m a n u s c r y p t s

As I walked towards the parking space to get the vehicle, the lion and the clown beckoned to me. While their masks sported plastic smiles, i could sense the beseeching look their eyes would have. It was almost the end of the day, and when I peeped inside as I walked past, I could find rows and rows of empty counters and mannequins and sales people with equally blank expressions. It wasn’t the first time I had seen this  shop and wondered how they managed to stay afloat. I see it whenever traffic gets held up in the junction. At the heart of the central business district, I am sure it must have seen better times, maybe a time before the malls and the big brands… what plans they must’ve made about sales and revenues and good times…wonder if it really matters now…

As i rode home, I got stuck in one of those endless traffic snarls that is as characteristic of this city now as a by-two coffee in darshinis. As the honks became louder and tempers got frayed, I thought the ordeal would never end. But  suddenly, the traffic began to move slowly. As I turned a corner, literally and figuratively, I could see a little distance way, a civilian directing traffic. I would’ve thanked him, but by the time I got there, the traffic was moving briskly, and he had crossed the road and disappeared into a lane. I’m sure he wasn’t getting paid, and he didn’t have any plans other than to undo a few knots…

I make plans… and you make plans.. some plans are better than others… sometimes I have to do what I have to do.. and sometimes, like the Joker, I’m a dog chasing cars, I wouldn’t know what to do if i caught one… but yet, more often than not, Krishna’s words in the Bhagvad Gita make sense. But one is attached – for fame, money, love, combinations of the above and a myriad other reasons.. it is never easy to be detached. I feel sorry for the shop even if they were greedy, and I am envious of the man who walked away after he did what he had to do..

Plans.. there were things I thought I couldn’t do without, a few years back, a lifestyle which I didn’t want to alter,  I thought a way of living could be kept constant across time, but things change, for a few days I may have mourned, and then I moved on.. they make good nostalgia frames – time,  places, things, people.. they all have a role to play..if you told me then that I would be living without them at a later date, I’d have smiled at you, a knowing smile acknowledging your silliness. But yet, here I am, with a new set that I don’t think I can live without…

Ok it’s alright with me some things are just meant to be
it never comes easily and when it does i’m already gone
i’m practically never still more likely to move until i end up alone at will
my life continues inching along

[Eric Hutchinson - Ok it's alright with me]

So i move along, and I reach a place and I wonder how it all started… And I realise that even the attachment I claim is such a flimsy piece of string, it unravels for a while, and then at some point, the memory gets cut off, and then perhaps I make up the rest in the image of how it should have started…

I promise you, I have not changed the beginning of this post, this was an experiment of a thought stream, of giving up control, of not being a hostage to plans, but I  have to wonder, if I knew this was the way it would end, would I have started differently?

until next time, post….life

Note: I’d written this post a while back, and it was almost forgotten in ‘drafts’. Chanced upon it, and realised it made sense to publish it on the day before I leave this workplace. 8 years after i started working, I’m finally going to work… for me

Just found out, on Twitter, about Flipkart’s affiliate program. Since this blog has over 30 book reviews and is bound to have many more, I thought it makes sense for me to add the bit of code to the review posts. Okay, you don’t need to flip, it isn’t as though I’m going to bully you into buying a book, since I know that in case you don’t like it, you’ll throw the book at me. :p

Meanwhile, it helps that I’m a satisfied customer of Flipkart and can, within reasonable limits, recommend their service.

It’s right at the end of each book review, so in case you’re planning to buy the book, it would be great if  you can do so from here. I’ll get a tiny share, and you’ll help feed a hungry blogger.

Food for thought, of course. Ok, chocolate too occasionally

until next time, island this week, i land next week

“Your people will judge you on what you build, not what you destroy”, said the  US President. But sometimes, to create, one had to destroy – for instance, his blog’s old design. Now came the difficult part. He hoped that in the two most important sections, there’d still be something good enough to write – Home, About.

until next time, whatcha think of the revamp?

She was sad when she saw their tiny bodies in the balcony. After all, she’d known them from the time they were born. But she wondered why he was sad.

He was saddened at the wasted death of two pigeons, who, if he’d had his way a few weeks back, would’ve made a fine omelette.

until next time, </ tweets>

PS. People!! the key words are ‘a few weeks back’!! Pigeon eggs are a delicacy in china, I’m not sure about pigeons!!!

See that homemade banner on your right? That was what kept me busy this weekend. A few mails, a few comments, and a lot of GTalk s gave me a feeling that the two sets of audience don’t necessarily like the ‘other’ type of content that appears on the site. So I have decided to shift the ‘brants’ content to its own separate space within the site.

And therefore, those who wish to get only the personal blog content can continue with this feed, and those who like to read my take on brands and social media can check out the other space, and add one more feed. For the ‘only brants’ readers, I’m sorry for coming up with new feeds every fortnight, I promise not to inconvenience you further.

until next time, last tweak, for quite sometime

People!! While I thank all those of you who gave me their feedback (and it helped), I did not get much feedback on the content.  The other person to thank is the one who first used the smart phrase used in the title. So, assuming all’s well, am planning a couple of tiny changes to the entire flow.

I’m shifting the Manuscrypts Monday post to Tuesday, since 2 posts on one day is a bit too much, even by my ‘prolific’ standards. Which means that there will be posts on all days except Saturday.

Monday – Brants

Tuesday – Manuscrypts

Wednesday – Brants

Thursday – Manuscrypts

Friday – Brants

Sunday – Restorants

No, I don’t expect you to mug it up nor am I doing this because of a misplaced sense of self importance

Its only because the blogs used to have different audiences, and now all the content is in one place. Like a reader said, because I attempt so much of wordplay in all the posts, it might be difficult for readers to figure out which category the post belongs to. So, I’m hoping the above serves as a kind of indicator.

The second change is to do with the Brants content. I have noticed a disconcerting habit of rambling, so I’m going to attempt a more brevity-led approach from Friday.

until next time,koi shaq ya sawaal?

And this is for Technorati

<a href=”http://technorati.com/claim/jwtdg93aav” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>

We hurried, after all it was not everyday that we could listen to a Lord. We didn’t make it early enough because there was already quite a crowd in attendance, most of whom were not pleased to see latecomers trying to squeeze their way in between. The lord came on time, and had his audience spellbound with his anecdotes and immense sense of humour. He promised to autograph every book that his audience had brought, but there was a twist in the tale. The peasants at Landmark wouldn’t let us near unless we’d made a purchase then and there. So we left, with the satisfaction that we at least got to see him.

But that wasn’t the only reason we left early, we had one more audience left, a Prince, no less – Prince Caspian. There’s a reason why i was eagerly waiting for this film. Unlike the modern day children’s tales of magic, this one is absolutely fairytale. Good and evil are clearly defined and there are no greys in between. It takes you back to a time when you would believe in talking animals, magic, witches, wise kings and all the folk who appear in fairytales in all their innocence. Its a completely different world, and as i read somewhere, some things have to be believed to be seen.

until next time, back to reality

He was still wondering about a proper name. He would have a loved a name that had some synergy with any one of his various holdings, but he was not sure that would be possible. After all, that name would also have to symbolise what his outfit stood for.

PS. I should have used better words, in case i have to eat them

Each one of you felt an urge to write, and thats why you have a blog. You would have seen bloggers older than you, no not in age, like me, but those who have been around longer than you have. In turn they would also know bloggers older than them, but how did it all begin? I came across a picture recently on an egroup, that throws light on this. So, without further ado here it is.

Now, like all answers, it poses a few questions of its own. Are we to understand that bloggers basically evolved from missionary positions? Does that also mean that perhaps female bloggers originated from nuns? most importantly, has there been any evolution since this image?