Monday, January 02, 2006

Alabala

This is what Shashi Tharoor's column had to say yesterday:

My mother always told me to spend New Year's Day doing the kinds of things I wanted to repeat in the remaining 364. Her assumption was, I suppose, that the first day of the year set the tone for what was to follow, so spending it in the sybaritic indulgence that befits a holiday — or even worse, sleeping off the sybaritic indulgences of the previous night — would guarantee an unproductive year ahead.

Going by his mother's words, the rest of my year will be spent in the bathroom possessed by a strong urge to throw up and an utter inability to do so. I had a bad, bad stomach upset.

What a welcome relief it was, to finally throw up after hours of endless waiting! If you're wondering where this is going, all of yesterday made me think - isn't it weird how enormously relieved you feel after doing the most disgusting things? Like puking ... or peeing ... or :D Okay, I shall stop this here.

Other observations ...

- Aunt from Pakistan is home. Yes, Mr. Wodehouse, you were right, aunts aren't gentlemen.

- New York mami was stunned to see the new year celebrations on the streets. 'I didn't know the new year was such a big deal here. There people just go out to one place, they don't run around on the streets shouting 'Happy New Year!''

- This is from a post that I wanted to make long, long ago. Its from a book called 'How Proust can change your life':

It was a symbol of what Ruskin had done for Proust and what all books might do for their readers, namely bring back to life, from the deadness caused by habit and inattention, valuable neglected aspects of experience.

... he argued that we should be reading for a particular reason, not to pass the time, not out of detached curiosity not out of a dispassionate wish to find out what Ruskin felt, but because 'there is no better way of coming to be aware of what one feels oneself than by trying to recreate in oneself what a master has felt'. We should read other people's books in order to learn what we feel, it is out own thoughts we should be developing even if it is another writer's thoughts which help us do so.





- And this is a poem that I discovered lying in my login, Vikram Seth again :D

Sea and Desert

How do I merit such happiness? To have
The moon, the Pacific, and you beside me, waking
At three to sudden cold - dew, the stiff breeze
Along the headland; I have been watching you,
Your face lit in the full moon, restless, still,
As out beyond the strip of foam near the crags
Below, the moon lights up a calm yet shifting
Track on the ocean. Your face with its
Clean lines and tousled hair is beautiful
And it is hard to believe that even in
This stark and lovely place it is the cause
Of so much of my peace. You sleep again,
And I know this unusual beauty, that you've
Neither aimed for nor deserved, will recur
Again and again for me with sea and moon,
An image changing with these changing things,
Distracting me from neither, enhancing both,
A gift you could not help but give, something
I too have neither aimed for nor deserve.

18 comments:

manuscrypts said...

column where??? meanwhile, a very happy new year to you :)

The optimist from utopia said...

Hey Happy New Year..
We should read other people's books to understand what we feel..
Somehow I cant get myself to accept this logic of his.. One cannot develop his own thoughts by understanding others'
And where, may I ask, did u come across this article of his?

P.S: All the best for XAT :)

SSK said...

Speaking of Wodehouse:

I present this wonderful bit of Wodehouse/Wilde crossover.

From 'Picadilly Jim' by P. G. Wodehouse:

Ann smiled delightedly. It was so typical that his father should have called him something like that. Time had not dimmed her regard for the old man she had seen for that brief moment at Paddington Station. He was an old dear, and she thoroughly approved of this latest manifestation of his supposed pride in his offspring.
“Is that really your name–Algernon?”
“I cannot deny it.”

“I think your father is a darling,” said Ann inconsequently.
Jimmy had buried himself in the directory again.

From 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Ocsar Wilde:

CECILY. Are you called Algernon?
ALGERNON. I cannot deny it.

CECILY. Oh!
GWENDOLEN. Is your name really John?
JACK. [Standing rather proudly.] I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked. But my name certainly is John. It has been John for years.

And Happy new year, dahling! =)

Anonymous said...

Congrats Billy for the IIM call ..
Treak kub millegi ..

burf said...

hey cat u got a call from IIM?

that is so kewl

best of luck for the GD and else

hows life btw and r u enjoing delhi nowdays? :D

Anonymous said...

so cool. awesome. congrats. see that you still have an old link of mine..please update coolcat. sorry for the late notice.

mythalez said...

in case u didnt notice ... a fortnite has passed away :P

Anonymous said...

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on she sings the songs
The words she knows, the tune she hums

But oh how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you and you can't hear me
When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
you had a busy day today

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand...........

infinity said...

if its true tht new year's day is a precursor for the 364 to come then half the world would be boozing around everyday...

ironhide said...

why no blogs? did you join my company too?

Anonymous said...

Alain de Botton, eh? His other books are very good too. Although do try to take his suggestion and read Recherche de Temps Perdu (or have you already?)... I have a feeling you will profit from it, as I have not.

Anonymous said...

we want a new post .. we want a NEW POST .. WE WANT A NEW POST


POST KAR GADHI.

Anonymous said...

coolcats; words : "she-blogz ? i think it should have been she-does-not-blog ... "

infinity said...

post kar gadhi...if i may be allowed to say such a thing...

Ent said...

*grin*
Aunts, most decidedly, aren't gentlemen.

You made me miss Wodehouse, and all my paperbacks are in Karachi. I must hunt some down.

Argentyne said...

manu,
in the hindu and hny to you too :)

OfromU,
If someone is a better writer than you, the expressions they use make you go Ah! You can't always find the right words even if you can feel everything in your brain/heart.

And HNY to you too! :)

Sudha, :D And HNY to you too! :)

Anon, depends on who you are :)

Hey burf, how you? Details are in latest post and I dont live in Delhi!

Argentyne said...

Alpha, thanks :) Shall update soon, too lazy to do it now :D

dodo, in case you dindt notice a new post's up! :D

anonymous no.2, make some sense yaar.

infinity, hehe, guess you're right :)

ironhide, been buuuusyyyyyyyy :)

Argentyne said...

and anonymous no. 3, who art thou? I shall try and follow your advice, many thanks.

biscuit guy, shut up :D

and infinity, I have, finally :D

Tree-elf, yes, those words shall remain an aphorism till the world ends. Isn't Piccadilly Jim the bestest?