Bethebird's Blog

Kehte hain mujhko…..

smeedha — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:06:58 +0000

We are all about current affairs in India. In the peak of summers and load shedding, as the scheduled power cuts are called in the metros, one oft hears the phrase: “current nahi hai.” I loved power cuts as a kid and even now in my mid life (I like to call this midlife, it can stretch as long as I choose) I still have some strange romantic notion of power cuts. Power cuts in my childhood meant, sitting outside in the balcony because it would be too hot inside the house, the whole family (all four of us) suddenly thrown together with nothing to do. It would mean the sight of lone flickerings through other windows that you could see and others on their respective balconies and terraces. It was the time that one got the break from home work although sometimes I was forced to finish in candlelight, strictly under protest. Whoever heard of candle light homework? Nothing romantic about it. I do think the emergency lamp killed that special flicker induced feeling of working really hard- the closest yours truly came to burning the midnight oil.

Power cuts also meant me singing at the top of my voice, or if there were cousins visiting, Antakshari! The craze for power cut antakshari is huge in India. I remember years later as a graduate student when the whole campus in Mumbai experienced a power cut- once in the 2 years we were there- and how all groups automatically gravitated (this time aided by their cellphones) to the centre of the campus and sat around playing antakshari. Its just something that HAD to be done.I remember wishing for a power cut every night after that. I was disappointed. Powercuts are not very popular in Bombay.

Anyway the point of this post is not the power cuts. Obviously! Just power. Not even the corrupting, greed inducing, government toppling sort of power.Just electric power. Just current as its called in Hinglish. Or Bijli in Hindi. Bijli.. hmm

Now one of the songs from my childhood memories is from Mr India. Its called hawa hawaii..abbebebebebe. no really that’s how the song goes for those (weird) people who haven’t heard it. I love it! Our own Kavitha Krishnamurthy sang it and Sridevi perfected it with her trademark overacting but it remains a classic!

So I always thought this song went something like “Bijlee ki raani main hun aayi”- the queen of electricity here I am.. something like that. To my yet unformed bollywood fan mind, it made perfect sense to have a queen of electricity called Hawa Hawaii. And so it was. Recently a new movie Shaitan included a Hawa Hawaii remix and i was not completely disappointed with it. In fact as a rehash of the song its quite catchy and hummable. And I asked my serial songstress Jodhpur Times for the song Bijli Ki Raani and she remarked she had never heard the song. Now I know Jodhpur very well and I know it just couldn’t be. She could not have turned out into her awesome self without knowing this song once in her life. So i persisted.

I said, arey, hawa hawaii?

And she said, “isn’t that Bijlee Giraane main hun aayi” (Translation: To throw electricity, I have come- sheesh I say)

I scoffed and said, “haha, no child, its bijlee ki raani! Queen! of Bijlee!”

It didn’t last long, this argument. In the days of google search it rarely does. Quick search and I lost all my bearings. It really really was Bijlee Giraane. Kavitha Krishnamurthy’s accent threw me off perhaps? Or maybe there were just too many power cuts during my childhood and I fantasized about a queen of electricity.

Whatever be the reason, there is now a huge void in my life. Who will be the Bijlee ki Raanee now, now that she has gone off bijlee giraaney….

Sigh.

(I know, total waste of blog space.)

smeedha — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:55:12 +0000

There’s much to tell. Much to withhold, for the sake of coherence mostly. Listening to Koi Humdum na raha by Kishore Kumar as I write this. Am a sucker for melancholy as I have known all my life. There’s nothing I love more than wallowing in all that’s wrong with me and the world and how am all alone in this fight against this unfair world. Only I also pepper it with enough chastisement of the self, the oh-so-useless self.

Anyway, life’s changed. And how. A new continent, a new country, a new life. Am glad, am confused, am ecstatic, am a nervous wreck! Oh yes the usual…

Am still settling down even as time jets, spurts and flies. Given how much I have detested this country all my life for various reasons, its not a small matter that I have ultimately moved here. Ostensibly to study. More. But the pacific north west is perhaps the coolest place I could have come to, the least America- like place in all of America I think! So am not all troubled and upset though I am the butt of jokes among friends. But hey, we all eat our words sometimes, some of us more than others.. leaving you with an image of this guy I am able to see from my balcony on a clear day. Not bad I say.

A view of Mt Rainier on a Sunny Day

New Location New Header

smeedha — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:18:51 +0000

Of course, the first thing I do to get into the writing mode is to change the header.. so here we are, a new header, shot by yours truly at the Puget Sound. A lone sail boat against the setting sun; made for a very interesting, lonely image.

change of location

smeedha — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:06:54 +0000

Madness. What’s it been? A year? More? My blog is still alive! DO people still blog or has twitter taken over? Of course I tweet, but i used to blog occasionally too. Didn’t I? Should I stop freaking out? Should I behave and breathe normally now?

SO, the big change for all you non followers of my blog has been the big move across… From India to London back to India, only to be catapulted all the way over to the end of the world.. erm, that’s what the pacific north west is isn’t it? Them who live in the future. Them who start living a day after the day has been spent in the rest of the world. Have I lost it? No just blogging after a very long time. You know how it is.. when you meet someone you really like after a very long time. Its always a bit uneasy the first few moments. Blog moments. Will be back.

Sprringa

smeedha — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:32:04 +0000

It is spring in London and when the sun shines, it is absolutely lovely. Although, more often than not, the sun is in hiding and i only curse the stupid English weather. But, given my complete lack of motivation to blog, i am resorting to changing the header once more to a more spring-summery picture.

maybe, i will be motivated to write! The downside of being a student again i guess.

Of the earth spewing and all o that

smeedha — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:21:03 +0000

Prescript: For once i dashed off a blogpost in time, as it was happening and as luck would have it, it was a false alarm.. dang it.. i mean.. thank god for that. this is the newsflash i just read… what nonsense indeed.But i have already said what i had to say. SO this underneath is what i said, and now i have added the clarification. Sheesh.

So i tried not to say anything, but then the news, and facebook updates AND twitter updates won’t let me. SO i have to say what i have to say. I was having a conversation with my favourite cousin last night and among this that and the other, she asked me, “Oye yaar, how do you pronounce that volcano’s name?” And i had to sheepishly admit, that i had given up before even trying. Really, the subconscious just did a conscious double take and deliberately skirted around having to pronounce it to anyone or even myself. I have conveniently decided to call it ‘that volcano in iceland,’ or since everybody knows about it already- ‘the volcano,’.

I have honestly not seen anything that i must attribute to the volcanic ash. Am supposed to spot ash on windscreens of the parked cars in London, but i haven’t. And then there were news items about how they erupt in pairs and such. And today the breaking news is that a second volcano might be ready to erupt and my only reaction was at least now i can pronounce that name! this time it is Hekla that is raising the heckles of Icelanders.This emission has actually caused a lot of other emissions by air to drop, I think we must congratulate the volcano on that great achievement, something that many environmentalists around the world have not been able to accomplish.

I jest, but i sincerely hope the volcano(s) do not cause harm to people and animals around and just carry on with their business- spew and splutter and go to sleep. Meanwhile maybe i soothe my frayed English pronunciation nerves and say its ok, i can at least pronounce one of the 2 volcano’s name.

Ps. And ‘that volcano is iceland’ is called…. Eyjafjallajökull. forget it. I am NOT going to even try to pretend that i can pronounce it.

The New Header…

smeedha — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:15:34 +0000

.. is not just ANY header. it is there for a reason. It was captured at the International Time Line at Greenwich no less. Ok the grounds there, the international time line is the one in the picture below, taken once all junta had left.

It was just that all these posts about time and time zones and such like had to have an effect. I have pretty much been obsessing about time and what time it is at different points in time in different parts of the world. Crazy but true! I decided to take matters into control and go threaten those guys who created all the trouble, but as luck would have it, i was late. Poetic justice. yes yes. I was late to keep a date with the international time line. sigh.

Anything for inspiration

smeedha — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:00:54 +0000

Even a new picture and a new theme. No that is not the best among my recent crop, but i wanted to put in a new picture to say that the darkness has been dispelled, the sun is out again. Londoners have begun to dress down even though i think it still is very windy and chilly.

My third world immunity has gone for a toss and i caught myself cooped up and sick,in my room for the 2 weeks of Easter break and i could see the sun outside teasing its way into my room. I can now step out and brave the winds but can get only as far as my beautiful library. Yes i know i have been ruminating a bit too much, but hey, i have really not been doing nothing!

What have i been upto? aside from being a student, which is sometimes a thing i have to rudely remind myself of, i have been upto no good at all! But strangely i like it. I kid of course, it is all good and am in one of those ‘generally happy and feeling light’ phases of life and it has nothing to do with the sun being out longer!

Then there is this twitter based game that has completely taken over my life! at least my nights and some parts of the day. Check it out here. The moment the clock strikes 12, i am at it trying to see what the wordsmiths are upto. The winners get nothing but it is just fun to read and interpret what funny people around the world have to say about the word of the day and how they completely wring out meanings and more out of a word.

Oh and i am still living in another time zone. Many actually. The fact that i manage to talk almost everyday to people in 4 different time zones is saying a lot eh! Of course it also has as much to do with those people stretching the limits of their respective time zones as well. Now if only i can be as efficient in my course work. While on course work, a very fitting typo occurred when i was telling my friend that i was struggling with CURSE work.

I do not think the post should be dedicated to my curse work, as much as i want to ensure i am not the only one to suffer what i have been suffering. But perhaps we will keep that for another time. This one is to say hello to the great number of followers of this blog (I mean you and you and you ) and to say that maybe perhaps just maybe i will be back pretty soon.

Ruminating

smeedha — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:14:36 +0000

Will be back soon…. chewing on many things! happy new decade though… while it is still new

A clean break

smeedha — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:02:47 +0000

Dear recently converted climate skeptic

Sometimes you need a clean break. From people, from love, from friends, from people you cannot stand. We are kind of fickle and do change our minds often and so more than seldom, we leave things in suspension. We think we might go back on them or that they might come back to us.

And what troubles me the most is the fact that the circle will never reach the same point again, because people have changed. What drove them to do things have become lies. What made your minds come together in the first place is just another set of mumbo-jumbo for them. Faith. Is it so easy to let go? And it is not just a stupid ‘unscientific’ concept of faith. (I do not think it is stupid, and by faith here, i also mean an instinct. that propels you to work for the right reason)

Climate change. The biggest war of our times. I have recently been hearing from my you how you will never work on those lies again. I am guessing- and i am not in the mood to indulge you in conversation, call it my lethargy or unwillingness to make the effort- that the goings on in the university of East Anglia cyberspace has a lot to do with you terming theselies!

So, one set of emails and it has all turned into a lie? ever imagine what will happen if our personal emails become public? all hell would break loose. at least in my world. Emails are personal and can be scandalous. But can that be used to paint the entire picture black and are they the real truth? What happened at East Anglia was stupid, utterly and was definitely wrong. But does that make all the other science that exists wrong? Or all the effects we see of human greed and overconsumption wrong? Does it mean you stop fighting for what you think is the most important? or does it just caution you a bit more so you can make a more informed decision.

If you were a person trying to work on climate change and think it is all a big lie today, you have just played into the hands of all the great corporations that are out to absorb all the profits they can. I met someone who claimed that climate was changing because the earth was moving closer to the sun, and completely believed that. There are meetings going on right now alongside the Copenhagen summit that debunk the entire theory of human made climate change. I think it is just a ruse to please people by saying things that make us feel we have nothing to do with what’s happening in the world.

Climate change is the one overarching subject where one could address human over consumption and the need to slow down. If you think it is one big lie, it just means the end of idealism, at the fact that another alternate life is possible. It is you giving into the broader scheme of things, playing into the hands of those that want to play you.I do not want it to be a clean break, but if that’s how you see it, so be it.

yours,

still a misanthrope and still a believer that we have everything to do with the state the world is in

(I recommend this article highly)