message in a bottle (02.2003 - 09.2008)

It is the third day in a row. I come back from work and see my family glued to television watching - not some spicy family drama - but the news. This news, by the way, is in no way less than the racy family drama that I just mentioned.  Let me give you the facts:

Monday - Breaking news about how a Bangalore-based Infosys employee killed his wife under the suspicion of cheating and then hung himself. The channels did not just simply state this news but showed the file pictures in a loop, dramatized the whole incident with tidbits about other such cases, and of course, invited a marriage counselor to discuss relationships and trust issues.

Tuesday - Breaking news about a Delhi-based encounter specialist being murdered  by a friend. Okay, I will give it to you that this is proper news. But repeating the same information in different ways, in different tones, with the same photos? No, that is not journalism. That is sensational television.

Wednesday - Breaking news about a two-and-a-half years old girl having fallen in a 48 feet hole. Channels are giving the privileged us live coverage of this story. For the past 30 minutes, I have been seeing a file picture of little Vandana and listening to a child expert tell us how city children are not as strong and brave as the village kids. All of this along with heart-rendering quotes that we hear in different tones and pitches.

Sorry, Ekta Kapoor. I think you finally have competition.

Around 18 months back, on a boring weekday afternoon, I came across a fun blog – a blog written under a pseudo name. After reading some three-four posts, I decided it was a perky read on boring days and bookmarked it. (Yes, I still live in Stone Age and book mark my favorite pages!)

Anecdotes about drunk parties, embarrassed meetings with ex-boyfriends, confessions about addiction to booze and smokes, some bitchiness, some sweetness – I was hooked to the blog after a week or so. The author was an avid blogger, never letting me down with infrequent updates, a good writer, and very honest in her description of feelings. The fact that she lived in Delhi just did me more good because I personally knew the places she would talk about. She never took names of other people, used pseudo names for them too. Slowly I realized that her writing was more than just bold and candid, it was also wild. Yes, for a person from my social background, discussing a personal sexual experience (names or no names) or a blowjob is wild. Nonetheless, being only human, I continued to read her.
 
She got a lot of anonymous comments (no surprises here!), some rude and derogatory, but most complementary and the number of comments just kept growing with every passing post. Most chicks seemed to like her. I think that is because she talked about stuff that they could/did not. Interestingly, most men seemed jealous. Intriguing! The girl moved to Mumbai after a while and the writing got even wilder. No, I am not insinuating anything here, just describing a pattern I observed on the blog.
 
This Monday, I found a new post on the blog announcing that the author who had made so many efforts of remaining anonymous until now could be seen on that night’s “We The People” on NDTV. Curiosity got better of me and I streamed the video to catch a glimpse of this wild-wild woman.

The topic of discussion on the show was “Should Blogs be Regulated,” and to my horror, Barkha Dutt introduced the author in question by quoting the following from one of her recent posts:

More and more of my male friends tell me, “You know, sex isn’t that important.” And I’m wondering when they reached that conclusion, for me, sex isn’t that important unless I have to go without it, in which case I turn into a mixture of Cruella De Ville and Bambi, alternating between long drags of my cigarette and fluttering eyelashes at whatever’s closest.
 
Now, first thing first, this is a wonderful piece of writing, is it not? Second, would one like this to be read out on National television when your folks are glued to the screens going “my little baby is on the television!” to the neighbors?

The girl in question looked like any of us, a normal happy chick, not a wild Goth or a link-whore as the Interweb likes to call her. This quote was followed by a direct question from Dutt, “So, you have quit smoking! Does that mean you are getting a lot of sex these days?”

You cannot blame Dutt. But can you blame the author?

Barkha Dutt was talking about something which was already there in a public forum for everyone’s consumption. But this girl had been writing everything under the comfortable protection of a pseudo name until now. Yes, it was her decision to change that and come in front of millions of viewers and hundreds of her readers, but still!

My point is that from the looks of it, the girl did not feel comfortable when all this happened. Although, she regained her composure in a jiffy, but there was a definite odd moment.

Having found out her real name, I could not help but google her this morning and the results shocked me. Tons of people are out there on the Interweb bashing her. People even claim that she is not original as her writing is too much of “Sex and the City” in it! They think she should be writing about erotic experiences over a vadapao instead of cheesecake, you get the drift? This, ladies and gentlemen, amuses me. And if you have been patient enough to stay with me till now, I should finally come to the point.

We all write with the knowledge that anyone can read our posts but do we want absolutely everyone to read them? If a curious boy of 22 in New Zealand reads my personal post, I do not care. But if my best friend’s mother reads it, will I be comfortable? Will you be comfortable? I do not know.

I have kept my journal fairly non-personal but I am sure there are lapses. Nonetheless, the fact remains that none of my family members (barring the husband) reads my journal and I like it that way. Why? I am not sure, yet.

- What is an honest cop supposed to do when he discovers that his teenaged foster son has an uncontrollable urge to kill?
- What is a forensic blood spatter expert supposed to do when he cannot feel anything - no emotions, no pleasure, no sadness?
- What is a police department supposed to do when a serial killer drains blood out of women, cuts them into neat equal pieces, and leaves them at a public place - gift wrapped - for the police to find?



A crime thriller show based on Jeff Lindsay's novels. In 12 crisp, fast-paced, and brilliantly edited episodes, you find out all this and see the mystery build up and then get solved. The mystery of blood-draining, body parts-cutting killer is very neatly meshed with other smaller cases that get solved in an episode and family/relationship drama that moves hand-in-hand with the main storyline. In the 12th episode, everything falls into place but I see a scope for season 2.



The protaganist, Dexter Morgan, is played by Michael C Hall who grows on you with every episode. Jennefir Carpenter plays his feisty sister and a cop who struggles to make Dexter open up to her. Besides an interesting concept and tight script, the show has a fantastic background score and a super fantastic visuals during credits! I sat facinated, during all 12 episodes, as the credits rolled past. Addiction. Now that I am done watching it, I miss it.

Dear Reader,

Something tells me that my charming posts and witty comments weren’t really missed but here, in Sunshine Land, we like to be optimistic. We believe that you frantically checked your friends page every morning, began scrolling even before the page could fully load, in the hope to catch a few enamoring words by yours truly.

Well, your wait has finally come to an end. I shall first begin with the obligatory update of what I have been up to all this while. I know, I know, you have been spending sleepless nights wondering about my disappearance.

So, between my last worthy post and today, I have broken my promise to self – twice. I went ahead and got my greedy self this and then, this. Today, my greedy self is extremely happy and materialistically content. The ban on happiness is officially over!

Besides indulging myself in sleek gizmos, I have also been reading. Amy Tan has a new fan. Her books are found unputdownable by the sunshine girl. Patricia Cornwell is the other lady author whose methodical crime descriptions have me hooked.

And, I have finished watching Carnivale, the weirdest show ever. But by the end of second season, I was totally struck by the weirdo called Management. And Lost is back but I hardly ever reach home by 9pm on Thursday nights to catch the show. I need DVDs of season two. My birthday ain’t till November, but you can be nice and give me an early gift. I won’t complain, promise.

Oh, and since I am talking about every thing possible, I might as well tell you that I loved Omkara to bits. Besides the great points you all have already discussed, I loved the film for its filthy language. Never in my life had I heard so many curses in one day. But, I have not watched KANK, and the entire universe is successfully conspiring to ensure that it stays that way.

About time I shut up. I’ll save up for the next post. Ta.

* Subject line inspired by this.

Let me tell you a story where the past meets the future.

In not-so-near future, say the year 2517, the earth has deteriorated, completely 'used up,' and a large population has emigrated to the star system. People now live on various planets and their moons. They have multi-generational ships and space shuttles, which are much more tech-savvy and faster than the ones NASA boasts of today. These planets and moons have been terraformed to resemble earth. However, terraforming was feeble and therefore, many outlying moons are dry and grim. Think the surroundings seen in Western movies.

Nations of the earth have fought for the star system and only two super powers remain: America and China. However, the ruler of star system is the Alliance, an organization that has forcibly unified all planets and moons under one government. Now, the central planets are well under control of the Alliance but the outlying moons have little government authority. (Remember 19th century's West America?) People living on the outlying moons enjoy freedom from the Alliance but have no access to the conveniences available to the high-tech central planets and moons.

The future is free of aliens but is an intriguing mix of different cultures. The most illiterate white man can also speak Chinese as it the second language to one and all. The mark of the Alliance is the Chinese flag layered over the American flag.

Malcolm Reynolds was a sergeant in the war of the outlying worlds to resist the Alliance. In this failed attempt, Zoe was his first mate and a very loyal friend. After the war, a disappointed Malcolm bought a Firefly spaceship and named it Serenity, after the battle of Serenity valley that they'd just lost. He may not have his land but with Serenity, he would always have his sky!

( The tale continues... )

Remember that episode of Seinfeld where George flicks a picture of Jerry’s pretty girl and uses it to hit on other chicks? He claims the attractive woman in the picture is his dead wife. Well, there is a George somewhere in my office and he stole my best friend’s picture from my soft board. If you are reading this, dear friend, feel flattered. There are a lot of things pinned all around my computer but George took your picture.

In other news, I had super delicious Italian lunch today, at a place called The Village Shop. The restaurant is camouflaged as roadside soft drinks and snack shop and is designed to be missed. It does business purely by the word of mouth. The dimly-lit, tiny place with craggily painted walls has tables draped in yellow silk tablecloths. The fried spinach mushrooms were scrumptious (despite whatever they sound like) and the plate of herb fettuccini with tomato sauce got cleaned up before I could spell fettuccini in my head. I wish I was carrying my camera as food so delicious must be snapped. If you live or work in Gurgaon, you absolutely must check this place out.

In more news, my blogging skills have deteriorated to the extent that I now describe my meals in my posts. Consequently, my dear fellow LJ-ers, I implore you to pray for improvement in my devolving writing skills and lack of ideas. Unless you do so, I shall continue to corrupt your friends page with meaningless descriptions of useless actions that I undertake every day.

*Jungle being the place I come daily to earn my bread.

Let me begin from the beginning. Around six to seven months back, Star World announced a brand new show that had been making waves all around the world – Desperate Housewives. The teasers were perfect and they got my attention. But by the time the show came on air, (and let me add at a very odd time on a very odd day of the week; who watches late night shows on Sundays?), I had got hold of seven seasons of Sex and the City!

So while the world caught up on the happenings of Wisteria Lane, I was engrossed in the lives of four single women and their dating woes. What happens when you have access to the entire show or at least entire season of a show? You live the show; as I lived in Manhattan for the last two months of 2005. I sipped virtual cosmopolitans on my late night visits to the posh downtown restaurants and I discovered a whole new world of designer footwear, primarily Manolo Blahniks. After I finished watching the final season, it took me weeks to come out of the illusionary web woven by the four women. And when I did, I wanted to know what was so special about Desperate Housewives that made Kristin Davis (from Sex and the City) badmouth it. Hence began my quest for Season One of the show that had already been aired by our friendly channel in the past months. The hunt was easy but the effort in procuring it was something! Anyhow, after three weeks of hardwork of procuring the show, it took me five days (not to forget, nights) to finish watching 23 episodes.

It was almost an obsessive compulsive disorder. I spent the entire Sunday watching one episode after the other. I rushed my work to get home early on Monday and catch a few more episodes. When I went to bed, I dreamt of Bree’s perfection, Susan’s sloppiness, Lynette’s shark attacks, and Gabrielle’s manipulative ways. Tuesday was not as lucky, I had to work late but I stayed up till after midnight (on a weekday, mind you!) to see the mystery get solved.

This morning, I have all the answers (well, almost all) but no energy. I have replied to mails that were meant to be deleted, I have deleted documents that were meant to be archived. I have avoided all client meetings for the fear of making a fool of myself or simply falling asleep while they explained their requirements. But I am a happy-happy girl. Man, the show is so well made. This is how drama series are meant to be. The characters so well defined, stay true themselves as the story develops and mystery twists and turns. It is quite something to be able to make a strong storyline go hand-in-hand with the seeminly-small events that help evolve the characters. Don’t the K-fanatics watch shows like these?

Okay, time to go. Pardon any spelling or grammatical mistakes. You see, I have not slept in three days.

When I sat down to list my favorite female characters, my first thought was that of The Bride from Kill Bill. Next on my mind were Bridget Jones, Ally McBeal, and Amelie. However, these memorable characters did not feature anywhere on my final list. Despite being unique and unforgettable, these characters are unreal. The ones that feature on my list are those with whom I relate. Or I did relate at some point or the other.

Celine: From Before Sunset. Played by Julie Delpy. Celine, as portrayed in the second movie (first being Before Sunrise), strikes as an oxymoron personified. She is sweet yet angry. She is a romantic, yet a realist. She is at peace with self, still yearning. And, I think these contradictions make her real. She is full of faults and still completely endearing. In addition, she is a well thought of character that has been tempered by time. Her surroundings, her clothes, her belongings in the movie seem to have been chosen with care by the character herself. They all make her what she is.

If I were a thief, I would steal her charming little apartment complete with its furnishings and book collection.

Carrie Bradshaw: From Sex and the City. Played by Sarah Jessica Parker. Carrie is flawed, in every possible way. She is confused, obsessed, emotionally weak, confused, star struck, determined, confused, optimistic, and confused. This ultra sexy, super confident journalist makes mistakes at every step and breaks into tears as soon as she shuts her bedroom door, but she invariably pulls herself up and moves on, more optimistic than ever before. She is a character that matures over seven seasons but remains true to her original self - confused as ever. I love her for humanness and courage to face the world alone.

If I were a thief, I would steal her three friends; after all it's hard to find people who will love you no matter what. She found three of them.

Jennifer Cavilleri: From Love Story, the book. Jennifer, as I remember her, is this quick witted, simple but determined girl who follows her heart. She is a very strong woman who knows her mind, or at least that is how I thought her to be when I read the book many years ago. However, Jennifer is a well sculpted character that has stayed with me ever since.

If I were a thief, I would steal her happy disposition.

Kathleen Kelly: From You've Got Mail. Played by Meg Ryan. Kathleen is the most simple character I have come across ever! And in this simplicity lies her strength. A young girl with small dreams, happy in her own world, yet strong enough to fight for what is rightfully hers. Her romanticism is visible in her every action. She takes time to smell the flowers, to breathe in the aroma of freshly made coffee, and make a little kids smile. Kathleen is a character that touches one's heart without being painfully sweet, or so I think.

If I were a thief (oh, how I wish I were), I would steal her cozy, genial, and well-stocked bookshop.

Monica Geller: From Friends. Played by Courteney Cox. Monica, in one word, is obsessive. Despite being a cleanliness freak, she is warm and congenial, loves to dote over her friends, has a strong need to be liked by one and all, and constantly struggles to achieve perfection. The girl who cannot not open presents is strong willed enough to come all the way from being obese to her super sexy present self. Plus, she is a chef. It is hard to not like someone who pulls out one yummy delight after another from her microwave!

If I were a thief, I would steal her cooking skills.