What’s new?

I’ve always been big on procrastinating. Each time getting more adept at it and somehow the guilt quotient seems to be on a decline; works for me. So here we are almost a month into 2011 and I’m wondering what is so different apart from the date, the year, what has changed? The monotony of my days suddenly seems to hit me in the face, what’s frightening is that I’ve become quite comfortable in it.

Yes I have a very big and grand to-do list, all the glorious things I’ve always wanted to do, but somehow these things always have remained in the corner of my handbook, on my study table. They just lay there, never forgotten but never put into action. And the list keeps growing, as does my interest in the varied activities. Today I found 5 such lists I’d made for the last couple of months and when I sat to tick off the things imagine my shock to see the same 1st list with a few additional to-do’s from 1 to 5!! Why didn’t I go for those painting classes I’ve always wanted to? Why didn’t I go learn the art of pottery that has always been on my mind from the time I had seen a documentary on TV showing a woman molding clay into the most beautiful urn ever! And so on… Damn I did not see this coming. Ranting is good, but also I think I had enough, my sincere efforts this year would be to let procrastination be for things I DON’T wish to do, but for things I’ve dreamed of, there’s no putting them off anymore. To-do lists are bad, just plain useless. I’ve decided to have a list that reads ‘things accomplished’ list. So much more better, serves as a reminding slap on the face when ever you look at it and see how short it is than the ‘ever-growing-warming-my-table-to-do’ list. To write, to travel, to do all those things I’ve always wanted to, to stop existing and start living my life, for myself, that’s what 2011 will be for me. *fingers crossed*

Haaaaaappy December folks =)

Winters always do this to me! I love December, no not just because it’s my birthmonth; there’s a whole lot of things about the month that just make it the best. For one, my calendar is scribbled the most on this month, so many happy occasions! Well I’ll ignore the fact that there are so many to steal my thunder but w-o-w so many birthdays in and close to December!

Studying at St.Ann’s, this was the one time that we would look forward to the most;students and teachers alike. The entire atmosphere in school would turn festive and there would always be that cheerful mood about everyone and no not even exams could dampen them. Christmas time! Santa visiting school, giving out gifts, Christmas decorations adorning the place, Christmas carols, just every thing Christmas! Holiday season; even now after all these years.

The food! It's called holiday weight for a reason ;) And it's pardonable, the world can cut you some slack there it's the holidays! So go ahead, BINGE!

Ooooh and the weather! I don’t mind early morning sunshine but I’m more of a Winter person. I’d rather go teeth-clattering my way than sweating; ANY day. The woolens, the warm bed, the comforters, the feel of a cup of hot chocolate in your cold freezing hands…wowie right!? I know a lot of people crave for some sunshine but I don’t mind, I mean we have enough of it throughout the year can I not have just ONE month of my favourite weather? Not like we aren’t doing enough to see to it that we never have winters again; we’ve done enough damage already.

Also the fact that this is the last month of the year would have a lot to do with it being different, special if I may say so. The year’s gone by, I speculate, going through the past events, my life the last year, knowing what I’ve done right, accepting my mistakes, realizing where I went wrong, wanting to change things, wishing to end the year on the positive note that I still have myself, I still have those who love and cherish me around, getting the right perspective of things, seeing how things happen for a reason and finally feeling glad they turned out the way they did even if then they seemed horrid, being thankful for all of it, getting the wish-list for next year ready too ;), and finally getting ready to bid adieu to the year, letting bygones be bygones, and stepping into the new year with a high that’s got nothing to do with alcohol :P

DECEMBER! I love thee :D You’ve always been a happy month for me and I hope that continues to be the case forevermore.

Go *brrrrr..* Go green. Save my December! Oh and HAPPY HOLIDAYS =)

And what would you wish for?

My  biggest worry at one time was a knot in my Barbie's hair (What was that? It is not that big a problem? Try telling that to a 5 year old!!), I wished for it to untangle, fall straight and smooth and if that didn’t happen I’d chop the problematic hair off. What followed would most definitely be my crying and bawling at how weird my beautiful Barbie looked in the new hair-do. Times have changed drastically, so has the cause of my worries, but even today more often than not when I find myself in a mess, in a complex knot where I’m caught between practicality and fantasies, reality and dreams, reason and emotions;
I wish for it to all smoothen out, I wish for my life and the world to be a simpler place. Without getting confused or dragged to the extremes of being a pragmatist or totally whimsical. When we’re done lusting after the farfetched luxuries, the million things we tire ourselves out to achieve, the reason why we keep rushing at a great pace so as to not lose out on time and in turn doing just that, and when you pause a while to think, to ask yourself that one question ‘why?’ and ‘what for?’ , and then? A penthouse in a skyscraper in almost every big and happening city in the world, a ride worth an entire third world country, a wardrobe fit for the Royals… and the likes, would the list ever end? I’m not saying we wouldn’t or shouldn’t want these, heaven knows how long my own list is!! But it grows, and somehow the most constant things that I myself have wished for from the core of my being are something else altogether.., simpler. By that I don’t mean they’re easily achieved, quite the contrary. There are things that appear to be mere flotsam and jetsam but what would we not do to have them come true.

The past seems to be a wonderful place to dwell in; between the uncertainty of tomorrow and the struggles of today. I get nostalgic and wish for those days to return, to relive those carefree days, the problems long solved look trifle, almost laughable. Of them school days top the list. Those days which seemed torturous back then(I couldn’t wait to get out of school and be a grown up!) now appear to be the best phase of my life ever. (Where is the guy who had to invent the time turner!?!)

There are times when all I wish for is acceptance; acceptance of things as and how they are(wouldn’t that make life so much better?). Live and let live, might be cliché and so no one takes it seriously but that is the need of the hour, the most important one too. Almost always I wish human beings were a better race, a better people; and trust, honesty, love were  not just words we know. For us to have a little more compassion, a little less hatred, a little more empathy, a little less evil, a little more action, a little less indifference.

The one common wish we all have (for some against our more sensible selves) is to have someone who would bring life to your existence, prove to you that there still might be a little hope for us after all; with who you can be who you are, flaws and everything. If not the entire world maybe just one with who acceptance, trust, faith and love hold true (Implausible in today’s world; hope against hope!).

For a fair world!!! Every single one of us has wished for this one! A considerable part of our lives goes away in grumbling about how unfair the world is, quoting Bill Gates when he said ‘Life is not fair, get used to it’, and then complaining about how he cannot say such things with that kind of money! (You don’t? Ok I do!)

Wishes wishes and more wishes! I remember as kids we had so many ways we could wish for what we wanted and had a child’s belief it would all come true. The sight of a mail van, a goods train crossing the bridge over you, this one’s really funny but wishing every time you saw a Sardarji (Sikh with a turban; no offense but every kid did it, even my Sardar friend who would get up every morning, look at her dad first thing and wish happily!), and then there was that very famous song from the movie Pinocchio which got every kid to Wish Upon a Star. So I’d end up wishing for a holiday during a school week, for a fever during exams, for rains, for attending a real Hogwarts, for a never ending-self refilling-glass of coconut water…you get the picture. Here’s a thought; would you still want something as much you wish for today later?

Cause of this post- Partial insomnia and hunger both of which made way for a tomato and cheese sandwich at 4a.m and itunes running over and over again the recently played songs one of which was this track that’s been running in the author’s  head for quite sometime now.

Can You Keep a Secret?

Long ago I’d spent almost an entire year reading just the English Classics, from the Brontë sisters to Jane Austen, from Alexander Dumas to William Shakespeare, from W.Somerset Maugham to O.Henry, J.D Salinger, George Elliot etc(one year, 365 days, has to be a long list!) I was craving for a change from it and I happened to come across Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella. After a year of spending time in the countryside of England, in the stately manors where the only entertainment for the young was dancing at the balls, playing on the pianoforte et all, I was in for a refreshing change. I love the classics mind you, but then a genuinely funny, light read novel was the need of the hour and this book fit the bill.

The story starts off with Emma Corrigan (the heroine), on a plane ride back home from a disastrous meeting, blurting out her most embarrassing secrets to the stranger sitting next to her. This due to a turbulence in the plane causing great panic which leads her to think there’s going to be a crash and she’s going to die. Safe landing, a very much alive Emma Corrigan and a very amused stranger (who wouldn’t be when you tell them all about your…).

But to her surprise she finds that the very stranger is the CEO of the company she works in as a Junior Marketing Assistant! The fun begins when she also finds out that he remembers every single secret of hers! What follows is their many funny/awkward encounters, Emma Corrigan’s place in her family, her snob of a cousin Kerry, her office crisis (boss who won’t give a raise, colleague who treats her like another paperweight on her table etc), and her ‘perfect’ boyfriend Connor.

This story might be just another addition to the style of chick-lit fiction but I found it quite entertaining, probably since this was the first of Sophie Kinsella’s that I read. Yes it has a dash of the fairy-tale element to it but hey who says fairytales are only for kids?! The part where we read her deepest secrets is the best because it suddenly dawns on us that even though they’re plain silly we too have a number of such secrets which we would NEVER share with another soul although they are very very petty and insignificant. Oh and not to forget, the happy ending! I enjoyed it much more than the rest of Kinsella’s books, for after reading the entire Shopoholic series and the rest of her books I found a repetitive pattern in them and the same formula was being used which got a bit tiring to read.

This book is a light, funny, quirky and enjoyable read that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy. For all those who think age does not necessarily shatter the illusions(illusions with a probability of turning into reality maybe!) that you endeared as a child, and it doesn’t stop you from enjoying a pleasant read, Can You Keep a Secret will prove to be just that.

It’s been more than two years since I first read this book, but even now when I feel like reading without troubling my grey cells I almost always pick this book again.

Happy reading!

Monday Movie Marathon!! ♥

A Monday like no other indeed! With a mug of coffee and Sleepless in Seattle!!! And oh did I mention I absolutely LOVE romantic comedies!.. One place, no, the only other place apart from books where you always find happy endings and the best guys ever… I’m not the romantic kind, oh no I’d end up having a fit of laughter if reality was anywhere close, but movies I don’t mind, I totally love them!...Melodrama looks good as long as you know it’s made up. Hypocrisy? No, it is knowing what is and what will never be.

Whatever my views on the emotional sensitivities of the world in general, I totally love to watch it on screen or read about it in books, and genuinely like them even. There are a couple of movies that I’d watch over a million times and never once feel I’ve had enough (Ok maybe not a million but you get the idea). Oh no not the overdose of emotions with unnecessary weeping, unrealistic events, over the top icky romance, no that’s downright pathetic. Those are just plain dumb, exaggerated a little too much for normal sensibilities to live with.

Easy going movies with the perfect ending…♥

I love the idea of a lone heart with just a cat for company finding herself in the middle of a big adorable and loving family, a fiancé she always had a crush on and eventually finding the Mr. Right one Christmas (While You Were Sleeping).

How a single day, even if nothing seems to go right, can turn out to be the best ever (One Fine Day).

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are always so good together, be it in ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ or ‘You’ve Got Mail’.

And the Classics! Witnessing Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet putting aside their pride and realize they’ve found in each other what they’ve always been looking for (Pride and Prejudice). When the proud Miss. Emma Woodhouse realizes that her heart, which she had been sure would never love, is no longer in her power, and her fate in this matter is now uncertain due to her own misdoings; the dangers of misconstrued romance! And then to see Mr. Knightley fix it all is a delight (Emma). The stately manors, the lush grounds, the carriages, the balls…the feel of 19^th century England…who’d think any different?!

A good start to my week surely, Monday morning blues? SO not for me!