HP and the HBP

It's coming out on 16 July! Tra la la la la. Thank you, Jo! (kisses)
It's a Saturday, I checked! Yippies

Katra katra behta hai

boond boond milne se bantaa ek dariyaa hai
boond boond saagar hai varnaa ye saagar kyaa hai
samjho ek paheli ko, boond ho akeli to... ek boond jaise kuchh bhi nahin
ham auron ko chhodein to, moonh sabse hi modein to, tanhaa reh na jaaye dekho ham kahin
kyon na bane mil ke ham dhaaraa

How deep is your life?

Bombed out of my mind playing 'Civilization'. Mouse finger hurts, shoulder throbs. However -- over 2000 gold in treasury, 16 cities built, many advances made. Puny Babylons at war with us, though. All because I requested them to kindly butt out of my empire. Bugger.

Swades' music improves with every hearing. Am looking forward to the movie. Gowariker has a delicate touch and I'm praying this one is good.

Yippie - today's Indian Idol day.

I used to have a theory. About rating how good life is by listing your Top 5 troubles (or preoccupations) of the moment. If the timing of a television program, a concert, a movie or acquisition of a book is somewhere in that list - you're doing good. However, if those sorts of things kinda occupy three top positions out of five, you can turn the argument on its head and ask: how deep is this life exactly? Sigh.

But I shall build my defense yet. My cousin used to have this quote by Mary Jean Irion for her signature and I second it strongly.

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, savor you, bless you, before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so. One day I shall dig my fingers into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch my self taut, or raise my hands to the sky, and want all the more for your return.

Great Expectations

"Listening to the exchanges between you, being privileged to hear... the intercourse of two minds so utterly in harmony... Mrs Emerson, it has given me a new idea altogether of what a man can be -- of what a woman can expect he should be."

Elizabeth Peters
The Deeds of the Disturber

Birds and bee eaters

Winter is setting in over Hyderabad. Not that the rest of the country would dignify these temperatures with that name, but we're happy with the light chilliness, such as it is, and nearly all of our populace is indulging in sniffles, coughs and associated maladies.
I'm beginning to associate winter evenings with little green bee eaters. I haven't been interested in birds for very long and so, hadn't noticed these swarms till last year. Last October, however, Shweta and I were bemused by their sudden appearance and sheer numbers. They are particularly fond of one tree in the colony and from 4.30 in the afternoon, at least 300 - 400 of them darken the skies as they make their way home. They take rather a while to settle down, swooping and darting about without any consideration whatsoever for the trapezius muscles of interested birders. The accompanying orchestra dies down only after 6.00 pm when the sun has gone down.

Here goes...

An empty page, ready to be filled...

Na jaane aaj main kya kehne wala hun,
zaban khushk hai, aawaaz ruki jaati hai

Why sign up for a blog? What's so important that needs to be said? And who's going to hear it? And why say it for free when I could be saving up these pearls for a book that will fetch money?!!
There must be a need... not so deep-seated, now that it's surfaced. I can almost hear Kay Kay now soaring in Shivaranjani: Mujhe kuch kehna hai...
All right, let's pander to that need and see where it takes us. Jai Shri Ganesh!