Monday, December 29, 2008
Awesome!
posted by Anamika Anyone at 6:17 am
Do you know what I like about Christmas?
Rose cookies!



Anyway, I watched Ghajini. I did not like it better than Memento. But its good.

Coming to the main topic:I did three awesome things this weekend!

Awesome book read:
“The little prince” by Antoine De-Saint Exupery may seem like a kiddie book, but don't let the simple writing and the illustrations fool you. The book is an anthology on life, a simpler version of “The Alchemist”. The messages that the author has for us are simple, direct and effective. The little prince charms his way into your heart and reminds you of some things you've long forgotten. A beautiful read.

Awesome movie watched:
No, not Ghajini. “The great dictator” is Charlie Chaplin's little joke on World War 2 and Adolf Hitler and his only talkie. It is funny and heart warming. It seems incredible now that I haven't watched any of Chaplin's other movies. He's a class-A actor.

Awesome walk walked:
It had been some years since I'd gone to Lalbagh. That too, Lalbagh early in the morning.
“Itni rango bhari apni duniya hai kyun? Socho tho, socho na..”
Now I know why..to help me learn the colours in German, of course!
Especially the sonnengelb (sun-yellow) at the park, when the early sunlight streamed in between the trees, flooding the park golden. And I have to say, that early in the morning, some parts of the lake look really neat.

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
posted by Anamika Anyone at 11:01 pm
Its surprising how difficult it is to do anything when your right arm is in a cast. I knew it would be hard, but not this hard. New lessons in patience.

Yesterday evening I heard my right thumb snap. I was dancing and practicing for a step that required me to do some push ups on one hand. My hand was not swelling right away, so I figured it was no big deal. This morning my thumb was swelling at an exponential rate. Time to go to the doc.

At the hospital, when I was waiting in line at the pharmacy (The doc had prescribed painkillers) I noticed something. All the people working in the lower economic strata in Bangalore were Kannadigas. OK, not the real bottom feeders like beggars or rag pickers, but the petty shopkeepers, the fruit vendors, etc. And all these people were highly biased towards Kannadigas. That is why I make sure I talk in Kannada when the situation looks like it could need a turn. Wait, did what I just wrote seem highly snobbish? Well, I really ought to take those painkillers.

The past three weeks had some days when I started my morning with lots of coffee and war paint on my face. Busy,busy,busy. But I like busy. Busy keeps me happy.

I finished reading “A tale of two cities”-Dickens and “The great Gatsby”-Scott Fitzgerald. The former tale won my heart, the latter weirded me out. I did not identify with the story, or the characters, or the author. But “A tale...” had me thinking..Carton or Darnay?

I saw “The promotion”. See, this is what I like about such movies;their portrayal of characters. They're neither good nor bad, just in-between. Putting oneself in others' shoes is only a matter of perspective. Its good if you can do that, it helps your flexibility. But it doesn't mean that one side is necessarily right. So if there is no right or wrong, how do we decide what man can do and cannot? Won't all human laws be defunct? Ooh, I won't go there, that's an ugly topic.

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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
The emancipation of Anamika
posted by Anamika Anyone at 10:32 pm
Today, I feel free.
Its strange 'cause I was never bound by any rope,
real or imagined.
Have you felt this way, this feeling of unbridled energy,
like something that was
holding you back for months has suddenly let go,
and now you're free to go anywhere you choose.
You're so relieved to be free
you're running like a maniac loose on the streets,
but you don't care about that because
that's how you ran when you were a kid.
Lots of possibilities lie in front of you,
hundreds of doors opened,
and all the time you can have to choose.
A thought that you're a full, real person,
who can run her own life,
to the heights of heaven or the depths of hell.
Unrepentant of the past,
because she makes her own decisions,
and if there's someone to blame, its herself.
You know that time will heal wounds,
however deep they may be,
and you're free to cry
over your loved lost ones and let it all go.
That's how I feel today, today, I feel free.

Hi. This was something that came to me in a mad rush. The only thing slowing me down was my bad typing speed. Its been months since I posted. I'm doing good. I'm reading "The Google story" and a Kannada book of short stories called "Sarasa". I'm learning German. I'm working out. I'm working. I'm trying to become a better cook. That's all.

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I wanna be in....
posted by Anamika Anyone at 10:20 pm
..... Malgudi.






More about the magical village.

The very first episode:

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Brave new world
posted by Anamika Anyone at 11:12 am
Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.
Brave new world, by Aldous Huxley

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Monday, March 05, 2007
I just realised I am a Jane Austen purist.
posted by Anamika Anyone at 5:49 pm
I don't want to read Mr.Darcy takes a wife. I never thought of myself as a purist of any kind. I came across this book title in an AWAD mail (Compeletely irrelevent topic:The word omphaloskepsis means "contemplation of one's navel". Huh.), and I thought "Hey, here's a P and P sequel, I'd love to read that." Then I came across an excerpt. I read it and came to the conclusion that I don't want to know about Elizabeth's and Darcy's marital life. No,thank you.

It was not just the sex scenes that drove me away, though they were one of the main reasons. Imagine Lizzy and Darc-no,actually,don't imagine anything. No, it was, I don't know, a strange resolve to keep that beautiful, innocent relationship that was portrayed at the end of P and P right there, forever. Its like wanting to know no more than till "happily ever after". I know its childish and not really the way it goes, but hey, there it is.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I've refused to read a book. Even Hamlet,which I hated, I read half of. Well, first times for everything.

Its weird but this reminds me of an incident three years ago when a friend of mine blasted me for having recommended "The god of small things" to her. I hadn't even recommended it to her, she had asked me "Have you read it? How is it? Isn't it the Booker winner? Is it good?" and all that, and I had just tilted my head, squinted my eyes and said "Good". This is what I usually do when I can't catch hold of any adjectives or when I don't have any opinion (This is another crazy thing. If you don't have an opinion on everything nowadays, you're considered dumb. Whats up with that?). So, this friend took my "recommendation", read the book, and was horrifed. Expexted, if you jump to an Arundhati Roy right after an Enid Blyton, without even going through a Sidney Sheldon to protect you. She came up to me and said "How could you enjoy this book! With all the incest!" She whispered the last word, as though someone might overhear and take her to task for uttering such balsphemous words. My astunded reply was "You mean the only thing that struck you in the book was the incest? What about the beautiful story? The complex characters? The chapter on Kathakali?" She turned her heel and huffed away, leaving me thinking "Man, reading is so lost on some people".

I think I'm that person now. I'm a purist. Not a good thought when I think that I've always considered myself as a liberal individual. I mean I don't hang banners for homosexulaity or something, but I am not against it either. To each his own, I say. I've always believed there are all kinds of people in this world and all kinds of books as well. I'm at crossroads now. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. I mean its just one book, right?

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Sunday, February 04, 2007
Of zoology and religion
posted by Anamika Anyone at 8:52 am


"I can well imagine an athiest's last words: "White, white L-L-Love! My God!" and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic ... might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying "Possibly f-failing oxygenation of the b-brain" and to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story."

- Yann Martel, 'Life of Pi'

Miss the better story you will, if you don't read this Booker prize winner. The sheer depth of imagination the author shows in this novel is enough to make a believer out of all of us.

This is the story of Piscine (pronounced Pea-seen) Molitor Patel, named after a French swimming pool, known by the self-appointed nickname "Pi"(pronounced Pie). The only thing he hates about his nickname is how it goes on and on as 3.141--- blah-blah. All things must end properly, he says.

The story starts with some facts about two and three toed sloths, surprisingly interesting to me because I couldn't care less about sloths. Throughout the book, Pi talks about our misunderstanding about zoos and wild animals. Whats more is that he brings the two diverse fields of theology and zoology together by narrating his experiences. He is a truly secular being (By secular I don't mean the disturbingly distorted versions our politicans use). He is born a Hindu, but the stories of his discovery of the joys of Christianity and Islam left me spellbound.

If you're wondering why I've not come to the storyline yet, its because I have no intentions of telling the story. Its all here if you want it, in a condensed way, but I must warn you; if you ever want to read the book you'd want to keep the suspense intact. Especially that pertaining to Richard Parker and the Mysterious Green Island and of course, the final True Story. I was genuinely thrilled when I discovered the truth about all these things and its that thrill I don't want you to lose.

The book is mainly a tribute to survival and how all of us are equipped with that instinct and show it all the time, without knowing about it. Its about how, if, had we been in the same dire straits as Pi, we too would have made it without the shadow of a doubt. Its about God and animals, prayers in the Pacific, and of course, sloths and humans.

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