Simply Me
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Mercy - Jodi Picoult
Is it selfish if you know you are losing the person you love and you would have them suffer than see them die? Would you if they asked you kill then with your own hands? Is love greater than the pain of losing the person you love more than yourself?When life throws a curveball and the 'you' who has always had this wanderlust has to stay and take care of your clan, would you put your duties before your own desires? Would the person who is as free as the wind make you fall for them so hard that you would be ready to give up your wife, your roots, your whole being and be ready to take off with them wherever life might take you?
There are two stories running parallelly in Mercy... 5 lead characters and main supporting characters... Cam, the police chief and the chief of his clan, bound by tradition to take care of Wheelock after his father's death; Allie, Cam's wife, owner of a flower shop and the person for whom the sun rises and sets at her husband's behest; Mia, a new comer to the town who enchants Allie with her bonsai and enchants Cam with her whole being... she is everything he ever wanted in life; Jamie, who loved... loves his wife so much that he took his wife's life when dying of cancer she asked him to kill her so she wouldn't spend each day worrying about when her lat day would come; Maggie, Jamie's dead wife, who though dead lives in Jamie's heart and mind... Then there are Graham, Jamie's lawyer, Ellen, Cam's mother and Angus, Cam's uncle...
The story begins with a woman selling off all of her husband's belongings and walking away... It then goes into flashback when Jamie comes to Wheelock to surrender after having smothered his wife...
The two stories run alongside each other... As Jamie says, love is never equal... one loves the other more than the other... Jamie loves his wife so much he grants her request without considering the consequence to himself... Allie loves Cam so much that when all evidence points to the betrayal of her husband, she puts an innocent turn to it... Mia loves Cam so much that she doesn't want Cam to lose his identity because of her...
How exactly do you measure love? The memories it brings? The time you spend together? The way you see them in your mind even when you don't close your eyes?
I still haven't finished the book... Jamie stands trial for committing a murder no matter how heart-rending the situation... Cam on one hand hires a lawyer for Jamie and on the other tries to sever all ties with him... Allie defies her husband to support Jamie, because she can understand the love that made him do what he did... Mia loves Cam so much it hurts to go away but she keeps trying to put her distance for her sake, for Allie's sake, for Cam's own sake... most of Wheelock thinks Jamie had no right to play God... Jamie and Maggies' friends think of Jamie's gesture as more noble than wrong... but what does the law say? Would emotions win over the law?
Monday, January 26, 2009
Musically yours....
There is something about music that can soothe your soul... Your favourite music people ask me... Anything that suits my mood at that point of time...
Being the Grand-Daughter of my ajju... a connoisseur of classical music and shastriya sangeet, I was well brought up listening to and enjoying classical music... I'd never guess you might like classical music said Ankur when he was browsing through the music on my cell looking for something interesting...
Classical music does have the ability to reach somewhere deep into your being... Close your eyes and feel it...
Amma and I had been to a Rudra-Veena recital last weekend... It was absolutely phenomenal... A single instument... even without the saath of tabla felt like it filled the air with the sound so clear and amazing it felt she was playing two instruments at once... the veena and a percussion instrument... The only female rudraveena player in India, the way Smt. Jyoti Hegde played could move one to tears...
All this brings me to why I wrote this today... YEsterday we were watching this programme on Zee MArathi... Nakshatrache Dene... which literally translates to 'Gift from the the stars'... And featured yesterday were songs by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi... A remark Nina Kulkarni, the anchor, made got me thinking... She said that we were really lucky to be born in a time as to get to hear Pt. Bhimsen Joshi sing... Here's my favourite...
As the reality shows which give more and more importance to Hindi Film songs grow, what is the future for this style of music? I developed a taste and love for classical music because of my family... ajju, annu, amma... Surprisingly, Ankur likes classical music... Supriya has learnt Carnatic music... But that just counts for 3 people that I know among my friends and colleagues including myself that have an inclination to this music... Are others of my generation interested? Would the next generation even know of the existence of this 'Gift from the stars?' The singers? The songs? The ragas?
I asked amma this... Have you heard the children sing in marathi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa? There are these kids who sing shastriya sangeet and classical music so beautifully... Don't worry she said... Classical music is here to stay...
Being the Grand-Daughter of my ajju... a connoisseur of classical music and shastriya sangeet, I was well brought up listening to and enjoying classical music... I'd never guess you might like classical music said Ankur when he was browsing through the music on my cell looking for something interesting...
Classical music does have the ability to reach somewhere deep into your being... Close your eyes and feel it...
Amma and I had been to a Rudra-Veena recital last weekend... It was absolutely phenomenal... A single instument... even without the saath of tabla felt like it filled the air with the sound so clear and amazing it felt she was playing two instruments at once... the veena and a percussion instrument... The only female rudraveena player in India, the way Smt. Jyoti Hegde played could move one to tears...
All this brings me to why I wrote this today... YEsterday we were watching this programme on Zee MArathi... Nakshatrache Dene... which literally translates to 'Gift from the the stars'... And featured yesterday were songs by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi... A remark Nina Kulkarni, the anchor, made got me thinking... She said that we were really lucky to be born in a time as to get to hear Pt. Bhimsen Joshi sing... Here's my favourite...
As the reality shows which give more and more importance to Hindi Film songs grow, what is the future for this style of music? I developed a taste and love for classical music because of my family... ajju, annu, amma... Surprisingly, Ankur likes classical music... Supriya has learnt Carnatic music... But that just counts for 3 people that I know among my friends and colleagues including myself that have an inclination to this music... Are others of my generation interested? Would the next generation even know of the existence of this 'Gift from the stars?' The singers? The songs? The ragas?
I asked amma this... Have you heard the children sing in marathi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa? There are these kids who sing shastriya sangeet and classical music so beautifully... Don't worry she said... Classical music is here to stay...
Labels: Bhagyada Lakhmi Baramma
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Snippets...
Lost...
We were in Mangalore and had gone to a festival and dinner to the temple. All of us on my mom's side... When the ladies and children were ready to leave, no sign of Vijendra... The men were busy serving... An extensive search revealed no signs of Vijendra... Asking both maamus to keep an eye out for him, we decided to go home to see if he was there... And halfway there, was Vijendra, his fair face and eyes red with tears... He thought we had forgotten him... Walking all the way home and a lock... the distressed child lost his way and thats how we found him where he was... he couldn't find anyone he said...
Forgotten...
Before I was born and Sohan anna was a child, mhanthu and his family had come to Pune. Asking Soniakka to sit with ajju and bapama in the car, mhanthu and annu went to the doctors' Sohan anna with them... They asked him to sit outside and sit on the compounder's stool... After a while, the boy got worried... he came out of the dispensary thinking both his Pappa and Bappa had forgotten about him... He was quite good with cars and asked someone on the road to take him across the road... Crying out for Papa and Bappa, he reached the car... At the dispensary, the two men, busy talking came out totally forgetting that his son/his nephew had come with them... At the car, everyone asked... Where's Sohan? Then they remembered... Thankfully Sohan anna was with the people in the car and they were pulling the men's leg...
House Arrest...
Three year old Ashwini and her parents were leaving for Dombivili early in the evening... About a couple of hours to leave, Ashwini goes to ajju and bapama's room and turns the key to lock herself in... Cajoling and confusing by the grandparents and her mother didn't help and Ganesh mamu's anger didn't simplify matters either... Ashwini was close to tears... All the shouting of breaking down the door woke up amma... First things first... she asked everyone to calm down... she'd see what to do... Everyone had already taken the handle apart... No way to try anything from this side of the door.. All upto Ashwini... Ashwini do you see the key? Put it in the lock... Now... Do you know left? yes... Turn the key left... Ok now turn the key right... Left again and real hard... The door comes open with a push...
The human doll...
At Chavathi (Ganesh festival), our entire family came together... Sohan anna, Ashwini and I were partners in crime... Sohan anna and Ashwini an year apart in age... Me the youngest 2 years younger than Ashwini... Finding that we were very silent, our families came searching for us... The older two had put on make-up on te youngest and a beautiful doll... a make-up of kajal made for the vaina pooja... the doll went into the dustbin... and half the day went to make me look presentable enough... Don't forget mhanthu's cream on the walls either...
A hard day's work...
Shifting to a new house is always a pain, especially when you are unwell and there's furniture being made and you have a 4 year old daughter to take care of... The carpenters had asked amma to take all the clothes left for drying into the room so that none of them got wood dust on them... Amma put them in ajju's room... that was the only room with no furnishing to be done... the bed had a pile of matresses on them since we always had guests coming to our place... Ajju and bapama at mhanthu's, tired amma went to sleep as soon as the carpenters left... Left to my own devices, little Tejaswini picked up a litre bottle of oil and decided to pour it on the freshly dried clothes... At the 'Devva kooda' water went into the bowl containing kumkum... An angry, exhausted amma sees this and goes to the bathroom to get everything cleaned and her feet can't stay on the ground... she is slipping... a litre bottle of shampoo is poured in the bathroom...
We were in Mangalore and had gone to a festival and dinner to the temple. All of us on my mom's side... When the ladies and children were ready to leave, no sign of Vijendra... The men were busy serving... An extensive search revealed no signs of Vijendra... Asking both maamus to keep an eye out for him, we decided to go home to see if he was there... And halfway there, was Vijendra, his fair face and eyes red with tears... He thought we had forgotten him... Walking all the way home and a lock... the distressed child lost his way and thats how we found him where he was... he couldn't find anyone he said...
Forgotten...
Before I was born and Sohan anna was a child, mhanthu and his family had come to Pune. Asking Soniakka to sit with ajju and bapama in the car, mhanthu and annu went to the doctors' Sohan anna with them... They asked him to sit outside and sit on the compounder's stool... After a while, the boy got worried... he came out of the dispensary thinking both his Pappa and Bappa had forgotten about him... He was quite good with cars and asked someone on the road to take him across the road... Crying out for Papa and Bappa, he reached the car... At the dispensary, the two men, busy talking came out totally forgetting that his son/his nephew had come with them... At the car, everyone asked... Where's Sohan? Then they remembered... Thankfully Sohan anna was with the people in the car and they were pulling the men's leg...
House Arrest...
Three year old Ashwini and her parents were leaving for Dombivili early in the evening... About a couple of hours to leave, Ashwini goes to ajju and bapama's room and turns the key to lock herself in... Cajoling and confusing by the grandparents and her mother didn't help and Ganesh mamu's anger didn't simplify matters either... Ashwini was close to tears... All the shouting of breaking down the door woke up amma... First things first... she asked everyone to calm down... she'd see what to do... Everyone had already taken the handle apart... No way to try anything from this side of the door.. All upto Ashwini... Ashwini do you see the key? Put it in the lock... Now... Do you know left? yes... Turn the key left... Ok now turn the key right... Left again and real hard... The door comes open with a push...
The human doll...
At Chavathi (Ganesh festival), our entire family came together... Sohan anna, Ashwini and I were partners in crime... Sohan anna and Ashwini an year apart in age... Me the youngest 2 years younger than Ashwini... Finding that we were very silent, our families came searching for us... The older two had put on make-up on te youngest and a beautiful doll... a make-up of kajal made for the vaina pooja... the doll went into the dustbin... and half the day went to make me look presentable enough... Don't forget mhanthu's cream on the walls either...
A hard day's work...
Shifting to a new house is always a pain, especially when you are unwell and there's furniture being made and you have a 4 year old daughter to take care of... The carpenters had asked amma to take all the clothes left for drying into the room so that none of them got wood dust on them... Amma put them in ajju's room... that was the only room with no furnishing to be done... the bed had a pile of matresses on them since we always had guests coming to our place... Ajju and bapama at mhanthu's, tired amma went to sleep as soon as the carpenters left... Left to my own devices, little Tejaswini picked up a litre bottle of oil and decided to pour it on the freshly dried clothes... At the 'Devva kooda' water went into the bowl containing kumkum... An angry, exhausted amma sees this and goes to the bathroom to get everything cleaned and her feet can't stay on the ground... she is slipping... a litre bottle of shampoo is poured in the bathroom...
Labels: Hum bhi agar bacche hote..., If only I could turn back time
Friday, January 9, 2009
Tom and Jerry
Introducing you to two other members of our team...
Manju who joined the BIP team from ERQA DeskI last year & Ranjit who joined the BIP team from ERQA DeskI this year.
These two keep fighting. Pranjal calls them Tom and Jerry. Have you seen those Tom and Jerry cartoons where Tom keeps trying to bait Jerry and Jerry gets his own in the end? Well do you also remember the episodes where Tom finds this hot new girl'cat'friend and has little time for Jerry. Jerry does everything possible to break up Tom and the girl-cat's relation just because he is lost without Tom.
That is how it is with these two... Ranjit yahaan se chale jao... Just get LOST!!! Arre main yahaan tumse thode bol raha tha... Main to bass aise hi baat kar raha tha... Nikhil Ranjit se kaho yahaan se chala jaaye... Why do you have to sit at my desk? Tumhari apni jagah nahi hai kya? Arre main isse nahin baat kar sakta kya?
All day long.. back-and-forth back-and-forth, these two keep annoying each other either entertaining or irritating the rest of us depending on what all of us are doing... but it is a constant treading on eggshells around these two... And they love to drag everyone around them into the fight as well..
Tejaswini tum hi bolo maine Manju se kuch kaha kya... Main yunhi baat kar raha tha...
Tejaswini Ranjit ko bolo mujhse baat mat karo
Ranjit stop teasing her and just leave her alone for 15 minutes... Manju just ignore him... falls to deaf ears... I guess they have as much fun hating each other and fighting with each other as most of us have listening to their ding-dong battles...
Manju who joined the BIP team from ERQA DeskI last year & Ranjit who joined the BIP team from ERQA DeskI this year.
These two keep fighting. Pranjal calls them Tom and Jerry. Have you seen those Tom and Jerry cartoons where Tom keeps trying to bait Jerry and Jerry gets his own in the end? Well do you also remember the episodes where Tom finds this hot new girl'cat'friend and has little time for Jerry. Jerry does everything possible to break up Tom and the girl-cat's relation just because he is lost without Tom.
That is how it is with these two... Ranjit yahaan se chale jao... Just get LOST!!! Arre main yahaan tumse thode bol raha tha... Main to bass aise hi baat kar raha tha... Nikhil Ranjit se kaho yahaan se chala jaaye... Why do you have to sit at my desk? Tumhari apni jagah nahi hai kya? Arre main isse nahin baat kar sakta kya?
All day long.. back-and-forth back-and-forth, these two keep annoying each other either entertaining or irritating the rest of us depending on what all of us are doing... but it is a constant treading on eggshells around these two... And they love to drag everyone around them into the fight as well..
Tejaswini tum hi bolo maine Manju se kuch kaha kya... Main yunhi baat kar raha tha...
Tejaswini Ranjit ko bolo mujhse baat mat karo
Ranjit stop teasing her and just leave her alone for 15 minutes... Manju just ignore him... falls to deaf ears... I guess they have as much fun hating each other and fighting with each other as most of us have listening to their ding-dong battles...
Labels: Door hi rehna paas na aana...
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Blog roll
I just spent about half an hour reading through my old blog posts... The other day read out the funnier ones to amma...
I just realised the best thing about writing a blog... its like looking through your old album... when you read your own blog, it brings back all the joys that you felt when you wrote them... the bitter-sweet memories of friends... the ones you speak to all the time and those whom you have lost touch with or have fought with... The emotion of seeing a dead lizard or eating dried up squishy maggi or watching some stupid movie with friends... Memories of the poems you wrote... of the books you read...
Realising that the fact that all your Labels being songs makes no difference since you have no link to redirect them to the respective blog :'(
I just realised the best thing about writing a blog... its like looking through your old album... when you read your own blog, it brings back all the joys that you felt when you wrote them... the bitter-sweet memories of friends... the ones you speak to all the time and those whom you have lost touch with or have fought with... The emotion of seeing a dead lizard or eating dried up squishy maggi or watching some stupid movie with friends... Memories of the poems you wrote... of the books you read...
Realising that the fact that all your Labels being songs makes no difference since you have no link to redirect them to the respective blog :'(
Labels: Yaadein reh jaati hain...
