To write a story that is told oft, and forever;
To sing a merry tune that haunts and lingers in the halls of time;
To simply fashion an extraordinary moment -
That survives the inexorable march of seasons and clime
I live on this faith, this promise
Of genius in wait- unto eternity
Oh grant me Life, before you leave
Death, before you come- a wish
Immortality!Immortality! Immortality!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Loads of Time
(and a fast internet connection) has meant that I have foregone travel and exploration in the real world for surfing in the virtual one.
Youtube is an absolute miracle; I have spent a lot of time on Jeeves/Wooster and Stephen Fry, SNL clips etc (and have kept away from porn,which Ytube manages to screen out, thankfully!).
I got stupidly sentimental over Beatles, especially watching some documentary about them. I have long realized that I have always had a fascination for all things British and what with Wodehouse, Fry and his movie "Tom Brown's Schooldays" (which mixes my fascination of things British with the other- boarding school environ fantasy; so much so that I have read the book twice-abridged + unabridged- and found the latter almost too much to handle with its Biblical references), a little of Monty Python and I am lost in an archaic, funny world where gals are 'little things' and romance is in the air.
The other thing I realize is that I read too little- I will now have to force myself to read, for pleasure.
Going back to the beginning, the Beatles thingy came from iphone and Steve Jobs. The iphone looks spectacular; but I would wait, for it can only improve with time (look at the shuffle now!!!). Though the various keynote speeches by Steve Jobs have been fun to watch. He is a great showman, backed by an amazing design team.
His speech at Stanford was quite awesome and revelatory, particularly his close shave with pancreatic cancer and the harnessing of death as a driving force to achievement is quite interesting.
***********************************************************
On a totally different note, I love watching the Oscars shows, particularly because of the starting videos they put together. Though nothing will ever come close to these 2 Billy Crystal specials
Youtube is an absolute miracle; I have spent a lot of time on Jeeves/Wooster and Stephen Fry, SNL clips etc (and have kept away from porn,which Ytube manages to screen out, thankfully!).
I got stupidly sentimental over Beatles, especially watching some documentary about them. I have long realized that I have always had a fascination for all things British and what with Wodehouse, Fry and his movie "Tom Brown's Schooldays" (which mixes my fascination of things British with the other- boarding school environ fantasy; so much so that I have read the book twice-abridged + unabridged- and found the latter almost too much to handle with its Biblical references), a little of Monty Python and I am lost in an archaic, funny world where gals are 'little things' and romance is in the air.
The other thing I realize is that I read too little- I will now have to force myself to read, for pleasure.
Going back to the beginning, the Beatles thingy came from iphone and Steve Jobs. The iphone looks spectacular; but I would wait, for it can only improve with time (look at the shuffle now!!!). Though the various keynote speeches by Steve Jobs have been fun to watch. He is a great showman, backed by an amazing design team.
His speech at Stanford was quite awesome and revelatory, particularly his close shave with pancreatic cancer and the harnessing of death as a driving force to achievement is quite interesting.
***********************************************************
On a totally different note, I love watching the Oscars shows, particularly because of the starting videos they put together. Though nothing will ever come close to these 2 Billy Crystal specials
Recommended
"You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead"
Two Of us (The Beatles)
Which is what Steve Jobs said in an interview with Bill Gates discussing their rivalry(?) over the last 2 decades.
Which, also is, another Beatles song that has got into my head and is clinging to my synapses like Venom-like gooey.
Beatles therefore were not just "the right men at the right time"- they fulfilled a world's need for change; and continued to change themselves. In the process of musical and philosophical evolution, they have created a monumental body of work: which I now vow to discover more.
I do not claim to have a discerning ear- but when you end up liking so many songs of the same band, in so many different moods, for so many different reasons, you kind of figure that they appeal to you as well, apart from millions, across time.
No real point in denying genius, and being worse off for the lack of it.
But you can't help feeling: Lucky bastards- to have made such immortal music!
By the way: this is some related, heartwarming stuff
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead"
Two Of us (The Beatles)
Which is what Steve Jobs said in an interview with Bill Gates discussing their rivalry(?) over the last 2 decades.
Which, also is, another Beatles song that has got into my head and is clinging to my synapses like Venom-like gooey.
Beatles therefore were not just "the right men at the right time"- they fulfilled a world's need for change; and continued to change themselves. In the process of musical and philosophical evolution, they have created a monumental body of work: which I now vow to discover more.
I do not claim to have a discerning ear- but when you end up liking so many songs of the same band, in so many different moods, for so many different reasons, you kind of figure that they appeal to you as well, apart from millions, across time.
No real point in denying genius, and being worse off for the lack of it.
But you can't help feeling: Lucky bastards- to have made such immortal music!
By the way: this is some related, heartwarming stuff
Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Big City
It is not unnatural to be skeptical about a phenomenon that is universally appreciated. The whole idea of "the road less travelled" and the romanticism of iconoclastic ideology almost forces us to dismiss anything and everything that is "loved by all".
Something similar happened to me wrt HP. The first book in the series that I read was the 'Chamber of Secrets' (and till date, it remains my favourite one), about the time the world had gone ga-ga over the fourth- in fact, I remember reading the review of the fourth one (by a 13 year old kid in an erudite publication like the Biblio) and remarking to myself- what absolute drivel! Dragons/witches/wizards/broom-sticks- grow up,world!
The rest, as they say, is history- I got hooked and the wait for the last in the series is eagerly on...
Which leads me back to the reason of this post; I have concluded that I am not really a man of travel. That is to say,my wanderlust is nothing to write home about. Although, within the year of getting a passport done, I would have visited 3 countries- one for 3 months, another for 2, and the other for 5 days, which packed more fun/chaos than the other two, put-together, can.
So from Delhi to Mumbai to Lahore to New York, I have been to some of the greatest/biggest cities of the world- and frankly, have been unimpressed. When do you start loving a city; or admiring its 'spirit';or being awed by just 'being there'?
Particularly, now that I am whiling my time in the Big Apple, I had expected something extraordinary out of it. Not that I have made any efforts at all to discover this city and be impressed by it- but I could contend, that I had thought it sufficient to sit back and enjoy- let the ambience envelop me, in the normalcy of my existence, and make it something special.
The city of Spiderman; of a skyline which is so familiar, although you have never been here, where you conjure up the vision of the towers that no longer exist and think of what might have been; of Woody Allen- I strongly contend that I expected much.
We have discussed often, here, that is this the capital of the world. The only argument against this being that it lacks history- which sparks off a long debate about the nature of history etc. Apart from that, NY is the cosmos; from Vietnamese cuisine to Jewish plays, it has everything, and bigger, and more.
Which brings me back to the point that I was right in expecting much.
And it was not until tomorrow, when I went near Times Square, for a second time and found- Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, the Dow Jones Index, Hershey's and giant posters for "Jenna loves Janine", Wrestlemania and EA SPORTS NFL- staring down at me, that I felt truly blown away.
It is everything on TV/books coming true and its not fake- its real and as big as you thought it was.
My life has not been an utter waste.
Something similar happened to me wrt HP. The first book in the series that I read was the 'Chamber of Secrets' (and till date, it remains my favourite one), about the time the world had gone ga-ga over the fourth- in fact, I remember reading the review of the fourth one (by a 13 year old kid in an erudite publication like the Biblio) and remarking to myself- what absolute drivel! Dragons/witches/wizards/broom-sticks- grow up,world!
The rest, as they say, is history- I got hooked and the wait for the last in the series is eagerly on...
Which leads me back to the reason of this post; I have concluded that I am not really a man of travel. That is to say,my wanderlust is nothing to write home about. Although, within the year of getting a passport done, I would have visited 3 countries- one for 3 months, another for 2, and the other for 5 days, which packed more fun/chaos than the other two, put-together, can.
So from Delhi to Mumbai to Lahore to New York, I have been to some of the greatest/biggest cities of the world- and frankly, have been unimpressed. When do you start loving a city; or admiring its 'spirit';or being awed by just 'being there'?
Particularly, now that I am whiling my time in the Big Apple, I had expected something extraordinary out of it. Not that I have made any efforts at all to discover this city and be impressed by it- but I could contend, that I had thought it sufficient to sit back and enjoy- let the ambience envelop me, in the normalcy of my existence, and make it something special.
The city of Spiderman; of a skyline which is so familiar, although you have never been here, where you conjure up the vision of the towers that no longer exist and think of what might have been; of Woody Allen- I strongly contend that I expected much.
We have discussed often, here, that is this the capital of the world. The only argument against this being that it lacks history- which sparks off a long debate about the nature of history etc. Apart from that, NY is the cosmos; from Vietnamese cuisine to Jewish plays, it has everything, and bigger, and more.
Which brings me back to the point that I was right in expecting much.
And it was not until tomorrow, when I went near Times Square, for a second time and found- Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, the Dow Jones Index, Hershey's and giant posters for "Jenna loves Janine", Wrestlemania and EA SPORTS NFL- staring down at me, that I felt truly blown away.
It is everything on TV/books coming true and its not fake- its real and as big as you thought it was.
My life has not been an utter waste.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Memo: Way of Life
One of my guides asked me how i liked the "punishing" schedule of a working life/job.
I frankly admitted that it is extraordinarily demanding; gets slow and boring during the day in which one is forced to feign interest; and that it leaves little time for anything else.
Which is when he echoed some of my recent thoughts-he said:"I wish I knew that when I was in school. I would have stopped cribbing how tough school is. And would have enjoyed it more"
I know. I must therefore learn. To enjoy, more.
I frankly admitted that it is extraordinarily demanding; gets slow and boring during the day in which one is forced to feign interest; and that it leaves little time for anything else.
Which is when he echoed some of my recent thoughts-he said:"I wish I knew that when I was in school. I would have stopped cribbing how tough school is. And would have enjoyed it more"
I know. I must therefore learn. To enjoy, more.
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