Thursday, July 07, 2005

Surreal Thursday

In the last three days I have seen two sights which would have moved me to poetry if I had any sense of lyrical meter. Despite spending three years studying English Literature at Stephen's, and even doing decently well on tutes on arcane subjects such as the iambic pentameter (Shakespeare's preferred mode) and countless lectures by teachers, I think I lost all the substance they wanted to pass on in a stoned daze. Anyway, back to the topic, today afternoon I heard that a friend's father had passed away, and being a bit more active than my lazy self a few years ago (and getting over my morbid fear of crematoriums) I went to Lodhi Road.
Depressing is an understatement. A half burned jawbone has seared itself into my memory. And the smell is beyond description. However, one of the joys of Videocon Tower is that on days that the wind turns you can smell freshly cremated flesh. But, its different when the formerly animate carbon based lifeform was someone you knew. Quite strangely different. The last time I went to a funeral, it was because a friend from my schoolbus had died in the Uphaar tragedy. That scared me from crematoriums for eight years. However, I guess that visiting crematoriums will become part of my life from now on. Not the best thought to have in the back of your head, and a lot less appealing than sex, but its gonna stay. I'm not scared of dying, I'm just scared of witnessing death all around me. Scared may not be the best term, I'm just, I don't know what... I mean when I die, I won't have to bear the sight of cremation. Well, I guess its life I have to deal with it.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
The other great sight I wanted to wax lyrically, in a Caferati style about was the beauty of the monsoon clouds. I've taken some very nice pictures of the sea of clouds that I flew over on my way to and way back from Calcutta, and I guess the mobile (it was in offline mode before someone starts admonishing me about using a mobile in-flight, anyway there is no risk to the plane its all about mobile companies, and lets not start talking technology) took very good pictures. Once I pay the broadband bill, I'll post the pictures. Some of them are really very beautiful, but no camera can capture the beauty of what I saw. It was tremendous.
On Technorati and Blogdex the big thing, rather city is London right now. Imagine the city, one day tremendous joy, the next chaos. This hasn't been an attack with ferocity of the Madrid blasts, but the work of a sick mind nonetheless. I fail to understand what purpose this attack will serve, it might strengthen British resolve, and as Churchill demonstrated, that resolve is legendary.
Anyway, the ferocity of the comments to this post of mine, which I didn't even know about until two minutes ago, have me a bit bewildered. What began on a cryptic (maybe not) statement on media owners was quickly turned into a Bong versus Punjabi war. It took a Goan to bring everything back to normal. Yaar, end of the day, the as long as members two communities are exchanging bodily fluids, its all good. The Nobel Prize thing needed a bit of elucidation though!

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