Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
And the prize goes to......
tunia
Sandi awarded me this blogland Arte y Pico award and its time for me to pass it on to all the wonderful people I've met online. They've become such an important part of my life that any day I spend without logging into my Google Reader account, seems incomplete! Thanks a lot Sandi, for giving me this award, for the kind words you've written about me and also for always helping me find the positive face of any situation!

Here are the rules.

1. Pick five blogs you consider deserving of this award, whether for creativity, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Name each nominee and link to his/her blog.
3. Show the award and include the name (and link to his/her blog) of whoever presented you with this award.
4. Link to the Arte y Pico blog so everyone knows the origin of this award.
5. Post these rules. If you already have this award, you only have to accept this additional recognition.

Sandi, who is a very positive person and a wonderful mother and grand mother! Its a pleasure reading all the stories she posts about her family and also about little funny incidences revolving around her and Ed(her Husband). From what I've read in her blogs, she's someone who's seen a lot in life and had the worst experiences. Yet, she is a very pleasant, understanding and cool female! I wont mention her age here but I can tell you that she can easily pass for one-third of it if you spoke with her and read her blog of course! I hope you get all the happiness in life and hope to meet you when I come to LA.

Sam Shuey, he's a fabulous person! He's a single father to two wonderful girls who live with their mother but spend a LOT of time with him. Its amazing to see how devoted he is towards them.. Sadly, he's not been posting lately but I hope he's doing great..! Hope to meet him when I come to LA.

Dagny, she's a workaholic who has a wonderful voice! If I were a guy, I would've fallen in love with her! We've known each other for a very little time but she's become like a dear little sister to me and I love her a lot! She's a very different female with a sensible head on her shoulder. I hope she joins me next year at USC! :) Best of Luck with whatever you do and hope we remain friends for ever!

Kay, hers is the best photo blog I've ever seen! Its a very unconventional one and what makes it so interesting is the one liners she gives the photographs along with the slight personal touch. Definitely the most innovative blog I've come across!

Abhinav, he's the writer of two very interesting blogs. One is a series on maskdiaries which consists of a series of posts about feelings and pretensions of the human mind and its visual self which is the mask that it carries! The other is his personal blog which has some very interesting posts about his life and incidences revolving around himself and important people in his life. definitely one of the best pieces of writing that I've read so far!

UJ, his old and new blogs are both personal blogs. He's a very dear friend.

Prateek Shah, he's my senior from college and a truly wonderful person! He's been there for me at times when no one else was! I can never forget all the times when we used to forget that he was a senior and pull his legs cause he's one of the most funny and kind hearted people that I've met! I know we've not been in touch ever since college got over but every time we talk, it feels like we were together in the library just yesterday! :)

Sundeep, he's a friend I made through my blogs and I've known him to be a very caring and sensible person! Although he's younger to me, he's been there to guide me at the toughest of times. Take care, always keep in touch and best of luck with everything that you come across! :)

Cm-chap, he's a very funny man who writes in a very unconventional fashion. Conversations that he fabricates between him and himself are absolutely rib cracking! :)

Pass it on guys, to all the people you feel worthy of it! :)
caboodle mix :: , , 6 reflections | edit post
New Find!
tunia
I am now officially a worthless-internet-whiler. I compulsively log into the net everyday at around 8pm start off with checking my mail, orkut, blog, other mail, Anant's mail(he's out of town) and then, well, I re-check my mail! God-forbid I might have missed a mail that got transferred to the spam! I then try and do something worthwhile by reading interesting articles on the net. I have realized that I am very-bad at finding interesting stuff to read and unless someone directs me towards something eye-catching, I am well, still whiling away time!
I could easily blame it on many things!
1) I am anxiously waiting for universities to reply to my applications. They have been with them for over a month for Christ's sake.
2) I have too much free time on my hands! too much I say. Apart from having a four-day-week(three out of which are three-hour-days!), I have not yet started my project which should occupy most of my time once I do.
Each free-day, I decide to pay a visit to the nearby orphanage so I can talk to the authorities about giving free tuitions to the children, I end up not going. I just don't understand it, its definitely not cause I'm lazy.NO. I got up early, got dressed and even readied my CV just in case they might want to see. I am just apprehensive cause once I go there, I'd be responsible for the education of children who do not deserve to be taken for granted any more. I am afraid I might disappoint them once my project starts. Yet, I cant seem to rest. I really want to meet them, spend time with them and teach them. Well, having said that, I have decided that I shall go there at 10am come-what-may.
So where was I? Yes, I've been wasting away too much time doing nothing on the internet. Like I already said, I am bad at finding quality stuff to read (I have actually googled "current affairs" , "whats new" & "consumer electronics"!), I asked a friend for interesting links. She directed me to a very unconventional photo-blog. I have never been more gripped by someones posts as this and read three years of her hard work glued to the PC in two straight hours! Only once before have I done this with a blog which (I shall resort to Sandi's jargon) belonged to SHE-WHO-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAMED (at least not on my blog!). I found Kay's work phenomenal! I'm pasting the comment I left on her blog after reading over 250 posts and being totally over whelmed by them!
Hi!
I was whiling away my time viewing worthless sites when at the brim of boredom, a friend gave me the link to your blog.I have spent the past two hours reading each and every post in your blog and was tempted to comment at many junctures but the anxiety of reading the next post over-powered the temptation.I have never seen a better photo blog and loved your concept of three photographs, also I love the analogies you give them. They were hilarious at times and on others were very thought provoking. I have never met a more passionate Pakistani or such a positive person as you. Not one post culminated negatively. I loved the way you've talked about your lovely family!
Cheers!
May this blog go on for ever!
PS:may I put you on my blog roll?
caboodle mix :: , , , 10 reflections | edit post
Chance
tunia
After several unsuccessful attempts at trying to write a post about things in specific, I shall resort to penning arbitrary even incomplete thoughts. Please bear with me I just have to write!

I make it a point to watch the movie after having read the book. Never have I found a movie doing justice to its text counterpart. It must be really frustrating for the author. Since, what one has watched is bound to carry a deeper impression than what one has read. I'm reading "The Zahir" by Paulo Coelho. He apparently does not approve of movies of books being made either.
'I believe that each reader creates his own film inside his head, gives faces to the characters, constructs every scene, hears the voices, smells the smells. And that is why whenever a reader goes to see a film based on a novel that he likes, he leaves feeling disappointed, saying " The book is so much better than the film."‘

I read "The Namesake" a while back and watched the movie. Not cause I do not trust my imagination but cause I was curious to see another person's interpretations of the various scenes that I had so tastefully created in my mind. Never the less, I was disappointed. The only segment that stuck to me was a song from the movie. That, I had not fashioned in my personal movie version of the book!
When I read a book or watch a movie, I am usually not affected by it. I cannot stop myself from contemplating about what I read (or watched) though. In "The Zahir" his (the author's) wife believes that no one is really happy. They are either pretending to be. Or dodge from answering the question. She shifts to a war zone for she believes that it is the only place where people are close to being happy since they are the ones who truly value life. They do not have the privilege of being sad since they know that what they have this moment could all be gone in the very next instant.

I am not happy. Not to say that I am sad. I am just not happy (not happy is not equal to unhappy). Given that I have no reason to be sad; life is normal, I'm doing fine in college, I've got a job, I intend to study further I should be. But, I am not. I am quieter than usual, my demeanor suggests that I am calm but my mind is restive. I'm looking for something, what I do not know. I get the feeling that maybe this is where I search for the purpose of my life. I do not believe that I have one sole purpose. Though, I should be doing something, which is more meaningful. What bother’s me is that I am not driven towards anything in particular. Every action, every movement seems mechanical.

I have to apply to universities by the end of this month. Finally made the first draft of my SoP (statement of purpose). Have lots more to do. I'm progressing fine.

I had been searching for a song over the net (the same one I saw in "The Namesake", the movie!) A very old friend managed to retrieve it and gifted it to me for my birthday. Felt good!

Snapshots Courtesy: Urjit.
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caboodle mix :: , , , , 11 reflections | edit post
Art Attack!
tunia
Haven't gone to office since the past three days. Hoping against hope I gather the strength to get up early and go tommorow! :) Meanwhile, I did something very productive today, learnt to make paper mache from 'Art Attack' and made a night lamp for my room! Spent an hour taking pictures of it in the dark, with the light on, in daylight, from all possible angles!! I am quite proud of it!

Now is the time to decide whether to join back the hostel for the coming semester or not. I had previously decided to discontinue my stay in the hostel. But I fear losing the freedom to spend time with myself that I have become used to and can not do without. I like being on my own and do little things like sit at the computer, read a book, think, listen to music, watch a movie or do other stuff. Nothing very significant, pretty mundane but all the same I have missed being able to do all that over the summer. (I am working from home)


The other day, I was glued to a book and did nothing else the whole day. All my mother's attempts at trying to talk to me or get me to do something were returned by hostile stares or irritated grunts and sighs! I hate someone intruding while I am reading or doing stuff which I enjoy doing alone. I also noticed that I like having my dog around me during such times. Guess its something about human presence or maybe still about the comfort of sharing silence. This is completely in contrast to what I used to be like. Ironically, this is the way I like it!


Do you like doing crafty stuff? How do you like spending your time?

PS: Updated the post since thoughts relating the same kept streaming through my mind all night long.
caboodle mix :: , , , , 11 reflections | edit post
grrr..
tunia

For all those who think I suddenly stopped writing...nop...thats not happened...just that at two instances I wrote entries and just when I posted them
1. blog-city.com decided to go under repair work just at that very instant!! (m not one of those who can trust their luck!no sir..it never seems to favour me at the right moment!!).
2. I'd learnt my lesson and wrote the entry first on notepad and then was gonna post it. Just at that very instant the internet connection got disconnected and I could not post the entry. Since I was at home then, I decided to copy it on a floppy and post it when I come to the hostel (it was 4am,i had to leave for hostel at 7!).
and now guess whats happenin? the floppy wont work. disk not formatted it seems!! * w t f? *

so the two really important lessons I learnt is :
a) Not to trust service providers how ever impressive their user satisfaction guarantee document sounds!!(not to trust something thats not in your control)
b) DO NOT TRUST FLOPPIES

Anyways I decided to write a brief on the two posts that vanished.

The first one was about how I fought with my parents (yeah both of them, I suck I know) and they got really upset. pa started cryin and me too. It ended up with them saying sorry to me. Which brought me to new lows that I dint even know existed in me.

The second entry was about how an ugly feeling resided in my subconscious mind and the conscious me did not realise it until it was too late. The sub conscious shamelessly sniggered at the conscious.
Loved ones tryin to snatch away your identity is the worst that can happen to you. For them to want you to be some one you
1. do not want to be.
2.would despise yourself if you became that.

(writing in points seems to arrange my thoughts well on this post.please bere with it.)

So, finally coming to what I wanted to write about. I loved reading. (refer to things that I love). Could not sleep without reading for atleast an hour before I doze off. While commuting (we used to go to kerela every summer, which is a three day journey by train.) I used to carry a huge stack of books. Just incase I finished the ones that were safely enough to be carrying!

I'd started Angles and Demons(dan brown) and havn't crossed the first chapter so far. Then Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) and nop, not even the first chapter. Every time I get back to it again, I had to read it again and leave it at presisely the very spot I'd left it on the former occassion!

Lately,I've simply lost the zest for reading, which is quite ennerving considering how much I used to love it. Yet, I just can't seem to get myself to do it. So I decided to read something really different, something that could help bring my passion for reading back. I resorted to reading works by indian authors. It did help. Though the one hour reading schedule is not back, it is a start.



I've started reading "THE TIGER BY THE RIVER" by Ravi Shankar Etteth. It was somehow more relaxin to read about places that I know without having to tax my mind about how it'd really be like. Incidences that I'd relate to. A language(written in itallics when used) that feels like home!

Hope I get my one hour schedule back ( I do miss it!). For all those who care even a bit,please coax me into keep goin,help me keep it on track..
caboodle mix :: , , 0 reflections | edit post