Food in email attachments

Transport and communication: We see advancements in the two and it was once said that it is a race between the two. The one that wins would put the other out of business.

Well, to the real world now. Have you ever thought of how painful it is to drive long distances to get good food? Or the times when you’re working and so hungry that you wish food came to you?

Here is the Winvention you want (Winvention = Wonder Invention, I coined the term a couple of years ago)

What you do is – attach food like an email attachment and mail it across to the recipient. This can work in restaurants, fast food joints and also from your home.

Tangle..

Well, I must confess I think abstract many times. Which is why I can relate very well to every abstract post of Gaizabonts. And here is my first attempt at putting it across.

One likes to ignore the tangle. The complex web of intricate relationships, discords and disagreements. When one refuses to admit there’s a web, it’s easy to deal with it.  Go around it in a old deserted house as if it has to be there to complete it.

And there is disharmony only when one makes an attempt to untangle it, to break the cobwebs. The attempt to eliminate disharmony contributes to creating it. Or it makes one painfully aware that it was present and the aspect you tried to ignore is real. It removes the option of escaping. The safe and secure cocoons are shattered, just like the person who tried to untangle it.

Withering warmth

Somehow, the onset of holidays and vacation is not bringing the kind of joy that I expected. This is a personal post. Pretty pensive.

This post is dedicated to all people who once shared something deep and real called friendship. And the very same who have drifted far.

Yes, this includes you who just sends a mail why there’s no post on the blog for sometime. This also includes you with whom I have restricted conversations because we have different viewpoints on things. Also includes you who cites being very busy when I remind you of no phone calls. It also includes you who were my Friday lunch partner to try out all the restaurants in the area. And to go to Bengloor Habba and other places at the drop of a hat. To try out all whacky things. To make pledges to go bungee jumping.

This includes you all with whom I discuss all my plans for a road trip and for every 10 such intense plannings, one happens. All the reply-all mails with fun and frolic.

Life has lost its charm without all of you. The morning is a little less chirpy because your absence is felt. Our real and mock fights are substituted with a polite and diplomatic – How are you? Howz life?

The shopping till the last penny and thinking if we can afford to pay up when the credit card bill arrives and giggling about the whole thing is replaced with careful consideration and saying no. Well, wisdom, you see.

Your Good morning mails that used to arrive everyday and I’d taken for granted is now so so rare that I’ve given up even expecting it anymore. Missing the fight over the samosa where we used to call each other expletives for not being able to lay hands on the third samosa and eat everything like pigs..or say piglets?

Missing the privilege of pulling people out of cube where they’re doing something very urgent and important just because you want to drink juice and chatting for over an hour. More than everything, missing the liberty I’ve taken with all of you.

Fought with my inhibition of posting anything personal just because it makes me vulnerable. There’s just no point appearing strong when something inside wants the lost beauty and is hurting.

Mumbai in terror grip

All crises, however brutal is out there happening to somebody else while we shake our head in disbelief, express shock and still carry on with what we do always. When it happens to us, it seems unfair that nobody cares and the world is still busy haggling prices, cooking, eating out, and doing things normal that seems so unbearable.

While the enemy is out there garnering people, nurturing them to a common objective, even inculcating the feeling of purpose beyond personal life; here we are totally scattered. All that we offer is a word of mouth sympathy.

Is it so hard to identify with the pain and loss felt by hundreds of our countrymen living in the city paralysed with fear and living life with uncertainty? Do you remember the moments in life when you felt totally isolated and helpless? Loss of a loved one? Failing miserably in something? Losing all you have? What those people feel is much deeper and much more impact bearing than all that!

What do we do? How do we counteract? What is required? People sit up, take notice. What is required to go one step or ten steps forward? And reverse it? If it’s somebody else  today, it could be you tomorrow. And every time you leave things unchecked, it grows stronger with each victory.

I wish there was an answer.. just wish there was a way out.. When everything else is lost, hope remains. Let the hope for a safe and secure tomorrow never diminish. Let it glow bright in any human mind.

What to do? What to do?

Search for a co-worker : When people come searching for your neighbour and ask you if you know where he/she is, get up seriously, go over to the cube, look under the table and announce – “Your game is over. They’ve come for you”

Hide people’s footwear : Go sneak behind somebody who has their feet up and relaxing, grab one footwear and hide it. When they go to search it, sing jhoota ho ya chappal, aakhir kho hi jaata hai..

Ask if the phone line is working: and do this loudly. Announce aloud – phone line is not ok. It’s not connecting any calls and wait to listen to a bunch of people around you checking their phone.

Name the objects in your cube: Did you know that your phone is happier when you call it Tringa, laptop, keyboard all need names. Come on, how else would you differentiate between yours and somebody else’s when there is a dispute. clear your throat and say – my headphones respond to the name – sangeetha. And have everyone roll their eyes over when Sangeetha hops onto your head and dispute is settled. Of course, in your favour, silly.

Sort your cupboard with emotions: Look at the unwanted papers like looking at an era gone by, clutch it closely before deciding to toss it out. Shake your head, close your eyes and toss it in the bin. Full authentic.

Count your square feet of space: Do you know how much space you inhabit? And if you didn’t know, you inhabit this space for 1/3rd of your life. You ought to know.

A still reverie..

Visions of blue and green
Soft music reminisce a dream

Tread paths on grass disappear
The aroma of capuccino to linger

Charm, beauty and glory bid adieu
Fragrances dissipate, taking the cue

Frozen, yet strong not to perish
Lives on in the heart as a wish

Well, read on.. This is the preface..

I am bored. With a capital B. Totally, insanely bored. Had a deadline and was extremely busy for 2 months with time for nothing and here, I am. Wondering suddenly what to do with all the free time.

Well, since I made do with a lot of cereal, curd rice and the likes of it, I decided to indulge my taste buds and prepare something yummy. Well, me a good cook, of course. Made some decent noodles, albeit a with a little extra sauce and ran out of patience while making gobi manchurian that I ate the deep fried cauliflower florets and convinced myself they were much better than the end product anyways. Next day I goofed up in making Hyderabadi biriyani – it lacked the spice and tasted so bland. The “baby potatoes in spicy gravy” had a generous amount of salt that didn’t whet either my appetite or my culinary inclination. So, end of using the kitchen to kill boredom.

I guess I know what I’m going to do. Write a book. Yes, of course. Write a book. There’s been no bestseller of late and I want to give the random people at a party some juice for conversation.

Fella 1: Hey.. Have you read Aurora’s new book?
Fella 2: Oh.. This is not her first one?? Interesting!  I’ve wasted so many years of life not reading such genius work. Sigh!

Some excerpts from my book. It’s titled “Life, living it and loving it” Arre Waah. I’m a genius or what? I thought of that title in less than a second.

Coming back, the book will have interesting chapters about everything you wanted to know to live your life and at the same time, lurrrve it.

Chapter 1: Walking the talk in the park no matter how much dogs bark
Chapter 2: Preparing healthy breakfast that’ll make you run so fast
Chapter 3: Getting to work on time and drinking juice made of lime

To know the other chapters and to book a copy of the book, please leave a comment. I’ll tell you how you can order it with a huge discount and also be invited to the release of the book.

See you all there..

Harmony

Ripples hit the roots of the tree..
Yet it stands unshakeable..

The roots absorb the water..
Yet the river does not dry up..

They live in harmony..
With the perfect balance in give and take..

Be calm as the still waters..
Yet firm as the tree..

First acquaintance

Sometimes, some people become acquaintances. By unconventional ways. You see them on the same bus everyday and they are like you who take the same bus everyday. Waiting for the same registration number in a BTS bus everyday. Well, queer as it may sound, I used to do that.

You see them often when picking vegetables, discarding one beans while picking the other. You catch them do the same with lady’s finger, all in the corner of your eye. You rarely acknowledge their presence nor they do to yours. But both of you know each other exists and it’s a pattern.

People waiting at the bus stop, the ones at the gym, the ones that come to your video library, book library, the ones that jostle for space and stand outside the ration shop. It is funny, you know them, yet don’t know them. You know their faces, the clothes they own, the footwear they wear and can guess at what they might be doing. Yet you don’t smile or say hello to them.

Well, in all these days of going to the park every morning regularly (all these days – 1 month successfully so far) I know the regular 20 – 25 of them and can distinguish them from the other random ones that pop up. Anyways, I was walking as usual and took a break after 4 rounds to do more all the time concentrating on the green in the front. I heard – ‘sustha?’ I thought mind must be playing games. I heard it again ‘susthaa’? And looked up to find an old man, who is a regular, by the way. I said ‘haagenilla’ and then proceeded to walk.

When I encountered him on my next round, he asked me to stop for a chat, told me I could join the exercise learning group if I wanted to. Then introduced himself, and said he was from Mangalore. He belongs to the club that maintains that park and his wife is the secretary of the ladies club. Also, there was a cultural program today at 2pm. I see.. I said ok, smiled and then proceeded to continue with my walking.

Well, tomorrow, I may try to talk to the burkha clad woman whom I banged into once while jogging, or might ask the red haired guy, if his hair is actually red in colour or he painted it that shade. Or might try to talk to the very old man who comes in every morning with biscuits, a bottle of water and a newspaper. Maybe he has a story. A son who snatches his newspaper, perhaps! Who knows??

Word’s work (pun intended)

The walks in the park continue
Amidst sprained knees, I admire the view

Watching people young and old
With hair brown, black and gold

Concentrating beyond their conversations
Turning a blind eye to their appearances

Blocking the traffic that zooms around
Ignoring the school kids and their sound

The focus now is on the trees so green
Pleasant and soothing, say the eyes seen

I plonk on the parks seat overlooking windowsills
Hoping to write the next version of Daffodils