Posts from — November 2002

I’m the Answer-Guy!!

First of all… the answers to the quiz…

1.” What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died?”
Ans: Love Story by Erich Segal

2. “Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.”
Ans: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum

3. “The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail.”
Ans: Jaws by Peter Benchley

4. “The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended.”
Ans: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

5. “Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.”
Ans: The Godfather by Mario Puzo

6. “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loin.”
Ans: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

7. “Call me Ishmael.”
Ans: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

8. “All children, except one, grow up.”
Ans: Peter Pan by JM Barrie

9. “Most motorcars are conglomerations (this is a long word for bundles) of steel and wire and rubber and plastic, and electricity and oil and gasoline and water, and the toffee papers you pushed down the crack in the back seat last Sunday.”
Ans: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

10. “It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips.”
Ans: The Jungle Book by Ruyard Kipling

… Now for the credits!! ;-)

Only one person could get all the answers right!! … and that person is …. Rohini…. Congratulations!!!!

*grinning sheepishly* … thats the only prize I can give!! :p

Ok … now on to other things… i.e. the definition of happiness!!

I had invited you all to define happiness… and some of you did so in the comments box… see below for the blog dated 10th November 2002…. Now it is my turn!

According to me life is like a journey through a dark night. You can’t see much further up the road, so you stumble along the path towards the final destination. Sometimes… along comes a firefly, flitting around you, glowing as it buzzes around you… a tiny speck of light in the pitch black expanse of the night! You reach out and clasp your palms gently around the firefly and bring your hands closer to your face… then slowly open the hands. The tiny glow of the firefly lights up your face!!

The firefly fleeting around you, is a moment of happiness! It is upto you to gently grasp it and enjoy the moment when it lights up your face. Then… the glow dies down and the world is pitch black again! You must continue your journey with the memories of the moments of happiness that touched your life.

A wise man knows that he should not stand on the path, hoping for the firefly to glow again or thinking too much about the beauty of the moment that passed. He knows that fireflies abound along the path of life. One has only to keep a lookout for them and when one is spotted… enjoy the moment and continue walking!

Happiness is a drink best enjoyed in small sips!!

Hee hee!! … I hope that was not too philosophical!!! ;-)

So… don’t worry… be happy!!

cheers!!

LitKwiz

Reading is one thing I like the most. I can read anything and everything. There was a time when I used to eat books… (now… due to limited time I’ve had to go on a diet, so to speak). I’ve once attempted the near impossible task of reading three books in one night… and succeeded!! (The three books I read in one night were the books in the Bourne trilogy by Robert Ludlum). Such is my passion for reading. I’ll list out a few of my favourite books some other time when I have the time and the inclination to do so.

Another of my most favourite activities is Quizzing… be it simple trivia, general knowledge, literature, music, sports… I like to create and solve quizzes on just about anything.

Today, I combine these two passions of mine and post a quiz based on literature. It consists of 10 questions. Each question contains the starting lines of some famous work of literature …(some classic… some not so classic). You have to identify the name of the book and the name of the author of that book.

The questions are simple… so take the quiz… and post your answers in the comments box. So here goes…

1.” What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died?”

2. “Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.”

3. “The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail.”

4. “The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended.”

5. “Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.”

6. “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loin.”

7. “Call me Ishmael.”

8. “All children, except one, grow up.”

9. “Most motorcars are conglomerations (this is a long word for bundles) of steel and wire and rubber and plastic, and electricity and oil and gasoline and water, and the toffee papers you pushed down the crack in the back seat last Sunday.”

10. “It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips.”

See!! … so simple!! … Now go ahead and send me those answers! :-)

cheers!

Happy days…

I have officially applied to get 9th November declared universally as the All Fools’ Day. The reason is obvious!!… Isn’t it?! ;-)

Okay… I’ve gloated enough on my handiwork! …

Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had in the recent past. Well, I’ve had some great days, but yesterday was somehow more satisfying than most of them.

Yesterday morning, I had my first session with the dentist. (Its true that I first met the dentist on Friday, but that was just for examination of the tooth and the extent of damage to it!). The doctor told me that according to her clinical diagnosis, the decay was extensive, but it had not yet reached the nerve. There seemed to be no apparent reason to do a Root Canal. She would give her final verdict only after the excavation was done.

So, yesterday morning, I made my way to the dentist and lay down on the chair. In few moments variety of objects simultaneously entered my mouth, the doctor’s hands, the drill, the mirror and the suction pump (don’t pass any snide remarks about the size of my mouth, ok!) Having heard some very chilling tales about the terrors of the drill, I was queasy when the whirring sound of the drill started and the dentist went to work on my grinder.

Strangely, I could feel no pain! After a couple of minutes the drill stopped and the dentist asked me if I felt any pain. As I said no, she nodded and went to work again… this time feeling a bit more adventurous! .. Still no pain!! I wondered if the drill was indeed touching my molar or was just making a big noise! Once more, the dentist raised her head and asked the same question. I replied in the negative. Surprise was very apparent on her large brown eyes which were the only visible features of her beautiful face that was framed by unruly shoulder-length hair hurriedly tucked behind the ears. She said, “Still?!”, expecting me to answer… a difficult proposition indeed with a mouthful of instruments. I just shake my head like a child. The drilling begins once again! … After a while the whirring stops once again. The digging is complete! The dentist looks at her handiwork and says, “Baraach moTha khaDDaa aahe!”… which when translated means something like… “This is one big freaking cavity you’ve got here, mister!”

The dentist is amazed that I never felt any pain. She uses an instrument to tap my tooth. “Owww!!”, I cry out, “That hurt!”. Now she is satisfied. She tells me that the tooth is still alive and can be treated without a Root Canal. She also adds that I have a high threshold of pain. With that, she goes ahead and fills up the cave in my tooth with a temporary paste of clove-flavoured cement and tells me to come back in two weeks.

The moral of this story is that contrary to my fears, my tooth-ache did not warrant the dreaded procedure of Root Canal. I am happy!!

Cut to the office… I’m supposed to deliver a document on Monday and I’ve taken it easy in the Diwali week. So, that means I have to slog it out on the weekend. But surprisingly, I got some productive work done on Saturday. Maybe it was the solitude… since the office was nearly empty. In the afternoon, I go out and play a few games of doubles table tennis with few of the colleagues who have ventured to the office on a Saturday. Work done… play done… I’m happy!!

I blog, describing the evening of 8th November. The reactions to it make me smile! I am happy!!

Then after going home, I watch this delightfully simple and heartwarming film called Madeline. It tells the story, set in France, of an little orphan girl who saves her school from being sold off. I am happy!!

Finally… at night, just before I go to sleep, I lie in the bed wondering what exactly happiness is!… I sort of try of define happiness and just before I drift off to sleep, I find a definition that I like. But before I tell you all about it… I throw open the question to all you wonderful people…

What is happiness to you?

Tag away… comment in the comments box… mail me… do whatever you like… just let your imagination take you over and try to define what is happiness…

So, there!

cheers!

The Big Day… the inside scoop!

Ok… so here it is!! … the story of the evening of 8th November 2002…

The time we decided to meet at her place was 8:00 PM. So, taking into consideration the traffic (very very important, bcos I did not want a repeat of last Saturday!), I set off from the office at 6:00 PM (amidst surprised looks and calls of “Half-day??” from my colleagues who are accustomed to see me leave the office at around 8:30 or 9:00 PM, everyday). I catch the first bus that comes along and get off at Saki Naka to catch the bus which goes directly to my destination. I wait… but the bus does not come. I leave two buses that go to where I want to go, but take a circuitous route in getting there. But the bus I want is nowhere to be seen. Finally, after a wait of over 40 mins I get into the next bus that I see, hoping just to get away from the confounded place. Wrong bus, it turns out to be… it takes a looong route to just reach Andheri station. I can do nothing but twiddle my thumbs and look in frustration at my watch. 7:15 PM… and still in Andheri!! I panic… scared at the thought of missing yet another appointment, get out of the bus and wait for another one. At long last… one bus that goes somewhere close to where I intend to, comes along and I hop into it. 10 minutes into the journey, I realize that once again it is a wrong choice of bus as even this takes the longer route. But I decide to stick with it. At 7:45 PM, I’m still at Santacruz… still a long way away from Prabhadevi! I call up and inform that I might be 10 mins late. She is understanding… she says that its okay coz she knows that traffic can be a bitch! I relax a bit and hope for the best. At 8:05 PM, I’m at Shivaji Park wher I jump off the bus and into a cab for the final leg of the journey. My mind is in a whirl and it is just my luck to get a chatty cabbie. He is an elderly Muslim gentleman who talks to me about how difficult it is to drive after fasting the whole day. He adds that his cab has gone for re-registration at the RTO and he’s been given a new car to drive, which has floor gears… something he isn’t accustomed to. I listen patiently… my mind just a couple of miles away!

Finally… at 8:10 PM… the cab pulls to the side of the road. I have arrived!!… I pay up and don’t wait for the change. I’m running the last few yards, glancing at the watch. Then… I find myself at her doorstep!…

I knock and push open the door. There she is!! … waiting for me!! … I smile at her and say “I’m so sorry I’m late!!”.

Dr. Sonali Rangnekar, B.D.S. (Mumbai),… my dentist, beckons me to lie back on the chair and asks me, “What seems to be the problem with your tooth, Sameer?”

Hmmm… people say its November. But I dunno why it suddenly feels like the April today!!!?… wot say, ppl!!? ;)

Thanks for all the comments though!! … It was sweet of you to send me all those wishes!!… They helped too!! … I didn’t feel any pain at all!! ;)

Thats about it for now…details about my dental treatment later! *ROTFL* ;)

cheers!!

Finally taking the big plunge!

Its today!! … Today is the big day!

I’m going to take that big step today. I’ve been trying to put it off… trying to delay the inevitable. But yesterday evening, I finally gathered enough courage and made a call and asked her when she would be free today evening, and decided to meet her at 8:00 PM today!

I’m feeling jittery all day and as the time approaches, I’m beginning to feel some butterflies fluttering about in my tummy! God! … I thought I could keep my emotions in check! … How wrong I was!!!

All those who know Sonali (that’s her name!) have told me that she’s good!

I know that if I don’t take the plunge now, I’ll regret it and it’ll hurt. I just hope that I am doing the right thing and not rushing into this. But who knows… by the end of this evening, spent with her, I may have left a part of me with her.

So… wish me luck ppl!!! … I promise to tell you all how it goes today evening!! :-)

cheers!