Puppy love

I’ve been fooling around for way to long now. Ideas for a blogpost have been pouring from my brain ever since it realized the sheer magnitude of boredom I have to suffer during lectures xP So, time for a post served up straight from my heart <3

I miss my dog .

It is funny because just about a year back – I didn’t own a dog.

And I used to hate dogs . Okay hate is a strong word – I couldn’t tolerate dogs – I found them very needy.

Then something changed.

The dog in the basket apparently grew up :')

My brother , who emanates doggie love ever since he has been born , came home carrying a heavy basket. Attracted immediately, I demanded to know what was contained in that basket. And to my surprise it was the cutest puppy which was just a few days old :’) and thankfully it wasn’t gonna stay in our place for long. It was to be adopted by my cousin much to my brother’s dismay.  His lifelong thirst for doggie love wasn’t going to be quenched just yet.  And mine was just about to begin!

poser

One fine day during the summery month of June ( okay all the months are summery in chennai -_- :P ) I heard a bark from MY backyard. What was a dog doing in our backyard? :O Okay , maybe I am overreacting here. Our house being a million years old , attracted all species of insects and animals , stray cats purposefully strutting about the hallway wasn’t very uncommon . Still! Stray dogs barking from the backyard simply took it to a whole new level.

Initially everybody at home ( sans my brother) treated the dog ( which would inevitably be named laika ) with disdain and it was quite obvious that we would chase it out soon. Yaja (bro) didn’t even demand for a dog because he knew the answer to that futile question already , “ How can you take care of a dog , when you cannot take care of yourself in the first place?”. However Laika proved to be a beacon of perseverance , clawing and digging her way back to our backyard and after a point we simply gave up chasing her.  Reluctantly she was enlisted into our mad family .

I must describe her here. Not beautiful in the quintessential way , Laika is ravishingly eyecatching with her inhuman energy and innate naughtiness, which is very contagious . A total ragamuffin – she looked like a little sheep when she joined us. Black spots merge with her white coat seamlessly and she had very silky hair for a stray . She is the first love of my life.

My baby

During the early days , I was very hesitant to make any contact with her. My toleration level permitted me to just about share a room with her. However Laikoos has a natural gift of winning over people she really wants to win over. With her insistent love and boyish charm , she slowly entered seeped into the rock which was my heart . Times I have spent with her since are pure magic and now I can only relive them as memories. Thankyou college L

Owning a pet IMO, fundamentally alters you as a person. Read Dean Koontz’s ‘ A big little life’ , a story of his dog trixie and the various meanings he attaches to her and the role she plays in his life. All that unconditional love makes you feel rightly undeserving and surely irks you enough to strive for improvement. Life becomes a little bit rosier, much more cheerful and optimistic when a dog is in love with you.  The faith they show in you sometimes restores your faith in humanity.

Okay enough philosophy.

Getting a bit more specific , I read this article on Pune mirror which set my thoughts in motion. It was about the increasingly violent behavior of stray dogs in Pune and how they are disturbing the lives of civilians and even killing rare species for their meals. So , the paper feels that dog catchers are right in ‘catching and putting an end to the dog menace’ .

I definitely agree that Rabies is a scary disease but animal cruelty is an uglier one.

The dogs should definitely be vaccinated for their and our own good. But dogs don’t bite for no reason . Yes , there are some mad dogs like there are a few mad human beings loitering  this world. Provocation is a 2 way street. Dogs don’t generally enjoy biting humans for fun – it is usually the other way around . We like torturing them by throwing stones and even imitating them . This attitude must be changed . Children from a ripe age must be taught that dogs and other animals deserve the same treatment as the so called ‘superior’ humans.

Okay getting preachy again. All I wanna say is that people should stop this blind paranoia of hating animals , without even attempting to love. For love is always more natural than hate and if we believe otherwise we are fundamentally flawed in nature .

P.S – Have a pet.

P.S . S – I am turning a complete vegetarian after this post. 

Photo credits - Yajur Jayaprakash

Yours

Semi 

Miss Gadget B|

Very recently, I read an article by a friend and it was regarding the role played by gadgets on our lives. And it set some thoughts in motion. What am I without my electronic playthings? In my case (similar to many other cases) electronic gadgets are not a mere decoration or style symbol. They are my lifeline to the outside world. But, are they becoming so indispensable that I cannot lead a life without them?  So what if they do become indispensable – is it really ‘wrong’ to be dependent on our devices, isn’t it like our immediate future? In this post, I am planning to self analyze on the importance of the gadgets in MY life and I hope it mirrors something  and rubs off on you :P

The following are gadgets I hang out with:

1.   1.    Phone -

The most abundant and obvious option available. Every Tom, dick and harry and even every shiva , vishnu and hari owns a phone xP I own an android - Samsung galaxy S duos – not the fanciest but hey!  Not the lamest either. Once upon a time popular for texting, however nowadays phones are increasingly being used to whatsapp , wechat or bbm your friends. Facebook through phone, selfies through camera are also popular features. Busy bee peeps can actually use their phone for emailing, memos and even as a planner. Incidentally phone can also be used to make calls :P although I find my phone hanging the most when I open my number pad -_-  I think I can survive WITHOUT my phone only if I have another source of internet and if I hate the human race suddenly ( it does happen frequently in my case :P) P.S – Nokia 1100 will always be the best ‘phone’ ever.

 

2.     2.  Laptop - 

    IMO every college student and professional needs a laptop. It is a gateway to research and a weapon to destroy deadlines J . More importantly it helps you download and watch millions of movies and t.v shows :’), play awesome PC games xD and serves as a library and organizer for your e-books and music. When I lack a laptop in my life I feel severely incapacitated. That too when you live in a hostel, far away from the slow but steady P.C which till today remains a faithful backup guy J p.s – I have a HP lappy .

3.     3.  iPad –Generally ridiculed to be an absolutely useless device , the iPad is absolutely useless. Unless you know how to use it. Guys should really stop saying ‘ the only reason people buy an iPad is to show off that they have one’ . Agreed. There are some techie snobs who purchase apple products to show off. But when you own an iPad – YOU OWN AN iPAD!! There are millions of awesome apps to download from the iTunes storeJ instagram , facebook , google plus , paper , zomato , maps , evernote, snap guide …. I can keep going on about them ^_^  While you can’t carry a laptop everywhere you can certainly move around with your iPad and do almost all the same tasks more efficiently. Okay enough advertising. I do think I CAN live without my second generation iPad.

4.       4.Headphones –

I cannot even picture my life without my most recent acquisition; MY SKULL CANDY headphones!! Refreshingly red, they add another dimension to my otherwise quieter life . Persistent exposure to loud music does injure one’s ears but #YOLO YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE *__*   P.S – own good headphones. They really enhance your life :’) and NO , I shall not last a day without ‘em .

5.       5.Ebook reader –

Currently I live without one. My kindle died a month ago and it was one of the more emotional funerals of my life :’( while E-book readers generally aren’t the locus of our lives, they are always there in the peripheries. Living without them is painful. While an iPad is helpful for reading books – it is not as welcoming to a diversity of formats like a kindle. Ohh Kindle I miss you so much :*

6.       6.Mp3/iPod  – You obviously need one dude. Why? Music makes life beautiful ^_^  I own a transcend and iPod shuffle 3 .

7.       7.Pen drive – Only reason my friends share their t.v shows / projects / digital data with me. Wayyy more storage and utility than a cd or floppy. Really musing how small the next storage device will be. Can live without it – if your friends are willing to share theirs with you :P

While my predicament may seem doomed towards addiction, trust me when I say that all these gadgets are very useful and make up my life. I can try explaining how ‘my’ generation has been brought up with these devices and so inevitably and intricately connected to this nexus of electronics but fact of the matter is that too much of anything is bad.

 Yes devices are quicker but they make us lazier.

 Yes they save trees via paper but they waste expensive electricity.

 Yes, they were made to save time but in reality they waste a lot of time.

 At the end of the day they are mere things they have no evil intention of their own to eat up our time.

 It is up to you and me to decide how to use them

. Live life king size but also don’t forget to be wise!!

 ;) ___/\____

Ciao till then

Semi B| 

Friendship is

sss reached 100 posts with the sickbird xD this is post #101 B| To a 100 more! *clink glasses* and disclaimer : photos strictly copied from google :P no credits to me! maybe selection credits :P 

Friendship is scary,

It leaves you scarred

Brimmed with memories

Hits you with emotions

And kills you with joy

Friendship is as universal

As tomato sauce

And as natural as

A  mother’s milk

Friendship is  a tranquil moment

Amidst chaotic madness

The ability to laugh

Even after a hundred million fights. 

 Friendship is not winning

But -  losing for your person.

That one peep <3

For whom you would turn a creep!

      Friendship is madness!!

Throw your brain ,

Out  the window .

And lose your heart and sanity forever

and after.

The Sickbird

I found this short story in my draftboard and was appalled that a) i wrote this in 2010 b)forgot that i wrote it c) my english was so bad xP I did find it a bit intriguing and so i am posting it. Don't ask me where i got the story line from - I am as clueless. 

Everyone got sick of the sickbird after one point or the other. She always complained about some pain or the other.At first they thought they were real and sympathized with her.That was true even for our hero Hari. She was a distant aunt to him and had come to stay in his house for a week for some unknown reasons.
The event thus follows their first meet : 
Hari came home after playing bone breaking , eyeball scratching basketball and came home with legs full of bruises and tee shirt full of dirt. He headed directly to the bedroom and locked it before his mother could stop him.He started removing his tee shirt and headed to the bathroom which was attached to his room.He was about to open the door when the door opened by itself and a small lady was there in her towel. "AAAHH" he cried out. "Abishtu! Abistusheshu!" yelled the puny lady.
"WHO? who are you?..." 
"I should ask you that, young man! How dare do you come inside an occupied bathroom"
"I.......er.....didn't know. SORRY"
"what sorry? blah blah blah etc etc.....*fie minutes later* OK who are you?
"well, I live in this house........"
"Oh !! HARI!! Ayyo evalavu valandutha!(u have grown so tall!) YOU are leela's son right?!"
"no! she's my mom" he grinned.She didn't get it. Anyways that is the weird introduction


Getting to know the sick bird:
After she finally left his room , hari had a hot shower and came down to have dinner.There only the small lady's voice could be  heard. She was telling them, " Hari is soo naughty! He was waiting outside the bathroom to scare his poor aunty! He doesn't know that I have heart problem.Shiva shiva! My BP seems to be high and heart is slightly starting to ache! Do you have jfienjadj tablet? NO! Oh my god it is such a important tablet nowadays what with all these boys screaming and yelling.........can u buy it......its only rs.200....I will soon pay it back....."
and that was only the beginning of a long list of ailments Hari had never before heard in the 13 years of his life put together , let alone in one place affecting a single woman! Immediate sympathy and impulsive concern were slowly replaced by obvious disbelief and the inevitable deafness that teenagers develop after being over exposed to adults. 
He had no idea who she was and how long she was going to stay. But he was sure as hell that he didn't care about her whereabouts and her illness. He wanted that tiny bundle of sickness to leave his abode ASAP. This apparently exaggerated hatred finds more context after we learn that the sickbird has nested in hari's room and that he is forced to sleep on the hall sofa - ouch. 

Shooing the bird : 
He decided to make her life a living hell - atithi devo bhava not withstanding the test of times - . He couldn't openly ask her to get out, for he would be thrown out if his parents heard of it. So passive aggression won the day.
At first it happened by turning a deaf ear,
"dei hari kanna! I feel very weak , can you go buy me a dozen bananas from the shop?"
Christ! What do bananas even have to do with feeling weak?! He simply continued tying his shoe lace and walked out with his basketball . When he came back two hours later , sweating from head to toe after  playing two practice matches at a trot , the sickbird was still sitting on the same sofa in the exact position from 2 hours ago!
She opened her eyes and very casually asked " Where are my bananas?" .
The next step was learning to say no. So he grinded his teeth and said " No aunty , I am very tired , I am going to sleep".
"WHAT?! tired at this young age? It is no excuse! When I was your age I used to walk 6 kilometers to the railway station and another 5 before I reached my school. We never got fancy footwear and clothes like you kids and ate very spartan food . Now go buy me my bananas or else I'm complaining  you to your parents * all in chaste tamil - translated for you *
Bewildered by her sudden outburst he did end up running the errand for her .

a hopeless hypochondriac or is something graver?

Telling  mom -
6 weeks flew by and there was still  no reprieve for Hari . It took him all his 13 years to convince his parents to give him his own room and yet all it took was an annoying aunty to intrude it! Oh how he would love to play a prank on her. However , firsthand experience had taught him that he would be the one that was crying by the end of it.
Amma was busy in the kitchen cutting vegetables. He pitched in and started cutting the onions. His mom's curiosity got aroused and so she asked , " Fine . What do you want? ".
"Nothing , i just decided to help my mom"
" On a sunday , by cutting onions! Comedy pannadha hari" ( stop trying to be funny hari )
" I know right. I'll tell you a better way - stop inviting guests all the time. That too ones who never help and never leave."
She gave him a long stare - one that usually shushed him and secretly scared him out of his wits - and then after a long silence began speaking.
"Geetha aunty is not an unwanted guest. In fact , we're the ones who forced her to stay here. You do not know anything about her and I am going to tell you some things so that you will truly understand and respect her. However , this should remain a secret and never leave these 4 walls , understand"
Hari nodded his head vigorously.
"Geetha is a very distant relative of ours . I don't want to bore you with details. Two years ago , while traveling to your poonal ceremony , she lost her whole family in a car accident and is suffering from PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. She believes that she shouldn't have lived and that is why she keeps complaining of ailments which she doesn't seem to have. I need you to be a little patient and sensitive with her hari . I know it has been rough for you , giving up your room which you love so much. Growing up is not only about having your own room but also being sensitive to ones around you"
Hari was stunned by this over load of information and needed time to process it all and hence he simply muttered , "okay".
"Also I never ever want you to judge a person by their appearances and behavior"
"I never did!" he shot back
" I am your mother darling. If someone is unpleasant to you or asks you to do something you hate , promise me that you will try to see their side of the coin also"
"i promise"

Later that evening , Hari's dad Mr.Swaminathan was pleasantly surprised by his son's extremely courteous behaviour to their overstaying house guest. Seeing his wife's mischievous smile he asked her what was happening , to which she replied , " Hari still hasn't matured enough to respect his guests - so I told him a small lie" she winked.
" By the way when is the sickbird leaving? I'm sick of her trying to make me believe that she has pulmonary edema and that her blood vessels are leaking blood or some other impossible medical condition...! "
" I never asked you before swami... but why is she like this?"
"Oh this! She has just been craving for attention since birth - a hopeless hypochondriac . Hope her husband picks her up soon enough."

Indian mothers! xD

Hari never learnt that it was a lie and went on to become a very hospitable host in life( so much so that many relatives had a 'hari day' in their calendar and visited him atleast once a year).Geetha aunty aka sickbird continued to complain of weak blood vessels and hernia and even dyslexia wherever she went. Leela died a contented mother filled with secrets that made her son into a fine young man.
 

Everyday I'm shufflin' xD

Music plays a vital role in all our lives.It makes the world a much more beautiful place to live in :) If there was a situation where i had to choose one among my 5 senses - I would pick hearing. In my opinion,

'Those who can't listen to music are deaf and those who don't are dumb'

 For a long time music to me was synonymous with film music- that too tamil songs. A.R . Rahman and Ilayaraja will remain my favorites forever and after :P
Harris , Yuvan , Vidyasagar , Anirudh , DSP are my other favorites in tamil music industry.

Even when i was a toddler of 2, I used to dance for 'mustafa mustafa' - the friendship anthem :') Due to my grandmother's influence I was forced to attend carnatic concerts and  much to everyone's amazement I ENJOYED THAT ALSO :O
Adults being adults , mistook my enthusiasm towards listening to music as equal to that of practicing it. and umm... that didn't go too well :P Only after my music teacher passed away due to blood cancer and my keyboard master got a brain stroke did they realize that my learning music didn't augur well for the universe.
Finally left alone to pursue 'listening' ,   I expanded my auditory horizons by adding western ( a bit late i admit) , hindi and anything youtube offered to my repertoire.

Listening to music also means another thing to me - shuffling. I let my shuffle do the talking , in this case singing! Weirdly my mp3 player and my itunes player, read my mood pretty well and have come handy in times of distress and happiness .
So why am I rambling about music all of a sudden?
a) music rocks
b) i have to write something :P
c) I have always wanted to put on my shuffle player and write a song about the random tune that pops :D
So here we go--------!!!-------??-----xD------>

1. This song didn't come in the shuffle. But what the heck :P This song really needs to be talked about and promoted. The song is called 'ezhavu' and it features in the underrated tamil film '5 5 5 ' . So what is so special about this track? Apart from the hilarious one liners sprinkled and the groovy beat that makes this instantly adorable , it is completely based on the creepy theme of 'DEATH' . Kudos to the director for deciding to do a song on death which many usually may find on the wrong side of superstition. This song DESERVES TO GO VIRAL.

2.The biggest tamil hit of 2012 , "sollitaley ava kadhala" ( she has told her love) in the voice of ranjitha and Shreya Ghosal pushed its music director to the zennith of his career. The album kumki has cleaned up all the music awards this year. One listen in to the album and you'll know why. Staying true to its tribal elephant based identity , almost all its tracks are melodies and the folk one is a trendsetter! This particular song though simple, stands out for its melodious tune , voice of the singers and also the stunning visualisation of the hilly forests <3

3. Ah! A kamal song on his birthday = perfect xD Didn't I tell you about the freaky skills of my itunes shuffle? 'Germaniyin' song sung by the legendary S.P.B and Janaki in the film 'Ulasa Paravaigal' ( happy birds) has achieved cult status and is one of the earlier songs of ulayaganayagan Kamal Haasan :') It is one of the favorite songs of my parents and really shows us why Kamal was known as the kadhal mannan ;) ( king of romance ) 

4.'Modhi Vilayadu' sung by Hariharan and Deva is popular for the very reason. It signifies the confluence of two very different legends who are kings of their own domains. While Deva is more popular for his 'gaana' or folk/ mass songs , Hariharan is the undisputed king of melodies. This song inspires and lifts up my mood every time i listen to it . And the fact that it is partly about cricket helps matters xD

          

5.'Runaway Heart' by Glenna is fiercely addictive and literally pulls your heart strings . It is my favorite track from the one tree hill album :'D The fact that a 20 second promo song can refuse to leave your heart and force you to track it down restores my faith in music. And for obvious reasons I visualize lucas and peyton everytime i listen this song. Why did they not end the show after the 6th season itself? :/

6. 'Parda' from once upon a time in mumbai is one of the few songs I gathered from MTV . Till then I didn't have much clue about Ajay Devgn ( apart from the fact that he  was Kajol's husband) and I still don't :P Stylish song , remake of the retro times and Sunidhi Chauhan is really flawless xD Monicaaa oh my daarling!

7 .Last song. c'mon shuffle! 'Bleed it out' by linkin park is a wild wild song ^.^ I listened to the live concert version of this song and it brought about my 'live songs' craze - where I would download the live versions of tracks instead of the official ones , much to the dismay of my friends. 'Bleed it out' is the kind of song where you can scream your guts out along with the song and feel like a rockstar and of course go CRAZY!!

As usual my shuffle has brought about spectacular variety to a small span of seven songs. I really don't know about the end product but i swear making this post and reliving these songs has been FUN indeed :D

Hoping it rubs off on you also , 

Semi :)