the Art of Cooking :-)
I LOVE food and hubby dear is an even bigger foodie than I am. But over the years, though my relationship with food has been a constant...that of pure love (and my genes make sure that the love for food shows on me in the form of extra girth and a yo yoing weight:-)), my tryst with cooking has been rather fascinating and has seen it’s fair share of ups and downs…
As a 14 year old, the spoilt brat that I was, while a lot of my peers were beginning to nurture their cooking talents, I don’t think I was even aware of where in the kitchen, the spice rack was located (Yes…I was that obnoxious !!). That was a stage in life when I was mighty happy being fed on delicious food made by mom, my adorable grand moms, aunts and all the brilliant cooks we had as household helpers…and yes, every once in a while, on a Sunday afternoon, dad would take over the kitchen to make that delicious Spanish omelette that only he could make, albeit leaving the kitchen in the state of a ‘hurricane aftermath’…
As a 17 year old, let’s just say this, while some of my peers were busy trying to woo their way into the hearts of prospective boyfriends, by cooking and feeding them home made meals, the seeds of feminism, already sown in my mind, made me glare disdainfully at anyone who dared to say anything that had the slightest hint of endorsing “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” paradigm …I was determined to find a guy who would love me the way I am and would be prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose …can you believe that !!
During my undergrad years, I was happy falling in love with D, the ultimate personification of a foodie on earth :-)... but let’s just say this, cooking was the last thing on my mind during those four years…At the slightest opportunity, D and I would make our way to whatever few good restaurants we had in Trichy,and revel in the great food that they served (trust me, all food tasted great after what we had to deal with in the hostel dining halls)…
As far as my tryst with cooking, during the couple of years I was working in Bangalore, is concerned, my dear brother sums it up pretty well...he says that the 'daal', 'egg curry', 'paneer' ,essentially everything I cooked, ‘tasted the same’…and when he says ‘tasted the same’ with that smirk on his face, it means you are supposed to read ‘tasted the same’ as ‘tasted terrible’…
But then something changed...after moving in with D in the US, I realized that the person I had fallen in love with, was not just a big foodie but was a great cook as well…I reveled in the delicious food that he cooked while he barely managed to tolerate the tasteless food that I made…but the sweetheart that he is, he did that with a smile on his face …and then one fine day, he ‘officially’ asked me to marry him. Given the kind of food I was cooking and feeding him (specially given the fact that he was a foodie, a great cook himself and the very typical perfectionist Virgo), I was absolutely convinced that I had found the guy in D , who loved me for what I was and was prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose:-)
Over the past 4-5 years, I take the liberty of patting myself on the back for evolving into a rather decent cook (my ever critical brother and perfectionist Virgo husband vouch for that,having been at the receiving end of my cooking over the years ;-))…I have developed a love for cooking dishes of different cuisines….I love to improvise on dishes, blending exotic regional spices and herbs…I have discovered and developed that skill of being able to bring out the taste of key ingredients in a dish...so now, all the dishes that I cook definitely don’t “taste the same” anymore….however I would still not claim to be extremely passionate about cooking…I do love cooking at leisure, as a hobby, and I definitely love entertaining people with home cooked food…but my dislike for cooking, on weekdays after a hard days' work, persists, and I crib about it every time it’s my turn to cook (D and I take alternate turns cooking on weekdays)…
But there is one day in the year when I cook with my heart and soul and hope to be able to do so for the rest of of my life…and that’s on my foodie hubby’s birthday….yes, yes D’s birthday…how I love that contented look and smile on his face when he’s fed a well cooked meal…I cook a variety of his favorite dishes on his birthday, just the way he loves them…
Well let’s just say this, though I didn’t woo my way into D’s heart through his stomach, his birthday dinner with friends is my way of saying thank you to my foodie hubby for loving me for what I am ,as much as he does, and for having been prepared to live off canned food, for the rest of his life , if the need arose…
Happy Birthday D !
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Lost and Found...
A few months back I received an envelope, addressed to me, by snail mail...it took me about half a second to determine who it was from…it was from a dear cousin, R, who lives in London. In addition to regularly keeping in touch with her via email and phone calls, I always look forward to receiving these letters/cards (she has this way of finding these unflashy, beautiful, elegant cards, hand-painted on recycled paper for a social cause) from her with D and my names clearly etched on top of the envelope in her beautiful, cursive handwriting...
As far back as I can remember, she has never forgotten to send handwritten messages/cards on all special occasions, and postcards from places they are visiting, sharing an unknown trivia about a new place they have been exploring ... and I, for one, really look forward to receiving these...
This time around, when I opened the envelope, what I found was a note from her announcing the arrival of "The New Sheriff in Town", her second son, along with photo prints of family pictures with her two adorable kids, husband and my aunt ( her mom)....Of course, I had spoken to her 'n' number of times after the little one's birth and she had already shared these photographs with me on snapfish...but that handwritten message and the photograph prints, for some weird reason, evoked a medley of emotions...I can't explain the cause or the source of what I felt...but it evoked an urge to give her a big, warm hug...
In this perennial mad rush and rat race for the next big change in life, technology, career, advancement...as we've transitioned from reading printed books to listening to audio books…from writing letters to emails to texting to sharing what's happening in our lives through status messages on social networking sites…from bonding with pen pals through letters written in our own handwriting to being instantly gratified by new online pals with information about various cultures, through shared online photographs and messages ...from writing diaries to writing blogs...I think I know what we've found, but there is definitely something precious we've lost as well...
In audio books, I have found a good substitute to satiate my reading needs given the mad rush I am always in during the work week, while trying to deal with a long commute to work combined with the need to strike a good balance between office workload, household chores and spending quality time with D….what I’ve realized I miss, however, is the touch and feel of printed words on paper…the charm of lying down on the couch, having a cup of tea or coffee, sitting and becoming captured by the pages of a book, turning them one by one, getting more and more engrossed as the climax builds …I miss not being able to emphasize , interpret and visualize words and phrases like I would want to, and having instead to rely on the readers' discretionary emphasis on words and phrases, which I feel has a direct impact on the interpretation and visualization of sentences in a book.
In all the latest technological gadgets and electronic paraphernalia (email, texting, chatting, VOIP), that facilitate instant communication with near and dear ones, I have found solace in the knowledge that despite being physically thousands of miles away, loved ones are virtually just a click away…what I miss, however, is communication through the art of calligraphy, handwriting as an artform, which by itself has the ability to add a lot of meaning and expression to mere words…
In all the online social networking sites and blogs, I have found ways to reconnect with old pals and discover new ones….I have found ways to enrich my life with shared online travelogues, life experiences and photographs of old friends and new…I have found ways that make me revel in not having to memorize and remember the birthdays and special occasions of ‘n’ close friends, happy in the knowledge that early in the morning of the special day, I will be duly prompted by pop ups in one of the social networking sites to wish the person concerned…what I miss , however, is that postcard that someone close would send to share tid bits of travel experiences…what I miss is being one of the first ones to know about a birth in the family , about a snippet of good news in a friends life, before it is broadcasted to the whole world as a facebook status message ;-)….what I miss is that feeling of being special that comes with the knowledge that someone close was not prompted but remembered an occasion close to your heart, and put an extra effort to make you feel really special by posting a card that would reach you just in time for ‘the day’ celebrations…
Yes, yes folks…everything, in the above context, that I miss and feel I have lost, is extremely non “go green” friendly…but I miss these simple pleasures of life, nevertheless…and the funny thing is that I say all this, while I am fascinated by and revel in the kind of easy connectivity, planning ability, portable entertainment, fun, efficiency that gadgets like the iphone, blackberry etc. facilitate…hmmm…hypocrite you may say :-)…but not really I guess, it’s just that in the circle of life, whether you like it or not, you lose something to find something else…
As far back as I can remember, she has never forgotten to send handwritten messages/cards on all special occasions, and postcards from places they are visiting, sharing an unknown trivia about a new place they have been exploring ... and I, for one, really look forward to receiving these...
This time around, when I opened the envelope, what I found was a note from her announcing the arrival of "The New Sheriff in Town", her second son, along with photo prints of family pictures with her two adorable kids, husband and my aunt ( her mom)....Of course, I had spoken to her 'n' number of times after the little one's birth and she had already shared these photographs with me on snapfish...but that handwritten message and the photograph prints, for some weird reason, evoked a medley of emotions...I can't explain the cause or the source of what I felt...but it evoked an urge to give her a big, warm hug...
In this perennial mad rush and rat race for the next big change in life, technology, career, advancement...as we've transitioned from reading printed books to listening to audio books…from writing letters to emails to texting to sharing what's happening in our lives through status messages on social networking sites…from bonding with pen pals through letters written in our own handwriting to being instantly gratified by new online pals with information about various cultures, through shared online photographs and messages ...from writing diaries to writing blogs...I think I know what we've found, but there is definitely something precious we've lost as well...
In audio books, I have found a good substitute to satiate my reading needs given the mad rush I am always in during the work week, while trying to deal with a long commute to work combined with the need to strike a good balance between office workload, household chores and spending quality time with D….what I’ve realized I miss, however, is the touch and feel of printed words on paper…the charm of lying down on the couch, having a cup of tea or coffee, sitting and becoming captured by the pages of a book, turning them one by one, getting more and more engrossed as the climax builds …I miss not being able to emphasize , interpret and visualize words and phrases like I would want to, and having instead to rely on the readers' discretionary emphasis on words and phrases, which I feel has a direct impact on the interpretation and visualization of sentences in a book.
In all the latest technological gadgets and electronic paraphernalia (email, texting, chatting, VOIP), that facilitate instant communication with near and dear ones, I have found solace in the knowledge that despite being physically thousands of miles away, loved ones are virtually just a click away…what I miss, however, is communication through the art of calligraphy, handwriting as an artform, which by itself has the ability to add a lot of meaning and expression to mere words…
In all the online social networking sites and blogs, I have found ways to reconnect with old pals and discover new ones….I have found ways to enrich my life with shared online travelogues, life experiences and photographs of old friends and new…I have found ways that make me revel in not having to memorize and remember the birthdays and special occasions of ‘n’ close friends, happy in the knowledge that early in the morning of the special day, I will be duly prompted by pop ups in one of the social networking sites to wish the person concerned…what I miss , however, is that postcard that someone close would send to share tid bits of travel experiences…what I miss is being one of the first ones to know about a birth in the family , about a snippet of good news in a friends life, before it is broadcasted to the whole world as a facebook status message ;-)….what I miss is that feeling of being special that comes with the knowledge that someone close was not prompted but remembered an occasion close to your heart, and put an extra effort to make you feel really special by posting a card that would reach you just in time for ‘the day’ celebrations…
Yes, yes folks…everything, in the above context, that I miss and feel I have lost, is extremely non “go green” friendly…but I miss these simple pleasures of life, nevertheless…and the funny thing is that I say all this, while I am fascinated by and revel in the kind of easy connectivity, planning ability, portable entertainment, fun, efficiency that gadgets like the iphone, blackberry etc. facilitate…hmmm…hypocrite you may say :-)…but not really I guess, it’s just that in the circle of life, whether you like it or not, you lose something to find something else…
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Thank you for the music...
The last couple of weekends have been literally 'musical weekends' for us...
Last week I had written about the 'Billy Joel-Elton John' face to face concert that D and I attended and so thoroughly enjoyed.
This weekend was different but just as musical and beautiful ...it was a more informal,laid back musical evening at a lovely dinner party hosted by a very dear friend(in blogospshere and outside), RJ, ...in fact as I have grown to know her more,I wish I had a sister like her ;-).
RJ had friends and family visiting her, all musical greats and genius' in their own right, who treated us to a medley of beautiful melodies...like she mentions in her post, the party included two well known artists, 'M' and 'L', and another talented musician,'S', while the rest of us, novices, chipped in by singing along whenever those ever eluding lyrics of songs we thought we knew so well , finally came back to us, in bursts...
'M' sang some of his own eloquent and melodious compositions, in addition to other well known songs.'L', in her beautiful, effervescent voice, treated us to some lovely Assamese and Bengali songs that I had not heard in a long, long time, yet I seemed to relate to immediately. Music comes so naturally and effortlessly to both of them...it's just amazing ! I was mentioning to RJ the other day that having spent more than half our lives outside the north eastern part of India, there are times when D and I feel a sense of disconnection from our beloved land of birth. M and L's simple, melodious voices and music has kind of bridged that disconnect, that has this tendency to creep in ever so often, at least for the time being...
'S', on the other hand very deftly, strummed some all time Western favorites on his guitar, while RJ sang along in her husky, sexy voice :-)...'Starry Starry night','Boxer','Baby can I hold you tonight','Dust in the wind' and many more...aah filled D and me with nostalgia...believe me in the era of Britney Spears, Beyonce and Jonas Brothers, you don't find too many people appreciating those evergreen melodies anymore...and it was wonderful to be in likeminded company ,buzzed and tipsy with just the right amount of alcohol, enjoying this lovely, musical evening...
There was another thing different about this particular 'musical' evening...the only accompanying instruments were two acoustic guitars...and I am sure a lot of music lovers will agree with me that there is a different kind of charm associated with music that's created with just the simple strumming of a guitar and beautiful voices to render the vocals...with absolutely no exotic, electronic paraphernelia to enhance the experience !!
So that was a lovely evening for us...good food, great drinks and of course amazing, beautiful music that encompassed us with a sense of serenity and bliss...how can 'paradise on earth' be ever lost when there are people around to create magic with instruments and melodies!!
Lovely party and good times ! Thank you for the music, folks !
Last week I had written about the 'Billy Joel-Elton John' face to face concert that D and I attended and so thoroughly enjoyed.
This weekend was different but just as musical and beautiful ...it was a more informal,laid back musical evening at a lovely dinner party hosted by a very dear friend(in blogospshere and outside), RJ, ...in fact as I have grown to know her more,I wish I had a sister like her ;-).
RJ had friends and family visiting her, all musical greats and genius' in their own right, who treated us to a medley of beautiful melodies...like she mentions in her post, the party included two well known artists, 'M' and 'L', and another talented musician,'S', while the rest of us, novices, chipped in by singing along whenever those ever eluding lyrics of songs we thought we knew so well , finally came back to us, in bursts...
'M' sang some of his own eloquent and melodious compositions, in addition to other well known songs.'L', in her beautiful, effervescent voice, treated us to some lovely Assamese and Bengali songs that I had not heard in a long, long time, yet I seemed to relate to immediately. Music comes so naturally and effortlessly to both of them...it's just amazing ! I was mentioning to RJ the other day that having spent more than half our lives outside the north eastern part of India, there are times when D and I feel a sense of disconnection from our beloved land of birth. M and L's simple, melodious voices and music has kind of bridged that disconnect, that has this tendency to creep in ever so often, at least for the time being...
'S', on the other hand very deftly, strummed some all time Western favorites on his guitar, while RJ sang along in her husky, sexy voice :-)...'Starry Starry night','Boxer','Baby can I hold you tonight','Dust in the wind' and many more...aah filled D and me with nostalgia...believe me in the era of Britney Spears, Beyonce and Jonas Brothers, you don't find too many people appreciating those evergreen melodies anymore...and it was wonderful to be in likeminded company ,buzzed and tipsy with just the right amount of alcohol, enjoying this lovely, musical evening...
There was another thing different about this particular 'musical' evening...the only accompanying instruments were two acoustic guitars...and I am sure a lot of music lovers will agree with me that there is a different kind of charm associated with music that's created with just the simple strumming of a guitar and beautiful voices to render the vocals...with absolutely no exotic, electronic paraphernelia to enhance the experience !!
So that was a lovely evening for us...good food, great drinks and of course amazing, beautiful music that encompassed us with a sense of serenity and bliss...how can 'paradise on earth' be ever lost when there are people around to create magic with instruments and melodies!!
Lovely party and good times ! Thank you for the music, folks !
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Piano Men...
"It's nine o clock on a saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin love to his tonic and gin"
....these are the starting lyrics from Billy Joel's chartbuster " The Piano Man" and one of the many melodies to which D and I sang along as we spent Saturday evening watching two of the greatest "piano men" of all times, live in concert...Billy Joel and Elton John, face to face...
After watching 'Bruno' on Friday night, anything else we did on Saturday would have been more than a refreshing change. Speaking of 'Bruno', I never have and never will be a fan of the Baron Cohen kind of humor (at least it seems unlikely in this lifetime!!)...I read somewhere that the movie has invariably got just one of two kind of reviews...while some viewers have deemed it 'extremely hilarious'...others have deemed it 'immensely disgusting'...and without doubt, I definitely belong to the latter category of movie goers !!
It was all good that we had already booked tickets for the live concert on Saturday where the rock and roll legends were performing some of their greatest hits...love for all forms of music is something that D and I passionately share and both of us were really looking forward to it. We had watched 'The Eagles' last year when they were performing in DC as part of their "Long Road Out of Eden" tour and since then, we have nurtured this secret hope and dream of being able to watch at least one musical legend ,live in concert, every summer...this time around ,it turned out to be a double treat with the two "piano men" in a face to face concert :-)
Instead of driving into south east DC, we decided to take the metro to the Washington Nationals Stadium, the venue of the concert.As we got off the orange line at L'Enfant PLaza , it was almost as if we were swept by a tide of people to the platform from where the Green Line was supposed to take us to the venue of the musical event...people of all ages were lined up to get into the metro to see the piano men in action...among them, was this grey templed , cheerful man standing beside me...he scanned the crowds, smiled at me and said, "I am surprised to see so many youngsters like you around...for some reason, was just expecting middle aged people like me to be interested in this kind of music...never realized the rock and roll music of the 70s and 80s still sells among youngsters"...I couldn't think of anything more apt to say in response to this other than "That's what makes Billy Joel and Elton John legends, I guess" ...just then the train arrived and there was this huge round of applause and cheer from the crowd... the celebrations had already begun with the crowd all geared to sing along and dance to the beats of the musical greats...
And boy, the legends didn't let us down as they treated us with a taste of their evergreen hits...Billy Joel's 'River of Dreams','Moving Out','Stranger','Uptown Girl','Only the good die young','My Life','Zanzibar','She's always a woman' and Elton John's 'Rocket Man', 'Daniel','Candle in the Wind','Don't let the sun go down on me' being a few of the plethora of melodies that were performed....At the end, the two great artists traded vocals for each others compositions...and they finally concluded the show performing the surreal vocal-piano-harmonica combo...'The Piano Man'...
As I watched the fingers of the musical genius',oh so deftly, move over the pianos and create magical music , I realized that it was about time I got down to some serious business, as far as my guitar/piano learning aspirations are concerned, instead of just dreaming and building castles in the air about being able to someday strum my favorite tunes on the guitar and create melodious music on the piano...oh well, yes, they are big dreams, big dreams...no harm done though in dreaming big, I guess...after all that's what keeps the zest in life alive,doesn't it!!However my "learn it yourself" strategy having miserably flopped last summer, I better go and seek the help of dependable friends, 'google' and 'craigslist', to assist me in my search for a good music teacher if I want at least some part of the dream to turn into a semblance of reality...
Till then, I will have to just make do by thanking and admiring everyone who makes great music...
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin love to his tonic and gin"
....these are the starting lyrics from Billy Joel's chartbuster " The Piano Man" and one of the many melodies to which D and I sang along as we spent Saturday evening watching two of the greatest "piano men" of all times, live in concert...Billy Joel and Elton John, face to face...
After watching 'Bruno' on Friday night, anything else we did on Saturday would have been more than a refreshing change. Speaking of 'Bruno', I never have and never will be a fan of the Baron Cohen kind of humor (at least it seems unlikely in this lifetime!!)...I read somewhere that the movie has invariably got just one of two kind of reviews...while some viewers have deemed it 'extremely hilarious'...others have deemed it 'immensely disgusting'...and without doubt, I definitely belong to the latter category of movie goers !!
It was all good that we had already booked tickets for the live concert on Saturday where the rock and roll legends were performing some of their greatest hits...love for all forms of music is something that D and I passionately share and both of us were really looking forward to it. We had watched 'The Eagles' last year when they were performing in DC as part of their "Long Road Out of Eden" tour and since then, we have nurtured this secret hope and dream of being able to watch at least one musical legend ,live in concert, every summer...this time around ,it turned out to be a double treat with the two "piano men" in a face to face concert :-)
Instead of driving into south east DC, we decided to take the metro to the Washington Nationals Stadium, the venue of the concert.As we got off the orange line at L'Enfant PLaza , it was almost as if we were swept by a tide of people to the platform from where the Green Line was supposed to take us to the venue of the musical event...people of all ages were lined up to get into the metro to see the piano men in action...among them, was this grey templed , cheerful man standing beside me...he scanned the crowds, smiled at me and said, "I am surprised to see so many youngsters like you around...for some reason, was just expecting middle aged people like me to be interested in this kind of music...never realized the rock and roll music of the 70s and 80s still sells among youngsters"...I couldn't think of anything more apt to say in response to this other than "That's what makes Billy Joel and Elton John legends, I guess" ...just then the train arrived and there was this huge round of applause and cheer from the crowd... the celebrations had already begun with the crowd all geared to sing along and dance to the beats of the musical greats...
And boy, the legends didn't let us down as they treated us with a taste of their evergreen hits...Billy Joel's 'River of Dreams','Moving Out','Stranger','Uptown Girl','Only the good die young','My Life','Zanzibar','She's always a woman' and Elton John's 'Rocket Man', 'Daniel','Candle in the Wind','Don't let the sun go down on me' being a few of the plethora of melodies that were performed....At the end, the two great artists traded vocals for each others compositions...and they finally concluded the show performing the surreal vocal-piano-harmonica combo...'The Piano Man'...
As I watched the fingers of the musical genius',oh so deftly, move over the pianos and create magical music , I realized that it was about time I got down to some serious business, as far as my guitar/piano learning aspirations are concerned, instead of just dreaming and building castles in the air about being able to someday strum my favorite tunes on the guitar and create melodious music on the piano...oh well, yes, they are big dreams, big dreams...no harm done though in dreaming big, I guess...after all that's what keeps the zest in life alive,doesn't it!!However my "learn it yourself" strategy having miserably flopped last summer, I better go and seek the help of dependable friends, 'google' and 'craigslist', to assist me in my search for a good music teacher if I want at least some part of the dream to turn into a semblance of reality...
Till then, I will have to just make do by thanking and admiring everyone who makes great music...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Rooting for the underdog...
For all those who know me well, I am not a sports maniac, quite unlike D...I do like watching tennis, cricket and a bit of college basketball…however my interest in these games too is limited to the more exciting part of major tournaments aka quaterfinals, semi finals, finals etc. As to with whom my loyalties lie in the games that I do watch, understand and enjoy...oh yeah, it's always with the quintessential underdog, provided , of course, he /she puts in the fight of a lifetime in an effort to grab victory from the clutch of the one deemed favorite. As to all the other games that I am compelled to watch just to give D company, I inevitably end up rooting for the team D doesn’t support (just to add some excitement to the whole game watching process) or more often than not, the team with the better looking dudes :-)
There is one exception to this support for the underdog however, and that is when India as a team or an Indian player is in the game. But more often than not, they end up playing as the underdogs and even if they do happen to be the favorites in a tournament, it's rare to see them keep up the momentum and the winning streak to reach a position where they are actually defending a title...sad but true, for whatever reasons...so, for the major part, I am saved the ordeal of feeling guilty and unpatriotic for subconsciously empathizing with a non-Indian underdog playing against an Indian favorite:-)
I very vividly remember the 1992 Wimbledon final...the thrilling five setter between Goran Ivanesevic and Andre Agassi...I was sitting at the edge of my seat in our family room in Guwahati and cheering Ivanesvic all the way till the end when Agassi hit the winning championship point...17 years since then, that aspect of me hasn't changed much...yesterday as I was watching the Roddick- Federer Wimbledon final, I was sitting at the edge of my seat hoping that Roddick would hit the winning point...I love Federer (other than his habit of weeping at the drop of a hat ) for the brand of power precision tennis he plays, but I desparately wanted Roddick to win for the long, brave fight he was putting in...
A lot of my friends echo my thoughts of involuntarily supporting the one deemed less likely to win a game ...there are, of course, quite a few others who do not resonate our thoughts and believe that a champ is a champ because he deserves to be at the top and that in sports, there is absolutely no room for empathy…skill, talent, power and killer instinct are all that matter…after all it’s records and names of winners on the mantle that are passed on as legacy from one generation to another…I hear them and all that they say makes enormous sense to me…but I still root for the underdog :-)
I wonder what is it that's so appealing about an underdog to those of us who inevitably support them!! Perhaps an underdog, putting in a brave fight against all odds, personifies the tenacity and resilience of the human spirit...perhaps we see a bit of ourselves and our imperfections in him or her... perhaps because at some point in our lives, we have all felt small and powerless and yet have wished and worked hard to change our destiny…perhaps because we believe and want to continue believing in fairy tales.. perhaps there is some message of hope in each of the stories of underdogs, rising from the ashes like the phoenix, urging us to follow our dreams, hold on to hope and overcome our personal mountains...
There is one exception to this support for the underdog however, and that is when India as a team or an Indian player is in the game. But more often than not, they end up playing as the underdogs and even if they do happen to be the favorites in a tournament, it's rare to see them keep up the momentum and the winning streak to reach a position where they are actually defending a title...sad but true, for whatever reasons...so, for the major part, I am saved the ordeal of feeling guilty and unpatriotic for subconsciously empathizing with a non-Indian underdog playing against an Indian favorite:-)
I very vividly remember the 1992 Wimbledon final...the thrilling five setter between Goran Ivanesevic and Andre Agassi...I was sitting at the edge of my seat in our family room in Guwahati and cheering Ivanesvic all the way till the end when Agassi hit the winning championship point...17 years since then, that aspect of me hasn't changed much...yesterday as I was watching the Roddick- Federer Wimbledon final, I was sitting at the edge of my seat hoping that Roddick would hit the winning point...I love Federer (other than his habit of weeping at the drop of a hat ) for the brand of power precision tennis he plays, but I desparately wanted Roddick to win for the long, brave fight he was putting in...
A lot of my friends echo my thoughts of involuntarily supporting the one deemed less likely to win a game ...there are, of course, quite a few others who do not resonate our thoughts and believe that a champ is a champ because he deserves to be at the top and that in sports, there is absolutely no room for empathy…skill, talent, power and killer instinct are all that matter…after all it’s records and names of winners on the mantle that are passed on as legacy from one generation to another…I hear them and all that they say makes enormous sense to me…but I still root for the underdog :-)
I wonder what is it that's so appealing about an underdog to those of us who inevitably support them!! Perhaps an underdog, putting in a brave fight against all odds, personifies the tenacity and resilience of the human spirit...perhaps we see a bit of ourselves and our imperfections in him or her... perhaps because at some point in our lives, we have all felt small and powerless and yet have wished and worked hard to change our destiny…perhaps because we believe and want to continue believing in fairy tales.. perhaps there is some message of hope in each of the stories of underdogs, rising from the ashes like the phoenix, urging us to follow our dreams, hold on to hope and overcome our personal mountains...
Friday, June 26, 2009
The Man in the mirror...
The 'Man in the mirror' has faded away...
He was a prodigy and a child singing sensation at the age of 5, a teen icon at the age of 18, a superstar at the age of 25...a singer, dancer, composer, lyricist, entertainer...he rose to the helm of superstardom in a jiffy and fell from the pedestal just as fast...he was wealthy but lived beyond his means...early on in his career, he was deemed a shrewd investor...in the last decade of his life, all his investments were deemed foolish...he was a philanthropist...he was an apparent victim of child abuse and extreme parental pressure that drove him to the limit...he never lived the childhood every human being deserves...he was a man who never seemed happy with the way he looked...he was a perfectionist...he was weird...he was complex...he was once a handsome, vivacious trendsetting youngster ...at a later stage in life, he had almost transformed to an alien...he was accused of the inexcusable crime of child molestation...and his death now is shrouded in a possible case of prescription drug abuse... understood by very few, he seemed like a very lonely soul...a man many found difficult to love,but even more difficult to hate...
Yes that's Michael Jackson ...the good and the bad...the black and the white ...the known and the unknown...and of course the very visible shades of grey...and today, "The King of Pop" is dead at an age when very few of us, lesser mortals, can claim to have achieved what he achieved in just the first 25 years of his life...
Over the past one and a half days, news channels have flashed snippets and stories about MJ's life and death ...the internet has been clogged by fanatical fans trying to make sense of his life and his sudden passing away...
In the midst of this frenzy , as I follow the various news clips and my feet involuntarily tap to the trendsetting beats of " Billy Jean" and " Beat It", a question crosses my mind...all of us , humans beings, have shades of grey in our personalities, don't we? I am sure there are instances in every persons' life, when he /she looks at the mirror , literally and figuratively, and doesn't like what he/she sees...But what is it that pushes some people to the brink of insanity, darkening the shades of grey that's inherent in human nature, almost pushing them into a bottomless pit ?
It's one of those questions, I guess, to which there can never be an unequivocal answer...
With that question lingering in my mind, as an era comes to an end with the death of Michael Jackson, I realize it's about time we gave him the benefit of the doubt...I mourne the passing away of a legend, accepting those shades of grey in his life, instead of trying to judge and classify those shades as black or white ...I seek solace in and celebrate the beautiful music that only he was capable of creating...
After all not every human being is fortunate enough to learn and understand, early on in life, that with great power,talent,wealth and success comes great responsibility...I guess MJ was not one of the fortunate ones...
But then, of course, neither is every human being capable of achieving what the 'King of Pop' achieved in his short life span...
While his legacy lives on in the form of his amazing musical creations, may his soul rest in peace !
He was a prodigy and a child singing sensation at the age of 5, a teen icon at the age of 18, a superstar at the age of 25...a singer, dancer, composer, lyricist, entertainer...he rose to the helm of superstardom in a jiffy and fell from the pedestal just as fast...he was wealthy but lived beyond his means...early on in his career, he was deemed a shrewd investor...in the last decade of his life, all his investments were deemed foolish...he was a philanthropist...he was an apparent victim of child abuse and extreme parental pressure that drove him to the limit...he never lived the childhood every human being deserves...he was a man who never seemed happy with the way he looked...he was a perfectionist...he was weird...he was complex...he was once a handsome, vivacious trendsetting youngster ...at a later stage in life, he had almost transformed to an alien...he was accused of the inexcusable crime of child molestation...and his death now is shrouded in a possible case of prescription drug abuse... understood by very few, he seemed like a very lonely soul...a man many found difficult to love,but even more difficult to hate...
Yes that's Michael Jackson ...the good and the bad...the black and the white ...the known and the unknown...and of course the very visible shades of grey...and today, "The King of Pop" is dead at an age when very few of us, lesser mortals, can claim to have achieved what he achieved in just the first 25 years of his life...
Over the past one and a half days, news channels have flashed snippets and stories about MJ's life and death ...the internet has been clogged by fanatical fans trying to make sense of his life and his sudden passing away...
In the midst of this frenzy , as I follow the various news clips and my feet involuntarily tap to the trendsetting beats of " Billy Jean" and " Beat It", a question crosses my mind...all of us , humans beings, have shades of grey in our personalities, don't we? I am sure there are instances in every persons' life, when he /she looks at the mirror , literally and figuratively, and doesn't like what he/she sees...But what is it that pushes some people to the brink of insanity, darkening the shades of grey that's inherent in human nature, almost pushing them into a bottomless pit ?
It's one of those questions, I guess, to which there can never be an unequivocal answer...
With that question lingering in my mind, as an era comes to an end with the death of Michael Jackson, I realize it's about time we gave him the benefit of the doubt...I mourne the passing away of a legend, accepting those shades of grey in his life, instead of trying to judge and classify those shades as black or white ...I seek solace in and celebrate the beautiful music that only he was capable of creating...
After all not every human being is fortunate enough to learn and understand, early on in life, that with great power,talent,wealth and success comes great responsibility...I guess MJ was not one of the fortunate ones...
But then, of course, neither is every human being capable of achieving what the 'King of Pop' achieved in his short life span...
While his legacy lives on in the form of his amazing musical creations, may his soul rest in peace !
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Food for thought...
So Sunday, May 10th was Mother’s day…and my friends with kids, who had rushed to the mall to pick up last minute gifts for their wives, were of the unanimous opinion that the malls were packed to the hilt with male folk and kids on Saturday evening and Sunday morning so that preparations, for the mothers to be pampered, could be completed in good time :-) …
I hadn’t realized until that point of time, that over the years, Mother’s Day celebrations have gone on to assume such importance in the lives of families…it was cheering to see the children ,aptly prompted by their dads, do small things for their mothers in their own special ways as a token of their appreciation and love…
Noticing all these celebrations around me, my thoughts transitorily dwelled on Ms. ‘S’, a lady I have met just once and perhaps will never meet again…and just for a moment, I was overcome with this overwhelming sense of helplessness.
About a month back, I volunteered at this organization called One Brick for an event “Bowling with KEEN”. Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) is a nonprofit, volunteer organization and in association with One Brick holds these bowling events every month for children and young adults having disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, various intellectual and developmental disabilities. So the event I signed up for was a KEEN bowling event where a participating athlete, with special needs, is paired with a volunteer coach for an afternoon of bowling.
I had been thinking of getting involved in some such volunteering activities involving children /education etc for quite some time …but it took a final push from a friend, Rush,who took the initiative to sign up for the event, to actually make me get out of bed relatively early on a Sunday morning (by early, I mean 10:00 a.m., the lazy bum that I am :-) ) and get to 'Strike Bethesda' to bowl with those wonderful youngsters. And am I glad that I managed to overcome my laziness and get to the bowling session that Sunday afternoon(despite having this last minute urge to go back on the commitment I had already made…believe me, my brain was baiting me with a lot of excuses…incomplete household chores …hectic long week at work coming up etc.etc. :-))!!
To say the least, the event was a sobering experience and filled me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all the good things that I have been blessed with in life…
As a volunteer coach, I was paired with ‘P’, a 20 year old adolescent in the body of a 10 year old child…a wheel chair bound youngster …a fragile shriveled being… who was almost oblivious to the world around him and not responsive to anything other than the occasional gentle touch of his mother…Ms.‘S’,the lady I mentioned before…a beautiful, dignified, single mom, whose world seemed to revolve around her son…
And on Mother’s day,as I rejoiced in the celebratory mood of my friends,I momentarily thought of Ms. S …
I wonder what she did…probably she had family around her to pamper her…I am sure ‘P’ must have made her feel special in his own little way…maybe…probably…perhaps…I really don’t know…all that I know is that it left me with a very sad feeling…
I personally love being pampered and appreciated by friends and family for big things and small on special and not so special days…I would be a hypocrite to claim that I don’t…
Nevertheless it made me feel that maybe...just maybe while all of us fortunate, privileged ones go on with our lives and have these ever growing list of special global days (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day etc), to celebrate our relationships with the special people in our lives and also to endorse and rejoice in a sense of camaraderie with other people, who are fortunate enough to be on the same boat as us, we perhaps unknowingly exacerbate the void, pain and loneliness in the lives of those not as fortunate…
Perhaps, just perhaps…we have got into the habit of eternally looking for reasons to create hoopla and fuss about just ordinary days…
I hadn’t realized until that point of time, that over the years, Mother’s Day celebrations have gone on to assume such importance in the lives of families…it was cheering to see the children ,aptly prompted by their dads, do small things for their mothers in their own special ways as a token of their appreciation and love…
Noticing all these celebrations around me, my thoughts transitorily dwelled on Ms. ‘S’, a lady I have met just once and perhaps will never meet again…and just for a moment, I was overcome with this overwhelming sense of helplessness.
About a month back, I volunteered at this organization called One Brick for an event “Bowling with KEEN”. Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) is a nonprofit, volunteer organization and in association with One Brick holds these bowling events every month for children and young adults having disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, various intellectual and developmental disabilities. So the event I signed up for was a KEEN bowling event where a participating athlete, with special needs, is paired with a volunteer coach for an afternoon of bowling.
I had been thinking of getting involved in some such volunteering activities involving children /education etc for quite some time …but it took a final push from a friend, Rush,who took the initiative to sign up for the event, to actually make me get out of bed relatively early on a Sunday morning (by early, I mean 10:00 a.m., the lazy bum that I am :-) ) and get to 'Strike Bethesda' to bowl with those wonderful youngsters. And am I glad that I managed to overcome my laziness and get to the bowling session that Sunday afternoon(despite having this last minute urge to go back on the commitment I had already made…believe me, my brain was baiting me with a lot of excuses…incomplete household chores …hectic long week at work coming up etc.etc. :-))!!
To say the least, the event was a sobering experience and filled me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all the good things that I have been blessed with in life…
As a volunteer coach, I was paired with ‘P’, a 20 year old adolescent in the body of a 10 year old child…a wheel chair bound youngster …a fragile shriveled being… who was almost oblivious to the world around him and not responsive to anything other than the occasional gentle touch of his mother…Ms.‘S’,the lady I mentioned before…a beautiful, dignified, single mom, whose world seemed to revolve around her son…
And on Mother’s day,as I rejoiced in the celebratory mood of my friends,I momentarily thought of Ms. S …
I wonder what she did…probably she had family around her to pamper her…I am sure ‘P’ must have made her feel special in his own little way…maybe…probably…perhaps…I really don’t know…all that I know is that it left me with a very sad feeling…
I personally love being pampered and appreciated by friends and family for big things and small on special and not so special days…I would be a hypocrite to claim that I don’t…
Nevertheless it made me feel that maybe...just maybe while all of us fortunate, privileged ones go on with our lives and have these ever growing list of special global days (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day etc), to celebrate our relationships with the special people in our lives and also to endorse and rejoice in a sense of camaraderie with other people, who are fortunate enough to be on the same boat as us, we perhaps unknowingly exacerbate the void, pain and loneliness in the lives of those not as fortunate…
Perhaps, just perhaps…we have got into the habit of eternally looking for reasons to create hoopla and fuss about just ordinary days…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
WriteUpCafe
Counter |
BlogAdda
