Spewing Tree

Songs I never seem to get tired of...

2010-11-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Talk Show Host – Radiohead

Love Buzz – Nirvana

New Slang - The Shins

Time Of The Season - The Zomies

Sheep – Pink Floyd

D.A.R.E. – Gorillaz

The House Of The Rising Sun – Nina Simone

The Story – Norah Jones

Layla (unplugged) – Eric Clapton

A Simple Twist of Fate – Bob Dylan

Pawn Shop – Sublime

Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground

Sheep Go To Heaven – Cake

Sample In A Jar – Phish

Off He Goes – Pearl Jam

Higher Ground – UB40

Three Little Birds – Bob Marley

Basic Space – The XX

Love Is Colder Than Death – The Virgins

Buggin’ – The Flaming Lips

Ghost Song – The Doors

Free Your Mind (Welcome To Mexico) – Bizzare Contact

Sabali – Amadou & Mariam

Eye In The Sky – The Alan Parsons Project

Wicked Ride – Melody Gardot

Ghost Story – Anoushka Shankar Feat Sunidhi Chauhan

Edelweiss – The Sound Of Music

Black Dog – Led Zeppelin

Homeward Bound – Simon & Garfunkel

Psychotic Girl – The Black Keys

Angel – Massive Attack

Into Dust – Mazzy Star

Killing Me Softly – The Fugees

Draggin The Line – REM

Happy Together – The Turtles

Hey There Delilah – Plain White Tees

Human – The Killers

Stuff I want to do before I die

2010-11-19T17:10:00.000-08:00

Stuff I want to do before I die

> See an aurora borealis

> Bake a really fabulous chocolate cake – from scratch

> Teach yoga

> Write a bestseller

> Have my own radio show

> Show off my body in a bikini

> Mosaic

> Have an exhibition of my photos

> Buy my own house, with a garden for my cats and dogs

> Learn to play piano

> Beat Sanjay Bhangar at chess

~~> Hug a tree~~

~~> Play a part in a movie/play~~

~~> Live in New York~~

my favourite places in the world (so far)

2010-10-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

"There is another world, but it is in this one." -- W.B. Yeats

1. Goa - for everything

2. San Francisco - for soul and spirit, and Prachi and Joe

3. Bombay - for life!

4. Havelock Island (Andamans) - for pristine beauty

5. New York City - for the madness

6. London - for good times with old friends

7. Manali, Himachal Pradesh - for good times and tree hugging

8. Bangkok, Thailand - for the cheap and cheerful shopping

9. Bangalore - for the vibe and the bars

10. Mauritius - for the shells from my childhood memories

11. Connecticut - for my aunt and her food

12. Cornell - for my cousin Anuja

So Vote?

2009-05-01T04:45:00.000-07:00

I vehemently told everyone I wouldn't do it.
I will NOT vote, I proudly declared.

“Why?” They asked, with gaping faces.

Because I don't know who to vote for.
Because there is no option to vote for nobody or register a protest vote.
Because I really don't care about politics.
Because I already voted the last time as “my first time” and wasn’t as kicked about it as I hoped.

“But someone might go and vote on your name, doesn't that bother you?”
Umm, not really, given that I don't want to vote for anyone and this impersonator has at least decided who s/he wants to vote for...

But yesterday, I went and voted.

In fact it was the first thing I woke up and did. Before taking a dump even.

Don't get me wrong. It just so happened that just as soon as I woke up, mum and dad were going "to get it over with", so I decided I might as well do the same (since I was up anyway and probably wouldn't take the effort to go myself).

It took a long time to find our names on the list – they hadn’t sent out our voter slips this time (I remember that the last time they had). There’s also a new building that has come up in the neighbourhood and its name wasn’t even listed in the books. A few residents were quite pissed off.

Why can’t this process be more organized, digitized and fool proof? No wonder we have such a low voter turnout. I know plenty of colleagues who would have had to go back to their hometowns to vote and so they didn’t.

Anyway it was really funny sifting through the newspapers today and looking at everyone showing the world their middle fingers. In fact I wasn’t aware of the fact that the election commission had mandated it this year (a change from the usual forefinger). You can read more about that here: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/26/500-million-indians.html

The ink has really messed up my nail. It has seeped all around it, outlining my cuticle and a bit of the tip of my finger. I wonder how long it’ll stay like this. When first applied, it was indigo blue and then it turned brownish-black. In case you’re wondering what this ink is made of, there’s some interesting trivia about it. It is manufactured for the entire country at a 72-year old plant in Bangalore called Mysore Paints & Varnish Ltd (MVPL). Wondering what’s in this indelible ink? It’s a heady mix of chemicals, dyes, aromatic materials and silver nitrate – or so they say. You can read more about that here:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/voters-ink-made-in-mysore-marked-across-india/87219-37.html

And if this was of any interest to you, or if you didn't vote, please take a moment to read my colleague Sampath's honest and intelligent reason for not voting here: http://www.dnaindia.com/blogs/post.php?postid=166) It certainly takes me back to my stance at the beginning of this piece.

ring a ding dong

2007-05-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

2007-05-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

2007-04-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

down the rabbit hole

2007-04-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

"i've been waiting so long...to be where i'm going in...in the sunshine of your loooooooveeee"

2007-04-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

red hot chili peppers
(more red, less hot)

Damnit

2007-01-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

Firstly, this is something I wanted to post on http://aprofessionalwhiner.blogspot.com/ but NEW blogger won't let me.
And I didn't choose to *upgrade* to new blogger, it forced me (although it says some lucky bloggers are getting it automatically)to upgrade. All bollocks.
It didn't give me a choice. Today when I signed in to old blogger, it just forced me to switch.

So, fellow whiners, if anyone has made it to this blog, this one's for you.

This city is seriously getting to me. First, they change its name from Bombay to Mumbai. Then, they go on a fucking stupid digging spree in order to exhaust their allocated financial budgets by the end of March. So obviously, the already fucked up roads get narrower, meaning that the already narrow one-and-a-half lane one way road will now be a two way street. And there isn’t just one of these. Traffic, exhaust fumes, honk, honk, honk, eeeeeks. Sounds like a permanent hangover sometimes.
Bear in mind that this is just the end of January, so they have all 28 days of Feb PLUS the 31 of march (days and nights, might I add). Digggggging in the nose.
Okay and then, these advertising motherfuckers splatter ridiculous uncopyedited ugly hoardings all over so you can’t see anything else, anywhere. Like on your drive back from work, instead of getting a glimpse of the sea, you are being stared in the face by a larger-than-life model of shah rukh khan sitting on his KBC seat…yeeesh…go away. And speaking of ad’s, let me not even get started on the lame new PONDS campaign. They’ve got a bunch of these slightly upmarketish women in their early 30s talking about how their husbands used to go to the sports bars with “his friends” and then all of a sudden, one day, he takes her out to HER favourite restaurant. And then she tries to UNCONVINCINGLY slip in this line. “I’m not sure but maybe it’s this age minimizing cream I’m using, it works like a magic wand.” And from then on, every evening is her restaurant every night or something…
Look, I don’t have an issue with them trying to sell you this age-minimising crap, because we all know, and I must quote Philip Chacko (one of my editors at work) when I say that “at the heart of every ad is a lie.”
What really gets my damn goat is that these women, who have been made to look like well-educated, swinging in the corporate zone types are expected to and probably will convince many other women about the fact that men will give up sports or a night out with the guys for a lesser-wrinkled wife. Ridiculous, demeaning and so PISSSSSSSSSING off.
And this is the crap that advertising professionals get paid for?
Ugh.

And by the way, new blogger really sucks. So if you guys are reading this, let me tell you that its sloooooooow and I miss my old dashboard.

Say what?

2007-01-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

Uma Joshi
yay yay yay
My mother told me
Sixty years ago
There came a lady
Knocking on the door
With an ooh, aah,
I want some pie
The pie is sweet
I want some meat
The meat is rough
I want to go by bus
The bus is full
I want to go by bull
The bull is fat
I want my money back

Does anyone remember the rest of this? And who the hell was this Uma Joshi anyway?

2007-01-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

For some reason looking at these flowers makes me want to write about how strange men and women are about letting other people into their worlds; the whole in the beginning-of-a-relationship-wondering-whether-or-not-to-label-it thing. Well actually that's what a friend of mine was agonising over a few minutes ago.
But come to think of it, human beings and their unnecessarily complex feelings about "love" are too trivial to spend precious blog space over.
So lets tell you about these pretty, pretty flowers.
They grow on a tree which is at the back of my building. When we were kids there would be lots of them strewn across the ground - and by ground, I mean actual-actual ground, not that fake fancy tiled ground we find everywhere.
And if you were lucky, you'd find some with little shivlings in the centre. Not that I was or am religious, but the shivlings were really pretty too.
And come to think of it, if I photoshop them a little, they'd look like sea anemones.Well, just flowers for now.

Foot fetish

2007-01-20T23:54:00.000-08:00

Left Foot. Right Foot.
Feet. Feet. Feet.
Oh, how many
feet you meet!

2006-12-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

how many faces can you see?

2006-12-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

neon tetras

2006-11-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

the Kings of good times

2006-11-12T01:23:00.000-08:00

Around the bend...

2006-11-12T01:15:00.000-08:00

travel agent, juice bar, bar and eatery all rolled into one...

2006-10-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Starry starry lokhandwala

sing along

2006-09-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

"Now I just want to play on my panpipes
I just want to drink me some wine
As soon as you're born you start dyin'
So you might as well have a good time"

From Cake's Sheep Go To Heaven

2006-07-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Caption this.

2006-07-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Ant marching

2006-07-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Creepy Crawly

2006-07-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

Power Flower

2006-07-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

If you stare hard and long enough, the clouds begin to move.

2006-07-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

Fly by the seat of your pants

2006-07-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

When You're Having Fun...

2006-07-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

Time Flies

2006-07-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Porcupine Tree

2006-06-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

Wet series: 3

2006-06-04T00:58:00.000-07:00

Doing the doo

2006-06-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

Spangled

2006-06-04T00:52:00.001-07:00

Wet series: 2

2006-06-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

Wet series: 1

2006-06-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

Garden grove

2006-05-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

raked?

2006-05-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Pantala Pampa Naga

2006-05-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Spunk funk

2006-05-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Golden elephants

2006-05-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

cut along the dotted lines

Beat it!

2006-04-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

My fingers hurt.

From all the mindless writing I did for my exams.

Filling pages with other peoples stories, giving critical commentary on pieces, some of which I've never even read.

But I must admit, I did this M.A. in english simply to get back in touch with literature. Since I did a bachelors in mass media we barely did any literature and it had been three years since I analysed poetry or looked at a text with any historical or sociological context.

Sure, there are poems and pieces you don't really want to "read into" so deeply into and you'd rather just enjoy for the feel of it.

Nonetheless, it is quite amusing to have some more perspectives to the
works and enjoy them in their historical context. It also helps trying to get into the mind of the author. Ain't it funny, you never know if you're trying to get into the author's mind or if the author's trying to get into yours....

Oh there I go again, writing mindlessly.

So, I don't care if the examiner is getting paid two rupees to correct those 35 damned pages i aggressively wrote through - ofcourse, provided I pass and ofcourse, i wouldn't mind a first class - sigh, beggars can't be choosers though.

But you don't HAVE to do your M.A. in english to be interested in some writing. Here's something I stumbled upon during my research, its about the beat generation, a group of poets from not too long ago.
Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.litkicks.com/Texts/ThisIsBeatGen.html

2006-04-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

oooh Skittles...

2006-04-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

That's my most favourite candy in the world...

Studying

2006-04-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

I gotta admit. I really admire nerds, and I really try hard to be one. Only, for many reasons (better left unsaid), my memory sucks. Not to mention my incredibly low span of concentration. I even have to drag myself to a library to go study. Infact, I stayed home on a Saturday night reading Brecht while my friends went partying. But Brecht wasn't the only thing I did tonight...
I came across this amazing blog where you could enter any name and it would generate something called "A Mechanical Contrivium" using that name. (By the way, the word Contrivium was not in any of the dictionaries I looked up.) Anyway, these were completely random and totally cracked me up, check them out:

The Mechanical Contrivium: Riddhi
Ten Top Trivia Tips about Riddhi!
10. Two grams of riddhi provide enough energy to power a television for over twenty-three hours.
9. It can take riddhi several days to move just through one tree!
8. Dolphins sleep at night just below the surface of riddhi, and frequently rise to the surface for air.
7. Riddhi, from the movie of the same name, had green blood.
6. Over 2000 people have now climbed riddhi, with roughly ten percent dying on the way down.
5. Originally, riddhi could not fly.
4. The only Englishman to become riddhi was Nicholas Breakspear, who was riddhi from 1154 to 1159. (this one almost killed me)
3. Cats use their riddhi to test whether a space is large enough for them to fit through!
2. Riddhi was declared extinct in 1902.
1. Riddhi was originally green, and actually contained cocaine.

The Mechanical Contrivium: Janine
Ten Top Trivia Tips about Janine!
10. By tradition, a girl standing under Janine cannot refuse to be kissed by anyone who claims the privilege.
9.The risk of being struck by Janine is one occurence every 9,300 years.
8. Janine is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the World that still survives.
7.Dolphins sleep at night just below the surface of Janine, and frequently rise to the surface for air.
6.The canonical hours of the Christian church are matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, Janine and compline.
5.Janine was declared extinct in 1902.
4. The average human spends about 30 days during their life in Janine.
3. Most bottles and jars contain at least twenty-five percent recycled Janine!
2. People used to believe that dressing their male children as Janine would protect them from evil spirits.
1. Japan provides over thirty percent of the world's Janine supply!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Deanne!
10.The moon is 400 times closer to the Earth than deanne, and 400 times smaller!
9.Deanne will often glow under UV light.
8.Influenza got its name because people believed the disease was caused by the evil "influence" of deanne.
7.Deanne can clean her ears with her tongue, which is over thirty-nine inches long.
6.The number one cause of blindness in the United States is deanne!
5.Deanne will become gaseous if her temperature rises above -42°C.
4.If you drop deanne from more than three metres above ground level, she will always land feet-first! (I know for a fact that this one's not true though.)
3.If you drop deanne from the top of the Empire State Building, she will be falling fast enough to kill before reaching the ground!
2.Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with deanne.
1.You share your birthday with deanne.

The Mechanical Contrivium: Mhatre
Ten Top Trivia Tips about Mhatre!
10.The word 'samba' means 'to rub Mhatre'.
9.It takes a lobster approximately 7 years to grow to be Mhatre.
8.If you blow out all the candles on Mhatre with one breath, your wish will come true!
7.Tradition allows women to propose to Mhatre only during leap years.
6.Mhatre is the traditional gift for a couple on their third wedding anniversary.
5.All shrimp are born as Mhatre, but gradually mature into females.
4.When Mhatre is swallowed, he will enter the blood stream within twenty minutes.
3.Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by Mhatre.
2.Mhatre can usually be found in nests built in the webs of large spiders!
1.Mhatre can be found on a Cluedo board between the Library and the Conservatory.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Amol!
10. You should always open amol at least an hour before drinking him!
9. Grapes explode if you put them inside amol!
8. Amol can last longer without water than a camel can!
7. Amol does not have toes!
6. Amol can use only about ten percent of his brain.
5. There are more than two hundred different kinds of amol.
4. There is no lead in a lead pencil - it is simply a stick of graphite mixed with amol and water.
3. All gondolas in Venice must be painted black unless they belong to amol.
2. The Church of Scientology was founded in 1953, at Washington D.C., by amol!
1. Amol can be seen from space.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Colly!
10.Colly can be seen from space!
9.Japan provides over thirty percent of the world's colly supply.
8.In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become colly on New Year's Day.
7.During the reign of Peter the Great, any Russian nobleman who chose to wear colly had to pay a special colly tax.
6.Bees visit over three million flowers to make a single kilogram of colly.
5.In the 1600s, tobacco was frequently prescribed to treat headaches, bad breath and colly.
4.Michelangelo finished his great statue of colly in 1504, after eighteen months work!
3.Colly is the world's tallest woman.
2.Over half of Americans are officially colly!
1.Colly will become gaseous if her temperature rises above -42°C.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Hebles!
10.Hebles will become gaseous if their temperature rises above -42°C!
9.The liquid inside Hebles can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
8.In the Spanish edition of Cluedo, Hebles are the victim.
7.Hebles are the only king without a moustache on the standard pack of cards!
6.Hebles can sleep with one eye open. (This might actually be true)
5.If you lace Hebles from the inside to the outside, the fit will be snugger around your big toe.
4.Bees visit over three million flowers to make a single kilogram of Hebles!
3.Hebles became extinct in England in 1486.
2.Ideally, Hebles should be stored on their side at a temperature of 55 degrees.
1.The book of Esther in the Bible is the only book which does not mention Hebles.

2006-03-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

Empty words

2006-03-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

Fishnet

2006-01-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

mirror mirror on the goa

2006-01-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

toast to the coast

2006-01-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

where the streets have no name

2006-01-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

try the sunset bathing beds

2006-01-16T10:55:00.001-08:00

gatecrashing freak creature and a cow

2006-01-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

fringed in the vapours

2006-01-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

baywatch

2006-01-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

wall paper

2006-01-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

motorcycle driveby

2006-01-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

A fine balancing act

2006-01-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

And yet another

2006-01-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

Another

2006-01-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

The hardest button to button

2006-01-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

Evening Nibble

2006-01-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Dancing Men

2006-01-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

happy 2006

2005-12-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

marooned

2005-11-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

Networked

2005-11-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

The hills are alive...

2005-11-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

2005-11-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Twisted Firestarter

2005-11-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Tinsel Town

2005-11-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Colour Therapy

2005-11-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

Golden Girdles

2005-10-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

pond-er

2005-10-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

banned

2005-10-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

unflattered

2005-10-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

just do it

2005-10-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

fuljhadi

2005-10-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

water water everywhere

2005-10-03T12:46:00.001-07:00

bird of prey

2005-10-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

glowbug

2005-10-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

when the levee breaks

2005-10-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

under the over

2005-10-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

the bangles

2005-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Arabic for good music

2005-10-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

typhoon ghetto

2005-10-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

male snail

2005-09-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

dance ganesha

2005-09-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

still on the fence?

2005-09-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

balancing act

2005-09-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

if i'm 555 you're ?

2005-09-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

the aliens have arrived

2005-09-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

pat urn

2005-09-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

un-wind

2005-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

acid rain

2005-09-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

magic potion

2005-09-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

swashbuckler

2005-09-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

All that glitters is not a mermaid

2005-06-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

crippled ripple

2005-06-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Retroversion

2005-06-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Intermingled

2005-05-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

The Noose

2005-05-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Undeniable Dilemma