kyon? kyon? aakhir kyon?

i am doing so much early-birding nowadays, that soon all the worms will end up(down) my gullet.

my increased state of awareness raises some hitherto unasked questions in my bosom (by me, that is. i am sure that dastardly Shakespeare must have already gone and asked them, and done it a lot posher too) (and yes, i have one)

anyway,

now that i know why men have earlobes, and that the greatest recorded length for ear-hair is a staggering 4.5 inches (which, by the way, is a record held by a teacher in India - some teacher, that!), and various other unmentionables -this is a family blog, for those in doubt. we publish only those things that anyone can watch on prime-time K-serials. which, includes tame things like multiple marriages, mothers who look younger than their grand kids, flash divorces, extramarital affairs by the dozen, illegitimate children, poisoning, stabbing, shooting, seducing, vamping, people who get reborn/plastic surgeried with alarming regularity, and other such traditions closely in keeping with the values of our traditional tradition- it still throws me into knots of bafflement why men don't listen or see. except of course things like sports/women/cars/women/bikes/women.

why is it so difficult for the human male to locate a sock that is staring belligerently at him out of his own cupboard shelf? why does he feel the need to repeat "where is my sock" in all permutations and combinations of decibels and levels of urgency, descending to desperation, untill some sensible pair of female hands stuffs them obligingly down his throat?

why do they invariably go and buy matchsticks when you ask for butter and act surprised you aren't grateful for the help?

the blue i

plumbing the depths of gloom, i come across 

treasures buried in silt

bits of forgotten dreams 

remains of nightmares, jagged

shrugged off caresses

eddies around ankles in water

cheeks laid to cool mosaic

the worm turns

Read: 'love and longing in bombay' by vikram chandra - dark, funny, intimate, poetic, realistic, all at once. he takes the claustrophobic closeness and familiarity of bombay (i love him for calling the city that. glad he did not make it sound like the middle-aged-maharashtrian-housewifely sounding mum'bai') and makes a glowing collection of interconnected short stories out of it all. a long time since i really enjoyed reading indian authors writing in english. don't get me wrong. some (like rohinton mistry) are a delight, but the familiarity of the subject matters sometimes put me off. i am seriously looking forward to chandra's next. it is a nice thing. this looking forward.

Also read: 'ladies coupe' by anita nair. good in parts, with some really well formed sentences, but i cant help feeling that it is a bit too forced sometimes in its effort to be realistic. and the ending does not fit at all. the characterization goes all wrong there. middle-aged straitlaced spinster having a change of heart overnight, and suddenly becoming a new woman, and celebrating this new found emancipation by seducing a young man she just met on a beach? improbable, to say the least.  

Re-read: 'kari' by amruta patil. the graphic novel is beautifully laid out in black and white and an occasional splash of colour. i read it more for the look than for the story. the story is indeed interesting, and told through the tongue-in-cheeky, vulnerable, yearning voice of the boy-girl protagonist, but it is the graphic effect that is more pleasurable to me. 

i miss having illustrations in the books that i read. who decided that adults dont like to look at pictures as they read? no fair.

Also re-reading: 'persepolis' by marjane satrapi. i have a feeling i shall be doing a few more of this re-reading stuff. of the same book, i mean. the graphics are lovely, and the text is both direct and intelligently funny. i loved this book.  

Reading: 'wyrd sisters' by terry pratchett. what can i say? pratchett is king. i hope (a) he never dies or, (b) if he does, he does it very, very, very many years later. 

Also reading: 'literature and the child' by lee galda and bernice e.cullinan. it covers all genres of childrens'/young adults' literature, offers author profiles, exhaustive booklists and teaching ideas. thought provoking and detailed, galda and cullinan take a good look at how some of the deepest issues known to us are addressed through literature and how our children respond to it. themes like racism, incest, death, identity-crisis, perspectives, self-worth and adolescence are a part of the warp and weft of all literature, and they need to be sensitively treated while in the hands and minds of a child. it is rather steeply priced, though. sometimes i wish i had pots of money. allright, one pot at an opportune moment would do as well.

Dying to read: 'the naked man' by desmond morris. purely scientific interest. and it has some very, shall we say, interestingly named chapters. only thing is, this will be an exchange book. the old ek hath le, ek hath de, kind of deal. to get my paws on this, i'll have to temporarily part with morris's 'the naked ape'. the thought hurts me a great deal. not the getting part, but the giving part. my heart bleeds. i hate lending books. if i had a baby, i might lend her/him to someone for a little while quite gladly, but lending books is beyond me. what this says about my depraved state of womanliness i cannot say, but there it is.

falling over backwards

be warned: noone, noone at all, is to get any ideas. a song means nothing.

And in your eyes I see ribbons of color
I see us inside of each other
I feel my unconscious merge with yours
And I hear a voice say, whats his is hers

Im falling into you
This dream could come true
And it feels so good falling into you

I was afraid to let you in here
Now I have learned love cant be made in fear
The walls begin to tumble down
And I cant even see the ground

Im falling into you
This dream could come true
And it feels so good falling into you

Falling like a leaf, falling like a star
Finding a belief, falling where you are

Catch me, dont let me drop!
Love me, dont ever stop!

So close your eyes and let me kiss you
And while you sleep I will miss you

Im falling into you
This dream could come true
And it feels so good falling into you

Falling like a leaf, falling like a star
Finding a belief, falling where you are

Falling into you
Falling into you
Falling into you

the video is here.

ar ar arf

there are days when i want to stomp on every single inch around me, and set fire to the entire world.

like today.