Say Butter

I managed to finish "butter" a while ago. It was a difficult read in many ways. One - it had been quite a while since I had actually read something serious and hard hitting without any hint of humor. Second, the story itself is so wonderfully twisted. Its one of those book where characters are written realistically, not in a clean cut way with clear motives, wants and preferences. Her people are muddy, they get confused, they forget, they lie, hide things and occasionally admit their weaknesses to themselves and others, even when they don't want to. 

I loved the book. Also, I was wrong when i said the book was devoid of any humor. The humor lies in the title itself. 

So, what reminded me of Butter today is a scene where the protagonist(ish) accepts that she has no control over the perceptions of her friends about her other friends (does this sentence make sense?). And she gives up, she allows herself to be removed from the scene when she wants to. I am sure I felt a pang of jealousy when I read that. Even if I go away, I cannot stop worrying. 

Of trees and lemongrass

A quote I came across a while ago:

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, there will be a tree outside your bedroom window. It is very important to romanticize this tree as much as possible.

Oh dear God, how this quote resonated with me. The Ashoka tree outside my window was one of my closest friends in high school. I felt comfortable sharing my worries about the board exams with it. And I knew it understood because it bloomed right around the exams, like wishing me good luck. I miss that tree.

I am sure the trees outside my window now are undoubtedly also equally handsome and good looking. But I am not able to relate to them as readily as I could back then. The same is also true with people. It used to be so easy to make friends with people you saw everyday. Some of those friendships are even alive today. But now, it is becoming harder and harder to really open up to new people. Maybe I am getting old and set in my ways. Maybe the world is changing and everyone is becoming warier, less inclined to connect to real people. Maybe we are getting our need for human connections fulfilled somewhere else- digitally. So obviously, it is not going so well for humanity. 

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The nest has been reused by another bird couple, they are a different species. I couldn't really identify it. But it is some kind of weaver bird. They took out blades of our lemongrass and tore bamboo leaves into thin string like pieces.. used them to weave a cave like dwelling. In the morning you can hear the hatchlings shouting.. :)

Parenting is a boiled egg

One thing that is becoming painstakingly clearer with every passing day is that as a parent, we have to let our kids make mistakes...at least some. I am picking my battles here.

Being a parent is hard. And mostly annoying as hell. I am dreading their teenage years :|

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There are a couple of pieces I have been meaning to paint for the last few days. I have been putting off starting the project because it looks a bit tricky and I am scared to get it wrong. But then, my vangoghthelife sent me a simple canvas by him. Sure it has his tell-tale strokes, an interesting perspective, and well executed colour scheme... but it is not very technical and yet manages to look so appealing. Well, there must be some genius hidden in it because managed to make me want to pick up the brushes.. I hope this "want" turns into a "done".

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P.S. We have a red vented bulbul nesting in our aparajita vine.

Wishing for -what- will make this better?

There are some emotions you don't readily share with the public. Actually, these are hidden away in some obscure recess of your own psyche, just to emerge when something truly despicable happens. 

Like it happened 3 days ago. An act of cowardice and sheer evil. First reaction (as spectators from far) is anger, then helplessness... followed by hatred. It is such an ugly emotion, and I hope nobody ever has to feel so. 

It reduces a sane human being to a diabolical creature. 

And I feel that in times like these, it is justified. 

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I need a "publish privately" feature on this blog. Maybe that will make me able to rant clearly. 

Cosmic joker

Funny coincidence: every thursday at 5, T and I find ourselves driving towards the music class. On 90% of those days, that fevicol of songs plays on the radio - Light up, light up sketchers. I mean, the song is so bad, so, so bad. And it sticks :(

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Poetry is the salt

I happened to read some verses from rashmirathi today. I have always loved this epic. Of course when I first read it, I was too young and naive to even begin to understand the sheer genius of this creation. So about 15 years ago, when I first saw the entire epic (which is seven parts with several chapters in each) on kavitakosh, I was truly blown away.

So, one of the remnants of the good old era of nice-internet is kavitakosh. As far as I know, its a not-for-profit venture run by volunteers. Please do visit. It hosts so many gems that we do not come across anymore. 

Rashmirathi has been permanently bookmarked on my browser ever since then. Every now and then, I do happen to read a verse or two and it never fails to amaze!

सच है, विपत्ति जब आती है, 

कायर को ही दहलाती है,

शूरमा नहीं विचलित होते,

क्षण एक नहीं धीरज खोते,

विघ्नों को गले लगाते हैं,

काँटों में राह बनाते हैं।

The wind rises

Summer is in full bloom here in Hyd. As if on cue, the amaltaas have flowered right around Ugadi. So its an even more colourful display of beauty around us now. These trees dont believe in modesty I think :p

Even our humble balcony has been painted pink making the morning coffee an affair with beauty.

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The ghiblify trend has openAi's GPUs melting they said. I dont know if Miazaki would be happy or sad at this trend. I for one have no right to complain having tried it myself.