Estarra

"Estarra is a fictional character from the Saga of Seven Suns series of novels by Kevin J. Anderson.
Estarra was the fourth oldest child of the Father and Mother of Theroc and as such did not have a predetermined career like her three older siblings. She was considered a partial tomboy, but still presented wholesome female qualities. Estarra had no true idea of what she want to do with her life, and displayed a loving infatuation with the worldforest (yet had no desire to become a green priest) and the Theroc wildlife in general. She often loved showing her elder brother Beneto some of her more useful findings. Estarra considered herself responsible for Celli, despite the young girl's surly attitude, and was often the subject of teasing.
However, Estarra did achieve high status within the Terran Hanseatic League by marrying the King Peter. At first Estarra did not trust Peter, but in a very short time the two had found trustworthy allies in one another. For Peter, this meant someone he could trust in the trappings of Whisper Palace (he even confided in her about his former life), whilst for Estarra it gave her someone to love and protect her. Over time, their friendship turned into a genuine love for each other, yet the couple were never given a chance to relax due to the schemes of Chairman Wenscelas.
After several years together as King and Queen of the Hansa, Estarra accidentally became pregnant with Peter's child. This unwanted development infuriated Basil, who tried to get her to have an abortion. Instead, Peter sought help from Eldred Cain, and the news was leaked to the media; saving Estarra's baby. Over time, Basil tried more attempts to rid Estarra of her unborn child (and her own life). In retaliation, Peter and Estarra tried to poison the Chairman using highly-poisonous Theroc berries, but failed thanks to Sarein's interference. Finally having enough, Estarra and Peter (with the help of their compy, OX) fled Whisper Palace in a hydrogue derelict. During their escape, the couple encountered Beneto (merged with a verdani treeship) helping the EDF and Ildirans to fend off the hydrogues. Beneto assisted them further in their escape by hurling them far from the battlefield, and to safety.
Free of their imprisonment at Whisper Palace, Estarra and Peter travelled to Theroc for their own safety. Once there, the two were almost instantly dubbed the new Father and Mother of Theroc, from which they went on to announce the forming of a new Spiral Arm confederacy, free of the Hansa's corruption. "

Okay this is what Wikipedia says. And this is NOT why I named my blog so!!!
Just to clarify, the kingdom of Estarra is a fictional kingdom I sketched not so long ago(as a bored 9th standard student, in the back bench of Physics class). It is a kingdom ruled by a queen where peace, love, beauty and joy abound. Where the mountains, the sea and the plains form the terrain of a beautiful landscape. Where the folk speak a number of languages and live together in perfect harmony, etc, etc.
Well, I generally have this problem naming my poems, stories, so on and so forth (God knows what I'll do if I have kids! I'd be so indecisive!) and so I decided since a blog is your own space and all that, I might as well name it after something that I considered to be a kingdom in my own mind.
I assure you, I don't have any problems with reality. :)
But, you're welcome to share my kingdom.

Honesty

Well.
That seems to be my favourite word, doesn't it? I really don't know how to begin my blog entries and it doesn't really matter considering my audience of two (after many reminders, I must add). Which brings me to think about something. Do people write for others or for themselves?
Well (aahhh!! Somebody stop me!), that leads me to another thought.If we wrote only in our diaries,would we be as honest as we expected ourselves to be? Do we write an edited version of our thoughts, in fear of someone reading them or simply in fear of finding newer layers of ourselves?
That takes me to another question. In our minds,are we as honest as we think we are? Do we ignore our own thoughts and feelings and filter them within our own selves?
I think the hardest thing in the world is to be honest and accepting of our own selves before we even begin to accept others.
And also the most important thing.

Peace, Love and Joy (as corny as it sounds)

I have been to quite a few local concerts in my teenage years ( now on the last few months of teenagehood now..sniff!) but last night was something quite unbelievable...
It was my first time at IIT's famed Saarang and much as I love popular Hindi and Tamil music, I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy Lucky Ali and Karthik live in concert. The amphitheatre was jam packed and when Lucky Ali began singing, I began to wonder if 200 rupees was gonna be worth it (how many blank cds, how many veg rolls at the canteen, how many...er..ok let me stop before you accuse me of complete loserness)...I had no clue what the man was singing...and from what I could tell, there was just one person on my side of the theatre who was singing along (and everyone was staring at her in amazement).
So I sat tight and smiled at my friends, making conversation...Lucky Ali is a soulful performer and here and there, a familiar tune wafted past, reminding me of the nineties and how MTV was all new and Indi Pop was all original...
A smile grew upon my face. I looked around.There was something happening not just to my friends as we swayed to the music, but to everyone. Cellphones were slowly being lifted into the air, alight. People were standing up, holding their best friends, lovers, friends...and smiling. There was a sense of...something bigger than than anything I've ever felt. And as he moved on to 'Ek pal ka jeena', the last song of his session, the crowd jumped as a single force to its feet and inspite of a few technical glitches and the fact that he had to re start the old hit number did nothing to deter the audience's enthusiasm.
When Karthik finally came up onstage to perform (after a long wait) I felt something even stronger in the air.It wasn't just the young performer's energy nor the popularity of the songs he belted out. It was the feeling that anything in the world could be achieved, if we all just gathered together in that open air amphitheatre..gathered for music.It sounds crazy, it sounds like I'm wearing shocking pink glasses but if you were there and you witnessed that moment, you would know what I mean- everyone was ONE dancing, singing mass, delving into a common pool of love and joy.
Maybe this is the idea that inspires Bono and Bob Geldof with their Live Aid concerts.
Now if only we all liked the same music....and learnt to sing along...

Things that make my day

Well here's something that intrigued me and since I write in this space so sporadically (no offense, but my journal's way closer than my computer and hence my thoughts tend to pour into that vessel). My friend suggested I talk about the things that amuse me in a normal day for a casual speech assignment. I'd rather write about it and take it one step further to include all the random things that make me happy/amused/blessed in any ordinary day...

Waking up and realising there's a looooot more time for coll (the fact that I'm in evening college kinda helps :P)...
Listening to my latest favourite song first thing in the morning, even before I get out of bed and getting high out of my mind....
Whenever there's something unusual about the day-the sky is extraordinarily blue, the clouds sparkingly white, the breeze so refreshing..these things just make me so thrilled for some reason...
Seeing atleast 5 new messages in my phone...
Lounging and reading the paper in my night clothes...
Singing along to Rachid Taha songs in Arabic even if I have no clue what the words are but no one knows or cares anyway...:)
Having a good hair day..:D
Friends asking me for advice and me giving good advice...:)
Attending all 5 hrs of college and suppressing all urges to bunk...
Having fulfilling classes...
Expressing my views about those things I've never thought about before...
Laughing my head off to the mad antics of my friends in class (without hurting the teacher of course)...
The veg rolls in the college canteen...mmm...
The sunshine that streams in through the trees during the break and warms me up cause these days it's still chilly..
Free hours when I don't know where the time flies off to because I'm having so much fun with my friends...
Making someone laugh....
Driving my car safely home through an insane rush hour...
Coming home ravenous and eating a yummmy dinner courtesy Mum first thing...
Coming online and having a long soul searching, cathartic, satisfactory chat...:)
Opening a book and finding a sentence or paragraph that hits me so hard because it has expressed my thoughts exactly...
Writing a piece of poetry or just writing anything at all...
Having someone there who is just so curious to know about my day...
Crossing off all the items on my to do list...
Hugging my friends/parents...
Having a hot water bottle for my back...:D sooo relaaaxiiing
Free messaging hours at night...:)
Sleeping off while reading Paulo Coelho/Kahlil Gibran/Rumi and listening to Gregorian/Benedictine chants...
Dreaming about something I want to come true...
Waking up to start all over again... cause today might be the day, and even if it isn't, it sure feels like it...:D

Surrender to apathy

Empty water bottle.
Cell phone devoid of new messages.
Printer doesn’t work.
Ear hurts due to overdose of walkman.
Cuticles bitten.
Run out of printing paper.
Hungry.
Need to go to the bathroom.
Need to sleep.
Too lazy to get to bed.

My favourite music videos

April 24
My all time favourite videos of all time
(in no particular order)

1. Days Go By- Dirty Vigas.
Haunting. Wry. Real.

2. Desert Rose-Sting feat. Cheb Mami
Perhaps it's the pure beauty of the song. But I've always loved the idea of music videos depicting long, yearning journeys.

3.Te dejo Madrid-Shakira
It has some rather complicated allusions and illusions in its imagery. But she looks soooo cute! Plus her wardrobe is so enviable. That's enough for me.

4. Escape-Enrique Iglesias
He is so haaawwwt! Delete the Anna K bits.

5. Afterglow-INXS
Achingly beautiful. Enough said. Sigh. JD.

6. Hey Anta-Rachid Taha
Well I suppose I had to put in a RT video even though I have seen a grand total of two of his videos. But I loved what I saw of this one. It portrayed the quest, the longing for a land unknown which is what I relate to when I hear this song.

7. Right Here Right Now-Fat Boy Slim
Well I happen to have a predeliction for the quirky music of videos of Fat Boy Slim, but this one stands out cause I remember watching it through and through each and every single time I caught it on tv as a little kid. Which probably explains certain things about my personality..hmmm..

8.Objection(tango)-Shakira
This one's funny AND easy on the eye!

9.C'est La Nuit-Khaled
Another long car journey. It reminds me of a new beginning.

10.Bittersweet Symphony-The Verve
Ah another of my childhood memories...! Richard Ashcroft's long, aimless walk and attitude, the disgruntled bystanders, the whole look og the vid-I can watch it again and again and it leaves me with an arrogant swagger in my mind each time. Lol.

Insomniac

I need help.
I really do.
I have this tendency to waltz about the entire day, declining social invitations explaining that I am extremely sleep-deprived, whining about fatigue and refusing to budge, prone in front of the television set, immune to grumblings from the mother. Soon enough, I fall asleep by 20:45hrs....only to arise from the dead at the stroke of midnight.
"GO BACK TO BED!!!" yells the mother, also awake due to my midnightly crashing about in the dark.I stumble along the way, gathering varied reading and listening material that could possibly ease my soul back into slumber.
Sitting on the bathroom stool, I behold my copy of the Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopaedia( Aardvark to Antartica), I envision myself as a nocturnal genius-the knower of all there is to know. I smile to myself as I imagine the expansion of my mind as I explain Zen Buddhism and the migration of flamingos in the same breath to a rapt audience.
"Whiiiiiiiiiiinnnne" the only audience available here appears to be a troop of mosquitoes aiming for a landing in that un-scratchable area between my toes. I slam Funk and Wagnall's shut and storm out.
I tiptoe this time back into my room and fish out my walkman. Music, aahh, the saviour of my soul. Who cared about aardvarks when one could avail of the gentle melodies of Beethoven's Moonlight sonata? I could feel the sleep setting in already...Headphones on my ears, I crawl into bed...
...only to sit up bolt upright to the furious chord progressions of Rammstein hammering out 'Links 2,3,4'. How musical preferences vary according to the times of the day...!
I sigh and put away my walkman as I get out of bed. Perhaps it is food that I need...I saunter out into the stillness of the drawing room and towards the kitchen.
I find the light already on...
I help my father with the snacks and we head to the tv set. We watch inane jokes on a late night comedy show and crunch on soggy potato chips.
I needn't worry really. It's hereditary after all. :)