Tuesday

Cellular Sub-Culture

I had first written this post about a month ago and when I had almost finished it, I decided to give it a quick read. After which I found myself thinking that this stuff isn’t relevant anymore and it all sounds like nonsense as a result of which, I didn’t post it.
(That, and the fact that my comp switched off before I could save or publish it!!)

Anyways, a recent experience at a friend’s place totally affirmed my theory, so much so, that throughout the evening I had this self praising grin on my face. I even brought it up a couple of times. (I guess it was just a full on pat-my-own-back fest!) With renewed faith in my views I’m now putting it down.

On more than a few occasions, I’ve noticed a whole new social behavioral pattern that I like to call the cellular sub-culture.

I’m sure we’ve all noticed it or done it, you walk into this place, meet up with your friends, new and old, say hey and blam – “hey is that the new N blah blah blah? Whats the internal memory? How many Mega Pixels? Edge? Gprs? Air-bag? Anti-rape alarm? DVD player? Solution to end world suffering??!!!” Yes, the cellphone of today has everything and more but that’s not the problem. The fact that we all talk about the phones from time to time also isn’t that bad. It’s when it replaces all other topics of conversation and ends up sounding like elvish, that you know isn’t commonplace behavior. Whatever happened to "so whats your favourite colour?" rather than "the N XXXX comes in a variety of colours." If, you know what i mean?

I consider myself the average tech loving guy but even for me, phone talks get outta hand. I actually have friends who can talk entirely in numbers and know exactly what they mean. Stuff like “have you seen the 1232? It got a higher processor than the 6738 or the 63532. I love the i373o’s looks, it’s been based on the 3435!!!” I just stand by like “is the 3435 the one with the squiggly lines on the back?”

I think back to a simpler time (not too long ago) when you went from one place to another and weren’t paranoid that people can’t reach you, and wonder how it’ll ever be the same. It won’t. Infact, there’s gonna be more of it, all around us. But living with technology and spending all your spare time talking bout it are two different things of which the latter one, atleast, I hope I can avoid....for now.

Meanwhile, I’m gonna go check my phone cos it hasn’t made a sound in 15 whole minutes and my hands are beginning to tremble. I am hopelessly addicted.

Thursday

that guy on the titanic

In the past week ive had, and continue to have, a completely harrowing time. Workwise anyways (though considering the hours, my life has only been work!!)..ok!.. ok!.. i can literally sense people saying "whats so great bout that?" "stop complaining" blah blah (once again, i don't have voices in my head)...so moving on...like i was saying, in this time, even though ive barely had a free moment (no im not saying how hard i work, again, believe me this is going somewhere), ive caught myself wondering, on more than one occasion, about our survival instincts...Man's (and i dont mean "man" but humans) way of coping with the urban jungle, of dealing with hassles and basically stress!!

We all go through a mess of things all day everyday...petrol pump guy tries to rip you off, parking's full, supplier's promise you the solar system and all the planets and stars in it but show up with one lump of coal which, and you know this is true, they will insist is the natural evolutionary product of all they promised!! deadlines will always be due 24 hours ago! and the printer and all connected will not function when you need that report...oh sureee it'll work when you want the guitar chords to "someday" but never when you need it. .. night brings with it a whole new menu of pain...you go out with a bunch of friends...ther is no going out in delhi...atleast not since places shut at 12!!! so you loiter around till you give up and go home...i wish i had more exciting issues but they'll have to do for now... I guess im stepping into Murphy's law territory here..

now that Murphy's law has come up, i must say that i am eternally optimistic by nature so ive always found the collective laws amusing, sometimes coincidentally accurate, but by and large-not true..after all, if everything is gonna go wrong, why do anything?! right? But this time around, and ive seen it in work atleast, everything HAS gone wrong...which again, strangely, didnt make me think about Murphy's law, but rather, about stress and how to deal with it??

Why i thought about that, is because while everything around me seems to be breaking down, i have been able to sleep at night, chat with friends, WRITE THIS POST, sing and whistle aimlessly, and i mean aimlessly, and do pretty much all that an average HASSLE-FREE guy does. Even while im running around from one dept. to another, im whistling or singing or humming!! what is wrong with me?? It's not like i dont care for the work (i do-intensly. otherwise i wouldnt do it at all) then why? and then.......... it hit me. That is my survival mechanism /instinct. I do (atleast subconciously and effortlessly) anything that keeps me disconnected enough from the problems of life...and for some reason, the movie-titanic popped in... is that what the violin players were doing on the titanic as it slipped into the sea? No ofcourse not, they were playing tunes to give the dieing (themselves included) some solace and i, in no way think myslef to be achieving any such noble goal..infact, i would probably be the singing, whistling idiot sitting around behind the players looking at all the people slide by!! but think about it...is being sufficiently detached, the best way to really take in reality?? ok ok sorry didnt wanna go for a "does that blow your mind?" moment...but seriously, the realisation of subconcious, almost involuntary, behaviour in trying situations makes you question all people's behaviour in general...did your girlfriend / boyfriend just shout at you cos he/she's a pain, or is that how they keep people at a distance (survival for some)..or did the supplier (stupid freakish cretins..die and burn in hell) give you a bogus target cos they're lyeing cheating bastards and that's what they do or did the guy have aishwarya rai dancing in kajra re while talking to you??!! eitherways, i feel that ever since i thought about this, ive become aware of the larger forces at work. I mean, if everyone has an embedded mechanism, then i can assume that all the people (all the people i care about anyways!!) will be alright..that everyone will survive this madness that we go through everyday.

damn! really thought i was on to something here...bottom line, i'm not an alien (or atleast that's what i would say if i wanted you to believe that i was'nt an alien).

would love inputs on the instinct thing..not me being an alien (cos im not)

Friday

all time songs that "get me"

I gotta have music on all day everyday (don't get too literal on it, read as much as possible), when i feel good, feel bad, remember a particular time, up, down..well basically anything!! and i think thats the brilliance of music (any audiophile would agree)... the funny thing is i can relate to songs that i dont even have a personal equation with..that is, if its a sad song, i don't need to have gone through that feeling, i actually just kinda project myself into the situation (if you're thinking this is wierd, think back to the last time you heard a sad song and said "oh that'd be a great song if i had a fight!!")

Anyways here's a list of great songs (old and new and in no order of preference). Don't be alarmed by the high number of sad songs...im not manic depressive or anything, just like em.

If any of you have some songs (and we all do!) or feel a particular way bout the ones ive listed lemme know. post them in the comments.

  1. Falls Apart - Sugar Ray: Song about a girl who's alone and puts up a brave front but is broken inside. Feel like i know people like that. I think we all do. Love the line "hold her hand, it seems to dissapear."
  2. I'm on fire - Bruce Springsteen: Doesn't really have any theme. Just a guy totally into this girl. The video gives a slightly sad picture of a guy who likes this girl but doesn't ask her out. The eternal "what if" situation.
  3. Sparks - Coldplay: Brilliant mellow song good for an afterparty or when feeling down. Hopelessness of an unsavable relationship. Love the line "I won't let you down...oh yeah i will, yeah i will"
  4. Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime - OST Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind: Reminds me of the movie and what the guy goes through. Have to watch the movie to understand.
  5. Cocoon - Jack Johnson: Mellow (as all of his stuff). Super song about a relationship thats fallen apart and how one wants to "heal" ourselves and the other by taking support from each other. Love the line "I guess all we have, is really all we need" and "Mend your broken heart and leave"
  6. You're beautiful - James Blunt: Yes! we all've heard this one and we love it. I like how the song's about an amazing moment you sometimes have and the sad realisation that nothing will ever come out of that. And in the end it's all ok cos there'll be more moments like these. Love the line "She could see from my face that i was..fuckin high"
  7. Your Body is A Wonderland - John Mayer: One of the best, if not, the best tribute to a women's body. A love song for our generations. Love the line "I'll never let your head, hit the bed, without my hand behind it"
  8. Life Goes on - Tupac: Old Skool rap number about death and life in the 'hood. (Central theme for a lot of his tracks). Sad song of death, seperation and unfulfilled dreams.
  9. The Scientist - Coldplay: Super song about a broken relationship and how the guy try's to find out what went wrong in a ery logical way, when the truth is that some stuff can't be sorted out with the mind. What can i say, Coldplay rocks! Love the line "Noone ever said it would be so hard."
  10. Creep - Radiohead: Strong sad song about wanting to be more and feeling left out. Love the lines "wish i was special, you're so fuckin special"
  11. Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice (OST Closer): One of the most powerful and raw songs of a guy hopelessly in love and the regret one feels after breaking up. Love the last few lines "can't take my mind of you.......till i find somebody new." Human Nature right there!
  12. Yellow - Coldplay: An unexpectantly happy, even romantic song. Love the line "Look at the stars, she how they shine for you."
  13. She don't want nobody near - Counting Crows: Amazing song, one of the lesser known counting crows tracks. All about how people don't wanna get close cos they're afraid of getting hurt. Love the lines "she don't want noone around, cos she don't want anybody to see, what She looks like when she's down, cos it's a really sad place to be." Beautiful and sad.
  14. Ready for a fall - P.J. Olsen: Song about a guy whose expecting the relationship to come to an end. Sad pre-breakup break-up song. Love the lines "Where will you go after me?" and "If it was this easy to find you, i should...be ready for a fall"
  15. Crash Into Me - Dave Mathews Band: A boy's fantasy. DMB perfectly portrays his / all of us's boyhood fantasy of seeing and making love to that one fantastic girl. Just takes you away! The most killer drums too! And if you love the song, the video will blow your mind!!! Love the line (for no perverse reason, the choice of words is brilliant!) "hike up your skirt a little more....show your world to me.)
  16. Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - The Eels (OST Road Trip): One of the most happy, chiller tracks. Makes one feel completely at ease..like all is good! Love the line "God damn right..it's a beautiful day."
  17. Colourblind - Counting Crows: Song about being completely locked up inside and wanting to break out and open up. Another Counting Crows masterpiece. Dark, sad but strangely happy song. The last parts makes one feel hopeful of a better time. Love the line "pull me out from inside."
  18. Everybody's Changing - Keane: Song about that feeling when everyone and everything around you is changing. To me, the feeling of things changing around me is unsettling and a bit upsetting and the song relays of all that. Love the lines "everybody's changing and I don't know why."
  19. Are you in - Incubus: No real theme just a great good feel song. Perfect after party song. Somehow seems fit to be played when you're with a bunch of good friends chilling at night on some beach. Well, takes me there anyways! Love the lines "it's so much better...when everyone is in..are you in?"
  20. Say Something - James: Song about two people in a relationship and how the guy is literally begging the girl to open up to him. We all have had or have come across this feeling of being "shut out". This song just reflects that desperation. Love the lines "Take a drug to set you free...strange fruit from a forbidden tree...You've got to come down soon"

XXXXXX

will add more soon..

Thursday

drunk!! in first person

10 am sunday morning. im feeling surprisingly good (considering the situation)...no headache, no nase.. naseo.. naseau....oh let it go- feeling sick!! grab a glass of juice sit back and start to go over the events that transpired the night before....

i passed out?? no way! couldntve happened...i was having such a great time...hey who was that girl? havent met her before? wasnt so-n-so there...where did that guy go? strange inconsequential questions being shot back and forth between me and my friend...(the guy who apparently dragged my drunk ass so that id crash on bed instead of on some cactus patch!!).... i passed out?? no bloody way!!!

the night before (quite late into it)...

oye give me a another..what is this?...bartender- caprioshka with mint....its good give me more...easy on the mint..bal!! (voices from behind) you gotta have one of these shots...so i take two! (at this point number really doesnt seem to matter)...woahh what just happened to the room...it's begun...heyy!!! (more voices from more poeple) whats up?? you're looking "happy"!!....weLL i MAy hAVE hAd A feW SHotS AnD THe CApRioSHHkaaa with MInt is BRiLLiAnt...(Wait! did i say caprioskha right? and why's my voice echoing?)....wheres that music coming from? god damn!!what i killer track! gotta get on the floor...walk straight don't let people know you're drunk! don't want people to....hey shes cute!..keep walking...almost there...COMPLETE BLANK FOR NEXT 15 MINUTES (probably needed all of my mind to keep my motor skills in checks so that i didnt fall all over the place)....back off the floor...you're back (voices..nice ones this time) really were into that song huh?...uh huh (language becoming a mess of mono syllables and simple noises)...i think im gonna just sit down for a bit you know, till i get my focus back....just a little while to ... hey where the f**k has so-n-so gone...he's been gone for like an hour...probably on the phone with...man!! she is so wasted!! she should drink some water and maybe even throw up!! hehe so-n-so (the guy whose place it is) is gonna be so pissed cos he was dreading the "accidents"...hey where is he? havent seen him anywhere too..dog must be hitting on some....dude, ive gotta get me some water...begining to lose the room!!! ok bal easy does it...get up and walk to the bar..10 steps thats all...10 little steps....can i have a..bartender-caprioshka with mint?..no not this time man, wanna come down a little...some water please..thats right...drink the water....bal!!(voices again!) whered you go man? looking all over for you..gotta have to a shot with me man cmon!...i dont think there was any thought process going on at this time..no moment of "should i or shouldnt i?"...grabbed two...heres toooo..oh screw it..down it....man that was good!...back to the couch... ohh boy..begining to lose the room...wait can make it to the couch..ahhh bliss..im right where i wanna be right now...maybe if i shut my eyes the swilring will sto..wwooaahhh!!! bad idea!! keep eyes open!...why's this place so hot??!..maybe some fresh air will do me good...stumble outside...walking now doesnt seem to be an option...sit down you fool! take it easy..ahh the porch...the garden..had a good game of cricket here the other day...this house has too many damn dogs...how come she didnt come? even so-n-so didnt show up bastard!!....eyelids getting heavy...maybe just close my eyes one more time....bal bal bal bal bal BAL!! (voices-the nice kind again) you ok? can we get you anything? have a little water..cmon just a little....such nice sweet people..god why am i so drunk? why did i have those shots? damn so-n-so killed me with those shots!! why am i so high?? god god god!!ok easy does it..can still snap out of it...take the water..take the lemon salt mix thing...damn! cant do it...its ok you guys...thanks a lot but i really just need to sit here for a whileeee... my voice is trailing off..why is my voice trailing off?? one eye open...good enough for me right now..hey isnt that.. but i thought she was outta town...and who is ...ok eyes closed again..and i dont think they be opening now....BAL! (so-n-so saviour) what the f**k you doing here? (the nice voices and so-n-so) he's been like this for a bit..maybe you should make him crash upstairs...give some of this water (their voices sound like their coming from the other side of some wall or far away place)..BAL! alright man? cmon up you go!

i passed out??? no way man no frickin way!! i was having such a good time....
all good things

recently (and i dont know whether its been around for long and ive just become aware of it now, or that this stuff has just started happening all around me) ive noticed a lot of people around me (friends specifically) who all seem to be in this funk about their lives, love, relationships and what not..and ive found myself increasingly thinking about three things - 1. why do we all have such annoying problems? 2. how will i ever lose weight? and 3. are there any good things in life to look forward to and why aren't my friends seeing these things? (i realise that that's 2 questions but i count it as one!).

So in an effort to atleast look at the third problem (1. and 2. may be beyond me) i think it would be fun if we could all just take some time and write a few things that're fundamentally good. they can be anything, either specific to one person's life or stuff that is good for us all!!...

for that, please go to this link www.listofgoodthings.blogspot.com and post your lists in the comments box there..

Wednesday

theory of gravity and relationships

dont ask me why or how i came up with this one but it occurred to me one day while driving (apparently one has a lot of free time when driving endlessly through frickin bumper to bumper traffic with pissing off drivers who deserve to die! die! die!! - still dealing with road rage issues) that there may be a parrallel that can be drawn between our being in relationships and the gravitational behaviour of objects...heres how it goes...

any two objects in space or wherever (my theories are never completely thought out) will be pulled together owing to the gravitational forces around them...this movement goes on till the two either a) collide and are destroyed, b) collide and unify or c) are repeled and pushed away from each other...

in that way i feel we all are roaming around on some invisible orbital going about our lives...when suddenly we come across another person and the whole attraction / gravitational pull thing happens..in that period you go through all the movies and dinners and stuff that you do to get to know the person which in turn draws you closer untill you collide...here on, the three outcomes come into being (as im sure we've all experienced)...and the future of that relationship is decided..if you really think about it, there are parrallels to be drawn on how a larger object (the bigger person-personality-wise, not some giant!!) absorbs / swallows the smaller one etc etc but then the theory will get too long and i dont like to type very much!

ofcourse as far as the whole theory is concerned, one could argue that gravitational pull and attraction are not the same cos a lot can go wrong and its not necessary that you will get together for example two planets are getting together but one accuses the other of hitting on another planet, or not remebering its birthday or if many objects are getting pulled together, then we just talking some freaky nasty stuff!! if you know what i mean...but for that i say that apply it only to cases where the two people have got together and if you still wanna argue it, i say your argument doesnt fit well with my theory so i dont believe it yaaah!!

more to come soon (or whenever i feel like it)
arrival to blogland

And here i am...on this miniscule part of the so called cyber world..why blog? i have no idea. for me its probably a combination of things (as always and for most people)..for one, it may be a good outlet for all the inane semi-coherent nonsensical babble that i have literally briming up inside me (no i am not insane and i dont hear or talk to the voices in my -stop telling me what to do!! why should i paint my face blue?? hey that rhymes!!!- head!!!. sorry if i lost you there but like i said--incoherent! another reason (or atleast pushing factor) was me going through a friend's blog (you know who you are - it is brilliant by the way!) and that made me wanna get on this too...

I think (and im being serious here) that we have this need to reach out, to connect and share our lifes' experiences with each other.. logically speaking there isnt any reason (logical anyways) to explain this.. we aren't rewarded in anyways, theres no need for acceptance or achievement that we fulfill here....so why? Hey if you were expecting some insightful enlightened answer sorry!! but my serious talk quota just ran out at the words "so why?"

But on the topic of frogs and marshmallows, i do have a few theories about a few things which i plan to post soon...check back for lots more exciting stuff and the chance to win exciting prizes!!! Not really just wanted to say that..