BLOGCATCHER

With a movie and with a song. So here's both together.

ROMANCE. A word that gets everyone weak in the knees. Its what men dream of. Its what women die for. Its what has got movies raking in jackpots. Remember  Gone With The Wind?  Dr. Zhivago?

There has been many a Romantic movie that has got me all goosebumpy, but nothing has quite made me feel so warm in the heart as two beautiful scenes from a movie of yesteryears called Love Actually. The scenes to me are pregnant with Romance not just with the beautiful portrayal of emotion, but with an equally touching background score. 

I'll forever go weak in the knees with this and this.  Just had to book mark them for my lifetime.

I THINK THIS WORLD IS PERFECT  is a blog i've been subscribing to for as long as i can remember.  A lovely blog kept by a daddy of two adorable daughters and which usually talks about things they do, say, play, cook, etc. A family diary with an occasional entry dedicated to something that moved daddy and which didnt have to do with his kids.

But since sometime now, daddy hasn't been posting much - not as bad as me though- and did so just yesterday and boy was it a blog to bookmark for keeps!!  It gave a link to a clipping from the famous American Idol program (that hunts for talented singers) and showcased an ordinary woman turning extraordinary in the timeframe of a few minutes!! Just because she dared to dream and pursue it. Or rather, dared to forget what the world was thinking and followed her heart.

You simply have to see this.

The first i ever heard of Sting was when i was in high school and it was the mesmerizing number 'Every Breath You Take'
Then after a long spell, i heard Desert Rose. Beautiful song.

Years have passed since.. and a few minutes back, i just chanced to listen to a song i instantly fell in love with.
Scouted for it on the net and i found my way to Sting once more.
And got a beautiful song to bookmark on my playlist.

Shape of my Heart - Sting.

For a change i'm back at my blog diligently!! Thanx to the driving factor called MUSIC.
Today, i've uploaded two more songs! 

"I want to know what love is"  by Foreigner   &
"I love you because" by Jim Reeves

The one by Foreigner is a long time favorite of mine..
And the one by Jim Reeves (how i love his voice)... well, actually i'm listening to this track for the first time.. though i can say i've grown up with good ol' Jim; him being one of my dad's all time favorites. So, yeah,  this is definitely an ode to nostalgia.

Meanwhile, i was desperately searching around for the 12 songs of Christmas by Jim again (another wonderful set of songs i've grown up with) but unfortunately couldn't find them to post here. Hope i will someday soon. Until then, i'll be happy with this track.

Its been a while that i've been wishing to start something like 'MY FAVORITE PLAYLIST' so i can keep updating it with songs i've always loved to listen to time and again. Well, here it is finally! And here's kickstarting with a really beautiful number by THOMAS ANDERSON whom i've had the privilege of knowing for a spell - thanx to a beautiful friend called Debra Ford and MY SPACE. Hope to keep updating!


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HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!! 

Its the fourth day of the New Year.. and i've not yet gotten down to making any resolutions to keep! (or not to ;-) )
Like, getting back here on LJ for one.. and posting something on a daily basis.

Well, let me make a start..

Being a mallu (a malayali),  lately, i just couldnt help noticing how some malayalis are making small waves across the country! 
Like, the cute mallu girl Asin in the 8-pack-abs Aamir starrer  "Ghajini." And just today, i chanced to find out that the  most beautiful song in Ghajini (again) going 'Kaise Mujhe' has been  sung by yet another malayali ! - Benny Dayal. What a voice.
Indicentally, Benny also has to his credit another soulful number from the movie Yuvvraaj  going 'Tu Mera Dost Hain' .  Again, awesome  rendering.

Just why my New Year message to my tribe is simply -   "Rock On Mallus! "

KEEP SMILING ALL ! 

Boy! Its been ages since i blogged here!! and looks like things have been happening!!!
Like for one, i can make my text  larger without it seeming inappropriately large and i can also play with some color! wow!

I was just about to crash (i can actually use the whole of 24 hours to level off some deprived sleep)  when i was suddenly reminded that someone dear wasnt able to access this page of mine anymore and was wondering if it was defunct!!
And so, i simply had to make sure it wasnt! & phew! Am i glad to see that LJ hasnt swept me under the carpet with a perfunctory message like " your account has been temporarily deactivated" or some such text! 

And well, now that i'm here, think i'll just bookmark a funny something by way of (hopefully) kickstarting another blogging spell --

Having accompanied me on trips a plenty to the ATM, my sonny boy these days often handles the operations for me. But yeah, it took me an incident just lately  to realize that he has actually memorized the command prompts shown on the screen.

A few days back, my husband's mom had fallen ill with a bad cough and a round of oral AB had done no good. Upon which, our family physician advised that she be hospitalized for a few days so she could be given a bout of IV antibiotics that would effect quicker. And so,  it was decided to drop mother-in-law off at the ICU and bring her back home in 5 days.

When sharing the news with my sonny, he says : Oh, so you mean to say you're going to DEPOSIT granny at the ICU on Monday and WITHDRAW her on Friday?

:-)

welcome back to me.

In a hurry to get home in time to cook lunch for my mom celebrating her birthday, I was zooming in my car while scanning both sides of the road for a petrol bunk.

Eyeing the fuel gauge nearing empty, I said: " Looks like I wont be able to drive this thing much longer  if I don't fill some DIESEL soon ! "

To which my sonny boy (engrossed in some game in his laptop) stated ever so matter-of-factedly : "Then, you're not going to be able to drive this thing at all. "

It took me a second to make sense of what he'd just said; and then, I couldn't help smiling. I was driving a PETROL car  :)

Soon enough, my sonny boy had a genuine doubt. " Why is that we say 'Petrol Bunk' and not 'Diesel Bunk' ?? "

Hmm. Good question. But nope, I didn't know the answer! 

Do you? :)

I don't know if many do, but I believe in SIGNS.

Signs...that sometimes show that you and a special someone are truly connected in some inexplainable mysterious way..
Signs..that show that there is a mysterious Force guiding us all and watching over us..
Signs .that reassure you when you're feeling a li'l empty in your soul.. that you really don't have to feel that way..

So, I was touched to find a message in my inbox today from a beautiful card company that I subscribe to.
The mail was meant to be an advertisement for their special Mother's Day offers..but to me, it was a SIGN from above that just made my day.

subject:
GOD THINKS YOU'RE WONDERFUL.

message:
God loves you..
with an everlasting love..
You are valuable to Him
not because of what you do
but simply because you are.

His thoughts of you outnumber the sand on the shore..
He lives to hear your heartbeat.
He loves to hear your prayers.
If something is important to you, its important to Him.
He has never taken His eyes off you---
not for a millisecond.
He's always near..
So be kind to yourself.

God thinks you're worth His kindness.
And He's a good judge of character.
He thinks you're wonderful.

With his passion for the likes of WWE and WWF and movies revolving around the same action-packed themes like The Hitman, Tomb Raider, Fast and the Furious, etc., it was quite a surprise when my sonny settled next to me to watch the DVD of an Irish Musical titled ONCE.

                              

(About the movie:  A small time gentle love story between real-life Irish band singer Glen Hansard and real-life musician Marketa Irglova, ONCE was shot on a shoestring budget with a skeleton crew and in a time-slot of just 17 days with only two 'handicams'  for camera (!) that gets you feeling you're watching a video shoot/documentary rather than a movie. Yet, the movie struck a chord with millions around the world to include Steven Spielberg who was quoted as saying '"A little movie called Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year.")

Well, no sooner had the movie begun on a sweet but loud number by Hansard, I expected my sonny boy to clear the scene and head for another dose of cartoons on any other TV available in the home. But surprisingly he didn't...

The movie carried on with simple yet beautiful parlance between two adorable actors who were simply striking with their exceptionally natural performance...and packaged with a string of heart-warmingly soulful songs to boot, I was totally lost to the movie in seconds. But yes, in between it, I quickly stole a glance at Rahul, and was genuinely surprised to see my little action-movie fan smiling back at me!  Yup, no two ways about it, but we were both loving the flick big time!

Its been more than a week now since we first watched the movie together .. but a few minutes back, my sonny just played the movie for the umpteenth time and went off to sleep with the most beautiful song in it ( 'Falling Slowly' which also won the Academy Award this year for the best original song ) in the backdrop...

And I must say that every time Rahul initiates watching this movie, I feel quite content to know for sure that he has it in him to appreciate some of the finer things in life:
A romance without frills. Some soulful music.

Here's sharing a gem from this awesome movie..


N.B. And how can I sign off without thanking my dear friend 'charmwood8' who let me in on this lovely movie and also gifted me the DVD ! And by doing so, has given me and my sonny the luxury of an unforgettable and refreshing experience!  Thanx so much ! :)

My cell phone buzzes. The number is strange. The voice though is very familiar, but I can't place it. A couple of  "hello"s and I still don't recognize it!  Finally, I apologize and ask the voice to identify itself. And i'm baffled to realize it was someone who calls me day in and day out!  Shucks!  And I follow up with more profuse apologies!

Nope. I didn't suffer an amnesia attack or something. All I did was do an emergent SIM transplant. ( yes, SIM as in the cell phone SIM).

Having forgotten my cell phone charger in a distant land and my phone out of charge, I had no choice but to use an old phone I had on me, and yes, when I transplanted the SIM, what came of it was that instantly many of my friends and family turned strangers!! -yep, almost like I'd suffered an attack of amnesia !

Because, suddenly there were more 'number(s) calling' than 'name(s) calling'. And every number looked to be that of a stranger ! ..naturally requiring me to accept it like I  would a stranger's call.. and think I've said more sorrys today to my near and dear ones than I have in months put together!

The feeling, if anything, was incapacitating at the least, not to mention irritating. And I chided myself for taking too much for granted.. and undermining the importance of memorizing ( in one's head) the important details about important people in your life and not foolishly relying on gizmos to do it for you. hmph.

Meanwhile, guess i'll just have to bite the bullet when my phone rings next...

Well, for one, i believe that i'm always destined to make a come back here on BLOGCATCHER with an opening track  :)

Here's sharing a song from yesteryears by a pop diva that i simply adore for her personality as her voice.
Just chanced to hear her croon a favorite number of mine on World Space yesterday and i had to immortalize the song  so i could keep coming back to it again and again and again....

Believe - CHER

TRIVIA:  (Actually, there's more to this song, than just being my favorite)

Cher's 'Believe' (Dec 1998) was the first commercial recording to feature the audible side-effects of Antares Auto-tune software used as a deliberate creative effect. The (now) highly recognizable tonal mangling occurs when the pitch correction speed is set too fast for the audio that it is processing and it became one of the most over-used production effects of the following years ....known more commonly as the 'Cher effect' ! 

There isn't a day that I don't dream of A Day..
That would be so different in a very special way..

Its a wish for a day.. just one day in my life .. when..

I have no time-table to follow
no deadlines to meet
no expectations to live up to
no responsibilities to shoulder
no appointments to keep
no reason to rush
no questions asked of me and to have not to answer
no one to confirm to
none to please

A day when I can
free my mind of racing thoughts
and have to think of nothing at all
sleep all I want
wake up as I please
listen to birds
watch the sky
daydream
wet my feet in a bubbly stream
laze over a mag
have breakfast in bed
splurge
read old mails
write a few
sit back
relax
enjoy

mmm.. and i think i'll keep adding to this list on and off...

A fine example (of the above) is when my son, reaching for his (strewn about) school shoes to place them on the rack, suspends the effort when he hears the last two words of my request :

"Could you please put your shoes on the rack if possible?"

Talkative.

A word that best describes me.

Actually, I've had it tagged to me right from school days, when my teachers invariably used to complain to my parents that I had a problem with keeping quiet.  

In college, again, I was very often asked to switch seats next to someone who even had a hard time smiling (!)  just so the professors could continue with their lessons (uninterrupted with my chatter).

Years later, married, with a fourth-grader kid to boot, not much of socializing, and not many of my friends around to catch up with on a day-to-day basis, I was thinking I'd been freed of that tag line once for all. When, just yesterday, I received the following SMS from my cell phone operator :

"You have won a Travel Bag in the Talk More Win Big promo. Please collect your gift before Nov 10, 2007."

Guess somethings never change.

Scooting to the rest room, our boss instructed the newly appointed System Administrator to fill in for him just in case the US Head Office corresponded on the messenger.  He promised the nervous SA that it would be very unlikely and scurried off. Unluckily for him, the head office chose to knock right then! And the jittery SA felt it would be safe to respond in monosyllables.
This is how the conversation went:

US office: Is A (boss) there?

SA:  No.

US:  Have the files been uploaded?

SA: No.

US:  Are the files over?

SA:  No.

US:  Will they be uploaded before 1800 Hrs?

SA:  No.

US:  What u mean by No???

SA:  Yes.

US:  What Yes???

SA:  No.

US:  Who are you???!!  and who appointed you???!!

(Thereafter the SA decided to remain silent)

While browsing the Google to find out what the phrase 'an army brat' meant, I stumbled on this really touching picture....

And yes, was stopped in my tracks ...thoughts reflecting on how sometimes silence (here, by way of a fotograph) can convey so much more than words probably can...





P.S.  "Army brat" by the way, is a term for a person whose parent or parents have served full-time in the armed forces during the person's childhood.

Ace marketing guru and one of the first to pioneer online marketing, Seth Godin is almost as famous as Tiger Woods.
While blog hopping, as I do from time to time, I must say I was pleasantly surprised to stumble on Seth's very own blog !  ( It was like chancing to discover the personal blog of a celebrity! say like, Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts! ).

Written in an elucidating style and littered with tips galore for those vying for an edge in marketing, I enjoyed lounging on the blog just for sheer pleasure of reading the thoughts of someone really good at his job.....and yeah, stumbled on this interesting video, which Seth was using to highlight a marketing strategy mentioned in his latest book called 'The Dip'.

Now, I had actually engineered writing this blog entry a while ago, but in the din of the mundane frenzy, left it on the back burner.  Well, just a few days back, I had a blog that I subscribe to, mention this very same video!
Because it did indeed broadcast a very strong message  --
To BELIEVE IN YOUR DREAMS even when the whole world doesn't have faith in it !!

The video is about a simpleton who works as a mobile phone salesman, but whose cherished dream is to sing the Opera..and he attempts to live that dream through a contest scouting for the best talent in Britain. The salesman's colorless personality and his relatively ordinary profession does mislead the judges of the contest into underrating him considerably... And yes, their "facial expression" graph from beginning to end (of the video) captures in essence the contestant's exemplary performance.

So, here's to all of you who have a hard time believing in your dreams and following through with it just because the world raises an eyebrow.

This clipping will change that once for all.

Another one of those endless battle of words followed up with threats to downsize privileges, and I finally manage to get my sonny to have two parathas and an omelet for lunch. He pops the  last mouthful and flees the scene..his plate far from clean. I look at the more-than-just-a-few stray pieces of food lying strewn around in it and sigh. Gory aftermath of a verbally explosive lunch time.

Minutes later, I find Rahul -whose tummy was so full it could burst any second a while ago- snacking on a huge bowl of puffed rice with two cashew biscuits to boot !

I'm obviously enraged and storm him with how on earth could he manage to get that into his too-full tummy ??!!  And my sonny explains ever so gently,
"You see mom, the food drive in my tummy has a storage space of just 100 KB, while the dessert drive is 1GB."


 

Been tossing around the thought "should I or shouldn't I" when it came to posting this entry. Cos its a little personal.. and more importantly cos it contains, well, not what you would call family material.

But yeah, as I intend to keep my entry/entries relatively neat, I thought I'd post anyway. And then, a blog is to occasionally share some personal stuff too, right?!

Having been brought up quite conservatively and educated convent style, I must sheepishly admit that I was naive about a lot of things even at 20+ !! -- in stark comparison to what the average 10 year old knows these days !
Now, I wouldn't want to divulge how old I was when the following incident happened -for obvious reasons- but yes this is what transpired in a telephone conversation between me and a foreigner lady (FL) in the US of A :

FL : May I have your name?

Me: Deepa

FL: Could you spell that for me, please?

Me: D E E..

FL: Nope, i meant could you spell each letter like, A for apple..

Me: Oh sure.

Me: D for Deer, E for Elephant, E for Elephant again, P for _ _ _ _ _

FL (surprisingly sounding very annoyed) :  P for what ?????!!!!!

Me ( innocently): P for _ _ _ _ _

I hear a stormy discussion at the other end for a while and then a loud thud and the line goes dead.

Later, it took me someone worldly-wise to let me in on the knowledge that-unfortunately- the name of a relatively harmless animal could be rather offensive.

p.s. For those of you naive people out there, the word was a synonym for cat. Now don't ask me why.

He rescues his girlfriend Sweets from amidst a bevy of armed thugs after a marathon shooting spree and emerges unscathed.  He meticulously plans and with utmost precision plants a bomb unnoticed under the car of the newly appointed President and walks off with a mindblowing sum of money.  He closes a 2-million dollar drug deal and comes home to a swanky mansion and his own private jet. Finally, he shoots his boss dead for daring to scheme against him behind his back....

Plot of an action-adventure packed Hollywood drama starring Van Damme?
Wrong guess.

The hero is a soon-to-be 10 year old. My son.

And he does a hell of a lot more without as much as having to lift his arm, thanks to one of the most sought after Cyber Games of today -  GTA aka Grand Theft Auto.
After its storming success with Liberty City and Vice City, GTA is now out with an even more adrenalin-packed drama titled San Andreas.  But unfortunately, for my son, its curtains on GTA. At least for now.

All it took was a casual remark by him on one of our Sunday-eve rides.  We were driving through a crowded locale where people merrily jaywalked and had a hard time differentiating  sidewalk from the road and my hubby was having to keep his hand on the honk more than on the steering wheel. And my sonny says :
" These people need to be shot." ( !!!!!! )
Of course I was shocked more than I was surprised !! But yes,  I guessed where that came from.
I asked him, "Is that what you do in GTA?!" and bang comes the reply, "Well, yeah."

And it didn't take me any longer to decide that GTA had to go. Down under.

Of course my sonny fussed, but I gently explained how living the life of a ruthless criminal (which is what GTA is all about) has tarnished his attitude towards people in general and warned him that in the long run it could actually  end up making him a  'very bad person' with zero sensitivity. For a miracle, he could see sense in what I was talking and came around to abiding with my decision. And I whispered a prayer under my breath.

So, for his birthday I told Rahul that he had two genre of game CDs/cartridges to choose from: Sports/Kiddo games ( the likes of Mario, Pokemon, etc).  With respect to sports, I was quick to add a Conditions Apply. No WWF/WWE or the likes.

Rahul decided he'd go in for FIFA 2007. And I was all smiles. At least a game was not going to have anything to do with shaping the personality of my son. Then he adds, "You know mom, I've played FIFA before. And its funny, but I kept getting shown the Red Card."

A latest blog entry by one of my buddies here on LJ debating the status of EQ (emotional intelligence) vis-a-vis IQ has inspired me to post an entry myself on the same lines.

Just recently I'd shifted my son's schooling from one of the prestigious institutions in town to a relatively new one for two simple reasons. One,  the school didn't promote the much needed growth in arts. Two, a ridiculous student-teacher ratio of 55:1 or in other words zero room for student-teacher rapport.

Having traveled the long winded road of schooling, i knew only too well how influential "student-teacher rapport" could be when it came to performance in studies. And for children with really short attention spans, there's no  better solution than a classroom index that supports a one-to-one between student and teacher.

As for arts, i've always believed it to play an important role in fine tuning our capabilities to appreciate the finer things in life.. but an article (which showcased the end result of an interesting survey) that i chancedly came across in the online edition of The Boston Globe,  just heightened the merits of this branch of education to an all new level.. leaving me quite content with the realization of having made a wise decision with respect to my son's future.

The article was titled "Why is arts important"  and i'm only too keen to share a few excerpts...

" It is well established that intelligence and thinking ability are far more complex than what we choose to measure on standardized tests. The high-stakes exams we use in our schools are almost exclusively focused on verbal and quantitative skills and reward children who have a knack for language and math and who can absorb and regurgitate information.  They reveal little about a student's intellectual depth or desire to learn, and are poor predictors of eventual success and satisfaction in life.  As schools increasingly shape their classes to produce high test scores, many life skills not measured by tests just don't get taught.  While students in art classes learn techniques specific to art, such as how to draw, how to mix paint, or how to center a pot, they're also taught a remarkable array of mental habits not emphasized elsewhere in school.  Such skills include visual-spatial abilities, reflection, self-criticism, and the willingness to experiment and learn from
mistakes. All are important to numerous careers, but are widely ignored by today's standardized tests.

In our analysis, we identified eight ``studio habits of mind" that arts classes taught, including the development of artistic craft. Each of these stood out from testable skills taught elsewhere in school. The prominent ones being: 1) Persistence: Students worked on projects over sustained periods of time and were expected to find meaningful problems and persevere through frustration.  2) Expression: Students were urged to move beyond technical skill to create works  rich in emotion, atmosphere, and their own personal voice or vision.  3) Making clear connections between schoolwork and the world outside the classroom:  Students were taught to see their projects as part of the larger art world, past and present.

Each of these habits clearly has a role in life and learning, but we were particularly struck by the potentially broad value of a few thinking skills (being taught in the art classes we documented) and each of which has a high value as a learning tool, both in school and elsewhere in life.

1) Observation: A  task far more complex than one might think.  Seeing is framed  by expectation, and expectation often gets in the way of perceiving the world accurately. To take a simple example: When asked to draw a human face, most people will set the eyes near the top of the head. But this isn't how a face is really proportioned, as students learn:  our eyes divide the head nearly at the center line.  Observational drawing requires breaking away from stereotypes and seeing accurately and directly... Also trrying to notice what you might not have seen before. For instance, in Mickey Telemaque's first design class of the term at the Boston Arts Academy, ninth-graders practice looking with one eye through a cardboard frame called a viewfinder. ``Forget that you're looking at somebody's arm or a table," Telemaque tells his students. ``Just think about the shapes, the colors, the lines, and the textures." Seeing clearly by looking past one's preconceptions is central to a variety of professions, from medicine to law. Naturalists must be able to tell one species from another; climatologists need to see atmospheric patterns in data as well as in clouds. Writers need keen observational skills too, as do doctors.

2) Envisioning - Forming mental images internally and using them to guide actions and solve problems. We noticed art teachers giving students a great deal of practice in this area: What would that look like if you  got rid of this form, changed that line, or altered the background?... prompting students to imagine what was not there.  Like observing, envisioning is a skill with payoffs far beyond the art world. Einstein said that he thought in images. The historian has to imagine events and motivations from the past, the novelist an entire setting. Chemists need to envision molecular structures and rotate them. The inventor - the envisioner par excellence - must dream up ideas to be turned into real solutions. Envisioning is important in everyday life as well, whether for remembering faces as they change over time, or for finding our way around a new city, or for assembling children's toys.

3) Innovation through exploration - Art classes place a high value on breaking the mold. Teachers encourage  students to innovate through exploration - to experiment, take risks, and just muck around and see what can be learned. In ceramics, for example, capitalizing on error is a major consideration and students were told not to worry about mistakes, but instead to let mistakes lead  to unexpected discoveries.

We don't need the arts in our schools to raise mathematical and verbal skills - we already target these in math and language arts. We need the arts because in addition to introducing students to aesthetic appreciation, they teach other modes of thinking we value.For students living in a rapidly changing world, the arts teach vital modes of seeing, imagining, inventing, and thinking. If our primary demand of students is that they recall established facts, the children we educate today will find themselves ill-equipped to deal with problems like global warming, terrorism, and pandemics. Those who have learned the lessons of the arts, however - how to see new patterns, how to learn from mistakes, and how to envision solutions - are the ones likely to come up with the novel answers needed most for the future."

Meanwhile, let me grab some funky looking color pens and try channeling my son's attention away from the Game Boy.

Eerie as it may sound, they say there are 5 ( or is it 6?) lookalikes or Doppelgangers for everybody in this world !!!  Strange, isn't it??
But, what is the possibility of finding one in your very own hometown ?!!!!!

People who've mastered the art of beginning a conversation would vouch that, saying: " I've seen you somewhere..." would definitely get the ball rolling.
Well, since a while, i've been getting that, like a lot !! 
And yes, i did wonder how it was that everyone i met strangely used the same punchline ?!!! 
Like, was there a dearth of something else to say?!!!

But wait a minute!  I was the one to mostly begin the conversations!!
So, something was wrong !!!

Pretty soon, i started noticing people who didn't mean to strike up a dialogue with me -like, for example an auto driver as he was handing me the change or perhaps a grocery store guy when handing me the bag or even a pharmacist - mouthing the very same catchphrase !!
Yup. No two ways about it, I  was having competition from a Doppelganger !

So I tried getting a few people to think harder about zeroing in on where they'd actually seen me, but nope. Most of them simply couldn't help that info.
Talk of memory lapse being as rampant as common cold !
After a few unsuccessful attempts, i stopped trying.
Well, at least my Doppelganger wasn't getting anybody irate with me.

Then, a couple of off-beat family gatherings and a dinner party or two found a few people telling me that i closely resembled a TV compere !
The show was called Idea Star Singer; something like the "Indian Idol" that was/is a national hit.
On asking around, what struck me was the fact that, this was one 5-nights-a-week show that had a viewership status in Cochin, if not Kerala of almost 98%  !
And i didn't tarry any longer to get down to watching that show myself and yep..
Something about the host did bear a strong semblance to me, though i couldn't exactly put my finger to it.
I checked with my sonny, and he echoed the same thought !

And so, finally, i could rest the Doppelganger Case ! Yup. I just found her !
She's Ranjini Haridas.  Host of Idea Star Singer.
And the next time round someone in town has a hard time placing me, i'll be more than willing to help!!  :-)

Incidentally, i just found this odd site on the net called Find My Twin aimed at helping you find your lookalike!
Well, i didn't check it out and so cant vouch for the success quotient, but a few pics put up for visitors, did have me amused!

Check them out @ http://www.idavista.com/findmytwin/index.asp

Ciao for now !

With snatches from a refreshingly melodious number !!


Coming up with  posts soooooooooooon !!!

Shame on all of you who keep complaining the Indian team isn't consistent !!!
Think about it!! Aren't we really ???

Just not with winning. Sigh.

Now, I really don't have much to say about the match that just wrapped up in Hyderabad and yeah, am no cricket guru to comment on team selection, but yes, with the limited knowledge that I have, I do wonder why our ODI team isn't armed with the powerful bowlers that were crucial to our T20 victory ?!!

With the long established truth that Aussies are inarguably the best run scorers, I didn't think it needed hindsight to know that our team had to be armed with the best bowlers and not necessarily the best batsmen.

And so, actually, I wouldn't really blame our team  for the 0-2 victory status against the Aussies but the selectors, who should've known better.

I seriously think Team T20 has to be given a chance, just for a shot.
If we win, great. If not, we have nothing to lose, do we??

Anybody with me?

My current feelings regarding the ODI (India vs Australia) underway @ Hyderabad:

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET SYMONDS OFF THE FIELD????????????!

And for a pleasant change, i'm back to my roots.
i.e. back to sharing stuff about a wonderful somebody and not me :)

Its strange how you stumble on a treasure when you're on a casual stroll looking for nothing in particular.
While waiting for one of my buddies to come online to chat up a bit with,  was flipping through You Tube and i stumbled on this lovely soul with a golden voice and a beautiful face.
I was immediately drawn to her candid talking...uninhibited...unadulterated...
She had an innocent charm to her, like that of a baby...and pretty soon i discovered that wasn't all !
She also made as beautiful (as her) songs..and sang in an even more beautiful voice!

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce KIM DIVINE.
She's a singer/songwriter/guitarist from Massachusetts but doing musicals in San Diego and LA.
Kim also runs a video blog in You Tube and calls her posts 'Bedroom Sessions' where she gives the world a sneak peek into her life, her hobbies, and best of all some real soulful music.

The clipping i've chosen for my blog is from one of her Bedroom Sessions where Kim croons a tugging-at-the-heart number  titled  ' Without You '.
A soulful song is always born when its words are taken out of life and the song is rendered from the heart. ' Without You' is one such number.

In the clip below, Kim lets us in on the history behind this soulful piece and i must say it doubles the beauty of listening to it!

You really want to check this out!!  (And yes, the beautiful lyrics are right below!)
WITHOUT YOU

I have your eyes,
But I don’t see them in my reflection
I have your hands,
But they don’t hold me now

Cuz you’ve taken
And you’ve broken
Yourself from me
With no reasons
With no Father
I’ve still grown to be
Without you

The memories of this,
Are broken into pieces,
And buried underground
Do you feel the shame?
Do you know the pain I felt
When you left that day?

Cuz you’ve taken
And you’ve broken
Yourself from me
With no reasons
With no Father
I’ve still grown to be
Without you

I fear the day will come,
When you show your face to me
Will I find the strength to guard my tears
And show you how its been after all the years?

Cuz you’ve taken
And you’ve broken
Yourself from me
With no reasons
With no Father
I’ve still grown to be
Without you


Find more KIM @  http://www.kimdivine.com/

I really truly hope this lovely voice reaches far and wide one day!!
For now, YAY! KIM DIVINE!

Yup. That would perfectly sum up the feelings of Indian cricket fans (especially those perched high up on the arches of the stadium here in Cochin) who saw the Indians succumb to the mighty Aussies in the 2nd ODI. Especially, following a really promising start, bowling-wise and batting-wise. Hmm. Guess somethings never change.

I was a cricket buff ages ago- 20 yrs ago to be precise.. and over the years weaned myself off of the game when victory began to sound alien to us.
A week back though, strangely, my interest in cricket underwent a resurrection of sorts with T20.  And after a goosebumpy victory over Australia and Pakistan, I was thinking my passion was here to stay.

But the page had to turn. Like it always does.
And T20 gave way to regular cricket. And instantly, i began to feel a tinge of the bitter aftertaste from yesteryears.
Have our players improved? Does clinching a World Cup mean we can play better cricket now ? Would we have a positive attitude and play as a team and play to win, like we just did??
I badly wished someone assured me with a big YES, but my gut seemed to think the opposite.

The 2nd ODI is done and here's how i feel :

Going yum with the T20 victory pie,
And with hopes pinned almost sky high,
I tuned into the ODI...
But now am left high and dry!

We could play better cricket  thought I..
But gosh! we're still the same! Oh, sigh!
We can win, but just when'll we truly try?!
World Cup Champs and us?- Now, thats a white lie !

I think i need another T20 match pronto to cheer up my spirits.
How about you?

Mmm.... its such fun to reminisce about good ol' school days....
But then, rarely does something occur in our day-to-day lives that helps dust the cobwebs off some of the best memories of our lifetime, right?

For me, it took a line from the latest Reader's Digest Laugh Lines.

Now, i wasn't a top scorer ever in my school days, but I have always wondered why when the teachers shot surprise questions at the class, i would invariably always be among the ones exempted from having to answer ( along with the intelligentia in the class) !!  The misfortunate ones would of course have to do an imposition of sorts or stand in their seats for the rest of the hour.. while lucky ones like myself ( who didn't know the answer, but were thankfully spared) heaved a sigh of relief (under our breaths)..

The recent  e-edition of Reader's Digest carried an altered version of the cliched words of wisdom -  "When in doubt, ask."  This one said :
' When in doubt, look intelligent.'

Suddenly, that explained a lot of things.

:-)

Anybody game for a flashback?

Excuse me, but once more i'm being shamelessly self-indugent and going ahead with voicing stuff about me..

Some time ago, i had a friend pop a question :
"Which is the saddest song you've ever heard ?"
And when i pondered,  i realized that any song that i chanced to hear when i was feeling sad appeared to me to be the saddest song i ever heard.
Actually, isn't that really so?

But just the other day, i was in one of my chirpy moods and listening to World Space ( a 24 hours  radio station) and it played a song that had my eyes moist at the end of it! And i realized that it has happened everytime i've chanced to LISTEN to this song !!!
So, yeah, now i know what to answer the next time someone pops that question my way.

The song is from a Bollywood flick from yesteryears (1998) titled BORDER and its about the feelings of those beautiful people who dedicate their lives (and sacrifice the luxuries most of us take for granted -love, home, family, friendship, fun) to serving the nation.
They are --OUR BELOVED SOLDIERS.

The lyrics of the song are penned by a well-known poet Javed Akhtar and i must say the words pierce the heart when one  puts oneself in the shoes of those valiant soldiers or their beloved (and still more valiant) parents, wives, and children waiting for them at home...

Here's for those of you who want to check it out right now :

I'm also just going to vaguely translate the lyrics of this beautiful song for the benefit of those who don't follow Hindi..and who might chance to stumble on this entry.

The lonely Soldiers lament....

*** *** ***
Beautiful letters keep coming from home.....
and they trouble my soul...
They keep asking over and over
when are you coming home?
Please write to let us know
when are you coming home?
Everything feels so lonely without you..
the letters keep saying...

The letters keep coming
from my  beloved sweetheart
carrying a touch of her warm breath
her beating heart
her beautiful bangles
her kajal-laden eyes
her lustrous flowing hair..
her endless empty nights
her aching-to-hold-me arms..
and her constant waiting..
and keep asking over and over..
when are you coming home?

The letters keep coming
from all my friends
from my loving hometown
from the clouds there....
from the fields...
from the meadows..
from the flowers..
and they keep asking over and over
when are you coming home?

The letters keep coming
from my adorable mother.. and reminds me of
my childhood days
my carefree life...
my mother's prayers
her lullaby
her chiding
her worry
her endless love..
and she keeps asking over and over
when are you coming home?

My dear wind that blows..
could you please do me a favor?
Could you please travel far..
and greet my dear hometown and my dear friends for me..
Could you please give my sweetheart a touch of my love...
Could you please greet my mom and bring back her blessings..
Could you please tell them all..
That i will come back!
Yes, i will come back!

I will come back to my home
I will come back to the streets i grew up on
I will come back to my friends
I will come back to those kajal laden eyes of my sweetheart
I will come back to the arms of my loving mother
I will keep my promise to the nation,
but i will come back....

***  *** ***
I am touched once more... and I take this moment to salute the selfless Soldiers of ALL nations!
May the force be with them and their loved ones at all times !!!!

Now i wouldn't know if its the mindset of just the people in this part of the world.. but down here everybody sort of believe they know what they're doing. Or better, they know whats best.
And so, you will find almost half the population here driving their cars without their seat belts on, though the latest rule by the DMV ( Department of Motor Vehicles) stresses that they do.

What baffles me is that the rule serves to safeguard the interest of the driver than the interest of the ones that implemented the rule or the ones trying to reinforce it, but nobody seems to even give that a thought !
For the lay man, its just another rule that can be ignored as long as a cop is out of sight.

Just yesterday, i was zooming with my son in our car after picking him up from his tennis class cos i was emergently required by my office to log in on my system back at home. I was hardly a furlong from home when i spotted this cop signaling me to get off the road and i was like 'Oh please! not now!' .  I roll down the window and a  smart looking officer tells me  "Ma'm, I  don't want to trouble you now, cos you have your kid in the car, but the next time round you'll have to pay a fine of  Rs. 1000/-  for not having your seat belt on."
I heave a big sigh of relief ( read- whisper under my breath "gawd, that was close!"), profusely thank the cop for excusing me, roll up the window,  and resume on our journey. Seat belt unstrapped.
Yep, some people never learn.

As i negotiate the next bend that leads onto my drive way, i spot another cop! In a reflex action, me and my sonny immediately reach for our seat belts and pull them across.
We're home. Safe. And without a ticket. This once.

But yes, i was plagued by the sure shot question immediately.
What was actually important to me?  To please the cop? or  Drive safe?!!
To drive safe, of course!

And yeah, i did feel happy to ascertain that I didn't do the eyewash because i didn't care for the rule, but that having driven 'unseatbelted' for as long as i've been riding cars, i simply forget to strap that thing on !

But yes, life is too costly to be jeopardized for a memory lapse and so, right now i have a 'SEATBELT !!!' warning  on a post-it note bang on the dashboard of my car.

And yeah, i'm hoping that would have been the last time someone ever spotted me and my sonny without our seat belts on.

When is the last time YOU put on your seat belt  for someone other than yourself?!!

Its not even 10 days and I feel like its been eternity since I've posted anything here on Blogcatcher!

Was under the throes of a viral attack in the earlier part of the week and when I snapped out of it, I really don't know why, but I had this  uncanny feeling that the net was the last place I wanted to be on !!
Of course I had to sign into work even before the virus had signed out from my system and that must be why, as I wrapped up work ( which requires me to be on the pc with multiple browsers open simultaneously) I would always eagerly wait to close all the browser windows !!
And mmm...what joy to finally see the desktop wallpaper !
And the task bar uncluttered. Clean.
Windows shut.

Except yes, for one. The messenger. My ticket to smile.
Who doesn't get a kick out of a lovely chat with a dear buddy. Right?

Oh! have you noticed something strange here?!
For a change, I'm not raving about any wonderful body's blog, but am blogging about me !!
And I must say it doesn't feel too bad !! :)

But yes, it does cause me to wonder, like...would I have to go in for a change in my blog title??!
Nah, right?
Like, I claim its to do with “sharing beautiful blogs from around the world” so, that doesn't mean I cant share anything about me, right ? or does it ?!
Anyways, I think I don’t want to find out the answer. At least not now.  :)

You know, I just realized that I  haven't really mentioned anything about myself on this blog ever and i think i want to make a teeny start. Right here. Right now.

Lets start with my treasure !

I have an adorable sonny boy aged 9,  actually going on 10 next month!  And yes, he lights my world just like kids anywhere would their parents'. And yes again, like all kids of his age, he is ingenious at multitasking.
So, he can be adorable and arrogant. Sweet and manipulative. Understanding and adamant. Funny and irritable. All at the same time.
And yes, i wonder how he does it.

Oh yeah, this is him :) ---->

At times I lose it, like all impatient parents do, and at other times I wonder how I can get mad at my bundle of joy. At still other times, I am touched and moved by warm gestures ...

Like, just yesterday, I was reading this article on an e-paper which talked about wrist problems to watch out for with overuse of the mouse. Well, as I was reading it, my right hand naturally was on the mouse. My sonny boy was reading the article along with me and in between, I felt his li'l hands on mine. I turned to him with a 'hey, whats up' look and he was smiling.  And it dawned.
It was about my wrist. He had just lifted his mommy's hand off the mouse :)

Its so beautiful when our precious darlings say they care without actually saying it, right?

Back with a bang! i mean, Blog.

Yesterday was a day that went down in the history of US as one of the most horrendous. And so, i wasn't surprised to come across many blogs penned on the lines of  9/11..

But it was touching to come across one sensational blog about someone who was directly involved with the gory happenings and i was moved to experience the true feelings through the exceptional writing skills of the blogger..

So, here i am, sharing an excerpt with all of you..


" In 2000, Wayne and Nancy, along with their four small children, moved from Iceland to a military base in Washington, D.C. where Wayne took up his new position working in the United States Pentagon. From their street where their new house sat, they could even see the Pentagon across the Potomac River....

On the morning of September 11, 2001, it was a normal morning, with a normal breakfast, and normal farewell as Wayne kissed the wife of his youth and their children good-bye. There was no special, foreboding music playing in the background of Nancy's mind as she turned to clean off the breakfast dishes and prepare the older children for yet another day of homeschooling.

So the morning went until suddenly a tremendous, unrealistic crash was heard off in the distance. Wondering what that was, Nancy still plowed on with her children until shortly they all jumped as they heard a pounding on the door. Someone was hysterical. She ran to the door only to have her neighbor collapse in her arms sobbing, "THEY'VE BEEN HIT. THE PENTAGON!" Nancy let go of her friend, raced out the door, down the street to the gathering group of military wives, to discover to her horror, the Pentagon was up in flames. Smoke billowed up in the air. They could smell it from where they were standing. They had no idea what happened. They all thought the entire building had been bombed. The women hugged each other and cried. Nancy's children cried...

It didn't take but an hour for the first of the neighbors to receive a call from her husband. "Honey, I'm alright. I made it out of the building safely. I love you. I'm coming home. I'll see you soon." Like popcorn, that seemed to start all the phones ringing with just about the same message. By the end of the following hour, every single one of the women had talked to her husband. All of the men were safe.

All but one. One phone remained deadly silent. One woman quietly sat amongst her friends. Friends who no longer knew what to say to her.

That phone was Nancy's....

Late in the afternoon/early evening, Nancy's phone rang. We had all avoided calling her in order to keep her line free. With a hopeful heart, she picked up the receiver in her kitchen and choked out, "Hello?"
A man on the other end cleared his voice. It wasn't Wayne. It wasn't her father. It wasn't our father-in-law. It wasn't my husband.
It was the call that every military wife fears deep in her heart when her husband is sent off to serve his duty to our country.
"Ma'am?"
"yes?"
"This is General Patrick Morris. Am I speaking to the wife of Lieutenant Commander, Wayne Smith?"

With a cry, Nancy let the phone fall to the ground as her knees gave out and she crumpled to a heap on the floor. One of the neighbor's grabbed the phone and said, "I'm her friend, who is this?"

After only a moment's pause, she let out a loud whoop! She shouted to Nancy, "He's safe! He's fine! ......"

What actually happened?  Why didn't Nancy's husband call earlier? Where was he? ...

There's answers to these questions plus a lot more unbelievable account of the gruesome 9/11 happenings at Pentagon  at the original blog site. And for once, i am going to have to redirect you all to the same for the whole touching story. This is respecting the blogger's wishes that her blog not be published elsewhere.

And trust me, you do want to read all that she has to say @ http://thewoodenporch.blogspot.com/

(The author of the blog, by the way, is none other than Wayne's sister-in-law)

So, tell me... do any of you have such stories to share from your personal experience?! or have come across a touching blog like this one? Then please do post a link in the comment's section so i can post it here on Blogcatcher to share with all !

Meanwhile, take care and live life to the fullest!

I'm back. (Terminator style. Present tense.)

Today i've been blog-hopping more so than ever.  It started out with a beautiful blog by a mother ( ok. accept it that my parental status gets me drawn to blog by fathers and mothers only all too often ).. and as i was skimming through it to find that xxxtra-punch packed entry that i would love to post on my blog.. i inadvertently ventured onto the sidebar where this lady - like all bloggers- had posted links to the blogs that she subscribes to. And as always, I was hit by the insane urge to check a few of them out to satiate my curiosity for the prize blog that just might be lurking behind one of those attractive blog titles. And guess where i land??

At Jesus Christ's own blog !!!!!  Yep! Believe it or not !
And well, I just managed to straighten up after a lengthy spell of doubled-up laughter to post this blog entry :)

Get ready for a wild giggle chase with :

http://jesuschristscoolblog.blogspot.com/

I hate the way this guy draws me.

Another dumb thing about being me? Artists are always trying to draw me, and yet they generally screw it up. It's insulting really. You know how many artists have actually called me up and asked, "Jesus, would you like to pose for a painting?" ZERO. It's like they already have a checklist of my visual attributes ("Long hair... check. Beard… check. Soft, dewy eyes… check."), slop them down on a canvas, and call it a day!
Take this guy's dumb painting for example. It's by some guy in Tennessee named Spencer Williams—WHOM I'VE NEVER MET—and it doesn't look anything like me! And who's that kid on my shoulder? I don't know him! I kind of don't like kids very much, and I certainly don't walk around hoisting them up on my shoulder.
And look at my face! This is the WORST depiction of my face since Willem Defoe played me in The Last Temptation of Christ (pretty good movie, though). This painting makes me look like a garbage man or something... I don't know. It makes me look like I'm going to take that kid and dump him head first into a wood chipper. Not that I would. I'm just saying. And I kind of look high, don't I? Like I'm some kind of stupid hippie that just rolled out of a van stinking of pot. And why are we in the clouds? Is the kid dead? If he is, there's not much reason to carry him on my shoulder, is there? .... Anyway, I'm tired of looking at stupid pictures of myself and it makes my head hurt. Today for lunch I had a tofu scramble. I'm still hungry and my stomach feels like it's stuffed with cardboard.

-posted by Jesus H. Christ

I'll be back :)