Debbie Wright , where are you?

All you school buddies will remember Debbie Wright. I can't imagine anyone having to look deeper into the recesses of their memory bank to recall that name.Debbie was an unforgettable part of our 13 -year old life and no one would ask "Debbie who" for sure. Debbie was our new classmate in class eight , new becoz she had failed to make the grade for the third consecutive time to go to the next class ( damn the math!) . Make no mistake Debbie was no dumbo..She was smart, sassy, witty and wild! She couldn't simply bother with the numbers maybe.. Debbie added to the glamour quotient that was otherwise lacking in the drab ,gawky world of pre teen and teen girls growing up in a boarding school run by nuns.Her high cheek bones, skinny long legs ( remember those shorts ? ) and that full sleeved shirt worn Bobby style , singing Paper Roses in that clear , lilting voice of hers. There , you have the picture. Debbie was the one who taught us a bit of history, geography and biology. Lessons we didn't get taught in the classrooms, the ones starring the birds and the bees . I dunno if anyone recalls that particularly dramatic day of the solar eclipse in the February of year 1980. We were under curfew, confined to our dorms left to entertain ourselves the entire day. Entertainment was provided courtesy Debbie with her wacky lessons in life and the visit of her boyfriend all the way from Madras . Only Debbie could have a boyfriend who would brave the wrath of the sun and climb the mountain to see his sweetheart! As for the rest of us , the concept of boyfriend itself was alien (those unadulterated days of the 80s ) but we enjoyed the excitement of Debbie sneaking out to visit her Prince Charming.The Prince was hardly charming remarked , one tactless soul who was rewarded a tight slap across her face! OOuch! That must 've hurt! But Debbie was Debbie..Also Mother Courageous who took her own pregnant mom one rainy night to the hospital when her waters broke ( Waters? Whatever is that we asked, Debbie said the whole house was flooded !!!!!) That was when her step sister was being born..Thinking back, Debbie life must've been pretty tough. Rich Father in the Gulf who sponsors her education but nothing else emotionally, mom and step sister to mother back at grandpa's . No wonder then she failed yet again and left the school. Without a trace she dissappeared and our lives continued boring as ever. Debbie was mysterious that way, she left no forwarding address.. Even today I can hear her singing my requests sitting in the sunlit class room before we left school assembly...Debbie Wright where are you ?

Mr Otis regrets but Gandhi does not !

We've been having an overdose of Gandhis these days. Whether it's the hullaboo over the Gandhi memorabilia being auctioned off in the U.S by a Western "Gandhian" and "pacifist" (???) or our little Lotus eater Varun Gandhi spewing venom on Muslims and Sikhs on poll podiums, Gandhi is making news. And none of it pleasant. Wonder what our Father of the Nation is making of it wherever he is right now. His compatriot Pandit Nehru must be squirming uncomfortably by his side, watching his great grandson metamorphing into a monster just like his own papa dearest.

As for Mr Otis, he now regrets the auction after the King of Good times Mallaya bought the Gandhi items for a cool 1.8 billion. Mr Otis is now trying to sit on a moral high horse and wants to cancel the auction but wasn't it him trying to cut a bargain with the Indian govt in the run up? If he was a Gandhian, he could have just turned over the items to the official heirs of the Gandhian legacy-the Navjivan trust. But then Mr Otis is a different Gandhian altogether.As far as we know, he's currently on some 27 day fast for reasons best known to him. Apparently, the man has his share of quirks ; he goes on a silent fast on Sundays much to his wife's annoyance ! Whatever it is, we don't need to strike a deal with an American to get that bit of Gandhi back to us. All we need is to look for Mr Gandhi within ourselves. Spread a little Gandhigiri, Munnabhai jaisa and all will be right with the world. Maybe a certain Mr V.Gandhi could do with a Jadoo ki Jappi .

Unravelling "The Secret"

A couple of years ago, my friend A , overtly sensitive and of delicate emotional constitution ,recommended a book I buy straight away. She said the book had changed the way she looked at life and suddenly everything was going hunky dory .Better still , she had learnt to accept life's situations with a positive frame of mind .As a result, she said , her life was much more relaxed, simpler and nothing bogged her down. I believed her becoz she sounded lighter, happier and completely chilled out. So I walked down to the nearest book store and grabbed a copy. The book was The Secret by a lady named Rhonda Bryne. The theory behind the concept is pretty simple. You can have whatever you want if you will it. She talks about how the universe itself will conspire to give you what you want , if you believe without an iota of doubt in your mind that it will happen. Sounds simple? Well, I tried-Very very hard. But unfortunalely it didn't work ! I didn't blame Rhonda , god bless her, becoz I know exactly why it didn't happen to me. The truth is that I have become such a die hard cynic over the last decade that it's impossible to silence my subconscious and con it to believe that this amazing ( well, not amazing, let's say reasonable ) thing should happen to me.. My life - I'm not complaining here - has become a perfect example of Murphy's law at work .( If anything can go wrong it will ) . So I 'm happy with small mercies. And to expect a windfall is just too much to ask.. Whatever it is, The Secret is not for me. My way, I discovered , is the Buddhist path. I desire nothing , expect nothing and am greatful for whatever nuggets of happiness/contenment life throws my way.It isn't too difficult once you get the hang of it..Atleast it's a lot easier than trying to get that errant inner voice drown in the positve light that The Secret shines for you. But that doesn't mean YOU shouldn't follow the Secret path. It has worked for a lot of people ( I know !) . I have even gifted it to receptive souls, so there! One word of advice though , give it a miss if you are looking for a fix vis a vis your relationships; simply becoz what you want may not exactly what the other party wants ! Get that ?

Cricket in Pak RIP ?

I am not much of cricket fan. But cricket is part of the psyche as family and friends were always obsessed with the game..I guess I just followed the game over the years just to belong, educating myself painfully, leafing thro my brother's Willow Story albums he used to make for the season.Almost a forced crush ( if you can call it that!) on Imran and Akram ( how many of you had the Big Boys Play at night poster of Imran on your walls? ). Thankfully how the times have changed . My husband does not watch cricket and my daughter prefers football. Though the cricket link refuses to go away as a very close friend is a well known sports author and cricket expert. So one does follow the cricket season and catch him on TV giving his expert comments. But now cricket is headline news thanks to Kasab's cousins attacking the hapless Srilankan team yesterday..What was the connection? Maybe for a moment the poor sods got their geography muddled and thought Sri Lanka was part of India ! We are with Dhoni when he says thank goodness we were not there but this I guess is the end of the road for Pakistan as far as cricket is concerned.Maybe the Taliban who will sooner or later take over the rest of Pakistan, don't want the kaffir's game played on their soil..Where does that leave the Pak cricket team? Maybe they would want to seek Indian citizenship ! Allah help them. As for Mr Imran Khan, the politician, he can hoo and ha making the right noises..after all his cricketing days were over ages ago.

So long farewell, a hoax for you and me

Did any of you get Marquez's farewell letter in your inbox? Chances are that you may have and probably been deeply moved by the master story teller's adeiu. Some of us would have even reached for “ The chronicles of a Death Foretold “ in a bid to connect. Well, it now turns out to be a hoax - the handiwork of a ventriloquist named Johnny Welch. God knows how Welch must be feel to be credited with a poem that people all over the world mistook to be the work of a literary genius.
The web is now an instrument to pass on hoax messages about poor little dying girls who you can save by clicking your forward button. and the like. There used to be one in the early days of a Microsoft offer to send you money for forwarding a certain mail and not to mention sundry Nigerians offering to park money in your account. I don't think any of us would have fallen for that crap though I know someone who forwarded me the Microsoft one, although she's neither my friend nor a regular mailer.. It's all about Money Honey! So next time you press the forward button , remember it may be a hoax!

For those of you who have not seen alleged Farewel Letter, here it is... some lessons there even if it not from Marquez...

"If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life, possibly I wouldn't say all that I think,but rather I would think of all that I say. I would value things, not for their worth but for what they mean. I would sleep little, dream more,understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light."I would walk when others hold back, I would wake when others sleep."I would listen when others talk, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream! If God were to give me a piece of life, I would dress simply, throw myself face first into the sun, baring not only my body but also my soul. My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice, and wait for the sun to show.. Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh dream a Benedetti poem, and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to the moon. With my tears I would water roses, to feel the pain of their thorns, and the red kiss of their petals..."My god, if I had a piece of life... I wouldn't let a single day pass without telling the people I love that I love them. I would convince each woman and each man that they are my favorites, and I would live in love with love. I would show men how very wrong they are to thinkthat they cease to be in love when they grow old, not knowing that they grow old when they cease to be in love! To a child I shall give wings, butI shall let him learn to fly on his own. I would teach the old tha tdeath does not come with old age, but with forgetting. So much have I learned from you, oh men..."I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of themountain, without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled.I have learned that when a newborn child squeezes for the first time with his tiny fist his father's finger, he has him trapped forever. I have learned that a man has the right to look down on another onlywhen he has to help the other get to his feet. From you I have learned so many things, but in truth they won't be of much use, for when I keep them within this suitcase, unhappily shall I be dying."

Dosas on discount ! Jai Ho !

Went to the popular Chennai eatery Sangeetha today to meet some old friends over Filter Kapi. The first thing that greets you at the entrance is a huge hoarding of Rahman..Sangeeta has chosen to celebratre Rahman's Oscar by offering a flat discount of 25% on all food bills today. Some connection about Sangeetham and Sangeetha which was lost on me..Anyway we had our discounted coffees , masala dosas, gupshup and unlimited masti.. Rahman is the hottest topic in Chennai..We were talking about his music , best ofs and the like and people from other tables were turning around to catch our conversation trail...Lots of people are wondering if they should get their kids enroll in KM Conservatory (Rahman's music school) in vain hope their kids will bring home an Oscar one day ..Ah, the Slum dog's luckwill not hold true for all mortals .
.On a serious note, Rahman is a musical genius no doubt and deserves his success wherever he goes..But then Jai Ho may not exactly be in a True Rahman fan's Best of List..I'm no Rahman expert but my Filter coffee pals are and they swear by Roja, Bombay, Dil Se and lots more..I personnally love the Jodha Akbar Sufi dervish number Kwaja Mere Kwaja and the Bombay numbers.. Rahman is a lesson in life- that hard work, humility, faith triumphs deservingly always but one can't ignore the man's genius.. Any one for a best of list???