Random Musings

I notice that I haven’t written anything for a while. No particular reason why, just lazy I guess. I think I was depressed for a bit too, or something like that.

Anyway, so what’s new?

I went for the Black Eyed Peas concert and jumped around. It was quite nice, and since I was in the first row, it was even better. They’re not the greatest band, but hey, a live concert is always good.

I had a chance of going on a little trip to Singapore, all expenses paid, but decided not to.

I’ve also run out of books. I bought a bunch, but I’ve read them all. It’s time to go back to the bookstore. I love this bookstore. It’s a secondhand store, and they have a great collection. And you know what the best part is? It SMELLS like a bookstore.

That’s a big problem with the Crosswords of the world. Sure, they’re big, and well lit, and have place for you to move around in, but somehow, that’s not a bookstore.

A bookstore is a small store, divided into narrow aisles by shelves. Books are stacked everywhere, and while there may be an underlying order, it’s not instantly apparent. So you need to spend time, walking up and down, standing on stools, maneuvering past strangers, trying not to knock down a stack of books, before you find the one true book you’ve been looking for all your life, but never knew you were.

What is a bookstore unless you find an old mildewed book, that you remember reading as a child. Not a reprint, but the same edition. As you turn the pages, the odd illustration leaps out at you, and you remember the precise day and hour that you first read it. I found a Winne the Pooh, and it took me back to when I was six years old. We had gone to visit someone in Calcutta, and I was sitting quietly, and the old lady gave me this book to read. I started reading it then, but did not finish it, because we had to leave. But I still remember the first few pages, and how it felt.

In a real bookstore, you are surrounded by old friends, and the shelves hold the promise of many new ones. Some may turn out to be false friends, and you discard them in disgust, but others you cherish for years, even as the binding loosens, and the pages turn yellow, and people ask you why you don’t throw that old book away.

At home, in Jaipur, I have my books neatly stored in a bookshelf. Bangalore isn’t home yet, but it will be, when my room is full of books. It feels like home to come back from work, and see a stack of books that I haven’t read yet, and they beckon seductively to me. It is seductive, you know. It’s raining outside, and I hear the water spiral down the walls. But inside, snug as a bug in a rug, with something nice to eat close at hand, and a bottle of water, I read on, lost in worlds far far away, once upon a time.

Yes, technically, spring is the season when everyone falls in love, but all my pals seem to be falling in love right now. I wonder why. Maybe it’s something to do with the crisp winter air, and stuff like that.

No, I am not one of this crowd, before you start to wonder. I am up to my usual things, which is to say reading more books, killing the occasional bug, and bouncing a tennis ball off the wall. I do go out, once in a while, but I mostly go out to eat, and since I hide behind a book, I’m afraid that I really can’t tell you anything much.

However, this is not about me. This is about this friend of mine. She shall go nameless, but she knows who she is. She is currently in the process of falling really hard for this guy, whom I also happen to know. And of course, he’s falling for her too, so it’s one of those win-win situations.

Well, we shall all join hands in wishing them the very best, eh?

Yes, what else. I really wonder. I am going to the Black Eyed Peas concert on Tuesday, so that’s good. And I am planning to wash some more clothes tomorrow. And… nah, that’s about it.

Since I have such a boring life, I have been toying with the idea of creating an exciting alternate life, and posting long and detailed posts about all the fun I’m having.

I am having trouble holding onto a train of thought today. I suppose it’s because I am a little down and out, so I can’t really generate the kind of feeling that leads to great blog posts. I’m either depressed or I had a bad Naan. Hmm. Or maybe it’s a bit of both. Sadness and bad flour are a bad combination, and one should at all costs avoid one or the other.

And don’t tell me that you can’t live without naan’s. If you can’t have naan, eat roti instead. And if you can’t have that, I’ll let you eat cake. You must promise not to guillotine me later, of course.

Ah cake! I want cake.

I did have some nice caramel custard the other day. Y’see, caramel custard always works. Never knock the healing power of caramel custard. It’s full of custardly goodness! Yum!

Yummy yum, and time to wait for PGR4 to be delivered. It has been delivered, and combined with my X360, that mommy is bringing along, I can look forward to wasting a few fruitful hours here. Stop looking askance. You people have a life. What do I do at 12:30 AM on a weekend? I sit here and write to my imaginary audience. Alright, not imaginary. The Great God Google reads my site with great avidity, I’m sure.

I do have nice classical music playing, to be fair. As I write this, Andrea Bocelli sings Romanza. Sounds all cool eh? I have no idea about either of them, but it sounds nice. It’s good music to write to, especially when I am rambling about, trying very hard to find a theme and write to that. A theme, ice cream, or even a lyric dream.

So my update is done. The problem is, every day there are about 80 MB of new updates released, and I am no longer on a 2 Mb line. So I have decided to freeze the upgrade till the full version releases, on the 18th.

Why the subject? It’s from this book that I am reading: The Stone and the Flute. It’s translated from German, and it’s really good. There are some books that you know are good as soon as you read the first few lines. This is one of those.

I have now been in my new place for just about three weeks, and it’s quite nice. I’ve got an phone line, and a ‘net connection, but no gas range or fridge. Why? Well, food can be outsourced, especially in Bangalore, where you can get good food at a reasonable price. And I don’t mean KFC and McDonald’s. I mean plain simple fare, the kind that fills your belly after a hard day’s work. Not that I put in a hard day’s work, but I’m trying to make a point here, cut me some slack.

So yes, food has been outsourced. I do my own cleaning and washing, and attempt to have a comfortable home. Comfort is a variable thing, of course, and one man’s comfort is another man’s purgatory, but I do believe that I live a reasonably comfortable life.

Of course, it could be better. To wit, I could have my Xbox here, with some new games. I am putting the wheels in motion, and if all goes well, I ought to have the Xbox here around the 20th. In fact, to anticipate it, I have just purchased Project Gotham Racing 4. Yes, yes, I know that I am spending money hand over fist, but I shall not eat for the next week to make up for this.

I wonder who reads these posts anyway. I know a few people who do, but is there anyone else who reads this? Would I be surprised? Oh well, as long as you enjoy reading, good for you.

I was going to write something witty and brilliant, but of course the moment I tried, my mind opened up like a yawning chasm and everything fell into it. Sigh. Never mind, gentle reader, I feel your encouragement (or your bug-eyed and very bored stare), and I shall keep plugging away. If nothing else, at least when I read this later on, I will be encouraged by the distinct improvement in my writing. I mean, ANY pap I write later will be better than this. Forethought kids, forethought. Always plan ahead. Your future self is going to be bald, fat, stoop-shouldered and wheezy. Don’t let him feel that the past was a wonderful time, full of beauty and fun, when he was young, strong, and women did not run screaming when he smiled at them. No, let him remember his miserably boring youth; the acme of acne; the feeling of complete and total insignificance; and of course, never having enough money.

Then your future self will look proudly down at his sagging gut, and decide that a little fat does not matter, at least he does not have a pimply face anymore. And so what if he can’t run a mile in four ( or forty ) minutes, at least he has enough money to buy himself a nice car and drive that f’ing mile in 30 seconds.

Hah, I must plan for the future they say. This mysterious “they”, that always seems to know everything. I’d like to get my hands on them, just once, and ask them about their sources of information. It’s more than probable that they just make it up as they go along. Just like me in this post. Does what I am writing make any sense at all to you? It does?? Are you sure???

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Just HOW drunk are you exactly?

I will try and be clever now, and segue from drunk to the great Indian October Fest. Of course, I can’t resist pointing out to you my clever use of the word segue.. nice, na? I’m in danger of drowning in a sea of self-admiration here. Well,anyway, it’s not a bad way to go, eh?

Screw the Great Indian October Fest. Let’s talk the great white shark. The terror of the seas, the silent predator. You know, I couldn’t spell predator.. I spelled it predeter, predetor, preadator, before I finally snapped and googled it. So you see, I can use segue, but I can’t spell predator. Where does that leave me? In the hungry maw of the great white, that’s where.

Chomp chomp chomp…. BWAAAK. Damm, I got thrown up. Not a nice feeling. Apparently, my tortured prose is not the only thing that’s indigestible. And the worst bit is, I agree with great whitey!

Well well well, ring the bell bell bell and I am off to bed. This was another one of the free flow posts, brought to you proudly by Drainex, the free flow experts. Good night everyone. Take care.

It’s that time of year again.. the time to upgrade to the next version of Ubuntu. I’ve been running Ubuntu on my laptop for well over a year now, going from Edgy to Feisty. Now I intend to do a clean install of the beta of Gutsy, and redo all my customizations..

It’s a little scary, since I have a lot of little tweaks on this machine. But hey, I’m bored. Time to ring out the old, and ring in the new.

Will update this as time passes.