New Years Eve Ramblings

Its official. The third year of the new millennium peters out to its destined end. As I look back on they year, it seems to me that (as usual), it had its good and bad times, but the bad seem to outweigh the good. No, let me rephrase that. The global seem to outweigh the local. Lots of epoch-making events have taken place. A year not to be easily forgotten. Certainly not by me. After all, I was supposed to graduate. Screw all attendance rules. Also, I lost a girl.

But, that’s a miniscule event compared to what happened elsewhere. I lost a year and a friend, Iraq lost a leader and had a war thrust on them, fifty thousand Iranians lost their lives in an earthquake that flattened a historic city. Dara Singh lost his case, and was sentenced to death, the Congress lost three major states in the by-elections. The United Nations seems to have lost its power over the nations, and the US economy is crashing. Tons of students who wrote CAT had their exam cancelled.

What happened to the hopes we had around the same time last year? It was a good time to hope. The US had defeated the Taliban, Afghanistan was free. The War against terror was calming down. The only jarring note was Osama still hadn’t been apprehended. Twelve months later, we’re still waiting for his capture. And the castles we built? Well, the tide turned. The waters rose, and as Parikrama would say, all the sandcastles have drowned.

But, there are some things that turned out quite well. India suddenly finds itself with some global status. The markets are soaring, the economy is booming, and there is peace on the border with Pakistan. Sikkim has been recognized by China. And, I started blogging. More castles will be built. The tide will turn again. And life will go on. As it always has.

January 1 is a time to make new resolutions, and the rest of the year, most of us do our utmost to break them. It’s the same with nations, countries, communities the world over. Castles will be built, castles will drown, they will be rebuilt. There is a lesson here for those who care to see it. It symbolizes the eternal struggle of humanity to rebuild itself, to reform; and the even greater struggle to destroy itself.

All that is said and done. It matters very little. What does matter, however, is that tradition is too strong to destroy. It’s the New Year, and its time to party. So break out the champagne. Happy New Year, all. Keep those castles intact.

Memories of a long lost universe

Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away, there was a small, insignificant little blue-green planet that orbited an insignificant star. On a fairly insignificant day in January, a boy child was born to an insignificant middle class family in an insignificant third world country in a year in which nothing significant happened. That boy was me.

So, my childhood. Kiddie Days. Well, I remember no cable TV. All I ever got to watch was Oshin and Pingu the Penguin on Doordarshan. Also, Ramayana and Mahabharata. On weekends. So, I did a heck of a lot of reading. Started with Noddy, of course. My cousins watch it on Cartoon Network. That's a shame. Soon graduated past the Enid Blyton mysteries to my first Hardy Boys when I was eight. Definitely too young. Scared the wits out of me. Stuck to Enid Blytons for a few more years then. Eventually, I was sneaking out the Sidney Sheldon thrillers from my mom's room. Tried an MB. Atrocious. How do gals read that crap? Then, I read Vladimir Narbokov's Lolita. Doff your hat to that book. A masterpiece of writing. An absolute gem. Changed my whole outlook on the fairer sex. Girls were no longer venomous things to be looked upon only with suspicion. They were amazingly well-rounded, soft, curvy, luscious creations of God. Sugar and spice and all that's nice. I never really liked that rhyme actually. Too sexist. Anyway, that's when IIT happened.

And, well, my reading habits changed. It was time to discard the cheap thrillers for the dark, deep novels. Kafka. Rushdie. Ayn Rand. And a girl as well. That's water under the bridge now though. Girls are poison once more. But the dark novels remain. I'm a changed person now. The zest, the enthusiasm, the so-called killer instinct is gone. I cry a lot more. I also smile a lot more. But the novels remain. Whatever else has happened, thank heavens the gift of reading has remained. Whatever else will happen, I know I can always drown myself in some novel and be lost to this world. The insignificant blue-green one. Another world beckons. One that encompasses everything from Never-Never land to the mythical land of Narnia. From dragons to hippogriffs to Alice and her Wonderland. Thank God for books.

Amen.

Three. Tres. Troix.

Back in Chennai. The land of heat, dust and hypocrites. Yes, I am in a foul mood. Who wouldn't be, having had moronic auto-rickshaw drivers for breakfast? But its good to be back. New Year's Eve beckons. So does solitude. This is gonna be the second New Year in a row that I'll spend with myself. Time to think, reflect and plan. Yeah, right. It's a drag.

Maybe I'll just keep listening to Nirvana, and wondering whether India will win the Sydney Test. Maybe I won't. I don't know. I really need company even to do that. The splendid gift of speech is quite a bane at times. We have to keep up the pretence of upholding the art of conversation, even when we don't really know how. Unfortunately, we always want to. That is the sad part.

Why do we have a New Year's Day anyhow? And assuming we've answered that, why is it celebrated? Just another day in the three hundred and sixty five and a quarter that our world takes to orbit the star Sol. No big deal, you'd think. And yet, every culture across the globe celebrates New Year on some day. Funny. From what I've seen of Hollywood movies, a New Year's Eve party is about tons of people getting drunk in Times Square, and kissing each other on the stroke of midnight. Again, not much different from the gazillions of parties that go on throughout the globe every night in clubs and discos. Except that people are drunk for no reason then. Does the welcoming of a New Year (note the capitals) give us the license to behave like fools? Or is it just an excuse to release our baser, primal instincts? Yeah, like we need an excuse.

Answer, that, bloggers !!

The Second One

Ahh… today has been great as well. I met my loony doctor. Unlike Bertie Wooster, I am not insane. Good.

So life is still good. So is the aunt. And the kids. Except for the hair-pulling bits. And also India suffering at the hands of those marauding blokes from Oz. But apart from that, life has been treating me particularly well. I could do worse than a lazy, laidback life filled with buttered popcorn. The good news is I’m sane. So I’m not gonna stab anyone to death. Or so they say.

Ahh, a little pigeon (a dumb one) just reminded me of Mini. She’s partly the reason why I don’t hunt very hard. Problem is, I haven’t seen her. She must be a doll. Anyways, thinking about that will get me down, so I won’t.

Maybe I should start looking at guys. No, that would totally freak people out. I’d be first. That would be gossip for some local news column, wouldn’t it? . No, Mini might massacre me. I think I heard someone scream the word carnage.

That’s that then.

And for those who’d like a little more info about my universe, maybe you got to come to me. Nah, just kidding. Apply in person and all that crap. Actually, my body is a bit sore from all those amusement park rides. Ouch.

Umm… I’m gonna round off now, I shall leave the mallus for my land on the morrow. Chennai beckons. Namma Chennai. (After the fashion of Amchi Mumbai). Thank you. Good night.

The First One

Well, okay. Here we are. My first blog. Why? Like I said, everyone seems to be doing it, so might as well join the club. A great man once said, “If you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em”.

Before we start, a warning. Many of these lines are plagiarized from books of eminent authors. Perhaps I’ll be one some day. Fingers crossed.

So, where are we? The story of a chap. A chap who likes his life. Sticks and stones may break his bones, and loony doctors (read psychiatrists) may certify him totally certifiable, but he still likes his life. His universe. Everything. From birth to death. Alpha to Omega. Jayanthi to Nirvana. I’m not making too much sense here.

I’ll begin again. I’m in the land of the mallu, an adorable creation of god, at the abode of my fav’rit aunt (she’s my good and deserving one, as Bertie Wooster would say) , on a medical mission to meet this loony doctor (perhaps a far off distant relative of Sir Roderick Glossop), who’ll presumably diagnose me as being totally off my rocker.

Went to an amusement park today. In Kochi. That’s over two hours away by car. Far. But I had fun. Life is good. My entire universe is. Let’s not start that again.

Where were we? Oh yes, amusement park. Got wet. Soaked. Drenched. I resembled a soggy brown paper substitute for a human being. Did I mention it was a water theme park? Oh yes, u heckler, I CAN swim, and I’ve been swimming for over a decade. I’m a regular fish in water. Don’t do too well on land though. My cousins (two cute gals who’ve never seen life before 1995) had a heck of a lot of fun. Especially while they were pulling my hair. Or giving me a black eye while fighting each other for the last chip (the traditional kind – made from potato, not silicon). So, that’s life. One big amusement park ride. Ups. Downs. Crests. Troughs. You get drenched. Get a black eye. But you enjoy it. Life, ultimately, is good.

Back to the beginning then. Omega to Alpha. My universe? Revolves around me. Myself. Ahh, the universe of an egoistical guy. Being selfish pays off. Ask Ayn Rand. She knows. This universe also centers on buttered popcorn, Calvin and Hobbes, paintings by John Constable, books, books, books, Metallica, Elvis and Simon and Garfunkel. The universe does not include Bollywood films and/or music.

Everything else has to mean grub and girls. I am single and hunting. Not very hard though. I am also lazy. Got to correct that before I get to IIM. Hmm.

Rambled on enough. Didn’t make too much sense, but then a blog is sort of like an online diary. Diaries are private. Things that make sense to me and not to other people protect my privacy. That is optimism. Guiding Principle of my life. Again, life is good. Back at Alpha. I’ll quit while I’m ahead.

I’m not explaining lotusrays.