a familiar strain...

the steady rainfall and the gusty winds reminded me of this, my favorite song from more than a year ago

ओ रे मनवा तू तो बावरा है
तू ही जाने तू क्या सोचता है
तू ही जाने तू क्या सोचता है बावरे
क्यूँ दिखाए सपने तू सोते जागते
जो बरसें सपने बूँद बूँद
नैनों को मूँद मूँद...

Ahh! Music, rain and a steaming cup of tea...life is good. :)

In the end

nothing ever quite pans out the way you or I may plan it. Okay, so this post isn't about to be as serious as it was made to sound with that ominous start. But I thought I would document it here, anyway, that I am now the proud owner of both The Razor's Edge and The English Patient. And yet I brought neither along on my travel; the snippet about the former turned out to be very similar to Siddhartha and Narcissus and Goldmund (both excellent reads by the masterful Herman Hesse, by the way). The latter, a hard-bound heavy-weight, (all puns intended) was too heavy to carry in flight. I did have very pleasant company in the form of a vibrant Parsi community living in Mumbai in the mid '80s, all on print of course.

In the end, too, Madras isn't quite the inferno I'd feared it would be. It has been raining the last few days and it is almost comic how breezy and pleasant it is. Also, this is the first vacation in which I've been able to visit the beach almost every single day. Ah, bliss! :)

Did I mention, how, also, in the end, after weeks of planning a mini ten-year high school reunion, one friend fell sick, another's child did and 2 others canceled their travel plans altogether? Yeah. So, that's that. What I'd envisioned as two weeks of frenzied social activity turned out to be the exact opposite. But, oh, well. I'm not complaining. Surprises of this kind, are not too bad. After all, there's much movie-watching, reading and writing, eating, sleeping and a lot of not-doing-anything to be done! :)
So long!~

a suitable choice...

Yesterday, I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that Somerset Maugham (who, by the way, is one of my all time favorite authors) modeled the character of teacher in his novel The Razor's Edge after Sri Ramana Maharshi. This book (and practically all of Maugham's work) has been on my list of books to read for as long as I can remember and this piece of trivia does make it a very inviting choice for my next read. What's this post about then, you ask.
Well. Yesterday, I also found out that the Stanford book club is reading The English Patient this month. Also a book that hasn't budged from the same list for years. It was an entry made after an aggravating experience when the DVD of the movie version got stuck at what seemed like a pivotal point. Hmm...I must note here that I own neither the Maugham nor the Ondaatje. In hindsight, perhaps this was a question better saved for the Palo Alto Library to answer.
Oh, my dear blog! It must just be that I miss musing about all and sundry to you, then. Hey, there! :)

I am not sure if this is something that bothers any of you, but it is certainly a tricky situation that I haven't been able to resolve for myself. Here's the problem:
Have you ever been asked to lend a pen or pencil for 'just a moment'? I'm sure you have. Now here's what happens to me- the moment becomes eternity and the person all but forgets that the pencil is mine and walks away with it. The dilemma is, whether or not to chase after the person and ask for the pencil.
It isn't really about the pencil, see. It's a trivial thing. But it's about the convenience of the thing. Every time that happens, I have to go around the rest of the day asking to borrow a pencil for 'just a moment' and then also remember to return it!
Ack!!!
p.s: I haven't yet decided if the title ought to be 'A Pen-ny for your thoughts' or 'Penning my thoughts'. ;)

Have I mentioned lately, how wonderful it feels to sing? Well, it does :)