It has been difficult managing two blogs. And I see no particular reason in not combining them. The lines were blurring and it is in fact very time consuming. Not to forget, I was running low on content.
Very long since I wrote anything that was not work related. But the sickness and the time off helped me think. Wisps of thoughts slipping through my mind like chocolate that always seems to vanish!
On Safekeeping
Yesterday I had to find the purchase receipt for my notebook. I bought it less than a year ago and was so concerned that it would conk off that I even photocopies the slip and kept it safely. Now, have you ever realised how cumbersome it is to find things that are kept ‘safely’. The whole point and purpose behind keeping things safely is that one can locate them again. That it doesn’t take the end of time or at least till next spring to find them. And yet, yet despite my endless effort to keep things ‘safely’, they are lost. Best to let things be. A policy equally effective in other aspects of life. For instance, the food we buy. I remember all those times I bought cherry tomatoes (they look beatifically delicious! that roundness and minority of size.) I buy more so that I can safely make a salad one day. And I also remember the equal number of times I have trashed at least a good half of them for rottenness! How about mobile phones? The more you love them, buy cases to keep them tucked away, the lesser they last. Remember the HTC! And the ones you want to get rid off, stick, like glue! The Sony that was committed to me even when I helped it to yogurt and then washed it under a tap! (I was super drunk!) The list goes on.
On the general state of things
I realised that what we as a nation need most, is men (please! we can make English gender neutral by not being paranoid about frivolous things such as these! There are bigger issues you may want to tackle. And as for history and literature not being gender neutral – well, the fault is with historians who never thought to capture what happened to women.) of honour. If we don’t disown the dishonourable, how can we expect them to change?
I found some extremely cute hair bands. They were China-made. Its surprising that we never think of making the same stuff, which should be cheaper considering it would then be domestically manufactured.
On Books
I find that I am a very prejudiced reader. Not a good thing. But I just can’t help it! A lot of Indian writing has eluded me as I found it to corporeal (Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children – left it at 100, Train to Pakistan – couldn;t get past 10 I guess). So I tend to be picky. And I guess my introduction to specific writers (read Enid Blyton) for a good stretch of childhood had something to do with it. Despite my issues I found Adichie’s The Thing around Your Neck fresh and captivating. A set of short stories by a Nigerian writer about people from or in Nigeria. I now leave you with a piece where Adichie reveals a bit more of herself and the danger of a single story.
Adios!
Like this:
Tags: Books
Welcome back! Was wondering when i would get to read you next! Better keep posting often. xx
Thanks! Guess there was too much on my mind. Shall endeavour too
Nice one !
But yes, back to ‘your thoughts’ ‘your books’ etc etc !
good read
so true…those things that are tucked away safely only turn up when you bring the whole house down while shifting or something…
and with Indians, the problem often is also that when we look at fiction atleast, we want to see and read about places or things, which are not us, not familiar, and therefore more fictional, than the fiction actually intended to be…
On safekeeping: One of my first posts mentioned you in this regard
On books : True that! When did u get so smart
… Enjoy hearing from you. 
Like you have the patience for a novella here?
But thanks for dropping by. Have missed your limerick
?Helllooooooo