A Bend in the Lane

What's with shoes and girls, you guys ask? Beats me too. How shoe shopping can be therapy baffles me. Being in a mall for more than 50 minutes is all very disturbing. But trying to cramp my broad toes into an area of 2 cm by 2cm is very distressing and I need to go home and lie down after the effort. Some lunatic stole my Nikes a year or so ago. Instead of shoe shopping, I dug out these 7 year old Reebok's out of the shoe rack and began parading around Singapore in the embarrassments called running shoes for 9 months or so. My dad even threatened that either I stay or the shoes stay. Finally, a month ago I was bullied into shoe shopping. Got some pink Nikes. They look awright, I suppose. I mean, I wear the ugliest Dr. Scholl's in town, so pink shoes aren't gonna dent my self-esteem much. I have matching pink socks to go with. Why are we garrulously talking about shoes and hair when bombs are rocking the Old Country? I dont know. Honestly, it's all terribly disappo...

I need a hair makeover. Something drastic. Chop Chop Snip Snip. Any ideas?

Here I recall a line from my all time favourite movie The Lion in Winter - Eleanor of Aquitaine, utterly spent from the bitter fight she just has with Henry II, asks him in unguardedly - Eleanor : "How did we get here?" Henry: "Step by step" Isn't that true? Isn't that how you become your destiny? Step by step, choice by choice. And at the end of the day, will you be able to live with the choices you made that made/unmade you? When shadows lengthen, and I am solitary, can I face my face in the crooked mirror? Have you lived the destiny you wanted? What gnawing regrets are you harboring? Hush, now. Listen carefully. To the whispers within. Hush, now.

The book brims with poignant wisdom about human emotions and motivations for human actions. It has many timeless and some brutal truths about human emotions and weaknesses. A lot of it rang true. A lot of it was distressing. Especially the message that the major/minor decisions we take really come from very simple motivations, and that how your life turns out is largely dependent on these decisions made because of these silly motivations. It was rather frightening for someone who believes that we make most decisions by weighing the good and the bad consequences in some form or the other. Kundera argues that what we perceive as good is really our personal kitsch. I would read it if I were in a exploring mood. It ain't light reading. But you ain't gonna stop reading once you start.

There are some very rare days when I read my morning news and I get depressed. Today was one of those days. Mr Mandela recently said , "It is time for new hands to lift the old burdens; it is in your hands now". These words call for passionate, honourable wisdom. Sounds rather heroic, innit? Well, with all honesty, I dont really feel like carrying these burdens. These burdens like Oil costing an insane $130 per barrel now when it only cost $40 in 2005. I saw the price of rice bag I buy double in 3 months. Terrorism is now a domestic issue for most countries. War and assorted injustices happening in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Things dont look so good in Africa. Especially in Zimbabwe and Sudan. Things dont look so great down in Antarctica either, with that ice shelf collapsing in March and all. Bird Flu scares are too frequent. We are exposed to more carcinogens than ever. The person in front of me in the line in the supermarket asked for double plastic bags for her groceries...

George Bush has a HUGE birthday present for Nelson Mandela. Mandela, is now taken off the US Terrorist List. Which means, Mandela can travel to the USA without a waiver from Condi Rice. Now, how is that for a big bonus? I mean what more could a 90 year old respected world leader ask for in life?  I mean, seriously!

Crocheted this silly bumble bee bookmark on a laaazy Sunday aftie. You can have one, if you are nice to me :-)

Ever experienced logging to email and getting a seizure upon noticing that you have 70 new emails? And all of them replies to the original email, or reply to the reply to the original email, or reply to the reply to the forward of the email. As in "Re: Re: Re: Fw: Re: Re: XYZ"*. And upon opening the 45th Re: Fw: Re: Fw: Re: Re: XYZ* email, you notice that the contents are as far removed from the original topic as can be? Admit it, you are guilty too. [* where subject XYZ can be "Hangout at My Smelly Room on Friday the 13th" or "Who Stole my Muffin in the Fridge in Office Pantry Level 34?" or "Farewell, I am Finally Leaving" or "Movie Plans for 13 December 2023" or "End War in Iraq by Signing This Petition Which Nobody Reads" or or ..well you get the drift] Well, I found the below extract, hilarious and so true to us, the Generation  Re: Fw: Re: Fw: Re: XYZ'.  Something similar happened, albeit with less coll...

There is this cool urban legend that the logo of Apple Computers (multi colored, striped apple with a piece bitten off) was a tribute to 'father of Artificial Intelligence' , 'father of Cryptography' , 'father of Computer Science', Alan Turing. Much persecuted during the WWII because of his homosexuality, Turing committed suicide/accidentally killed himself/was assassinated (whichever theory you believe in) by eating a cyanide laced apple. His cleaning lady found him the next day with a half bitten apple beside him. However, its an urban myth. The Apple Computers logo is a tribute. But it's a tribute to Newton's apple, not Turing's apple. And the compelling evidence is from Kelley Advertising - An earlier Apple Computer logo featured Sir Isaac Newton under an apple tree. "Rob Janoff of Regis McKenna Advertising designed the logo with the apple representing "the acquisition of knowledge." This account g...

Felt like posting excerpts of the immortal wisdom of Dharmaraja'a answers to Yaksha Prashna: What rescues man in danger? A.Courage is mans salvation in danger What is faster than the wind? A. Mind Which is the biggest vessel? A. Earth that contains every thing in it. What is happiness? A. It is the result of good conduct What is that abandoning by which he is loved by all? A. Pride What is that loss that yields joy and not sorrow? A. Anger What is that by giving up which man becomes rich? A. Desire What is the greatest of all wonders in the world? A. Every day man sees creatures die. Yet those who live seek to live for ever.

Late senator Daniel Moynihan said that people are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. How absolutely true, and how often we forget this while getting all tangled up in our opinions.

Inexpressibly, I found this photograph incredibly touching

London -  I scored 6/10 :-( How did you fare?

... I have some remnants of talent. A cellphone case I made over commute and lunch hour - Admit it, its rather shady, innit? Oh, well, I picked up the crochet needle after a 7 year sabbatical. So, I guess I can be excused.

. .. a landmark case that mandated a 'Miranda warning' before arresting a criminal suspect. Without this Miranda warning an incriminating statement bu a suspect will not constitute as admissible evidence. A typical 'miranda warning' sounds like - " You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. " PS - Yes, I lunched in and hence, went berserk on Google.

...is when you stare into the golden glow from the green lamp above your head counting sheep and wondering at the silence of the fourth hour of the new day. By the fifth hour you arise to post a lame post on your already lame blog.

A 4 hour Monday meeting has been canceled! And to think that the very thought of this meeting made me take 35 minutes to get out of bed this morning. Miracles do happen on Monday! PS: On a side, the title has been inspired by a 1940s tearjerker I saw yesterday, "Miracles in the Rain". Jane Wyman as usual made me reach out for my Kleenex.

Nil desparandum! Nil desparandum! There is light at the tunnel. Tread the path Consilio et animis. Nil desparandum.

North by Northwest is my favourite Hitchcock. Close runner up would be The 39 Steps. Though, separated by decades, both movies have the famous Hitchcock touches - The McGuffin. Man on the Run Mistaken Identity Blonde woman embroiled in espionage When I first heard of the McGuffin touch, I thought it was all jolly clever of Hitchcock. The whole movie/plot revolves around this "McGuffin" (which could be an idea/plot/secret/person). But its inconsequential to the movie, what this McGuffin is. What is important is the drama that results around the McGuffin. For example, in The 39 Steps, the whole film revolves around this quest to uncover what The 39 Steps is by the hero, but what the 39 Steps is ultimately unimportant to the plot. What happens in the hero's quest is essential to the movie. Hitchcock also can be terribly original. Take certain chilling scenes of North by Northwest - he revelutionised the thriller genre. Think about this, when we talk about horror/thriller s...

<Skip this post if you do not wish to get a heavy dose of spirituality or the whole works.> <I told you to skip it. You still want to read? Fine, suffer.> Yesterday, I attended the first in a series of spiritual talks that are being given by a visiting professor, Prof Anil Kumar. I shan't go into all the song and dance of the purpose of these talks, except that they are highly enjoyable not only because of the insane humor the Professor injects into spirituality, but because he tends to address the usual doubts that ail ordinary believers of God. He talks about how God is the truest form of unconditional love and that all human relationships are bound by one or another form of give and take. Human relationships, be it mother-child, wife-husband, guru-sishya, friend-friend rarely are unconditional. (Interestingly, I recently posted about this very point.) That the only love that is unconditional, boundless and limitless is that of God's. Here is a rambling summar...