When will the Doomsday strike?

A few years ago, i got addicted to this TV show called Supernatural. The first two seasons scared me enough to start not looking at the window and the shadows at night and gave me nightmares for weeks.. its about two brothers who basically fight demons, angels, Gods and all manner of other creatures and beings to survive and "save humanity"...

Season 5 of the show was all about the buildup to the biblical Apocalypse- complete with the four horsemen of the apocalypse- War, famine, Pestilence and Death.. personified and rampaging around on earth...

since this morning, after reading the newspapers, I can't stop thinking about two of the episodes from season 5-- the one where the Winchesters fight against the horseman War, and the one where Dean goes back in time and confronts Lucifer himself...

War, who tells the boys some ugly truths about life and humanity, makes a very simple yet profound statement- "there is already evil in humans, all they need is a little push.."
The entire season is about the degeneration of the world because of the impending doom.. the War episode is full of people attacking and killing each other for no reason at all.. an entire town at war with itself..., Pestilence has the rise of incurable mutated diseases that can cut swathes through an entire city's population at a go.. Famine has so much greed that people will eat each other just to get at what they want... while Death has terrifying natural disasters that can erase everything in their path..

and all through this.. God is gone and doesn't care about the survival of humanity.. or as Lucifer puts it.. the "world" isn't just the humans. The earth was there before the humans were made and will continue to be when humans are wiped off its face..

the bluntness of these episodes is something that echoes eerily in the world around me these days..


the madness around this world has predictions in every religion.. Hinduism and Buddhism say that we are now living through the 'Kalyug'-- where humans will lose their humanity and society its structure slowly, till the Pralaya comes and ends us all...

Doomsday predictions seem almost welcome when the alternative is waking up to news reports like these..


http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/next-door-to-delhi-mob-kills-50-year-old-injures-son-over-rumours-they-ate-beef/

http://theweek.com/speedreads/580344/study-children-disproportionally-killed-by-syria-bombs-airstrikes

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/sringara-3-year-old-succumbs-to-bullet-injuries/

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/water-wives-of-maharashtra/1/480898.html

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/5-km-from-vvip-zone-i-am-afraid-i-will-also-be-killed-over-water/

the staircase

maybe i got too high a dosage of Disney as a kid.. or something..

because the idea of having a bedroom with a spiral staircase that opens out onto a terrace which is essentially the highest accessible point of a tower makes me feel ludicrously excited... 

One of the biggest perks of parents having a government job is that they get government accommodation.. and the house dad has been offered now is a monstrosity built 80 years ago which is need of a few serious repairs.. but it has a bedroom/spare room whatchamacallit room on the first floor that is accessed through the terrace, that also has an internal staircase which takes you to yet another higher floor, with a small sheltered terrace that makes you feel like you're on top of the world looking regally down at all the gorgeous verdant green of the lawns... with the bright blue sky open above... its like something out of a dream.. and i know for a fact that there is no way in hell i will ever be able to find a room like that anywhere in Delhi and even if such a room exists and may be available for rent, they would charge the sun and moon for it because it is BY FAR the most beautiful thing i have ever seen.. even though its currently covered in cobwebs and maybe termites.. and i have to get a safety check done on that spiral staircase because that place hasn't bee lived in for years and years..

but i can just picture the pretty lights i'll wind around the banisters and the bookshelves and photographs that will go on the walls and the cushions I will put to create a reading nook right where the landing of the staircase opens onto the terrace...

if we actually move into that gorgeous house and the said gorgeous house doesn't fall down around our head.. it is an OOOOLD house after all... 

but GOD the staircase makes me feel like a little kid watching a princess movie... maybe i'll wear a pretty gown and walk down that staircase randomly one day... just to be able to say that i did it... 

my dad, who has been trying all my life to stamp the fairy princess ideas out of my head, has however pointed out that the pretty room doesn't have a window big enough to put a cooler or AC in, and being as clumsy as i am, a spiral staircase isn't exactly the safest thing for me to be mucking about with... to him i say.. bah humbug.. 

Tort law has nothing on us...

Its not denial.. Iḿ just selective about the reality i accept... Bill Watterson


“I felt I was drawing close to that age, that place in life, where you realize one day what you'd told yourself was a Zen detachment turns out to be naked fear. You'd had one serious love relationship in your life and it had ended in tragedy, and the tragedy had broken something inside you. But instead of trying to repair the broken place, or at least really stop and look at it, you skated and joked. You had friends, you were a decent citizen. You hurt no one. And your life was somehow just about half of what it could be.” 
― Roland Merullo, A Little Love Story


I try to deny that something exists.. i closed my eyes and pretended because I was told that its not there and I believed the lie... why? because i wanted to.. because accepting the truth would mean i lose something precious.. it would mean that i failed yet again..

does that make me a hypocrite?? a liar??

if you made sure put up disclaimers and warning signs everywhere, who do you blame if someone gets hurt anyway..?

how far would absolute liability apply when the "hazardous material" is emotional...

Patriarchy, DDLJ and disappointing brothers...

my brothers have seriously disappointed me.. not the brats, the remaining horde of cousins/best friends that I have, have seriously dashed all my DDLJ fed ideas of how Karva Chauth is supposed to be…

yes I know that is a very very bad line to use if I want to sound like an adult at all and not like a starry eyed tween… but I DID expect better from my big brothers.. I swear I did.. first of all, I will never in my life understand how fasting prolongs someone else’s life.. this is the 21^st century ladies and gentlemen.. WHY are we still following the patriarchal model where the woman has to “sacrifice for the happiness of the family” and somehow starving the poor soul would bring salvation to the family…

secondly.. if you HAVE to believe that this deity with no sense demands fasts in exchange for years on earth, why aren’t the husbands fasting for their wives’ lives? why shouldn’t the husband “show his love and devotion” to the marriage just like the poor starving wife?

in any case.. if we have to go along with this loony idea that the husband’s life has to come at the cost of his wife’s health and sanity, WHY the effing hell is it not reciprocal? specially when the scriptures go on and on about being an “ardhangini” and the married couple being the basis of all life and society??

and (read this as being said in an irate voice with a stomped foot) why did no one out of the dozens of the newly and not so newly married couples of my generation put their foot down and DO something?

sure the previous gen has waaayyyy too many married couples for me to have harboured any remaining hope, but they are all old people, in arranged marriages where ‘the family’ scuttled all attempts at overt mush.. atleast in front of the children..

 but this lot?? my generation! they ALL have married for love and stay far enough away that the entire gamut of aunts and aunts in law and grandmothers and mothers does not descend on them to make them do whatever arcane ritual the lunar cycle demands.. and yet… Karva Chauth remains as boring and old people-ey as ever for my assorted brothers and bhabis…

whatever happened to the “don’t bother babe, religion is stupid, keeping yourself hungry is not prolonging my life”.. or “okay since it’s a required married people ritual, I’m fasting with you (Thanks SRK for that one) or at the very least “ since you’re stuck doing this, let me get up at the crack of dawn and cook you something nice and shower you with presents”…

ANYTHING??? hello?? guys??

Do you HAVE to be all boringly unromantic to my bhabis and be all “what are you getting worked up about” at me??

Go watch DDLJ again … all of you.. if I’m not allowed to question the cultural imperative and must accept that the fast must be kept, I’m gonna continue to be SO disappointed at the lack of reciprocal fasts and dancing and presents and unapologetically unromantic behavior in general... Shahrukh Khan.. you have some serious explaining to do.

hmph…

sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me... yeah right...

I work as a journalist. I'm trained as a lawyer, and my dream is to become a writer... and yet when it really truly matters, when it comes to things that have the power to seriously hurt me and upset me and make me want to cry and scream and hit back, i get quiet..
I may rant and fight and do whatever when it comes to protecting or lecturing someone else, but somehow i go mute when it comes to me.. I've never been able to stand up to bullying when I was the one being picked on, i've never been able to say the right thing as a response to an emotional attack or when i'm feeling vulnerable..
somehow i've gotten past every incident... being lots in the music in my head and whatever cloud i happen to be floating in at the time also helped..
but there are times when it gets to me..
when it makes me question everything about myself as to why the bloody hell i allowed it to get that far or stood there and said nothing...
I still have to figure out how to handle this particular incident... How does one react without being downright rude in a professional environment wen people around you cross the line from making a joke at your expense to actually hurting you by making "jokes" about your work and work ethic..
one is simple... ignore, and concentrate on my work so that the "little things" they found hilarious to laugh at no longer exist..
the other is to confront.. but i hate confrontation and they already realised that they crossed the line and sort of apologised ans said it won't happen again...

i think ice is better than fire in this situation... its not like i'll be missing anything i care about missing....

the creep

i have
no words
not even when I dig deep into my conscience and try to write because its what I DO, my reason for being, why i''m in the profession I am in..
there's a blankness creeping up at the oddest of times.. a detachment from wherever I am..
I have always written emotionally, the best stories i ever write are ones that come from some unknown place within me and i type and write and even I don't consciously know what i'm doing till its all out on paper or screen and it just IS perfect.  rarely ever edit anything i write, except for a spell check..
and with this creeping blankness comes the fact that i haven't written anything at all in so long that my blog looks like a songs/quotes page and my diary has been hidden so long that i'm in danger of forgetting just where it is... 

cutesy perfect romance movies ruin your life

i've been listening to songs from the 90s for the past hour or so... songs and movies i've grown up watching and adoring... and realised that it s not just my addiction to M&B romances that's ruined me for real life.. its also the stuff that both bollywood and hollywood romances fed me all my life..

for instance, the song i've been playing on loop the last 15 odd mins is Woh Pehli Baar from Pyar mein kabhi Kabhi.

the movie came out in 1999, the year I turned 11. and I guess Dino Morea has to be counted is one of the earliest crushes i can remember having.. and heaven knows i wanted, and to an extent still want someone who can serenade me with the dramatic flair Sid displays...

weirdly enough... i do remember that i wanted someone like Sanjay Suri's 'Bugs' rather than Dino's character Sid, coz Bugs was just an all round nicer guy.. atleast this movie showed the girl walking away from the hero when he was being an ass... though she returned pretty easily when the best friend begged her to..

aaannnyyyy way... i shall refrain from taking a sword to shred this movie up or analysing it all.. coz the moment you start thinking about what this movie portrays, one tends to forget why it was cute in the first place....

and damn it.. the dimples and that HOT body the man had...

Dino Morea now just looks washed up..
  

panic attacks at best friends' weddings...

i am officially feeling over the hill "damn i'm on the wrong side of 25" and in the midst of a semi panic attack... had a nearly full blown one complete with elevated heart rate and difficulty breathing just a few mins ago but was on the phone with ash so he talked me out of completely unraveling...
N got married in an ostentatious and gorgeous as a movie set extravaganza last week.. which lasted all week and is only "officially" ending with a reception from the Groom's side tomorrow... and in April, Ansh will get married too..
i'm used to seeing N with a bf, so her with a husband wasn't nearly as OMFGness inducing.. but right now.. at past midnight in the middle of a working week talking to ansh about a plan to get mad drunk and catch up when he comes back to Delhi next month.. i realised that this relationship is about to change completely... for the longest time I was the one in a relationship and took time out to spend time with him.. for a very long time now we were both single and alone and we were always there for each other.. and even though i have had nearly a year to get used to the upcoming wedding.. it hits me every single time that i think about it that our friendship will HAVE to take a backseat.. one could bid a boyfriend/girlfriend goodnight and then go and talk to friends.. once you're married with your wife in your room, you can't exactly pick up a call/skype with an insomniac friend in the middle of the night can you??
i am very well aware of the fact that i'm being weird and selfish.. he's happy, he's finally found someone he wants to be with.. after all these years of being alone.. as his best friend i am ecstatic for him... and i'm also sad about me...
i realllly have to go meet my bhabi to be in jaipur and then get off my ass and actually go for that mad vacation we have been planning for years.. i'm nearly 26 years old, by best friend is getting married.. the least i can do is throw that bachelor party/vacation we have been planning forever....

frazzled

INCESSANT WHINING ALERT!
PLEASE MOVE TO A DIFERENT BLOG/BLOGPOST..
this one is solely so i can get the whine out of my system and maybe get motivated enough to get off my ass and actually do something about it..

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or maybe its a keening cry for a hug and chocolate? or a swift kick in the ass even...
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so i was flipping through my day planner diary and realised that there are verrry few pages left for the year... where the hell did  2013 go??
I had made a list of things i wanted to accomplish over this year... and i can't even right now remember where i put it... the few things i DO remember putting on the list are undone...

I seem to have lost a year without really having anything to show for it.. I haven't done any spectacular stories, haven't really done anything memorable really... sure i have made a few more contacts in the courts, but no breakthrough stories yet...

 was supposed to take a holiday.. that fantasy holiday where I let go of my fears and just get up and explore whatever place suits my fancy with whatever company I can find... I went to Goa for a week but thanks to the rain and my own laziness the only things i really did in that week is sleep and read on the terrace.. unlike the mad picture of exploration and debauchery i had painted in my head or a fun holiday romance, what i DID come away with from there was a horror of my sister's crazy dog and a whole new collection of romance novels...

i was supposed to get over my mental hangup about the AB and move on.. maybe date again, maybe just have a damned fling.. have  done that?? NO..

i was supposed to FINALLY write or atleast start on that novel that makes some sporadic appearances in the recesses of my half asleep mind...the most i have to show for that is a few pages of rambling text that even I cant bear reading through...

what IS the point of life when all i feel like doing lately is to hide under my bed with a book and forget that life exists...

listening to random songs while waiting for an order to upload...

 Put my phone music player on shuffle and this is whats played the last few mins..

 THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH- Shania Twain
I've known a few guys who thought they were pretty smart
But you've got being right down to an art
You think you're a genius-you drive me up the wall
You're a regular original, a know-it-all
Oh-oo-oh, you think you're special
Oh-oo-oh, you think you're something else

Okay, so you're a rocket scientist
That don't impress me much
So you got the brain but have you got the touch
Don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright
But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night
That don't impress me much

I never knew a guy who carried a mirror in his pocket
And a comb up his sleeve-just in case
And all that extra hold gel in your hair oughtta lock it
'Cause Heaven forbid it should fall outta place

Oh-oo-oh, you think you're special
Oh-oo-oh, you think you're something else

Okay, so you're Brad Pitt
That don't impress me much
So you got the looks but have you got the touch
Don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright
But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night
That don't impress me much

You're one of those guys who likes to shine his machine
You make me take off my shoes before you let me get in
I can't believe you kiss your car good night
C'mon baby tell me-you must be jokin', right!

Oh-oo-oh, you think you're special
Oh-oo-oh, you think you're something else

Okay, so you've got a car
That don't impress me much
So you got the moves but have you got the touch
Don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright
But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night

That don't impress me much
You think you're cool but have you got the touch
Don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright
But that won't keep me warm on the long, cold, lonely night
That don't impress me much

Okay, so what do you think you're Elvis or something...
Oo-Oh-Oh
That don't impress me much!

Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh-No
Alright! Alright!

You're Tarzan!
Captain Kirk maybe.
John Wayne.
Whatever!
That don't impress me much!



"50 Ways To Say Goodbye"- Train

My heart is paralyzed
My head was oversized
I'll take the high road like I should
You said it's meant to be
That it's not you, it's me
You're leaving now for my own good

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntanned
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died

My pride still feels the sting
You were my everything
Some day I'll find a love like yours (a love like yours)
She'll think I'm Superman
Not super minivan
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drowned in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died

I wanna live a thousand lives with you
I wanna be the one you're dying to love...
But you don't want to

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntanned
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies

She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drowned in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died


and then comes this cheesy number..

WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL- Ronan Keating

It's amazing how you
Can speak right to my heart.
Without saying a word
You can light up the dark.

Try as I may, I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing.

[Chorus:]
The smile on your face
Lets me know that you need me.
There's a truth in your eyes
Saying you'll never leave me.
[Album version:] The touch of your hand says you'll catch me wherever I fall.
[Live version:] The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall.
You say it best when you say nothing at all.

All day long I can hear
People talking out loud (oooh).
But when you hold me near (you hold me near)
You drown out the crowd (the crowd, the crowd).

Try as they may, they can never define
What's been said between your heart and mine.

[Chorus:]
The smile on your face
Lets me know that you need me.
There's a truth in your eyes
Saying you'll never leave me.
[Album version:] The touch of your hand says you'll catch me wherever I fall.
[Live version:] The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall.
[Album version:] You say it best (you say it best) when you say nothing at all.
[Live version:] 'Cause you say it best (you say it best) when you say nothing at all.

[Chorus:]
The smile on your face
Lets me know that you need me.
There's a truth in your eyes
Saying you'll never leave me.
[Album version:] The touch of your hand says you'll catch me wherever I fall.
[Live version:] The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall.
[Album version:] You say it best (you say it best) when you say nothing at all.
[Live version:] 'Cause you say it best (you say it best) when you say nothing at all.

(You say it best when you say nothing at all.
You say it best when you say nothing at all.)

That smile on your face,
[Album version:] The truth in your eyes,
[Live version:] The look in your eyes,
The touch of your hand
Lets me know that you need me.

(You say it best when you say nothing at all.
You say it best when you say nothing at all.)

[Live version additional ending:]
The smile on your face,
The look in your eyes,
The touch of your hand
Lets me know that you need me.

the contrast was quite amusing.. :)
maybe i am far too bored in life today...
the court website doesn't seem to wanna cooperate...

water water everywhere...

The Delhi High court today has told the Government and the civic agencies of the city to submit yet another report on the measures taken to prevent waterlogging in the city after they found that the reports submitted today said nothing about the actual work. The court's been monitoring what the government is doing to tackle the veritable floods that happen every time the rain gods descend and create swimming pools out of potholed roads.. turns out that even they admit that they haven't really done much...

The report  was only talking about creation of a task force and committee meetings, which, as the Chief justice himself commented, "can go on till eternity."

coincidentally , after reaching office this evening, for some reason I found myself looking up Gertrude Stein's quote "a rose is a rose is a rose" on wikipedia, and fell down the rabbit hole of random wikipedia clicks... and THIS particular gem is what i found...

"The Persian philosopher, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), once wrote the following response to opponents of the law of noncontradiction:

"Anyone who denies the Law of Non-contradiction should be beaten and burned until he admits that to be beaten is not the same as not to be beaten, and to be burned is not the same as not to be burned."

John Locke claimed that the principles of identity and contradiction were general ideas and only occurred to people after considerable abstract, philosophical thought. He characterized the principle of identity as "Whatsoever is, is." The principle of contradiction was stated as "It is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be." (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_classical_laws_of_thought#Aristotle )

obviously someone should make the Delhi Civic agency officials sit down and read their works, (preferably also go through the lesson Ibn Sina recommended) till they realise that a job done and a job Not done are different things, and just filing a report saying that they have started the work does not equate to the work getting done...

o nadan parinde ghar a ja...

Raghav turned 11 today.. my baby brother, the one reason i learnt to play mommy to everyone and revel in it coz his smile lit up my world.. i was too young when the brats were born to make any contribution to their younger years... but with almost 14 years between me and this little thing that my chachi brought home, i played nanny and surrogate mum whenever she had to take a break/nap/get work done.. and i would sit and rock him in my arms and sing him to sleep and tell him all my hopes and dreams and fears and thoughts, he was just a baby, but i felt like if he cooed or nodded or flailed around it was in answer to whatever it was that i was rambling at him about... Anu n the brats got rather mad at that .. to them i was the strict big sister who would play disciplinarian and shoo them around... Raghav on the other hand has perennially been the baby who must be coddled..
today is his 11th birthday.. we were all supposed to get together and have fun and have a bithhday party..
but there were no celebrations at home coz amma was hospitalised this morning... and instead of coddling the baby we've all spent his entire life coddling, we were all too busy worrying whether our grandmom would come home from the hospital... i barely even wished him.. aand now i'm wondering how he must have felt all day.. with teh entire extended family milling around teh house, but no one paying him the special attention he's come to expect.. he was so much quieter than he normally is.. even ate and bathed and helped with everything around the house without needing to be fussed at... my baby's all grown up i guess..

and the brats will turn 17 in just a few short days.. where did all that time go???

quoth the raven, nevermore

came across a reference to this poem while reading randomly.. then decided to look up the poem... its so beautifully haunting that i had to share....


 THE RAVEN

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —

Only this and nothing more."


Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;


And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore —

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —

Nameless here for evermore.




And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

"'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door —

Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door; —

This it is and nothing more."




Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you" – here I opened wide the door; ——

Darkness there and nothing more.




Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —

Merely this and nothing more.




Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;

Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—

'Tis the wind and nothing more!"




Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;

Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —

Perched, and sat, and nothing more.




Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore —

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."




Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore;

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door —

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such name as "Nevermore."




But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing farther then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered —

Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before —

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."

Then the bird said "Nevermore."




Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store

Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster

Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore —

Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore

Of 'Never – nevermore'."




But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;

Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking

Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore —

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore

Meant in croaking "Nevermore."




This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,

But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,

She shall press, ah, nevermore!




Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he hath sent thee

Respite – respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."




"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! —

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted —

On this home by Horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore —

Is there – is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore!"

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."




"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore —

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."




"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting —

"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."




And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted – nevermore!


—Edgar Allan Poe






(Taken from Wikipedia)

how does one say "i love you"?

there are days when i have words and emotions pouring out of every breath i take, there are days when i am just so numb that i can't feel anything around me
there are days when the slightest breeze makes me gasp with joy, there are days when the clouds on the horizon seem to be there just to darken my day

and then there are days like yesterday when i get jolted out of my comfort zone and thrown in front of a mirror, to SEE just what i am and what i've done and not done
to notice the cracks and gasps and marks on what i thought was a slow peaceful boring disconnected life

what is family? what is love? how does one show how important someone is to you? is it only when you lose an illusion and realise that the people you take for granted are actually as fragile as glass and can be taken away from you in the space of a moment...
and yet i am silent.. coz i don't have any words to tell them how much they mean to me

the little blue stone thats taken up a corner of me

so you say that men and women can't be just friends,.. that the only reason you were around was because you thought you had a chance to get into my pants...
fuck you
i have far too many friends who negate your little stream of thought.. better peopler than you.
and i'm done feeling guilty for hurting you.


there was a time that i blamed myself for the mess that you were in... a time when i promised myself that i'll be there for you through everything.. just to make sure you didn't ge upset..
but now that i've seen what a coward you are..
i'm done

I'm done trying to figure out excuses for your behaviour.. when you choose to pklay the injured party despite knowing exactly where my affections lie..

done trying to invove you. contact you and try to retain a friendship that never was.

since you require a 'lip man' to say whatever it is that you don't have the balls top admit to my face, i'm gonna stop trying to get you to speak.

goodbye
i honestly thought we were better friends than this.

what happens to a sleep deprived brain at 4 &$^*&%$ am..

somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond : e.e.cummings

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands




Poetry is usually not my thing... but this just was too beautiful to not share....

There are a million things happening in the word that i should be writing about.. the proposed divorce law, the proposed change in the 'age of consent', the upcoming exams and other stuff in my life.. hel i could very well put up a post about family and the brats' latest antics.. but lately i find myself unable to put in words what i feel. or maybe i don't have any words because my mind is quiet..
its nearly 4 am on a friday.. and my exams start in less than a week.. but i had to share this poem that i just came across...

have mercy your honor!

its their questions i fear the most

coming at me from all sides as i cower into the corner.. the darkness in my mind unravelling, rivalling the darkness that surrounds the room

did you?

but?

what?

are you?

i want to scream out loud but my own voice refuses to cooperate.. my own self rebelling against the other, self righteous bitch that rules this corner most times

why shouldn't i?

why do i hold back?

why not do what THEY think i already have done.. 

its the days when 'being right' doesn't matter worth a damn because the only person judging you is yourself and i have the angel and demon inside my head telling me i'm wrong no matter which path i choose

no matter what i do, i'll end up backed into this very same dark corner

my lord the accusation is wholly unfounded and unjust!!

but is it really?

the snide cynicism is so clear in the voices

Mills n boon fever

would you marry someone you didn't "love" because your parents chose them for you and you can't come up with any earthly reason except "but I don't think it'll work out" for saying no...???

i'm wondering just what it is that people "see" in an arranged marriage... how does one check for compatibility, common interests, that elusive 'spark' when both are under pressure and performing a role in accordance with society's wishes???

but then, how much do you really know a person even when you've been dating for a while??

 Does that "kissed till their senses swam, and she swooned in his arms" chemistry really exist????
love stories really do generate unrealistic expectations...

Insomnia.... ;)

there are days when i can't sleep without hearing your voice... there are days when i fall asleep listening to you talk.. and there are days like today when i'm awake half the night and you're out like a light and i really really wanna wake you and have you talk me to sleep but i can't..
i just wish my insomnia didn't act up so much....

.........................................................

i watched a whole bunch of random movies today... courtesy of a fever and cold that kept me home from work... i REALLY should concentrate more on work...

i've been dreaming of a true love's kiss

true love conquers all.. so they say

what does anyone know about these things anyway

we're all ultimately drowning in the ocean of our own pain and insecurities, wishing for something to hang on to..

i guess ;love conquers all' makes a good hypothetical lifeline...