A book for free

As a child, when I was still young and naive,
I kept searching for someone,
Someone who'd give me a book for free.
Walked into a bookshop, knocked on his door to ask the manager if he could give one to me.
But he just shrugged and shook his head.
Sent me to the publishers instead.
"Go ask there, child, and maybe
They'll give you a book for free."
So I went to the publishers, asked them too
While they tutted like they had better things to do.
Shrugging, simultaneously pushing me out the door,
"The paper factory!", they said, "Paper's what we pay for."
Then I went to that factory, belching steam and smoke.
I swear I thought it was their idea of a joke
When the workers there laughed at my query and said
"Go ask the tree!
Maybe he'll get you a book for free."

I stumbled through the woods, tired and worn,
My unswerving confidence silently torn.
No one! That I could clearly see.
No one could give me a book for free.

With the spirit that our young know best,
With a calmness and poise that belied the rest,
I sat down to refresh myself, contemplate.
To examine my innocent and childish faith.

I was so sure, you see, that I'd find that person who'd give me that book.

It was then that I realised what I'd always known,
The truth.
Books aren't about the paper or ink.
Those are the preservatives for the actual thing.
Books are about the words.

So you don't really need to ask the tree
Because in our hearts we have thousands of books just waiting to burst forth.
And they're all for free :)

Note: Maaybe, inspired a little bit by Fahrenheit 451. And I don't understand some of what I write myself, so feel free to interpret it however you want. If I figure out what I meant exactly, I'll let you know :)


Let me know what you think, honestly. I need feedback if I want to improve!

Links

Note: Something different this time, basically teenage angst served up with a metaphor :D

Interpret the ending however you'd like to :)

In the beginning, She created both the same and decided they would be soulmates to each other. She named them "friends".

A bond was forged, a metal chain around their waists.

Each link of that chain was created with infinite effort, a marvel of engineering. But its building blocks were not mere rocks and sand. Each link was made of trust, and affection, and mutual understanding.

She tied the chain tight, cinched around them, and said:

"This chain will enable each to be present for the other; to provide help and support and to remain together for as long as they wish. However, this will not last forever. They must work at maintaining this chain, adding new links when needed and removing some when no longer required."

In was thus that She left them.

For a while, they were happy, scurrying around tirelessly in their attempts to keep the chain bright and new. They attended to it in their spare time, often devoting hours to forging new links for it.

Their friendship flourished, and She was relieved.

Until one day, the first changed.

The first no longer had time to maintain the chain and got caught up elsewhere, leaving the other to peg away at their bond. Alone.

What the first failed to realise was that the chain would not remain unless worked upon at BOTH ends.

And so the chain slowly dissolved, falling to the ground link by link while the other continued trying to salvage its remains.

She was horrified, but there was nothing She could do. As each link fell to the ground, it turned to corrosive ash that dug into the soil, until the same place where the chain once gleamed against the earth was a ravine with steep, impassable cliffs on either side and a deep river at the bottom.

At this point the second gave up, and laying down those worn-out tools thought, "If the first won't try, why should I?"

Both lost, yet too proud to cave in to their need. Sitting on either side of the ravine with backs to each other and noses in the air.

Meanwhile, ivy was creeping up the impassable cliffs.

My exam superstitions

So, since exams are around the corner (already started in my case), I thought I'd address my inner insecure idiot and list out all of the superstitions I have regarding exams :)

Now, I hope I'm not the only one out there who does these things, but I'm pretty sure everyone has their own variations of stuff like this:

1. I have a pair of lucky gold earrings my grandmom gave me when I was a baby, and I NEVER EVER go to write an exam without wearing them.

2. I have to have a family member feeding me a spoonful of dahi with sugar before I leave, and I cannot take it by myself, someone has to put it in my mouth.

3. I used to be obsessive-compulsive about writing only with an fountain pen, but the last exam I wrote with a ballpoint and I did better than usual, actually. So I'm having to revise my thoughts about that one :)

4. The morning of the exam, I have to go through my books one last time, no matter how "unhealthy" it is.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I'd like it if you could let me know what your superstitions are, just so that I can feel a bit better about myself :D

Ghosts of a summer past

A cool breeze on my face as I stretch luxuriously after hours of studying.

Tendrils of hair tickling my nose and the scented night air.

The light of a bulb, bleaching any colors to yellow and gray.

The frantic scratch-scratch-scratch of a pencil, sharp shadows against a single-lined paper background.

Earphones, Lady Gaga and Zor Ka Jhatka.

Quadratic Equations and Mensuration.

Then sudden, glorious freedom!

Bright nailpolish, Dexter, swimming and mangoes

Ghosts of a summer past.

A year has come and gone.

A new season of Dexter will soon begin, mangoes will flood the markets and pools will throw off their plastic covers.

Already I leave my windows open, savoring the warm, sweet air flowing through my bedroom.

Nothing has changed.

The radio stations have the latest Bollywood hits to replay, until we become zombies, singing Chikni Chameli in our sleep.

Derivatives and Conic Sections replace those old topics I now view with scorn.

Yes, nothing has changed at all,

Nothing but me.

Because those ghosts of a summer past continue to haunt me.

Embrace The Sari

Today, I had gone to a handloom expo held in my city where textile traders from all over the country came together to exhibit their work. When we were leaving, I saw a fully grown woman with her son and husband, waving her hands and stomping her feet in frustration. Listening closely, I realised she was throwing a tantrum saying, "That chanderi sari we saw back there... I want THAT one." :)

I was immensely entertained, but that's not the point. The only things I can think of that could induce so much passion in a woman's heart are shoes, bags, and saris. We LUST after them. There's just something about seeing yards of beautifully floaty brocaded cloth draped along the walls of a stall, the feel of smooth silk between your fingers, the intricacy of embroidery around the edges and the deep, bright colors. Just fingering the material makes you want to buy it and wrap it around yourself and never let it go.

I know this sounds almost creepily intense, but I have never gone to a sari shop without coming home half in tears because my mother wouldn't let me buy one. And she does have a point. I would never dream of wearing a sari to design class or to a movie with friends. What bothers me is, why is wearing a sari such a big deal? Teenagers in so many other countries embrace their national dress (no matter how odd it is), but here in India we have such an elegant and beautiful way to dress ourselves and we pick jeans and skirts instead.

My great-grandmother (Mother’s grandmother) is the only person I know who can wear a 9-yard sari by herself. I find that number horrifying. The nau-var (nine-yard) is a traditional Maharastrian technique of draping a sari that goes around your legs like a pair of pants. Tell me, could there be anything more convenient for the modern woman? Draping 9-yards is a dying art, and I hope that I’ll be able to learn it in my lifetime to pass on to my daughters and keep the tradition alive.

No matter what people think, draping a sari doesn't take more than five minutes with practise. It's elegant, chic, sexy, empowering... Everything a woman aspires to be. Saris look beautiful on full, curvy Indian figures (I actually think that skinny people look rather stick-like in saris) and can be dressed up or down just as easily as the little black dress. They're perfect.

I do know that most girls end up wearing saris at school farewells or for family functions, but why can’t that be extended to regular use as well? Our grandmothers do it, even our moms do it sometimes, so why can’t we? Decide a day with your friends when you’ll just randomly show up at class wearing saris. Try to drape a sari yourself, at least once. Experiment with 9-yard and 5-yard saris, go to the movie theatre wearing saris… start the movement. The main thing to realize is that wearing a sari isn’t something monumental or exceptional. Make it a part of your life. Rub the cloth on your cheek, obsess over the zari and gota work with your friends, revel in the lushness of the pallu and swish the pleats at the bottom. Buy special shoes to match your saris and see what a backpack looks like as an accessory. Hug saris. Sleep in them. Embrace the sari as a piece of clothing, not as a rare treasure, and use it that way. That’s the only way saris are going to survive their seemingly inevitable fate of storage in boxes and the smell of mothballs.

What I've Been Up To :)

So, I know I haven't blogged in a REALLY long time, but I needed motivation, and I'm just writing this general post to get back in practise and get myself up and running :)

Books I've been reading:

1. The entire collected works of Agatha Christie

Let me start by saying that my favorite fictional private detective is M. Hercule Poirot, and not Mr Holmes of Baker Street. I do not say this out of ignorance, because I've read both, and I find Poirot so adorably human with his ego and his OCD that I don't understand how anyone could prefer Sherlock. I have the utmost respect for him, of course, but Poirot will always have a special place in my heart.

This was my after-Std-10 present from my dad, and I'm still working my way through these one at a time. What I found absolutely fascinating was that although Mrs Christie is known worldwide as the Queen of Crime, I found her romantic novels written under the nom de plume of Mary Westmacott equally compelling. With beautiful language and imagery almost equalling that of Roald Dahl at his best, these books are a fascinating read and chilling in their portrayal of human nature. I would definitely recommend these books to anyone who claims to be a true Christie fan, because they've only increased my respect for her writing. A must read :)

(Here's the link if you'd like to take a look

http://agathachristie.com/about-christie/the-queen-of-crime/mary-westmacott/)

2. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

I am ashamed to say that I hadn't read this book until very recently, but that was because when I first tried to I was much too young to understand it. I'm not going to spend too much time gushing, because that has all been done before by various people before me. All I'd like to say is that no other book has touched me this way, and it's a beautiful piece of literature that I'm going to cherish forever :)

3. Inheritance, Christopher Paolini

This was quite possibly the most-awaited book in my life after HP7, and I actually bought it an entire week after its release, which was killing me the entire time. Sadly, the finale to this amazing series didn't even begin to match up to my expectations. I knew that the writing went downhill after Eragon, which was by far the best, but I wasn't expecting that Inheritance would be THAT bad. The storyline is actually perfect, but I'm wondering if Chris shouldn't have just stuck to his original plan of combining Brisingr and Inheritance. The book is an incredible drag to read, and we didn't get to find out more about Angela, which was something I was looking forward to. The ending, however, is perfect, and I finished the book in seven hours straight and then sobbed my heart out. That was more of emotion because this amazing series that I grew up with is now over, and less of sadness because of the depressing ending. Still, if you've been with Eragon and Saphira from the beginning, then please read this as a nod to their journey until we meet them again.

4. The Lynne Truss Treasury

I've been obsessed with Lynne Truss' dry wit and British sarcasm ever since I read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, her no-nonsense punctuation guide that's a stickler's delight. So imagine my glee when I found an entire omnibus of her novels in a bookshop! The one that I own has four books, With One Lousy Free Packet Of Seed, Making The Cat Laugh, Tennyson's Gift and Going Loco. My favorite by far was Going Loco, which describes the rather horrifying way a cleaning lady takes over her employer's life (Yes, it sounds crazy. Read it). This particular brand of humour is something that I enjoy, and I absolutely revel in creepiness, so I loved these books. All of them have rather ordinary premises that transform into absolute madness by the end of the story. You can try reading them, but I'm not making any promises. You might find them too weird for your liking, or you could be awesome and love them instead. Then we can be best friends :D

5. Not Without My Daughter

Three words. Horrifying, poignant, inspiring. 'Nuff said.

READ IT.

I've read a whole bunch of others as well, but I don't particularly feel like writing about them, possibly because they didn't mean that much to me. Books I'm planning on reading when I have some semblance of a normal life again are The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (My father won't let me read this, and I'm dying inside. Grr). I've also heard about Jo Nesbo, since he's being hailed as the next Stieg Larsson (is that possible?!), and I'd at least like to sample his writing to see if it's as good as people claim.

Moving on. Movies I've seen, a paltry list of two:

1. The Three Musketeers

Nice movie, Logan Lerman, ruined by terrible 3D effects. I really have nothing more to say, it wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad as well.

2. Sherlock Holmes, A Game Of Shadows

If any more epic awesomeness could be squeezed into a movie it would burst. Robert Downey Jr. at his swaggering, smooth-talking best, and Jude Law is incredible. Of course, they haven't left much of the original Holmes intact, but Jared Harris has done a ripping job as Professor Moriarty, and I was delighted to find that Noomi Rapace (who plays Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish Millennium films) is also in this movie. Watch it for the ultimate bromance that is Sherlock and Watson, and for some seriously well-shot fight sequences.

In other news (this sounds so much like a bulletin on my life :D), I've been undergoing the torture that is CBSE Std 11 science, and I have never been as alienated. Believe me, Std 10 seems like a walk in the park when you compare it to this. I've never studied this much in my LIFE. The utter pointlessness of almost everything we learn never escapes me, but I actually find most of it kind of interesting (KIND of), so I scrape through :)

I am also contemplating writing a Fan Fiction for Harry Potter, so I'll keep you posted.

Thank you for bearing with me, and I'm going to keep writing :)

The Lament Of A Potterhead

Harry Potter is ending.
Yes, I know you're going to tell me it ended years ago after the seventh book came out, but evidently, what i'm talking about here is the last movie, coming out on July 15th 2011.
I am looking forward to and simultaneously dreading this date so much that whenever I watch a trailer for it I don't recover for at least a day. I spend most of my time mooching around and wailing that the end of the world is coming a year early.
I know it's wrong to be so deeply attached to something as trivial as a book and movie franchise, but to tell the truth, Harry Potter is something I grew up with. The first 'real', 'proper' book I read was Harry Potter. The first release party I went to was for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when I was 8 years old. I stayed up till midnight, got my book and slept curled up around it. It must have been quite a sight: me, this little slip of a girl, holding up a giant hard-bound book with 800 pages. I finished that in two days.
Harry Potter has always been something that defined me, from when I was a child. My parents and grandparents were permanently frustrated with my addiction, to the extent that my grandparents always assumed that any book I was reading was Harry Potter. This book series makes me who I am... it puts the 'h' in Joshi :D
The movies have been an endless source of entertainment, although I do have a large amount of disdain for those who have only watched the movies and still say they love Harry Potter (that's just wrong. They're cheats). It has become such that even the flaws in these movies have become endearing to me... I do obsess over how they missed out this part, or that one, but it's more rueful and accepting than angry. I really can't find any other movie franchise that's managed to blend magic, romance, action and adventure so well. The actors fit their parts perfectly, the music is EPIC, and the dialogues are witty.
Another thing I absolutely love about Harry Potter is the way it manages to unite people from anywhere and everywhere. To use a cliched phrase, it transcends boundaries. No matter where you go in the world, you'll always find at least a few people who speak HP Nerd as fluently as you, and you will get along with them like magic :D
It seems to me that J.K. Rowling was put on earth by a divine hand solely to invent Harry Potter. I feel proud to say that this is a legacy that I will devotedly pass on to the generations after me, over and over again. And one thing I have realised is that no matter what, I will never, ever be able to let go of Harry Potter. I mean, how cool will it be if my last words are "Avada Kedavra!" ? :D

Pichle Saat Dino Mein... :D

I had recently attended a Vipassana course for teenagers. Vipassana is a type of meditation which teaches you to concentrate on your breathing and the various sensations felt in your body. The significance of this is that these two things (breathing and sensations) are with us all the time, from our birth to our death. This form of meditation was originally discovered by Gautama Buddha in India, but was lost until S.N. Goenka brought it back to India from Myanmar. He has been teaching it here ever since.
It was a 7-day residential course. The first 6 days, it is necessary to maintain the Noble Silence, which basically means not talking to the other students. Talking to the teachers and the Dhamma Sevikas (course servers) is allowed, so I'm afraid I ended up boring them a lot :D
As with anything else, there were good and not-so-good aspects of this course...

The Fun Stuff

1. Most importantly, I actually managed to keep quiet for a whole six days, surrounded by 69 other teenage girls who kept talking and giggling the entire time. It was really tough, and I never thought I would be able to do it, but I did. :D



2. The smug glow I could flaunt after six days when people asked me if I had actually kept the Noble Silence made it completely worthwhile :D



3. I realised that food is best eaten in contemplative silence and thinking, "Do I really need this?" Believe me, it's true.



4. I had really nice, understanding teachers who didn't mind even if we went to them and started crying for mommy :D



5. Goenkaji's discourses were always the high point of my day. He's an amazing orator, very funny, and manages to get the moral across perfectly while making it fun at the same time. He tells stories of Buddha's life that leave you convulsing with laughter. And yeah, it really is that funny :D



6. I managed to learn certain super-complicated Hindi words that I will never ever ever forget cos of their being burned into my mind due to excessive repetition.



7. Day 7 was amazingly fun because we all sat together and spoke the tape they played during each sitting of Goenkaji speaking and chanting. We had all memorised it, pretty much :D



8. Since I didn't break the Silence, I didn't know anyone's names until the last day. I had a blast inventing names for different girls based on their looks. For example, there was this girl who walked totally purposefully around the whole centre and scared me into thinking that she was actually going somewhere. I later learnt she did that for exercise, so she became the CrazyWalker. Some others were bitch-with-long-straight-hair, bitch-with-amazing-long-black-curly-hair-and-smug-face, she-with-the-blue-oshos, sits-next-to-me-in-dhamma-hall etc etc :D



9. I made a few great friends in the process, from all over Maharashtra and even some from Goa, which is definitely a good thing :D

The Sad Stuff

1. This form of meditation is supposed to automatically remove all the hatred and envy from your heart and make you feel love towards all living beings. The sad thing is, it was really hard to feel any sort of love and affection towards some of the girls there... they were so annoying!



2. I think it is a law of nature that when you put 70 girls together in an enclosed campus with no contact with the outside world, they will gravitate into groups and fight. Believe me, I saw enough politics on the last day to make me feel profoundly happy that I had actually kept the Noble Silence. Very depressing.



3. I was so homesick. By the first evening itself I was almost in tears. I think that's a testimony to the power of Vipassana meditation, because I am never homesick :D



4. The boredom kills you! All you do is eat, meditate and walk around aimlessly in the middle time. That's what I meant when I said the discourses were the high point of each day. Otherwise it was mundane.



5. Sleepiness is a HUGE problem. I mean, you sit down to meditate and before you know it, your head's on your knees and you're dozing off! The sessions immediately after bath time were the worst, cos the hot water would make me drowsy :D I later took to going to my room in every break and splashing my eyes with water to wake me up.



6. We. Got. Watermelon. Almost. Every. Single. Freaking. Day. I am now officially SICK of watermelon.

So, in conclusion, I would definitely recommend everyone to attend at least one Vipassana course in their lives. Just manage 10 days from your busy schedule and GO. One course can make you want to do them again and again. Please, please, just try it out, and be happy! :D

The Master Plan of My Life

My friends and I have come up with some pretty crazy plans that we intend to carry out in our lives. Purely for your entertainment, here they are:

1. My friend from my Vipassana course and I are going to visit all 50 of the world's Vipassana centres with Goenkaji. We will meditate at each one and become enlightened. Then we will go to jails and teach the inmates Vipassana. They will become enlightened, teach their friends, and thus the whole world will become a happy place. YAY :D


2. Tanu and I plan to open an ice-skating rink in our city along with a Krispy Kreme outlet. We'll ice-skate around and sell fresh hot doughnuts to everyone, earning much dough in the process :D


3. We're going to make a spoof movie of the Siege of Troy. Many scenes are already planned out. All rights reserved :D


4. Deepthi and I are going to write the eighth book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the *something awesome we'll come up with* and thus keep the legacy alive until we bequeath it unto our future generations.


5. We shall also remake ALL the Harry Potter movies exactly the same as the books and I don't care if that means the movies are 8 hours long. Each. True HP fans will love it.

Of course, if none of these plans come to fruition, I can always marry Justin Bieber and live a glamorous life, eh? :D

You Know It's Summer In India When...

1. The cold water tap runs hot and the hot water taps runs BOILING.
2. You are not normally found more than a few feet away from any cold substance (ice water/ice cream/just plain ice/fridge)
3. The doors and windows are open, the fan is on full and the cooler is on and you still feel like tearing your clothes off and fanning yourself.
4. All you want to do is lie on your bed in a stupor.
5. A whole tray of ice and a box of ice cream are finished in one day.
6. You break into a sweat the minute you step out of the house.
7. Sudden need to use deodorant.
8. People take to carrying around umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun.
9. Spending two minutes outside results in tan lines in the shape of your shoes on your feet.