do it.( I wish I listened to him)

Mukul for being the best brother and blogger I know.

Anna and Papa for being my loving parents for the last 6 years.

Mini my little sister for being awake and taking my late night calls.

My parents for everything.

Anshuman for being a sweetheart, cooking prawns and fish, being loving in general, getting Doggie, dancing in the living room to his own tune, being loving in general, being generous, taking doggie for walk, being loving in general, reassuring me that I am neither thin nor fat, commenting on excess foundation on my face, being loving in general, dancing with me and singing Annie's song loudly in my ear when drunk, taking one thousand pictures of me with doggy, being loving...

Checkers aka Ninna aka Ninka for being the most beautiful, loving, indisciplined doggy and making my life sooooooooooooooo much better.

I love all of the above with the exception of Mary the maid and wish them and all those who read this a wonderful, happy new year!!