Dear readership of 21,

Silly how I cannot bring myself to write in spite of great many things to write about. The Opposite of Writers' Block - something like a Bottle Neck.

Anyhow. There are stories and stories and stories I wish I could pour out on this blog right now. Let me start off making a list of things to clear some of my cerebral clutter.

1. My oh-so-awesome Europe Trip...ok, UK trip...but Scotland, Ireland & London man!!
2. Latest obsession - Pygmalion & other works of George Bernard Shaw (He is half Irish, half British...no points in guessing my UK trip hangover is far from being over)
3. My first impressions of the Rosogulla land  - Kolkata. Oh! and how I stayed at the country's first Floating hotel aptly named Floatel on Babughat opposite the marvelous and majestic SBI HQ office and a mere hop-skip-jump from Eden Gardens Stadium!!
4. Staying alone...Staying alive.. in Biryani land - Hyderabad
5. And finally since my work involves some bit of traveling, I am contemplating writing my own version of 'The Terminal" (Desi Tom Hanks anyone? Feel free to contact me :P)  

And so deadlines and hectic schedules be damned. Here I am..making a start all over again to make peace with my blogging alter-ego so as not to piss her off and shoo her away for months at end like last time.

Its nearly office time...and I hate the fact that this post doesn't really have any purpose other than a quick 'hi, wassup world. me still alive, ok bye.'

So a post this is! And  I promise to update to my lovely audience of 21 followers and any other misguided random lurker...thou shalt blog regularly from this day onwards...till death and/or bad internet connection do us part.

Amen.

Asian Paints Ad...Ver Rutuja1.0

Kabhi aisa ho jaye ki hum office hi na jaye..
ghar baithe hi anokhi ek picnic manaye

khidkiyon se kare baate, pooche hawaaon ka haal-chaal..
"kya chahiye rangeen parde?" unse hum karein sawaal

kitchen ke bartanon se bhi aaj ho jaye baatein do-char..
cheeni ki meethi chhuri aur achar ki tej-khatti dhaar

tapakte hue nal ke aaj aasoon poch le..
geyser ki garma-garmi se bhi sulaah kara de

bedroom ka aaina kitni baar bulaye..
aaj phursat se usme apni parchhayee taak le

jab arse se balcony ke paudhe sirf hari pattiyan ugaaye..
tab toh phulon ki gowd bharai ki aaj maang kii jaye

darwaza chup chap jab door khada reh jaaye..
aaj uski bhi dosti deewaron se kii jaye

ek hasi aaj is ghar me bhi baaton..
kabhi is ghar ko waqt aur pyaar se sawaron

kuch na keh kar bhi ghar bahot kuch kehta hai
har ghar yeh kehta hai...andar isme mera apna rehta hai!

Adhoore Khwaab...

choti aankhen dekhe bade khwaab
mushkil sawaalon ke mange jawaab
khwaab dekhne par na thi pabandi
ziddi mann chahe unka hona puri

Missed Call

She wanted to look her best for him.
Kajal, silver bangles, bright orange kurti.

Decked as Indian summer she made her way to office,
Like autumn leaves, her face paled on knowing he had called in sick.

***

Distracted.

It's foolish the number of times I have begun writing a post, lost the train of thoughts and dumped it into drafts. I love the idea of writing while listening to music. I start with finding the right song for my mood to build up the whole environment (Hindi has a very apt term for it - samaa bandhana. English pales in comparison). Anyway, so one starts with finding the right song for the right mood and hopes to publish a blog-post one is happy with...but things somehow run down-hill after the whole youtubing thing.

Here's what happens with me:

• Create a playlist of similar mood songs on Youtube - say - Romantic
  
• Forget that one song from that really insignificant movie starring Salman Khan & that actress from the South.
• Try recollecting her name for 26 odd seconds. Ditch.
  
• Google for 'Salman Khan + Actress from South' to come up with some ridiculous search results.
• A lil' more head scratching....Ahan!! Her name in the movie was Maggie! (Talk about some food for thought!)
  
• Google for 'Salman + Maggie' - Love it is! All hail IMDb.
• Oh btw, check out this review at the bottom of the page here.
• Haan, so where was I? Yes, "Saathiya...yeh tune kya kiya"
• Buzz on GTalk - ofcourse its an old friend and I am not the one to go invisible after being buzzed, no sire. So one replies, patiently..using very little words just to give the right indication that one might be caught up in something important at the moment or when all fails 'brb' to the rescue.
• Wouldn't it be better to just change the status message to 'Busy' for a while. But no sire no, we are not the ones to simply put up a plain, boring status message are we? We are the creative class (or so we think) so it has to be a creatively borrowed 3rd line of that ghazal one once heard and is not very sure of the meaning. But what if someone pings to ask the meaning and catches one unawares! Imagine the horror! So we google for the meaning and then put up a status msg something like this:
  Kuch to mere pindar-e-mohabbat ka bharam rakh
  Tu bhi to kabhi mujhko manane ke liye aa...Ranjish hi sahi....
  
• Almost 11.5 mins since I last checked FB updates :|
• Yayness! He liked my status msg...need a wittier come-back. Google. (Yes, lame.)
• Hey, new video posted by him..must be something cool...let me check it out!
• Superb video! Like. Comment. Share.
• Hayyee. Relationship status update by Rohan & Pri? kab? kyu? kaise? and most imp. ab kiske saath? ;) (Yes, we are like that only)
• So, where was I? Video..FB...imdb...google...youtube...blogspot!

And so, in this brilliant manner a perfect blogging mood get wasted by yours truly's utter stupidity and one sinks further down the depression of not blogging enough. Does this happen to you? any foolproof solution?

P.S: While I was writing this blog, the following conversation ensued with a friend.

Ashok: abbe

rutuja: hi

Ashok: give me suggestions

rutuja: for?

Ashok: things to do

i got absolutely no work in office today :|

rutuja: haha

i m blogging..abt how i get distracted while blogging

and end up not blogging :P

Ashok: lol

i am guessing you would mention me in the credits section :P

rutuja: brb :D

@ Ashok - There you go...you got a mention on my blog! I used my first 'brb-to-the-rescue' weapon on you and holly mighty did it work!! I am extremely pleased with myself (or as they say in Queen's Land - I am mighty chuffed right now!) for almost having completed this piddly blogpost which may not mean much to the world but is a no small feat for this girl.

Heart-broken

Its official! Google devta is officially miffed at me :'(

First the randomness of gmail - no not in a metaphorical way.
Pings I never received, mails that came in hours later - and no, its not bad internet speed.

Then the blogger.com started playing truant...with the template designer being down for last two days. How is a girl supposed to 'get back' to her blogging? Especially after being told by an ardent follower that the existing template is hideous? Oh, and dont you point finger at me for the font size here. I tried.

I may have worked for Yahoo but I love you, Google. There. I said it.

And I did not cheat on you with this guy here. He was just a minor distraction - nothing more than a rebound relationship. You, on the other hand, are the one forever. The one who stays back even when the party is over. No, not the caterer asking for money. You know what I mean.

Sigh. Just come back.

Of gyri and sulci...

So I read this article today and couldn't help but wonder if life does come easy for a blessed few? While the rest of us toil hard to face our share of hits and misses?
Picture this: A poster boy for shtudness aced through his school life cracking all the Maths & Physics Olympiads on his way. He could name all the moons of Jupiter and recite the period table in a single breathe. Ok, may be he sucked at Social Sciences but then he had real brains, which did not require cramming of useless data like the year of Battle of Plassey or the gory details of Third Battle of Panipat.

And of course he had dreams. Big Dreams. Astrophysicist or Nuclear Scientist. Stanford, MIT and Carnegie meant something to him even at that tender age of 17. He went on to crack the IIT Jee with a single digit AIR. Yes, the digit mattered. A LOT. Not to undermine his hard-work, he burnt midnight oil too..may be even went through short-lived phases of self-doubt and insecurities. But in the end that didn't matter coz he did make it Comp Science at IIT-B. Mom and dad couldn't be more happier and proud. He was the stuff that makes relatives hope their kids would turn into.

Fours years of IIT was a breeze or may be not. But as the guy here says - I generally only study one day before the exam; it is a habit with all IIT engineers. He studied for a day..may be even went through the ordeal of giving a whole of TWO mock-cats and viola! IIM A was pounding at his door.

No, I am not jealous. Ok, I am. Will this guy never get out of his Chronic Over-achiever Syndrome? Will reality never bite him? Where is struggle and that much talked about failure? Obviously he has managed to side-step this stepping stone to success and probably hopped, skipped and jumped on to the latter directly! Where is that depression after 12th? That phase of pain and helplessness to see mock-cat scores dipping and wondering if one will ever make it?

I do realize that such blessed men and women are quite a rarity. But where is the law of averages? Offers from McKenzies of the world probably awaits His Highness on the Day Zero of placements while the meeker folks throw furlong glances singing 'sabse peeche hum khade' to the companies on campus.

This world is such a cruel place. The geek shall and do rule the world. Replace the brains with beauty and the same if utilized efficiently can be an excellent cutting edge tool for success. One cant help wonder if the working definition of all men are equal is "Well, Not really".

Yes, I feel pathetic for myself at this point of time. The fact that I know quite a few guys like this does not help the cause. No fights between CTC and EMIs? These guys are so missing the fun! :| Sarcasm doesn't quite help alleviate this. But what the hell!

Sigh. I guess I am done hating people and the world in general, for the day.
If only one had enough gyri and sulci - the gray matter that matters!