What do you think of when you say ‘vathiyaar’ (purohit / Brahmin priest)? What image pops into your mind? Well, I generally think of this rotund person, poonool-ed, with an impressive kudumi (pony tail) and a carrying voice. Well now one can add ‘photo savvy’ and ‘inspired by Mani Ratnam’ to this profile.
Last Friday, I got up at the wee hours of the morn (what else would you call 3.00 AM?) to sit bleary-eyed at an Upanayanam (sacred thread) ceremony. That was the first time I learnt that some …

…. let me tell you why I want to do so. I read this article in BBC News   website and admittedly, my first reaction was ‘what the heck does it matter when people are dying?’ But then, the sentiment behind the anger made vague sense to me. Whilst in the past I have often thought the whole world is bowing to Islamic whims purely because of the possible violent repercussions, I am going side with them in this. I can remember very well one New York Fashion Week a decade …

… for being such a shabby blogger! Can I just blame it all on equal parts holidaying at the homeland and laziness? Oh and my mum, who’s forever hogging the comp? Ta!

1. I can argue my point convincingly, even when I am not too sure I am right or even half-way there. Until I am proved irrevocably wrong, there’s no way you’ll get me to retract my statement.
2. I blag my way through most things by knowing the bare minimum about something. For eg, I read the tidbit ‘Elegy by Grey’ in a Jennings & Darbishire book and the next day at school, took part in a discussion about poems and elegies by saying one thing of note: ‘The Elegy was …

Media and its love of sensationalism is well known. Celebrities sell papers, as we are told repeatedly. But this week, British media took this statement to new levels.
The past week, parts of England have been buffeted by high winds and heavy rains and quite a lot of people have lost their homes, property and some, even their lives. When GMTV was reporting this dismal state of affairs in the Midlands, they cut short the report rather rudely to LA, where jailbird Paris Hilton was sprung early from the clink, thanks …

…. cos no one will do it for me! Nah, seriously, this is one of those ‘feel good’ tags, I’m told by the blessed being that tagged me. Some folks have loads of things to write home about. After reading Prems’ impressive list, I can safely conclude I will not be one of them. So what the hell am I going to list in the ’8 things I am proud of’? Good q!
1. Ok, let’s see …. having a ‘never say never’ attitude that has seen me through the tough …

No, I am not doing a Daniel Pewter here. It is just a summation of the stinker of the day I had. It got off to a bad start when I decided to dust the cobwebs off my tummy trimmer thingummyjig and actually use it. Bad idea! It was propped up tight against the exercise bike (which I use to dry clothes mainly) and when I tugged it hard, it shot out and hit me on my soft head hard enough that I saw stars. I tell ya – exercising …

The things you learn during your daily web trawl! I was just going through my daily fix of blogs when I came to know of this arresting fact: Miss USA took a toss down slippery catwalk as she sashayed down it, during the Miss Universe pageant. After the first couple of sniggers, watching the clip on YouTube, I decided to go a step further and see if I can come up with a few more.
I needn’t have worried my pretty head about it – the following came in the mix …

I was chatting with a blogging mate of mine about the stuff that life’s generally made of – Bill Bryson, DC writers with a penchant for ignoring rules, assorted idiots who cannot read / absorb the clear Comments policy, Bangalore weather v Chennai, relative merits of LinkedIn, Orkut, Tagged etc when the topic arrived, some how, at girls. Well, this isn’t such a shocking concept considering I am a card carrying member of the species but in this instance, it is the lack of eligible bachelorettes that was causing said …

Man: (on his phone) Hello? I should be there by 11:35 PM. Could you come and pick me up?
….
Man: Ok, after you finish watching the Weather then.
…
Man: I’ll wait, no, no, I..
….
Man: (sigh) Tell you what, you watch the Weather and I‘ll walk home.
(Click.)

Have you gone days without actually spending a penny but the minute you draw some money out of your account, seen it disappear in five minutes?
Have you ever sat twiddling your thumbs in a traffic snarl, bumper to bumper with all the other road ragers on Monday morning, and fumed at the idiots speeding away in the opposite direction?
Have you ever listened to the weather forecast, paid heed and gone out in summer clothes, only to show up at work in your favourite drowned rat get up? Or how about …