Category: Yesterday

  • Jammin’ in Goa

    No, not exactly, but yes, one of these days, i certainly will…a couple of posts brought back memories of the place, and hence the title..
    the first one, by Mirage, brought a sweet wave of nostalgia, specially when she mentioned all the places we used to haunt.. oh yes, those were indeed the days.. i still believe that the immediate time before we get out into the world and be part of it as individuals who fend for themselves, both from a financial as well as a relationship standpoint, are the best possible days.. while we still might be suffering from doses of education,and the rough and tumble of assignments and tests, it still remains a time of at least partial abandon, coz you know dad is going to send the cheque next month too..:)
    but the next one, that by an individual who works for the JAM magazine, also brought back memories of Goa (that was where i started reading JAM, and continued for almost 3 years), but accompanied by the rude awakening that as much as we like to think that the blogosphere is a mature entity, it is not always so, and sometimes the unpleasantness of the real world is dragged into it.. while i dont intend a detailed version of the controversy,in my mind, JAM has done no wrong.. but more importantly even if it has,the comments left on the post were in extremely bad taste…
    and as people who have a stake in the future of blogs, it is important for us to drop in here, read about the subject, make up our mind, and offer our support.. because i think this is about an individual who seems to be doing something she believes in, and just because she happened to express herself, and that expression wasn’t particularly pleasing to a group/institution, she shouldn’t feel she has done something wrong, and more importantly feel isolated.. so do drop in, and for instructions on helping out, drop in here..
    until next time, its Just Another Manuscrypts post!! 🙂

  • Weight and Watch

    A long long time ago, long before watching one’s weight reached fashionable proportions, we used to have a simple routine at home, that of measuring our weight every month…
    Having hovered around the twenty and thirty kg mark for a long time, crossing the 50 kg mark was a big priority in my wishlist… But we humans are funny folk.. its been a long time since i crossed the magic figure, and now i exercise so that i can keep it somewhere close to that figure.. like the saying goes, the more things change the more they remain the same…in childhood, it was about increasing the weight till it reached there, and now its about decreasing it…
    however, i have always wondered when exactly the body weight increases, when exactly was it that i crossed from 49 kg to 50 kg…. like the movement of the hour hand of a clock, we never manage to know the exact moment… not for any particular purpose, just curiosity…
    until next time, wait a second, and think about it….

  • Retro!!

    A while before i was born, there was a generation i would have loved to be part of… they are identified by a number of descriptors – flower power, hippies, love and peace etc.
    the 70’s was their time, and the protests against what was then conventional in society, were made in several forms – from agitation on the streets to men wearing their hair long and from groupism and drugs to song lyrics…That generation was very clear in their belief that society and humanity as a whole were going on a path that wouldn’t quite turn out to be the right one, in the years to come… from the wars that were being fought for all the wrong reasons, to the pressure exerted by society on them to conform, they felt everything was going wrong.. and they fought it, by turning the tables on the way things were functioning then.. by just walking out with long hair and unkempt beards and staying in groups and resorting to drugs… not all of it was good, but they made a point…
    This generation is also seeing wars, but with wrong reasons on both sides. 9/11 wasn’t right, but nor was the attack on iraq… 7/7 was not right, but nor was the gunning down of an innocent guy.. but i dont see terrorism as the biggest enemy, for it can be resolved if people can be made to sit and discuss issues.. and though that was putting it simply, it still can be done…
    the bigger enemy is us, for we have forgotten humanity… in a purely materialistic society, where technological advancement and career/economic advancement are the indeces of society’s and the individual’s development respectively, there is simply no time to lend a helping hand to those more unfortunate than us, because MMS scandals, the status of the brad pitt-angelina jolie affair, the ambani feud etc are more important to us…but when i see a ‘go slow’ movement thats gathering steam in Europe, and a ‘blank noise’ happening around me, i think we might be in for a fight.. a neo flower power movement, and a way to drag us back to a better path…
    until next time, how can we play a part??

  • Remix Hits…

    Not exactly a revolutionary topic for a post, but maybe its like one of those old songs we have forgotten, and get suddenly reminded of, when we hear a remix… and so it is, a topic which keeps cropping up now and then, or rather a remix of different topics….
    it seems like a cycle – forgetting and remembering… especially with music.. maybe that explains the success of remixes.. of course, the videos play a major part, but yet, there must be something about a song that inspires remixes… these days, maybe we really dont get time to enjoy a song, rather , enjoy it so much and so many times that it gets imprinted in our minds..because the next ‘happening’ song is just around the corner.. and so a ‘refresh’ is inevitable every few months.. a reminder about songs we used to like…
    SwB wrote a post sometime back about not knowing the words of the national anthem.. maybe this generation considers ‘Jana Gana Mana…’ also as a relic of the past, a baggage that must be shedded.. in this day of fading geographical boundaries, maybe there is no space for patriotism, maybe it has lost out to the MNCs and call centers that provide the daily bread…
    having said all that, i do know an old song that was quite a hit from the 40s to the late 60s. in fact, our generation and those after us also know it, though it hasnt been quite that popular, but the ‘pokemon/ harry potter’ generation kids also stand in attention when it is sung every morning in school… if we remixed that song, it perhaps would replace a ‘Rock Anthems – Remix’, and the #1 selling album for some time would be “National Anthem – Remix”….
    until next time, Jai Hind rocks… or is it Jay Sean??

  • Playing Favourites

    I once had a tshirt, a full sleeved one with wide horizontal black and red stripes.. it was my favouite tee, around the time superman was my fave superhero.. and this one looked like one of the costumes of lex luthor. i used to wear it a lot, to the point where someone commented that it had somehow got stuck to me….
    a few years later, when i was asked whether it could be thrown away,i replied with a nonchalant yes. i was told that the reason i was asked was because of my near obsessive relationship with it, until a few years back… ‘That one??!!”, i responded, and immediately set about destroying photographic evidence for the association, and since that was my ‘best dress’, the evidence was considerable.. as the years have passed, i have come to realise that this was not an isolated phenomenon. i guess all of us do it, at different stages of life, cutting of our association with many of the things we used to cherish till only a few years back.. in most cases, we dont mind the growing up, we get tired of the stuff we have been loving for quite some time and in fact go to some extent to exile the memories, but sometimes the wheel turns all around, and we end up yearning for the ‘evidence’ that can bring back the memories…
    and all this is not just limited to inaminate things like books, clothes, food, music, hairstyles..its evn with people… there are times in our life when we dont acknowledge people who might be closely associated with us, and there are times when we repent this, and when i am a little older, i think i’ll have more ‘times’ to add on.
    the concept, i think, is called growing up, and it works on both kinds of things – the ones we used to love, and the ones we are used to loving….
    until next time, ‘now playing’ what favourites?