In dodo's head

As the years go by, slowly the magic that surrounded the once important days- the birthdays, Christmas, New Year's has faded away. Constantly there's only a feeling of indifference and the perpetual excuse - It is just another day of the year.. I do not know yet if it is a good thing as such, for I long for the good old days when these holidays held so much promise and excitement. For now, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish one day from the other, and even worse, I am beginning to dread the big D days of the year. My birthday, for which I would look forward to months away has now become a chore- the greetings, the 'surprises', the 'Oh it's your special day, we'll do whatever you want's.. I can't help but wonder what does this indifference means for the person that I have become.. Does this mean I am getting older? Or does it simply mean I am losing myself to the mundaneness of life?

Henri Cartier Bresson was an artist. Unlike the Picassos and the Van Goghs however, he used a camera, the Leica M8 to paint his fine masterpieces which depicted human emotions poignantly. Here are a few of my favourite pictures taken by him...

I hate that unclean stubble, For it leads to many a questions, Have you been hibernating in the Himalayas, A hippie soaked in Bhang and the Booze? Or have you awoken, much like Sleeping Beauty, From a sleep of hundred days? How else would you explain that unkempt scenery, You have decided to punish my glances with? Long gone are my days of being smitten, For what use a man who cannot spare, Minutes and dimes for a shave. Alas, my heart cannot take,  The bedraggled mess you got going on, In the words of the wise angry queen in Alice, Off with your head. Protest Against Unclean Stubble Activity in association with BlogAdda .

Slipping away, like slivers of sand on the beach. Floating away to oblivion, With the tides that brought it here in the first place. For time had run out, Sand in the hour glass slowly draining away. The time to say farewell was now, But is there ever something as a happy parting. Lumps in the throat, tears clogging the sight, Bidding goodbye wordlessly, Turning away. Years later, They would remember, Memories getting hazier with time.

The hair. Epitome of all that life is about. Just a strand, like the minutes of the day, is insignificant. But bring them together, and ah, the possibilities. (I felt the need to illustrate the possibilities.lol) I hope I have not been alone with many of the misfortunes that has struck me when I have trustingly entrusted the fate of my hair into the hands of numerous hairstylists who claimed to know what they were doing.. Twenty minutes later, and my friends and family are laughing at what has become of my hair, and what it has done to my face. Growing up thus, I have come to realise the great significance the mop of hair on my head has on the visuals exuded by me. We live in an increasingly documented life; friends, family and whoever we meet insist on that one picture (or sometimes a whole album) to shamelessly share with the entire Facebook community. In such a case, it really does not help to have a 1960's haircut in modern times such as this (Believe me, I have been

(Picture from the Internet) Ange. She was the very first best friend I had. Pretty much the same age as me, though of course she was still a kid at heart and would also want to roll around and play hide and seek. Most people would not understand the ties that bound me to her; of course, there are few who can comprehend how an almost rougish  German Shepherd and a four year old can get along like two peas in a pod.  My memories of growing up all include her in it; I can still recollect vividly how every Diwali, she would be as terrified of the crackers as I was, and would leap inside the window, smashing the glass much to the chagrin of my mother. As she grew in size, she could no longer be trusted to remain indoors for she threatened my mother's precious flower arrangements and vases. She therefore would resort to patrolling the territories of the house, ensuring that no stranger or cat would ever trespass the vicinity of the place.  Contrary to her name, Ange was a

" His clean shaven look bowled me over"...  These are lines you would have never expected to hear from me, considering my track record of crushes. The reason for my awakening? A fateful tale I shall now share with you There was I, young, bewitched by the dashing Mardaangi (aka Manliness) of men like handle-bar mustache touting Ranveer Singh; determined that the next time Cupid’s arrow struck me, it would be with a Ranveer Singh-and-Prince Charming hybrid who would whisk me away on his white horse and all.  Little did I know how doomed this dream was. You see, our technology in movies is such that we do not have the (mis)fortune of sniffing the scents (and stinks) of all that is there in Bollywood movies. Why else would Chandni Chowk look like such a vibrant, rose scented, fume-less song-sequence heaven, where the heroes and heroines flutter around without having to wear masks. Anyway, so there I was, resolute in this search for my 'Daari Mucch' man, and as

There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. - Shakespeare (Julius Caesar) These poignant lines summarize the dilemma we, as Indians find ourselves in a t the turn of the 21st Century. We have found solace in the achievements of the past, in Aryabhata's invention of the zero, in the fact that most words of English come from Sanskrit words, that we have the highest number of newspaper subscriptions in the world and so on. But do we even, beyond merely reading the headlines of these newspapers, uttering a sigh and a 'What's happening in the world today', actually care? Do we strive to be better as a nation, beyond resting on our past laurels and the thought that India can become a super power. How, I pray to know, are we to become a superpower

The Lals, the Moo and the Sege, Oh where do I start, this tale of glee. We share a lot of things in common, But then again, we could not have been bigger polar opposites of each other. There's the Moo, she's a social snob, There's then the Lals, forever the social butterfly (though she would never admit it), and then there's Sege (me), who's just plain socially awkward. And yet somehow we find ourselves in a sort of symbiosis. Thriving in the companionship of each other. We first met in a Boarding school far far away from each of our homes, And as they say, Nothing has been the same since. From Moo, nerdy soul that she is, I hope to derive- The drive to succeed, the inspiration to strive. And in Lals I admire, the cheer and the jolliness. The positivism and the Practical Reasoning. Lals, Moo and I have faced numerous hurdles in each of our lives, And through it all, we have shepherded each other. When Moo, who is a 'Sciencie', just cou

( How would you inspire and mobilize India's youth to vote in the Indian General Elections 2014 using social mobile apps?) A decade ago, if you asked me, I would say that there are things that just do not go together, like me and butterflies (Massive phobia, don't even bother asking about it); Indian food and wine (not that I have tried it, but I feel like it just would not); and Youth and Politics. But now, after seeing the wave of feverish fervent among all the electoral groups which so far had abstained from being seen anywhere near the electoral booths, I am reconsidering my stand. Today's youth is passionate. They stand up for things they believe in. There is defiance, they question the already existing answers. They do not hesitate to stand up for issues they identify with.  And armed with the ever lethal power of social media, they have spoken, and they have been more often than not, heard. Whether it be the candle-light vigils buoyed by Facebook groups tha

In our unknowing countdown of days, There is a feverish fervent of searching, (Bangkok October 2013) Of what, the heart knows not. And yet it flutters, it longs, For that resounding thump-thump, Signalling the finding of the definite. Until then, it dwells, It wastes away, Time flies by, and yet we stand, Still like the waters of the murky Yamuna, Choked and bogged down.