generation gap - whadda phuck is dat

I recently had a chat with a 21 year old in India (no don't ask me why - long story). And the coversation was something like this:
Arati: Hi. Thanks for taking time out.
That guy: usually m onlyne at this tym ... 2nyte was juss sleepin takin some rest so got late .. :p
That guy: hey listn ... i'll be back in feu mins ... have a grup meetihn ...
Arati: sure
That guy: sowwi to cut down da convers,
Arati: No problem at all :)
That guy: back .. still onlyne ...
Arati: yup- gimme 5 mins <-- that gimme was my cool factor that I gathered in the small break i got
That guy: no worries take ur tyme... pyce
Arati: what is pyce ?
That guy: peace
Arati: oh

Finally after a few conversations, when I conceded that I am not getting his phonetic language he said:
ohhh ... lol ... sowwi for da discomfrt u faced :p

Well..
Next moment I was telling everyone around about the language being spoken by 21 year olds. I was under the impression that I could still talk to any person of any age group without really needing any efforts to understand what he is trying to say. Well seems like thats's not true with me and current 21 year olds. That was a surprise for me. I thought - "...Gawd...whad dis erld iz cuming 2?" (that sorta language is infectious)

Just then, my brother sent me a mail that I had sent 5 years ago to my previous company - it was my farewell(good bye) mail and it went like this:


Some wisdom rather quest of adventure has pushed thee into the snare of IIT, Kanpur whose ostentatious AC departments have besotted thee and prompted to renounce the banana chips and the most coveted seat in Sigma house in lovable Persistent. Included in this Buddha-act of renunciation is the 50 MB of email account arati_kadav@persistent.co.in.
But temptations manifests itself in different forms and thee have opened two new accounts :
aratikadav@yahoo.com
aratikadav@hotmail.com
with its modest accommodations.
For alternative mode of information transmission one has:
(0712)2543811 my phone number in the ancestral flat
502,Shiv Gaurav Estate
1, Bhagwaghar Layout
Dharampeth
Nagpur-10
Thous mails would be the only consolation in thee's period of exile that would last for 2 years.So good bye my friends for tis now the time that we set forth to meet face to face that what we fear:). Here's wishing thou's happiness, progress and heavenly glory.
A supercalli fragillus expalidotius colleague of yours, Arati
P.S1- Would really miss my favorite habitat
P.S2- Couldn't help pestering by this-type mail :)


Hmmm...So it is not just this 21 year old guy, I think I have a generation gap with all 21 year olds that ever existed - including myself...:)...Tis not thee but i dat bcam difren...

PS1: My heart aches to see that in our times we used Shakerpearean touch to influence our language and today's kids use Shaggy's touch to influence their language.
PS2- My heart aches even more when I see myself using phrases like "in our times" and "today's kids" :(.

All men are born equal

unless they are born women...
"Ladki ka kanyadaan sampann hua"
I am one of those lucky few who have experienced equality of sexes enough to perceive that there are inequalities still existing in our society. And I wince at the fact that I tolerated it.
My marriage apart from celebrations of union of 2 souls (ok - gimme a break :)!) was also illuminating in the sense I realized how much sexual discrimination is prevalent in our society and is being carried forward in the name of "culture" and if not culture "tradition".
And I don't know what it is(s it the Gladiator movie I just saw) that has instigated me to voice it right now. Why is there kanyadaan? Why do the bride's family host the marriage function? Why does the girl leave to the groom's house?
Its not for myself but my heart goes out for 1000s of those girls who grow up in their family, happily bossing their younger brothers, being pampered by their father and mother -leave everything and go and settle in some different town, burdened by "customs", need to touch feet at the drop of a hat, need to not raise her eyes, need to cook without ready-to-eat packs. Well with time, she adjusts, she earns her postion, she wins the love of her husband and folks around, but yeah, the first day - like for a small kid left in a hostel by her parents - my heart goes out to her...

Afterthought ...

I think it is possible for a person to be in love with two folks :).

Love ...

Yesterday I had a very engaging discussion with my friends ... About being in love with 2 folks (I can hear mary chuckle as she reads the above line) ...It all started with the movie "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" where the female was confused about whom she should marry.
By my definition of love - I felt it was not possible at same point in time to be in love with 2 folks, at different points in time totally possible and if you are talking about true love as being love of human beings then yeah at that state you can feel for multiple people...a few of them felt that I did not open up to the mental state of other folks who can fall in love with two folks ... I on the otherhand had a point of view that those folks feel that they are in love but I dont think they are and in the course of discussion some very interesting point of views came up - love is extreme form of likeness, you cannot love 2 people at the same time as a director cannot make two movies at the same time (or a painter cannot draw two paintings at the same time), love consumes you, or that all consuming love is actually infactuation, and a very interesting point that love has a imaginary part and a real part , will you stop loving if the person leaves you? However, finally as true blue engineers we concluded that if love can be measured in intensity in a scale from 1 to 10, and if at point 7 we reach a state that only one person can be loved by you then that is my definition of love and if someone defines love as point 5 then he can possibly be in love with multiple folks...then someone said tumhaara love love aur hammara love paani, when someone else retorted, tumhaare love ki definition hee paani hai..lot of logic and mathematics went into defining what love is and I thought let me have one attempt to describe the feeling of love for myself (as what I feel is love) starting from a clean slate but deriving from my own observations and experiences. I fear that I might end up contradicting myself at different points or change my course- as that's what I feel love is - illogical, constantly changing, confusing ...

But then I also feel it is a state of peacefulness, a state of security, a place of belonging...it sometimes begins with a state of complete chaos...how lucky are those who have experienced that chaos, who have experienced that complete madness, loss of identity, breakdown of reason, loss of the concept of "I". It's a state of high, its a state of restlessness. It's a state of "goose bumps and sudden smiles". It's that stage when you argue against yourself, against your own reasons.. it awakens you from your mundane slumber, it intensifies if you try to defy it, you find a purpose, purpose in a person... It's a feeling you fail to comprehend , or justify to someone else - "Arre you won't understand" - as this feeling is not coming from your conscious, it is coming from you unconscious, the part of you who doesnot care about reasons, have you ever felt that part of yours? Have you ever had to answer the question - "why are you smiling" :).
If you accept that chaos, accept that breakdown of self, your chaos ends in an harmony, the harmony I call as love, as you have acknowledged that crazy self of yours, as you have realized that living life is about experiencing this chaos...and your concept of self has expanded to include that other person. This state of harmony is not dependent on the reciprocation of love, it is only dependent on your own acceptance of it...the need for reciprocation is there only if the concept of self hasn't broken down...but it has....the acceptance gives you security, feeling of belonging within yourself... you have grown. You have experienced some of your feelings through someone else. Someone just shook you... defying all instincts of survival you have placed someone before yourself, you became one with your creator ...
Is it infactuation, may be, am I a maniac, may be :), is it beginning of a true love, may be...

and i am back

it has probably been 3-4 months since i posted anything here and even longer since I have had any creative juices flowing.
Much has happened since then - I am married (to someone who I think has stolen my tiffin box), have made a few videos - Our monkeys production has debuted with Andy's farewell and so on. I haven't cooked except the shrimps with coconut and onion (which turned out okayish) and have developed a new addiction to dack chocolate covered espresso beans which I am chewing even now. I am a few pounds heavier, can take 6 shots without getting drunk, havr dicovered friendship with my tough guy -russian colleague and yeah got a huge tattoo on my back.
Mentally too - in my recent few months I have lived my life from outside when I was going through the marriage ceremony - was trying to grasp things - debating the possible viaolent history of the marriage ceramony (guy comes with a sword on a horse) and complaining aboot sexual discrimination - why do girls have to go to guys' family? - trying to get perspective of things - and then have lived my life from within - on having a companion who understands my questions - never ignores my aspirations - sometimes dreams on my behalf and yeah most importantly makes sense out of me.
I have also discovered my new passion for movie making - have only made videos and skits but in those i like the idea of orchestrating a small fictitious word - it is just like writing a blog or cooking, you see a medley of thoughts meeting, parting ways - sometimes you fear that you might end up in a cacaphony but then there is a feeling of triumph when you come up witha a melody.
With that - let the thoughts flow - lets restart the blog.