The Don is back....

I typed, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" to ensure that keyboard was not the reason that I haven't blogged for this long.

I kept switching channels on the tv thinking about my floundering virtual pets, my blogs. Slowly it dawned on me that it is the TV that is the problem. Early this year, I got myself a HD TV (LED to boot) and got addicted to it. Recording at least one hour of TV programmes per day, ensuring I finish watching the daily quota either late in the night or early in the morning - It was addiction on steroids. And still no signs of de-addiction, with new books lying unread.

This post title too is a result of getting affected (infected?) by overkill promos of Shah Rukh Khan's next movie.

Imagine my surprise last month, when I went to an acquaintance's home to see they were living without a TV!! Never knew such people existed. People!! Get a TV, I say.

Only good thing is that my shopping this year has not been restricted to TV. Got myself a 6 foot bespoke bookshelf made of real wood, no less. For all the unread books. And I am slowly becoming a pseudo hifi audiophile too (By pseudo I mean picking audiophile friends' brains and a getting good AVR & accessories while distinctly lacking appreciation).Nice show off, though.

Here is to wishing for next year (and the remainder of this year) seeing this blog being continuously updated and commented upon too.

Enough for now, gotta catch up on today's rerun recordings of "Home Improvement" & "The Big Bang Theory".

Hi! Hang in there!!

September the 13th

Today is the day I began my formal career 18 years ago. A change of life, a breath of fresh air of a career I plunged into then.


Looking back I am grateful for the amazing experiences I had, the friends I have made and sustained through the years.

Some people come prepared for their career. For me it was serendipity.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don’t much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

But the hand of God has ensured that the path I was taken was the path worth taking. Not for a moment I regret my choices, however less splendid some of them turned out to be.

The innocence may have gone, but the thrill remains. Jest for the Quest is still left.

Ringing in the New Year!!

Usually my New Year's eve days have been pretty staid ones. For example, I spent the turn of this century watching some dumb movie on TV. And for the last 2 years, all I did was just hang out with my cousin.

But for a change I decided that I'd spend this New Year by the Marine Drive at Mumbai. And how I did!!

It was a crowded place when I went there alongwith my friend. Still it was a disciplined crowd of revellers watched over by a crowd of policemen. I had a late dinner at Leopold, where a raucous crowd enjoyed the ambience. Nobody seemed to notice the bullet holes on the walls caused on 26/11. How quickly time flies. After getting mildly irritated noticing that Indians and foreigners were let in through separate entrances, I finished my dinner and left.

The New Year's day was a bit unplanned with me just catching up with some old friends, having a heavy lunch and then a siesta. But evening, I alongwith my friend, went to see Anish Kapoor's installations in the Mehboob Studios at Bandra. And what a treat it was!

I have seen (and contemplated) his Bean (officially called "Cloud Gate") in Chicago. The monstrous reflective bean shaped art installation by the Lakeside drew enormous crowd always. I have lots of photos taken of that and so was eager in visiting the first-time-in-India installations of Anish Kapoor. And I was not disappointed.

So many installations and the main theme was reflection conveyed through different objects conceptualised using bright and shiny stainless steel. Anish Kapoor brought performing arts a new dimension by his installation of a cannon from where red wax was fired at periodic intervals.

The exhibition was held simultaneously in New Delhi (NCPA) and Mumbai.

But understanding the installations (or rather interpreting your way) proved to be more easier than understanding the write-up that came in a booklet meant to help the visitors understand the art. It was highly abstruse text meant to be more high brow and snobbish than bridging the artist and the audience.

Anyway it was a great beginning. Here is to hoping the high note is the harbinger of higher notes to come.

Happy New Year of 2011!!!