Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Responsibility Mug

On my disorganised table in my hostel room sits a fat Responsibility Mug.

This Responsibility Mug was a birthday gift from my parents on my 12th (?) birthday. It is from Archies, I think and it has the word 'Responsibility' scrawled on it, with the Four Signs Of A Responsible Person written all over.

By virtue of being A Very Big Mug, it contains everything you could possibly imagine, pencils, earrings, eraser bits, passport sized photographs, an ugly heart shaped keychain, pens which ran out of ink and a black permanent marker, among the easily discernible items.

It is a Very Dirty Mug too, for it is emptied and cleaned out precisely twice a year, a process which takes exactly a minute and a half and the clutter in it is replaced meticulously, for well It May Prove Useful One Day.

One day, I shall set the Mug at a very prominent location and read its inscriptions with utmost diligence. Till then, it shall continue to slowly gather dust in the corner of my table.

Friday, March 11, 2011

German poems.

I'm doing an awesome course this semester called "Readings in German Literature and Culture" and one delightful poet (among many many others) we are discussing right now is Kurt Tucholsky. Here's a poem by him which I found interesting. Hope you like it! =)


The Other Man



You happen to meet him at a dinner.
You start conversing with him.
He knows the name of each Davis Cup winner.
He looks attractive. And slim.
He dances superbly. His face is clean.
And then your husband appears on the scene.

You measure one man against the other.
Your husband comes off second-best:
What a disgusting figure-oh brother!
So paunchy! So sloppily dressed!
And you say to yourself: Why, certainly
that one would be a man for me.

Now, lady, I may sound irritating
but what I tell you is true:
You'd give that other the same low rating
just after a year or two.
By then you know his technique of caressing;
you've seen him in every stage of undressing.
He then has his fill of your affection;
you've heard all the jokes in his collection;
you have observed him in joy and in fear,
from top to bottom, from front to rear....
believe me, the more one sees of us,
the less one finds us glamorous.
We may be charming at a party
and other times just like Joey or Marty.
Don't fall for those Sunday faces we carry-

and if the fellow you chose to marry
is someone with whom you can get by,
then-take my advice-hold on to the guy!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Heating up

Summer is back in Chennai, where it rightfully belongs.

I had to trudge out in the sweltering midday sun today. I'm still feeling cranky. Maybe this is a wonderful opportunity for me to actually drink three litres of water a day and feel all detoxified and not like a bloated rhinoceros.

Maybe this time I would get huge branded sunglasses and teeny sun dresses and paint my face with sunscreen and eat garden fresh salad and drink cucumber rich water.

Or maybe I will just sit at home, scowl at everyone and eat copious amounts of blueberry icecream.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

On a roll

I got a free one month membership to a library in IIT just yesterday and I intend to make full use of it. Afterall, the best things in life are free,right? ;)

So I started off with Devdutt Pattanaik's The Pregnant King. I love his column - Management Mythos in the Economic Times and I think the way he connects mythology and business is simply fabulous. This however does not make him a great story teller and The Pregnant King is just barely above average. A slightly disappointing read, or maybe I expected too much.

Next up is JM Coetzee's Boyhood and the Restaurant at the end of the Universe. Can't wait to read them. And there is a copy of Beauvoir's The Second Sex which I'm eyeing. Let's see how it goes!

PS - Would anybody know where I can get good Hindi literature? Trying to revive that language within me which I was once compelled to learn and later enjoyed :)