O sleep! O gentle sleep!

In the movie Sarkar, in the end, heavy weights are tied to the villain's legs and he is dropped into the ocean. And he sinks.

What I need is some dead weight of that kind which drags the mind down and makes one fall asleep instantly. Because I have a serious sleeping problem these days. I have tried everything possible for a good night's sleep. I work hard in the day so that Im tired at the end of it. I go for evening walks (mind u brisk walks.. this is a big thing for me cos I was totally against all kinds of exercises. I firmly believe in the principle of least action. ) But still I have to wait for the sleep at night and I hate waiting. U know it is a misconception that girls are always late. In my experience, the boys are always late and I wonder why. They dont have a long hair to plait or dupattas to pin. Anyway, what do I do to sleep ?????

And finally in the mornings, I say this...

Danish Cartoons

My mind wanders the most when I have a deadline to meet :-D

I found a good set of articles at Institute of Islamic Studies.
There is a good article on the Danish Cartoons controversy

These cartoons are extremely offensive as they make fun of the Prophet of Islam rather than any Muslim politician as if the Prophet was responsible for all that Osama bin Laden or his followers in Al-Qaeda have been doing. Whose fun do we make? One who is dead 1400 years ago and has nothing to do with contemporary developments in the world of Islam

More of it here.
There is an article on Islamic Feminism (my favt topic by the way) and many more illuminating articles.
I had read a few articles by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer in The Hindu but I never knew the extent of his work.Why doesnt the media focus on such educated liberals rather than publicising the imams who issue fatwas at the drop of a hat?? Dr. Rafiq Zakaria was another such scholar who passed away last year.

Indian Muslims

I discovered this site of/by Indian Muslims. All kinds of views have been expressed there. Good links too. I especially liked the link to Urdu Poetry. Good effort :-)

!!!

Hey I saw Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Its different from the usual movies I see usually and umm it did make sense and it didn't make sense at times too :-D But what I wanted to mention here is this.. Joel and Clementine are the main characters of the movie. Clementine is this wacky girl who wears her "personality in a paste" orange, or blue hair colours!! (kate winslet by the way. she is beeeyouteephul. anything looks good on her). Now what I wanted to mention was-- she is supposed to be wierd, impulsive and all that and in one scene, in her home a Hindi movie song is being played in the background!!! I take offence.. Hindi movie songs should not be associated with wierdness. It wasn't even any Govinda song. It was 'mera mann pyaasa'
Even in Bollywood calling towards the end, the 'hero' plays a hindi song for his wife and she says "stop that infernal music" !!!! Ok agreed that the song was kind of wierd but still!!!!
We live on those. We must be the wierdest on earth then :-D
I cannot stand Jim Carrey. No not even in Bruce Almighty.. But he was so good in this movie ! First movie of his that I liked.

I want to go out somewhere today. In fact, I think I want to go out almost everyday. Im a gypsy stuck in the lab.. :-D

x-(

I get very irritated when every aira-gaira-nathu-khera thinks Im answerable to him/her. Arre my next hour is not charted out. Then why should anyone think that Ill follow a set pattern of life and if i dont why should I tell them why I dont. Do I ask why you are the way you are? Im least bothered about anybody else right now. Then God knows why people make it their business to pry in my life. That too a relatively unknown person!! just an acquaintance and she thinks I should tell her why i do something at this hr and not at that hr. yeah im pissed off and she deserved it if i was rude. This is the third or fourth time she has done this and my tolerance level hit its max grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Dont ppl have enough problems of their own that they go around worrying about others!! Na generally.. Why do people pry??

he he

A friend suggested that my prince charming should take an entrance test to woo me :-D Not a bad idea.. please take the nerd test below and let me know the score :-D
I was reading Frankenstein and it so happens that I get free time only at night. And yesterday It was close to 0030 when the creature was created :-D Scary!
Im also reading A Pelican at Blandings by wodehouse. He is the ultimate king of humour. His Jeeves and Blandings series are the best ones.

hmmm

Does sarcasm exist between friends?

I didn't think so too :-D

..

Im a passive citizen :-( I saw an accident today. A girl was lying on the road. I was in the bus. I just prayed that the people surrounding her will help her and carried on. Maybe thats the maximum I could do or maybe I could have done more. I did try calling up a trauma care number I had got from a chain mail. Turned out to be a fake number x-( (grrrrrrrrrr).
Hope she got some help.

before sunrise

I saw a beautiful movie today - Before Sunrise. Romantic but not mushy. Something which lingers on one's mind long after the movie is over.
There is a wise Chinese proverb which says marry someone with whom you can talk. Because thats the only thing that gets you through old age. I don't want to die old by the way and I dont want to die young either. I think Im not ready for it anytime :-D Im confused. Thats why God is omniscient :-D
Im on the hunt for the sequel now which is called Before Sunset.

I realised today that I practically live on music. When Im bored I listen to music. When Im sad I listen to music. (I hate sad songs especially mukesh songs.) When Im drowsy and I have to work I switch on something peppy. When Im happy I play something which matches my mood. Sufi music soothes me. Restless, lonely, ecstatic, partying, and even eating (I have a marked preference for restaurants which have a good music collection).. any mood and I need a tune. When Im not listening to it Im humming it. Its scary at times!! :-D Even when Im in company, there's something going on in my mind. Wierd ?
But then thats me :-D

hmphh

Pundit this has to make u happier grrrrr I challenge u .. take ur test BE HONEST nd lets see wat ur results are hmphhhhh

Calvin and Hobbes

One of the many reasons I love C and H. Find more here
I have a friend who looks like Susie Derkins :-D

Yaiyaiyaaaaaaa

I bought my first pair of jeans :-D And I totally, absolutely love it. And guess what! I saw my mausa mausis (maternal uncle and aunts) in my dream. They said they don't approve of me :-D Hilarious ? Wierd? or Im going crazy :-D

And I got a beautiful hard bind copy of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley gifted to me :-D It belongs to the horror genre it seems and its beautifully written. As soon as the day is over, I am going to read it. My dream - a cosy library with a huge french window looking out to the water fountain in the lush, green garden. Absolute silence except for the chirping of the birds and the rippling sound of the water. Adjacent to the window, there is a teakwood bookcase. And this book goes on to the third rack of that bookcase :-D

Something positive

A 'fatwa' against terrorists attacking places of worship
This is what I have often been ranting about in my blogs - lack of any fatwa against the killings. Though the bombings and killings have been condemned on a regular basis in the local mosques, there has been no media news about this. This is good news :-)

I saw Gone with the Wind yesterday :-D Awesome movie. The book has been my all time favourite. And Rhett Butler is the most romantic character I can think of. Its a 1939 movie. But its so well crafted, you can see what makes it a classic. Some movies create an atmosphere about you. This one did. Scarlett O'Hara is a powerful character. She is vain, selfish, but strong and determined and tackles her problems face-on. "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow. " made much sense to me.
Vivien Leigh was perfect in that role. Sometimes I feel I'll have an end like Scarlett O'Hara.
But then, Im still searching for a Rhett Butler :-D Even a Barney of the Doctors will do :-D

Fortunes and tides

My orkut fortune for today reads : You will have some wonderful new experiences. I am waiting ;-D
Those fortune msgs cheer one up u know! Yesterday it said : Im well liked, adabadawada.... Chalo koi to kuch accha kehta hai :-D
I saw Iqbal on TV today. Liked it a lot.
And my latest craze in music is Fuzon. Try them out. Now I like that kind of fusion. Fresh. Even Faakhir is good to hear. Peppy. And he has a good voice. Bro I love u so much for getting an awesome speaker system.. well for other things too.
I have a copy of one nite @ call center by Chetan Bhagat. Its raining books :-D.. Lots to read and lots to do :-)
Working on weekends is soooooooo difficult. I have a deadline tomorrow but nothing done for that yet. Mind is very distracted. Focus.. that's what is lacking :-)

I have this urge to run away somewhere for a couple of days.. Mountains, rivers, greenery, mist, dew drops, breeze tinged with a lemony tangy smell, silence, sound of water hitting the stones, bird-songs and absolutely nobody else.
Option 2- a deserted clean beach. and me swimming with the waves.
There's a scene in Yuva's fanaah song where both kareena and vivek are floating in the middle of the sea. I want to do that someday :-) Swimming is something that I wish to learn someday. Its on the things-ill-do-before-i-die list.
Want to go trekking. want to bungee jump.. want to ski.. want to fly...
he he
I dont want to write that paper :-D

Hurray the weekend is here!!!

Fresh Blood

`Young' party to contest Assembly elections

More about them at LokParitran Party Home

Bus day

CELEBRATING THE STUDENTS' WAY: Yet another set of students on Wednesday observed `Bus Day', an occasion to express their affinity towards a favourite bus route. But it looks like the happiness here has grown to dangerous proportions, as many of the students travel perched precariously on all sides of the bus. — Photo: R. Ragu

This came in The Hindu today - a clipping about the Bus Day.. One of our profs contributed some more to the caption. It read as

These are Leaders of Tomorrow. Please postpone "tomorrow"

Books and blasts

After a severe drought of books to read in the past few days, I have now three books lined up for my perusal :-D - all of them belonging to a different genre.. Glimpses of world history by Nehru, Murder is easy by Agatha Christie, and Magic for Marigold by LM Montgomery..
So apart from the research work that I have to finish by this weekend, I can look forward to this too. I AM busy :-D
The bomb blasts in Varanasi is deplorable and should be severely condemned by all the religious leaders. Anybody who take lives so indiscriminately is not even human, leave alone talking about going to heaven. The people behind such crimes can't be anyone's friends.. These gruesome acts succeed in polarising the community. Plus we have the political leaders using these tragedies for their own means..

Anything can snowball into a big carnage these days.. We live in troubled times... Nobody is safe anywhere now...

he he

There was a young fellow from Trinity
who took square root of infinity
but the number of digits
gave him the fidgets.
He dropped Math and took up Divinity.

lifted from George Gamow's book called One Two Three .. Infinity.. Book looks interesting..

.

I have uploaded the profile pic :-) with all due respects to the person who created this.
He he that pic loooks so unlike me......

ye haseen fwds

These paintings were forwarded to me. The girl is gorgeous and the paintings are well crafted.
Im really tempted to use one of these pics as my profile pic :-D Should I or shouldnt I.. mmmmm If yes then which one ? The 1st one in the 2nd row or the last one?

I saw Chronicles of Narnia. Either I wasnt in a good mood or the movie WAS really boring. I didn't enjoy it. mmmmm the kids were cute.. Peter was handsome. Story would have been interesting just that I wasnt in a mood to appreciate it that day that show plus the crowd was full of hooligans who had come to make noise and the kids were emulating them!!!
I really wished for home theater systems then :-( Half the fun of cinema in theatre was lost cos of those ruffians. Tell me in what way does cat-calling and other cheap antics give them pleasure!!
Back to the movie, war scenes reminded me of LOTR. Half man-half horse (centaurs i now remember what they are called) reminded me of Hercules, the series.. and lions are the favourite subjects of my nightmares.. How could I ever appreciate one in the lead role!! He he Mr. Tumnus reminded me of an Italian physicist who had visited us recently. He was very cute indeed :-D And everyone was so mechanical in the movie.
It was just too slow for my taste. Waste of money and waste of time.

Have a nice week ahead. Time really flies doesn't it?

chanda ki doli mein...

This pic was just my first attempt at uploading images :-D

By the way, we had a similar moon in the sky tonight albeit much smaller in size. It looked majestic amongst the brilliant stars. And then suddenly, lo and behold it started raining! A slight drizzle.. but very much welcomed after the sultry day we faced. Summer starts early in Chennai :-) 2 yrs back we had such a summer. It would be hot in the day but it would rain in the evenings. It was the most beautiful summer I had ever seen. I hope this drizzle today means this year we will have a summer like that one. I like summers more than winter inspite of the heat and grime. There's a cheerfulness in this weather. Mornings are bright and inviting. Sea breeze blows in the evenings. Icrecreams, juices, water melons, cottons, and MANGOESSSSSSSSSS... Many reasons to rejoice in summer compared to the gloomy winter.