The rains are here

It's my favorite time of the year and I had to honour it by the only way I know- by writing about it! There's nothing quite like the rains, it's accompained smells and the glorious greens, never mind the power cuts, traffic jams and pot holes...each time it rains, some innane part of me sings. Nothing quite beats the joy of enjoying the rains- be it from a distance (maybe with steaming chai) or getting drenched completely allowing the tugging water to feel you, really really feel what you actually are and allow the fiesty drops to wrench out your innermost turmoil or satiate your inherent pleasure!

Two memories spring instantly whenever I say rains- One immensely rainy day in my childhood when my cousins, my sister and I got thoroughly wet and relished the feeling like nothing else. We talk about it still, it seemed like we were giant specks of rain drops..all in one, one in all. United never to be parted again. That was one of the few times that I felt that under such tremendous ferocity there is immense joy. Another experience was quite recent, three years back in my college where when it rains it looks like paradise. Everything so greeen and so beautiful, so calm that it rustles your feelings and they take flight. That particular day was so breathtaking that I chucked my bike and took a walk, I still take in that heavenly smell of dew and mud when I think of it strongly. I didnt even need anybody to soak in and embrace the moment, the rain was my company and dissolved any furtive/farcical desire for sharing it with anyone....Rain, I am looking forward to the monsoons, hope it keeps its date.

Aisha...August 6th...Sonam Kapoor...I'm in love!!!

Small things

add up to so much!! I've never been a believer in the fact that small things matter much in the long course called life, but like most things the change has been swift and extreme. They are like punctuation marks, you dont realise once they are in their place but if they aren't you know that something is amiss. Like that flower once in a while or the relief a smile serves you when you are down or a hug that's unexpected...little things always matter. A relationship is always made or unmade by those little gestures which will not make you sit up and notice immediately, but will serve as gentle reminders when you sit back and think if the ride is worth it. Life is balanced by such severe checks and balances that you need all you have to stay afloat.

I realised this much to my peril when the latest issue of the mag I work for came out last week. I previewed a couple of books and actually typed the name of Jeffrey Archer's book as "Hereby Hands a tale", instead of "Hereby hangs a tale". A photograph which accompanied the write up only made my error more glaring. No use crying over split milk but I could only kick myself for not checking it. Shows simply, one letter wrong and the whole page goes kaput!!

The rains are here and I hope the gentle pitter patter tugs away the gloom that threatens to envelop this heart of mine.

On the trail of my Editor

Yes, like most of them - my Editor is "one of a kind", dont get me wrong, this is only a fun post, partly because I'm in a benevolent mood. My Editor at the first place I freelanced with was someone I could streamroll, butress and get my way. My current Editor (at the new place I'm working) does the same- to me!! I have to, have to relive this conversation the other day

8am morning,
She: Mk, where are the pictures for the book previews??
Me (groan, is it time already?): Hmmm, I will give them in today

She: a really looong Mk, You are taking your own sweet time...this wont do
Me (in my head) : Is she talking to me or is she actually saying...Did I carry you around for 9 months for this day?
The irony being it is actually nine months that I've started working here

She: Mk, are you there
Me: Yea, you'll have the pictures by 12

She (as if I didnt speak): The photograher will be in your place in half-hour!!!

8.15, after sending me two messages, she calls again!!

Do you really wonder why I've not been blogging of late??
My work has been really strenous what with writing re-writing, drafting and re-drafting though I must give it to Su(My editor), she runs around for entire days, thinking about design and stories. It's actually fun and I get a kick out of it especially because of late they want me for full time and I've declined it twice (that would mean better money but seriously can we ever really have enough of money??) but I'm simply glad that people read what I write and there is no greater glory I seek!!

PS: I hope my only loyal reader is happy that I've finally written a blog!!

Summer memories

the summer is at it's peak (Hyderabad's sweating it out at 44.!), blistering it's path unheeded and a remarkable wry thought occured to me the other day while eating cut chilled mango (the ONLY pleasure of this dreaded heat) Summer was a time of leisure, of fooling around and of holidays...where has all of it gone? In ten years, a young generation has grown and how!! It holds true for most of us, the past decade is a completely new entity to us now, what we have grown up with is no longer existent and its new because you can rightly claim so only after much later in life... cricket is not played in the grounds but online and friends are not made in the neighborhood park but on social networking sites!!I yearn for that time when summer meant

- a proper vacation at grandma's place with cousins,endless and mindless movies, ice-cream, scrambles, chess, great food and minor tiffs.

- a pair of strong and comforting arms, I still rue the memory of

- a time when as children we ambled with no summer camps or restrictions and more importantly behaved like children. My cousins, a decade younger feel immensely grown up to me!!

- Reading the Enid Blytons and Agatha Christies over and over again and still feeling smugly satisfied each time

- listening to that one cassette of Lata Mangeshkar Live at Calcutta and a Kishore kumar album...no wonder that I still remember the lyrics of each of them!!

All of this and more seem so alien now, vacation is a weekend and fun means multiplex. The joy of a thing, I believe is less in the thing itself and more in the process of the entire experience. With that amiss, it's like chemically enhanced Alphonso, looks the same but leaves you strangely unsatisfied even after eating a bushel!!

Mix n Match

I have not written anything for three weeks now, and for a change it feels wonderfully refreshing! Been writing non stop for the past two years and it is a welcome change. After I joined my new workplace last year, it's been enormously hectic..but am taking a month long break again come next week so the few days are going to be crammed with writing and excrutiating editing!!

Am extremely glad that the ridiculous cases against Khusboo has been squashed though five years is a tad too long, but she must be relieved. All because she was tipped to be a AIADMK candidate...the weird ways of Tam-politics!! Now with the talk of her joining Congress, wonder what will happen!!

Was in Tirupati last month and there was a wonderful (though a trifle gaudy) statue of MS Subbulakshmi at the entrance. I was really happy simply because no one deserves it more than MS. In the carnatic world, there is only one Annamacharya and one MS, unrivalled. Just try and listen to her Samarpanam albums in Raaga and you'll understand her voice if not her tongue!!

In an interview with Headlines Today, Hrithik (intelligent) Roshan used the words "you know" 29 times in 2 minutes. I told you that he was the male Ash and yeah I'm completely jobless.

Eleven years

that's what it took Manu Sharma, the accused in Jessica Lal's case to be sentenced by the Supreme Court...eleven years in which her parents and sister waged a lonely battle and eleven years which her parents did not see to live the day, the killer who destroyed a family was finally put at bay. This story makes remarkable judgements on our Justice system, on one hand you feel that for once some one gets justice while on the other hand you feel that it's too little too late. I have followed Jessica's case closely, as closely as someone in Hyderabad can follow a case in Mumbai/Delhi, it first broke out when I was in school and when NDTV was actually a respected entity, I can almost visualise the first TV debate I saw on this case, Sabrina Lal, her father, Bina Ramani and a counsel for the killer Sharma and thinking that nothing's going to happen here, it finally has and is a victory of the tenacity of one brave brave lady, Sabrina Lal. What she must have endured I really do not dare know, but I'll say this, this has surely come at a very high cost- of personal space, individual freedom and of immense unyielding struggle!!For those who think that ends justifies means, it isnt always so.

This is for her and another remarkable lady, Neelam Katara. These are the stuff heroes are made of, our REAL icons.

The one which could'nt be

This article, I wanted to write for the mag I'm freelancing for, but my Editor brusqely said no, and for whatever it's worth....here it is

Ever got sick of seeing the same old faces romancing like robots, here's a choice of some eclectic and madly different actors who's pairing would surely burn that silver screen!!

SRK and Tabu: The mighty Khan and the magnificient begum came together for a minute in Saathiya and sizzled the screen. Just imagine them in an intense love story, the passion which SRK brings to romance and the devastating presence of Tabu...they'd teach people a thing or two about chemistry!!

Chitrangada and Aamir Khan: Yes, the stunningly beautiful Sen and the perfectionist Khan. Cast them in a rom-com and see what they do with it. Her elegaic pathos gives way to fun and perfection meets personality!! Chitrangada's electrifying presence and Aamir's sheer intensity and what they can do to the box office!!

Abhay Deol and Kareena Kapoor: This vivacious punjabi jodi can spring many a suprise. Imagine them in an absolute art movie, Kareena can emote through her eyes and Abhay Deol can smolder the screen with his craft. The kind which will have all the grace of love, lust and longing. Strong, gripping and passionate their pairing could be a revelation.

Nandita Das and Salman Khan: Salman khan with his unbridled energy, Nandita Das with her solemnity can be the stuff movie legends are made of. Imagine them in a coming of age story about lovers who lost and found love. A tamed Khan and a smiling, stunning Nandita. Simple grace meets raw energy and many a myth is shattered.