Bye, July

You know what?
July is over!
My birthday is almost two months behind, my final undergraduate year is well under way, my nice popstars calendar (courtesy The Record magazine) is more than half over and well, the days are getting shorter.
Anyway, I find myself getting even more control-freakish than usual (what with the swarm of assignments biting around my neck). I'm trying to breathe easy and not sweat the small stuff, but hey, I can't help it! Printing that assignment and putting it in a stick file gives a high much greater than any drug ( I presume) . So call me a nerd, J. Not only do I enjoy being one but I'm proud to say I love college (at this moment, touch wood) and I well, kinda, enjoy the subjects.
As nerdy as I can be, I tend to get extremely lazy in some aspects. I don't know if you can call it indifference. I guess you could call me a passive activist. Heheh. I'd like to pretend that sounds cool.
Being lazy, however, does not give me the right to criticise the young and the enterprising. Here's a group of young people who's seriously giving our future a thought. And the fact that it highly depends on the present. They recognise the need for democracy and also its absence in our country today.The recent turn of events in the parliament was what triggered their spark and mobilised them. So check them out. wewillindia.blogspot.com
As for me, I shall get back to my 'BIG TIME ORGANISER', (a thoughtful gift from K). More things to cross off. Except the thing not on the list. Sleep. Sigh.
Sayonara, July

Carpe Diem!

Dum loquimur, fugerit invida

Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero

- Horace

which translates as:
While we're talking, envious time is fleeing: seize the day, put no trust in the future.

Cool, no?

So what am I doing here, talking? I shall seize the day, or atleast the night by:

-attacking that last packet of 'Time Out' popcorn (masala) while devouring an OVER read, extremely old issue of Reader's Digest

- lecturing one of my best friends through sms on what could possibly an extremely adverse move while attempting to hit on a girl (FIY: Attitude doesn't work. Girls like nice guys. Okay, okay, toss that halo. What I mean is, between Shahid Kapoor and Colin Farrell, I'd pick Shahid. Though a cross would be nice. Okay, SHUT UP!)

-listening to 'Tu cheez badi hai mast mast' (change song! change song!)...er.. 'All the love in the world' by Nine Inch Nails. Fine, the verdict is 'All star' by Smashmouth. Happy songs rule.

-Drinking gallons of medium cold water (my biggest vice)

-abandoning the struggle to continue typing for a presentation due anytime soon! Ahhh! Bed beckons!

Lessons from a young life cut short

He was young. His hair was long, he wore his jeans baggy and had his own distinct style. He kept to himself most of the time but was close to his bunch of friends.I never got the chance to know him. He passed away last night.

Perhaps it was in his destiny. Perhaps it was a tragic, tragic twist of fate. But the fact is, it shouldn't have happened. He wasn't ready for it. We weren't ready for it. From what I could tell, he loved life and had immense expectations from it. He wasn't the kind of person who picked fights. He was ever polite and wished me for my birthday even though I had forgotten his. I don't think he ever felt that life was pointless...like I often do.

Yet he is gone and I am here, writing about him- a young life unfairly cut short, just at the very edge of unlimited possibilities. It pains me even though I never really knew him. Perhaps it pains me THAT I never really knew him.

I really hope you're happy up there, wearing your sunglasses and riding your bike. I hope you're smiling down on us as all of us, your numerous friends and family members cry and attempt to digest the fact that though your body is gone, you are fully alive in spirit. You've demonstrated the transience of life, how utterly unpredictable it can be. You've told us that we're bigger than this body which we exercise and nourish and worship. You've taught us to love one another because we never know when we might see each other again. I wish you hadn't had to leave for us to learn this lesson.

Ah, l'amour!

Well, well, I'm in one of my lovey-dovey moods (read: the time when I'm not being a totally brattish boy who couldn't care less about eyebrow threading, is in the throes of an extremely satisfying assignment completion or lusting after pizza and popcorn). Being perennially single in a sea of couples (with and without the relationship counselling I tend to do) has its advantages and disadvantages.
The upside:
- I can go where I like, talk to whom I like, without it being a problem for anyone (er, except headquarters) I love all my guy friends too much to give that up.
- I save on tears.
- I don't have to dress up and fret about looking perfect. Okay, perhaps the fact that I'm single should make me NEED to dress up, but I'm just too lazy to care.
- I have done enough fighting with my best friend for a dozen relationships.
- I can have a million and hundred crushes and nobody has to know. And even if they do, it's all fine!
-Weirdness is something you celebrate alone. I think.
- I can be a boy.
- My parents are extreeeeeemely happy with my célébataire status. And I get to hang out with them most of the time.

The downside:
- You have to drop yourself home and so can't stay out that late (if you're a girl like I'm supposed to be). Ah, the luxury of having someone drive you around and fuss about protecting you. (Besides Mum. Now if she did that, I'd furiously declare my age and how I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Not)
- There's always a message waiting to be read on your phone. A call. An email. Some contact when you're in your people-hungry moods!
- Someone chose YOU because of the way you are and does not need you to change for any reason. Someone loves you not because you are born to them. Of course, there's friends for this. But they don't necessarily find you attractive, fun, comfortable, loving and want to be with you all the time. Hmmm.
- You get to fuss over someone and pour out all that love without scaring (when your friends and puppy get squirmy if you do the same. Sometimes)
The rest of the reasons have been eloquently conveyed in the following.

All I Want Is You - U2

You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold
You say you want your story to remain untold
But all the promises we made
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
You say you'll give me a highway with no one on it
A treasure just to look upon it
All the riches in the night
You say you'll give me eyes in a world of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
You say you want your love to work out right
To last with me through the night
You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold
Your story to remain untold
Your love not to grow cold
All the promises we break
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you You
All I want is...you
All I want is...you
All I want is...you
( I guess the fact that it is sung in Bono's passionate voice as it soars over The Edge's other-worldly riffs adds to the fact that it is probably the most beautiful song of love and longing that I've ever heard. I can listen to it over and over and over again and still not shake off the goosebumps on my skin.)

Desert Rose - Sting

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand
Sweet desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this
Sweet desert rose
This memory of Eden haunts us all
This desert flower
This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall
( The delicate words woven into the intricate melody totally transports me into a desert oasis under a star studded sky. Okay, okay, I'm getting too soppy perhaps. But I just cannot resist Cheb Mami's enchanting vocals syncing with Sting's as these words of yearning for love flow so gracefully. Siiiiigh)

Abhi Nahin Aana - Sona

Abhi Nahin Aana

Mohe Thoda Marne De

Intezar Karne De

Abhi Nahin Aana Sajana

Bhejiyo Sandesha

Aap Nahin Aana

Thode Door Rahke

Mohe Tarsana

Abhi To Mein Chahun,

Sari Sari Raat Jagana

Abhi Nahi Anna Sajana

Ruk Ruk Aana

Dheere Dheere Chalna

Bhoolna Dagaria,

Raste Badalna

Nahi Abhi Mohe,

Garwa Nahi Hey Lagna

Abhi Na Jagao

Bane Raho Sapna....
(Okay, for those of you who don't know Hindi, for those of you who are not familiar with Indian traditions and perceptions of love and courtship, this one may be lost on you in translation. The song, beautifully sung by Sona, is about a woman telling her lover to delay his arrival. She wishes to nearly die in anticipation for him, to experience the torture of being separated from him. This song cannot be understood if you're not a romantic)

Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

We'll do it all

Everything

On our own.

We don't need

Anything

Or anyone.

If I lay here,

If I just lay here ,

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know

How to say

How I feel.

Those three words

Are said too much

They're not enough

If I lay here,

If I just lay here,

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told

Before we get too old

Show me a garden that's bursting into life.

Let's waste time

Chasing cars

Around our heads.

I need your grace

To remind me

To find my own...

All that I am

All that I ever was

Is here in your perfect eyes,

they're all I can see.

I don't know where

Confused about how as well

Just know that these things will never change for us at all.

If I lay here,

If I just lay here,

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

( Need I say more?)

Nothingness

Silence is a safer bet than tears.
Detachment a better anchor than fears.
I sing my song to deaf ears.

Staring straight into an empty reflection
Numbness replaces confusion
Enough of questioning creation

Drowning in a sea so shallow.
Give me an angel today, tomorrow,
To blindly, unswervingly follow.

Why girl best friends are so important

(This one's dedicated to all those girlfriends who are true, trustworthy and ever so dependable.)

1. They tell you when you need to lose weight without being jealous and threaten to slap you if you eat that extra bujji.

2. They're ever so dispensable with affection unlike boy best friends who are sooo reticent and flee at the sign of any senti-ness.

3. You can jump from talking about gossip to movies to the economy to advertising to make up to relationships to academics without missing a beat.

4. It's always handy to have a second mom or two to fix your hair and to take care of you in suchlike emergencies.

5. Guy friends can threaten to beat up people who hurt you; girl friends go the extra mile to get revenge-with caustic words.

6. You can get hugs . Poor boys can't hug each other without being called gay. That's dumb, actually.

7. They never run away without explanation. They either don't run away or they explain.

8. You can play with their hair, substitute Barbies that they are.

9. They get so angry for you at the appropriate times and do all the verbal abuse for you

10.They're the closest thing to sisters, especially if you don't have any!

I love you all!