I only own my Mind

For Once (again), I’m going to write just for the sake of writing. In the last 15 days, I’ve done nothing. Absolutely nothing! Except, of course, interneting. I’ve explored Facebook a lot. The games there are more than addictive. Then, they tell you all about your personality- things which you already know, things which you didn’t know and things which you’ll never know. And as of now -even though as unfortunately pathetic as it may seem- I’m hooked to all of them pretty badly.

The word ‘addiction’ reminds me of Cigarettes. For those who don’t know, I’ve been smoking for a year now. And still, I’m not addicted to it. I’ve heard all the horrendous stories about smoking, and I’m aware of all the consequences. But I don’t find anything wrong in 3-4 cigarettes in a day, coz I’ve seen people finishing 2-3 packs in a day (which is 40 cigarettes, for all you non-smokers). This doesn’t mean that I’m justifying myself. Smoking is injurious to health invariably. My solace is that I know I can quit smoking whenever I want to. But the fact is, right now I don’t want to. When you have nothing to do, a cigarette is the best way to kill time. It gives you psychological effect of relaxation. [Which it so does not]. Interestingly, my academic performance has been getting better since I’ve been smoking. [Again, I know smoking has got nothing to do with it, I just like boasting around this fact 😛 ]. And I blame absolutely no one for my starting of smoking. Nobody forced me. It was my whim to try it out. I don’t like people accusing others for their bad habits. Yes, this is one of my innumerable bad habits. But it hasn’t turned so bad that I regret it. And it never would, touchwood! I’ll quit smoking the day I’ll feel it is enough. Like I quit flirting 😉 .. And if she’ll insist!

This was so not what I envisaged writing myself. But what is written is written.

I’ve been listening to quite a few new (for me, that is) songs and bands of late. Foremost amongst them are Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pearl Jam and Metallica.

Led Zeppelin were the precursors to bands like GNR, Aerosmith, Metallica.. And I can see why. Achilles last stand, Battle of Evermore, Whole outta love, Kashmir are definitely worth listening of theirs. Of course, Stairway to Heaven has always been there.

I always wanted to be a die-hard fan of AC/DC. Their tees, posters are damn so cool. Now I see myself becoming one. Back in Black, Highway to Hell, Jailbreak, Hell’s Bells is what I’ve listened of them so far. There will be more of them in coming days, definitely.

There is something about Pearl Jam (and for that matter, Nirvana -Kurt Cobain- too). Their music is addictive. Like anything. I just have listened to I am Mine, and I’m already their fan. Sometimes, just one song is more than enough to realize this. Jeremy, Black, Evenflow, Indifference are still left.

Ehh.. Metallica! When I tell people I listened to rock, and then I tell I haven’t heard Metallica yet.. You should see the look on their faces! They gimme the look like- ‘What is rock apart from Metallica and Linkin Park’? (Sadly, for most people, ‘rock’ is confined to LP and Metallica). I’ve started Metallica just for the sake of people. And now that I have, I know what people have been talking about all this while. Similar to my previous experiences with F.R.I.E.N.D.S, LOTR, Godfather et al. Turn the Page has been outstanding track for me so far. Fade to Black, Master of Puppets, One, Outlaw Torn, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman are also there, apart from that. But I don’t like their kind of lyrics (and LP’s too). It’s too depressing and filled with rage.

Just for the records, GnR has been my most preferred band for quite some time now. And it would be! But I don’t know how much loyalty will I be able to show to their latest album [Chinese Democracy, which has been in making for last 14 years now, and 9 of whose tracks reportedly leaked out before the official release of album which is scheduled in this  July-August. They were on YouTube too.. but now they have been removed], mostly because Slash isn’t there anymore.

Sometimes I think, I just show off too much. Like right now. Did I really need to write all this here? We’ll never know! 🙂

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The traffic on my blog has returned to previous numbers, like it used to be. 10-15 visits a day, that is. I don’t like it, but it doesn’t bother me much either. I don’t take my blogging so seriously now. I guess I never did. By the way, check these comic strips out. I think they’re the latest buzz around. I thank Nidhi for introducing them to me.

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Of Caped Avenger’s & Spaceman Spiff’s

Calvin & Hobbes is amazing! Superb. One of the most hilarious oeuvres of literature you’ll ever find. Well, not exactly it is “literature” in exact sense of word, but as close to it as anything else. It’s astounding how just a few picture frames can make your innards curl with laughing pleasure. But that is not all. The way the kid gives you well thought, ontological, post modern mooting to think upon is equally commendable too. The witticism is unprecedented. Great works are always copied, or at least they conveniently “inspire” generations to come. Like the animation of TZP. That wasn’t just inspiration. It was plain copy-paste. This is just one of innumerable instances I’ve come across yet. I’m sure there are many more in this planet hovering around, only to be discovered.

And after I was done with C&H, I needed something similar to keep my laughing bones in good working condition. So yesterday I downloaded 450 MB of Garfield. [I’d really like to thank Marcello Sandos.] It is good, but not as good as C&H. Perhaps coz it’s a cat, and as human beings, we can never relate to animals (no matter how cute and witty they sound) as much as we can to another fellow of our own species.

Here is the link to Download Calvin & Hobbes collection, and this one is for Garfield.I sincerely hope you people will enjoy as much as I did.

Kudos to Bill Waterson and Jim Davis! 🙂

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Tag-Book

So I got tagged again. Weirdest, Fully Faaltoo kinda tag.. whosoever started it. But I must adhere to the norms of blogosphere, and go ahead in completing it. By the way, there is another tag pending too.. by the same person. I think I’ll do it later.

Status Quo– I’m feeling damn sleepy. But I can’t sleep. I’ve got some downloads presently, and I just can’t leave ’em unattended, coz my comp is also cribbing for restarting on account of ‘automatic upgrade finished’.. big deal!

Anyway, the rules of this tag are that you’ve to write 3 lines starting from 5th sentence of page no. 123 of book which is lying nearest to you. (Now you know why I said it to be ‘fully faaltoo’) Wait! There is more to it. You also have to acknowledge the person who tagged you. (And now I know why I was tagged!)

The only book which I’ve got here with me is A House for Mr. Biswas by VS Naipaul. (I’ve been carrying this book for almost an year now, and I’ve done like 200 pages of it yet. Only the almighty know when will I be able to finish it with this pace). The lines which I’m about to quote doesn’t make any sense, at least not to me.

‘I see you have got your name in the papers’, Seth said.

Mr. Biswas shrugged.

The gods swung slowly in the hammock, frowning.

Now comes the difficult part. How do I acknowledge? Anyhow, I must! Lets say, the blogger who has tagged me is Jamaican Hash. (Kewl name? Not really, it’s just an anagram 😀 ) I’d mostly comment on her blogging paradigm. She is fine blogger. Rather, Very Fine. Perhaps, one of the finest I’ve come across yet. A bit senti kinda. I always don’t appreciate what she writes, but the way she writes makes up for pretty much everything else. There are times when I’m so engrossed in her musings that I forget to comment. Which gives an impression that I wasn’t there (on her blog, I mean). Now I really can’t be held responsible for all this impunity, am I? Sui Generis, is the word for her. Period.

I don’t have many blog buddies to thrust this tag upon. You may assume I’m not that extrovert when it comes to blogging. Nonetheless, my point is that I’m not nominating anyone to carry this tag forward. Those who want to, may do. And there is no compulsion for anyone of you to acknowledge me, in case if you want to do this tag. As it is, there is nothing much to acknowledge. 🙂

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Repudiations.

What if you had picked me?

As a matter of fact, that guy in the pic would have been Me!

I’d sure have held you a lot more closer,

A lot more tighter

..And that smile on your face would have been a lot more broader.

That glow on your face, much brighter.

The world envies him now,

As it would have done with me.

But after what you did to me,

I’m afraid now anyone would ever want to Be…

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Random Ramblings

• Okay, so first of all.. I’m too glad to see this lousy net working finally. It’s not too often I get to work on my own comp these days.
• Have you ever realized, how some people are immortalized after their death? Answer this honestly, how many of you heard of Yves Saint Laurent[aka YSL] before his death? No doubt he was an iconic figure in fashion sphere, but did -and do- we really care? Here is an interesting trivia, I share my birthday with him, but I came to know about this fact only today! I wonder what will happen when SRK or Big B will die. That was creepy, I know 😀
• I’m in mixed mood. I’m excited, coz Euro Cup is round the corner. I’m sad coz I won’t be able to see it live. There could be nothing more exciting than watching a live football game. Teams and players really don’t matter untill it’s soccer. The match between two local school teams is as good as Brazil vs Argentina, if you’ve enough of soccer in you. My personal favourites are again France. Just because of Zizou. Although he isn’t there in the team anymore, yet I’d continue my loyalty with them. I hope Thiere Henry will be in his club form, now that Zizou is gone. Viera and Makelele might do wonders despite their age. And Trezeguet has always been there.
• I finished first three movies of Star Wars series today. Now I want rest of them, asap! But that isn’t happening until July. The kind of technology George Lucas used then, will we ever be able to use at least in near future? By ‘We’, I mean ‘Us’.. i.e Indian Film Industry. And talking about movies, and songs, if you like the song ‘Iris’ by Goo Goo Dolls, then you must watch City of Angels asap. You’ll like the song even more. The lyrics of the song are damn perfect for the movie. And the film in itself is worth watching for.
• I finished Godfather [the book] in 8 hours, Animal Farm in 3 hours, and currently am reading Lolita and The Trial. But I just don’t know how to upload them in widgets, now that the old wordpress is gone and I’ve no idea where from to get the web link of my posted images. Somebody please help!

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Grow Up.. Or Don’t?

Living all by yourself, in a completely strange city.. is not an easy thing to do. I’m glad, perhaps a little proud of myself that I’ve come up in flying colours in this task. Well, not exactly “flying colours”, but I’ve done decently good till yet. Although, I’m faltering in the job which I was supposed to ho here, but I don’t regret that. I think, on some level, I’m doing it deliberately; without being consciously aware of it nonetheless. I know this for sure that I don’t want to come back to this place again. For that matter, I don’t want to work in any such kinda place ever! I don’t see myself like this. I just don’t belong here. And after all I’ve done, I don’t deserve being here.

No, I’m not asking for too much. Just a small cubicle in an air-conditioned office with a desktop computer isn’t too much to ask for, is it? My other peers are pretty much in the same state. And they talk of egalitarian society!

This is so not the way I imagined my summer training to be.

***

For the very first time today, I missed my family. This was induced when I saw the orkut profile of one of my cousin’s. That kid, has been born and brought up in front of me. He was the only baby who was my favourite [of course, at that time I was too dumb to like kids; Whatever] and is 9 years younger than me. He is in class 6th, and he is on Orkut. Orkut has been a phenomenon, hasn’t it? Now I really feel like a grown up. Finally I do! But I’m not too excited about it. I’d rather be my Papa’s kid, continue fighting my sis over the last piece of Kurkure, and shun away all the responsibilities. But no matter how much I want that to happen, it is never going to happen again. 😦

पूरब से, सूर्य उगा, ढला अंधियारा..
जागी हर दिशा-दिशा, हुआ उजियारा|

The last time I heard this song, I vividly remember I did not use to go to school then. I’m not kidding, but I haven’t heard it since then. There was a video too, of this song, which used to come before the 8:30 evening news on Doordarshan. I know I can easily find that on you-tube or something. But the thing is that I don’t want to see it again. I don’t want those memories to come back. I won’t be able to see it.

Why do we have to grow up, after all? 😦

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