Love

At kindergarten, love was all about who had the most succulent mangoes in their backyard.

At class three, love was about who was the hero, who solved all the mysteries and who was the leader.

At class nine, love was about academics. The brainier, the better.

At class twelve, love was divided amongst the ones who could smile the best.

In undergraduate days, it was about the one who was the most idealistic in my mind.

During first job, love was about who wanted to be individualistic.

At post grad, it was about a mirage of all those past loves.

Now, for the first time in my life, I am not worried about the fact that I am single.

I love me.

Why I love Seth Godin

First of all, I am yet to read any of his books. Purple Cow is a part of my pile of books to be read soon - around 500 at last count - and I have downloaded the Idea Virus too.

But what prompts me to write about this guy - surely, he doesn't need me to plug his book or blog - is purely personal. I love reading his blog. And even though love cannot be put into a framework, here's what make me go to his blog, day after day.


The colors. Sunshine. Happiness. Optimism. Orange & yellow, but not going overboard with them. Also, smaller but readable font means that more content is packed into less space, and it makes reading easier.

When I open the blog, I find the articles first - not the adverts, not product placements. Also, the navigation is intuitive and easy to use. There are very less graphics ( except for the bright yellow picture of Seth's cranium) to distract me from the content.

The content itself, is crafted lovingly, with the reader in mind. Seth knows that he is not writing a romance novel, and hence, his words dont have mush. The sentences are simple and lucid. He understands how short paragraphs are easy on the eye, and hyperlinks all reference materials - other blogs, articles, videos etc - within the article. Once in a while, a picture or an embedded video breaks the routine.

The language is never preachy. Depending on the tone, it ranges from Seth talking to a friend to Seth talking to himself. Sometimes he sounds as if he is trying to advice the friend; sometimes he seems to figure out things himself. He never falls into the trap of trying to put in a minimum number of words in each post, unlike most of us, he is not concerned about the length, but the quality.

After I started visiting the blog, I discovered other, better blogs and other reading / viewing material. He links to quality stuff, but seldom quotes from them - a mistake may wannabe Seth's don't seem to avoid.

After I finish each post, I don't feel overwhelmed. I find myself shaking my head in agreement, sometimes thinking about what he has told, and at times fwding a link to my friends, inviting them to the discussion.

Thanks Seth, for providing a set of readings which are interesting, informative, funny, thought evoking - for most of them one or a few of the above adjectives will apply - but most of all, uniformly heartfelt posts.

I can dream....

They say we fantasize to keep our sanity. Hence this post - oh, its a wish, a hope, a prayer... and an attempt to derive pleasure without actually doing it..

You kill your lungs with cancer smokes,
and mine too, by smoking when I'm nearby

You take long smoke breaks,
when we non smokers cant move out of our seats
for five minutes
without people shooting looks
which plainly say "slacker!"

When talking outside the office building -
thanks to the smoke detectors which prevent you
from puffing away in the office -
you blow the smoke into my face and clothes
And if I do ask you to ditch it,
look at me as if I am the rudest of all.


All this is pardonable - but when you creep up behind me
with your stinky mouth and peer into my workstation screen
With no warning or regard to my privacy or personal space
And too miserly to buy a mint
Just for once, can I give in to the sensation of disgust
and vomit into your face???



Dedicated to the walking stink-pile who literally breaths down my neck every time he has something to say to me. Move away!!! You are cutting off my air circulation!!!

So what is new???

I cracked the last level of a computer game that I was playing. Yup, it felt pretty good.

I started frequenting a gym. Egged on mostly because you listen to forty somethings in office discussing how many miles they can run an hour and the number of half marathons they have completed. Given that they are older and busier than me, I really don't have any excuse for not looking after my stamina.

I am quitting books. Just the buying part - my house now resembles a mini library. Need to finish at least half of them before I buy more! Oh well... second hand books really don't count - College Street, here I come!

I partied. In style. With my seniors. We danced, and it felt good to shake a leg.

I got a tattoo. A spray-on one. And it got me the most interesting person's attention in our alumni meet. Even though it was half hidden by my shirt sleeve, she came running over to me and gleefully shouted " Tattoo!!" Bless her seven year old soul, I had a better time in that party that I ever thought I would.

I straightened my hair. To some extent, given my hair stylists determined efforts to maintain at least some curls.

I saw Cheeni Kum and found pony tails sexy. I officially declare myself as a fan of Tabu, hereafter.

I caught up with Jack Sparrow, seated between two 11 year olds, pointing out Keith Richards to them and urging them to explore Rock music.

I saw Shrek 3, and went awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... over him.

I met up with my batchmates. I am looking forward to meeting them again. And again.

I get to pack my bags on a regular basis these days, thanks to my job।

And I started a photo blog to post the snaps here